Well, we are presently going through a series on the Beatitudes, those sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning, what we call the Sermon on the Mount, blessed. Well, we looked at those who are poor in spirit, and last time we looked at those who mourn, and the promises that are held out to people in those different categories. When we looked last time, it's not so much mourning the loss of a loved one, as it is mourning what sin has done to us, to the world, to other people, to our families, what it's stolen away, how sin has robbed us, robbed us of spiritual joys and spiritual blessings. And we mourn that, we look back on our lives, we look back on our lives as Christians and grieve, grieve over what hasn't happened, what we haven't seen, what we haven't done. and where we have been robbed by our sinful nature works within us still. We haven't dispensed with our sinful nature and it works still sadly, powerfully within us. Well, this morning, we move on in these considerations, and there is a sort of pattern, a successive development of thought, one thought leading to another in a kind of logic there. As we see verse five, which is the one before us, Matthew 5, verse five, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Well, the title then for the sermon going with that is, A Great Future for the Meek. It says, doesn't it? They're going to inherit the earth. Friends, if we are the meek, then get ready for it. We will inherit the earth. Whether you're renting property at the moment, whether what you own is a sizeable postage stamp or something like that. Well, don't worry. It tells us here, we're going to inherit the earth. So whatever meekness is, it's obviously very important and has a high estimate in the eyes of God. And so it has to clamor, doesn't it, for attention, putting it that way, in a world where meekness is not highly regarded, where the idea is that if you're assertive and aggressive and promote yourself, well, you'll get on, and you're just the kind of person there that's going to prosper. Interesting, when just reading a little ahead of this series and reading in the accumulated sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, great preacher of a previous generation, and his approach to the Sermon on the Mount. He was making exactly the same points then, and I'd date that somewhere in the 50s and the 60s, to what we see now. That it wasn't popular an idea then, not popular now, and it wasn't popular in Corinth when Paul is there speaking and how the people of the church there, as we were reading 2 Corinthians 10, rather thought that his speech was contemptible. There wasn't much to this man. His letters might carry a bit of clout, and he seems quite bold and quite weighty in them, but when you see him, there's not much to him, and his presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. wasn't cutting it for them. And Paul has to quite strongly speak into the cultural expectations of current, which are cultural expectations of the 1950s and 60s, and what Dr. Lloyd-Jones saw, and which we're still seeing today in the 2020s. And how meekness, therefore, has to assert its place and its value in a culture that does not think so highly of it. And why is that? Well, because often it's got baggage, wrong baggage, not biblical baggage, wrong baggage, cultural baggage that decries it. And it makes it sort of seem pretty weak, actually. That's what the people in Corinth were saying back to Paul, that he's pretty weak, this guy. And they were treating him with huge disrespect. And he pulls rank on them there, if you read through from where we left off the reading, he pulls rank on them. And so I'm an apostle actually, and I've had a few things, a few life experiences. Well, if you insist, I'll just relate a few. And so he does. He relates a few. Extraordinary. But that idea is having to push back against that it's weak, that being the person that I am, this loneliness, this gentleness, words that collect around the term meekness, that therefore you're just going to get trampled on and trampled over. No, the idea is you must always win, win out in the eyes of the culture, be the successful person by the definition of our culture. Well, let's move on then. Meekness considered, first heading, meekness considered. Well, what might we think of it then as being? Well, it is a capacity to absorb injury. to your own honour, disrespect to your own person, without retaliating, without being consumed with anger, without being taken up with a sense of vengeance, a vengeful spirit that wants to right the wrongs that have been done personally to you, to me, by others. And it indicates within it there that we are self-possessed, that we can master ourselves, our reactions, that we are, with the Spirit's help, in control of what we are going to say and do in response to hurts and slights and injuries to our honour, our name, and our character. Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 32 has this commendation. It says, he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty. and he who rules his spirit and he who takes a city. Speaks there, well, taking a city, that sounds good. Being the mighty, well, that's more gonna get an uptick, as it were, in culture's eyes. The Bible shakes his head and says, no, not actually. Better the one who is slow to anger and rules his spirit. That would be, that couples up with the idea of meekness, a capacity to absorb some injury and hurts and slighting to your name and not come back with anger. And not as it were, torch the whole city as a result or something like that. That's Christian character actually. And that's not weakness, actually that's strength. To actually have that degree of self-mastery indicates great strength of character to be able to do it, because it doesn't go with the flow, does it? It goes against the grain. The sinful nature wants