¤
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¤
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>> Okay, I'm going to ask you
00:00:21.28\00:00:23.12
to repeat after me, alright?
00:00:23.22\00:00:25.09
Hallelujah.
00:00:25.19\00:00:26.29
>> Hallelujah.
00:00:26.39\00:00:27.42
>> Hallelujah.
00:00:27.52\00:00:28.56
>> Hallelujah.
00:00:28.66\00:00:29.29
>> Thank you, Jesus.
00:00:29.39\00:00:30.59
>> Thank you, Jesus.
00:00:30.69\00:00:31.29
>> Thank you, Jesus.
00:00:31.39\00:00:32.46
>> Thank you, Jesus.
00:00:32.56\00:00:33.13
>> You are worthy.
00:00:33.23\00:00:34.66
>> You are worthy.
00:00:34.76\00:00:35.60
>> You are worthy.
00:00:35.70\00:00:36.93
>> You are worthy.
00:00:37.03\00:00:37.87
>> As we continue praising, this
00:00:37.97\00:00:39.07
is a very easy song --
00:00:39.17\00:00:40.50
"He is Exalted."
00:00:40.60\00:00:42.04
Sing along with us, please.
00:00:42.14\00:00:43.91
Ready? Come on.
00:00:46.37\00:00:48.64
>> ¤ He is exalted
00:00:48.74\00:00:50.05
>> ¤ Holy forever
00:07:13.56\00:07:17.07
>> Amen. Amen.
00:07:17.17\00:07:19.00
He is holy.
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He is the only one
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who's truly holy.
00:07:21.50\00:07:23.51
Now, this next song --
00:07:23.61\00:07:26.07
this next song
00:07:26.17\00:07:27.34
is going to require
00:07:27.44\00:07:28.34
all your mind
00:07:28.44\00:07:29.64
and musical abilities.
00:07:29.74\00:07:30.95
We're singing total praise.
00:07:31.05\00:07:32.71
We're singing total praise
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to the King of Kings.
00:07:34.18\00:07:35.05
So please, please sing along
00:07:35.15\00:07:35.88
with us.
00:07:35.98\00:07:36.69
Let's be a huge choir today.
00:07:36.79\00:07:37.72
>> If you have a Bible,
00:13:15.89\00:13:17.06
would you turn, please,
00:13:17.16\00:13:18.69
to Matthew 3:1?
00:13:18.79\00:13:21.96
It's on page 650
00:13:22.06\00:13:23.53
in the red pew Bible,
00:13:23.63\00:13:24.50
somewhere around
00:13:24.60\00:13:25.50
where you're sitting.
00:13:25.60\00:13:26.07
Matthew 3,
00:13:26.17\00:13:28.27
beginning with verse 1.
00:13:28.37\00:13:32.17
Now, being the third chapter
00:13:32.27\00:13:33.21
of Matthew,
00:13:33.31\00:13:34.01
this is obviously quite early
00:13:34.11\00:13:35.31
in the ministry of Jesus.
00:13:35.41\00:13:36.48
In fact, He has not yet
00:13:36.58\00:13:37.55
even officially begun.
00:13:37.65\00:13:38.85
His baptism is
00:13:38.95\00:13:39.85
just about to happen.
00:13:39.95\00:13:41.28
But there is someone
00:13:41.38\00:13:42.98
who has come before Him,
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and that is John the Baptist.
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John is preaching out
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in the wilderness,
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and this is a little bit
00:13:49.92\00:13:51.53
of what happened.
00:13:51.63\00:13:52.43
Matthew 3:1.
00:13:52.53\00:13:54.00
"In those days,
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John the Baptist came preaching
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in the desert of Judea
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and saying,
00:13:59.07\00:14:00.27
'Repent, for the kingdom
00:14:00.37\00:14:02.54
of heaven is near.'
00:14:02.64\00:14:05.41
This is he who was spoken
00:14:05.51\00:14:06.81
of through the prophet Isaiah.
00:14:06.91\00:14:08.01
'A voice of one calling in
00:14:08.11\00:14:09.41
the desert,
00:14:09.51\00:14:10.28
"Prepare the way for the Lord.
00:14:10.38\00:14:11.98
Make straight paths for him.'"
00:14:12.08\00:14:13.68
John's clothes were made of
00:14:13.78\00:14:14.82
camel's hair, and he had a
00:14:14.92\00:14:15.98
leather belt around his waist.
00:14:16.08\00:14:17.15
His food was
00:14:17.25\00:14:18.19
locusts and wild honey.
00:14:18.29\00:14:19.85
People went out to him
00:14:19.95\00:14:21.69
from Jerusalem and all Judea
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and the whole region
00:14:24.16\00:14:25.56
of the Jordan.
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Confessing their sins,
00:14:27.50\00:14:28.66
they were baptized by him
00:14:28.76\00:14:29.90
in the Jordan River."
00:14:30.00\00:14:32.73
Pause there, please.
00:14:32.83\00:14:34.94
This was extraordinary.
00:14:35.04\00:14:37.31
Now, itinerant preachers,
00:14:37.41\00:14:38.64
you know, having a little bit
00:14:38.74\00:14:39.21
of a following,
00:14:39.31\00:14:40.01
that kind of a thing,
00:14:40.11\00:14:40.81
that was pretty standard-issue
00:14:40.91\00:14:42.18
Palestine in those days.
00:14:42.28\00:14:43.41
But the idea of one guy
00:14:43.51\00:14:46.08
attracting this many people --
00:14:46.18\00:14:48.25
From all over Palestine,
00:14:48.35\00:14:49.68
they came to see him.
00:14:49.78\00:14:50.52
By the thousands, they came.
00:14:50.62\00:14:52.45
And so, naturally,
00:14:52.55\00:14:54.59
the Jewish leaders said,
00:14:54.69\00:14:57.49
"Hmm, we should check this out."
00:14:57.59\00:14:59.96
And so they do.
00:15:00.13\00:15:01.13
Verse 7.
00:15:01.23\00:15:03.43
"But when he --"
00:15:03.53\00:15:04.80
John the Baptist --
00:15:04.90\00:15:05.60
"saw many of the Pharisees
00:15:05.70\00:15:08.24
and Sadducees --" Who did he
00:15:08.34\00:15:09.20
see?
00:15:09.30\00:15:10.84
Pharisees and Sadducees,
00:15:10.94\00:15:12.47
these two groups.
00:15:12.57\00:15:13.14
"The Pharisees and the
00:15:13.24\00:15:13.88
Sadducees coming to
00:15:13.98\00:15:14.81
where he was baptizing,
00:15:14.91\00:15:15.84
he said to them,
00:15:15.94\00:15:16.98
'Welcome to my sermon.
00:15:17.08\00:15:18.05
I'm so glad
00:15:18.15\00:15:18.88
that you could make it this
00:15:18.98\00:15:19.68
afternoon and join us for...'"
00:15:19.78\00:15:21.72
I've been warned
00:15:23.28\00:15:23.89
about this translation.
00:15:23.99\00:15:24.79
Sometimes, it veers
00:15:24.89\00:15:25.99
a little bit from that.
00:15:26.09\00:15:27.59
Here's what I think
00:15:27.69\00:15:28.32
it actually says.
00:15:28.42\00:15:30.33
"When he saw many
00:15:30.43\00:15:31.29
of the Pharisees and Sadducees
00:15:31.39\00:15:32.33
coming to where he was
00:15:32.43\00:15:33.16
baptizing, he said to them,
00:15:33.26\00:15:34.36
"You brood of vipers!"
00:15:34.46\00:15:36.67
What's a viper?
00:15:36.77\00:15:38.23
That's a snake.
00:15:38.33\00:15:39.53
This is not a compliment,
00:15:39.63\00:15:41.27
alright?
00:15:41.37\00:15:42.50
He says, "You brood of vipers!
00:15:42.60\00:15:43.67
Who warned you to flee
00:15:43.77\00:15:44.84
from the coming wrath?
00:15:44.94\00:15:45.71
Produce fruit
00:15:45.81\00:15:47.18
in keeping with repentance.
00:15:47.28\00:15:49.18
And do not think you can say
00:15:49.28\00:15:50.35
to yourselves,
00:15:50.45\00:15:51.25
'We have Abraham as our father.'
00:15:51.35\00:15:53.25
I tell you, out of these stones,
00:15:53.35\00:15:55.25
God can raise up children
00:15:55.35\00:15:56.25
for Abraham.
00:15:56.35\00:15:57.35
The axe is already at the root
00:15:57.45\00:15:59.49
of the trees, and every tree
00:15:59.59\00:16:01.42
that does not produce good fruit
00:16:01.52\00:16:02.56
will be cut down
00:16:02.66\00:16:03.99
and thrown into the fire.'"
00:16:04.09\00:16:07.10
Wow.
00:16:10.10\00:16:13.10
The Pharisees and
00:16:13.20\00:16:15.60
the Sadducees -- are these
00:16:15.70\00:16:18.27
not the iconic enemies of Jesus?
00:16:18.37\00:16:20.84
And they are famous.
00:16:20.94\00:16:22.18
I mean, let's just be honest.
00:16:22.28\00:16:23.01
How many groups
00:16:23.11\00:16:24.95
from the first century --
00:16:25.05\00:16:26.35
how many of their names
00:16:26.45\00:16:27.72
can you still remember, right?
00:16:27.82\00:16:30.25
But we remember the Pharisees
00:16:30.35\00:16:31.65
and the Sadducees.
00:16:31.75\00:16:32.29
We even have songs
00:16:32.39\00:16:33.32
that we sing about it.
00:16:33.42\00:16:34.26
¤ I don't want to be
00:16:34.36\00:16:35.09
a Sadducee ¤
00:16:35.19\00:16:36.02
Right?
00:16:36.12\00:16:37.16
We teach our young people this
00:16:37.26\00:16:38.59
so that they can
00:16:38.69\00:16:39.79
remember to not be them, right?
00:16:39.89\00:16:44.40
But if you ask most Christians
00:16:44.50\00:16:45.60
a few more details
00:16:45.70\00:16:46.67
about the Pharisees
00:16:46.77\00:16:47.50
and the Sadducees,
00:16:47.60\00:16:48.27
they have no clue.
00:16:48.37\00:16:50.04
It's just, "Okay,
00:16:50.14\00:16:51.01
they were the enemies of Jesus.
00:16:51.11\00:16:51.87
We got that part down.
00:16:51.97\00:16:52.64
But beyond that,
00:16:52.74\00:16:53.34
we have no idea."
00:16:53.44\00:16:54.54
Which is unfortunate, because,
00:16:54.64\00:16:57.78
as it turns out,
00:16:57.88\00:16:59.75
the Pharisees and the Sadducees
00:16:59.85\00:17:02.58
have a great deal
00:17:02.68\00:17:03.72
to teach us about
00:17:03.82\00:17:05.42
the Christian and politics.
00:17:05.52\00:17:10.03
Welcome to Part 2
00:17:10.13\00:17:11.09
and the final part
00:17:11.19\00:17:12.53
of this brief series entitled
00:17:12.63\00:17:14.20
"The Christian and Politics."
00:17:14.30\00:17:15.53
If you missed Part 1,
00:17:15.63\00:17:16.56
what was it?
00:17:16.67\00:17:17.23
Three weeks ago or so?
00:17:17.33\00:17:18.37
You can go to our church
00:17:18.47\00:17:19.20
website, pmchurch.org,
00:17:19.30\00:17:20.57
click on the archive there,
00:17:20.67\00:17:21.54
and you can see Part 1.
00:17:21.64\00:17:23.94
Part 1 was primarily aiming at
00:17:24.04\00:17:27.81
the season we are in, this
00:17:27.91\00:17:29.38
current election season.
00:17:29.48\00:17:31.88
Part 2, yes,
00:17:31.98\00:17:34.85
it will have some application,
00:17:34.95\00:17:36.95
but we are also going to
00:17:37.05\00:17:38.55
be looking beyond whatever is
00:17:38.65\00:17:40.66
going to happen on November 5.
00:17:40.76\00:17:43.83
Because, you see, it's
00:17:43.93\00:17:45.23
not just before the election.
00:17:45.33\00:17:46.93
Sometimes, it's
00:17:47.03\00:17:48.00
even more important after
00:17:48.10\00:17:49.80
the election that we understand
00:17:49.90\00:17:51.87
how the Christian is
00:17:51.97\00:17:53.50
to interact with politics.
00:17:53.60\00:17:56.74
Now, with that in mind,
00:17:56.84\00:17:58.14
I want us to take a deep dive
00:17:58.24\00:17:59.67
here into
00:17:59.77\00:18:01.64
these Sadducees and Pharisees.
00:18:01.74\00:18:04.41
There's a reason for that,
00:18:04.51\00:18:05.35
and let me get to
00:18:05.45\00:18:06.51
that reason here by asking
00:18:06.61\00:18:07.32
a question.
00:18:07.42\00:18:08.08
For the Jews of Jesus' day,
00:18:08.18\00:18:09.85
how much separation was there
00:18:09.95\00:18:11.35
between church and state?
