[0:00] Let's sing together, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.! I will sing! And one of them that I overlooked was God's mercies to our young people and to Dan and Jody! for their survival with our young people in this winter retreat Thursday through yesterday.
[0:22] And we're hoping to have testimonies at our all church prayer meeting from our young people on what God taught them this week. Well, that's to a week from Wednesday.
[0:34] We're studying in this class the place of resolution in the Christian life and what we found in the Bible is that resolve, that firm determination, that pre-commitment to a course of action is of great importance in living a Christ-like life.
[0:52] Indeed, resolution is a mark of a godly man or a godly woman. We see it in Daniel and David in Christ himself.
[1:02] So, it's part, it's as well part of all biblical repentance to not only renounce the past way of life, but to resolve that henceforth I will walk in newness of life by God's Spirit.
[1:21] So, it's at the same time something we are to pursue, we are to resolve, and yet at the same time it's something that the Holy Spirit works in us.
[1:31] Both the will and the power to do. So, it's that working in us, that willingness, that I will do this by God's grace. That's the Spirit's work in us as well as our own pursuit.
[1:45] Now, we're especially looking at the place of resolution in the life of the psalmist, and we're using, borrowing much from the book by P.B. Power, the I wills of the psalm.
[2:01] And we've seen two resolves so far. What are they? Anyone? Give me one. I will obey. And the second? Last week?
[2:12] I will trust you. And put together, they make, I will trust and obey. Really a fine summary of the Christian life.
[2:27] Trusting and obeying. Now, we saw last week that this resolve to trust God also looks like this. I will lie down and sleep in peace.
[2:40] That's another sign of this resolve to trust God. I will lie down and sleep in peace. I will take refuge beneath the shadow of your wing until the disaster passes by.
[2:56] I will call on you in my trouble. So those are some of the ways that the I will of trust is seen in our life.
[3:07] Now, we come to the next resolution of the psalmist, and it's the I will of testimony. I will testify. I will testify.
[3:18] Now, power directs us to five different texts in the psalms where the psalmist says, I will. I will tell. I will make known. I will declare.
[3:28] I will proclaim. I will teach. What do all those words have in common? I will tell, make known, declare, proclaim, teach.
[3:42] Speaking, doesn't it? It all has to do with the use of our mouth. So we're going to lump them all together under this one resolve. I will testify. Turn to Psalm 9 and verse 1.
[4:06] Power has in mind here chiefly our manward audience. I will testify to other people, both believers and unbelievers. Later in this series, we'll look at the resolution, I will praise you, O God.
[4:22] And there he will be concerned with the words of our mouth in praise to God. So if we can distinguish those two different aspects, I know there's much overlap.
[4:33] But for today, the idea of the psalmist is, I will testify as to its manward direction towards believers and unbelievers.
[4:44] And here in Psalm 9 and verse 1, he begins, I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart. I will tell of all your wonders. So here's a resolve to speak for God.
[4:57] In so many different ways and venues that we find ourselves in, the psalmist says, I will tell of all your wonders.
[5:09] It's his resolve to open his mouth and to tell others what God has done. It's a resolve to have God on our lips and not to hold back speaking about him in our varied conversations, whether it's fellowship with other believers here, when we say, hear what the Lord has done for me, or whether it's our witness to the lost.
[5:32] I will tell of all your wonders. And who of us does not need to resolve that our lips will not be silent, but will indeed tell of the wonders of our God, to firmly determine that by the grace of God, I want to be a man, a woman, on whose lips the name of the Lord Jesus is often found throughout my day.
[5:54] Now, in Psalm 9, David does indeed tell the wonders of his God. God had delivered him from his enemies, and he can't say enough about him and about it.
[6:06] In verse 9, he says the refuge, talks of the refuge that he is for the oppressed, the stronghold in time of trouble. Verse 10, he speaks of the way that he never forsakes those who seek him.
[6:19] In verse 12, that he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted. So he's telling about God's great deliverances in his life.
[6:31] And dear believer, has God not delivered us? And is he not delivering us from our threefold enemy of the world and the flesh and the devil? Well, this is just the resolution to talk about that.
[6:45] Have we no wonders to tell of him being a stronghold in the time of our troubles and of the peace and the security we find in him as we were passing through those troubled waters and of him not ignoring our cry when we were afflicted and cried to God for help.
