James T. Cleland - "What Is This Christian Faith?"; Maldwyn Edwards - "God's Strategy" (October 14, 1956; November 18, 1956)

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	(liturgical music)	0:04
	(choir singing in foreign language)	0:28
	(liturgical music)	1:06
	(choir singing in foreign language)	1:41
	♪ Amen ♪	3:37
-	Let us offer unto God	3:58
	our unison prayer of confession.	4:00
	Let us pray.	4:03
	All mighty and most merciful God	4:05
	who knoweth the thoughts of our hearts,	4:08
	we confess that we have sinned against thee	4:11
	and done evil in thy sight.	4:15
	Forgive us oh Lord, we beseech thee	4:18
	and cleanse us from the (indistinct) of our sin.	4:21
	Give us grace and power	4:26
	and put away all hurtful things	4:28
	that being delivered from evil	4:31
	we may persevere in the way of thy righteousness	4:34
	all the days of our life	4:39
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord.	4:41
	Amen.	4:44
	And now as our savior Christ hath taught us we pray.	4:46
	Our father who art in heaven,	4:51
	hallowed be thy name,	4:54
	thy kingdom come	4:56
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	4:59
	Give us this day, our daily bread	5:03
	and forgive us our trespasses	5:06
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	5:09
	And lead us not into temptation,	5:12
	but deliver us from evil,	5:15
	for thine is the kingdom	5:18
	and the power and the glory forever.	5:20
	Amen.	5:24
	(soft liturgical music)	5:27
	(choir singing in foreign language)	6:02
-	Let us hear the word of God	8:20
	as is contained in the scriptures of the old Testament,	8:23
	in the book of Ecclesiastes	8:29
	the 12th chapter.	8:31
	Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth.	8:35
	While the evil days come not	8:41
	nor the years draw nigh	8:44
	when thou shalt say,	8:46
	I have no pleasure in them.	8:48
	While the sun or the light or the moon or stars	8:52
	be not darkened	8:55
	nor the clouds return after rain.	8:58
	In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble	9:02
	and strong men shall bow themselves	9:07
	and the grinders cease because they are few	9:11
	and those that look how to the windows would be darkened.	9:16
	And the doors shall be shut in the streets	9:20
	when the sound of the grinding is low	9:22
	and He shall rise up at the voice of the bird	9:27
	and all the doctors of music shall be brought low.	9:30
	Also when they shall be afraid of that which high	9:36
	and fear shall be in the way	9:41
	and the Almond tree shall flourish.	9:44
	And the grasshopper shall be a burden	9:48
	and desire shall fail	9:53
	because man goeth up to his long home	9:56
	and the mourners go about the streets.	10:00
	Or ever the silver cord be loosed	10:04
	or the golden bull be broken	10:07
	of the pitcher be broken up the fountain	10:10
	or the wheel broken at the cistern,	10:13
	then shall the dust return to the earth as it was	10:17
	and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.	10:22
	Vanity of vanities saith the preacher,	10:29
	all is vanity.	10:33
	And moreover, because the preacher was wise,	10:36
	he still taught the people knowledge.	10:39
	He gave good heed and sought out	10:43
	and set in order many proverbs.	10:46
	The preacher sought to find out acceptable words	10:51
	and that which was written was upright	10:56
	even words of truth.	11:00
	Further by these, my son, be admonished	11:05
	of making many books there is no end	11:10
	and much study is a weariness of the flesh.	11:15
	Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.	11:22
	Fear God, and keep his commandments	11:27
	for this is the whole duty of man.	11:33
	Amen.	11:39
	And may God bless onto us	11:41
	the reading of his holy word.	11:43
	(liturgical music)	11:50
	(choir singing in foreign language)	12:13
	♪ Amen ♪	14:12
-	The Lord be with you.	14:21
-	And with thy spirit.	14:23
-	Let us pray.	14:25
	Oh Lord heavenly Father,	14:37
	almighty and everlasting God,	14:40
	we heartedly rejoice in thee,	14:44
	we rejoice that thou art God	14:48
	and the thy years shall have no end.	14:51
	We rejoice that thou shares the life of thy human children,	14:56
	bearing with them the burden of their frailty,	15:01
	their sinful wanderings and the sorrows	15:04
	and the suffering without which	15:08
	they cannot be mad perfect.	15:10
	We rejoice that thy righteousness	15:14
	will not let us sin with impunity.	15:17
	And that thine has the power to forgive all our iniquities	15:21
	and to heal all our diseases.	15:26
	We rejoice	15:30
	that thou does never take thy Holy Spirit from us,	15:32
	but that thou does follow us with thy mercy and saving help	15:37
	throughout the whole course of our lives.	15:41
	We rejoice that the issues of life and death	15:47
	belong to thee,	15:50
	and that in everything,	15:52
	thou does work with those who love thee	15:55
	to bring about what is good.	15:58
	Also, we rejoice in the work	16:02
	that is ours to do	16:06
	in which we have an opportunity	16:09
	of a part and thy glorious work of creation and redemption.	16:12
	Oh God,	16:20
	who hath formed us for our fellowship with one another	16:23
	and with thee,	16:27
	we pray for Duke University,	16:29
	guide, direct and bless all those	16:33
	who strive to carry out its aims,	16:37
	carry it forward in the service of truth	16:41
	and may it ever rest under thy gracious care.	16:46
	Use our school for the glory of Christ,	16:51
	make it a fountain of courtesy and Godly learning.	16:55
	Bestow upon those who teach knowledge, patience,	17:02
	and a loving spirit.	17:07
	To those who are taught,	17:10
	give a receptive heart and an aptness to learn.	17:13
	Help us to be studious, truthful, pure, and temperate	17:19
	so that by thy grace,	17:25
	the mind of Christ may be on us	17:28
	and our character be formed in his Holy likeness.	17:31
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord.	17:37
	Amen.	17:40
	(liturgical music)	17:46
	(bright liturgical music)	20:08
	♪ Glorious ♪	20:19
	♪ Is thy name ♪	20:22
	♪ Almighty Lord ♪	20:25
	♪ Glorious is thy name ♪	20:32
	♪ Is thy name O Lord ♪	20:35
	♪ Glorious is thy name ♪	20:39
	♪ Glorious is thy name Almighty ♪	20:42
	♪ Glorious is thy name, O glorious ♪	20:45
	♪ Glorious is thy name, O glorious ♪	20:49
	♪ Glorious is thy name, O lord ♪	20:53
	♪ Glorious is thy name Almighty Lord ♪	20:58
	♪ All the angels stand ♪	21:04
	♪ Stand round about thy throne ♪	21:09
	♪ All the angels stand ♪	21:14
	♪ Stand round about thy throne ♪	21:18
	♪ Let all nations ♪	21:25
	♪ Bow before thee ♪	21:28
	♪ Bow before thee ♪	21:32
	♪ Let all nations, let all nations bow before thee ♪	21:35
	♪ Let all nations, let all nations bow before thee ♪	21:41
	♪ Let all, let all nations bow before thee ♪	21:50
	♪ Let all, let all nations bow before thee ♪	21:56
	♪ And declare thy wondrous works ♪	22:05
	♪ And declare thy wondrous works ♪	22:10
	♪ We praise thee ♪	22:22
	♪ We praise thee ♪	22:25
	♪ We adore thee ♪	22:29
	♪ We glorify thee ♪	22:32
	♪ Lord we adore thee, we bless thee ♪	22:38
	♪ Lord we bless thee, for thy great glory ♪	22:44
