Aubrey G. Walton - "The Gospel for This Hour" (June 3, 1962)

Download
- Rights
- No Re-Use
  In Copyright
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP3
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='//idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4q52kf2w?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4q52kf2w
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

	(music playing)	0:20
-	I am sure that you will permit me the privilege	1:00
	of a personal word	1:03
	in order that I may say	1:07
	how keenly conscious I am	1:09
	of the honor which has been conferred upon me	1:13
	by Duke University,	1:16
	through the invitation to bring the message,	1:19
	at this significant service.	1:22
	I'm glad to come back to the campus	1:26
	to see the great changes which have taken place,	1:29
	to note the marvelous progress which has been made.	1:34
	It was just thirty one years ago	1:39
	that I was a member of the graduating class	1:43
	of the Divinity School.	1:48
	It does not seem that long.	1:51
	I was conscious then of my gratitude	1:53
	to the University for what it had meant to me,	1:59
	but that sense of appreciation has grown across the years	2:03
	and has been of course accentuated	2:08
	by the events of these days.	2:11
	I congratulate the members of the class of 1962.	2:16
	We commend you for your achievements	2:21
	and we wish for each of you	2:25
	a bright, a happy and a satisfying future.	2:28
	And as we think about you and your future	2:34
	at this present hour of which we are all a part,	2:38
	I would like for us just to draw our minds	2:43
	and hearts closer this morning	2:45
	that we may think together for a little while	2:48
	about the gospel for this hour.	2:52
	There is a gospel for this hour. We need to hear it,	2:57
	to heed it and to herald it.	3:02
	This hour is a present time in which we live.	3:07
	The past is gone, the future is yet to come.	3:11
	We may benefit by the lessons learned in the past,	3:17
	we may prepare for future experiences.	3:21
	But what we do will be done in this present hour,	3:25
	and the gospel that will be effective	3:29
	is the gospel which we possess, practice	3:32
	and proclaim in this hour.	3:35
	There is much about this hour	3:39
	that is like those countless other hours,	3:41
	which coming and going in endless procession	3:43
	have written the record	3:46
	which we know is the history of mankind.	3:47
	The known laws of the universe operate	3:51
	very much as they did when man first discovered them.	3:53
	Human nature does not change	3:58
	in its essential characteristics.	4:00
	The basic needs of men are very much as they were	4:04
	in the days of ancient.	4:07
	The ultimate questions for man remain today	4:10
	as when Plato and Paul asked them centuries ago.	4:13
	The age old quest for reality, truth and security	4:18
	exists in this hour,	4:23
	as in the past and so does man's search for God.	4:24
	For man's need of God is as real today	4:29
	as when Abraham set out on his search	4:33
	from Ur of the Chaldees so long ago.	4:36
	But there are factors which tend to make this hour for us	4:40
	entirely different from all other hours	4:44
	past or present or future.	4:47
	For example, this is the hour in which	4:51
	this class of 1962 graduates.	4:53
	This for you has not been true of any other hour.	4:57
	In this sense, this is your hour.	5:01
	An hour of achievement but it is also an hour of decision.	5:04
	Having graduated, what will you do?	5:10
	To what causes in life today will you give your allegiance?	5:13
	To the attainment of what the future goals	5:18
	will you lend your efforts?	5:20
	These are just a few of the personal questions	5:22
	which this hour presents to the	5:25
	members of this class of 1962.	5:27
	In like manner this is an hour of decision for each of us.	5:32
	This has been true you say of all other hours.	5:36
	Yes, but not for us in exactly the same fashion.	5:40
	There are questions which we must answer now.	5:44
	Yesterday's answers will not suffice.	5:48
	Tomorrow's choices are not yet here.	5:51
	we must decide in this hour	5:55
	what direction we would take as we stand now	5:57