[7:05] Well, then resolve to tell it out. Determine not to keep it to yourself. His good deeds in your life are not to find in you a grave, but rather a sounding board.
[7:18] To sound abroad the wonders he has done. Now, flip over to Psalm 145 where we have a similar resolve from the psalmist.
[7:31] These are Psalms of David. Psalm 145 and verses 4 to 6.
[7:43] And I want you to pay attention not only to the language of resolve, I will, but especially to the shift from they to I.
[7:54] He starts out in verse 4. One generation will commend your works to another. They will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty.
[8:09] And then in verse 6. They will tell of the power of your awesome works. And I will proclaim your great deeds. You see, the I, the personal resolve, I will proclaim your great deeds.
[8:25] Not only will one generation do that to the next, but I'm included in this. And I hereby resolve to not be a silent partner in the generation of the godly, but to tell forth your great deeds.
[8:40] So David's personal participation in proclaiming God's deeds is a resolution that he often renews before the Lord. I will tell. I will proclaim.
[8:52] And I think this is one of the great values of the Psalms. This is devotional material. This is David opening up his heart before the Lord in his own relationship with God.
[9:03] And we get a listen in and we hear what David is saying to his Lord. And he says, I will proclaim your deeds. He's found resolving again before the Lord to testify.
[9:15] Now over to Psalm 89. The third passage in the Psalms that speaks of this resolution to testify. Psalm 89 and verses 1 and 2.
[9:33] I will sing of the Lord's great love forever. With my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever.
[9:46] That you established your faithfulness in heaven itself. Now we sang these two verses as we began. And I wonder if you noticed your resolve before the Lord as you sang them.
[10:00] I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. I will make known your love and your faithfulness. That's the declaration of resolve.
[10:11] That God's love and faithfulness are too great to keep to ourselves. But we must make them known and declare them. Pastor Jason is teaching us about the love of God on Sunday nights.
[10:23] And it ought to meet in our hearts this resolve. Lord, I will make known your love. I will not just come and dwell on it for myself. But I will make it known to my brothers and sisters.
[10:37] To the world that so needs to taste the love that is in Christ. So the resolution to make known to declare.
[10:47] Then over to Psalm 22. And we're going to camp a little longer on this text. It's got its own uniqueness. What do we know about Psalm 22?
[11:07] Just on the face of it. It's one of the Messianic Psalms. What does that mean? It's about Christ.
[11:18] Okay. So it's about Christ. The Messiah. That not saying that David is not expressing in Psalm 22. His own struggles and fears and faith.
[11:32] But that in Psalm 22 there is another layer of interpretation. That we are hearing here a greater son of David speaking. And that's very clear from the first verse, isn't it?
[11:43] My God. My God. Why have you abandoned me? Now David was in many situations where he felt abandoned and would have cried out to God perhaps in the very language of these words.
[11:56] But this is the cry from the cross. And we realize as we go on that this is our Savior dying on the cross. And there's many references to that. All his bones are showing and his wounds and everyone surrounding him with hatred and so on.
[12:13] So this is a greater than David. The Messiah is here speaking about his own experiences of suffering on the cross. So when we come down to verse 22, and that's the verse we're headed to, we realize that these two are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[12:31] Look at verse 22 and see if you can hear the resolve of the Lord Jesus in it. I will declare your name to my brothers in the congregation.
[12:45] I will praise you. Now here the Lord Jesus is pouring out his heart to his father on the cross. And yet he's saying, I will declare your name to my brothers.
[13:00] In the congregation I will praise you. Now the New Testament confirms our conclusion that this is Jesus speaking. Just hold your place and turn over to Hebrews 2 and verse 12.
[13:14] Hebrews 2 and verse 12. Where the author of the book is wanting us to know that Jesus Christ is of the same family as his people.
[13:30] And that he counts us as brothers. And notice in verse 11 of Hebrews 2. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.
[13:43] So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. How does the author to the Hebrews know that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers? Well he quotes Psalm 22, 22.
[13:55] He says, I've heard the very words of Jesus to this effect. And so he says, he says, who says? Jesus says. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
[14:07] He says, I will declare your name to my brothers. In the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises. Just look on to the next verse where we see another resolution of Jesus.
[14:23] And I missed this one last week. And so I'm coming with an addendum to last week's study on the I will of trust. Look what he says next. And again, this is what Jesus says.
[14:34] I will put my trust in him. Let us never forget that besides being God, Jesus was fully man. And as man, he went through this life.