00:18:11.45\00:18:14.19
Okay, essentially none.
00:18:14.29\00:18:15.66
You might be able to make a case
00:18:15.76\00:18:16.36
that, as far
00:18:16.46\00:18:17.19
as the Romans were concerned,
00:18:17.29\00:18:18.43
you know, there was a little bit
00:18:18.53\00:18:18.96
of separation
00:18:19.06\00:18:19.83
because the Romans weren't Jews,
00:18:19.93\00:18:20.66
et cetera, et cetera.
00:18:20.76\00:18:21.50
But as far as the average Jew,
00:18:21.60\00:18:23.37
average daily life of the Jew,
00:18:23.47\00:18:24.80
church and state were combined.
00:18:24.90\00:18:26.80
Absolutely.
00:18:26.90\00:18:28.00
If you were a religious leader,
00:18:28.10\00:18:29.57
you were also
00:18:29.67\00:18:30.41
a...political leader.
00:18:30.51\00:18:32.31
The two went
00:18:32.41\00:18:33.17
together hand in a glove.
00:18:33.27\00:18:34.14
And by the way,
00:18:34.24\00:18:35.44
that had some pretty good roots.
00:18:35.54\00:18:37.05
You've heard of the theocracy
00:18:37.15\00:18:38.28
in the Old Testament, right?
00:18:38.38\00:18:39.28
The idea of these
00:18:39.38\00:18:40.55
two things being combined --
00:18:40.65\00:18:41.75
it had some decent starting
00:18:41.85\00:18:43.52
points, but things had changed a
00:18:43.62\00:18:45.89
bit by the first century.
00:18:45.99\00:18:47.69
And as it turns out,
00:18:47.79\00:18:50.09
the first century,
00:18:50.19\00:18:51.39
to be a Christian
00:18:51.49\00:18:52.59
in the first century
00:18:52.69\00:18:53.40
was to live in a
00:18:53.50\00:18:54.56
hyper-political environment.
00:18:54.63\00:18:57.17
Hyper-political.
00:18:57.27\00:18:58.17
You think politics are thick
00:18:58.27\00:18:59.30
and fast now?
00:18:59.40\00:19:00.97
I tell you what,
00:19:01.07\00:19:01.74
if you were a Jew
00:19:01.84\00:19:02.40
in the first century,
00:19:02.50\00:19:03.14
you lived this stuff,
00:19:03.24\00:19:04.01
you breathed it.
00:19:04.11\00:19:04.84
Any religious leader was
00:19:04.94\00:19:05.67
a political leader.
00:19:05.77\00:19:06.44
Political leaders were
00:19:06.54\00:19:07.18
religious leaders.
00:19:07.28\00:19:07.88
They were one.
00:19:07.98\00:19:09.11
And thus, as it turns out,
00:19:09.21\00:19:11.28
what was difficult for them
00:19:11.38\00:19:13.15
at times, living in that
00:19:13.25\00:19:13.92
hyper-political environment,
00:19:14.02\00:19:16.52
does have the silver lining
00:19:16.62\00:19:17.99
in that we can learn some
00:19:18.09\00:19:19.82
very important things from them.
00:19:19.92\00:19:22.36
Now, I need to warn you,
00:19:22.46\00:19:24.66
you're going to have to pay
00:19:24.76\00:19:25.69
attention to what comes next.
00:19:25.79\00:19:28.13
As somebody told me after
00:19:28.23\00:19:28.80
Part 1 --
00:19:28.90\00:19:29.56
they said, "Pastor Shane,
00:19:29.66\00:19:31.03
that sermon was dense."
00:19:31.13\00:19:35.50
I took that as a compliment.
00:19:35.60\00:19:39.27
And it was packed.
00:19:39.37\00:19:40.31
And, indeed, this one is going
00:19:40.41\00:19:41.31
to be, as well,
00:19:41.41\00:19:42.04
so fasten your seat belts.
00:19:42.14\00:19:43.24
If someone is sleeping next
00:19:43.35\00:19:44.08
to you, hit them now.
00:19:44.18\00:19:44.91
They'll need to be awake.
00:19:45.01\00:19:45.71
Ready? Begin.
00:19:45.81\00:19:49.65
Let's start with the Pharisees.
00:19:49.75\00:19:51.52
The Pharisees -- political,
00:19:51.62\00:19:52.65
religious leaders, definitely.
00:19:52.75\00:19:54.42
Very, very prominent.
00:19:54.52\00:19:56.06
Let me put some stuff here
00:19:56.16\00:19:56.69
on the screen for you.
00:19:56.79\00:19:57.09
What do
00:19:57.19\00:19:57.86
we know about the Pharisees?
00:19:57.96\00:19:59.03
Well, we know
00:19:59.13\00:20:00.33
that the Pharisees had
00:20:00.43\00:20:01.26
a high commitment to morality
00:20:01.36\00:20:03.10
and the teachings of Scripture.
00:20:03.20\00:20:04.60
That was very clear.
00:20:04.70\00:20:05.63
Whatever their execution was,
00:20:05.73\00:20:06.97
we're going to set that aside
00:20:07.07\00:20:07.70
for just a moment.
00:20:07.80\00:20:08.40
But as far as what they
00:20:08.50\00:20:09.00
professed,
00:20:09.10\00:20:09.97
this was at the top of the list.
00:20:10.07\00:20:11.44
High commitment to morality
00:20:11.54\00:20:12.87
and the teachings of Scripture.
00:20:12.97\00:20:14.84
Speaking of Scripture, they were
00:20:14.94\00:20:15.78
great memorizers of Scripture.
00:20:15.88\00:20:17.78
You know, Jesus actually pointed
00:20:17.88\00:20:18.88
this out in
00:20:18.98\00:20:19.88
not necessarily a positive way.
00:20:19.98\00:20:21.08
Matthew 23:5, Jesus said,
00:20:21.18\00:20:22.48
"Everything they --"
00:20:22.58\00:20:23.62
the Pharisees -- "do is done
00:20:23.72\00:20:25.25
for people to see.
00:20:25.35\00:20:26.25
They make their --
00:20:26.35\00:20:27.36
What's that next word?
00:20:27.46\00:20:29.02
Phylacteries, right?
00:20:29.12\00:20:30.53
"Phylacteries wide
00:20:30.63\00:20:31.93
and the tassels
00:20:32.03\00:20:32.89
on their garments long."
00:20:32.99\00:20:33.63
Now, a phylactery --
00:20:33.73\00:20:34.30
many of you know,
00:20:34.40\00:20:35.10
it was often a leather-covered
00:20:35.20\00:20:36.70
box that, for instance,
00:20:36.80\00:20:38.30
could be placed on the forehead.
00:20:38.40\00:20:39.90
And inside of the phylactery
00:20:40.00\00:20:41.84
was the memorization
00:20:41.94\00:20:43.87
that that particular
00:20:43.97\00:20:44.71
Pharisee had done.
00:20:44.81\00:20:45.44
So a lot of Scripture
00:20:45.54\00:20:46.94
memorized, big phylactery.
00:20:47.04\00:20:48.71
Not much Scripture memorized,
00:20:48.81\00:20:50.58
a little phylactery, alright?
00:20:50.68\00:20:51.98
And I would imagine
00:20:52.08\00:20:53.08
that some people probably
00:20:53.18\00:20:53.95
stuffed the ballot box, right,
00:20:54.05\00:20:55.25
to kind of get the phylactery
00:20:55.35\00:20:56.35
there a little bit wider.
00:20:56.45\00:20:57.95
This was done
00:20:58.05\00:20:59.22
so that people would see them,
00:20:59.32\00:21:01.12
and it led them to a conclusion.
00:21:01.22\00:21:03.59
Point number two
00:21:03.69\00:21:04.36
about the Pharisees.
00:21:04.46\00:21:05.43
They not only
00:21:05.53\00:21:06.23
had a high commitment
00:21:06.33\00:21:07.20
to morality -- Or excuse me.
00:21:07.30\00:21:08.60
They had a high commitment
00:21:08.70\00:21:09.16
to morality
00:21:09.26\00:21:10.00
and the teachings of Scripture.
00:21:10.10\00:21:10.67
Number two,
00:21:10.77\00:21:11.50
they were highly nationalistic.
00:21:11.60\00:21:14.14
Now, this is really important,
00:21:14.24\00:21:15.17
and it's probably one of the
00:21:15.27\00:21:16.07
most outstanding characteristics
00:21:16.17\00:21:17.24
of the Pharisees.
00:21:17.34\00:21:18.07
They were highly nationalistic.
00:21:18.17\00:21:19.94
You see,
00:21:20.04\00:21:20.61
the scriptures weren't
00:21:20.71\00:21:21.64
just there, in their minds,
00:21:21.74\00:21:22.91
to teach them facts and things
00:21:23.01\00:21:24.18
like that about God.
00:21:24.28\00:21:25.15
It was to remind
00:21:25.25\00:21:26.31
them that they were
00:21:26.41\00:21:27.95
the chosen people of God.
00:21:28.05\00:21:30.95
And, again, there's obviously
00:21:31.05\00:21:32.35
some truth to that, right?
00:21:32.45\00:21:32.79
I mean,
00:21:32.89\00:21:33.56
God did, indeed, choose them
00:21:33.66\00:21:34.69
from among all the nations.
00:21:34.79\00:21:35.82
We can find that verbiage
00:21:35.92\00:21:36.76
in the Old Testament,
00:21:36.86\00:21:37.39
no doubt about it.
00:21:37.49\00:21:38.39
But, again, they had taken it
00:21:38.49\00:21:40.10
and they had twisted it in
00:21:40.20\00:21:42.10
that they added this to it.
00:21:42.20\00:21:43.73
Not only were they
00:21:43.83\00:21:44.60
highly nationalistic,
00:21:44.70\00:21:45.70
the Pharisees were
00:21:45.80\00:21:46.60
deeply committed
00:21:46.70\00:21:47.50
to cultural purity.
00:21:47.60\00:21:50.57
And this was not just, again,
00:21:50.67\00:21:51.94
the things that God had asked
00:21:52.04\00:21:53.11
them to do to be distinctive.
00:21:53.21\00:21:54.28
No, no, no, no, no.
00:21:54.38\00:21:55.14
You see, over the centuries,
00:21:55.24\00:21:56.68
a wide body of tradition
00:21:56.78\00:21:59.68
had grown up, and the Pharisees
00:21:59.78\00:22:02.22
saw these traditions
00:22:02.32\00:22:03.28
as every bit as important
00:22:03.39\00:22:04.95
as the actual Scriptures of God.
00:22:05.05\00:22:06.65
And so when they talked about
00:22:06.76\00:22:08.36
culture and wanting to preserve
00:22:08.46\00:22:09.39
it, that's what
00:22:09.49\00:22:10.33
they wanted to preserve.
00:22:10.43\00:22:11.56
It was onerous.
00:22:11.66\00:22:13.06
And, oh,
00:22:13.16\00:22:14.20
were they passionate about it.
00:22:14.30\00:22:15.26
Cultural purity was
00:22:15.36\00:22:16.53
at the top of their list.
00:22:16.63\00:22:18.17
They resisted conforming
00:22:18.27\00:22:19.57
to any of the surrounding
00:22:19.67\00:22:20.57
non-Jewish cultures
00:22:20.67\00:22:21.47
in favor of preserving
00:22:21.57\00:22:22.50
a unique culture
00:22:22.60\00:22:23.81
of their own creation,
00:22:23.91\00:22:25.81
and that at almost any cost.
00:22:25.91\00:22:29.64
The Pharisees were also
00:22:29.74\00:22:31.01
deeply influential
00:22:31.11\00:22:32.08
in local "church" life.
00:22:32.18\00:22:34.22
What was the local church
00:22:34.32\00:22:35.02
back in those days?
00:22:35.12\00:22:36.72
Synagogue. That's right. Okay?
00:22:36.82\00:22:37.89
And the Pharisees,
00:22:37.99\00:22:39.12
they were not the ones that,
00:22:39.22\00:22:40.16
like, chose exactly
00:22:40.26\00:22:41.62
how the service would flow.
00:22:41.72\00:22:43.46
But the Pharisees, by far,
00:22:43.56\00:22:44.96
were the most numerous
00:22:45.06\00:22:46.59
political religious leaders
00:22:46.70\00:22:47.96
in all of Palestine, as far
00:22:48.03\00:22:49.36
as the Jews were concerned,
00:22:49.46\00:22:50.10
and thus, they had
00:22:50.20\00:22:51.03
immense influence
00:22:51.13\00:22:52.13
on what happened inside
00:22:52.23\00:22:53.44
local congregations
00:22:53.54\00:22:54.84
of the Jewish faith.
00:22:54.94\00:22:56.04
They were immensely influential.
00:22:56.14\00:22:57.84
And, lastly,
00:22:57.94\00:22:59.17
the Pharisees were generally
00:22:59.27\00:23:00.81
very well respected.