	at the fork of the road.	5:59
	And this is just as much a problem for the nation	6:02
	as for the individual.	6:04
	Those who are charged with national responsibility	6:07
	must choose also directions and goals for our country.	6:10
	What about the nuclear race? Disarmament, the cold war.	6:15
	What about policy towards the new nations	6:21
	in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world?	6:23
	What about foreign aid and support to the United nations?	6:27
	What about this whole area of civil rights	6:32
	and race relationships?	6:35
	How these and myriad other questions of this hour	6:37
	crowd in upon us for attention and decision.	6:41
	And because of the conflict and confusion	6:45
	which these unkindred questions represent,	6:48
	this hour becomes one of suspicion,	6:52
	fear, misunderstanding, and insecurity.	6:55
	I will not presume to say that the sin of man	7:00
	is greater proportionately in this hour than in others	7:03
	God knows it's great enough,	7:07
	but certainly this hour is one in which	7:10
	controversy, doubt and frustration	7:12
	exists to a greater degree than has been previously known,	7:16
	in other hours.	7:21
	In evidence of this take note of the divisions	7:23
	among our people. Listen to the accusations	7:25
	made against those in high places.	7:29
	Remember the disturbances in human relations	7:32
	which we have had to undergo. And consider	7:35
	what is happening in these United States of ours	7:38
	in the increase in the number of mental patients,	7:42
	alcoholics and suicide.	7:45
	This is all in addition to the growth of crime.	7:49
	The increase in the number of broken homes	7:52
	and the general moral breakdown of so many of our people.	7:56
	Now the consciousness of our condition	8:01
	drives us all the more to seek solutions to our problems.	8:03
	If there is a gospel for this hour	8:08
	we need desperately to know it and to appropriate.	8:12
	And by the word gospel we mean precisely	8:17
	what the new Testament writers meant	8:19
	when they employed the term 'Good news'.	8:21
	To the early Christians, the gospel	8:25
	was the good news of Christ.	8:27
	The men of that day had needs peculiar	8:30
	to the hour in which they lived.	8:32
	But they discovered in the gospel of Christ,	8:35
	the good news of the love and power of God,	8:38
	by which they were triumphant over the evil forces	8:41
	with which they were confronted.	8:45
	And this has continued to be the experience of men	8:48
	in each succeeding generation.	8:51
	In each hour of the world's history,	8:54
	there have been those who have found the gospel of Christ,	8:56
	the good news for that day and generation.	8:59
	And in response to the demands of this gospel	9:03
	they have won the victory within themselves	9:06
	and have witnessed in their hour	9:09
	through the redeeming and sustaining power of Jesus Christ.	9:12
	I dare therefore, on this significant occasion	9:17
	to declare to you my sincere conviction.	9:20
	That in this gospel of Christ	9:24
	we have the good news for this present hour	9:27
	about which we've been thinking.	9:29
	Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.	9:32
	The gospel of Christ is irrelevant gospel.	9:38
	It was good news in that day	9:42
	when Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem	9:43
	and taught on the Lillian Hillsides of Galilee	9:46
	But the truth which he then and there proclaimed	9:51
	is still the truth in this hour	9:54
	in which we face our present needs.	9:57
	The gospel of Christ is not just another philosophy.	10:00
	It is a way of life.	10:04
	It is not just a blueprint for one generation only.	10:06
	It reveals and makes available the under grading	10:10
	and sustaining power of almighty God for every man	10:14
	and for every hour.	10:18
	I grant you that in the realization of the relevancy	10:21
	of the Christian gospel for this hour,	10:25
	two factors are certainly involved,	10:28
	we must know what this gospel is.	10:31
	We must understand as well as we are able	10:35
	to teachings of Jesus, which make up this gospel.	10:37
	And we must know something of his spirit	10:41