[14:45] Not exercising his deity when he was in trouble and needed help. But rather exercising his trust in his heavenly father that we might see in him.
[14:56] How we too in our troubles are to trust in our heavenly father. So when Satan tempts him when he's hungry, hasn't eaten for 40 days. And says you can't trust your heavenly father to provide for you.
[15:08] If you're going to eat, you're going to have to turn these stones into bread. You're going to have to stretch out your deity and your power as God to change the stones to bread. And Jesus says, no, I don't.
[15:19] I just have to trust my heavenly father. And all he has to do is speak. And I will live. Because man doesn't live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
[15:30] I will put my trust in him. So we see the I will of trust in Jesus. And we see the I will of testify. I will declare your name to my brothers.
[15:46] And it seems that this is something that's stated even before the experience of deliverance comes to him. That right in the midst of the deep waters of Calvary's agony, There's this sense of I will trust him.
[16:01] Yes, Lord, help me. And I will tell of all your wonders to my brothers. It almost carries the weight of a vow. That when men were in trouble, we find them in the Old Testament saying, Lord, help me.
[16:14] And if you do, I will praise you in the midst of the congregation. Indeed, verse 25, just a few verses down, we read, From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly.
[16:25] Before those who fear you, will I fulfill my vows? That promise to praise his name if he would deliver him. So what does it mean I will declare your name to my brothers?
[16:39] Anyone? What does it mean to declare the name of God to his brothers? Yes, Mark?
[16:50] All that he is. All that, all his character. All his righteousness. All his attributes. Good. So his name stands for all that he is.
[17:03] In the same way that when I speak of you, And I think, oh, Ron. I think of all that Ron is. And Mark, okay, the name carries all that he is.
[17:14] And so in declaring the name of the Lord, Jesus is saying, I will reveal you to my brothers. Indeed, John 1.18 says that he has exegeted him.
[17:24] He has explained him to us. Just as a pastor tries to exegete and draw out the meaning of a text. So Jesus is the exegesis of the Father. And I will declare you, your name, all that you are, to my brothers.
[17:41] That's us. That's the body of Christ. And this is then the testifying of fellowship, isn't it? I wonder about our conversation then with one another. Do we speak of the things of Christ to one another in the church, in the home, at lunch with one another?
[17:59] And Power says it's best when it's not forced, but it's natural. Like someone who can't help but speak about something they're excited about. Like Peter did, speaking about his Savior.
[18:14] And he cites the verse, Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if the heart's full of Christ, the mouth can't help but overflow with words about his Savior.
[18:25] And where the treasure is, there will the heart be also. And he goes on to say, and where the heart is, the mouth will also be. And so if we're treasuring Christ, if he's filling our hearts, then it's like something welling up inside, and there's only one vent, and it's your mouth.
[18:45] And out he comes. And that's the way we best testify to one another and to the world, that which we have known and seen and experienced of our great God and Savior.
[18:59] Now, what's the result of such proclaiming? When we proclaim the Lord to our brothers and sisters, what's the result of that for them?
[19:14] Anyone? Anyone? What could be the result for them if I am declaring God to my brothers and sisters?
[19:28] I'm sorry? Do you have a decision tonight? Okay. In what way, Paul? Well, to follow the Lord as they do. Okay. It may be that your speaking to them will be a spur for them to commit themselves to the Lord, especially if they're wayward.
[19:47] And our speaking of God to them could be used as a spur. Indeed, that's what Hebrews says we're to be doing every time we gather, to spur each other on to love and good deeds, that they would see something about God and hear something about Him that would spur them on to decision to follow more carefully in His steps.
[20:05] What else could happen to our brother or sister? We kind of encourage you to do the first thing. Hmm. Good. So that brother or sister could go away encouraged to not quit.
[20:22] Isn't that what Isaiah is doing to some downhearted believers who thought God doesn't know and He doesn't care? And just these words in verse 26 are meant to encourage them.
[20:34] He does know. He does care. And so they go away encouraged. They go away comforted. Whatever their need is, the Word of God about our God will bless them in many different ways.
[20:48] And what about yourself? He who refreshes others is himself refreshed. And so we can be refreshed even as we speak about our Lord and power says as well, we will have less idle words to give account of in the day of judgment.
[21:08] And isn't that something to think about? As Jesus said, we will give an account for every idle word that we've spoken. Well, you see, if we're speaking to one another about the Lord, we'll be kept from so many idle words that would be unprofitable and even sinful words because when words are many, sin is not absent.
