Participants: David Asscherick, James Rafferty, Jeffrey Rosario, Ty Gibson
Series Code: TT
Program Code: TT000018
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00:01 [Music]
00:11 [Music] 00:20 --As the conversation is progressing, we've covered a lot 00:23 of ground. 00:24 And the thing that I'm loving so far about the way that the 00:28 conversation is going because these aren't scripted, 00:30 obviously, and for the people that are listening in, you know, 00:32 we kind of have a general direction that we're going, but 00:35 the thing just kinda takes on a life of its own, and I've been 00:37 thrilled. 00:39 We've been through, this is our fifth conversation now, is that 00:41 right? 00:43 What I'm loving about the way that this is developing is, is 00:45 that it's coming off very relationally significant, very 00:49 relationally in tuned, which is not something that's being 00:52 imposed on the text, it's the way the text itself presents 00:55 both the sin problem and the salvation solution. 00:58 We so often make it just like a legal arrangement. 01:01 There's a problem, here's the solution, you know, cross all 01:03 your t's, dot all your i's and it's game over. 01:05 But at the center of this, there are people, and God is himself a 01:09 person and there's relational connectivity, so sin is distrust 01:11 and love is relational trust and love and connection. 01:16 We're gonna continue that same conversation and that last 01:19 conversation we were talking about the woundedness of the 01:22 human experiences, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, 01:24 etcetera, and here, we're gonna flesh that out even more, 01:27 transitioning eventually to the New Testament, but we wanna 01:31 really get our fingers wrapped around the idea of the 01:33 universality of the sin problem, that it's not just an individual 01:40 thing, it's not just an isolated thing, it's universal, and the 01:43 bible paints a very unflattering picture of humanity, which I 01:47 think is one of the reasons that many people are a little stand 01:49 offish with Christianity, and yet, human history has confirmed 01:53 that the bible's diagnosis, God's diagnosis is accurate. 01:57 So, let's get into some of those texts, both old and especially 02:02 New Testament texts that speak to this issue. 02:05 --The first one that comes to mind is Romans 3, Romans 3 is a 02:09 New Testament passage that specifically defines what the 02:16 sin problem looks like in human relations, and again, following 02:22 through with the trajectory that we clearly see in the scripture 02:27 of this highly relational language, what Paul defines here 02:33 as the sin problem, again, shows us that we're not dealing with 02:37 sin in the abstract. 02:39 We're dealing with sin as something that impacts our 02:44 concrete relationships with God and with one another. 02:46 In Romans chapter 3, he's describing the problem, and he 02:52 says in verse 10, as it is written, there is none 02:55 righteous, no, not one. 02:57 Verse 11, there is none that understands, which, by the way, 03:01 doesn't that get back to what we were saying earlier, that when 03:06 we look at the sin problem in Genesis 3, it begins on the 03:09 level of mental distortion regarding the character of God. 03:13 So, there is none who even understand. 03:17 And then, there is none that seeks after God, which indicates 03:22 that if there is to be a relationship between God and 03:25 man, it would have to be God who is taking the initiative. 03:29 --Let me just throw in, I love that, that also takes us back to 03:31 Genesis because rather than the posture of seeking God, man, 03:35 Adam and Eve, after the fall, are fleeing from God and God is 03:39 seeking them. 03:41 --And actually, the word is used in Genesis 3, that they hid 03:42 themselves from the Lord. 03:45 And when the Lord called them, wooed them, beckoned them out of 03:48 hiding, the first thing they said was, we hid because we were 03:50 afraid. 03:51 So, there's fear, there's phobia in the relationship between God 03:56 and humanity now because God is perceived in a false light. 04:00 They would've never been afraid of God if they had maintained an 04:03 accurate perception of his trustworthy character. 04:07 --Let me just take that a step further, if you read the whole 04:10 context of Genesis 3, when God comes into the garden, it's to 04:14 announce that a way of escape has been made from the 04:18 disconnect that they're now experiencing. 04:21 God comes into the garden to announce that the head of the 04:24 serpent will eventually be crushed, and that their way of 04:28 escape will be made, a deliverer will come. 04:29 So, here, God's coming in to sort of announce the good news, 04:33 right? 04:35 Also, to evaluate the problem, no question there, because the 04:37 good news is only as good as the bad news is bad, so he's gotta 04:39 first cover that ground, but he's coming in to tell them the 04:41 good news, and they're fleeing. 04:43 So, he's not just coming in for some general sense, he's coming 04:46 in to say, hey, this is gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay for you 04:49 because I'm gonna take it upon myself, but here, again, they're 04:51 fleeing because of a distortion. 