Yesterday I mentioned a letter by the great hymn writer John Newton, where he makes the point that sometimes one blemish in our Christian character can be like a spot on a tie or a mark on a shirt or a dent in our car that everybody

seems to notice.

That's what they notice, rather than the shirt or the tie or the new car because it seems

to take over.

I remember when our children were young, we used to read a series of books by a man called

Roger Hargreaves called The Mr Men Books. They were cartoon books where people's faults

seem to stick out in the pictures, Mr. Nosey, Mr Fussy, and so on.

Well, in this letter, in a very wonderful and gracious way, John Newton writes a kind of Christian

version of the Mr. Men. And he gives Christians some rather interesting names. Now, since he was

writing in the 18th century and had a good sense of humor, all these names are in Latin, but you don't need to worry about that.

You'll recognize these people immediately.

He talks about Mr. Austerus, Mr. Osteer.

And you probably know somebody like him. In many respects, Mr. Austeris or maybe Mrs.

Austeris is an admirable Christian. Knows the Bible well, is absolutely committed to living

on the basis of every word that comes from the mouth of God, studies the scriptures, praise,

is disciplined in giving.

And the one thing you can be sure about Mr. Austeris is that he won't bend.

He's not going to bend to the prevailing winds in society.

He knows we've moved a lot closer to George Orwell's 1984 than society was when Orwell wrote it in

1949.

And he's not impressed by fads in the church either.

He doesn't like worship that resembles a pop concert or preachers who remind him of stand-up

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