	which underlies his precept.	10:43
	In the second place, we must be willing	10:46
	to possess this spirit and to practice these teachings	10:49
	in our lives, in this present hour.	10:53
	In other words, the Christian gospel though relevant,	10:57
	cannot be effective in this hour	11:00
	unless we accept it, practice it and proclaim it.	11:02
	If we do this we have to be sure	11:07
	that we have made an honest and earnest effort	11:09
	to understand these teachings for ourselves.	11:12
	Now the amazing thing is	11:17
	that one never gets through with this task.	11:18
	One can read in the course of a few hours	11:21
	the written record of the teachings of Jesus	11:24
	as we have it in the pages of the new Testament.	11:26
	But one can fruitfully spend the rest of his life	11:30
	in the study, the interpretation	11:34
	and the application of these teachings.	11:36
	One day when Jesus was teaching in Jerusalem,	11:40
	the chief priests, the Pharisees,	11:42
	sent officers to arrest him.	11:44
	And when they came back without him	11:47
	the authorities questioned the officers saying,	11:48
	"why have you not brought him?"	11:50
	And they answered "never man speak like this man."	11:53
	They were so right.	11:56
	Over 1900 years, his teachings have been exposed	11:59
	to the criticism of men and to the ravages of time.	12:02
	Neither has impaired them.	12:07
	No false statements are contained in these teachings.	12:11
	No hasty generalizations based upon	12:15
	misinformation have been found.	12:17
	No prejudice pronouncements are among them.	12:20
	The teachings of Jesus are as fresh and relevant today	12:24
	as when he first proclaimed them.	12:29
	These same teachings of Jesus	12:32
	were the basis of Christian thinking	12:34
	and the standard of Christian conduct	12:36
	for Peter and for Paul,	12:38
	For Augustine and for Francis of Assisi.	12:41
	For Martin Luther, and for John Wesley.	12:44
	And they remain the foundation of Christian thought	12:47
	and the standard of Christian conduct	12:50
	for you and for me in this hour.	12:53
	Immediately someone declares that these teachings of Jesus	12:57
	are impracticable and unobtainable,	13:00
	human nature being what it is.	13:02
	It should be evidence that we stand on a flimsy foundation	13:05
	when we attempt to excuse our failure	13:08
	to live the Christian life	13:10
	by affirming that the teachings of Jesus are impracticable.	13:12
	Any man who looks at Jesus,	13:16
	sees the teachings demonstrated in the life of a teacher.	13:18
	Dr. Robert J McCracken, the Minister of Riverside church	13:22
	in New York city has written and I quote,	13:25
	"Jesus practiced what he preached.	13:29
	His character is the source	13:32
	and standard of the Christian ideal.	13:34
	The moral principles of Christianity are unique	13:37
	in that they have been personally exemplified.	13:40
	They have been put into operation and the everyday world.	13:44
	Jesus lived what he taught.	13:48
	The trouble with a lot of theorizing is	13:51
	that it comes from the pins of armchair thinkers.	13:54
	It is when his principles are exemplified in his life	13:58
	that a man who earns the moral right to speak.	14:02
	And when he speaks, his words have weight and influence.	14:05
	That is part of the secret of Jesus.	14:09
	Back of his teaching is his life.	14:13
	Illustrating, enhancing, validating everything he said.	14:16
	What he was is still the best commentary on what he told"	14:20
	End of quotation.	14:25
	It is then the life of Jesus	14:27
	which makes his gospel so important.	14:30
	These teachings came out of the experience of a life	14:33
	and they were exemplified in that light.	14:36
	And it is this gospel which is relevant.	14:39
	It's hardly necessary to remind you	14:43
	that Jesus called his followers in Palestine	14:46
	to process his spirit and to practice his teaching.	14:48
	We should remember also that in every generation	14:53
	since Jesus walked in the flesh	14:55
	some of his followers have dared to believe	14:58
	that his teachings are practicable and attainable.	15:01
	In their own lives and in their own day	15:04