00:23:00.91\00:23:04.58
Now, that last one seems
00:23:04.68\00:23:05.85
a little bit counterintuitive
00:23:05.95\00:23:06.72
for Christians
00:23:06.82\00:23:07.32
in the 21st century.
00:23:07.42\00:23:08.95
And it is true
00:23:09.05\00:23:10.25
that neither Jesus nor
00:23:10.35\00:23:11.39
John the Baptist
00:23:11.49\00:23:12.29
had pleasant things
00:23:12.39\00:23:13.22
to say about the Pharisees,
00:23:13.32\00:23:14.86
but you need to know this.
00:23:14.96\00:23:16.56
Jesus and John the Baptist
00:23:16.66\00:23:18.06
were by far the exceptions
00:23:18.16\00:23:19.56
in the first century.
00:23:19.66\00:23:20.90
Most people highly,
00:23:20.96\00:23:22.76
highly respected the Pharisees.
00:23:22.86\00:23:25.40
They looked at the Pharisees
00:23:25.50\00:23:27.64
as people that they needed to
00:23:27.74\00:23:29.04
respect, and
00:23:29.14\00:23:30.01
this included Jesus' disciples.
00:23:30.11\00:23:32.27
In fact,
00:23:32.37\00:23:32.97
this comes up, you know,
00:23:33.07\00:23:33.51
Matthew 15:12.
00:23:33.61\00:23:35.21
In that section there,
00:23:35.31\00:23:36.58
Jesus has made a comment about
00:23:36.68\00:23:38.88
what makes a person unclean
00:23:38.98\00:23:40.62
in the sight of God.
00:23:40.72\00:23:41.72
And the Pharisees
00:23:41.82\00:23:42.88
don't agree with it.
00:23:42.98\00:23:44.49
And as soon
00:23:44.59\00:23:45.85
as that little scene finishes,
00:23:45.95\00:23:47.16
this is what happens.
00:23:47.26\00:23:48.39
Now, Matthew 15:12.
00:23:48.49\00:23:49.92
Like, "Uh, why'd you have to
00:23:57.37\00:23:58.67
cast shade on our heroes?
00:23:58.77\00:23:59.87
You know, don't you know?
00:24:00.04\00:24:00.87
They're powerful.
00:24:00.97\00:24:01.50
They're influential.
00:24:01.60\00:24:02.04
We like them."
00:24:02.14\00:24:02.77
This kind of stuff.
00:24:02.87\00:24:03.97
The Pharisees
00:24:04.07\00:24:05.37
were of the people.
00:24:05.47\00:24:07.84
They were the common man's
00:24:07.94\00:24:09.41
preacher, the common man's
00:24:09.51\00:24:10.85
Sabbath school teacher,
00:24:10.95\00:24:12.11
even the common man's counselor.
00:24:12.21\00:24:13.48
And even
00:24:13.58\00:24:14.38
though the Pharisees could be
00:24:14.48\00:24:15.25
harsh on the people --
00:24:15.35\00:24:15.98
Make no mistake,
00:24:16.08\00:24:16.85
yes, they could be, you know,
00:24:16.95\00:24:18.19
chastising them,
00:24:18.29\00:24:19.12
trying to push them back
00:24:19.22\00:24:20.12
into "the right direction."
00:24:20.22\00:24:21.59
They were almost universally
00:24:21.69\00:24:24.29
respected amongst the Jews.
00:24:24.39\00:24:27.96
And yet...
00:24:28.03\00:24:30.60
And yet, these well-respected
00:24:30.70\00:24:32.03
men of the people
00:24:32.13\00:24:34.14
were deeply criticized by Jesus
00:24:34.24\00:24:36.27
and His followers.
00:24:36.37\00:24:37.97
Again, we just read
00:24:38.07\00:24:38.84
a few moments ago, Matthew 3,
00:24:38.94\00:24:40.38
John the Baptist refers to them
00:24:40.48\00:24:41.44
as "You brood of vipers."
00:24:41.54\00:24:42.91
Jesus echoes this.
00:24:43.01\00:24:44.18
Matthew 23:33, He says, "You
00:24:44.28\00:24:46.21
snakes, you brood of vipers."
00:24:46.31\00:24:50.15
How come?
00:24:50.25\00:24:52.79
Why did John and Jesus
00:24:52.89\00:24:55.29
condemn the Pharisees?
00:24:55.39\00:24:58.76
As it turns out,
00:24:58.86\00:25:00.20
the answer is actually centuries
00:25:00.30\00:25:02.30
old, centuries before
00:25:02.40\00:25:04.30
the time of Jesus.
00:25:04.40\00:25:06.13
You see,
00:25:06.23\00:25:06.80
way back in the middle
00:25:06.90\00:25:08.27
of the fifth century, B.C.,
00:25:08.37\00:25:10.47
the Jews have just returned
00:25:10.57\00:25:11.84
from captivity in Babylon.
00:25:11.94\00:25:13.54
They're there for 70 years.
00:25:13.64\00:25:14.48
They're set free.
00:25:14.58\00:25:15.64
You know, 457 B.C.,
00:25:15.74\00:25:16.95
the major decree goes out
00:25:17.05\00:25:19.45
to restore and rebuild
00:25:19.55\00:25:20.58
Jerusalem, the temple,
00:25:20.68\00:25:21.38
et cetera like that.
00:25:21.48\00:25:22.58
And, so, mid-fifth century B.C.,
00:25:22.68\00:25:24.12
and, naturally,
00:25:24.22\00:25:25.12
as they're building stuff
00:25:25.22\00:25:26.39
and they're getting -- you know,
00:25:26.49\00:25:26.99
clearing away debris
00:25:27.09\00:25:27.96
and getting things back to
00:25:28.06\00:25:29.02
"normal," the question comes up,
00:25:29.12\00:25:31.29
"How can we avoid
00:25:31.39\00:25:32.56
this happening again?
00:25:32.66\00:25:34.76
What can we do so that we will
00:25:34.86\00:25:37.00
not go into captivity again?"
00:25:37.10\00:25:38.37
Because you see,
00:25:38.47\00:25:39.07
they knew why they went.
00:25:39.17\00:25:40.60
Jesus -- God had made it clear
00:25:40.70\00:25:42.34
They had broken the Sabbath.
00:25:42.44\00:25:43.27
They had broken
00:25:43.37\00:25:43.94
God's law in general.
00:25:44.04\00:25:45.01
They had committed idolatry
00:25:45.11\00:25:46.47
over and over again.
00:25:46.57\00:25:47.31
That's why
00:25:47.41\00:25:48.41
they went off into captivity.
00:25:48.51\00:25:49.41
And so a group
00:25:49.51\00:25:52.75
that became ultimately
00:25:52.85\00:25:53.88
the predecessors
00:25:53.98\00:25:54.75
of the Pharisees,
00:25:54.85\00:25:55.88
because the Pharisees aren't
00:25:55.98\00:25:56.48
quite around yet,
00:25:56.58\00:25:57.39
but their predecessors said,
00:25:57.49\00:25:58.45
"I have the answer.
00:25:58.55\00:26:00.39
We will build walls around
00:26:00.49\00:26:04.13
God's law.
00:26:04.23\00:26:06.56
Not walls made of stone
00:26:06.66\00:26:07.83
or of wood,
00:26:07.93\00:26:08.93
but walls made of traditions.
00:26:09.03\00:26:11.90
And it will be like a ring
00:26:12.00\00:26:13.40
around a ring around a ring.
00:26:13.50\00:26:14.80
God's law will be in the middle.
00:26:14.90\00:26:15.54
And we'll have
00:26:15.64\00:26:16.20
all these traditions.
00:26:16.30\00:26:17.01
So if you don't break
00:26:17.11\00:26:18.14
the traditions,
00:26:18.24\00:26:19.04
you'll never even get close
00:26:19.14\00:26:20.48
to breaking God's law.
00:26:20.58\00:26:22.91
Now, it's interesting,
00:26:23.01\00:26:24.41
because this took --
00:26:24.51\00:26:25.98
This building process
00:26:26.08\00:26:27.35
of these traditions
00:26:27.45\00:26:28.22
to safeguard God's law,
00:26:28.32\00:26:29.45
it took centuries to do.
00:26:29.55\00:26:31.19
In other words --
00:26:31.29\00:26:32.02
notice carefully -- these walls
00:26:32.12\00:26:33.69
of tradition
00:26:33.79\00:26:34.82
were built in at least two ways.
00:26:34.92\00:26:36.22
Number one, gradually,
00:26:36.32\00:26:38.39
bit by bit, century by
00:26:38.49\00:26:42.96
century, tradition by tradition.
00:26:43.06\00:26:44.43
And secondly, they were built
00:26:44.53\00:26:46.27
with the best of intentions.
00:26:46.37\00:26:50.17
You know, it's easy
00:26:50.27\00:26:51.04
for us to look at the Pharisees
00:26:51.14\00:26:52.21
from the stories in the Gospels
00:26:52.31\00:26:52.61
and say,
00:26:52.71\00:26:53.38
"Oh, you know, what a bunch
00:26:53.48\00:26:53.84
of fools.
00:26:53.94\00:26:54.54
You know, how could they
00:26:54.64\00:26:55.11
possibly do that?"
00:26:55.21\00:26:55.91
They started out
00:26:56.01\00:26:57.51
with the best of intentions --
00:26:57.61\00:26:58.75
to save the nation.
00:26:58.85\00:27:01.32
"We sinned before.
00:27:01.42\00:27:02.72
We broke God's law.
00:27:02.82\00:27:03.85
That's what got us into trouble.
00:27:03.95\00:27:04.25
So we're
00:27:04.35\00:27:05.02
not going to do that again."
00:27:05.12\00:27:05.99
That sounds good.
00:27:06.09\00:27:07.56
Those are very good
00:27:07.66\00:27:08.49
intentions -- to save the
00:27:08.59\00:27:09.62
nation.
00:27:09.72\00:27:10.43
And by the time of Jesus,
00:27:10.53\00:27:11.96
the Pharisees had become
00:27:12.06\00:27:12.99
the guardians of this
00:27:13.09\00:27:13.86
gradually built,
00:27:13.96\00:27:15.06
well-intended body of tradition.
00:27:15.16\00:27:18.60
But as it turns out,
00:27:18.70\00:27:20.77
even the best of intentions,
00:27:20.87\00:27:23.04
if we are not careful,
00:27:23.14\00:27:24.97
can lead to unintended
00:27:25.07\00:27:26.51
and profoundly
00:27:26.61\00:27:27.78
negative consequences.
00:27:27.88\00:27:31.18
And this is, indeed, what
00:27:31.28\00:27:32.25
happened with the Pharisees.
00:27:32.35\00:27:34.95
By the time of Jesus,
00:27:35.05\00:27:36.28
the Pharisees had come
00:27:36.38\00:27:37.19
to the place where
00:27:37.29\00:27:37.99
they had failed to live God's
00:27:38.09\00:27:39.45
Word from the heart.
00:27:39.55\00:27:41.59
They had come to the place
00:27:41.69\00:27:42.82
where they knew God's law,
00:27:42.92\00:27:44.03
but they did not know God.
00:27:44.13\00:27:46.16
They had God's rules,
00:27:46.26\00:27:47.40
but no relationship.
00:27:47.50\00:27:48.73
And for anyone
00:27:48.83\00:27:50.33
who attempts to carefully follow
00:27:50.43\00:27:51.77
God's rules without
00:27:51.87\00:27:52.67
also developing
00:27:52.77\00:27:53.64
a meaningful relationship
00:27:53.74\00:27:54.77
with Him or tries to force
00:27:54.87\00:27:56.04
others to do that, sooner or
00:27:56.14\00:27:57.14
later, this will breed
00:27:57.24\00:27:58.74
resentment,
00:27:58.84\00:28:00.58
and resentment unresolved,
00:28:00.68\00:28:02.34
when combined with a respect
00:28:02.44\00:28:03.28
for law,
00:28:03.38\00:28:04.21
leads inevitably to hypocrisy.
00:28:04.31\00:28:06.88
This is why Jesus -- He
00:28:06.98\00:28:08.82
repeated this sad refrain
00:28:08.92\00:28:09.85
in Matthew 23.
00:28:09.95\00:28:11.02
Six times,
00:28:11.12\00:28:12.49
Jesus uses there the phrase,
00:28:12.59\00:28:14.06
publicly, "Woe to you,
00:28:14.16\00:28:15.82
Pharisees, you hypocrites!"
00:28:15.92\00:28:19.66
This was
00:28:21.43\00:28:22.16
the sad state of the Pharisees
00:28:22.26\00:28:23.50
as a religious and political
00:28:23.60\00:28:24.50
party in Jesus' day.
00:28:24.60\00:28:27.20
What about the other
00:28:27.30\00:28:30.61
religious political party?
00:28:30.71\00:28:34.44
We know relatively little
00:28:36.81\00:28:37.81
about the origins of
00:28:37.91\00:28:38.55
the Sadducees.
00:28:38.65\00:28:39.51
It's hard to track.