	♪ Lord we thank thee, for thy great glory ♪	22:51
	♪ Lord we thank thee, for thy great glory ♪	22:59
	♪ Lord we thank thee for thy great glory ♪	23:06
	♪ For thy great glory ♪	23:14
	♪ For thy great glory ♪	23:18
	♪ Heaven is thy throne and earth is thy footstool ♪	23:27
	♪ Thou art king over all the world ♪	23:34
	♪ Glorious is thy name ♪	23:43
	♪ Is thy name O Lord ♪	23:47
	♪ Glorious is thy name ♪	23:50
	♪ Blessing and honor be to God ♪	23:53
	♪ Forever and ever ♪	23:57
	♪ Forever, ever more ♪	24:02
	♪ Forever, ever more ♪	24:07
	♪ Blessing and honor be to God forever and ever more ♪	24:13
	♪ Blessing and honor be to God forever and ever more ♪	24:19
	♪ Blessing forever and ever more ♪	24:26
	(bright liturgical music)	24:32
	(choir singing in foreign language)	25:12
	♪ Amen ♪	25:40
-	Accept these offerings	25:49
	we beseech thee oh Lord	25:51
	and mercifully direct and enable us by life, Holy Spirit,	25:54
	that all things which we do in thy name,	25:59
	maybe truly wrought in thee,	26:03
	through Jesus Christ our Lord.	26:06
	Amen.	26:09
	(soft liturgical music)	26:13
-	Let us pray.	26:46
	Let the words of my mouth	26:50
	and the meditations of our hearts	26:54
	be acceptable in thy sight.	26:56
	Oh Lord our strength and our redeemer.	26:59
	Amen.	27:05
	In the name of Duke University,	27:12
	let me extend a welcome to you who have come home to Duke	27:16
	and now worship with us, in this service.	27:23
	You have watched us this weekend	27:29
	in various aspects of our work.	27:31
	The football team gave us a home coming win	27:36
	after three lean years	27:39
	and make you easier to preach to this morning.	27:44
	You have attended the open houses in the various faculties.	27:50
	You have gone back to your fraternities and sororities.	27:56
	Now you're in church	28:01
	recalling what this place has meant to you in the past.	28:04
	Perhaps you once sang in the choir,	28:11
	perhaps you were married here,	28:15
	perhaps your baby was baptized in the Memorial chapel.	28:19
	You are back because you wanted to worship God again,	28:26
	in this magnificent house	28:31
	of many memories.	28:34
	You want to know too	28:38
	what we talk about from the pulpit	28:41
	in this new student generation.	28:44
	Then recall the closing words of the scripture lesson,	28:49
	fear God, and keep his commandments	28:55
	for this is the whole duty of man.	28:57
	What does it mean?	29:02
	It means very simply that religion	29:06
	is the whole duty of man.	29:09
	So let us look together now at the faith,	29:13
	which is proclaimed here.	29:16
	We are so used by an understandable custom	29:21
	to dividing the Bible	29:26
	into the old Testament and the new Testament,	29:27
	into the Jewish religion and the Christian religion,	29:32
	into B.C and A.D,	29:37
	that we sometimes miss the central fact	29:41
	of the whole Bible.	29:45
	The Bible taken as a whole is constantly conscious	29:49
	that the problem of the religious norm	29:56
	centers in a fundamental conflict between two ideas,	30:00
	the idea of faith and the idea of law.	30:06
	And what do we mean by each of these ideas?	30:12
	This a short hand way of saying	30:16
	that the focus of religious experience	30:21
	is in our willing acceptance of the fact	30:27
	that God wishes, wills,	30:30
	and seeks to bring man constantly	30:35
	into right relations with themselves.	30:39
	Man is on the receiving end	30:44
	of the gracious love of God.	30:48
	Religion consists in the acceptance	30:53
	of that goodwill and in glad response.	30:58
	Law is a short hand way of saying	31:06
	that the central experience of religion	31:11
	lies in an earnest activity	31:15
	to obey the detailed requirements of God	31:18
	and thus make one self worthy to be accepted by God.	31:24
	Man is on the active end	31:32
	of persuading God to receive him	31:37
	because of his good works.	31:40
	Religion consists in good works done for this good purpose.	31:43
	Now the dichotomy is not an absolute one,	31:52
	but for purposes of examination, let us look at it thus,	31:57
	even though some of you rightly complain	32:01
	that there's an element of character in this presentation.	32:05
	Others of you are willing to accept	32:10
	the two ideas as presented, provided,	32:13
	provided that law is the key word for the Old Testament	32:17
	and faith the key word for the New Testament.	32:23
	But the point I'm making is that that is not so.	32:27
	Faith and law are found both in the old Testament	32:33
	and in the new Testament side by side.	32:38
	The Old Testament and the New Testament	32:42
	are confronted with the same problem,	32:45
	the conflict of religion as faith and religion as law.	32:48
	In fact, the division should not be a vertical one	32:54
	between Old Testament and New Testament.	32:57
	It should be a horizontal one,	33:00
	right through the entire Bible	33:02
	between faith and law.	33:04
	Now, let me illustrate this proposition	33:08
	from four sections of the Bible.	33:10
	We are all aware of the antagonism	33:14
	between the legalist and the prophet.	33:17
	The early Old Testament legal system	33:22
	emphasize the concept of sacrifice,	33:25
	the sin offering,	33:29
	the first fruits,	33:30
	the cereal offering and the like.	33:32
	It was an elaborate cultic system	33:35
	carried out with devotion and with enthusiasm.	33:40
	Chapter after chapter of Deuteronomy and Leviticus	33:44
	show the compelling importance of sacrifice	33:49
	in the mind and the heart of the Jewish people.	33:53
	And yet listen to the prophets speaking about it.	33:57
	Here are some verses from Amos.	34:02
	I hate,	34:05
	I despise your feasts, says the Lord,	34:07
	and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.	34:12
	Even though you offer me	34:17
	burnt offerings and cereal offerings,	34:19
	I will not accept them.	34:22
	Even the peace offerings of your fatted beasts	34:25
	I will not look upon.	34:30
	Take away from me the noise of your songs	34:33
	to the melody of your harps I will not listen,	34:37
	but let justice roll down like waters	34:42
	and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.	34:47
	Listen to Micah.	34:53
	With what shall I come before the Lord	34:55
	and bow myself before the high God.	34:59
	Shall I come before him with burned offerings,	35:03
	with calves a year old?	35:07
	Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams,	35:11
	with 10,000 rivers of oil?	35:14
	And then he goes away back into region	35:19
	and the next thing he says,	35:21
	"Shall I give my first born for my transgression,	35:23
	the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?	35:30
	He has showed you, oh man, what is good.	35:37
	And what does the Lord require of you	35:42
	but to do justly,	35:46
	to love mercy,	35:50
	and to walk humbly with your God."	35:53
	Now, on what do such men dare to base their criticism	35:58
	of religion as law.	36:05
	It's rooted in their estimate of the character of God.	36:09
	He is a God who requires a man	36:15
	only, but it's a big only,	36:19
	humility, justice, mercy.	36:22
	Why?	36:27