	they have tried to practice them.	15:06
	And it has been upon the feet of these	15:09
	that the Christian faith has marched forward	15:11
	in each succeeding hour of human history.	15:14
	Bishop Costen J Harrell in his little book	15:17
	published last year entitled	15:20
	Christian affirmations rights thee way.	15:22
	They are at least three spiritual gifts	15:27
	basic to the Christian life	15:29
	for which every heart yearns	15:32
	and which Christ alone supply.	15:34
	The knowledge of God, forgiveness of sins	15:37
	and security amidst the change of things. End of quotation.	15:42
	We find the answer to these needs in the gospel of Christ.	15:48
	For Christian gospel is a gospel of revelation.	15:53
	Our first great need is to know God.	15:56
	And we know him through Jesus Christ.	16:01
	God is the ultimate reality which permeates the universe.	16:05
	Jesus Christ is the revelation of God.	16:10
	The life and teachings of Jesus constitute	16:14
	the preeminent expression of God's ideals	16:17
	and purposes for the human race.	16:19
	This is not to say that men have not had	16:22
	other revelations of God.	16:24
	But they all lead up to and find their fullest expression	16:27
	in Jesus of Nazareth who was called Christ.	16:30
	Men have got found God in a variety of ways	16:34
	and in a multitude of places.	16:37
	This should not be thought strange	16:40
	for God as Creator is a part of everything that he has made.	16:43
	This is my Father's world.	16:47
	He shines in all that's fair,	16:50
	in the rustling grass, I hear him pass.	16:53
	He speaks to me everywhere.	16:55
	And so men have found God in nature.	16:58
	They have seen him in the beauty of the sunrise	17:01
	and in the glory of the sunset.	17:03
	The flowers, the trees, the sea, and the sky	17:06
	remind us of our heavenly father.	17:09
	The song of a bird, the rippling brook,	17:12
	the voice of the winds speak to the men of God.	17:14
	The heavens declare the glory of God (indistinct)	17:17
	The star of heavens, so impressed the mind of	17:23
	Immanuel Kant that he placed them side by side	17:25
	with a moral law and proving the existence of God.	17:29
	But it is not in the natural world	17:33
	that our search for God is satisfied.	17:35
	The world of nature speaks to us only concerning	17:38
	the attributes of a character which belongs to God.	17:41
	Though the glories of the natural world	17:45
	do fill us with a sense of awe and reverence,	17:47
	still let us remember that worship is communion.	17:50
	Try if you please someone suggested to enter into communion	17:56
	with a stone or with a sunbeam,	17:59
	our communion must be with a personality	18:02
	back of the stone, back of the sunbeam,	18:05
	Creator of them both.	18:08
	For back of the loaf is a snowy flour	18:10
	and back of the flour, the mill.	18:12
	And back of the mill is the wheat and the shower	18:15
	and the sunshine and the father's will.	18:18
	The port may sing of him who in the love of nature	18:23
	holds communion with our visible form.	18:25
	You and I while we see the hand of God	18:28
	in the objective nature, do not find him nearly so real	18:31
	and full of meaning there,	18:35
	as when we find them in the realm of personality.	18:38
	So it is in human personality	18:41
	that we see God more clearly revealed	18:43
	than in the physical world round about it.	18:46
	Now, where did you learn of God as a little child?	18:49
	I suspected was that your mother's knee.	18:53
	She taught your childish lips to form	18:56
	the name of God in prayer.	18:59
	Perhaps it was the Godly father who by precept	19:01
	and example taught you to take those early steps	19:04
	that led to God.	19:08
	Across all the way that you have come,	19:09
	You have been influenced by other personalities	19:11
	who have in one way or another	19:14
	impressed upon your consciousness the fact of God	19:16
	in human life and experience.	19:19
	Through the influence of a teacher,	19:22
	through sharing both Joy and sorrow with a loved one.	19:24
	Through fellowship with friends, through contact	19:28
	with some patient sufferer, or through observing	19:32