[21:25] Proverbs 10, 19. And what about God? What will be the result Godward when we are talking to each other about Him? He's glorified.
[21:35] He's exalted. He's honored. Malachi 3, 16. Then those who feared the Lord talked to each other. They talked with each other. And the Lord listened and heard.
[21:47] And a scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name. He is listening to the conversations that are passing between the brothers and sisters today.
[22:00] And when He hears His name, He takes pleasure in it and He is glorified. He's honored. So that's the resolve of I will testify and testifying to our brothers.
[22:14] Now we're turning to the testifying to the world in Psalm 51. And if you turn to this Psalm, I believe it's the last of the Psalms that we'll be looking at, the I will of testifying.
[22:31] Psalm 51. So on our way to church, it would be proper for us to resolve, Lord, I will, by Your grace today, testify of You to my brothers and sisters.
[22:44] Help me to that end. And hopefully we have been filling ourselves all week long with a relationship with Jesus that there might be the overflow out of our mouths. Here, Psalm 51, 13.
[22:58] We hear the resolve to testify in David's Psalm of repentance after his adultery with Bathsheba. Verse 13. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will turn back to you.
[23:16] Notice here the resolve to testify takes the form of teaching. Indeed, when we speak about God and His ways, we are teaching, aren't we? And here the audience is specifically transgressors and sinners who have strayed from God.
[23:34] So the psalm begins with His confession to the Lord of His sin and His crying out for mercy. In verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me.
[23:48] Verse 12. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Verse 13. Then. Then. That's an important word.
[24:00] Then. I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted to you. Now, why would David then be ready to testify to transgressors and sinners?
[24:15] What's in the then? Why then, Roger? Well, the Lord has restored him to full fellowship with him.
[24:30] He said, you can do it with me. Certainly do it with me. Okay. Once he has been restored to fellowship, once he's been forgiven, a new heart, a steadfast spirit put within him, cleansed.
[24:46] Well, then he's able to say to others, if he can do it to me, he can do it for you. And so he goes to the world as one with a personal testimony of cleansing and restoration.
[25:04] Experience. It's under high demand in the business world. I'm sure that, Larry, as you hire people, if they come with experience, that's a mark in their favor, isn't it? Experience.
[25:15] It's high on demand in the world, but so in this business of testifying. There's nothing like a personal testimony, is there? When someone's talking about their experience, and even dark experiences in sin can be overruled to be used for the good of teaching the gospel to others.
[25:38] I wonder how many of you have learned a thing or two from David's psalms of repentance. Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm 51. And you said, wow, if an Old Testament saint like David could find such forgiveness in this sacrifice for sin.
[25:56] How much more can I, a new covenant believer, when Jesus has shed his blood and risen. And so the very experiences of David, dark though they be, have been a wonderful encouragement to others.
[26:10] God used his fall to teach us, lest we fall. And what to do when we do fall. These things were written for our learning. The personal word of testimony.
[26:21] Now, power says, this is not to teach. Let us do evil then, so that good may come. Well, if adultery can bring forth good to others, then let's commit adultery. No, he says, not at all.
[26:34] It's just recognizing that God loves to take what Satan means for evil and to turn it to good. To bring forth life out of death.
[26:45] Grace out of sin. And isn't that what Jesus told Simon? Even before he denied him. Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon.
[26:57] And when you have recovered, strengthen your brothers. Oh, here's that testifying of God to our brothers as well.
[27:08] And it's even Peter's fall that will enable him to be a better brother. To recover his brothers and strengthen them.
[27:20] Power says, if we see someone hurrying to the brink of a pit into which we have earlier fallen. And in which we suffered hurt. Let us give him the benefit of our experience.
[27:31] And if possible, save him before he plunges in. But if we cannot do this, oh, remembering what we suffered ourselves in that pit. Let us pray him out of the pit if we can.
[27:44] Let us stand at the mouth of it and out of our own experience. Teach him the only way of escape. And so rescue his soul. I met a man this Wednesday night who goes to AA meetings.
[28:00] And there tells the folks about his sin of drunkenness. And how Jesus is a savior from such sin. And that only the blood of Jesus will forgive sin.
[28:11] And he's found that he has a sphere there. A place where he can testify. You see, his own sin is provided now a platform on which to tell sinners.