vengeance. The sinful nature wants, come back here, you did this, therefore this is coming in your direction. That's what it cries out for. And to be spiritual, to be Christ-like, requires something different of us. That's not to say that it commends inactivity. that you just don't do anything about anything, that you just sort of absorb whatever there is and shrug your shoulders and just sort of move on, because we don't just move on. If we do that, we're likely to still carry the effects of that somewhere else. It's buried a bit deeper, it's been sort of internalized and swallowed, and it can be actually causing somewhat serious indigestion, you might say, to our spiritual system. No, it doesn't mean inactivity. Nor does it mean that we're desensitized to injustices in other places or against other people or hurts and harms that are committed against them. No, we might absorb whatever's done against us and deal with that differently, but not what's done against other people. we might be very proactive, making quite a bit, we might serve a nuisance of ourselves when it comes to that. No, it doesn't commend silence in the light of everything, including some of the things that may be said against us. It doesn't commend silence. It commends a right reaction, not an angry one, not a vengeful one, but not silence. Neither does it show us that we just offer no resistance whatsoever. Paul had some very strong things to say to the church in Corinth, and Moses too had come to him just upcoming. So meekness, we have to think of it within what the Bible describes. Our language here, we have to sort of detoxify it as cultural baggage that it picks up and ruling ideas and attitudes. And we've got to place it within a biblical context and see where it's operating there. What does it mean when the Bible uses that word? Because that's where the blessedness is, not meekness in terms of what the world thinks of it as being. There's not much to be had for that. But there is plenty to be had when we think of it spiritually, So there is Moses, we mentioned him, and how interesting that there he is, and this is quite provoking, isn't it, there, that God has so obviously been with him, so obviously led Israel through him. It was Moses there who stood with the rod outreached over the Red Sea that parted, Moses who speaks to the rock and the water comes, Moses who is at the forefront of everything, Moses who receives the law on the Mount Sinai. He's singled out and God actually speaks, doesn't he, of him in Numbers 12 which we read and that he deals with Moses unlike how he deals with anybody else. Nobody's been like him. Not so with my servant Moses. He's faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings. And he sees the form of the Lord. That's different. He stands out. That's why Moses stands out in the Old Testament in so, so many ways. He was a prophet. And how? Some prophet are more than a prophet. And that's why his office, looks forward to the coming of Christ and his office. Here is somebody here who is going to excel and be faithful in all God's house in a way that goes beyond Moses. You'll read that in Hebrews chapter 3. So there is Moses. He's provoked here isn't he? What happens? Well there are his own family actually. There's his brother Aaron and his older sister Miriam and they're not happy with him. They're finding fault with him over this Ethiopian woman that he's married. And so now they begin to pick holes in his ministry, the calling that he has. There in verse two, isn't it? Numbers 12, they said, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also? And they're wanting to try and pull rank on Moses. That's a bit off. There's Moses. He's been the man. He's been the one that has had the ruling from God and dealt with Pharaoh. How? Aaron might have been the spokesman, but he wouldn't have had any words, would it? Not for the fact that Moses was receiving the revelation from God and then passing on to Aaron to be his voice and his mouthpiece. But Aaron had nothing to say unless Moses had heard from God. what leadership and all the things that they'd seen, the battles that they'd been involved in and fought, where Moses' prayers and intercessions scored victories over what other people call the Amalekites who were attacking them as they progressed away from the Red Sea. Yes, Moses, he was the standout man. And now Here is, people are saying, why should you be the only one who leads here? What about us? We should have a slice of the action. We should have this honor. And they're wanting to push Moses out of the way. And you read, and it's in brackets in verse three. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who are on the face of the earth. That word humble, you could insert the word meek. He was the meekest man on earth. He'd gone into Pharaoh, hadn't he? Sure. His prayers and intercession led to the Amalekites being defeated. Yes. Passing the Red Sea on to God. Yes, he did all of that. And he was very humble. And so when we have this provocation, this insult really, to his office and the calling that he has before God, we do not see Moses reacting. We don't see him kind of pulling rank there on Miriam and Aaron and saying all the things that I've just rehearsed here. He could have done and put it in a sense, been banged to rights to do it, but he didn't. No, instead we read, the Lord heard it. And it's the Lord that makes the running here, isn't it? He, as it were, just moves Moses out of the way and with a commendation that for all that God has used him and he receives the law on Sinai. But he's actually very humble, very meek. Now, when his leadership is being questioned and when Miriam and Aaron there, his nearest and dearest, are turning against him, it's God actually that intervenes and gives this commendation of him. that he's very humble, and that's why we don't see Moses reacting to this. That's why he