	Because he wishes men just to worship him	36:29
	and then to be like him	36:33
	and he is just and merciful.	36:35
	Well, you can guess the outcome of that struggle	36:39
	between legalists and prophets.	36:42
	It was a compromise.	36:46
	The late prophets such as Ezekiel and Malachi	36:48
	combined their appreciation of the character of God	36:52
	with an elaborate legal requirement.	36:55
	Let's move on.	36:59
	One finds a similar compromise in the Psalms.	37:01
	The Psalms make up the hymnbook of the second temple.	37:07
	And side by side are poems, which praise the law	37:13
	and poems, which depend on faith,	37:17
	on the loving mercy of God.	37:22
	The very first Psalm loves the law.	37:25
	Listen to it.	37:27
	Blessed is the man who walks not	37:28
	in the counsel of the wicked	37:30
	nor stands in the way of sinners	37:32
	nor sits in the seat of scoffers	37:34
	but his delight is in the law of the Lord	37:37
	and in His law does he meditate day and night.	37:40
	The longest chapter in the Bible, 176 verses.	37:44
	It's the 119th song	37:51
	entirely in praise of religion as law.	37:53
	The refrain is,	37:58
	teach me or Lord the way of thy statutes,	37:59
	and I will keep to the end.	38:02
	But that's another mood in the song.	38:06
	A mood that shot through with what we have called faith.	38:10
	Listen to the opening of the 40th Psalm.	38:14
	I waited patiently for the Lord.	38:17
	He inclined to me	38:22
	and heard my cry.	38:26
	He drew me from the desolate pit,	38:28
	out of the miry mud	38:31
	and set my feet up on a rock,	38:34
	making my steps secure.	38:38
	He put a new song in my mouth,	38:43
	a song of praise to our God.	38:46
	And those of you who love the 23rd Psalm	38:51
	are in the tradition of faith rather than law,	38:55
	in your confidence in God's benevolence.	38:59
	Turn now to the New Testament.	39:02
	The Pharisees and their followers laid great stress	39:06
	on the keeping of the Sabbath.	39:09
	On proper methods of washing before a meal,	39:13
	on the avoidance of contact with "sinners."	39:18
	Jesus complaint was not that they were utterly wrong,	39:25
	but that they were missing the central truth in religion.	39:30
	They were so obsessed with the minutiae of the law	39:36
	that they had forgotten what God was like,	39:41
	what he really wanted.	39:45
	That is why Jesus spoke	39:47
	the terrible 23rd chapter of Matthew.	39:49
	Here are two verses from it.	39:53
	Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,	39:55
	for you (indistinct)	40:01
	and have neglected the weightier matters of the Lord.	40:05
	Justice, mercy, faith.	40:10
	These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.	40:14
	Ye blind guides	40:19
	straining at a gnat	40:23
	and swallowing a camel.	40:26
	That's quite a picture.	40:29
	Picture a camel going down once throat.	40:30
	That's what the Pharisees were doing.	40:34
	Now the interesting thing is this,	40:37
	if you want to know what God really liked,	40:39
	you've got to go to the 37th verse of the same chapter.	40:40
	Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,	40:44
	killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you.	40:49
	How often would I have gathered your children together	40:54
	as a hen gathers her brood under her wings	40:59
	and you would not?	41:05
	Jesus wanted to act to all men	41:09
	as he believed God acts.	41:12
	And as that lovely verse in the Psalm has it.	41:16
	God is a God	41:19
	who gathers together the outcast,	41:21
	the outcast.	41:27
	Why?	41:29
	He can't help it.	41:32
	It's his nature.	41:35
	Seems very embarrassing to have a nature that is love	41:37
	because you must love	41:42
	and ultimately you must love the unlovely.	41:45
	Thank God for that or we wouldn't be here.	41:50
	Let's take a last example.	41:54
	There was a group of men in the early church,	41:58
	the early Christian Church,	42:00
	who came to be known as Judaizers.	42:01
	You'll find them in the Acts of the Apostles.	42:05
	They insisted that before a person became a Christian,	42:09
	he must become a Jew.	42:11
	He must keep the law.	42:15
	The only way into the church was through the synagogue.	42:18
	Now in the epistle to the Galatians,	42:25
	Paul dynamited that idea and blew it to smithereens.	42:29
	A man is not saved by keeping the law,	42:35
	a man is saved by faith.	42:39
	A man is saved.	42:43
	Now, what does that mean?	42:44
	It means that he's made spiritually healthy.	42:44
	That's what salvation is.	42:47
	The Latin word (speaks in foreign) meaning health.	42:49
	A man is made spiritually healthy, not by keeping any law,	42:51
	but by being absolutely confident	42:57
	that God means good towards him.	43:02
	Here are three verses	43:06
	from the fifth chapter of Galatians	43:07
	that plead for Christian freedom.	43:10
	For freedom Christ has set us free,	43:13
	stand fast, therefore,	43:16
	and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.	43:18
	Now, that's a reference to the Jewish law.	43:21
	Now, I Paul say to you that if you receive circumcision,	43:25
	that's the hallmark of the Jewish law for a male.	43:29
	If you receive circumcision,	43:33
	Christ will be of no advantage to you.	43:36
	Now, of course he's preaching,	43:39
	he's not telling the truth at that point,	43:40
	but he's got some truth in it.	43:42
	He's all but emphasizing as all preachers do.	43:44
	If you receive circumcision,	43:49
	Christ will be of no advantage to you.	43:50
	For in Christ,	43:55
	neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail,	43:57
	but faith working through love.	44:03
	You see now what I mean when I say	44:08
	that the proper division is not a vertical one	44:09
	between the Old Testament and New Testament,	44:14
	but a horizontal one right through holy scripture,	44:17
	between faith and law.	44:21
	The gospel, that is the good news about God	44:26
	and his dealings with men,	44:29
	is in both the Old Testament and the New Testament,	44:31
	after all, God is the same,	44:36
	yesterday, today and forever.	44:39
	You don't expect him to change his attitude toward men.	44:41
	But if you think this is just another Clalandian heresy,	44:46
	listen to number seven of the 39 articles of religion	44:52
	as found in the book of common prayer.	44:56
	Article seven.	45:01
	The Old Testament is not contrary to the New,	45:03
	for both in the Old and New Testament,	45:09
	everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ,	45:13
	who is the only mediator between God and man	45:18
	being both God and man.	45:22
	Now, before you comment	45:27
	that it's hardly valid evidence	45:28
	for a Presbyterian to quote an Episcopalian document,	45:30
	let me tell you that sentence, that article seven,	45:36
	is repeated word for word as article six	45:39
	in the articles of religion	45:45
	that's published in the doctrines and disciplines	45:47
	of the Methodist church.	45:50
	Now surely in this Methodist foundation	45:53
	that writes Q E D to the argument.	45:56
	(audience laughing)	45:59
	Division not between the testaments,	46:03
