In this sermon, the preacher talks about the sufferings and trials that the apostle Paul endured for the sake of spreading the word of God. He describes how Paul was stoned, shipwrecked, and faced various dangers and persecutions. The preacher emphasizes the severity of Paul's sufferings, including being beaten with rods and receiving 39 lashes on five different occasions. He also mentions how Paul was stoned, highlighting the brutality of this punishment. The sermon encourages listeners to reflect on Paul's sufferings and to appreciate the sacrifices made for the gospel.

We're looking at Paul in the school of God just now. And I want to look very carefully at the background of this student who came into the school of God. And I can tell you that he was one of the most outstanding students that God ever took into the school. When you get all the natural qualifications that he had, and you line him up with Peter and some of the others, you can see just how great a start he had on that. So we're going to look at the background of Paul. And we'll begin in Philippians chapter 3 this evening. The letters of the Philippians, written by Paul, and he's talking about things that he gloried in before he was saved. And at the same time though, he said in verse 5, You know, he sort of was proud of this before he was saved. One of the things he gloried in. And it tells us something about his parents, you know. His parents were Jews, and they were very orthodox, because their little baby boy was circumcised on the eighth day. We're going to find out that they were Pharisees, and they were a very strict lot of Pharisees. So he's going back to the things he gloried in. He says, I was circumcised the eighth day. I think when he penned the phrase, the stock of Israel, I think this is something that before he met the Lord Jesus he was very proud about. He was really of the stock of Israel. No bother about this, you know. And then he goes on, circumcised the eighth day, the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. He knew what tribe he belonged to, all right. You know, there are books going around today, they call themselves British Israelites, and they talk about lost tribes. I'm afraid not, dear. You know, somebody came to our door once, and I found out they were British Israelites, and they said, you know, there are some tribes that are lost. I said, now just tell me one or two of the lost ones. He said, the tribe of Benjamin were lost. I said, I'm afraid not. Oh yes, they said they were lost. I said, when were they lost? So he said, they were lost when they were taken away down to Assyria. Let me tell you, they never went to Assyria, they went to Babylon. He didn't know of course, somebody had told him that. And let me tell you, the tribes that went to Assyria were not lost either. Because Asher went to Assyria, oh but the lady that Cecil was talking about the other Sunday, Anna, was of the tribe of Asher. And that's a long time after Syria. And you can go through this book and you can find the tribes. And here's Benjamin, he is alright. And I used to go to have debates with an old Jew who lived on the Antrim Road, and we went every other Friday. And he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin too. And had the whole tree of his history on the wall. I wasn't sure whether it was correct or not. But he believed he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Anyhow, this bit read up now is inspired by the Spirit of God. Pope Paul belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. He was sort of proud of that. Because when Israel, the nation, broke into two nations. And two nations became the Sutherland Kingdom. And ten nations became the Northern Kingdom. It was Benjamin that stayed with Judah in the south. And they were always known as the faithful and loyal tribe. And that's what Paul was after, you know. He goes back to his early days before he was saved. And he was so proud he was circumcised on the eighth day. So proud he belonged to the stock of Israel. So proud he belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Then he says, I'm Hebrew of the Hebrews. He's lettered tremendous reads. Don't you see he was a real scholar. But we're going to see more of that just in a moment or two. Us touching the law of Pharisee. You know he was a real Pharisee. Father and mother were Pharisees. When he's given his defense before one of the judges. In the Acts of the Apostles. He said, after the strictest set of our religion, I lived. A Pharisee. He was sort of proud of that in those days too. Going back here to the page. And it's letting you see him. You know when we go back to Acts 22. Let's go back there just for a moment. I want you to get this because this is also very important as we set the stage just now. Acts 22. He's making his defense here. Verse 1. Men, brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now make unto you. And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongues of them, they kept them all silent. They knew that this fellow had been to school. He said, I am verily a man which am a Jew born in Tarshish. A city in Philistia. Yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel. I want you to get that. You see this tells us something. He was born in Tarshish. A city in Philistia. Actually, he said to the Romans on one occasion, I'm a citizen of no mean city. You know what that meant? That meant this. That before his father and mother could live in this city, they had to have property qualifications. They had to own a big bit of the