00:28:39.61\00:28:41.18
Furthermore, in A.D. 70,
00:28:41.28\00:28:42.48
when the temple was destroyed
00:28:42.58\00:28:43.55
in Jerusalem, most,
00:28:43.65\00:28:45.05
if not all, of the Sadducees'
00:28:45.15\00:28:46.39
writings, whatever they were,
00:28:46.49\00:28:47.36
were destroyed, as well.
00:28:47.46\00:28:48.86
And so trying to figure
00:28:48.96\00:28:49.89
out details about the Sadducees,
00:28:49.99\00:28:51.23
it takes a bit of detective
00:28:51.33\00:28:52.36
work.
00:28:52.46\00:28:53.53
But if we take what we know
00:28:53.63\00:28:54.50
in the Bible
00:28:54.60\00:28:55.93
and we look at the writings
00:28:56.03\00:28:56.90
of Josephus, the Jewish
00:28:57.00\00:28:58.20
historian, and bits and pieces
00:28:58.30\00:28:59.43
found in other historical
00:28:59.53\00:29:00.60
sources, we can surmise,
00:29:00.70\00:29:01.84
with reasonable certainty,
00:29:01.94\00:29:03.20
some important points.
00:29:03.30\00:29:05.71
After the exile from Babylon --
00:29:05.81\00:29:07.81
So going back now
00:29:07.91\00:29:08.71
mid-fifth century, B.C.
00:29:08.81\00:29:10.48
The Jews come back.
00:29:10.58\00:29:11.78
They are rebuilding.
00:29:11.88\00:29:13.15
The predecessors
00:29:13.25\00:29:14.52
of the Sadducees,
00:29:14.62\00:29:16.75
much like the predecessors
00:29:16.85\00:29:18.12
of the Pharisees,
00:29:18.22\00:29:19.12
asked the very important
00:29:19.22\00:29:20.69
question, "How do we avoid all
00:29:20.79\00:29:22.72
of this mess happening again?"
00:29:22.82\00:29:24.69
And the Sadducees
00:29:24.79\00:29:25.99
and their predecessors
00:29:26.09\00:29:26.93
were particularly
00:29:27.03\00:29:28.06
drawn to the temple.
00:29:28.16\00:29:29.43
So they didn't just ask
00:29:29.53\00:29:30.97
the question, "How can we
00:29:31.07\00:29:32.53
preserve the nation?"
00:29:32.63\00:29:34.00
They asked a more
00:29:34.10\00:29:35.47
pointed question --
00:29:35.57\00:29:36.84
"How can we preserve
00:29:36.94\00:29:38.71
this building, this temple,
00:29:38.81\00:29:41.14
this place of worship?"
00:29:41.24\00:29:42.61
Because their reasoning was,
00:29:42.71\00:29:43.65
if the place of worship can be
00:29:43.75\00:29:44.68
preserved, then the nation
00:29:44.78\00:29:45.78
will be saved, as well, okay?
00:29:45.88\00:29:47.92
And their answer --
00:29:48.02\00:29:49.52
their answer to that problem
00:29:49.62\00:29:51.69
of how to prevent this problem
00:29:51.79\00:29:53.46
from happening again
00:29:53.56\00:29:54.42
was actually quite simple.
00:29:54.52\00:29:55.56
They said,
00:29:55.66\00:29:56.42
"We're going to relax
00:29:56.52\00:29:58.36
our theology and mix
00:29:58.46\00:30:01.63
in a strong dose
00:30:01.73\00:30:03.43
of national politics.
00:30:03.53\00:30:06.30
We're going to relax
00:30:06.40\00:30:07.34
our theology and we're going to
00:30:07.44\00:30:08.20
mix in a strong dose
00:30:08.30\00:30:09.47
of national politics."
00:30:09.57\00:30:10.47
In other words,
00:30:10.57\00:30:11.34
to save the nation,
00:30:11.44\00:30:12.54
they would do essentially
00:30:12.64\00:30:13.51
the opposite of what
00:30:13.61\00:30:14.44
the Pharisees would do.
00:30:14.54\00:30:15.64
While the Pharisees would
00:30:15.74\00:30:16.91
tighten things up dramatically,
00:30:17.01\00:30:18.35
theologically speaking,
00:30:18.45\00:30:19.48
the Sadducees
00:30:19.58\00:30:20.52
would loosen things up,
00:30:20.62\00:30:21.95
theologically speaking.
00:30:22.05\00:30:23.32
While the Pharisees had
00:30:23.42\00:30:24.55
little interest in the force
00:30:24.65\00:30:25.75
of political office,
00:30:25.85\00:30:26.99
the Sadducees exalted
00:30:27.09\00:30:28.52
in the force of
00:30:28.62\00:30:29.42
political office.
00:30:29.52\00:30:31.36
And notice what this led to.
00:30:31.46\00:30:33.60
Some things about the Sadducees.
00:30:33.70\00:30:36.50
Number one, the Sadducees were
00:30:36.60\00:30:38.47
generally wealthy
00:30:38.57\00:30:39.33
and intelligent,
00:30:39.43\00:30:40.50
the keepers of higher education.
00:30:40.60\00:30:42.57
I mean, these were the elite.
00:30:42.67\00:30:43.94
They were the cream of the crop,
00:30:44.04\00:30:46.44
intellectually speaking,
00:30:46.54\00:30:47.81
and they were
00:30:47.91\00:30:48.58
the aristocrats of Israel.
00:30:48.68\00:30:50.01
They were this upper class.
00:30:50.11\00:30:51.25
Now, their numbers were far less
00:30:51.35\00:30:53.38
than the Pharisees,
00:30:53.48\00:30:54.65
but their influence was
00:30:54.75\00:30:56.38
powerful, and in part
00:30:56.48\00:30:58.29
because of things like this,
00:30:58.39\00:30:59.42
because of their wealth,
00:30:59.52\00:31:00.19
because of their
00:31:00.29\00:31:01.22
intelligence, their education,
00:31:01.32\00:31:02.42
the way that they headed
00:31:02.52\00:31:03.09
up higher education,
00:31:03.19\00:31:04.43
that type of thing.
00:31:04.53\00:31:05.33
Secondly, the Sadducees
00:31:05.43\00:31:07.13
dominated Jewish
00:31:07.23\00:31:08.10
civil government.
00:31:08.20\00:31:09.46
You've heard of the Sanhedrin?
00:31:09.56\00:31:11.50
So, the Sanhedrin was
00:31:11.60\00:31:13.07
the highest political/religious
00:31:13.17\00:31:15.90
authority for Jews in the world,
00:31:16.00\00:31:17.94
okay?
00:31:18.04\00:31:18.77
Made up of 71 people --
00:31:18.87\00:31:20.11
you know, 70 leaders,
00:31:20.21\00:31:20.94
plus a main leader.
00:31:21.04\00:31:22.01
There are 71 of them.
00:31:22.11\00:31:23.21
And the Sanhedrin was dominated
00:31:23.31\00:31:25.31
by the Sadducees, again,
00:31:25.41\00:31:26.72
in spite of their lower numbers
00:31:26.82\00:31:27.98
compared to the Pharisees.
00:31:28.08\00:31:28.92
In fact,
00:31:29.02\00:31:30.02
the high priest had been
00:31:30.12\00:31:31.49
a Sadducee for generations
00:31:31.59\00:31:32.99
by that time
00:31:33.09\00:31:34.62
because of the next fact.
00:31:34.72\00:31:36.86
Number three,
00:31:36.96\00:31:38.03
the Sadducees were highly
00:31:38.13\00:31:39.56
favored by the large government
00:31:39.66\00:31:40.93
of the day of the Roman Empire.
00:31:41.00\00:31:42.96
You see, the high priest
00:31:43.06\00:31:44.50
was actually elected
00:31:44.60\00:31:46.03
by the Romans for generations
00:31:46.13\00:31:47.74
by the time that Jesus was born.
00:31:47.84\00:31:50.71
And so Caiaphas, for instance,
00:31:50.81\00:31:51.74
was appointed
00:31:51.84\00:31:52.77
by the Roman government.
00:31:52.87\00:31:54.74
The Sadducees worked incredibly
00:31:54.84\00:31:56.34
closely with the Romans.
00:31:56.44\00:31:58.08
And if you know
00:31:58.18\00:31:59.88
your Jewish history,
00:32:00.05\00:32:01.48
you may be wondering,
00:32:01.58\00:32:02.68
"How could that possibly be?"
00:32:02.78\00:32:05.72
Because the Jews had no love
00:32:05.82\00:32:06.96
for the Romans
00:32:07.06\00:32:07.76
as a general rule, right?
00:32:07.86\00:32:09.59
And the Jews, how is it --
00:32:09.69\00:32:11.69
how is it that the Sadducees
00:32:11.79\00:32:13.96
could work so closely,
00:32:14.03\00:32:15.26
Jews could work so closely
00:32:15.36\00:32:16.50
with the Romans,
00:32:16.60\00:32:17.73
a people whom the Jews would
00:32:17.83\00:32:19.03
not even eat with,
00:32:19.13\00:32:20.30
and considered them to be
00:32:20.40\00:32:21.24
perpetually unclean?
00:32:21.34\00:32:24.47
Well, the answer was that
00:32:24.57\00:32:27.68
the Sadducees did not believe
00:32:27.78\00:32:29.74
what much of the rest
00:32:29.84\00:32:31.05
of the Jewish nation
00:32:31.15\00:32:32.21
believed in.
00:32:32.31\00:32:33.28
For instance, the Sadducees did
00:32:33.38\00:32:35.08
not accept the oral tradition.
00:32:35.18\00:32:37.05
You say,
00:32:37.15\00:32:37.82
"What's the oral tradition?"
00:32:37.92\00:32:38.65
Well, the oral tradition was all
00:32:38.75\00:32:40.16
of those traditions
00:32:40.26\00:32:41.02
that the predecessors
00:32:41.12\00:32:42.42
of the Pharisees and the
00:32:42.52\00:32:43.32
Pharisees collected, you know,
00:32:43.43\00:32:44.53
the walls around God's law.
00:32:44.63\00:32:46.39
Those centuries' collected
00:32:46.49\00:32:47.76
worth of tradition --
00:32:47.86\00:32:49.06
that was the oral tradition.
00:32:49.16\00:32:50.47
And the Sadducees said,
00:32:50.57\00:32:52.00
"Nah, nah, we're not into that."
00:32:52.10\00:32:55.44
And if you're a student
00:32:55.54\00:32:56.30
of the Bible,
00:32:56.40\00:32:57.11
you might be thinking, "Well,
00:32:57.21\00:32:58.14
that's a great thing.
00:32:58.24\00:32:59.17
I mean, Jesus was opposed
00:32:59.27\00:33:00.34
to the oral tradition.
00:33:00.44\00:33:01.28
He spent most of His ministry
00:33:01.38\00:33:02.84
in opposition
00:33:02.94\00:33:03.85
to the oral tradition."
00:33:03.95\00:33:04.55
That's absolutely true.
00:33:04.65\00:33:05.61
But this idea,
00:33:05.71\00:33:07.52
this mind-set of disregarding
00:33:07.62\00:33:09.72
sources of authority,
00:33:09.82\00:33:10.95
sadly went much deeper
00:33:11.05\00:33:12.65
than just the oral tradition.
00:33:12.75\00:33:13.79
You see,
00:33:13.89\00:33:14.99
the Sadducees completely ignored
00:33:15.09\00:33:17.26
vast portions of Scripture.
00:33:17.36\00:33:20.50
Vast portions of it.
00:33:20.60\00:33:21.60
Now, they professed to hold
00:33:21.70\00:33:23.47
it in high regard.
00:33:23.57\00:33:24.23
Oh, they did.
00:33:24.33\00:33:24.97
They made a grand
00:33:25.07\00:33:25.73
profession of it.
00:33:25.83\00:33:26.60
But how they actually lived,
00:33:26.70\00:33:27.90
how they actually led
00:33:28.00\00:33:29.10
made it clear that they ignored
00:33:29.20\00:33:30.77
vast portions of Scripture.
00:33:30.87\00:33:32.37
In fact, by our reckoning
00:33:32.47\00:33:33.68
today -- I mean, the
00:33:33.78\00:33:34.48
Old Testament canon
00:33:34.58\00:33:35.18
wasn't completely formed
00:33:35.28\00:33:36.01
by the first century,
00:33:36.11\00:33:36.78
but most of the books
00:33:36.88\00:33:37.51
were there essentially
00:33:37.61\00:33:38.78
as we see them now --
00:33:38.88\00:33:40.82
the Sadducees ignored about 34
00:33:40.92\00:33:43.12
out of 39 books
00:33:43.22\00:33:44.42
of the Old Testament.
00:33:44.52\00:33:46.72
That, my friends, is a lot.
00:33:46.82\00:33:49.22
They claimed to take
00:33:49.32\00:33:50.29
the first five books
00:33:50.39\00:33:51.26
quite seriously, but even that,
00:33:51.36\00:33:52.43
they were fairly loose with.