04:53 --Right, and they're guilty, David, but check this out, not 04:56 only does God come to the garden, he's not stomping and 04:59 snorting, and you know, flames aren't coming out of his mouth. 05:04 God comes into the garden, and when they stand before him, 05:07 finally, with their trembling fear, they said, we hid because 05:09 we were naked. 05:11 And he said, who told you you were naked? 05:13 That's a very interesting question. 05:14 --That's a great question. 05:15 --You normally know when you are naked. 05:16 --Who told you you were naked? 05:18 The implication is, I didn't. 05:21 I'm not heaping guilt upon you. 05:24 I'm not the source of this new way you feel about yourself and 05:26 this new way you feel about me. 05:29 I didn't create this, it's not imposed. 05:31 The guilt isn't imposed externally, it's realized 05:35 internally and then it affects the way you see and relate to 05:37 God. 05:39 --But they've projected it. 05:40 --They've projected it. 05:41 --I have a question here, in verse 12, it'll say, they have 05:43 all turned aside, they have become together unprofitable. 05:48 There is none who does good, no, not one. 05:52 So, I guess the question is, like, really? 05:57 There's none. 05:59 How literal is this language, I'm just asking the question. 06:05 What about all the people who, there is none who do good, no, 06:08 not one. 06:09 What is he really saying? 06:11 There's nobody on earth that does good? 06:15 Isn't there people who do good things? 06:17 What is he really saying? 06:18 --I really like this question, two ways, and I'm not gonna 06:20 answer yours directly but I'm gonna answer it indirectly, and 06:22 that is this, in Romans 3, Paul is actually quoting from the Old 06:25 Testament, and what's really interesting about his 06:27 application in Romans 3, is that in the Old Testament, the 06:31 context of the application in Psalms 14, the fool has said in 06:37 his heart, there is no God. 06:39 They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none 06:43 good, they have gone aside, verse 3, they have become 06:46 filthy, there is none that does good, no, not one. 06:49 The context is the fool. 06:50 The person that says, there is no God. 06:53 Paul takes that, that context, that applies to unbelievers, and 06:57 he applies it, not just to the gentiles, he applies it across 07:01 the board, he applies it universally to everyone. 07:06 --We know that in the text, James, because in verse 9, it 07:08 says, all are under sin. 07:09 --Jews and Greeks. 07:11 --Yes, that's the whole context of Romans chapter one, Romans 07:13 chapter two, Romans chapter three. 07:15 --So, he's saying, he's speaking at a very fundamental level, 07:18 deeper than just the visual, because if he says there is none 07:21 who does good, no, not even one, well, somebody might say, what 07:27 are you talking about? 07:28 --That's patently untrue. 07:29 --Yeah, there's all kinds of people who do good in this 07:32 world. 07:33 What do you mean there's none who does good? 07:35 Maybe his idea of good is deeper and more profound than what is 07:42 commonly thought of as good. 07:45 Like, what does he mean by good? 07:46 --I think you're asking a question that has, there is a 07:50 deeper sort of subterranean level to the question that 07:53 you're asking that is just replete with theological 07:56 significance. 07:57 It's hugely significant. 07:59 Because, just part of the answer, and we might just 08:01 actually finish the verse, but part of the answer, I think, 08:04 lies in the fact that apart from the vivifying saving power of 08:11 God in Christ, no one would even be alive. 08:15 Right, no one would even be breathing if God hadn't stepped 08:17 into that space, into that gap between the wages of sin, or 08:23 relational brokenness, relational disconnection from 08:26 God results in death. 08:28 God didn't say, and the day that you eat of the tree, I'll kill 08:29 you. 08:31 He said, on the day that you eat of the tree, you will die. 08:32 Well, they didn't die. 08:34 Well, what happened? 08:35 God said, I'll step into that space. 08:36 He makes them, you know, we've been over this ground, the 08:38 clothes of skins and that there will be a woundedness where he 08:43 will be bruised and then we even talked about Isaac and all of 08:46 that. 08:48 So, we're getting there, but the point is that, in some 08:49 significant sense, God has done something that has given 08:53 humanity a second chance, right? 08:55 Now, not only that, not only the breath that we have and the 08:58 blood that flows through our hearts is a direct result of 09:03 God's grace, his attitude of grace toward the whole human 09:07 race, but now, any good thing that's ever done, right, any 09:12 good thing that's ever done is actually not originated and 09:15 inherent within you, it's something that God has equipped 09:19 and enabled and gifted you to do, even if you don't know it's, 09:23 even if you give God no credit for it. 09:25 So, I think that's at least part of the answer of what Paul is 09:28 saying here. 09:29 Left to yourself. 09:31 --There's nothing. 09:32 --I wanna add to that, add this idea, see what you guys think of 09:35 this, when he says, there's none good, not one, he's talking 09:40 about the human condition in total. 