	division within the testaments.	46:06
	A number of years ago,	46:09
	some students and a professor in the Duke Divinity School,	46:10
	after much debate with numerous emendations,	46:13
	wrote a creed.	46:16
	And let me put it to you.	46:18
	God the creator and sustainer of life	46:22
	has so purposed in his love	46:26
	that man be in right relations with him	46:28
	that of his own free will	46:32
	he overcomes the power and erases the guilt of sin,	46:35
	which separates man from God.	46:39
	This was always his effective purpose,	46:43
	and important words there are, always and effective.	46:48
	This was always his effective purpose,	46:52
	but it was uniquely manifested and dramatized	46:55
	in the birth life, death and resurrection of Jesus.	47:00
	He is acknowledged as the son of God,	47:06
	because he supremely reveals the will and nature of God.	47:08
	This redeeming activity of God is perpetuated	47:14
	by the working of his Holy Spirit.	47:17
	Those who believe this are bound in an eternal fellowship	47:21
	whose daily life on earth	47:27
	is marked by faith, love and hope.	47:30
	Those who refuse to believe this	47:36
	are under the judgment of God's love	47:39
	here and hereafter.	47:44
	Now, that attempt to state the word of God is not perfect.	47:48
	We have enough of a sense of humor	47:53
	if not the humility	47:56
	to refuse to believe that	47:58
	creation has been groaning and travailing	48:00
	for hundreds of years	48:03
	to produce a professor and a class at Duke,	48:04
	which would say the definitive word on the gospel.	48:07
	But we believe we're not entirely wrong.	48:12
	Some of you may wish to add to the creed	48:15
	saying more about Jesus Christ and the cross, all right,	48:19
	but they will be additions,	48:23
	they will not be emendations	48:25
	of that basic biblical faith,	48:28
	which is true from Genesis to Revelation.	48:31
	The faith of the Bible is that God goes out in love to man,	48:36
	despite man's misunderstanding of God's purpose,	48:43
	despite his refusal of God's offer of friendship,	48:47
	despite his seeking of the meaning of life inside himself,	48:52
	God keeps coming back with yet another offer	48:57
	of good understanding.	49:01
	God does not do that because man deserves it	49:04
	or works for it,	49:07
	but as I said before,	49:09
	because that's the kind of God he is.	49:11
	A God of love, of goodwill toward man	49:14
	and that activity is seen in holy scripture	49:19
	from Genesis to Revelation	49:22
	and became incarnate in Jesus,	49:26
	whom we call the son of God.	49:30
	You say to me,	49:35
	isn't this centering on faith and easier religion	49:36
	than one centered on law?	49:41
	Well, unless one understands	49:48
	the heart of the biblical revelation,	49:50
	a religion centered on law may seem to be easier.	49:54
	It's easier for the sincere average man to keep a law	50:01
	than to love like a son of God.	50:08
	You see it's not possible to observe legal requirements	50:12
	than to live God's life after him.	50:17
	A law is static,	50:21
	the life of a son is dynamic	50:24
	and therefore it's ever widening and ever deepening.	50:26
	Listen to this poem written by (indistinct) last year,	50:30
	at Union Seminary in New York.	50:33
	It's called, "The prayer of a near Christian."	50:36
	The prayer of a near Christian.	50:43
	I do not want to serve thee Lord,	50:49
	but if I must,	50:52
	please let it be	50:54
	in some less consuming way.	50:57
	Why is it that a God must choose to tie his people to him	51:01
	with the strongest beings he has created.	51:05
	If I am thy child,	51:09
	remove from me this burden of thy love	51:11
	and let me serve thee in a lesser way.	51:15
	Oh, now I understand how Israel could choose	51:20
	to be thy servant rather than thy son.	51:24
	I am too cowardly to be thy child.	51:30
	Let me, like Israel, serve thee under the law	51:35
	and find thy love they're in.	51:41
	This is too close for me to stand,	51:44
	thou knowest me too well.	51:47
	And I can see myself for what I am	51:49
	reflected with a damning clarity	51:51
	against the measure of thy firstborn son.	51:54
	Release me Lord,	51:59
	and let me worship thee a little further off	52:03
	and heed might pride.	52:08
	That's it.	52:11
	That's what you can have as a servant,	52:12
	you can have pride,	52:14
	but pride is the ultimate sin.	52:18
	That's the law.	52:22
	The religion of law lets us keep our pride	52:23
	but the religion of love	52:26
	requires that we be humble though, though happy.	52:28
	Now, members of our alumni family,	52:33
	it's something like this	52:38
	we seek to preach and teach at Duke.	52:40
	In the classroom	52:46
	with an undergraduate department of religion	52:47
	of which no alumnus need to be ashamed.	52:51
	In the chapel service on the Lord's day,	52:55
	sponsored by the university.	52:59
	In the denominational groups meeting each Sunday night,	53:02
	gladly encouraging a student	53:06
	to remain within the denomination of the home.	53:08
	In the activities, sponsored by the religious council	53:13
	and by the wise,	53:16
	both on the campus and downtown.	53:18
	God is a very important fact on this campus.	53:23
	His will is never far	53:31
	from the deliberations of this university.	53:33
	Sometimes for will,	53:37
	sometimes for woe.	53:40
	When you come home to Duke,	53:43
	it's not merely to a secular homecoming,	53:45
	it is to a religious interpretation of life,	53:50
	which seeks to understand and express the religion of faith.	53:53
	Let me try to put this feed in picture form as I close.	54:01
	Think of two sons,	54:06
	twin sons,	54:10
	living at home and working on their father's farm.	54:12
	They do identical chores every day.	54:18
	Each complete the same amount of work as the other.	54:24
	When the results of that respective work are measured	54:31
	comes out even,	54:37
	but that's a difference between the two, personally.	54:41
	The difference is in their names.	54:47
	One is called Law,	54:51
	and the other, Faith.	54:54
	Wherein lies the difference?	54:58
	It's in two places,	55:00
	first, in motivation,	55:02
	in what makes them get up and go.	55:06
	Law does his work	55:11
	so that at the end of the day,	55:14
	he may hear the words, "Well done,	55:18
	good and faithful servant	55:23
	enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."	55:26
	Faith does his work	55:32
	because he already knows	55:36
	that he is the beloved son	55:40
	of his father.	55:43
	You can tell the difference in another way.	55:47
	In the look on their faces,	55:51
	Law shows the marks of tension,	55:55
	in his worried striving to be considered worthy.	55:59
	Faith has no signs of strain	56:08
	because he has already received the highest title	56:12
	a man may receive.	56:16
	Son, son of the father.	56:19
	The man who lives by faith	56:26
	lives with no anxiety at the hope of his being	56:28
	however much he may wrestle with problems of technique	56:32
	in the application of faith,	56:36
	in the implementation of faith,	56:38
	in the elucidation of faith.	56:40