00:33:52.53\00:33:53.33
And funny thing --
00:33:53.43\00:33:54.66
if you don't take most
00:33:54.76\00:33:56.90
of the Bible seriously,
00:33:57.00\00:33:58.33
you will miss something
00:33:58.43\00:33:59.20
about God, right?
00:33:59.30\00:34:01.14
You'll miss -- Something
00:34:01.24\00:34:02.27
will be missing, right, from
00:34:02.37\00:34:03.20
your education in who God is.
00:34:03.30\00:34:05.24
You know, Jesus is
00:34:05.34\00:34:06.47
referring to this --
00:34:06.57\00:34:07.28
You may remember,
00:34:07.38\00:34:08.04
in Matthew 22,
00:34:08.14\00:34:10.05
the Sadducees came to test Jesus
00:34:10.15\00:34:12.08
over the issue of marriage
00:34:12.18\00:34:13.48
at the resurrection,
00:34:13.58\00:34:15.15
and Jesus' response was so,
00:34:15.25\00:34:17.55
so stark.
00:34:17.65\00:34:19.29
I mean, this is what He said.
00:34:19.39\00:34:20.06
Matthew 22:29.
00:34:20.16\00:34:21.76
He says to the Sadducees...
00:34:21.86\00:34:23.49
I think we often read that
00:34:27.23\00:34:28.63
through our 21st century eyes.
00:34:28.73\00:34:30.17
and we think, "Oh, He just means
00:34:30.27\00:34:31.40
that they misunderstood what
00:34:31.50\00:34:32.33
they read."
00:34:32.43\00:34:34.14
Maybe. But more likely, He
00:34:34.24\00:34:35.90
was simply saying,
00:34:36.00\00:34:36.64
"You don't read it.
00:34:36.74\00:34:37.57
You don't have
00:34:37.67\00:34:38.37
any association with most
00:34:38.47\00:34:39.84
of the Bible in there.
00:34:39.94\00:34:40.88
So you really -- you don't know
00:34:40.98\00:34:42.14
the scriptures
00:34:42.24\00:34:42.94
because you don't read them."
00:34:43.04\00:34:46.61
This had some pretty
00:34:46.72\00:34:47.45
impactful consequences.
00:34:47.55\00:34:48.62
Number six,
00:34:48.72\00:34:49.82
the Sadducees believed
00:34:49.92\00:34:51.29
that supernatural intervention
00:34:51.39\00:34:52.29
in the world
00:34:52.39\00:34:52.99
was relatively minimal.
00:34:53.09\00:34:55.02
God kind of created things
00:34:55.12\00:34:56.66
and walked away, basically.
00:34:56.76\00:34:58.86
They did not believe in angels.
00:34:58.96\00:34:59.59
They did
00:34:59.69\00:35:00.46
not believe in evil spirits.
00:35:00.56\00:35:01.83
The physical world,
00:35:01.93\00:35:02.66
essentially, was all one
00:35:02.76\00:35:03.67
needed to be concerned with.
00:35:03.77\00:35:04.37
In fact,
00:35:04.47\00:35:05.53
the Sadducees even discounted
00:35:05.63\00:35:07.14
the work of the Holy Spirit,
00:35:07.24\00:35:08.30
and, thus, holiness was
00:35:08.40\00:35:09.50
to be obtained without
00:35:09.60\00:35:11.14
the intervention of God.
00:35:11.24\00:35:12.94
Very humanistic
00:35:13.04\00:35:14.08
in their approach.
00:35:14.18\00:35:15.91
Number seven,
00:35:16.01\00:35:16.75
they were also unclear
00:35:16.85\00:35:17.98
on eternal consequences for
00:35:18.08\00:35:19.31
how one lived one's life.
00:35:19.41\00:35:23.05
You know the song that we sing,
00:35:23.15\00:35:23.62
you know,
00:35:23.72\00:35:24.42
"I don't want to be a Sadducee
00:35:24.52\00:35:25.12
I don't want to be a Sadducee,
00:35:25.22\00:35:26.39
because they're so --" what?
00:35:26.49\00:35:28.19
"Sad, you see."
00:35:28.29\00:35:29.06
And why do we say that?
00:35:29.16\00:35:30.13
Why were they supposedly sad?
00:35:30.23\00:35:31.69
Because
00:35:31.79\00:35:32.53
there was no resurrection
00:35:32.63\00:35:34.46
from the dead, okay?
00:35:34.56\00:35:35.96
They didn't believe
00:35:36.06\00:35:36.56
in a resurrection.
00:35:36.67\00:35:37.13
They said, "No,
00:35:37.23\00:35:37.73
that's impossible.
00:35:37.83\00:35:38.57
You can't take a human body
00:35:38.67\00:35:39.33
that's decayed
00:35:39.43\00:35:40.20
and put it back together again."
00:35:40.30\00:35:41.10
And so, basically,
00:35:41.20\00:35:42.20
this life was it.
00:35:42.30\00:35:44.34
There was no meaningful
00:35:44.44\00:35:45.71
afterlife, no heaven, no hell,
00:35:45.81\00:35:47.14
none of this type
00:35:47.24\00:35:47.94
of thinking there.
00:35:48.04\00:35:49.18
Would that change
00:35:49.28\00:35:50.48
how you live your life
00:35:50.58\00:35:52.61
if this life was all
00:35:52.71\00:35:53.95
there was to you?
00:35:54.05\00:35:55.62
Yeah, it would.
00:35:55.72\00:35:56.69
It would change your
00:35:56.79\00:35:57.52
priorities dramatically.
00:35:57.62\00:35:58.72
It might even impact
00:35:58.82\00:35:59.69
how you govern.
00:35:59.79\00:36:02.79
And with all of this said,
00:36:02.89\00:36:03.96
it may surprise you, lastly,
00:36:04.06\00:36:04.89
to learn
00:36:04.99\00:36:05.96
that the Sadducees were
00:36:06.06\00:36:07.40
the keepers
00:36:07.50\00:36:08.66
of the Jerusalem Temple.
00:36:08.76\00:36:11.37
Look who's in charge.
00:36:11.47\00:36:14.87
How is it that a group of people
00:36:14.97\00:36:17.34
that took so little
00:36:17.44\00:36:18.44
of the Scriptures
00:36:18.54\00:36:19.44
seriously could run the most
00:36:19.54\00:36:21.08
important site in Judaism?
00:36:21.18\00:36:22.71
And this is pre-crucifixion.
00:36:22.81\00:36:24.31
Can we just say,
00:36:24.41\00:36:25.28
the most important religious
00:36:25.38\00:36:26.15
site in the world.
00:36:26.25\00:36:27.95
And it's run
00:36:28.05\00:36:29.12
by these guys, right?
00:36:29.22\00:36:31.59
How could that possibly be?
00:36:31.69\00:36:33.15
Well, that would take
00:36:33.25\00:36:34.22
a little more time
00:36:34.32\00:36:35.56
than we have this morning.
00:36:35.66\00:36:36.76
But I would point out this.
00:36:36.86\00:36:38.03
It may explain a bit more as to
00:36:38.13\00:36:40.86
why the temple in Jesus' day
00:36:40.96\00:36:42.30
had become a little more
00:36:42.40\00:36:43.20
than a business,
00:36:43.30\00:36:44.60
a marketplace used to fleece
00:36:44.70\00:36:47.14
God-fearing Jews out of their
00:36:47.24\00:36:48.97
hard-earned shekels, because
00:36:49.07\00:36:52.11
this group was in charge.
00:36:52.21\00:36:55.64
To sum it up,
00:36:55.74\00:36:57.31
the Sadducees compromised
00:36:57.41\00:36:59.05
the religion of God and
00:36:59.15\00:36:59.88
scripture
00:37:00.05\00:37:00.68
to get along politically.
00:37:00.78\00:37:02.62
They chose government over God
00:37:02.72\00:37:04.99
as the way
00:37:05.09\00:37:06.39
to keep the nation together.
00:37:06.49\00:37:08.66
They offered religion, yes,
00:37:08.76\00:37:09.79
but it was
00:37:09.89\00:37:10.59
not the religion of the Bible.
00:37:10.69\00:37:11.76
It was, instead, a religion
00:37:11.86\00:37:12.76
that was soft, undemanding,
00:37:12.86\00:37:14.10
and consequently relatively free
00:37:14.20\00:37:15.30
from social stigma.
00:37:15.40\00:37:16.43
The Sadducees scaled
00:37:16.53\00:37:18.20
down theology, turned a blind
00:37:18.30\00:37:20.37
eye to the immorality
00:37:20.47\00:37:21.64
of political leaders,
00:37:21.74\00:37:22.50
both Roman and Jewish,
00:37:22.60\00:37:23.87
in exchange, they thought,
00:37:23.97\00:37:25.74
for preserving
00:37:25.84\00:37:26.61
the Jewish nation.
00:37:26.71\00:37:28.54
And it was this watering down
00:37:28.64\00:37:30.01
of clear biblical principle
00:37:30.11\00:37:31.45
that undoubtedly led
00:37:31.55\00:37:32.25
John the Baptist
00:37:32.35\00:37:33.25
to utter those words against
00:37:33.35\00:37:34.32
not just the Pharisees,
00:37:34.42\00:37:35.48
but the Sadducees, as well.
00:37:35.58\00:37:37.19
"You brood of vipers," he said.
00:37:37.29\00:37:40.52
And notice carefully,
00:37:43.09\00:37:45.56
much like the Pharisees,
00:37:45.66\00:37:48.73
the Sadducees had become
00:37:48.83\00:37:50.77
this way gradually, over time,
00:37:50.87\00:37:55.07
one political compromise
00:37:55.17\00:37:57.67
upon another over a period
00:37:57.77\00:37:59.94
of many, many years.
00:38:00.11\00:38:02.04
And they had done this
00:38:02.14\00:38:03.55
largely with the best
00:38:03.65\00:38:05.91
of intentions -- save the
00:38:06.01\00:38:09.72
nation, save the church,
00:38:09.82\00:38:12.19
save the temple in Jerusalem.
00:38:12.29\00:38:15.42
The Pharisees,
00:38:17.89\00:38:18.69
to save the nation,
00:38:18.79\00:38:19.53
chose rules without
00:38:19.63\00:38:20.50
a relationship with God.
00:38:20.60\00:38:22.03
But the Sadducees,
00:38:22.13\00:38:23.23
to save the nation,
00:38:23.33\00:38:24.30
chose relationships with humans
00:38:24.40\00:38:25.57
without God's rules.
00:38:25.67\00:38:27.60
Rules without relationship leads
00:38:27.70\00:38:29.34
to resentment and hypocrisy.
00:38:29.44\00:38:30.84
Relationship without rules
00:38:30.94\00:38:32.34
leads to permissiveness and
00:38:32.44\00:38:33.27
corruption.
00:38:33.38\00:38:34.18
And both paths lead
00:38:34.28\00:38:35.94
to becoming a brood of vipers.
00:38:36.04\00:38:38.98
Now, just as in nature,
00:38:41.18\00:38:43.92
snakes don't always
00:38:44.02\00:38:45.65
get along with each other.
00:38:45.75\00:38:48.12
As you might imagine,
00:38:48.22\00:38:49.36
the Pharisees and the Sadducees
00:38:49.46\00:38:51.26
also did not get along well
00:38:51.36\00:38:53.09
with each other.
00:38:53.19\00:38:54.46
Because of the profound
00:38:54.56\00:38:55.60
differences in their beliefs
00:38:55.70\00:38:56.43
and their practices,
00:38:56.53\00:38:57.23
they were instead often
00:38:57.33\00:38:58.07
bitter opponents.
00:38:58.17\00:38:59.00
In fact,
00:38:59.10\00:38:59.90
had the Sadducees not needed
00:39:00.07\00:39:01.47
the Pharisees' influence
00:39:01.57\00:39:02.70
with the common people
00:39:02.80\00:39:04.14
and had not the Pharisees needed
00:39:04.24\00:39:05.44
the Sadducees' influence
00:39:05.54\00:39:06.44
with Rome, they
00:39:06.54\00:39:07.58
probably would have never
00:39:07.68\00:39:08.61
even darkened the same doors.
00:39:08.71\00:39:10.21
However, interestingly enough,
00:39:12.98\00:39:17.65
when both parties -- the
00:39:17.75\00:39:19.12
Sadducees and the Pharisees --
00:39:19.22\00:39:20.02
when they both
00:39:20.12\00:39:21.19
came into contact with Jesus,
00:39:21.29\00:39:26.03
things began to change.
00:39:26.13\00:39:29.83
You've heard the saying,
00:39:29.93\00:39:30.60
"The enemy of
00:39:30.70\00:39:31.60
my enemy is my friend."
00:39:31.70\00:39:34.84
Hmm.
00:39:34.94\00:39:36.57
You see, the Pharisees,
00:39:36.67\00:39:37.41
for their part,
00:39:37.51\00:39:38.14
were appalled at Jesus.
00:39:38.24\00:39:40.41
They were appalled that He was
00:39:40.51\00:39:41.51
so non-nationalistic.
