Hi, Cliff Goldstein here
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And I want to
welcome you to the Program
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Contending for the Faith
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A while back I ran into someone,
a woman whom I hadn't seen
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or quite frankly
thought about for 35 years
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Now you know you're
getting older when you can
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work in numbers
like that. But anyway
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I hadn't seen this
woman and we caught up
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and she had been married
three times, divorced twice
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and frankly from the hints in
her voice and her body language
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I wouldn't have been surprised
if soon those two numbers
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would've been tied.
And she had four kids whom,
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from what I could tell, sounded
as troubled by life as she was.
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You know for some
reason it struck me so sad too
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because I remembered her
three and a half decades earlier
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and I really doubt that,
back then, as a young woman
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dreaming about her future,
dreaming about what her life
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would be like, dreaming about
who she would marry and so on.
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I seriously, seriously
doubt that three husbands
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and a few drug addicted kids,
including sadly one vampire
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transsexual, I sincerely doubt
they were part of the package.
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They were part of
what she was hoping for.
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Yeah you know, life is
full of surprises isn't it?
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Umm our narratives,
the story of our lives
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they sometimes get
written not in lyric poetry
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But they get
written sometimes in prose.
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Stark gritty prose
with adverbs and adjectives
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That we wouldn't have
appended to the nouns and verbs
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of our lives if we
were given that choice.
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How many of us have
faced things in life
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that if we could've
chosen we would not have chosen?
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And yet, so often, so often it
doesn't seem we have the choice.
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Do we? Things are
often chosen for us.
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And now, heading
toward the decrepit age of 58
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I sometimes think
about many in my generation
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And you know sometimes I can
hardly imagine how vast the gap
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how vast the gap must be
between what they had hoped for
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in life and what they
got. Oh who can get on the list
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you know bad marriages, some-
times more than one per person
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or two. Shaky finances
or poor health. Sick kids
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Unexpected death,
bitter disappointment,
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failed friendships, addictions
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The list goes on and on and on
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And no doubt these are
not the parts of the plot
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that we would've
scripted for ourselves
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if we could've done
it all over again. Right?
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You know come
with me to the Bible
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Come with me to
Genesis 4:1-2 Genesis 4:1-2
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Now it's very
interesting, the original Hebrew
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in Genesis 4:1, you
could read it literally
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I have gained a man, the
Lord. It's the word for Yahweh
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the old YHWH, the sacred name.
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And the commentators for
millennia have been debating
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for millennia the
meaning of the text
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It's very possible
that she understood
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this one to be the hoped
for seed. The one promised in
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Genesis 3:15. What's
called the proto evangelicum
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or the first gospel
promise. Thus the point is
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if that's truly
what she meant there
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then Eve sure had
great hopes for that child
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Yet even in their fallen
world, in the fallen world
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even with the pain and
the bitterness of being the
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only humans to have
ever known the unfallen world
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I have no doubt that whatever
plans they had for the future
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whatever their
hopes, whatever their dreams
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whatever
specially for their children
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I have no doubt that
this was not part of it.
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And Genesis 4:8, and Cain
talked with Abel his brother
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And it came to pass that
when they were in the field
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that Cain rose up against
his brother Abel and slew him.
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I mean can you
imagine that? Can you imagine?
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Talk about the disappointment.
Talk about life throwing a curve
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And what they did
expect. Or look at this.
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Exodus 2:21. And Moses was
content to dwell with the man.
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And he gave Moses,
Zipporah his daughter.
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So Moses, basically a
fugitive for forty years
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marries the daughter
of this priest of Midian
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And they're wandering in
the desert for forty years
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having to eat only
manna. A group of people
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who weren't even their
own. Hardly sounds like anyone's
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dream life does it? Then
there were even more problems.
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We know from Numbers 12:1. And
Miriam and Aaron spoke against
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because of the Ethiopian
woman whom he had married
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For he had married
an Ethiopian woman.
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So She marries into a family
that doesn't even like her.