keeps silence in this, and it is God who intervenes, and he does some fairly strong things there to Miriam and to Aaron, and turns Miriam over to leprosy. Why did you not be afraid to speak against my servant Moses? God, as it were, puts Moses out of the way. I will answer for you here, and I will be the one that will speak on your behalf here. because Moses was not going to say anything to it because he's a very humble man. Endured so much against himself. And were we to just go back into Exodus, the book before we've come to here, Exodus chapter 16, verses one to three, just as an instance, what Moses had to endure. And they that people of God journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, oh, that we died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, and we sat by the pots of meat when we get bread to the full, for you brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Well, that was kind words from them. They'd been in slavery, actually. They were being beaten when they didn't come up with enough quota of bricks to build the fortified cities of Ramesses and Sarkov there. That was not showing great kindness to Moses. Exodus chapter 17, just reading again the beginning of that chapter. It's a pattern, isn't it? This is wonderful. Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin, according to the commandment of the Lord. And Captain referred him, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people contended with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. And so Moses said to them, why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord? The people thirsted there for water. The people complained against Moses and said, why is it you brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? Blaming Moses for their being thirsty. And they weren't looking to God. Why do you tempt God? But there is Moses bearing it, bearing it very, very humbly, very meekly. He has been trained By God, he's mastered himself, mastered his reaction, a tendency to sort of snap back or to say, well, I've been trying to help you people. What do you mean to talk to me like that? Of course, he does at one point later on break our mat and is punished severely for it. But hold him with the more positive side. And what does Moses do? Well, in Exodus 17, verse four, he cries out to the Lord saying, what shall I do with this people? They're almost ready to stone me. He recognizes the situation, but he's not defending himself there. He's looking to the Lord and praying to God to intervene and help. And it's something quite wonderful in him. Previously in his passion, he'd murdered an Egyptian when he was perhaps recognizing that God was raising him up to do something for his people in their slavery. But it wasn't this. It wasn't by murdering an Egyptian and then covering over his body in the sand. He's doing it differently now. His spirit is mastered now. And in fact, in Numbers again, just in an earlier chapter, chapter 11, where there is this interesting situation where God actually does give a measure of his spirit to prophesy upon the elders of the tribes, of the various people there. There's an interesting case of some of the men who weren't there with the rest of them, and they were in the camp, and they ended up prophesying. Spirit of God came upon them there. And it's interesting what is made of this. Numbers 11, just reading from verse 27, a young man ran and told Moses and said, Eldad and Medab are prophesying in the camp. So Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men answered and said, Moses, my lord, forbid them. They shouldn't be doing this. They're taking away, detracting from you. That this shouldn't be happening, that they're getting some prominence and some authority. This is mostly regular. But how does Moses answer? Moses said to him, are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon their No, I'm not clinging to office, he says. I'm not wanting to be the standout person. That's not what I'm kind of getting away with there when I go to sleep at night. I think, oh, that was good. He said, no, he said, much rather that all the Lord's people were given this measure of power and prophesied and had this leadership position, if you like, that I have. I'm not holding onto it. Don't worry, Joshua. Don't be jealous and zealous for my sake and my honor. I'm more than happy for others to be involved. Well, that's the man that he is. And in it we have to see that there's been the death of self, the death of ideas that I must be admired. I must be the standout person. I must be well thought of. None should have any visibility but me. Well, all of that stuff there is still life kicking in the sinful nature for sure. But there is Moses, the meekest man. That's his meekness. is that he can bear with provocations and jealous people around him and come through it unscathed by it. An absence of jealousy on his own part, an absence of angry reaction coming out of him and a great disinterest in the views of other people. What? Other people are prophesying? You mean they might think, well, there's something there and begin not to think so much of Moses there? Moses said, well, so be it. If God wants them all to prophesy, well, he said, oh, that they would. Oh, that God would do such a thing as that. I don't care for the position, the status. I don't care for the opinions of those people. That does not work with me, if you will. I'm crucified to all of that. So this is something that links very much with the whole area of Christian life and experience of self-control. It's there, self-control, one of the fruit of the Spirit. One of the things that if we're Christians and where we're growing as Christians, we'll be keen to assert itself more and more over and against the sinful nature, over and against the, what do you mean you're ignoring me? What do you mean I'm not the top dog around these parts