	Oh brethren, this faith is an impossible possibility	56:43
	so long as we live in this world	56:48
	and so long as we're responsible to both church and state.	56:51
	Even so, even here,	56:56
	the experience of God may be joyful fact,	56:59
	which is seen in the joy with which we do our work as sons,	57:04
	daughters of God.	57:11
	This Christian faith, this biblical faith,	57:15
	this constantly re-experienced faith,	57:18
	is the good news that God and man	57:22
	are in a covenant relationship,	57:24
	which brings spiritual health, salvation,	57:27
	as an increasing byproduct.	57:31
	An understanding of that faith is the whole	57:35
	duty of man.	57:38
	Oh brethren, it's just the story of the incarnation	57:40
	all over again.	57:43
	It's the perennial appearance of Jesus Christ	57:46
	to fulfill the faith of the old Testament	57:49
	and reveal God himself in the gospels.	57:53
	And was seen again in Peter and Paul,	57:57
	in Dorcas and Mary,	58:00
	and now, thank God, walks in many folk	58:05
	on the campus of Duke University.	58:12
	Let us pray.	58:18
	Almighty and eternal God	58:26
	who has given unto us this goodly heritage,	58:29
	grant that in this university,	58:34
	we may not only seek after knowledge,	58:35
	but strive after righteousness,	58:38
	that we may both know the truth and live by faith	58:41
	as it has been one for us in thy word	58:47
	and revealed unto us in Jesus Christ thy son	58:50
	and may the blessing of the Lord come upon you abundantly,	58:55
	may it keep you strong and tranquil	59:00
	in the truth of his promises	59:04
	through Jesus Christ our Lord.	59:07
	♪ Amen ♪	59:18
	♪ Amen ♪	59:28
	♪ Amen ♪	59:38
	♪ Amen ♪	59:49
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:03
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:16
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:34
	(bell rings)	1:00:52

	(uplifting music)	0:03
	(choir sings indistinctly)	0:33
	(choir sings indistinctly)	0:55
	(uplifting music)	1:04
	(energetic music)	1:22
	♪ Praise thee oh Lord, the almighty ♪	1:56
	(choir sings indistinctly)	2:00
	♪ Praise thee oh Lord ♪	3:09
	(choir sings indistinctly)	3:11
-	Let us offer unto God our unison prayer of confession.	4:05
	Let us pray.	4:12
	Almighty and most merciful God,	4:15
	who knows the thoughts of our hearts,	4:19
	we confess that we have sinned against thee	4:22
	and done evil in thy sight.	4:25
	Forgive us oh Lord, we beseech thee,	4:29
	and cleanse us from the defilement of our sin.	4:32
	Give us grace and power,	4:37
	and put away all hurtful things,	4:40
	that being the liberated from evil,	4:43
	we may persevere in the way of thy righteousness	4:45
	all the days of our life,	4:50
	through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.	4:52
	And now as our savior Christ have taught us,	4:57
	we humbly pray together, saying,	5:01
	our father who art in heaven,	5:04
	hollowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,	5:08
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	5:13
	Give us this day our daily bread,	5:17
	and forgive us our trespasses,	5:21
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	5:23
	And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.	5:27
	For thine is the kingdom, and the power,	5:33
	and the glory forever, Amen.	5:36
	(uplifting music)	5:43
	(uplifting music)	6:29
	(choir sings indistinctly)	7:02
	(choir sings indistinctly)	7:33
	(choir sings indistinctly)	8:05
	(choir sings indistinctly)	8:48
	(uplifting music)	9:38
	The lesson is taken from Psalm 51,	10:03
	the first 17 verses of the 51st Psalm.	10:07
	"Have mercy on me, oh God,	10:14
	according to thy loving kindness,	10:17
	according to the multitude of thy tender mercies,	10:20
	blot out my transgressions.	10:24
	Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,	10:27
	and cleanse me from my sin.	10:31
	For I acknowledge my transgressions,	10:35
	and my sin is ever before me.	10:38
	Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,	10:42
	and done that which is evil in thy sight,	10:46
	that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,	10:51
	and be clear when thou judgest.	10:54
	Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,	10:58
	and in sin did my mother conceive me.	11:01
	Thou desirest truth in the inward parts,	11:05
	and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.	11:09
	Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean,	11:15
	wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.	11:19
	Make me to hear joy and gladness,	11:23
	that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.	11:26
	Hide thy face from my sins,	11:32
	and blot out all mine iniquities.	11:35
	Create in me a clean heart, oh God,	11:38
	and renew a right spirit within me.	11:42
	Cast me not away from thy presence,	11:46
	and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.	11:49
	Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation,	11:54
	and uphold me with thy free spirit.	11:57
	Then will I teach transgressors thy ways,	12:01
	and sinners shall be turned again unto thee.	12:05
	Deliver me from blood guiltiness, oh God,	12:10
	thou God of my salvation,	12:12
	and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.	12:14
	Oh Lord, open thou my lips,	12:18
	and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.	12:22
	For thou desirest not sacrifice,	12:27
	else would I give it, thou delightest not in burnt offering.	12:29
	The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,	12:35
	a broken and a contrite heart, Oh God,	12:42
	thou wilt not despise."	12:47
	May God bless to us this reading from his word,	12:50
	and to his name, be the glory forever, Amen.	12:54
	(uplifting music)	13:00
	(choir sings indistinctly)	13:38
	(choir sings indistinctly)	13:47
	(choir sings indistinctly)	13:57
	(choir sings indistinctly)	14:07
	(choir sings indistinctly)	14:18
	(choir sings indistinctly)	14:28
	(choir sings indistinctly)	14:38
	(choir sings indistinctly)	14:48
	(choir sings indistinctly)	15:00
	(choir sings indistinctly)	15:10
	(choir sings indistinctly)	15:20
	(choir sings indistinctly)	15:30
	(choir sings indistinctly)	15:41
	(choir sings indistinctly)	15:50
	(choir sings indistinctly)	16:00
	(choir sings indistinctly)	16:09
	♪ Amen ♪	16:20
	The Lord be with you.	16:29
Congregation	And with your spirit.	16:31
	Let us pray.	16:33
	Oh God, who are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable,	16:41
	glorious in holiness, full of love and compassion,	16:47
	abundant in grace and truth,	16:55
	All thy works praise thee in all places of thy dominion,	17:00
	and thy glory is revealed in Jesus Christ thy son,	17:06
	wherefore we praise thee,	17:12
	Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,	17:15
	one God, blessed forever.	17:19
	Our father in heaven, give us thankful hearts	17:25
	as we gladly recall thy continued goodness toward us.	17:30
	We thank thee for all thy gifts to thy children,	17:36
	for health, recreation, and refreshment,	17:41
	for interest in our work and power to do it,	17:46
	for all progress in things for which we care,	17:52