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And I like this
quote here from Ellen White
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"Yielding to the
spirit of dissatisfaction
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Miriam found cause for complaint
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in the events that God
had especially overruled
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The marriage of Moses
had been displeasing to her
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That he should choose
a woman of another nation
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instead of taking a
wife from among the Hebrews
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was an offense to her
family and national pride.
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Zipporah was treated
with ill disguised contempt"
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Now I don't really know
how much Zipporah knew of Moses
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his background,
whatever, when she married him.
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But somehow I
don't have a problem
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thinking that whatever
she envisioned for herself
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and for her married
life, this wasn't it.
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ok, let's go on. What
about the story of Leah?
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ok, with the story of
Leah. Now you know the story.
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I've got the text
here. Laban had two daughters
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The older was Leah and the
name of the younger was Rachel
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and you know the story. Jacob
wanted one, he wanted Rachel
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and not Leah and so on.
And he worked all those years
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for her and then
the wedding night comes
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and the father slips
in Leah instead of Rachel
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and so on and so
forth. And then he wakes up
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and sees he was
with the wrong woman
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and so he works for seven more
years and he finally gets Rachel
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I mean, come on talk
about a marriage made in heaven.
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Ok you know the
rest of the story,
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what happens
after Laban got caught
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You know, so Jacob goes
and he marries Rachel as well.
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So there's Leah. I
don't think Leah's life
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turned out to be what
she, or what any young woman
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would've wanted. do you?
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It hardly sounds
like a loving happy home
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And certainly her
marriage wasn't anything
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I imagine she ever
dreamt it would be.
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But then again life has a way
of doing that to us. Doesn't it?
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And the youthful Jeremiah. I
think of the youthful Jeremiah
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He came from a patrician family
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A priestly family, a
priestly caste I believe
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or was he a Benjaminite?
I can't remember, but
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All I know was he came
from upper crust and so on.
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And yet, whatever
his hopes and ambitions
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They certainly didn't
include being railed against
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castigated and deemed a
traitor by his own nation.
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Here's a small taste of
what this man was feeling
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Lamentations. Look
O Lord and consider
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for I am despised.
Is it nothing to you?
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And all who pass
by look around and see
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Is there any
suffering like my suffering
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that was inflicted upon me.
That the Lord has brought on me
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in the day of his fierce anger
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From on high he sent
fire. Set it down into my bones
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He spread a net for my
feet and turned me back
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He made me desolate,
faint all the day long
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My sins have been bound into
a yoke. By His hands they were
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woven together. They
have come upon my neck
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and the Lord has
sapped my strength.
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He has handed me over to
those I cannot withstand.
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I mean, who? Who would
want this for their life
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if they could
choose? I guarantee you
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this is not the life that
Jeremiah wanted for himself
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And don't you
think David and Bathsheba
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would've preferred
a different narrative?
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than ultimately
the one that unfolded?
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I have no doubt
Uriah, Bathsheba's husband
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would've wanted a different
marriage, a different narrative.
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Whatever he
imagined as a young man
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and when he saw the
beautiful young Bathsheba
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and took her for his wife, what-
ever he would've dreamed about
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and hoped for, I'm
sure it didn't conclude
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being set up by the
king he faithfully served
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so the king could
cover up the affair he had
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when he slept with Uriah's
wife and then had him killed.
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had him killed to help
cover the whole thing up.
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Again, I don't know
anything in Uriah's mind
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But whatever his
hopes and dreams were
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I know they didn't include that.
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And of course Job,
Job. The story of Job.
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One day when Job's sons
and daughters were feasting
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and drinking wine at
the older brother's house
00:13:03.39\00:13:06.07
a messenger came to Job and said
00:13:06.10\00:13:08.65
the oxen were plowing,
the donkeys were grazing
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and the Sabeans took
them off with the sword.
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And then later
on he gets over that
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Another servant comes and
tells him that fire from God
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fell out of the sky
and wiped out all his sheep
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and his servants and so on.