	the unflinching courage of some saint of God	19:35
	in one of life's desperate moments	19:39
	You have caught your faith yet flashing visions	19:42
	of God's dealings with his human children.	19:44
	And through human personality,	19:47
	You have had your revelations of God.	19:50
	But all these observations of the word of nature	19:57
	and all these experiences with other personalities	20:00
	are but dim reflections of that full often glorious	20:04
	revelation of God portrayed in Christ our Lord.	20:08
	For in the fullness of time,	20:12
	God sent his son to reveal to men what God is really like.	20:14
	And Jesus brought the men a vision of the love and mercy	20:19
	and redemptive attributes of his father God,	20:22
	who is perfect and ethical holy spirit,	20:26
	creator of our universe, redeemer of the souls of men	20:29
	and the determiner of their destiny.	20:34
	And so he revealed God to his disciples.	20:37
	As he lived with them in daily life,	20:40
	they looked upon him with an increasing consciousness	20:42
	of God's presence with him.	20:45
	He was indeed Emmanuel God with us.	20:47
	He spoke one day to a great throng of people	20:52
	in such clear and uncompromising fashion	20:55
	that they cried out, "who can hear it	20:58
	and that is who can perform it."	21:00
	And then they began to go away from him	21:03
	until Jesus turned to the 12 and asked	21:05
	him saying, "would you also go away?"	21:07
	Peter answered for them all "Lord to whom shall we go?	21:11
	Thou hast the words of eternal life."	21:16
	Peter knew the gospel for his hour	21:19
	and he recognized it because Christ revealed God to him	21:23
	In this hour it is in Christ that we will find the God	21:27
	whom above everything else we need to know.	21:33
	The gospel of Christ is a gospel of redemption.	21:38
	Our need of the redeeming grace of God	21:41
	is as real in this hour, as it was a new Testament time.	21:45
	For the son of man is as real today as it ever was.	21:49
	Now I know as well as you,	21:52
	that sin is not a fashionable term in our time.	21:54
	We may have tried the deaden our sense of sin.	21:58
	We may even declare that there's no such thing.	22:02
	But the fact remains that the malady	22:05
	which our fathers knew as sin is a present reality.	22:07
	Something is wrong with man.	22:11
	Dr. Herbert farmer writes that if we would know	22:14
	what is wrong with man, we must first know	22:16
	what is right with him. It is precisely because	22:18
	we have had revealed to us in human life	22:23
	and experienced the capacity of man	22:25
	to appreciate, and to attain the noble attributes	22:28
	of stalwart Christian character that we realize	22:31
	that something is wrong with man in this generation,	22:35
	when he falls so far short of	22:38
	what we know is possible for him in the realm of the spirit	22:40
	Instead of being an integrated, well functioning	22:44
	and a happy personality, he is so often	22:47
	a divided, frustrated, and miserable individual.	22:50
	Long ago, Augustine put his finger	22:55
	upon the pulse of this problem	22:57
	when he cried out that it is because man was made for God	23:00
	that he is restless and unhappy	23:02
	until he finds his peace in God.	23:05
	We know both by observation and experience	23:08
	what God can do for man	23:11
	and what man rightly related to God can become.	23:13
	We mean by sin, therefore, that which separates	23:18
	man from God and prevents this relationship.	23:21
	For the very essence of sin is a denial of God	23:25
	and disobedience to him.	23:28
	It is the attempt on the part of man.	23:31
	He either consciously or unconsciously made	23:34
	to live independently of or in opposition to God.	23:38
	And when man attempts individually or collectively	23:42
	go his way without God,	23:45
	his efforts become a tragedy	23:47
	which writes itself in indelible characters	23:50
	up in the pages of his mind and heart	23:52
	and damns him to frustration, heartache and defeat.	23:55
	This condition is present today as it has been	23:59
	in every other hour of man's experience.	24:02
	And so pretend as we will that sin does not exist,	24:06