city. Yes, they did. And they had to own ground out round the city. So it tells us he came from a family that was well to do. Now being as strict as he, his father and mother would send him to Jerusalem to be taught. And he came to Jerusalem to sit at the feet of Gamaliel. And some of the old Jewish writers go back and maintain that the greatest teacher of the law in those days was Gamaliel. Actually, one of the old Jewish fathers said that Gamaliel was the law personified. This man sought to live the law. And this is where Paul was brought up. So I want you to see him. He would be sent there when he was fifteen years of age. And he must have been at the feet of Gamaliel for quite a while. And he really graduated then. Let's get another little pic, just as we look at his background. Come to Galatians. And we're at the first chapter here. Galatians. And we're at chapter one. Verse eleven. Paul writing said, But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not of the man. For I never received it of man, neither was I taught of it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard not my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. And profited in the Jews' religion. I want you to get the hold of this. Isn't this tremendous? Profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own nation. Being more exeemingly famous of the tradition of my fathers. You see as he waited at the feet of Gamaliel and was taught in all the commandments and laws concerning Judaism and philosophicalism. This fellow outshit them all. Quite a clever we love this. And when I say we love I mean that. Because I think that when he was born he was a very small baby. And I think through his very dying day he was a very small insignificant little man. In fact when the Corinthians want to insult him they say his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible. Gives us a sort of picture of him physically. And he must have been a small, weak, almost contemptible looking little man with narrow shoulders. Oh but he was all there. Every bit of him. Yes you know at school he outstripped the whole crowd of them. Yes he had really profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own nation. Want you to get the hold of all that. Because we're looking at his background. You see he was a religionist. Because all the sons of all the Pharisees had to learn a trade. And he was a tent maker. I don't need to go into that but he did learn all this tent making. And of course it meant making tents for the Bedouins and Arabs. Out of these goat skins. Now there's something more and we've got to go back to Philippines chapter 3 to get it all put together. This is how this book works. There's so much thread through it you've got to gather it together and then weave it into the pattern. And then you have it. And here it is. Watch the whole story here now. Verse 5. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. Of the tribe of Benjamin. And Hebrew of the Hebrews. As touching the law of Pharisee. Conferring zeal persecuting the church. Now get this bit right now. Touching the righteousness which is in the law. Blameless. Well that's a very big statement and it would take a lot of time to just tidy that up for you. When you talk about the righteousness which is in the law what are you talking about? Let me do it quickly for you. When you talk about the law. Sometimes you're talking about the ceremonial law and that's the law of the offerings. Sometimes you talk about the civil law. That's the law of the nation. Sometimes you talk about the moral law. That's the Ten Commandments. And I think it's the Ten Commandments and he's talking about the righteousness which is in the law. And you know that when you take the Ten Commandments you can put them into two. There are some commandments which go Godwards. You shall have no other gods before me and so on. There are commandments in the Ten that just go Godwards. Although there aren't like a lot of the commandments there are six of them that go manwards. And that's what we're talking about. These commandments that went manwards. Honour your father and your mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. Those are all commandments manwards. And to always honour my mother. No matter how poor she is. Wish I had mine tonight. I'll tell you. I would make her a queen. Yes I would. I owe more to her than I'll ever pay. Yes. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. Those are theories. And blameless. This policy lived that bit you know. You know what some of the folks think. See the rich young ruler that came to Jesus. Came running. Kneeled at Christ's feet saying what must I do to have eternal life. Jesus said thou knowest the commandments. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. And he began to quote these commandments that went manwards. And the young fell on his knees in the dust looked up and said. All these that I taught from my youth. Some people think it was Paul. I don't think it was Paul. But it was a boy like Paul. Oh no I don't think it was Paul at all. Mind you he was rich too. And in a sense he was a ruler. Because I want to enforce this this evening. That not only did he do well at the feet of Gamaliel. And outstripped all the other students. I think in his early life he became a member of the Sanhedrin. I'm positively sure of that. Because the day that the Sanhedrin committed Stephen to death. It was Saul of Tarsus that stood there. And they laid their clothes at his feet. And he was consenting. The Sanhedrin had to have a man there to witness the execution. And it was Saul. But I don't think with all that behind it. That this was a rich young ruler. I think it would have given us a bit more details than that. Oh no. But here he is. Can you see him? He was a Benjamite. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was a scholar. He was a pharisee. He was a citizen of no mean city. He was a student under Gamaliel. He was a Jewish religionist. He was a tent maker. He was a moral law keeper. In many ways. He was a nice young fellow. But he had no time for Christ. And there are some nice fellows today. Being brought up nice. And they haven't done anything wrong in many ways. Only they have no time for Christ. And you know friend. When you reject God's Son you're not nice at all. You live, you would pat yourself on the back if you are. You're the biggest sinner in God's earth. You're rejecting God's Son. Now that's the student that came into the school. I want you to see some of the blessings he had. Before he was saved. Before God apprehended him. On that road that led to Damascus. I want you to see some of the blessings he had. Let's go to the Acts of the Apostles. And we're at chapter 7. The Acts of the Apostles. And we're at the 7th chapter. And this is the chapter where Stephen makes his defense before the Sanhedrin. And that's that Jewish council. That venerable and authoritative council of the Jews that sat in Jerusalem. 71 members. And Stephen's too many for them. And you know they cast him out of the city at last and stoned him. See verse 58 of chapter 7. Cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet. His name was Saul. So you can see he was still a young man. Oh he had graduated all right out of Gamaliel's school. And he was well known for his zeal and his religious power. He was known that all right. I want you to get the hold of that. And they stoned Stephen calling upon God. And saying, I want you to listen to what he said. He said, Lord Jesus. But a soul of justice stood there. And heard this young man who was being stoned say, Lord Jesus. Taking that name on his lips. It must have made his very soul tremble. He didn't like that name. At that moment he believed that Jesus was dead. He believed he was a malefactor and the Jews had the right to put him to death. And he believed that the resurrection thought was a farce. But here's a man being stoned. And he's lifting his eyes to heaven. And he's saying, Lord Jesus. Receive my spirit. And he kneeled down. This young man Stephen kneeled down. And cried with a loud voice. Lord, lay not this sin to their children. He had never seen anybody dying like that before. He had seen people stoned probably before. He had never seen anybody so earnest looking up into the sky and saying, Lord Jesus. And he had never heard anybody praying for their enemies like that before. He knew something about the issue. Verse 1 of chapter 8, and I don't know why they put the chapter there. And Saul was consenting unto his death. You see, he had watched a real Christian die. And you know, it's a mighty thing to see a Christian die. Yeah, I remember my mother dying. I remember her taking a seizure in the kitchen and holding her breast and her eyes rolling. And I said, Mommy. Grabbing her and sort of half lifting her. Laying her on the couch. She said, I'm going home to heaven. There she was. Poor fellow, didn't know anything. Standing in the dark. Drunk. Broke her heart. What a memory it is. What a happy memory. Yeah, she's better off, isn't she? Yeah, here was Saul. He never got over this, you know. Look at chapter 9. Want you to get this. You know, he turned away from this theme. And he's determined to stamp out these Christians. Who like this theme. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Went on to the high priest. Now, here's a point for us. He must have been wearing in the Sanhedrin. He must have been one of the forces of that council. When he can go into the high priest. Not everybody could have gone in there, you know. It's like going to the Pope now. You just couldn't go, you know. Oh, even if you were a Roman Catholic, you can't go. I would have a bigger chance than you. No. I'll tell you this. This man wasn't speaking terms with the high priest. They all knew that he was a great character. He'd done well at school. Gamaliel had given him a character reference that would take him anywhere. And he must have stood up a time or two in the Sanhedrin. And let them know how much he knew about the law. He doesn't like these Christians. Doesn't like this name Jesus. Going to blot this out as he can. He's breathing out threatenings. And slaughter. Hence the disciples of the Lord went on to the high priest and desired to send letters. To Damascus, to the synagogues. That if he found any of this lady. Whether they were male or woman. He might bring them down down to Jerusalem. And that's the first time we have a woman mentioned of being arrested for the gospel. And it's this man that's going to arrest them. He's going to bring them, put them in prison. And mind you he brought many bound. At times and some to death. And Aunty Josie became near Damascus. I stood in this old city one day. Oh what a day it was. Remember it well. And the Russians had taken it over. And they were wandering up and down with their jackboots on. And they looked you up and down you know. And I had the camera. But I didn't know what end of it was right anyway. So it didn't matter too much. And he came along and he said to me in good English. Don't you use that. And I never