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And then he barely got
over that and another servant
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comes to him and says, your
sons and daughters were feasting
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and drinking wine at
the eldest brother's house
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when suddenly a mighty
wind swept in from the desert
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and struck the four
corners of the house.
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It collapsed on
them and they are dead.
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And I am the only one
who has escaped to tell you.
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Whoo! And as we know it
got a whole lot worse for Job
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before it got any better.
00:14:00.17\00:14:03.05
You think that Job, young
Job dreaming about his future
00:14:03.08\00:14:08.84
his life, his
family, what it would be like
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You think he
expected something like this?
00:14:12.64\00:14:15.63
You think this is
something that he wanted?
00:14:15.66\00:14:18.26
Talk about nasty
unexpected curves.
00:14:18.29\00:14:21.88
Talk about a gap. A gap
between what you hoped for
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and dreamed
about and what you got.
00:14:27.46\00:14:30.99
Whoo! And then John the Baptist
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What about John? I'm sure
from a relatively young age
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John knew he was
gonna have a hard life.
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ok? You know I knew
it was not gonna be hard
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and it wasn't gonna be
every thing he expected
00:14:50.47\00:14:54.32
But it wasn't rocket science,
it wouldn't take rocket science
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to imagine
whatever he dreamed about
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Those dreams didn't
include what he faced.
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I mean come on, first
of all it was bad enough
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Gettin his
carcass thrown in a prison
00:15:12.08\00:15:15.13
I mean that
would've been bad enough
00:15:15.16\00:15:17.53
But meanwhile he's
sitting there rotting in jail
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while Jesus is out there
doing all these miracles.
00:15:21.51\00:15:25.34
That had to have been tough!
00:15:25.37\00:15:27.29
Why is he doing all these things
I can imagine John thinking.
00:15:27.32\00:15:31.46
And I am still rotting here.
00:15:31.49\00:15:33.92
Somehow I don't think it
was supposed to work that way.
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Was it? I can imagine
John thinkin about that.
00:15:37.38\00:15:42.61
But hey, what happens next?
00:15:42.64\00:15:45.73
We know from Mark 6, on his
birthday, Herod gave a banquet
00:15:45.76\00:15:53.03
for his high officials
and military commanders
00:15:53.06\00:15:56.86
and the leading men of Galilee.
00:15:56.89\00:15:59.98
When the daughter of
Herodias came in and danced
00:16:00.01\00:16:03.42
she pleased Herod
and his dinner guests.
00:16:03.45\00:16:06.34
The King said to the
girl, look how cheap this gets
00:16:06.37\00:16:10.01
The king said to the girl,
ask me for anything you want
00:16:10.04\00:16:13.97
and I'll give it to you.
And he promised her with an oath
00:16:14.00\00:16:18.12
Whatever you ask I will
give up to half of my kingdom
00:16:18.15\00:16:23.60
She went out and said to the
mother 'What shall I ask for'?
00:16:23.63\00:16:29.38
The head of John the
Baptist she answered.
00:16:29.41\00:16:33.66
At once the girl hurried in
to the King with the request.
00:16:33.69\00:16:37.42
I want you to give me right now
00:16:37.45\00:16:39.82
the head of John the
Baptist on a platter.
00:16:39.85\00:16:43.86
The King was greatly distressed.
00:16:43.89\00:16:46.79
But because of his
oath and his dinner guests
00:16:46.82\00:16:50.01
he did not want to refuse her.
00:16:50.04\00:16:52.88
So he immediately
sent an executioner
00:16:52.91\00:16:56.08
with orders to bring John's head
00:16:56.11\00:16:59.43
The man went,
beheaded John in the prison
00:16:59.46\00:17:03.01
and brought back
his head on a platter.
00:17:03.04\00:17:06.53
He presented it to the girl
and she gave it to her mother.
00:17:06.56\00:17:12.02
Ugh! Again look, how
cheap! How cheap this is!
00:17:12.05\00:17:17.72
Not exactly the life,
and not exactly the death
00:17:17.75\00:17:22.24
that anyone would've
wished for themselves.