09:44 He's not saying that no human being in their fallen condition 09:49 ever does isolated acts of goodness that emerge from the 09:55 Holy Spirit working and touching and drawing, there are people 09:59 who don't know God on the conscious level but do know 10:04 God's principles because, according to John 1 verse 9 10:08 Jesus is the true light who lightens every person who comes 10:11 into the world. 10:13 So, Jesus is continually cultivating, the Holy Spirit is 10:15 continually working in people's hearts before their believers, 10:19 James told us in our last session that as an unbeliever 10:25 who's not walking in a conscious deliberate relationship with the 10:29 Lord, he sees somebody in a predicament, the car driving up 10:33 the hill and it's sliding and they need help, and there's two 10:37 things going on. 10:38 There's the depravity and the wickedness of the human heart 10:41 that just wants to laugh and make fun of it, and then there's 10:44 the impulse to intervene and do good, so there's a controversy 10:48 going on in human nature. 10:50 I think Paul is not saying, no human being in the fallen 10:53 condition ever does anything right or good, I think Paul is 10:57 saying that no human being does right or good consistently 11:02 perfectly that there's a fallenness that undergirds the 11:05 human condition and even if we do good things, those good 11:11 things that we do are the result of the workings of God on our 11:16 heart and God is evangelizing us, so to speak, in prompting us 11:21 toward goodness. 11:23 --Can I read a text in Isaiah, I think it goes perfectly with 11:27 everything you just said in your assessment of. 11:29 --We'll keep our finger in Romans 3, yeah. 11:30 --Keep it in Romans 3, but in Isaiah 64, and we've been 11:34 thinking about this, in verse 6, it says, we are all like an 11:38 uncleaned thing. 11:40 All our righteousness 11:42 All our righteousness's are like filthy rags. 11:48 --Menstrual cloths, literally in the Hebrew. 11:52 --And if all our righteousness is as filthy rags, what about, 11:56 what about whenever we mess up? 11:58 I mean, like, so the best we can produce is as filthy rags. 12:02 So, it sounds like, it sounds like, going back to the Romans 3 12:07 concept that he's talking about things that we can of ourselves, 12:13 like, our own version of the best that we can do amounts to 12:17 the moral value of filthy rags, but that doesn't mean that we 12:21 cannot, at some point, like you said, isolated acts, where we do 12:25 things, we have impulses like you had, where we're just 12:28 reflecting goodness that comes from God and it doesn't come 12:33 from us. 12:34 --I think in chapter 3 of Romans, that it might be helpful 12:36 also to just skip and, but what we wanna go back to these 12:38 verses, but look at verse 23, where Paul seems to make a 12:42 summarizing statement about what the sin problem entails. 12:45 He says, for all have sinned, there's the universal nature of 12:48 the sin problem, and fall short of the glory of God. 12:52 So, when he says, there's none righteous, not one, he's talking 12:56 about the general condition of the human being. 12:59 --There is none that does not fall short of the glory of God. 13:02 --Yeah, all fall short of God's glory. 13:04 All fall short of the character of God, the word glory there 13:07 prompts the idea of character, all of us are out of harmony 13:14 with the character of God, which is other-centered love, we're 13:18 out of harmony with that. 13:20 That doesn't mean there aren't points of light, and even those 13:23 points of light in our experiences where God is trying 13:25 to work his way into our experience, but in a pervasive, 13:31 consistent sense, we do this right, but we do a thousand 13:35 things wrong. 13:37 And even the good things that we do are often prompted by bad 13:40 motives. 13:41 --And Paul is so intentional here, have you noticed that? 13:43 He's intentional, he's lifting out of a context, a certain 13:48 context that David is writing, he's lifting out of that context 13:50 and he's broadening the context. 13:53 For example, I remember before I got married, I was dating my 13:56 wife and I was living by myself. 14:00 And I had a little trailer that I lived in, and I had everything 14:03 just so. 14:05 --Yeah, I remember you had everything just so. 14:08 --Just so, yeah. 14:09 The toilet paper was on just so, the toothpaste was squeezed just 14:12 so, my clothes were put just so and my kitchen was arranged just 14:16 so, and everything was just so, including the flower boxes, 14:20 everything was just perfect. 14:21 It was perfect. 14:22 --Flower boxes outside a trailer? 14:23 --I was ready for translation. 14:26 Literally. 14:27 --In your imagination. 14:28 --Yeah, in my self-evaluation. 14:30 And then I got married and at first, I noticed a lot of 14:33 imperfections in her, but then I realized, wait a minute, wait a 14:38 minute, there are some things in my own character that have 14:41 escaped my notice up until this point. 14:44 I think that's what Paul is saying right here. 14:46 He's saying, you know, we used to think that it was the people 14:49 that were ungodly that were bankrupt. 14:53 The people that were ungodly, the people that didn't believe 14:54 in God, we used to think that they were the ones who were not 14:58 seeking after God, but really, the reality is is that all of 15:02 us, all of us are equally in the same place. 15:06 And there's only one remedy. 