	for the companionship of fellow Christians,	17:58
	for all who have helped us	18:04
	with spiritual guidance or correction,	18:06
	for the unity of those who live in the spirit,	18:12
	for the pardon of our sins	18:19
	and the inspiration of thy presence.	18:22
	Thanks be to thee, oh God, in Jesus Christ our Lord.	18:26
	Oh God, our shepherd, give to the church	18:35
	a new vision and a new charity,	18:40
	new wisdom and fresh understanding,	18:45
	the revival of her brightness and the renewal of her unity,	18:49
	that the eternal message of thy son,	18:55
	undefiled by the traditions of men,	19:00
	may be hailed as the good news of the new age,	19:05
	through him who maketh all things knew,	19:10
	even Jesus Christ our Lord.	19:14
	Eternal God, in whom is our health and peace,	19:20
	how may we utter our need of thee.	19:27
	Our minds need thee to give them poise.	19:32
	Our will need thee to give them strength.	19:39
	Our hearts need thee to give them quiet.	19:45
	Oh thou, who understands us better than we do ourselves,	19:52
	grant unto us a healing, heartening consciousness	19:59
	of thy presence,	20:03
	as revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord.	20:06
	And the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ,	20:12
	be with us all evermore.	20:17
	Amen.	20:23
	(uplifting music)	20:29
	(uplifting music)	22:22
	(choir sings indistinctly)	22:43
	(choir sings indistinctly)	23:11
	(choir sings indistinctly)	23:22
	(choir sings indistinctly)	24:01
	(choir sings indistinctly)	24:25
	(choir sings indistinctly)	25:12
	(choir sings indistinctly)	26:31
	(choir sings indistinctly)	26:37
	(uplifting music)	27:22
	(choir sings indistinctly)	28:01
	♪ Amen ♪	28:28
	Oh, thou giver of every good and perfect gift,	28:35
	accept these, the offerings of thy children,	28:41
	which they return to thee with glad hearts,	28:46
	in Jesus Christ our Lord.	28:51
	Amen.	28:55
	(uplifting music)	28:58
	(uplifting music)	29:02
	My sin is ever before me, Psalm 51,	29:26
	part of verse three.	29:31
	My sin is ever before me.	29:34
	How do you explain the universal charm	29:37
	of the Negro Spiritual?	29:42
	It depends in part upon the simplicity of the words.	29:45
	It depends in part on the melancholy of the tune.	29:50
	But its major attraction is that it speaks	29:58
	a universal message to every waiting heart.	30:01
	Now there is one spiritual that seems to me	30:06
	relevant especially to the world in which we live.	30:11
	It's not my father, or my mother, or my sister,	30:16
	or my brother, but it's me, oh Lord,	30:21
	standing in the need of prayer.	30:25
	All of us have a genius for making excuses.	30:29
	All of us are able to hide from God.	30:34
	One of my friends in England is a prison chaplain.	30:39
	It's his duty every week to go around the prison cells,	30:44
	not precisely to make the men feel at home,	30:49
	but at least to make them feel that they have a friend.	30:53
	And he says that when he has completed his round,	30:57
	one might suppose that all the guilty people went outside,	31:02
	and all the innocent people went inside.	31:08
	So great is their facility for making excuse.	31:12
	But that isn't just the case with the prisoner,	31:18
	it's the case with us all.	31:21
	I heard of a song a few years ago in which a modern girl	31:24
	was confessing to misdemeanors in every verse.	31:28
	And in the chorus, she said,	31:32
	"But it's not my fault, it's just my glands."	31:34
	Now, when we have got this ability to hide from God,	31:39
	we are never able to feel the cutting edge of religion.	31:45
	God offers strength.	31:50
	But if we are not conscious of our weakness,	31:53
	why should we turn to God for strength?	31:57
	God offers grace.	32:01
	But if we are not conscious of our helplessness,	32:03
	why should we turn to God for grace?	32:07
	There are so many people who never truly know	32:12
	the power and dynamic of religion,	32:17
	because they never,	32:22
	never feel their need of God.	32:24
	But obviously, it's only when desperately	32:29
	we realize our urgent need of God	32:34
	that God can come to us and our whole life be transformed.	32:38
	How is he to do it?	32:45
	How can he push behind all our excuses,	32:47
	all our defense mechanisms	32:52
	until at last we are cornered?	32:55
	And we cry out, "It's not my father,	32:57
	or my mother, or my sister, or my brother,	33:00
	but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer."	33:04
	What is the strategy of God?	33:09
	Whereby, first of all, he can bring conviction	33:12
	in order that later, he may bring life.	33:18
	Well, in the strategy of God, first of all,	33:22
	there is the way of an awakened conscience.	33:26
	Once upon a time, a king looked out	33:31
	and he saw a beautiful woman.	33:36
	And desired that woman for himself.	33:39
	And so he sent her husband	33:43
	into the hottest part of the battlefield.	33:46
	And Uriah the Hittite was killed.	33:50
	And David took Bathsheba and made her his wife.	33:53
	And because he was king, there was no one	33:58
	in all the kingdom to say him nay.	34:03
	No one except the (indistinct) of Nathan the prophet.	34:06
	He pushed his way through the streets of Jerusalem,	34:12
	he came to the palace of the king,	34:16
	he demanded audience.	34:19
	And David said petulantly,	34:21
	"Well, Nathan, what is it?"	34:25
	And Nathan said, "I have a story to tell you."	34:29
	And David said, "Speak on."	34:33
	And Nathan said there was a rich man,	34:37
	a man who possessed great flocks and herds.	34:39
	And one day he looked out and he saw a poor man	34:43
	who only possessed one little ewe lamb.	34:48
	And although his possessions were so great,	34:53
	he had no ease of mind until he had robbed	34:58
	the poor man of the one ewe lamb.	35:03
	What should be done to that rich man?	35:08
	The eyes of David flashed,	35:12
	and his anger burnt hot within him,	35:15
	and he said, "The man must die."	35:18
	And Nathan extended his long and bony forefinger,	35:24
	and he said in measured tones,	35:29
	"Thou art the man."	35:32
	And in that moment of awakened conscience,	35:36
	in that moment of spiritual agony,	35:41
	David had no further excuses.	35:45
	He was driven by God's strategy into God's corner.	35:50
	He turned like a wounded animal at bay.	35:57
	And he looked into the face of love.	36:01
	For when he knew that he was a sinner,	36:07
	he found in God, a savior.	36:13
	My sin is ever before me,	36:17
	wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.	36:20
	Because he came in penitence,	36:25
	he found the releasing power of God.	36:29
	Now, I was told when I began my ministry,	36:35
	always to push behind the accidentals of a congregation,	36:39
	behind their status in life.	36:46
	And to remember that in every single case,	36:49
	I preach to a congregation of sinners.	36:54
	And this morning, I preach to those	36:58
	who have sinned desperately.	37:02
	It's true, of course, that the outside world is kind to us.	37:05
	They do not fast nor guilt upon us.	37:11
	They accept us in their casual, easy, and indulgent fashion.	37:16