00:17:22.27\00:17:25.53
Don't you think? Yeah
life is full of surprises.
00:17:25.56\00:17:31.66
And often they're
not good surprises
00:17:31.69\00:17:36.45
You know I've said
for years I'm so glad
00:17:36.48\00:17:40.98
that God doesn't
show us the future.
00:17:41.01\00:17:43.85
Sure we know the ultimate future
00:17:43.88\00:17:46.61
We know what has been revealed.
00:17:46.64\00:17:49.15
But our own immediate future, or
what's gonna happen in our life
00:17:49.18\00:17:54.41
I am so glad we don't see
that because I can't imagine
00:17:54.44\00:18:00.28
how discouraging it would
be for an awful lot of us.
00:18:00.31\00:18:05.93
And then what about the Pharisee
00:18:05.96\00:18:09.88
Saul of Tarsus. No doubt a bril-
liant and ambitious young man
00:18:09.91\00:18:15.43
The cream of society. A man
who was apparently moving up
00:18:15.46\00:18:20.27
the ranks and no doubt probably
was gonna have a great future.
00:18:20.30\00:18:25.61
And I'm sure he spent plenty
of time dwelling on that future.
00:18:25.64\00:18:30.40
And what he hoped he would
do and what he would accomplish
00:18:30.43\00:18:33.81
in his life as a spiritual
leader among his own people.
00:18:33.84\00:18:38.98
As I said, I'm glad
we don't know the future.
00:18:39.01\00:18:43.80
coz I doubt though as John
the Baptist was anticipating
00:18:43.83\00:18:48.54
the future, I mean as Paul
was anticipating the future
00:18:48.57\00:18:54.01
that this is
what Paul had in mind.
00:18:54.04\00:18:57.25
Five times I received from
the Jews 40 lashes minus one
00:18:57.28\00:19:03.69
Three times I
was beaten with rods
00:19:03.72\00:19:06.83
Once I was stoned,
three times I was shipwrecked
00:19:06.86\00:19:10.02
I spent a day and
night in the open sea
00:19:10.05\00:19:13.39
I have been
constantly on the move,
00:19:13.42\00:19:15.57
I've been in danger from
rivers, in danger from bandits
00:19:15.60\00:19:19.46
in danger from my own countrymen
in danger from gentiles
00:19:19.49\00:19:24.16
in danger in the city,
in danger in the country
00:19:24.19\00:19:27.51
in danger at sea and in
danger from false brothers
00:19:27.54\00:19:31.63
I have labored and toiled
and often gone without sleep
00:19:31.66\00:19:35.19
I have known hunger and thirst
and often gone without food.
00:19:35.22\00:19:41.04
I have been cold and
naked and beside everything else
00:19:41.07\00:19:45.75
I face the daily pressure
of my concern for the churches.
00:19:45.78\00:19:51.75
Yeah things don't
necessarily turn out for us
00:19:51.78\00:19:58.73
as we would've
expected, as we had hoped
00:19:58.76\00:20:02.65
Of course, sometimes they do.
00:20:02.68\00:20:05.38
Sometimes they turn out even
better than what we've hoped for
00:20:05.41\00:20:09.87
But again, as I look
around, I look around
00:20:09.90\00:20:16.77
at many of my generations in
the church outside the church
00:20:16.80\00:20:20.90
it doesn't make a difference.
And I can't help but think
00:20:20.93\00:20:25.89
of the gap. The vast gap
between what they had dreamed
00:20:25.92\00:20:32.78
dreamt, and hoped
their life would be
00:20:32.81\00:20:35.53
and what that life
ultimately turned out to be.
00:20:35.56\00:20:40.44
You know I remember one time,
I had thought about this before
00:20:40.47\00:20:45.01
I remember one time years ago,
I was visiting the Amsterdam Zoo
00:20:45.04\00:20:52.00
and over in Europe, I
still don't get used to this
00:20:52.03\00:20:55.07
you gotta pay to
use the bathroom there.