15:08 --I love that emphasis there because it's so contextual with 15:11 Romans 1 and 2, because Paul has actually even gone. 15:15 He's gone even further than what would've been socially wise in 15:20 his day, and he says, you know, there is gentiles who don't even 15:22 have access to the written law, and they're doing the things 15:25 that are in their hearts, and we who do have access, that's why 15:28 the condemnation is greater for those who know better, and he's 15:32 like, we know better. 15:34 There was a point I wanted to make earlier, Ty, that you said, 15:37 even our good deeds grow out of a kind of brokenness we have, 15:41 well, that's right in the text of Isaiah 64, because he says, 15:44 we are an unclean thing, and, I'll insert some words here, on 15:50 the basis of that, all of our good deeds are broken. 15:55 We are an unclean thing and, as an inevitable result of that, 16:00 the stuff that we do is broken. 16:02 If you have an unclean thing, it can't produce a clean thing. 16:06 --There is a theological perspective that basically says 16:09 that sin is not a condition, or it's not grounded in a 16:13 condition, which I've never seen in that text, the way you're 16:16 quoting that, we are therefore we do. 16:19 --We are all like an unclean thing and therefore, this is the 16:22 stuff we do. 16:24 --Yeah, and some would say it's a pretty popular theological 16:27 perspective, that is that sin is just wrong behavior past the age 16:33 of accountability. 16:34 But this text is saying, no, we are something. 16:38 There's something intrinsic to our nature, we are morally 16:42 bankrupt at a fundamental, essential level. 16:46 --Your conduct is just following your character. 16:48 Your character's messed up, therefore your conduct follows 16:51 suit. 16:53 --And maybe even your nature. 16:55 --I absolutely love this text in Luke 11 for this reason, this is 17:02 something that Jesus says almost offhandedly, and you know the 17:05 things that we say offhandedly, in other words, without 17:08 intention, are the things that we absolutely take for granted. 17:11 It's just part of our world. 17:14 And we do this all the time, just in communication. 17:16 Now, look at this, Jesus says in Luke 11:13, he's telling a 17:19 story. 17:20 He says, if you then, comma, being evil, comma, know how to 17:24 give good gifts to your children, how much more will 17:26 your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to he who asks him, 17:28 to those who ask him. 17:30 He's not making a point about the depravity of humanity, 17:32 that's something that is assumed, so he's basically 17:36 telling a story, hey, you ask for good stuff, you got it. 17:40 So I just love the fact that Jesus, it's just so easily, 17:44 offhandedly said that you know that this is a part of his basic 17:48 view of humanity. 17:49 He's read the Old Testament, he knows the covenant has been 17:51 broken over and over and over and over again, because covenant 17:53 is broken in our heart, and so he just says, if you, you know, 17:56 being evil. 17:57 --As we all know. 17:59 He says the same thing in Marks 7, he says, from within, out of 18:01 the heart of man, Mark 7:21, come evil thoughts, adulteries, 18:06 fornications, murders, deaths, it comes from the heart. 18:10 --See, if sin is not just something that we do, but it 18:14 becomes something that we are, if there's a broken, the medical 18:18 analogy, going back to Isaiah 1, in our last conversation, was 18:21 not just hey, you've got some stuff on you, let me get it off. 18:26 You are wounded. 18:28 --The sinful man that I am. 18:29 --That I am, there is something wrong with us that produces 18:32 wrong actions. 18:34 --Those were side effects, that other stuff is just side effects 18:37 of your condition. 18:39 --Yeah, that's a good way to say it. 18:41 We have to take a break, but this is a pretty exciting, 18:43 although dark, conversation. 18:45 We're talking about the sin problem, but boy, it sure is 18:48 vital that we understand what the sin problem is. 18:52 We have to be, we have to be accurately diagnosed in order to 18:57 know where we're looking for the remedy. 19:00 --That's good, accurately diagnosed. 19:01 --What I say is, if we take a shallow view of the sin problem, 19:05 we'll take a shallow view of the sin solution. 19:08 But if we take a biblical view, it's the spilled milk, if we 19:11 take a biblical view of the sin problem, now we, this is 19:14 relational and psychological, it's emotional, is it 19:16 behavioral? 19:18 Of course it is. 19:19 It's behavioral because it's all of this other stuff. 19:21 --Yeah, great. 19:23 Okay, we'll come back in just a minute and keep moving through 19:25 this. 19:26 --Sounds good. 19:28 [Music] 19:35 --Hi, I'm Ty Gibson, welcome to digma.com. 19:38 I am so excited about this website because you're about to 19:41 discover a powerful new way to share life transforming messages 19:45 and videos with your family, friends, and anybody else on the 19:49 planet who has access to a computer. 19:52 Digma is a Greek word. 19:54 It basically means, to show or to reveal something by means of 19:58 a pattern or an example of some kind. 20:01 It's the second half of the word, paradigma, from which we 20:04 get the English word, paradigm, as in paradigm shift. 