00:39:41.61\00:39:43.71
He didn't seem to share
00:39:43.81\00:39:44.48
their nationalistic
00:39:44.58\00:39:45.75
arrogance at all.
00:39:45.85\00:39:47.02
They were appalled
00:39:47.12\00:39:47.98
that Jesus cared so little
00:39:48.08\00:39:49.25
for the oral traditions.
00:39:49.35\00:39:50.22
They were appalled
00:39:50.32\00:39:51.15
that Jesus spent almost all
00:39:51.25\00:39:52.52
of His time, in their eyes,
00:39:52.62\00:39:53.92
being ceremonially unclean.
00:39:54.02\00:39:56.73
And the Sadducees,
00:39:56.83\00:39:57.63
for their part,
00:39:57.73\00:39:58.39
they were appalled, too.
00:39:58.49\00:39:59.96
They were appalled at Jesus,
00:40:00.06\00:40:01.56
by the fact that Jesus in no way
00:40:01.66\00:40:03.40
shared their addiction
00:40:03.50\00:40:04.37
to political favor.
00:40:04.47\00:40:05.87
He seemed to have no interest
00:40:05.97\00:40:07.14
in the wealth or
00:40:07.24\00:40:08.24
the aristocracy or fine clothes.
00:40:08.34\00:40:09.90
Jesus seemed to have
00:40:10.01\00:40:11.07
a very different opinion
00:40:11.17\00:40:12.51
than they did on things like,
00:40:12.61\00:40:13.81
say, theft and worship
00:40:13.91\00:40:15.51
and really morality in general.
00:40:15.61\00:40:17.85
And most importantly, Jesus had
00:40:17.95\00:40:19.75
the audacity to clear out
00:40:19.85\00:40:22.82
"their temple" in Jerusalem.
00:40:22.92\00:40:27.42
And in light of these things,
00:40:27.52\00:40:28.99
these two opposite-end parties,
00:40:29.09\00:40:31.43
the Sadducees and the Pharisees,
00:40:31.53\00:40:32.73
found common cause,
00:40:32.83\00:40:34.10
and the unthinkable happened.
00:40:34.20\00:40:35.63
They joined up against their
00:40:35.73\00:40:37.87
common enemy, Jesus Christ.
00:40:37.97\00:40:41.10
Now, at first, this partnership
00:40:41.20\00:40:42.90
was fairly low-grade.
00:40:43.00\00:40:44.97
They sought to somehow trap
00:40:45.07\00:40:46.54
Jesus in his public statements,
00:40:46.64\00:40:47.84
you know, maybe trick Jesus
00:40:47.94\00:40:49.11
into saying something
00:40:49.21\00:40:50.01
that would help Him lose favor
00:40:50.11\00:40:51.18
with the people
00:40:51.28\00:40:51.91
or bring the angst
00:40:52.01\00:40:53.95
of the Roman government
00:40:54.05\00:40:54.95
down on top of Him.
00:40:55.05\00:40:56.28
But then Jesus crossed some
00:40:56.38\00:40:59.12
lines that they felt they
00:40:59.22\00:41:01.72
could not ignore.
00:41:01.82\00:41:03.79
And when that happened,
00:41:03.89\00:41:05.59
they sought to stop Jesus
00:41:05.69\00:41:07.30
from teaching permanently.
00:41:07.40\00:41:10.67
And as many of you know,
00:41:10.77\00:41:11.37
they hatched a plan.
00:41:11.47\00:41:12.30
Judas, one
00:41:12.40\00:41:13.27
of Jesus' own disciples,
00:41:13.37\00:41:14.30
agreed to be part of it.
00:41:14.40\00:41:15.67
Jesus is arrested in the Garden
00:41:15.77\00:41:17.51
of Gethsemane, and then
00:41:17.61\00:41:18.84
He is taken before Congress.
00:41:18.94\00:41:22.84
That's what the Sanhedrin was
00:41:22.94\00:41:24.45
for the Jews in those days.
00:41:24.55\00:41:27.82
And there,
00:41:27.92\00:41:28.92
the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas,
00:41:29.02\00:41:30.69
the high priest, officiating,
00:41:30.79\00:41:31.89
and they're together --
00:41:31.99\00:41:33.09
The Pharisees and the Sadducees,
00:41:33.19\00:41:34.96
two groups in the Sanhedrin,
00:41:35.06\00:41:36.76
representing polar opposites
00:41:36.86\00:41:38.59
politically and spiritually,
00:41:38.69\00:41:39.89
were instrumental
00:41:40.00\00:41:41.10
in the crucifixion
00:41:41.20\00:41:42.26
of the very Son of God.
00:41:42.36\00:41:45.00
Now, ladies and gentlemen,
00:41:47.14\00:41:47.67
that's astonishing.
00:41:47.77\00:41:49.80
That is astonishing.
00:41:49.90\00:41:52.04
Two very different
00:41:52.14\00:41:54.44
paths becoming one.
00:41:54.54\00:41:57.58
Two paths that,
00:41:57.68\00:41:59.18
bit by bit over the years,
00:41:59.28\00:42:00.52
were fueled
00:42:00.62\00:42:01.58
by the best of intentions,
00:42:01.68\00:42:03.35
yet that led eventually
00:42:03.45\00:42:04.72
to terrible unintended
00:42:04.82\00:42:07.19
consequences,
00:42:07.29\00:42:08.06
for within decades
00:42:08.16\00:42:09.82
of that Sanhedrin trial
00:42:09.92\00:42:11.16
that night came
00:42:11.26\00:42:12.46
the complete loss
00:42:12.56\00:42:13.83
of religious liberty,
00:42:13.93\00:42:15.40
the downfall of their nation,
00:42:15.50\00:42:17.53
and, most tragically, the
00:42:17.63\00:42:18.80
missing of the coming of the
00:42:18.90\00:42:19.73
Messiah.
00:42:19.83\00:42:21.34
Interesting.
00:42:25.54\00:42:27.21
Hmm.
00:42:27.31\00:42:29.18
The complete loss
00:42:29.28\00:42:30.85
of religious liberty,
00:42:30.95\00:42:33.05
followed by the downfall
00:42:33.15\00:42:34.88
of a nation,
00:42:34.98\00:42:37.02
leading to the complete missing
00:42:37.12\00:42:39.15
of the coming of the Messiah.
00:42:39.25\00:42:42.39
I wonder
00:42:44.53\00:42:47.40
if history might repeat itself.
00:42:47.50\00:42:52.07
At the very least,
00:42:57.94\00:43:00.38
surely, we can draw
00:43:00.48\00:43:04.18
the following four lessons
00:43:04.28\00:43:06.82
from this tragic passage
00:43:06.92\00:43:07.92
of salvation
00:43:08.02\00:43:08.82
and political history.
00:43:08.92\00:43:11.69
The Sadducees and the Pharisees,
00:43:11.79\00:43:12.99
I think,
00:43:13.09\00:43:13.99
teach us at least the following.
00:43:14.09\00:43:15.69
Number one, when it comes
00:43:15.79\00:43:18.43
to politics,
00:43:18.53\00:43:20.10
good intentions are not enough.
00:43:20.20\00:43:24.53
They're not.
00:43:24.63\00:43:26.77
Simply being good-hearted,
00:43:26.87\00:43:28.47
closing your eyes,
00:43:28.57\00:43:29.87
and casting a ballot
00:43:29.97\00:43:31.54
is not faithful behavior.
00:43:31.64\00:43:34.58
The Christian
00:43:34.68\00:43:35.68
must carefully consider
00:43:35.78\00:43:37.21
potential consequences
00:43:37.31\00:43:38.88
when they engage in politics.
00:43:38.98\00:43:40.55
This means time, unfortunately.
00:43:40.65\00:43:41.35
I know -- we have
00:43:41.45\00:43:42.62
so little of it, right?
00:43:42.72\00:43:43.79
But these things are important.
00:43:43.89\00:43:45.29
We have to think about
00:43:45.39\00:43:46.69
the potential consequences.
00:43:46.79\00:43:47.96
The political decisions
00:43:48.06\00:43:49.22
a Christian makes,
00:43:49.32\00:43:50.19
such as who to vote for
00:43:50.29\00:43:51.29
or how to vote on
00:43:51.39\00:43:52.16
a particular issue,
00:43:52.26\00:43:52.99
must be based
00:43:53.09\00:43:54.00
on sound biblical principle
00:43:54.10\00:43:55.53
and a sound understanding
00:43:55.63\00:43:56.67
of a relationship with God.
00:43:56.77\00:43:57.93
And as I mentioned in Part 1
00:43:58.03\00:43:59.37
and I say now again,
00:43:59.47\00:44:00.90
all political decisions
00:44:01.00\00:44:02.37
a Christian makes
00:44:02.47\00:44:03.57
must take religious-liberty
00:44:03.67\00:44:05.71
implications into account.
00:44:05.81\00:44:08.11
You have to know
00:44:08.21\00:44:09.38
religious liberty.
00:44:09.48\00:44:10.25
You've got to know
00:44:10.35\00:44:11.25
the principles involved in
00:44:11.35\00:44:12.25
how it works.
00:44:12.35\00:44:13.38
Study them, find them,
00:44:13.48\00:44:15.12
make them a part of who you are,
00:44:15.22\00:44:17.42
that you might be
00:44:17.52\00:44:18.82
the best representative of
00:44:18.92\00:44:20.19
Christ in these turbulent times.
00:44:20.29\00:44:23.02
Lesson number two --
00:44:24.83\00:44:27.50
when it comes to politics,
00:44:27.60\00:44:28.96
do not remain silent
00:44:29.06\00:44:30.70
until major, catastrophic
00:44:30.80\00:44:32.27
events are in motion.
00:44:32.37\00:44:34.07
Instead, participate now,
00:44:34.17\00:44:36.24
vote now.
00:44:36.34\00:44:37.91
Do your appropriate part
00:44:38.01\00:44:39.44
to keep the nation on track now.
00:44:39.54\00:44:43.61
You see, the history tells us --
00:44:43.71\00:44:45.35
and not just with the Sadducees
00:44:45.45\00:44:46.65
and the Pharisees,
00:44:46.75\00:44:47.48
but these things are repeated
00:44:47.58\00:44:48.45
over and over in history.
00:44:48.55\00:44:50.09
Rare is the sudden change
00:44:50.19\00:44:52.65
that happens overnight.
00:44:52.75\00:44:54.86
Instead, often what appears
00:44:54.96\00:44:56.29
to be a sudden change,
00:44:56.39\00:44:57.29
even, is the result of years
00:44:57.39\00:44:59.03
of little by little, bit by bit,
00:44:59.13\00:45:01.50
change upon change being done.
00:45:01.60\00:45:03.43
That's how it happened
00:45:03.53\00:45:04.53
with the Pharisees
00:45:04.63\00:45:05.47
and the Sadducees, and they had
00:45:05.57\00:45:06.60
the best of intentions.
00:45:06.70\00:45:10.31
How many Adventists are there
00:45:10.41\00:45:11.87
that are waiting for the mark
00:45:11.97\00:45:13.07
of the beast to be
00:45:13.17\00:45:14.08
explicitly listed on a ballot?
00:45:14.18\00:45:18.75
"Oh, pastor, I'll vote no then.
00:45:18.85\00:45:20.62
That's right.
00:45:20.72\00:45:21.45
You know, won't get
00:45:21.55\00:45:22.58
me voting for the mark."
00:45:22.68\00:45:23.72
Okay. Ladies and gentlemen,
00:45:23.82\00:45:25.49
the mark of the beast
00:45:25.59\00:45:26.35
is not going to burst upon us
00:45:26.45\00:45:27.26
like, you know,
00:45:27.36\00:45:27.89
everything's sunny
00:45:27.99\00:45:28.62
for 1,000 days,
00:45:28.72\00:45:29.92
and then, the next day, poof,
00:45:30.03\00:45:30.76
we have the mark of the beast.
00:45:30.86\00:45:31.46
It will be the result,
00:45:31.56\00:45:33.53
on the whole,
00:45:33.63\00:45:35.16
of people with good intentions
00:45:35.26\00:45:37.00
making bad decisions over
00:45:37.10\00:45:39.67
and over, little bit by little
00:45:39.77\00:45:41.57
bit.
00:45:41.67\00:45:42.87
So don't wait. Vote now.
00:45:42.97\00:45:46.54
You know, I can't make a case
00:45:46.64\00:45:47.51
for you from the Bible
00:45:47.61\00:45:48.44
or from the spirit of prophecy
00:45:48.54\00:45:49.31
that you must vote
00:45:49.41\00:45:50.38
in every single political thing
00:45:50.48\00:45:51.45
that comes along.
00:45:51.55\00:45:52.01
I can't do that.
00:45:52.11\00:45:52.88
But I can tell you
00:45:52.98\00:45:53.98
that when it comes to
00:45:54.08\00:45:54.82
major elections
00:45:54.92\00:45:55.75
and major issues,
00:45:55.85\00:45:56.85
the general rule is, you
00:45:56.95\00:45:58.25
need to do something about it.