00:20:55.10\00:20:56.94
And I go to use the
bathroom in the Amsterdam Zoo
00:20:56.97\00:21:01.40
and there was a woman there,
an older woman in schmatta
00:21:01.43\00:21:07.29
I guess I don't
know, that's a Yiddish word
00:21:07.32\00:21:09.42
I don't know, like a
dirty little dress or something
00:21:09.45\00:21:13.39
I don't know. Schmatta.
You learned a new word,
00:21:13.42\00:21:15.86
a Yiddish word. And she's
sitting there at the table
00:21:15.89\00:21:19.47
She's got a cigar
box full of change
00:21:19.50\00:21:22.52
And her job is you pay the woman
00:21:22.55\00:21:25.76
And I remember afterwards
I wrote a poem about her
00:21:25.79\00:21:29.21
And I just
envisioned her as a young woman
00:21:29.24\00:21:33.63
whatever her hopes
and her dreams were
00:21:33.66\00:21:37.95
And I contrasted that because
now she's here this old woman
00:21:37.98\00:21:43.90
sitting in front of a,
outside of a smelly toilet
00:21:43.93\00:21:48.03
with a cigar box full of
change Again, talk about a gap
00:21:48.06\00:21:53.90
The gap between what you might
have envisioned for your life
00:21:53.93\00:21:58.39
and what life
ultimately gave you.
00:21:58.42\00:22:02.26
But then what about Jesus though
00:22:02.29\00:22:06.13
What about how
his life turned out
00:22:06.16\00:22:09.65
You know of course on one
level Jesus was "the lamb slain
00:22:09.68\00:22:14.64
from the foundation of the
00:22:14.67\00:22:18.79
Of course Jesus
was to come to die.
00:22:18.82\00:22:22.28
It was the whole
purpose of the plan of salvation
00:22:22.31\00:22:26.10
Jesus was to come and die. That
was the whole plan of the gospel
00:22:26.13\00:22:32.09
He had to die. He had
to give his life for us.
00:22:32.12\00:22:36.77
He gave his life
because He was the only one
00:22:36.80\00:22:41.49
who could make
atonement. We are sinners.
00:22:41.52\00:22:45.04
We have violated the law of God.
If you heard my previous talk
00:22:45.07\00:22:49.95
that I gave called the
mathematics of salvation
00:22:49.98\00:22:53.48
You'll know we do not have
what's needed for salvation
00:22:53.51\00:22:58.06
We don't have the right record
00:22:58.09\00:22:59.83
We haven't kept God's law
good enough. Only Jesus did.
00:22:59.86\00:23:05.11
And the whole plan of salvation
is settled on the idea that
00:23:05.14\00:23:10.65
Jesus would come. He
would live a perfect life
00:23:10.68\00:23:14.65
He would die as a
substitute for us.
00:23:14.68\00:23:19.23
He would pay the
penalty for our sins.
00:23:19.26\00:23:22.34
And His perfect life
would be credited to us.
00:23:22.37\00:23:27.64
And this is the
great hope of the gospel.
00:23:27.67\00:23:33.12
You know I've said this
before and I'll say it again
00:23:33.15\00:23:37.35
I know that in the
end if I'm not saved
00:23:37.38\00:23:43.51
regardless of
what Jesus does in me
00:23:43.54\00:23:46.31
regardless of the great changes
that Jesus has done in me
00:23:46.34\00:23:50.47
and believe me, if you woulda
knew what you wanted to know me
00:23:50.50\00:23:55.17
before I became a believer,
some people find me intolerable
00:23:55.20\00:23:58.86
enough now after 34 years
00:23:58.89\00:24:01.14
you won't imagine what I woulda
been like before I knew the Lord
00:24:01.17\00:24:04.65
But I'm sure of one
thing, that in the end
00:24:04.68\00:24:09.86
if I'm not saved by a
right- eousness outside of me
00:24:09.89\00:24:14.56
a righteousness in place of
me a righteousness covering me
00:24:14.59\00:24:19.01
then folks if I'm
not saved by that then
00:24:19.04\00:24:21.89
you could stand on that wall
at the end of the millennium
00:24:21.92\00:24:25.38
and you can wave down because
I know I'm not going to be there
00:24:25.41\00:24:30.97
So there's no question
Jesus came and died for us
00:24:31.00\00:24:35.46
That was the point.