20:09 And so, what you're going to find at digma.com is a growing 20:12 library of short videos and transcripts dealing with 20:15 paradigms and fundamental questions. 20:18 What's the meaning of life? 20:21 What is our origin and destiny as human beings? 20:25 What happens when we die? 20:27 Does God exist or are we alone in this vast universe? 20:31 Why is there so much evil and suffering in our world? 20:35 An estimated 70% of Americans have a computer right in their 20:39 home and stay in touch with their family and friends by 20:43 email, and more than 400 million people are active on Facebook, 20:49 and 5 million new users are signing up every week. 20:54 We are literally in the midst of a communications revolution of 20:58 massive proportion. 21:01 This is granting the gospel direct and easy access to 21:05 millions upon millions of homes and hearts, 21:10 and that's what digma.com is all about. 21:13 It's a tool for leading our family and friends on an 21:16 exciting paradigm shift by revealing the truth of God's 21:21 creating power and his incredibly beautiful character 21:25 in contrast to our world's popular misconceptions about 21:30 who God is. 21:33 [Music] 21:44 --We're talking about the sin problem and we're seeing here, 21:48 in scripture, that this thing runs deep in human nature. 21:51 I wanna just ask a, probably uncomfortable, but blunt 21:56 question, do you think that you are capable of something like 22:03 murder. 22:05 --I don't think, I know, of course. 22:06 --You know. 22:07 --Of course. 22:09 --Something about the sin problem, I've noticed in 22:11 scripture, see what you guys think about this, all the way 22:14 back in Ezekiel 28, describing the fall of Lucifer, when the 22:19 sin problem begins, the origin of evil and sin, in Ezekiel 28 22:24 verse 16, God makes an observation and says that you 22:30 are filled with violence. 22:33 So, the word violence is used, okay, you got that? 22:35 The word violence is used to describe Lucifer, this is 22:39 something that God discerns in him before any violent acts are 22:42 committed. 22:45 In other words, God sees in his deception, his lies, and his 22:49 self-centeredness, that the logical outcome and trajectory 22:54 of self-centeredness is to value yourself above others in the 22:59 ultimate sense of being willing to be violent toward them, okay? 23:05 Then, fast forward to the New Testament, to John 8:44, where 23:11 the religious leaders are conspiring to crucify Jesus, to 23:16 take his life. 23:18 And in verse 44, Jesus makes an observation, that's similar to 23:21 this observation that has been made back in Ezekiel 28 about 23:25 violence. 23:26 He says, in so many words, he says, you're planning to kill me 23:30 because you are of your father, the devil, he's the origin, he's 23:35 the source of these impulses that you're cultivating and 23:39 you're willing to act on. 23:40 He was a murderer from the beginning. 23:44 From the very beginning of the great controversy between good 23:47 and evil, as Lucifer launches his rebellion against God, 23:53 murder and violence were there in the DNA of the sin problem. 24:02 In my own experience, as I mentioned in a previous segment, 24:07 I was just blown away to see, having basically decided that I 24:13 would never do anything violent, I found myself, actually, as a 24:17 teenage kid, in a fight with somebody where I lost control 24:19 and I was being terribly violent. 24:23 I mean, this is amazing what we're capable of, as human 24:25 beings. 24:27 We look at somebody like Hitler and we say, wow, what a monster, 24:31 and yet, we need to realize we're talking about a human 24:33 being who has the same basic, essential, fallen condition that 24:39 we have. 24:41 I mean, it's pretty scary if you think about it. 24:43 --Yeah, and even the good that we seek oftentimes gets just 24:47 tainted with our own selfishness. 24:50 I'm reading this book on the introduction to sociology and 24:55 I'm reading about Karl Marx. 24:57 And how he notices, you know, this just oppressive society, 25:03 and the structure of society and the different classes, and how 25:06 the people in the lower classes are getting, you know, trampled 25:10 upon by the higher class, and so he wants to come up with a 25:14 solution to this, to create a classless society so that he 25:18 can, you know, remove all of this oppression and all of this 25:21 injustice and inequality and everything, and it turns out 25:24 that not too long after that, then you have things like the 25:27 Soviet Union and millions and millions of people being killed 25:31 through oppressive regimes because of this classless 25:35 society system. 25:36 --And it was never classless, it was only classless for the 25:39 non-elite. 25:40 --Right, so I'm reading this and it's interesting because the 25:42 best solutions that man can come up with, it just spins out of 25:47 control, and they're broken in themselves, and they turn out, 25:50 those very solutions turn out to be oppressive and repressive 25:54 themselves and it causes more suffering and more selfishness 25:58 and more oppression. 