anymore? That actually is done with that. because self-control is being exercised in the power of the Holy Spirit. So we're not anxious, we're overlooked, we're not given to jealousy or to anger, we're not protective of our own reputation, not prickly or testy or defensive. And it speaks, doesn't it there, of a peace and a calm in the very depths of the being, the man, the woman of God. meekness considered. Second heading, meekness and strength. Meekness and strength. Because none of the above, nothing of what has been said there, takes away from the fact that we at times have to be men and women of action and that we have to get in places where we might annoy people and where we might have to say we don't agree with this. But I know we don't agree with this, saying it angrily, not saying it there in some superior way, but saying it because that's how it is. That we have a Bible and it's telling us what you're doing is not right. What you're doing in wider churches is not right. It's not honoring God. And we may have to make ourselves a bit unpopular in saying some things. And perhaps there, as far as we can understand, it's saying some home truths. to other people, other places. We can't go with you in this. We can't join with you in this. There's a fundamental lack here. And we have to be zealous there for the honor of God, defend his honor, defend his truth and his reputation. So many people there claim God's authority to do all kinds of things. And we have to say, no, we can't agree with that, that God's honor is very important and we want to defend it. Why, Moses? Think of him, there with the tablets, with commandments, written with the very finger of God, and going down the mountain with Joshua. And they hear this sound, don't they? Josh's, the sound of war in the camp. There's a nerve, the sound of play. The people there are making absolute fools of themselves in the sight of our enemies. They're prostituting themselves to an idol. What does he do with the tablets of stone? There is the honour of God being absolute brought down the golden calf that Aaron foolishly has allowed to be made. Moses casts the tablets of stone down on the ground as though this is God's honour and that is his own way of tearing his own clothes and showing his own horror. It's God making his covenant and it is as if it's all broken. So is his desire and zeal for God. You think of David, think of him and his actions, called of God and anointed to be king. And there's Saul, still there, Saul, who's trying to kill him. David has moments when he could have killed Saul. And when some of his mighty men bound him about him, he says, here's your moment, get him now. But he refuses it. stands apart from such action, despite all the harm that Saul has done to him. There is honour of God, zeal for God, in a sense, a very strong action he takes in not having Saul killed. Abraham you think of, so meek in allowing Lot to choose the pasturage there, the fertile valley down near Sodom. Unfortunately, Lot discounted that risk and just saw the The verdant fields saw the chance there for good grass for his flock. Later on, Abraham, the man of action, meek man, allowing Lot the first choice, but then going and fighting against kings to rescue Lot when he had been seized by them. And meekness and strength, well, we read, didn't we there, the example of the apostle Paul. And how he actually says in 2 Corinthians verse one, now I pour myself and pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. That shows us where our next setting is going to take us, the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. And Paul, as an apostle, is simply carrying on a family likeness here. That's his modus operandi, his MO, that he also works with gentleness and with loneliness, meekness. And that's how he approaches these people, people that say all kinds of wrong things about him. where he has some strong things to say to them but his spirit is mastered and he is speaking truly words of reproof as he reproves Peter when he goes to Antioch and where he begins to distance himself from the doctrine of justification by faith and Paul stands up against him, the honour of God, the very future of the gospel's at stake here. He intervenes very strongly and as he does here with the church in Corinth, the gospel's at stake. Paul's reputation as an apostle, if that goes down, so does his teaching go down, there's a lot at stake. But the way in which he does it and the spirit in which he comes, having to say some strong things, having to intervene, having to make himself even unpopular with some, but he will do it because there's a lot at stake in it. You know, all that strength of character, that mastery of his mouth, his tongue, what comes out of his spirit, how he will react, it comes out into play here. I just explicitly mentioned that he's pleading, pleading not strong, but pleading by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Third heading then, Christ our sure example. Well, blessed are the meek, Well, the Lord isn't speaking about hypothetical other people. He's actually able to say that because he is himself meek, very, very meek. If Moses then in his day was the most humble man on the face of the earth, then here is the most humble man of any generation that's ever lived on the face of the earth. And it is our Lord Jesus Christ. One of his promises, Well, so well known, aren't they? What he says in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Gentle, lowly in heart. Meek, that there is about me, my leadership, how I will deal with you. that will be of gentleness, meekness, lowliness, not coming at you to destroy you. This is important to say, he's not got his authority to destroy the people in Corinth, to build them up. And the Lord Jesus, our Saviour, the Son of God, the Son of Man, well, He promises to come to us in such a way that when we learn from Him