And the Bible also says
00:24:35.49\00:24:39.12
that Jesus had a
divine human nature
00:24:39.15\00:24:43.24
Don't ask me to explain that
00:24:43.27\00:24:45.86
I don't understand
how you explain that
00:24:45.89\00:24:48.47
Please, I don't know
how a can opener works
00:24:48.50\00:24:51.49
much less I could understand the
divine human nature of Jesus.
00:24:51.52\00:24:56.93
He was fully God and fully man
00:24:56.96\00:25:00.27
Let's concentrate for a
moment on the human side.
00:25:00.30\00:25:06.13
His humanity. The side
of Jesus that in Gethsemane
00:25:06.16\00:25:11.43
that cried out, My
Father if it be possible
00:25:11.46\00:25:14.96
Let this cup pass from me. Ok
00:25:14.99\00:25:18.87
Of course not, of course not!
00:25:36.74\00:25:40.48
And that was the
side of Jesus crying out
00:25:40.51\00:25:46.11
his human side crying
out for something different
00:25:46.14\00:25:50.23
between what anybody
would hope for in life
00:25:50.26\00:25:53.57
and what life gave
him, gave him instead.
00:25:53.60\00:25:58.00
Now I think I'm
stating the obvious here
00:25:58.03\00:26:01.99
Life can and does
do us all dirty ok?
00:26:02.02\00:26:08.47
But we shouldn't be
surprised, should we?
00:26:08.50\00:26:12.83
I mean after all look
at what the Bible teaches
00:26:12.86\00:26:16.02
Look at what all these
faithful people went through
00:26:16.05\00:26:19.04
You've all read Hebrews 11
and it talks about these people
00:26:19.07\00:26:22.65
that had trials and
scourgings and mocking
00:26:22.68\00:26:25.51
They were sawn asunder they were
beaten, they were driven away
00:26:25.54\00:26:29.22
and on and on. These
were God's faithful people
00:26:29.25\00:26:32.89
And if God's faithful
ones faced this, what about us?
00:26:32.92\00:26:39.22
who sometimes, let's face it,
00:26:39.25\00:26:42.50
are not always
so faithful, are we?
00:26:42.53\00:26:45.66
Notice too in some of the
people I mentioned earlier
00:26:45.69\00:26:52.10
some of them were victims
of wrong choices they made
00:26:52.13\00:26:59.69
and some of them were victims
of choices other people made.
00:26:59.72\00:27:03.45
But that's just how
life is in a fallen world.
00:27:03.48\00:27:07.34
But that's what we have to
remember. This is a fallen world
00:27:07.37\00:27:11.41
And it's a world that's
not destined to last forever.
00:27:11.44\00:27:15.57
ok, the world is fading away.
Thus we shouldn't be surprised
00:27:15.60\00:27:20.88
at all the unfair,
unjust things we face
00:27:20.91\00:27:24.49
You expect what in a
fallen world? Paradise?
00:27:24.52\00:27:28.53
Eden's long long gone folks
00:27:28.56\00:27:32.35
But listen carefully because
this is how I wanna end it
00:27:32.38\00:27:38.93
Thanks to Jesus we have this
hope. It's all gonna be alright
00:27:38.96\00:27:44.95
And when it's over,
when Jesus does come back
00:27:44.98\00:27:49.56
and this is all over and done
00:27:49.59\00:27:52.16
then the gap, the gap
between what our lives are now
00:27:52.19\00:27:57.62
and what they will be like then
00:27:57.65\00:28:01.39
will be
infinitely, infinitely greater
00:28:01.42\00:28:05.31
than the terrible gap
between what you had hoped for
00:28:05.34\00:28:08.91
when we were young
and what we got instead.
00:28:08.94\00:28:14.66