[28:23] About this recovering grace of Jesus Christ. Power says, A mother who was snared in her own young days by the love of human praise.
[28:34] May warn her children from her own experience. And instruct them to live for the approving word of Jesus alone. The one who yielded to pride or worldliness or selfishness.
[28:45] Foolish habits. Addictions. Can warn others from their experience. And point the way to Christ. One who has repented and had the joy of salvation restored. Can tell others who have fallen.
[28:59] About these joys of restoring grace and love. Do you ever wonder why the angel in the book of Acts.
[29:09] Did not just tell Cornelius and his family the gospel. Remember, the angel went to Cornelius.
[29:21] And told him to send for Peter. Way far away. And then the angel went to Peter and says, You're going to get a visit. And he taught him the whole thing about the Gentiles being included.
[29:32] And when he comes, go with him. All this work that the angel went to. To get Peter over to Cornelius. So that they could hear the gospel and believe. Why didn't the angel just tell Cornelius and his household?
[29:45] He can't. He has never been saved. He's never been saved himself. What is it telling us? It's telling us that God wants his gospel to be passed from one redeemed sinner to another sinner who needs redemption.
[29:58] That he wants someone who has tasted the grace of God themselves. To be the one who goes to a sinner who's not tasted. And to persuade them to take their savior.
[30:10] An angel could do it sinlessly. An angel could do it without the fear of man that I struggle with. He could do it without error. Instead of my stumbling mouth. Why does God want us to testify?
[30:24] Simply because we have tasted that the Lord is good. And there's no one more qualified to testify to a sinner. Than one who has found salvation in Jesus Christ.
[30:38] So we see that throughout the gospel. Luke 24. God's plan is Jesus reveals his plan. It was revealed that Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.
[30:52] And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning in Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And I think those disciples must have said, Whoa, us?
[31:03] The whole world? Us? Us? But again, he didn't choose angels. But sinners. As Power says, Whose cheeks were still salted with the tears of repentance.
[31:16] And whose hearts are still rejoicing in forgiveness of sins. The man, and I quote Power, The man who determines to seize opportunities as they're presented to him.
[31:27] And to work with humble means when great ones are not entrusted to him may do wonders in the spiritual world. He gives the example, and I'm going to give you as many as we can in the time remaining, of those who laid hold of opportunities.
[31:43] Some small, some greater. A great minister, Lyman Beecher of Cincinnati. I think this was, I know it was back in the horse and buggy days.
[31:54] Well, I'm not sure when. But he agreed to a pulpit swap with another man there, a country minister. And when the midwinter Sunday arrived, it brought a snowstorm with winds and severe cold temperatures.
[32:10] The drifts made it difficult to get there, but he urged his horse on and they made it to the church. He put his horse in a shed and went inside. No one was there, so he took his seat up in the pulpit.
[32:24] The time to begin, soon a man came in and walked up the aisle and looked around and sat down. The time to begin arrived and no one else had come. What to do?
[32:35] Well, Beecher was not long in deciding. He was determined to seize the opportunity, even though it was a small one. He had a duty to perform and he had no right to refuse it, simply because only one would benefit from his words.
[32:48] So he carried on his plan. Praying, singing, preaching the benediction to one hearer. After the benediction, he hurried down to meet his congregation.
[33:00] But by the time he got there, he had already escaped. Twenty years later, Mr. Beecher was traveling in Ohio one day and as he got off the stagecoach in a village, a gentleman stepped up and called him by name as if he knew him.
[33:16] Mr. Beecher said, I don't know you. I suppose not, said the stranger, but we spent two hours there, two hours alone once in a house in a storm. I don't remember it, sir.
[33:29] When was it? The old minister asked. Do you remember preaching twenty years ago in such a place to a single person? Yes, yes, I do indeed. And he took his hand. And if you're the man, I've been wanting to see you ever since.
[33:43] I am the man, sir. And that sermon was used to save my soul and make a minister of me. And yonder is my church. And the converts of that sermon are all over Ohio.
[33:58] So, Power says, if we cannot do what we would, let us do what we can. We might like to preach to thousands, but if we can preach to one, if we can testify to one, let's do that.
[34:09] Remember that woman who broke the alabaster jar of expensive perfume and they all got on her case and Jesus defended her and said, she did what she could. Let us resolve to do what we can in the way of testifying in whatever sphere God has put us in.