	And even our very friends can be all too kind.	37:22
	Very rarely does the frosty light	37:29
	come into the eye.	37:33
	All too readily, they are willing to accept us	37:35
	at our own valuation.	37:41
	A man can escape from the cloud,	37:43
	a man can escape from his friends,	37:46
	but a man can never escape from himself.	37:50
	You remember John (indistinct) where this play	37:56
	of the escaped convict who cried out,	37:58
	"I may escape from others, but never from myself."	38:01
	When we've done wrong in thought,	38:07
	or word, or deed,	38:11
	there are the bogus that keep us awake at night,	38:14
	and the furies that pursue us by day.	38:19
	Outwardly, we seem to be all right.	38:23
	Inwardly, we know that we fallen short of the glory of God.	38:28
	And when there comes the moment of guilt,	38:34
	when there is the overwhelming sense of shame,	38:39
	when by God's strategy,	38:44
	we are visited by God himself,	38:48
	so that it is he who driving us into a corner,	38:52
	then comes the difference between one man and the next.	38:57
	For one man surveys his bruises,	39:03
	and he shrugs his shoulders,	39:06
	and he goes off whistling into the darkness.	39:09
	But another man recognizes that this is God's visitation,	39:13
	realizes by the pain of an awakened conscience	39:20
	that he's got no excuse, no defense.	39:26
	And because he knows he is at bay,	39:30
	he swings round and looks into the face of God.	39:36
	And it is mercy, bountiful mercy	39:41
	that is written there.	39:47
	For if anyone in this congregation	39:49
	who has sinned and who knows their sin,	39:53
	and who, even as they listen to me,	39:58
	are conscious of an inward shame,	40:02
	I am commissioned by almighty God to say to you	40:05
	that if you are ready in penitence	40:10
	to confess that sin,	40:15
	he is ready and able to forgive your sin	40:19
	and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.	40:24
	So that when you are convicted of being a sinner,	40:28
	you may find in God, a savior.	40:33
	And the first way is the way of an awakened conscience.	40:38
	But there is a second way	40:45
	by which God accomplishes his ends,	40:47
	fulfills his immemorial plan,	40:51
	passes the low lintel of the human heart.	40:55
	And the second way is the way of life's inadequacy.	40:59
	Once upon a time, there was a young man,	41:07
	and he left his father's home without a single thought	41:12
	of what the father had done.	41:19
	He sought the shining city beyond the rim	41:22
	of the distant hills.	41:26
	He would fulfill himself.	41:29
	And he came to the far country.	41:32
	And whilst he had money, he had friends.	41:34
	And the days passed quickly.	41:39
	But his money went, his friends went,	41:42
	and he found himself reduced to seeking employment	41:47
	even as a swine herd.	41:53
	And one day as he stirred moodily at the pigs,	41:56
	as they grunted in their swill,	42:01
	he said, "Enough, enough, I was never meant for this."	42:03
	In his despair, in his disillusionment,	42:10
	he realized the things that this life can give	42:16
	and the things that this life can never give.	42:22
	As he stared at the pigs, he recognized	42:27
	that if he was to know a peace passing understanding,	42:33
	and the power to make him stronger than the strong,	42:37
	and the joy that nothing could disturb,	42:42
	he must get back to the father's home.	42:45
	And so he turned his back on the pigs,	42:49
	that he might turn his face to the father.	42:55
	There is no doubting the fact	43:00
	that we live in a technically marvelous age.	43:03
	We who especially live in America	43:08
	are those who have become the spoiled children of fortune.	43:13
	We have so many toys	43:19
	that are tossed unto our lap.	43:23
	And the great heresy is to suppose	43:27
	that the pound or the dollar can buy us all that we need,	43:33
	so that when we get bigger and better automobiles,	43:39
	or TV sets, or houses, or what would you,	43:43
	then we shall come into our El Dorado,	43:47
	into the land of heart's desire.	43:53
	Let us have that in greater abundance	43:57
	and we shall ask no more.	44:02
	There could not be a more piteous	44:05
	travesty of living.	44:10
	Not very long ago, I saw a large woman,	44:14
	and in her arms, there was a little lap dog,	44:20
	an odious creature.	44:27
	I protest to you a hateful little creature.	44:30
	It was brushed, and combed,	44:34
	and shampooed.	44:39
	And there was a little coatee	44:42
	on its odious little back.	44:46
	And in a moment of wild imagining,	44:49
	I was able to reconstruct its life's history.	44:54
	It would have the central part	44:59
	in front of the fire.	45:03
	It would be kept free from all the drafts.	45:06
	It would be fed on the choicest morsels.	45:11
	It would know a pet dog's paradise.	45:15
	And if we are the pet dogs of creation,	45:21
	feed us, clothe us, warm us, keep us secure,	45:25
	and we shall ask for nothing else.	45:30
	But if we are not poodles, but men,	45:34
	if trailing clouds of glory	45:38
	do we come from God who is our home,	45:41
	if the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord,	45:44
	if eternity has been set in our heart,	45:49
	if we are made in the divine image,	45:53
	then when you've done everything,	45:57
	we are still poverty stricken	46:00
	and bankrupt without the riches of God's grace.	46:03
	And in the strategy of God, sooner or later,	46:09
	not by the eloquence of the preacher,	46:15
	but by the bludgeonings of life, men come to know it.	46:18
	With all the material prosperity	46:23
	of a America and of Western Europe,	46:27
	there never was a time	46:31
	when our mental hospitals were so full.	46:33
	There never was a time when our psychiatrists	46:37
	were doing such a roaring business.	46:42
	There never was a time when the word frustration	46:45
	was so freely used.	46:50
	We have got everything and we possess nothing.	46:53
	Because there are certain things	46:58
	that the far country can never give.	47:02
	It can never supply a way to tread,	47:07
	nor power to tread it, nor the lights of home	47:11
	at the end of the journey.	47:16
	And sooner or later in the strategy of God,	47:18
	a man comes to know life's inadequacy.	47:22
	One of our writers have said that history	47:27
	is the long deferred term of repentance.	47:31
	It's not just true of nations, it's true of men.	47:36
	Sooner or later we know the hollowness	47:41
	of a space time order.	47:46
	We know the things it can never supply	47:49
	are the things that most we need.	47:54
	And in that moment of disillusionment,	47:57
	we are only one step from God.	48:02
	If we like, we can continue in our despair,	48:06
	continuing our boredom,	48:12
	continuing our disillusionment	48:15
	until the little play is over	48:18
	and we pass out from the stage.	48:21
	But if we will,	48:24
	we can take our own inner restlessness	48:28
	as a sign of God's strategy.	48:33
	We can turn from the pigs,	48:36
	that we may turn to the father.	48:41
	There's only one instance in the whole of the Bible,	48:44