25:59 --And the answer to that is, the reason is that Marx or any 26:05 governmental system, but in this case, Marxism, does not have a 26:09 solution to the real problem, which is not rearranging the 26:12 pieces on the board, you know, we'll try government this way, 26:15 no, we'll try it this way, the problem is in the person, it's 26:19 a, you know, nucleic, embryonic form in us and the arrangement, 26:24 whether, you know, we can go socialism, we can do capitalism, 26:27 we're gonna do communism, whatever, all economic systems, 26:31 I mean, right now, we are living in the wake of the breakdown of 26:33 capitalism. 26:35 Oppressive capitalism, because capitalism assumes, this is a 26:38 little going around, but it assumes a basic civility and 26:42 responsibility toward the worker, right? 26:46 But when that doesn't happen, when we're not regulated by 26:48 virtue and by biblical principles of love and 26:51 other-centeredness, it just becomes all about the bottom 26:54 line, and whether you're dealing with a democracy or capitalism 26:59 or communism or whatever it is, there is a brokenness in the 27:02 people that make up those governmental systems that no 27:04 governmental arrangement can fix. 27:07 --And that's what makes Jesus so revolutionary, because he spoke 27:11 to the real problem. 27:13 He addressed the real issue, as we read, actually, we ended last 27:17 segment with Mark 7, from within, out of the heart of man, 27:22 come. 27:24 --I wanna add to that, I don't think, I wanna be very clear for 27:27 myself, I don't think that means that all governmental systems 27:29 are equally valid or good, I think there are better ways to 27:34 do government. 27:35 However, none of them will solve the human predicament. 27:39 None of them. 27:41 Something, when you were saying there, Ty, about the violence, 27:43 you know, I love that in Ezekiel 28, and I remember the first 27:45 time I saw that. 27:46 I was like, wait a minute, there's no violence yet. 27:48 But God anticipates violence, and here's why, because sin is 27:53 ultimately about self-preservation, and 27:55 self-exaltation, all sin, even if it's not murder, is murderous 28:00 in its intent. 28:02 --That's right. 28:03 --Because, at the end of the day, if it comes down to you or 28:05 me, it's gonna be me. 28:07 This is what we see with Cain and Abel. 28:08 If it comes down to you and me, it's gonna be me, and if I have 28:11 to leverage my strength and my power to rid you of life so that 28:16 I'm the last guy standing. 28:18 --So be it. 28:19 --So be it. 28:20 Maybe I just told a lie, maybe the sin wasn't itself murder, 28:22 but all sin has murderous intent. 28:25 This is why Jesus could say, oh, you're angry with your brother? 28:29 --You're a murderer. 28:30 --You've murdered in your heart. 28:32 Because the continuum of anger, sin, whatever, it's the same 28:36 continuum, but it's murder down here. 28:39 These are not two different things, they are the same thing. 28:40 --Back in Romans 3, exactly what you're saying is there, that 28:43 connects with Ezekiel 28 and John chapter 8. 28:47 This is interesting, it says, we only read, I think, to verse 12. 28:53 --Through verse 12, yeah. 28:54 --But then look at this in 13 and onward, it says that the 28:57 throat is an open tomb, with their tongues, they have 29:01 practiced deceit. 29:03 The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full 29:08 of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood. 29:14 --There's the violence. 29:15 --Destruction, notice this language, destruction and misery 29:20 are in all their ways. 29:23 --There you go. 29:24 --And the way of peace they have not known. 29:26 Again, going back to my teenage years where a lot of this stuff 29:29 was just beginning to come to the surface and I was realizing 29:33 these things. 29:34 I have these friends, we're all just having a good time, we're 29:39 buddies, you know, you just picture what appears to be 29:43 innocence, you know, we're out at the lake waterskiing. 29:47 We're, you know, walk into one guy's house who's a friend of 29:51 mine and he kisses his mom on the cheek, she serves us 29:53 sandwiches. 29:55 Everything looks good. 29:57 Well, then, the next day, these same young men, myself, and my 30:02 friends were taking a bus to the school that I was kicked out of, 30:10 expelled from for the fight that I told you about earlier, and 30:12 we're gonna make it right. 30:14 And how are we gonna make it right? 30:15 We're gonna go to this school, and here's our ridiculous, 30:17 horrible, ugly plan. 30:20 After kissing mothers on cheeks and having sandwiches. 30:23 We're going to go and arrive at this school at lunchtime, we're 30:28 gonna walk on campus, when everybody's out of class, and 30:32 we're going to, in the cafeteria, just start throwing 30:35 punches, and just create a violent riot. 30:39 We don't even make it to the school. 30:41 We get off the bus at the Circle K, we get off the bus at the 30:45 Circle K, destruction and violence are in their ways, we 30:49 get to the Circle K, we're off the bus, this car pulls in and 30:54 rolls his window down, and says to us, as we're walking, get out 30:59 of the way, with some superlatives, and my friend, who 31:04 just kissed his mom and we had sandwiches, grabs him by the 31:07 hair in his car, begins smashing his face on the car. 31:11 I'm freaked out, I'm looking at this, and the guy that this act 31:14 of violence is being performed against responds with violence, 31:16 by immediately pulling a knife and driving it into my friend's 31:19 chest. 