Sinclair B. Ferguson

for you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

That's surely a great note on which to end this week in which we've been thinking about the parable of parables and the way in which the Word of God transforms our lives.

So let's do what Paul said the Thessalonians did, namely, receive the Word of God, not as the Word of man, but as it really is, the Word of God which is at work in you believers.

And let's take heed this coming Lord's Day, not only what we hear, but how we hear.

And let's pray that the seed that's sown will have a wonderful harvest in our lives.

I want to begin the podcast today with a little quiz.

I think you'll get the answer easily enough.

Here it is.

Next to the Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mary, whose name is most frequently on the lips of Christians?

It's not Augustine or Thomas Aquinas.

Or even Martin Luther, is it?

No.

Every day in some churches, and every Sunday in millions of churches, billions of Christians say the words, I believe in Jesus Christ, his Son, who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate.

Sometimes they try to trap them by the questions they ask.

Sometimes they run stories about an entrapped politician until something or someone else is worth headline attention.

The world seems to love trapped politicians, but loves to despise them too.

Pontius Pilate was the most famous trapped politician in human history.

was governor of the Roman province of Judea for about ten years.