Welcome back, you remember that
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the Pharisees had
come to trap Jesus
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asking him a question,
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"Which school of
thought-- liberal, conservative,
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what are you Jesus?
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And where do you
stand on this very difficult
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social issue of divorce?"
Let's see how Jesus responds.
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Yes, Glenn, as we are
dealing here with this text,
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we have to keep
something in mind.
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Christians throughout
history will take this text
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as the definite answer
that covers all the issues,
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all the questions
about the divorce.
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We have to keep in
mind that this text,
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it's not a doctrine of divorce.
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This text deals with
particular situation,
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dealing with
specific problem is.
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In order to
understand the biblical teaching
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of the divorce we have to go
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also to other
text-text of the Bible.
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It's one
particular aspect of that
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is which view is
correct, Shammai or Hillel?
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But you'll--I
really, I'm amazed,
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you know, savior Jesus Christ,
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how He was able always
to deal with human problems?
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And I learn something from hymn.
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Instead of Jesus trying to say
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Hillel or Shammai
is wrong or either,
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what does Jesus do?
Let's go to the scriptures.
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It's very interesting.
Let's go to the Bible.
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They are referring to
case law from Deuteronomy 24,
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but he doesn't
go to Deuteronomy.
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He goes back to
creation. To creation.
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Instead of talking
about what's the solution,
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in a sinful paradigm, He says,
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"Let's go back to the sinless,
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God's original intention."
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They want to talk about divorce,
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He wants to talk about marriage.
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So what is the
point that Jesus makes?
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I think it's a beautiful point.
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He says, look you
know, "from the beginning
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it was not so, God
made them male and female.
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For this reason a man shall
leave his father and mother,
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be joined his wife and
two shall become one flesh."
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Jesus has a
high view of marriage
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and He says the problem with us
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is that we don't
understand what God intended
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the joy in a relationship.
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It's because of the
hardness of our hearts.
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So what was the question?
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Let's put it in the context.
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Can the man divorce his wife?
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What was the answer Jesus said,
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"Did the man create marriage?"
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He says at the beginning,
God joined two people together.
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If God joins
two people together,
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man cannot separate. Yes.
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This is the point
that Jesus has made.
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So I don't have a
right to find any reason,
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God joined us, me
and my wife in a marriage
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and simply my wife
displeases me for any reason.
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No, it's God who joins
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and it's God who
can separate people.
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This is exactly the
point that Jesus makes here.
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But you see, then they ask,
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listen, this is what God did.
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This is what God said.
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This is what God
established because marriage
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was established in
the Garden of Eden. Right.
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But you see, what is the
next text? But Moses said.
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Actually, I'd
tell you something,
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and, and to tell
our viewers, yes,
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so many times as I'm
traveling I meet people.
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They come to me and they say,
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"What am I supposed to
do in order to be saved?"
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What to do? I said,
"Let's go to the Bible."
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Yeah, this is in the Bible.
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But my priest says this
or that pastor said that.
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So many times we make people
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more significant
than what God did.
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Jesus said this is what God did.
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This is what God established
and this is what God said.
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But they said, but
Moses said and Jesus said,
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yeah, Moses had to say that
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because of the
hardness of your heart.
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And isn't that the
issue? That's the issue.
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The sad thing is
that sin and selfishness
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turn our hearts hard. Exactly.
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And every
marriage that turns bad,
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there is a hardness
of heart that comes in.
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But we see a compassion
of Lord and savior here
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and He escapes
their trap, doesn't He?
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And Jesus said,
yeah, Moses said it,
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there is special
reason why Moses said it,
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but if you undo what God did,
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you are breaking
the clear will of God
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with reference to
you and your marriage.
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This is the main point
actually that Jesus thrived--
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And He has such a
high view of marriage,
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such a sense of its
holiness, the disciples says
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it's a whole lot
better to be single.
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And Jesus said,
yeah, there are people
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who even
voluntarily made themselves
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incapable of marriage.
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And Jesus wanted
really to say here,
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if you have problem in marriage,
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you are not sure, you'd like
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your will to succeed
then better say single.
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It'll be less sin
for you than to do it.
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But single for the kingdom
or married for the kingdom,
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it's still the same
purpose. All right, he goes on--
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So marriage was
intended by God. Yes, yes.
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This is the
point that Jesus makes.