	there is still in the heart of our generation	24:10
	the consciousness of our guilt and the shame of our souls.	24:14
	I shall not try to speak to you	24:19
	in the language of a psychologist and the psychiatrist	24:21
	about subconscious life and repressed guilt.	24:24
	You know, the textbooks as well as better than I,	24:28
	you know that these submerged thoughts and feelings	24:31
	will not stay down.	24:34
	That though forgotten in our conscious thought	24:36
	our unforgiven sins are not gone from our subconscious self.	24:38
	Like that dark spot on lady Macbeth's hand	24:43
	they will not be washed away until they have been	24:46
	faced, confessed and repented for.	24:49
	Christ provides for us the one and only sure way	24:52
	by which we may obtain forgiveness for our sins	24:56
	and release from that sense of guilt	24:59
	which brings the peace that passes understanding.	25:02
	But let it be remembered, class of 1962,	25:07
	that we cannot be rightly related to God	25:12
	without being reconciled with our fellow men.	25:14
	How many of the teachings of Jesus	25:18
	deal directly with human relationships?	25:20
	He taught that men must forgive each other.	25:23
	Peter asked how many times he should forgive his brother	25:27
	until seven times?	25:29
	Jesus answered until 70 times seven,	25:32
	meaning unlimited forgiveness.	25:35
	You recall also the admonition of Jesus	25:38
	that if I bring my gift to the altar	25:41
	and remember that there is something unforgiven	25:43
	between myself and a brother,	25:46
	I am to go and become reconciled with my brother	25:48
	and then return to the altar with my gift.	25:52
	And when Jesus gave the prayer to His disciple,	25:56
	which we repeat so often	25:59
	and which we have repeated this morning.	26:01
	He placed this petition at the very heart of it.	26:03
	Forgive us our trespasses	26:07
	as we forgive those who trespass against us	26:09
	and both by precept and example,	26:13
	he talked this principle of forgiveness.	26:15
	Crying out with his last breath upon the cross	26:18
	a petition to God for those who had nailed him there	26:21
	saying, "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do"	26:24
	This part of the gospel of Christ is	26:29
	as relevant as any other.	26:31
	The suspicions, misunderstanding, hatred and	26:34
	divisions of this hour needs to be resolved and forgiven.	26:39
	They disturb us in all our relationships.	26:44
	Man against man, group against group, race against race	26:48
	nation against nation, men pull apart	26:54
	and they promote by word indeed those policies	26:58
	that separate and destroy. The gospel of redemption	27:00
	is the gospel of reconciliation and love.	27:04
	And it is the answer to so many of our needs today.	27:08
	Finally, the gospel of Christ is the gospel for this hour	27:12
	because it is the gospel of the resurrection.	27:16
	Oh, we do not like to think of death	27:21
	anymore than we like to think of sin, but it is a reality.	27:22
	Men react in so many ways to the fact of death.	27:27
	Some just will not think of it, some would run away from it.	27:31
	Some would be stoic and face it grimly without flinching.	27:36
	But face it we must and although at this moment	27:40
	it may seem so far removed from the members of this	27:43
	class of 1962 and yet I'm not so sure.	27:47
	The threat of nuclear destruction has	27:52
	psychologically affected this generation	27:54
	and is responsible for many of the manifestations	27:57
	of unrest, insecurity and frustration	28:00
	about which we've been speaking.	28:03
	The Gospel of Christ not only proclaims	28:05
	and makes possible for men abundant life	28:08
	but it tells of a savior who transformed death	28:11
	and who gives assurance of a life beyond the grave.	28:15
	Think once more about him of whose gospel we are speaking.	28:19
	Who is he?	28:25
	He was born in humility and reared in simplicity.	28:27
	He grew to manhood in obscurity	28:32
	and suddenly as a lightening hurled, it's	28:35
	startling brilliance across the black and threatening sky.	28:37
	He flashed the beauty and nobility	28:41
	of a pure and spotless light through the clouds of	28:43