00:45:58.35\00:45:59.92
I can't help
00:46:00.09\00:46:00.99
but wonder what difference
00:46:01.09\00:46:03.83
might have been made if someone,
00:46:03.93\00:46:07.23
say, 10 or 50 or maybe
00:46:07.36\00:46:11.13
100 years before Jesus was born,
00:46:11.23\00:46:15.24
had said, amongst the Pharisees
00:46:15.34\00:46:16.97
or the Sadducees, "Say,
00:46:17.07\00:46:18.61
why don't we hold on
00:46:18.71\00:46:19.31
for just a moment?
00:46:19.41\00:46:20.98
Maybe we're not doing this
00:46:21.08\00:46:22.31
quite the right way."
00:46:22.41\00:46:24.95
I wonder what difference
00:46:25.05\00:46:26.55
it might have made.
00:46:26.65\00:46:29.22
These are difficult times.
00:46:29.32\00:46:31.35
Seeing the right path
00:46:31.45\00:46:32.22
can be challenging,
00:46:32.32\00:46:34.06
but we must do our best,
00:46:34.16\00:46:36.39
and that rarely means sitting
00:46:36.49\00:46:37.69
at home doing nothing.
00:46:37.79\00:46:40.06
Lesson number
00:46:41.93\00:46:42.60
three -- in Jesus' day,
00:46:42.70\00:46:46.63
genuine biblical teaching
00:46:46.74\00:46:48.00
was tolerated
00:46:48.10\00:46:49.00
by the political right
00:46:49.10\00:46:50.34
and left until it publicly
00:46:50.44\00:46:54.08
clashed with two things --
00:46:54.18\00:46:55.61
nationalistic arrogance
00:46:55.71\00:46:57.41
and national immorality.
00:46:57.51\00:46:59.31
You see those things there.
00:46:59.41\00:47:00.15
Nationalistic arrogance
00:47:00.25\00:47:01.52
and national immorality.
00:47:01.62\00:47:03.12
We should not be surprised
00:47:03.22\00:47:04.42
if the same thing
00:47:04.52\00:47:05.15
happens in our day.
00:47:05.25\00:47:07.42
Now, I'm not a prophet
00:47:07.52\00:47:08.52
or the son of a prophet,
00:47:08.62\00:47:10.49
but I can't help but think
00:47:10.59\00:47:12.53
that the evidence
00:47:12.63\00:47:13.66
from the Gospels is compelling.
00:47:13.76\00:47:15.10
I find it compelling
00:47:15.20\00:47:16.43
that Jesus' teaching,
00:47:16.53\00:47:17.97
as radical as it was almost
00:47:18.07\00:47:19.60
from the very beginning,
00:47:19.70\00:47:20.97
that it was tolerated
00:47:21.07\00:47:22.44
by both sides of the aisle
00:47:22.54\00:47:24.27
of His day until He crossed
00:47:24.37\00:47:26.31
these two lines publicly.
00:47:26.41\00:47:30.98
Jesus clashed, for instance,
00:47:31.08\00:47:32.11
with nationalistic arrogance
00:47:32.21\00:47:33.52
on at least two occasions
00:47:33.62\00:47:34.62
in His last days
00:47:34.72\00:47:35.75
just prior to His crucifixion.
00:47:35.85\00:47:37.02
First, it was
00:47:37.12\00:47:38.25
with the triumphal entry
00:47:38.35\00:47:39.42
into Jerusalem that did not lead
00:47:39.52\00:47:41.52
to Israel throwing
00:47:41.62\00:47:42.76
off the Roman yoke.
00:47:42.86\00:47:45.79
You know, the triumphal entry --
00:47:45.89\00:47:47.23
it's this amazing thing.
00:47:47.30\00:47:47.83
You know,
00:47:47.93\00:47:48.56
Jesus is riding on a donkey.
00:47:48.66\00:47:50.23
That was the symbol of the day
00:47:50.33\00:47:51.63
that this was a conquer,
00:47:51.73\00:47:52.63
this was a king coming back.
00:47:52.73\00:47:54.00
If ever there was
00:47:54.10\00:47:54.94
a political statement
00:47:55.04\00:47:55.87
that Jesus makes,
00:47:55.97\00:47:56.67
it's right there.
00:47:56.77\00:47:59.14
And then He refuses to tie it
00:47:59.24\00:48:02.78
to the nationalistic aims
00:48:02.88\00:48:04.18
of Israel.
00:48:04.28\00:48:05.81
In fact, within a matter of
00:48:05.91\00:48:06.65
days, He just left town.
00:48:06.75\00:48:09.52
He refused to
00:48:09.62\00:48:11.09
fuel this nationalistic
00:48:11.19\00:48:12.62
arrogance that the Jews
00:48:12.72\00:48:13.76
had developed over time.
00:48:13.86\00:48:15.09
And secondly,
00:48:15.19\00:48:16.19
Jesus clashed very publicly
00:48:16.29\00:48:17.39
with the Jews'
00:48:17.49\00:48:18.09
nationalistic arrogance
00:48:18.19\00:48:19.39
when He cleansed the temple,
00:48:19.49\00:48:21.43
because for most of Judaism,
00:48:21.53\00:48:23.06
the Temple in Jerusalem
00:48:23.16\00:48:24.10
was the symbol of Israel's
00:48:24.20\00:48:26.13
national supremacy.
00:48:26.23\00:48:28.50
Jesus Himself, you know,
00:48:28.60\00:48:29.80
when He cleaned out that temple,
00:48:29.90\00:48:31.41
it was so audacious
00:48:31.51\00:48:32.94
and so threatening to the Jews.
00:48:33.04\00:48:34.38
Mark 11:18 records this.
00:48:34.48\00:48:36.01
"The chief priest
00:48:36.11\00:48:36.95
and the teachers of the law
00:48:37.05\00:48:37.68
heard this --"
00:48:37.78\00:48:38.65
that is about the cleansing
00:48:38.75\00:48:39.88
of the temple -- "and began
00:48:39.98\00:48:41.15
looking for a way to --" what?
00:48:41.25\00:48:43.18
To kill him.
00:48:43.28\00:48:44.75
Not just because He was
00:48:44.85\00:48:45.59
some random preacher.
00:48:45.69\00:48:46.52
Because
00:48:46.62\00:48:47.29
the very heart of the nation,
00:48:47.39\00:48:48.96
in their minds, was at stake.
00:48:49.06\00:48:50.36
And just in case
00:48:50.46\00:48:51.53
we have doubts about this,
00:48:51.63\00:48:53.70
the head Sadducee himself,
00:48:53.80\00:48:54.96
Caiaphas, had this to say.
00:48:55.06\00:48:55.96
John 11:15.
00:48:56.06\00:48:57.63
"It is better for you that one
00:48:57.73\00:48:59.90
man die for the people --
00:49:00.07\00:49:01.37
meaning Jesus -- "than
00:49:01.47\00:49:02.90
that the whole nation perish."
00:49:03.00\00:49:05.97
When Jesus took these things
00:49:06.07\00:49:08.01
head on, persecution
00:49:08.11\00:49:10.48
ratcheted up dramatically.
00:49:10.58\00:49:13.01
And what about
00:49:13.11\00:49:14.12
the second one there?
00:49:14.22\00:49:15.25
Not nationalistic arrogance
00:49:15.35\00:49:16.92
only, but national immorality.
00:49:17.02\00:49:18.65
What happened when Jesus
00:49:18.75\00:49:19.72
publicly did those things?
00:49:19.82\00:49:20.42
Well, He did
00:49:20.52\00:49:21.19
this at least twice, again,
00:49:21.29\00:49:22.72
just before His crucifixion.
00:49:22.82\00:49:23.99
First, in Matthew 23,
00:49:24.09\00:49:25.36
I'll let you look
00:49:25.46\00:49:25.99
there on your own.
00:49:26.09\00:49:27.46
There, He pronounces these woes
00:49:27.56\00:49:28.86
against the Pharisees
00:49:28.96\00:49:29.93
and He reveals there
00:49:30.03\00:49:31.03
the exceedingly immoral
00:49:31.13\00:49:32.53
practices of these leading
00:49:32.63\00:49:34.14
men of the nation.
00:49:34.24\00:49:35.97
And secondly, again,
00:49:36.07\00:49:38.41
when Jesus cleansed the temple,
00:49:38.51\00:49:40.78
because cleansing the temple
00:49:40.88\00:49:41.91
not only confronted
00:49:42.01\00:49:43.08
the nationalistic arrogance
00:49:43.18\00:49:44.28
of the Jews,
00:49:44.38\00:49:44.91
but it also confronted
00:49:45.01\00:49:46.35
the national immorality
00:49:46.45\00:49:47.62
as led this time
00:49:47.72\00:49:48.58
by the Sadducees,
00:49:48.68\00:49:50.19
because the temple,
00:49:50.29\00:49:51.72
with its extensive business
00:49:51.82\00:49:52.85
of extortion,
00:49:52.95\00:49:53.62
of robbing the poor,
00:49:53.72\00:49:54.52
of cheating worshippers,
00:49:54.62\00:49:55.52
had, indeed, become
00:49:55.62\00:49:56.66
a symbol of Israel's
00:49:56.76\00:49:58.09
uncleanness and immorality.
00:49:58.19\00:50:00.76
Ellen White summed it up
00:50:00.86\00:50:01.36
like this.
00:50:01.46\00:50:02.23
"Testimonies to Ministers,"
00:50:02.33\00:50:02.96
page 267.
00:50:03.06\00:50:04.80
"Jesus, the Lord of life and
00:50:04.90\00:50:06.80
glory, was crucified
00:50:06.90\00:50:08.37
to please the malice
00:50:08.47\00:50:09.64
of the Jews because --"
00:50:09.74\00:50:10.74
here it comes --
00:50:10.84\00:50:11.47
"because the principles
00:50:11.57\00:50:13.64
He presented did not coincide
00:50:13.74\00:50:16.14
with their own ideas
00:50:16.24\00:50:17.78
and ambitious aims."
00:50:17.88\00:50:19.38
Pause for just a moment.
00:50:19.48\00:50:20.38
The context here, she
00:50:20.48\00:50:21.62
doesn't say specifically, but
00:50:21.72\00:50:22.88
the ambitious aims of Israel?
00:50:22.98\00:50:24.85
Those almost always took
00:50:24.95\00:50:26.25
only one form, and they were
00:50:26.35\00:50:27.49
nationalistically arrogant
00:50:27.59\00:50:28.59
in the extreme.
00:50:28.69\00:50:30.43
I'm pretty sure that's what
00:50:30.53\00:50:31.26
she's referring to.
00:50:31.36\00:50:31.93
The next part,
00:50:32.03\00:50:32.66
she says, "Jesus condemned
00:50:32.76\00:50:33.76
all guile,
00:50:33.86\00:50:34.93
all underhanded work of policy
00:50:35.00\00:50:36.40
for supremacy,
00:50:36.50\00:50:37.37
and every unholy practice."
00:50:37.47\00:50:39.27
In other words, he condemned,
00:50:39.37\00:50:40.67
publicly, national immorality.
00:50:40.77\00:50:43.54
Now hear it and hear it
00:50:46.84\00:50:47.38
well, please.
00:50:47.48\00:50:48.84
Christians are not --
00:50:48.94\00:50:50.51
I repeat, are not -- to seek
00:50:50.61\00:50:53.35
out public controversy.
00:50:53.45\00:50:56.25
We're not to go agitating
00:50:56.35\00:50:57.39
for this thing willy-nilly.
00:50:57.49\00:50:59.79
But when the time comes
00:50:59.89\00:51:01.52
that we cannot do otherwise,
00:51:01.62\00:51:02.72
when, in the future,
00:51:02.82\00:51:03.76
we are called to publicly
00:51:03.86\00:51:05.06
account for our faith
00:51:05.16\00:51:07.10
and the resulting Word of God
00:51:07.20\00:51:09.03
from our lips runs counter
00:51:09.13\00:51:10.73
to the nationalistic arrogance
00:51:10.83\00:51:12.20
and the immorality running
00:51:12.30\00:51:13.44
rampant in the land,
00:51:13.54\00:51:14.77
we should not be surprised
00:51:14.87\00:51:16.57
when the kind of persecution
00:51:16.67\00:51:18.11
Christ experienced
00:51:18.21\00:51:19.17
comes home to us.
00:51:19.27\00:51:23.51
This is a call for faithfulness.
00:51:23.61\00:51:26.55
What an honor it will be
00:51:26.65\00:51:28.72
to stand for Jesus on that day.
00:51:28.82\00:51:32.02
May the Lord Himself
00:51:32.12\00:51:33.05
prepare us for that day by
00:51:33.15\00:51:35.89
helping us to be faithful now.
00:51:35.99\00:51:39.73
And lastly, lesson number four
00:51:39.83\00:51:43.33
from the Pharisees
00:51:43.43\00:51:44.47
and the Sadducees.