and take His yoke upon us, isn't going to kill us. This isn't something that's just going to be despairing, wretched, and guilt all the time, living under some great shadow of fearfulness. It's not what I read here, because this is the nature of the Son of God. This is actually God. This is how God acts and treats people. He patiently withholds his anger, withholds his judgment. Oh, one might say for centuries before then he does act, but there is such patience. And for God's people, such patience that he exercises toward us. He doesn't break bruised reeds. He doesn't snuff out smoldering flaxes. Weak believers, struggling believers, he doesn't come with a great stick at them, but there is a gentleness. and the lowliness that we, despite our behavior, have not so provoked him that he'll never speak to us again, or that he'll just take some vengeance upon us and say, well, that was a failure. That has been what a failed Christian that you are. That's actually more Satan will say that. He doesn't say that, and he comes with much more helpfulness and encouragement because it comes from a character that is meek. Philippians chapter 2 and the wonderful description there that Paul gives of Christ humbled but then exalted. We're just going to stay with the humbling parts, Philippians 2, and where Paul is actually saying, here's your example, here's how we behave toward each other, here is how we're not provoked and we think the best and we react carefully here, we're not behaving rudely here, we're not parading ourselves here, the things that are not love in 1 Corinthians 13. And so he says this, Philippians 2, reading from verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. There is the nature of it, that it's losing yourself, it's losing honours and privileges and titles that he was entitled to, but that he didn't hold on to, and insists that when he came to us there should be a whole entourage of angels, or insists that at every moment it should be the Christ who has transfigured, brightness and causing men to fall, that it should not be like that, and that he should come instead looking like you and me, being very ordinary actually, and doing very ordinary things in an ordinary place called Nazareth and living in pretty much obscurity there, humbling himself in that and then even humbling self to the point of death. Death he didn't deserve, death that was not required of him far from it, but a death that he willingly submitted to in order that we might be saved. And a death, not a comfortable death, your deathbed surrounded by your loved ones. No, the death of the cross actually, surrounded by people that hate you. surrounded by all the trappings of the shame of that kind of death, and that that was the death chosen for the Son of God, that was the death chosen by the Son of God. That's loneliness, that's meekness, provocations that he had on the cross are outrageous. What was said against him and about him is just beyond, and his replies were just extraordinary, that these people might be forgiven, who were saying such horrible impudence, insulting things against him. This is our short example. Peter in 1 Peter chapter 2 and in verses 21 to 23 carries that thought on. He says, for to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. It's big, isn't it? That's what he did. And that's, friends, what we are called to do. Blessed are the meek or blessed are the people who do this, who raise their game, who rise to this high calling and not think that's too low for me. I'm not doing that. That sounds too weak. We see the patience that is part of our calling and our patience toward each other. Yes, it's towards each other, towards each of us, wherever we are, whatever struggles and battles and understandings or lack of understandings we have. Patience towards children, patience towards older people, patience towards anyone and everyone. And that is Christ as a sure example there. How much injury is done because people are impatient and speak wrongly. speak a word out of turn, speak rashly, impetuously, and the damage is very difficult to repair. Meekness is attractive. Meekness actually builds community, builds fellowships of friends. That's what local churches are meant to be, isn't it? Well, there is a promise. Fourth heading, inherit the earth. Inherit the earth. You would think all of that sort of forecloses any great influence that you and I will have, and in many ways it does. You would think that that is going to just leave us nowhere, and in many ways in the world's eye, it does. But where it counts, and it's eternity where it counts, this is everything. That attitude, that behavior, well it's proof actually of Holy Spirit living within us. It's proof actually that we are a work in progress. A work in progress, not no work at all because there's no life there. No, there's life. Hard and things to do are difficult and the calling is a very high calling. But there's a great future for the meek. They inherit the earth. They may not have much earth while they're here. They may not have much portion of it. They may not have great sort of real estate and command a great sort of cities or something like that. The Bible says, well, nevermind. It's all going to come right in the end because you'll inherit the earth. You'll actually have all the real estate you could ever dream of. You'll actually have titles not to just a little bit of land here or a few possessions there. You'll have titles of acres and hectares and masses of things in heaven. It's all to come. Good things are to come, Psalm 37 verses nine to 11 tell us that. You have to be patient, and that's hard. You have to be patient, wait for it, and believe the promise, because it is, it's eternity. Yes, there are benefits now. There is a blessedness, a blessedness of knowing that we're actually doing this in Christ's way. That's a blessedness in knowing that, but also