	when under a figure of speech,	48:49
	we're told that God was running,	48:50
	when God was in a hurry.	48:53
	When at last the prodigal son came back,	48:56
	the father ran halfway to meet him.	49:02
	And if there are those of you	49:09
	who, recognizing the limitations	49:11
	of this life,	49:16
	are ready to come back home,	49:18
	God in this service will come halfway	49:21
	to meet you.	49:26
	Well, there's the way of awakened conscience	49:28
	and the way of life's inadequacy.	49:31
	The third way of God's strategy	49:35
	is the way of the thunder and the lightning.	49:38
	Once upon a time, there was a jailer,	49:43
	an ordinary jailer, a commonplace jailer,	49:48
	a conscientious jailer.	49:53
	The jailer, a Philippi.	49:55
	And when he got home one night, his wife said to him,	49:59
	"Well, my dear, has anything happened specially today?	50:05
	And he said, "Woman, you're always asking that question.	50:11
	You know perfectly well that nothing ever happens	50:16
	to a jailer."	50:20
	But she said, "Didn't you have any new prisoners?"	50:23
	"Oh," he said, "as far as that's concerned, yes,	50:27
	we had two troublesome fellows.	50:31
	One was called Paul and one was called Silas.	50:34
	And because they were so dangerous,	50:39
	I had to put them in my best dungeon and keep them fast."	50:42
	And now he said, "Woman you've asked enough.	50:49
	Give me my food and let me be."	50:52
	And being a wise wife, she knew that she would receive	50:54
	no further information.	51:00
	So she gave him his food and he went to bed.	51:02
	He was a nice fellow,	51:06
	he was an amiable fellow,	51:08
	he was a good natured fellow.	51:10
	But only two things that he didn't know,	51:14
	the two most important things in the world.	51:17
	He supposed that one day was like another day.	51:22
	And he supposed that one man was like another man.	51:28
	And that very night, God took his education in hand.	51:32
	The heavens stooped down to the earth,	51:39
	and the earth raised itself up to the heavens,	51:42
	and in the convulsions of nature, for the first time,	51:45
	the jailer recognized the immensity of all created things,	51:52
	that there were some questions he could not answer,	51:57
	some days that were not like other days.	52:01
	And with a new humility, he went to the prison.	52:05
	And the second half of his lesson was taught him.	52:10
	Because when he got to the prison,	52:13
	he found that the earthquake had shattered the doors,	52:17
	shattered the chains.	52:22
	The prisoners could escape.	52:24
	And then, (speaks in foreign language),	52:27
	then in his amazement,	52:30
	he saw that there are some prisoners	52:33
	who will not escape.	52:37
	And he realized that one man is not like another man,	52:41
	that there are immensities in human nature	52:47
	that no jailer can comprehend.	52:51
	Now, we're decent people, we are nice people,	52:55
	we're amiable people, God knows we are good natured people.	52:58
	But we make two profound mistakes.	53:01
	We suppose that one day is like another day.	53:07
	We suppose that one man is like another man.	53:12
	We have been taught to believe that thanks to science,	53:18
	we have an answer to the universe,	53:23
	we are able to harness its forces,	53:26
	we can discover its secrets,	53:30
	God is no longer needed.	53:33
	And in the same way, we have been taught	53:38
	that one man is like another man.	53:40
	A man can be summed up	53:44
	in terms of his complexes,	53:46
	his instincts, his repressions,	53:50
	so that you can have a map of the human spirit.	53:54
	The theologian has been bowed out	53:59
	in order that the psychiatrist may come in.	54:03
	And we are taught that there is nothing mysterious,	54:07
	nothing frightening about the human spirit.	54:13
	And by God's strategy, sooner or later,	54:20
	we are taught the most significant lesson in life.	54:26
	We are brought to understand	54:32
	that one day is not like another day,	54:36
	that in the immensities of nature,	54:40
	our minds are baffled and bewildered,	54:44
	as a little child that cries piteously in a great void.	54:48
	And in the same fashion,	54:54
	we sooner all later come to know	54:57
	that you cannot standardize men.	55:03
	You cannot label them.	55:07
	In the same newspaper, there is the story	55:11
	of one man's incredible lust.	55:16
	And in the next column, the story	55:20
	of a man's incredible heroism.	55:24
	Indeed, they could belong to one and the same man,	55:27
	so complex is human nature.	55:32
	And when in God's strategy, sooner of later,	55:37
	by the thunder and the lightning,	55:40
	by life's lessons in pain, and sorrow, and need,	55:43
	we know the immensity of nature	55:48
	and the immensity of human nature.	55:53
	Then, like the jailer, a Philippi,	55:56
	we fall down trembling on our knees,	56:00
	and like him, we say, "What must I do?	56:03
	What must I do?	56:07
	What must I do to be saved?"	56:10
	There is no man who is big enough	56:15
	to tread life's pathless way alone.	56:20
	And sooner or later, God confounds us with his majesty,	56:25
	with his thunder and lightning,	56:31
	so that we fall down without excuse,	56:34
	without delay.	56:39
	It's not my father, or my mother,	56:42
	or my sister, or my brother,	56:48
	but it's me, oh Lord,	56:53
	standing in the need of prayer.	56:56
	And when we come to that sublime moment,	57:01
	standing in the need of prayer,	57:08
	there is only one prayer that will ever come to our lips.	57:12
	Come, Lord Jesus, come, Lord Jesus.	57:18
	Even so, come quickly.	57:23
	And when we say that to God, he never,	57:27
	never keeps us waiting.	57:32
	Amen.	57:37
	Let us pray.	57:38
	The congregation will stand.	57:48
	Oh God our Father, teach us to know our complete	57:52
	and utter need of thee.	57:59
	And as we come in all our helplessness,	58:01
	do thou come to us in all the sufficiency of thy grace.	58:05
	And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,	58:10
	and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit	58:14
	be with us all this day and evermore.	58:18
	Amen.	58:25
	(uplifting music)	58:26
	(choir sings indistinctly)	58:31
	(church bell ringing)	59:59

Item Info

Title:

James T. Cleland - "What Is This Christian Faith?"; Maldwyn Edwards - "God's Strategy" (October 14, 1956; November 18, 1956)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r41g0nw35

Date:

October 14, 1956
November 18, 1956

Speaker:

Cleland, James T. (James Tough), 1903-1974

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0027
ref5275_de4
uachapelsermaud
duke:628284
dcrau002078
ark:/87924/r41g0nw35
d11667f8-c170-4880-8b38-f45cd3010e7d

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

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Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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James T. Cleland - "What Is This Christian Faith?"; Maldwyn Edwards - "God's Strategy" (October 14, 1956; November 18, 1956)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives

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