00:51:44.57\00:51:47.57
If the level of fear
00:51:47.67\00:51:49.84
is sufficiently high,
00:51:49.94\00:51:53.14
any person, any group,
00:51:53.24\00:51:55.94
any politician,
00:51:56.04\00:51:57.45
and any political party
00:51:57.55\00:51:59.15
that is not grounded
00:51:59.25\00:52:00.82
in a proper view
00:52:00.92\00:52:01.82
of religious liberty
00:52:01.92\00:52:03.05
will put aside their differences
00:52:03.15\00:52:04.75
and join forces
00:52:04.85\00:52:06.02
with whomever promises
00:52:06.12\00:52:07.39
to solve the crisis.
00:52:07.49\00:52:08.96
Thus, do not follow
00:52:09.06\00:52:10.56
people or parties.
00:52:10.66\00:52:11.86
Follow Jesus and His Word.
00:52:11.96\00:52:14.83
This really is the bottom line,
00:52:14.93\00:52:15.80
isn't it?
00:52:15.90\00:52:18.03
If you're wondering
00:52:18.13\00:52:18.93
which path today
00:52:19.03\00:52:20.10
represents the greatest threat
00:52:20.20\00:52:21.37
to religious liberty,
00:52:21.47\00:52:22.27
the Pharisee path
00:52:22.37\00:52:23.27
or the Sadducees path,
00:52:23.37\00:52:24.24
the answer
00:52:24.34\00:52:25.21
most certainly is "yes."
00:52:25.31\00:52:27.81
And thus comes
00:52:33.18\00:52:34.18
my brother's frustration.
00:52:34.28\00:52:36.32
You know, after Part 1,
00:52:38.55\00:52:39.35
a number of people asked me,
00:52:39.45\00:52:40.42
you know, kind of
00:52:40.52\00:52:41.59
hoping for that secret gem,
00:52:41.69\00:52:42.52
"So, Pastor Shane,
00:52:42.62\00:52:43.76
who are you going to vote for?"
00:52:43.86\00:52:45.13
My answer is, that's none
00:52:48.06\00:52:49.10
of your business, right?
00:52:49.20\00:52:52.53
And who you're going to vote for
00:52:52.63\00:52:53.57
is not my business either.
00:52:53.67\00:52:54.84
Okay? Right?
00:52:54.94\00:52:56.94
My job is to present
00:52:57.04\00:52:58.17
the principles that I find
00:52:58.27\00:52:59.44
in Scripture, that I find in
00:52:59.54\00:53:01.24
the spirit of prophecy.
00:53:01.34\00:53:03.45
I understand the frustration.
00:53:03.55\00:53:04.81
This is not the first
00:53:04.91\00:53:05.75
election -- We'll see if it's
00:53:05.85\00:53:07.42
the last --
00:53:07.52\00:53:09.35
where this type of frustration
00:53:09.45\00:53:11.15
abounds amongst God's people,
00:53:11.25\00:53:12.92
honest people, sometimes coming
00:53:13.02\00:53:15.16
to different conclusions as to
00:53:15.26\00:53:16.22
how the vote ought to be cast.
00:53:16.32\00:53:18.73
Brothers and sisters,
00:53:18.83\00:53:20.10
the bottom line is that
00:53:20.20\00:53:21.56
we are called to be watchful.
00:53:21.66\00:53:23.50
We are called not just
00:53:23.60\00:53:24.83
to sit back and flip a coin
00:53:24.93\00:53:26.13
and to just, you know, hope
00:53:26.23\00:53:27.57
something works out,
00:53:27.67\00:53:29.00
but instead to take
00:53:29.10\00:53:30.07
the principles
00:53:30.17\00:53:30.97
that we have seen here,
00:53:31.07\00:53:31.97
even in this brief little
00:53:32.07\00:53:32.81
series, and apply them
00:53:32.91\00:53:35.08
to the best of our ability.
00:53:35.18\00:53:38.38
Jesus is not looking for a soft
00:53:38.48\00:53:41.45
people at the end of time.
00:53:41.55\00:53:43.72
Jesus is not looking
00:53:43.82\00:53:45.39
for people that get sucked
00:53:45.49\00:53:46.72
up into political controversies
00:53:46.82\00:53:48.72
that really have
00:53:48.82\00:53:49.36
no ultimate bearing
00:53:49.46\00:53:50.23
on the Kingdom of God.
00:53:50.33\00:53:52.39
He is instead looking for people
00:53:52.49\00:53:54.00
that are filled with the spirit,
00:53:54.10\00:53:56.03
that are prayerful people,
00:53:56.13\00:53:57.80
that seek to be as wise
00:53:57.90\00:53:59.17
as they can possibly be,
00:53:59.27\00:54:01.10
and then, in faith,
00:54:01.20\00:54:02.44
cast their vote
00:54:02.54\00:54:03.97
and leverage their influence
00:54:04.07\00:54:05.67
to the best of their ability,
00:54:05.77\00:54:07.34
knowing that there may
00:54:07.44\00:54:08.34
not be, at this stage
00:54:08.44\00:54:09.61
in the game, perfect answers.
00:54:09.71\00:54:12.61
You may remember one
00:54:12.71\00:54:13.58
of the principles in Part 1 --
00:54:13.68\00:54:15.68
when there's not
00:54:15.78\00:54:16.48
an ideal candidate
00:54:16.58\00:54:17.79
or an ideal choice in an issue,
00:54:17.89\00:54:19.95
make the choice
00:54:20.06\00:54:21.46
that will lead to the end
00:54:21.56\00:54:22.49
of time
00:54:22.59\00:54:23.53
at the slowest possible rate.
00:54:23.63\00:54:28.46
And one last thing.
00:54:28.56\00:54:32.10
The question has come up
00:54:32.20\00:54:32.93
repeatedly, and
00:54:33.03\00:54:33.87
not just during this series.
00:54:33.97\00:54:35.27
It's a question
00:54:35.37\00:54:35.90
that gets asked a lot.
00:54:36.00\00:54:37.87
"Pastor Shane, why don't
00:54:37.97\00:54:40.71
we just vote for the mark?"
00:54:40.81\00:54:44.28
You know the question, right?
00:54:47.12\00:54:48.82
"Why don't we just vote
00:54:48.92\00:54:49.78
to get this over with?
00:54:49.88\00:54:51.82
Instead of picking the candidate
00:54:51.92\00:54:52.89
that will honor religious
00:54:52.99\00:54:53.56
liberty the most,
00:54:53.66\00:54:54.16
let's pick the one
00:54:54.26\00:54:54.92
that we think won't," right?
00:54:55.02\00:54:56.16
And we'll
00:54:56.26\00:54:56.93
just hurry this thing up.
00:54:57.03\00:54:57.83
We'll get off the planet.
00:54:57.93\00:54:58.53
We'll all be done.
00:54:58.63\00:54:59.33
Everything will be finished
00:54:59.43\00:54:59.76
then."
00:54:59.86\00:55:02.00
Here's -- I understand
00:55:02.10\00:55:03.43
it's a natural tendency, right?
00:55:03.53\00:55:04.47
We don't like pain.
00:55:04.57\00:55:05.63
Let's get it over with.
00:55:05.73\00:55:06.27
That kind of thing.
00:55:06.37\00:55:06.80
I understand.
00:55:06.90\00:55:07.74
But here's why
00:55:07.84\00:55:08.54
we must not do that.
00:55:08.64\00:55:11.57
Here's why we must not do that.
00:55:11.67\00:55:13.58
Number one...
00:55:13.68\00:55:16.91
the end of time
00:55:17.01\00:55:18.01
will be worse than you think.
00:55:18.11\00:55:21.02
Not a soul alive during
00:55:21.12\00:55:23.22
the very end of time
00:55:23.32\00:55:24.69
will say, "Boy, I sure wish we'd
00:55:24.79\00:55:26.59
made this happen faster."
00:55:26.69\00:55:28.12
Not a soul.
00:55:28.22\00:55:29.39
Ellen White says clearly,
00:55:29.49\00:55:31.29
many people think that --
00:55:31.39\00:55:32.56
many people experience that
00:55:32.66\00:55:33.93
the anticipation of difficulties
00:55:34.00\00:55:35.83
and the anticipation
00:55:35.93\00:55:37.03
ends up being worse
00:55:37.13\00:55:38.03
than the actual difficulty
00:55:38.13\00:55:38.80
itself.
00:55:38.90\00:55:40.04
She says that's not the case
00:55:40.14\00:55:41.24
with the very end of time.
00:55:41.34\00:55:42.34
The time of trouble
00:55:42.44\00:55:43.27
will not be that way.
00:55:43.37\00:55:44.21
You don't
00:55:44.31\00:55:45.47
want to speed this one up.
00:55:45.57\00:55:49.48
And secondly
00:55:49.58\00:55:50.75
and more importantly,
00:55:50.85\00:55:52.85
there are people that I love
00:55:52.95\00:55:54.72
and that you love and people
00:55:54.82\00:55:56.52
that we don't even know that
00:55:56.62\00:55:58.49
still need to hear about Jesus.
00:55:58.59\00:56:02.12
And the only way
00:56:02.22\00:56:03.79
that's going to happen is
00:56:03.89\00:56:04.93
if we have sufficient
00:56:05.03\00:56:06.16
religious liberty to do it.
00:56:06.26\00:56:09.06
And so that is why we do
00:56:09.16\00:56:11.03
not just vote to end things.
00:56:11.13\00:56:12.30
We vote for Jesus
00:56:12.40\00:56:13.67
as best we understand.
00:56:13.77\00:56:15.57
So let us be wise as we can.
00:56:15.67\00:56:18.04
Let us be filled
00:56:18.14\00:56:19.07
with the Holy Spirit,
00:56:19.17\00:56:20.41
that we might do our best
00:56:20.51\00:56:22.81
to avoid unintended consequences
00:56:22.91\00:56:27.08
and keep the door open as long
00:56:27.18\00:56:28.58
as possible
00:56:28.68\00:56:29.42
for religious liberty and
00:56:29.52\00:56:30.92
the proclamation of the Gospel.
00:56:31.02\00:56:33.59
May God help us to be faithful.
00:56:33.69\00:56:35.32
Amen.
00:56:35.42\00:56:36.49
[ Applause ]
00:56:36.59\00:56:38.13
Thank you for joining us today.
00:56:47.84\00:56:49.37
You know,
00:56:49.47\00:56:50.31
our goal with every worship
00:56:50.41\00:56:51.81
service at Pioneer Memorial
00:56:51.91\00:56:53.44
is that our listeners will come
00:56:53.54\00:56:54.78
to know Jesus Christ as their
00:56:54.88\00:56:56.14
personal friend and savior.
00:56:56.24\00:56:58.08
Have you taken this step
00:56:58.18\00:56:59.11
in your life,
00:56:59.21\00:57:00.35
or would you like to know more
00:57:00.45\00:57:01.58
about what this step looks like?
00:57:01.68\00:57:03.49
If so, I have a special gift
00:57:03.59\00:57:05.39
that I would love
00:57:05.49\00:57:06.25
to put in your hands.
00:57:06.35\00:57:07.46
It's this little book
00:57:07.56\00:57:08.79
called "Steps to Christ."
00:57:08.89\00:57:10.99
Now, it's not a very long book.
00:57:11.09\00:57:12.63
As you can see,
00:57:12.73\00:57:13.36
it's only this thick.
00:57:13.46\00:57:15.23
But don't let the size fool you.
00:57:15.33\00:57:17.13
This is one powerful book.
00:57:17.23\00:57:19.00
In fact,
00:57:19.10\00:57:20.00
this book is so powerful,
00:57:20.10\00:57:21.24
so life-transforming
00:57:21.34\00:57:22.77
that it's become a favorite
00:57:22.87\00:57:24.01
for millions all over the world,
00:57:24.11\00:57:25.61
making it one of the most
00:57:25.71\00:57:26.61
translated and most published
00:57:26.71\00:57:27.81
books in history.
00:57:27.91\00:57:29.21
It can be yours for free
00:57:29.31\00:57:31.35
by calling the number on your
00:57:31.45\00:57:32.25
screen, 877-HIS-WILL.
00:57:32.35\00:57:34.98
That's 877, the two words
00:57:35.08\00:57:36.79
"his will."
00:57:36.89\00:57:38.15
Call today.
00:57:38.25\00:57:39.42
You can also download
00:57:39.52\00:57:40.49
a free copy at
00:57:40.59\00:57:41.76
pmchurch.org/stepstochrist.
00:57:41.86\00:57:43.96
That's
00:57:44.06\00:57:45.23
pmchurch.org/stepstochrist.
00:57:45.33\00:57:48.03
Don't wait.
00:57:48.13\00:57:49.06
Get your copy today.
00:57:49.16\00:57:50.70
a forever friendship with Jesus
00:57:50.80\00:57:52.40
is waiting for you.
00:57:52.50\00:57:53.97
¤
00:57:59.01\00:58:08.65
¤
00:58:08.75\00:58:18.36
¤
00:58:18.46\00:58:27.77