	uncertainty, hypocrisy and evil.	28:47
	Giving light and hope in place of darkness and despair.	28:50
	(indistinct)	28:55
	that lasted but three brief years.	28:57
	But which brought peace and comfort to the outcast	29:00
	and the burdened of that day	29:03
	and of all subsequent generations.	29:05
	And then they nailed him to the cross.	29:08
	His persecutors believed that they had killed him.	29:11
	They thought that the nails that pierced his hands and feet	29:14
	pierced also his plans and preferences.	29:16
	And when they put him in the grave	29:19
	and sealed the door of the tomb,	29:21
	they were quite sure that they buried with him,	29:22
	the hopes, the dreams, and the future	29:24
	of both the man and his message.	29:26
	But the grave could not hold him. He rose from the dead.	29:28
	He claimed again the attention and the allegiance	29:32
	of his followers and this in a measure	29:35
	never before heard of in the history of the world.	29:36
	And he came again to his disciples	29:39
	and led them in a mighty movement that shook	29:41
	the Roman world of paganism from its foundation.	29:43
	He moved again in the hearts of men	29:48
	whom he had lifted from oblivion	29:50
	to lives of sublime beauty, and purpose and action.	29:51
	And through them his message was proclaimed,	29:55
	through them his ministry was performed.	29:58
	through them his cause prevailed.	30:01
	Through fellowship with a risen Lord, these disciples were	30:03
	transformed from ordinary man into spiritual giants.	30:06
	They sang in prison, they converted jailers,	30:11
	they laughed at mobs, they welcomed martyrdom.	30:15
	All of this for one cause, to proclaim one breathless	30:18
	message of everlasting hope and victory. He is risen.	30:22
	He is risen. He is risen from the dead.	30:26
	Again, his enemies sought to kill him.	30:31
	They slew his disciples, but his spirit lived on	30:32
	in the lives of others.	30:35
	Men came in increasing numbers to kneel at the	30:37
	foot of the cross, to rise with the light of glory	30:39
	from their faces and with shouts of victory	30:42
	their lips to hurl themselves as it were,	30:45
	into the very jaws of death. The cause of Christ prevailed.	30:46
	Death could not hold him. From then until now	30:51
	his enemies have sought to rid the word of Christ,	30:54
	but still he lives on in the hearts of his people.	30:57
	Neither man nor time has been able to overthrow him from	31:00
	earthly throne, the human hearts of those who let him in.	31:03
	This belief in the resurrection is an act of faith.	31:08
	But it is a faith in God who was revealed in Jesus Christ.	31:12
	This means a faith in the justice, the righteousness	31:16
	and the love of a Holy God who is the creator,	31:18
	the redeemer and the sustainer of the souls of men.	31:22
	This is a faith with which we discovered in	31:25
	the gospel of Christ. These are dark days in which we live.	31:27
	Men and nations are crucifying the Christ.	31:32
	That sinister combination of forces that nailed him	31:36
	to the cross in Judea is nailing the nails again today.	31:38
	But when we embrace the truth of the Christian gospel,	31:43
	in our own experience we pronounce to all the world	31:46
	that Christ is risen from the dead.	31:49
	And in that fact is written in letters of blood shed	31:52
	on Calgary's tree, the ultimate and inevitable defeat	31:54
	of sin and death and hell.	31:58
	He is the master of life and he is the master of death.	32:00
	And he offers to us within his gospel	32:06
	that which is sufficient for us in this hour.	32:09
	Not so long ago, I was wandering through a museum in	32:13
	New Orleans, and I found over in one corner,	32:16
	a chess board with some chessmen.	32:20
	And I read the inscription there that this board and men	32:24
	had been the property of Paul Morphy.	32:27
	Paul Morphy native of new Orleans,	32:30
	resident of the French quarter.	32:33
	Four generation ago who was international chess champion,	32:35
	the greatest chess player that the world has ever known.	32:39
	And then I remember the story about Paul Morphy.	32:42