spoke. But I was determined I would have a photo of Damascus. Whether that's right or wrong you can do what you like about it. So when he had gone away a bit. I said to Mr. Irvine who was next to me. I'm taking a photograph of this city. He says you have allowed the poor person prison. Well I said I shall be able to stick to prison. What do you want to know? But when I got this jackboot fellow away. I did take a photograph and I have it to this day. The whole city. It's a lovely one. But the fellow had the click of the camera. Came running like sheet lightning. And I was just talking to Irvine at the time. And he came up. Lifted it off my neck. Had a look at it. Looked at me. Put it on again. Took Irvine's off and had a look at him. And gave him a real scolding. I felt like saying that's the boy there. Yes. And I was taken outside the city. And they took me to the spot where Paul had gone to. Just outside the city. They would tell you anything. You could never be sure. At least I was in Damascus. And they can't shift it off from there. And at least I was on the road that led into Damascus. And somewhere on that road. This is what happened. Verse 3. And as he journeyed he came near Damascus. And suddenly. There shined round about him a light from heaven. Now when he's telling this over again. In one of the other chapters. He said to the king. O king at midday. There shone a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun. So it was a mighty light. It was glory that was shining down. The Lord had just opened the heavens. And the glory of God was shining down. And it frightened Paul. And he fell to the earth. And heard a voice saying unto him. Fall! Fall! Why persecute us Calvary? You know it was the Lord's voice from heaven. It was the Lord tearing the heavens apart. And letting the glory out. And shouting from the highest heaven. Fall! Fall! It should be something. You know he wasn't cursing the Lord. He couldn't get up to curse him. But when you touch one of his down here. You're touching him up there. Don't you forget that. Why persecute us Calvary? You just take one of them and persecute them to you too. And you're touching him. You see he's the head of the body. You see just hurt that hand there. Just kill yourself with a hammer. And that head will know what you're doing. And it's all one now. And he heard his name being called. He knows this is something. Belonging to God. I want you to watch the wording very carefully. Please watch it carefully. We're in verse 5. And he said, that is Paul said. Who art thou? Lord. He used this word. And the word there is Jehovah. He's looking up this light. He can't see off it. He said, who am I? Lord. I want you to be very careful with this. Because it's most important. And the Lord said. The Lord in heaven said. I am Jesus. Would you tell the Russellites. About this. If they'd never been able to find this out. See the Lord. Jehovah. He's Jesus. I am Jesus. The Lord said. I am Jesus. It's a pity of you. You can't read you know. Jesus is the Lord. You don't see any bother with it. I read it to you. You see Russellite at the door. He looks at it. His eyes nearly fall out. I said look it's easy isn't it. The Lord said. I am Jesus. He's afraid to answer. It's terrible. When rubbish stops your mind. And says you can't answer truthfully. It's quite easy. He was learning. He thought up to this moment. That Jesus is a false. He's not right at all. He's dead. He's buried. It's not true. And when Stephen is calling Lord Jesus. It's rubbish. Now he's hearing the voice. And the voice from heaven is saying. I am Jesus. I'll tell you he was converted there a man. He knew no. No bother at all you know. See the blessings he had. He saw Christian die. He felt the spirit's problems. Cause the Lord Jesus said. I am Jesus. Whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to take against the pricks. You know what the pricks were. All the time. From the moment he saw Stephen die. He never had peace. He knew his brother had something. He hadn't got. He couldn't die like that. I've seen men who argue when it comes to dying. They know they haven't got anything. My dear friend. See this fellow. Aren't you getting it? He heard the voice of Jesus. You know that was the day that God revealed. His son. To Paul. In that Galatian epistle he said. You know. There came a day when he revealed his son to me. It was there then. He was gloriously saved. Now I want you to see his beginnings. Going far too slow. Look at the beginnings he had. Let's go down to verse 10. We're at chapter 9 of Acts. Verse 10. There was a certain man. A disciple of Damascus. Named Ananias. Probably this was one of the fellows that he was coming to arrest. And to him said the Lord in a vision. Then Ananias. And he said behold I am here Lord. And the Lord said unto him. Arise and go into the street which is called Satan. And inquire in the house of Judas. For one called Saul of Tarsus. Well behold he prayed. And the scene in the vision. A man named Ananias coming in. And putting his hand on him. That he might receive the sight. You know this frightened Ananias. Then Ananias answered. Lord. I have heard by many of this man. How much evil he hath done. Since I came to Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the high priest. To bind all that call on my name. They knew what he was coming for. And the Lord said unto him. Go thy way. For he is a chosen vessel unto me. To bear my name before the Gentiles. And kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him all great things. He must suffer