31:21 He walks away bleeding as the next one of us approaches this 31:25 guy in response to the violence and he drives a knife into his 31:28 stomach. 31:30 He walks off bleeding and this guy puts the knife to my chest 31:32 and says, back up white boy, and I don't know where this flash of 31:36 intelligence came from, but I backed up, I backed up. 31:40 --A flash of intelligence. 31:41 --I backed up. 31:43 Two of us were stabbed, I backed up, he drove off, I memorized 31:45 his license plate number, he was apprehended, but you see what 31:49 I'm saying. 31:50 Here we are, life is going along, these are just young men. 31:56 Sandwiches and kisses on mom's cheek. 31:57 --Waterskiing and doing the nice thing at the lake one day 31:59 -- Yeah And it all looks, and the next day, there's violence 32:02 and destruction that is emerging out of these hearts, these 32:06 natures that are capable of the most horrible things. 32:10 --Absolutely. 32:11 --One thing missing, though, just wanna add it to the 32:12 conversation, everything that we've been talking about so far 32:17 is going back to the experience that we had, legitimately before 32:21 we knew God. 32:23 But the application that Paul is making in Romans 3 includes 32:26 that, but it goes one step further. 32:28 He actually applies this not just to irreligious people, he 32:32 applies it to people like us, who've known God, loved God, 32:35 walked with God for years. 32:38 He applies it to himself in Philippians chapter 3 for 32:40 example. 32:42 --Go there. 32:43 --Yeah, he applies it to himself, and what's really 32:44 interesting is that in Paul's understanding of the corruptness 32:50 of the human condition, of the depravity of our hearts and of 32:55 the fact that sin is etched with diamonds on the hard, coal, 33:01 callused hearts. 33:02 He describes his righteousness as a religious person, and 33:07 here's how it begins, it's right here in Philippians chapter 3 33:10 and verse 4, he says, though I might also have confidence in 33:16 the flesh, if any other man thinks that he has, where if he 33:19 might trust in the flesh, I more because I was circumcised on the 33:22 eighth day, a Jew was to be circumcised on the eighth day, 33:24 that was the day you were to be circumcised, if it fell on the 33:27 Sabbath or not, that was the day. 33:29 That made you a Jew of the Jew. 33:31 He says, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a 33:33 Hebrew of the Hebrews is touching the law, a Pharisee, 33:37 strict law keeper concerning zeal, I persecuted the church. 33:40 Now, notice this, verse 6, this is the point, this is what I 33:42 really wanted to highlight other than some points going on here 33:46 that we can look at but concerning Zeal, what did he do? 33:50 --Persecuting. 33:51 --He did the very same thing you were talking about, violence. 33:53 --In the name of God. 33:54 --In the name of God. 33:55 And so this is not just a Gentile problem, this is not 33:59 just a problem with the people in the world, with unbelievers, 34:02 this is a problem with humanity in general, and it's even worse 34:05 in religion because we do it in the name of God. 34:09 --Can I read just one chapter before, chapter 2, Philippians 2 34:12 and verse 13, because he's talking to the church at 34:17 Philippi, like you're saying, he's talking to religious 34:20 people, and he says, it's God who works in you, both to will 34:26 and to do of his good pleasure. 34:29 So, I love what you're saying that even in a religious 34:31 context, we can't even muster up the will to do anything. 34:36 So, we require God to give us the will and the actual doing of 34:41 the thing, both to will and to do of his good pleasure, so 34:45 again, this depraved condition, as James said, we're not just 34:50 talking about the, you know, God-haters, 34:53 he's talking to Christians. 34:54 --But he also wants, in that verse, he also wants, in another 34:58 aspect of it, that I think is part of this, he also wants us 35:00 to be willing to work with him. 35:02 In other words, both of us. 35:03 He's not going to force us. 35:05 --He doesn't take away our will, but our will is also sick, like 35:10 we're using. 35:11 --He's not remote controlling us, he wants us to cooperate 35:14 with him, and he wants us to say, yes, yes, and that's the 35:17 whole idea here. 35:18 In other words, Paul here has been on this religious 35:21 persecution deal, he's just been out there tearing the church up 35:24 and Jesus comes to him. 35:25 Jesus appears to him. 35:26 Really, Jesus is the answer to this problem, and as you said 35:29 earlier, David, he assumes that we all recognize, and the reason 35:34 he does that is because, if we're honest with ourselves, 35:39 right now in this moment, not going back 10 years or 20 years 35:42 or 30 years, but if we're honest with ourselves in this 35:45 moment, we know that our hearts are corrupt, that they're 35:48 naturally selfish, that we naturally think of ourselves, 35:53 that we're first, and that we want what's best for us, and 35:56 that we have to cry out from the depths of our being every 35:59 moment. 36:00 God be merciful to me, a sinner, oh wretched man that I am, who 36:04 shall save him from the body of this death. 36:07 There's no good thing in me. 36:09 Lord, take my heart, I can't give it. 36:11 I can't even give it, it's your property. 