knowing that the best is to come. And so in this life, yes, we can forego opportunity and advantage. Yes, we can forego positions and favor, yes, because actually what's to come is beyond our wildest dreams. And we look forward to it, we believe in it. God's kingdom finally visibly realized the exhortation that is Christ after his humiliation, bringing us on into that also. You look at the people who hoped to inherit the earth and thought that, ah, not meekness, but the absolute opposite. And one can sometimes see their ending. I don't know whether you followed the story there, just to finish, in the United States and a woman called Elizabeth Holmes. It's been in the news. Look it up, maybe tomorrow, and just find out a bit more. But, you know, she was a, whiz kid when it came to tech and dropped out of university early to go and found a company called Theranos. stood for therapy and diagnosis, sort of brought it together in these sort of fancy names, Theranos. And the idea was, some idea, that you could have a diagnostic blood test, not requiring needles, because apparently she had quite an aversion to needles. So she was trying to find a way to make, you know, blood tests comfortable. But no, you know, prick of your finger, a little drop of blood and a fancy machine called an Edison in kind of recognition and honor of Thomas Edison, who kind of labored away until he achieved, you know, telephones and things. So anyway, the whole nature of it was that this single blood test, well, it'll pick up cancer, it'll pick up diabetes, it'll pick up everything, any number of health problems. She was good. She really sold the idea big. She was worth her company at $1.9 billion. She was listed by Forbes magazine for all the rich people there. And she was the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. There she was, riding high. Except the problem was that this machine, the Edison, didn't work. The tests were hugely unreliable. And the stories that began to emerge from the company where she worked, well, wow. She, she was going to inherit the earth. They had the most luxurious and spacious office complex there in Palo Alto, California. There's the detail for you. She lived in a rented mansion, which was all expensed. It was a company footing the bill. She had security detail. She had administrators. She had assistants all around her. Extraordinary. She had a dog. I have to tell you about the dog. Dog that she got and gave him his place and the whole company, the dog was able to just wander around this great office there and do what dogs do around places if they're not properly trained. And so it's weird. That's some weird, weird stuff. And, and she would actually had a paranoia about other competitors stealing her ideas and everyone had to sign non-disclosure agreements. It was weird. It was weird stuff. It was going to inherit the earth. And she had on her board, the list of names is there. Henry Kissinger was on there. You know, a bit of American politics from the eighties. George Shultz was secretary of state there under Reagan and a host of other people too. Big names, millionaires. Murdoch invested big in it. And it was an absolute scam. She got sentenced. on Friday in San Jose, California, 11 years, three months for defrauding people. I had millions, millions upon millions of dollars. Wasn't the meek. She was pretty loud, opinionated, plenty of self-belief. There's just a little lesson. There's an early warning. And it said that the judge actually was serving notice on Silicon Valley, which runs big on people Bigging up their products and selling a story or two and creaming in money on a fairly dubious sort of product. Bit of a warning that you're not actually going to inherit the earth here. She's got, I think, a bit of time to sort of appeal and doubtless will, and she's appealed and fought all along the way before this sentencing. And, and, and so she's got apparently until April next year when they're going to bang her up for these here 11 years. Well, she's inherited now a very small part of the earth, a kind of prison cell somewhere. Her company that was listed at $9 billion is now listed at precisely $0. Incredible story. Books have already been written. There'll be more written. There'll be more films. Astonishing. How did she get away with it? Well, she was assertive and she just conveyed self-belief. And if I said to her, that's the only number of church leaders today who are basically doing the same. And, well, they're getting the crowds, they're getting the followers. We'll enjoy it for now. The day comes, doesn't it? The meek will inherit the earth, not Elizabeth Holmes. We might there kindly pray for a soul, pray that she turns from her ways. And having 11 years, three months to think about it, she's got a fair bit of time to think about it. And may it be that the Lord does turn her heart and quite a few others. Just there's a story. That's where it goes. That's where it's heading. And God doesn't overlook these things. And he doesn't overlook meekness when he finds it in his people. It's, ah, meekness. They've got it. They've seen what was in my son and the apostle Paul, and they've seen what was in Moses. I've got a lot prepared for them. Got a whole thing. They're not going to need chauffeurs. They're not going to need fancy mansions and bits and pieces. I've got something much better than that for them. my son will be there and I've got great plans. And we should believe that because the temptation is often to reach for the kind of, Elizabeth Holmes is an extreme example, the temptation often to reach for that and exaggerate and push our weight around and think that's the way to do it. Well, obviously that's not the way to do it. And if you're patient and if you wait, if you aim to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, then there's a very, very big promise. There's a great future for the Meek.