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There is a powerful
story at the end of Chapter 19.
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Someone comes and
ask Jesus that question
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that resonates
throughout all humanity,
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"What must I do to
gain eternal life?"
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We need to pay careful
attention to the question.
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This gifted, intelligent,
talented young man comes
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and Jesus heart goes out,
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He sees someone who'll be
such a wonderful disciple,
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someone who would be
fantastic to follow Him.
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And the man asked the
right question, it seems,
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"What must I do to
inherit eternal life?"
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It's a question
that every Hindu,
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every Muslim, every
Christian is asking.
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"What do I have to do
to get to heaven?" Yeah.
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If we really take this event
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and description
of this young man
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and compare with Mark and Luke,
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actually we have one
sentence in Luke that says...
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that states Jesus loved
that young man. He was sincere.
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He really wanted to
serve God. He was good.
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I mean, I wish that I
can say as this young man,
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"I have kept
all the commandments
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since I was a child."
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By the way his
statement reminds me,
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he was most
likely Pharisee, okay.
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You know, strict
servant of the Lord.
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If you want to understand
what he's here talking about,
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there is another
text in the Bible
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that explains here his attitude
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in case of servants of the Lord
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and that's the
case with Apostle Paul
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in Philippians Chapter 3.
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When Paul talks about
his life as a Pharisee,
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he said, "Before the law
I was completely blameless."
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And this is what this person.
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He was a very,
very, very sincere.
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But there's here in verse 17,
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one thing we have to see
in the original language.
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Let's go one more time verse 16.
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He says to Jesus, "Teacher,
what good thing shall I do
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that I may obtain eternal life?
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That I may
obtain, what shall I do?"
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This is what many
Christians are asking,
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"What can I do? What can I do?"
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Since he asked
Jesus about what to do?
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Jesus had to answer him
according to his question.
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Jesus said, "Why you're
asking me about what is good?
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There is only one who is good."
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By the way this is not
really what the Greek text says.
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The Greek text, Jesus
says, "Why are you asking me,
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why are you asking
about what is good?
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There is only one
thing that is good."
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This is how Greek
says. And what is one thing?
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To keep the commandments.
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You see we live
among many Christians,
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very good Christians
who think and get impression
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by reading the Bible
that Jesus thrived to get away
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with keeping of
God's commandments.
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Of course,
unfortunately we always come
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to one or two
commandants because
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Christians will
never believe and say that
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we can commit adultery
steal, rob, and kill people. No.
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But usually we have problem
with one or two commandments.
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But Jesus paid very
close attention to the keeping
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all the commandments and
then young man asking Him,
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"What good should I do?"
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Jesus says there is only
one good thing that you can do,
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it's to keep the commandments
of God. Is it amazing?
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He's a gifted
teacher. He's a gifted teacher.
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And I think
that His first answer
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is not the final answer.
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He leads this young man
to a deeper understanding.
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Because salvation is
not about what we do,
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if we stop right
there, we would think that
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Jesus could be a
legalist, obedience,
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keep the commandments,
that's all there is.
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But He leads them
to see something more
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because when the young man says,
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"Oh! I've been keeping that."
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How does Jesus respond to
him when the young man said?
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But Glenn, I don't know
if you see something here
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in the text that amazes me.
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What are the commandments
that Jesus is referring to?
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Jesus is not referring
to the first commandment,
00:09:20.22\00:09:23.22
second, third, and the fourth
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which are really referring
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to the vertical
relationship with God.
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That man evidently
they don't have problem.
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He prayed several
times there to God.
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He did not worship idols.
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Evidently then he tried to take
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the name of God in his mouth,
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even did not like a Pharisee,
00:09:41.42\00:09:43.05
he would not
take the name of God.
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He would replace it
with another Adonai.
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He was--and Jesus
does not talk to him
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about the first four
commandments. That's Right.
00:09:50.67\00:09:52.76
He observed the
Sabbath evidently,
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you know, walking
exactly how many steps.
00:09:55.46\00:09:57.72
Actually Jesus refers to
the last six commandments
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that are referring to
that vertical relationship,
00:10:03.19\00:10:07.23
sorry, sorry, to the
horizontal relationship
00:10:07.24\00:10:10.19
fellow, fellow human beings.