for my name's sake. Well Ananias didn't debate it anymore. How much we would do what we're told. When we're told. Instead of arguing. Ananias went his way. Entered into the house. And putting his hands on him. Said. See the first word. Brother. That was my sin. Some people said to me. You know try and argue with me. Was he saved out there at all. Does it matter if he was saved. Ha ha. I'll tell you that Ananias knew he was saved. The Lord had sent Ananias. Knew he was saved too. Ananias was big enough to say. Brother. You know what some of the old tank boys would do. Didn't you. They'd want chapter and verse for it. They would want to ask me a whole lot of questions. And they'd try to tie the me fellows up. I'll go and call them brother. This is the first thing that helps all. Here's Ananias. First word. His brother. I'm here to help the dead in Christ. Instead of questioning them. Some of the other hypocrites that go about these meetings. They would say to me. They've never helped a lamb in their life. Ananias said no bother. Remember he was helping Saul. Who became poor. He said brother. I think that's a great thing. He calls him brother Saul. And then he took up the same wording. The Lord. What's this we've got. Even Jesus. Ha ha. He knew the truth too. Because the Lord is Jesus. He says the Lord even Jesus. And you know. This was a great encouragement. You know when I would say it first. And hadn't a shoe in my foot. Nor a penny in my pocket. Nor a shirt on my back. And yet on Sunday morning. When I knew it was Sunday morning. First Sunday morning. What do you do? No Bible. No money. No shoes. No nothing. I've got to go to church. I'm saved. It's a bit of a test isn't it. You never went to church in your life. So I get out of the door. As soon as nobody I can talk to. Walk down the old alley. And into the street. And walk on down to the big church. And that was. And all the big cars went in. Now don't blame me. I didn't know anything about denomination. So it wasn't any bigotry of any kind. Just the church was too big. And the foot looked too well. And I just can't go. I had to walk on. You see. You see it's bigotry with him you know. Yes. Walked on. And I came to the Baptist. Oh you should have seen it. It was a tumble down shack. Tin hot it was. Curried gate the darkened roof. And shades and all. And I stood on the far side of the street. And looked at it. And wondered what they did in there. I didn't know whether they were Roman Catholics or anything. I didn't know a thing about it. I was worse than Roman Catholics. I didn't know. But there was a fellow. He gave a lot of handbooks in the porch from you. He looked at me. And then he just came across the street slowly. And he said. Would you like to come in? I says I got saved the other night. Got out the harness. Put it right and shook it. Praise the Lord. He says why don't you come in and sit with me. I says I don't know what you mean. He says come on in and I'll put you in a seat. Where somebody will come and sit beside you. And will help you. Sure nobody will say anything to you. Come on and I'll help you. Put me in you know. Put me in the back seat. And Dorey Gunning came and sat beside me. Give me your Bible. And said look on now. He says what do I do here? He says the pastor will preach. And what he preached on that morning was the text. The Lord shall not fail thee. For me. So pleased I was there. The Lord shall not fail thee. Open our door and see who it is. It's the devil, that's all. He's wrestling, you know. Yes, and you know, they encouraged me. You want to encourage them. Our Paul was here at Damascus for quite a few days. And you know, the Jews, they turned on him. They were determined. Determined to take his life. See verse 23. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. That's the way they do with you, you know. You're all right when they're on you, on their side. You just put your hand in the hand of Christ and you see where your friends are. But they're lying awake with no one of soul. And they watched the geeks, Nathan and David, you know. They were waiting on them. See the disciples. The disciples took them by night. Let them down the wall, but the wall in a basket. You know, this whole basket has been a blessing to me. It was a blessing to Paul. You see, you can be so stubborn in this thing. You can say, I don't get two hoops about them. The Lord will look after me. Our Lord wants you to use the two or three blades you have, you know. Sometimes I'm foolhardy here and I come when I shouldn't come. I know. But all of us would need to have a little bit of wisdom. If you've got double pneumonia, you need to stay at home. Or if you're not well, you need to look after yourself. And the Lord expects you to do so. And there's no use of solitarsis throwing his weight out. He's got to crawl into this basket. It was a big basket. And you crawl up in it like a kitten. And they let him down in the mud. That's how he got away. And you have to take all the precautions you can take. That's what the basket said. Sometimes when I'm just doing the wrong thing, I hear the word basket. And I need to get into my basket at times. It's hard to get me in sometimes. There it is. It's there all right. And you know, he went from there away to the back side of the desert. And he was three years then, three years in Arabia. Nobody knows where he was. Went out into the back side of the desert and was alone with the Lord. Ah, you know you need to get alone with the Lord. There's nothing much substitute for that. Get alone with the