[34:26] You know, he's given you a sphere of influence. He's given me a sphere. A house in which to let our light shine to all who are in it. Now, who's in your house? Who's in your sphere of light shining and testimony giving?
[34:39] Whether the mother with her little ones around her. Or the Sunday school teacher. William Milne was the second missionary sent out by the London Missionary Society to China, just behind his colleague Robert Morrison, back in the early 1800s.
[34:56] And just before he left England for China while he was preaching in his home church, an old man who belonged to that church was observed weeping and weeping. Later, when asked why, he said, I remember the day when I took William Milne by the shoulders and turned him out of Sunday school for his inveterate obstinacy and stupidity.
[35:17] Well, yes, he was a lost little boy. But who knows what God can do with a seed planted in that little boy. Later, he's out preaching to Chinese, the gospel of a Jesus they had never heard about.
[35:29] Two dear friends from Grand Rapids in the concrete business together. Some of the money they made from pouring concrete was put in a fund to buy good books to teach pastors about the wonders of their God.
[35:44] And folks, that's how I came by this book, The I Will's of the Psalms by P.B. Power, as they placed it into my hand 32 years ago, and this is my second time through it, they did what they could.
[35:58] And to talk with them, you would soon hear them testifying as well of what God had done for them. We heard Wednesday night about Chris Santiago when he first went to the Far East and had the language helper.
[36:11] And he preached the word of the gospel to him, and he just kept rejecting Christ. Then they were separated some eight, nine years ago, and just recently this fellow contacted him and shared how he had become successful and had not found satisfaction and what he thought would give him satisfaction and meaning in life.
[36:31] And one night when he could not sleep, he went on the internet and found some site that they had watched together some ten years before. And he watched, and he was converted that night, and he was calling Chris to see if he would baptize him.
[36:44] So again, whether large opportunity or small to declare the good news or the wonders of our God. Children, I want each of you to bring a new student to Sunday school next week, the teacher said.
[36:59] And then he said, I can't get any new students, but one little boy determined to do so, and he went home and he said, Father, will you go to the Sunday school with me? I can't read, my son, replied the embarrassed father.
[37:12] Well, our teachers will teach you, dear father, the boy lovingly pleaded. Well, I'll go, he said. And he went, and he learned to read, and he sought and found the Savior.
[37:25] And that man was used by God to start 400 Sunday schools attended by 35,000 children who learned of a crucified and risen Savior.
[37:36] They did what they could. The little boy did what he could. I got a dad. He doesn't go to Sunday school, and he didn't know any better than to invite him. George Whitefield had this practice in the letters that he wrote.
[37:50] I must have something of Christ in every letter. He had a warm personal friendship with Benjamin Franklin in America for some 30 years until Whitefield's death.
[38:02] They exchanged lots of letters. Franklin doubted the deity of Christ. He did not believe the Bible was the word of God. He was more of a humanist. But he loved Whitefield. He admired the power of his preaching and its effect upon people.
[38:15] He was an experimenter, and he figured out that a crowd of 30,000 could hear Whitefield's voice as he preached. And he liked the fact that Whitefield did something.
[38:29] He didn't just talk about God. He started an orphanage, and Franklin liked that about him. At the time when Franklin's experiments with electricity were first becoming widely known, one of Whitefield's letters to him, dated August 17, 1752, contained the following.
[38:49] With this, I'll close. I find that you grow more and more famous in the learned world. This is Whitefield to Franklin. As you have made pretty considerable progress in the mysteries of electricity, I would now humbly recommend to your diligent, unprejudiced pursuit and study the mystery of the new birth.
[39:11] It's a most important, interesting study, and when mastered, will richly answer and repay you for all your pains, because one at whose bar we are shortly to appear hath solemnly declared that without it, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
[39:29] You will excuse this freedom I take with you, but I must have something of Christ in all my letters. He did what he could. He dropped a word about his Savior.
[39:41] Ben Franklin wrote in 1870, Mr. Whitefield used indeed to pray for my conversion, but he never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard. Let there be something of Christ in our conversations, in our letters, in the notes, the emails, the texts that we send.
[39:58] And he says, Powers says, we must talk much to God. We must talk much with him if we would talk much about him.
[40:09] We must have an inner life out of which the outward life must flow. The secret of an effective holy life in public will ever prove to be a holy life with God in private.
[40:21] This is the root from which in due season will come both leaves and fruit. So let us enjoy God, and then let us go and tell others about him. We're dismissed.