00:10:10.20\00:10:11.45
And he said, "Yeah, I did it."
00:10:11.46\00:10:14.96
Actually if we really
want to see between the lines,
00:10:14.97\00:10:18.19
Jesus said, "Uh, really,
00:10:18.20\00:10:20.74
you said you are doing
that. Let's test you." Yes.
00:10:20.75\00:10:26.16
"Go and sell
everything what you have
00:10:26.17\00:10:30.08
and give it to the poor people,
00:10:30.09\00:10:32.62
give it to those
who are in need."
00:10:32.63\00:10:34.87
What's the
conclusion of the story?
00:10:36.07\00:10:37.39
And I think it's
important for us to know
00:10:37.40\00:10:39.09
that Jesus doesn't stop there.
00:10:39.10\00:10:41.66
Now going and giving everything
00:10:41.67\00:10:43.08
you have to the poor
00:10:43.09\00:10:44.54
is not a
requirement for our Christians.
00:10:44.55\00:10:46.33
They've been some who've
taken this text and said,
00:10:46.34\00:10:48.33
"All Christians
should take a vow of poverty.
00:10:48.34\00:10:50.91
They should not have anything."
00:10:50.92\00:10:52.28
But He has more in mind.
00:10:52.29\00:10:54.44
He ends that
statement not just go
00:10:54.45\00:10:56.46
and give everything
to poor but then what?
00:10:56.47\00:10:58.51
What should He do
after that? Follow me.
00:10:58.52\00:11:00.59
Unfortunately, he left Jesus.
00:11:00.60\00:11:02.05
I would like, Glenn, we
don't have too much time,
00:11:02.06\00:11:04.50
just to refer some, Jesus says,
00:11:04.51\00:11:06.30
"if you want," it's verse 21,
00:11:06.31\00:11:08.77
"If you want to be perfect,
00:11:08.78\00:11:11.97
go and have a right
horizontal relationship
00:11:13.34\00:11:16.15
with fellow human beings."
00:11:16.16\00:11:17.19
You remember the word perfect,
00:11:17.20\00:11:18.65
be perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect.
00:11:18.66\00:11:21.15
We read it in
Matthew Chapter 5 verse 28.
00:11:21.16\00:11:24.09
I just want to
address the viewers
00:11:24.10\00:11:26.45
whenever I meet
very good Christians
00:11:26.46\00:11:29.62
who thinks that in this life,
00:11:29.63\00:11:31.43
they can have a
sinless conduct before the God.
00:11:31.44\00:11:36.89
They want to be perfect.
00:11:36.90\00:11:38.47
They're always talking about
their relationship with God.
00:11:38.48\00:11:42.75
I pray, I read my Bible
00:11:42.76\00:11:44.77
and this is what
makes me perfect.
00:11:44.78\00:11:46.59
Actually in the
teaching of Jesus,
00:11:46.60\00:11:49.09
the perfection is
tested by our relationships
00:11:49.10\00:11:52.56
with fellow human beings.
00:11:52.57\00:11:54.09
So many times or often
people want to be perfect.
00:11:54.10\00:11:57.91
They think that they have
00:11:57.92\00:11:59.11
to distance
themselves from people.
00:11:59.12\00:12:01.17
For Jesus to be
perfect it means to have
00:12:01.18\00:12:04.83
a right to
relationships with people.
00:12:04.84\00:12:07.04
We saw it in Matthew 5:48.
00:12:07.05\00:12:09.85
We saw it here in
this, in this, in this case.
00:12:09.86\00:12:13.18
Perfection means
right to relationship
00:12:13.19\00:12:15.61
with our fellow human beings.
00:12:15.62\00:12:17.04
And we see Jesus going to
another question not just,
00:12:18.04\00:12:21.92
"What must I do?"
00:12:21.93\00:12:23.51
But also, "Who must I
know? Come follow Me."
00:12:23.52\00:12:25.92
So you see when Jesus
called us to follow Him,
00:12:25.93\00:12:29.42
our test of
discipleship in following Jesus
00:12:30.44\00:12:33.84
is surely based on that
00:12:33.85\00:12:35.56
how we treat
other people around us.
00:12:35.57\00:12:38.85
So who can be saved?
00:12:38.86\00:12:40.86
Yes, what is impossible
to us is possible for God.
00:12:40.87\00:12:45.25