Lord. See, this starts in time. This fellow called him brother. And this basket came into action. And then he was at the back side of the desert. You know, the battles that Paul fought. Let's have a look at some of the pains of Paul. I'll not draw this out too far. Have a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11. This, I tell you, makes me sometimes feel that we squeal about very little. See, some of us, the least little thing annoys us. And we're always moaning. When you see this man of God and when you see what he went through. And I'm not trying to expound it. He's talking about his sufferings. See, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 24. After the Jews five times received, I sought his stripes, seeing one. You know what it means. Let me say it for the young folk. The Jews begged him over the scourging bone, tied his hands, lifted the low back from his back. And his back is bare. And they brought along another mouse. And in the end it's all leaded with balls of lead. And there's a man who's trained to use it. And every time he hits it, he can lift a line of flesh off. They can throw furrows in your back. And this is what they did with the Lord. Now, when they are going to beat you with the stripes, they give you 40 stripes. And they count them as they give you. When they come to 39, they stop in case they had missed the count. So it says, five times received, I sought his stripes, seeing one. Five times he got 39 of these. And I'll guarantee you that this little narrow back that we were talking about, was cut into ribbons. We don't know anything about that. Somebody looked wrong at you in the open air, you would nearly die. We don't know anything about it. But that's only the beginning of it. He says, twice was I beaten with rods. He's got the bricks, you know. And I can tell you, the old governor of the prison sat with me once. And he let me see the birch in there. And he said to me, Willie, I'll tell you this, there's no man that ever came in here and got the birch that ever came back again. They'd need to birch them a bit more now, wouldn't they? Oh, you know, they give them TV now. Blankets, heated blankets and all that. We haven't got them at all. Then, what's this? Twice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Stoned almost to death. Twice was I, I suffered shipwreck. A day and a night, a night and a day I have been in the deep. And journeyings off in pairs of water, in pairs of robbers. In pairs of my own countrymen, in pairs by the heathen. In pairs in the city, in pairs in the wilderness. In pairs in the sea, in pairs among false brothers. In weariness and painfulness and watchings off. In hunger and thirst, we know nothing about it. Not a thing do we know. Put your suffering beside this, do you see? Why, you've been treated like a king all your life. When you put it beside this, you have nothing to groan about. I'll tell you, this fellow went through the mill. Loved the law. I want you to say a word about his bent. Come to Philippines. And I'll not push it too far. Philippines, chapter one. And this is the bit that I like probably most of all, out of the whole story of Paul. He says, talking about his imprisonments and all that went on. He says verse 19. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer. He liked people to pray for him too. And the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. According to my earnest expectation and my hope. That in nothing I shall be ashamed. But that with all boldness. As always, so now. Also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. This was the whole bent of this man. From the day that the heavens opened. And the glory shone. And he heard the voice of Jesus. From the day that he looked up and called Jesus Lord. Lord, what will thou have me to do? From that moment. The whole bent of this tiny little Pharisee Jew who had got gloriously saved. The whole bent was to magnify Christ. Oh, what a life it was. I want to say a few things about that. You know it's a bold bent, isn't it? With all boldness. Yes. And I want to show you that it's a burning bent. As always, so now. This fire never went out. Yes, it was bold. From the very first day. This was the boldness of this man to magnify Christ. And this burning was always there. As always, so now. The fire never went out. It was a burden bent. That Christ shall be magnified. In my body. My God, we give in far too soon. We surrender, you know. We just throw down the gun. Oh, God, sir. Christ shall be magnified in my body. You see, it was a bold bent. It was a burning bent. It was a burden bent. It was a grief bent. Where are the fire lights? Oh, God, sir. Who was a saint? He really meant it. When I was saved. I went to work in Dixon Nursery on the next Saturday. I was saved on the Thursday. And I had to take my stand among men. And one of the roughest men I ever knew in my life was a Roman Catholic. Called Willie Higgins. And I knew that he and I were going to come face to face with all of them. And he said to me one morning. And if any man ever meant to serve the Lord, it's you. You meant it. I still mean it. It is your bent. May God bring us through the school until we graduate like that. God bless you. Not sing anymore. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for thy serpent form. Meet him one day in the glory. Lord, give us a bent like this, that whether by life or by death, thou shalt be magnified. So we commit us to thee. Pass us now in thy fear. Take us to our homes in safety. For thy name's sake. Amen. Amen. Thank you.