	I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the story.	32:46
	I've never found it in print,	32:48
	although I've such for it diligently.	32:50
	Perhaps it's just the legend connected with	32:52
	the life of this man as legend grew up	32:55
	connected with lives of many.	32:58
	There was an artist who painted a picture.	33:00
	Now this is fact I've seen the picture,	33:03
	at least a copy of it.	33:05
	It's a chess game between a young man and the devil.	33:08
	And the chess board is there with	33:12
	the pieces arranged on the board so that you can see	33:13
	exactly where they are.	33:16
	And with one more move the devil will checkmate	33:18
	the young man. And on one side of the table	33:21
	the young man sits, a picture of dejection	33:24
	with his head in his hand, a picture of despair.	33:26
	And on the other side is Satan with all satanic glee.	33:31
	And this picture came to the attention of some chess players	33:38
	and they wondered what the artist was trying to say.	33:42
	Was in reality he posing a problem for chess player?	33:44
	and they began to examine the board.	33:48
	Was there some move that this young man could make	33:49
	by which he could slip out of this checkmate?	33:52
	Defeat to them, they couldn't find,	33:54
	and then the story has it that they brought	33:57
	Paul Morphy too see this board.	33:58
	Paul Morphy was slight to seek a delicate mould	34:01
	he broke in early life.	34:04
	His mentality was such and so tested	34:06
	that he couldn't stand it.	34:10
	They brought Paul Morphy of to see this picture.	34:12
	And they came that morning before the picture Paul Morphy	34:15
	and some of the greatest chess players of his generation.	34:18
	And they stood there as quietly,	34:21
	as though they were watching an	34:23
	international chess tournament.	34:24
	Paul Morphy stood before the picture and his fingers moved	34:27
	as though he were actually moving the men upon the board.	34:31
	Then he would shake his head, could not find the move.	34:34
	And then suddenly his body quivered,	34:36
	the blood began to mount in the back of his neck,	34:39
	fled his cheeks, his brow, and his old body was vibrant.	34:41
	And he raised his hand and he shouted "make that move	34:43
	young man, make that move!"	34:47
	And the master of the chess board had defeated death.	34:50
	It is not necessary to find tomorrow.	34:55
	My only wish to say in these closing moments,	34:59
	when the master of life comes to look upon	35:03
	the chess board of my life,	35:06
	there is always a move that I may make under his direction,	35:10
	which will mean victory for me and a witness.	35:14
	For right, and truth and glory	35:20
	in my own day and generation.	35:23
	And this is the gospel, of this hour.	35:26
	Our Father make us all truly conscious	35:42
	of the presence of the one who is our elder brother	35:46
	and our friend.	35:50
	Our Savior and our constant companion,	35:53
	the master of life, the master of the death,	35:57
	and the giver of eternal life that we may place	35:59
	our hand in his and walk out bravely and hopefully	36:04
	and confidently into whatever is before us in this hour	36:11
	and in all hours to come.	36:17
	And now may the grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ	36:20
	the love of God the Father and	36:25
	the communion of the holy spirit rest and abide with us	36:27
	now and forever.	36:32

Item Info

Title:

Aubrey G. Walton - "The Gospel for This Hour" (June 3, 1962)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4q52kf2w

Date:

June 3, 1962

Speaker:

Walton, Aubrey G.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0186
ref5576_gb7
uachapelsermaud
duke:628572
dcrau002199
ark:/87924/r4q52kf2w
3f2c96e2-08cf-4e92-91ce-f2578a3e8d53

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

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

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

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.

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Aubrey G. Walton - "The Gospel for This Hour" (June 3, 1962)

Transcript

Item Info

Duke University Archives

More Info & Options