36:13 --I love what you just said, and because of the language that you 36:19 used, I wanna just make one sort of, not a clarification, I wanna 36:22 add it onto what you've said, we are naturally inclined to evil, 36:28 we are naturally inclined to selfishness, that's true, but 36:30 because of what God has done for us in Christ, whether we 36:33 recognize it or not, even though we are naturally inclined, 36:36 we are not necessarily inclined. 36:40 We can resist, it can be resisted. 36:43 Not by anything that comes from within us. 36:45 Paul himself says, in myself, there's no good thing. 36:46 So, even what's natural for us doesn't have to be necessary. 36:50 Because of, now we're gonna go all the way back to Genesis 3, 36:53 the very thing that God promised, I will put a hatred, 36:57 an enmity between you and this way of thinking, 37:00 this way of doing life. 37:02 It's intrinsic to us, which is why, when the bible starts 37:06 talking about a solution. 37:08 --Supernaturally intrinsic 37:09 --Supernaturally, yeah, exactly, the bible doesn't start talking 37:12 about merely accounting forms and we're gonna just change the, 37:15 it starts saying things like you have to be born again. 37:20 You need a new heart, you need a, you know, this is language of 37:24 recreation, a new person, a new, a holistic solution, not just 37:28 mere bookkeeping. 37:31 --I think what we're saying is that the sin problem is complex, 37:37 not complex in you can't understand it, but it's complex 37:41 in that there are various parts to it. 37:43 There's the foundational stone, if you will, of the sin problem, 37:48 which is distortion regarding the character of God. 37:51 Which, once you believe false things about God, when you 37:55 believe that he's essentially self-centered, then your natural 37:58 inclination is to live for yourself, and so, trust is 38:02 broken, which then leads to rebellious actions, and it's a 38:07 continuum, it's all connected. 38:08 It's a domino effect, and those wrong behaviors and rebellious 38:15 actions toward God because of broken trust with him then lead 38:19 to the horizontal level of human relationship, in which we then 38:23 begin to violate one another, and then all of that produces, 38:29 in these violations, a sense of guilt and shame, 38:32 deep inside our hearts and minds. 38:34 And that guilt and shame then leads us to repeat our 38:38 violations and self-justification and covering 38:41 and compensating and coping mechanisms and addictions and 38:46 obsessions and we get into all kinds of things which basically 38:50 equates to the same kind of thing that Adam and Eve were 38:54 doing in Eden, hiding. 38:56 Hiding in fear, hiding in shame, hiding in guilt. 39:00 --Hiding from God and hiding from ourselves, even. 39:02 --And it's so simplistic to say, the sin problem is merely wrong 39:06 behaviors and the solution is you need to overcome sin and 39:12 Jesus will help you. 39:14 That is not the solution, the solution has to go deeper to 39:18 deal with the sin problem on all levels. 39:21 --To use your illustration here, the way that the sin problem is 39:24 dealt with is not, because you started here, moving this way, 39:27 this distrust of God leads right through, the solution is not to 39:32 say, okay, well, deal with this, to work backward through the 39:34 thing, it's just to start here. 39:36 Because when this is right, it's the whole root, fruit thing. 39:39 Jesus didn't come to lay the axe to the leaves of the tree. 39:42 --But the root. 39:43 --That's what he said about John the Baptist and himself. 39:45 There is a fundamental rearrangement of reality that 39:48 needs to take place here. 39:50 We had to start over. 39:51 --Yeah, I like that because when God takes care of this, 39:53 everything else falls off. 39:55 You see what I'm saying? 39:56 --You scared me when you did that. 39:57 --That was intentional. 39:58 I thought it was an accident. 39:59 --God takes care of this, everything else falls off. 40:00 All of that's gone now. 40:01 And this is what 1 John chapter 3 says, now, notice this, this 40:05 is really interesting. 40:07 1 John chapter 3 is where we find the definition of sin. 40:13 1 John 3:4, for whosoever commits sin transgresses also 40:16 the law, for sin is transgression of the law. 40:20 That's the outward acts that we're talking about. 40:22 But we're saying it's deeper than that. 40:24 All you need to do is read the context of 1 John 3. 40:27 1 John 3 is talking about a context of relationship, 40:29 abiding in Christ. 40:31 It's talking about the love that God has toward us, it's talking 40:33 about whoever is born of God loves God and when you love God, 40:37 his seed, that seed of love remains in you, and you can't 40:39 sin because you love God and so the whole context of these 40:42 outward acts is based in this relational language, and it 40:46 actually takes us all the way back to Genesis because he 40:49 quotes here in verse 12, he says, verse 11, this is the 40:54 message you've heard from the beginning that we should love 40:56 one another, so context of transgression of the law is 40:59 loving one another, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one who 41:02 slew his brother and wherefore slew him? 41:05 Why did he slay him? 41:07 Because his works were evil and his brother's were righteous. 41:09 The outward works, the outward transgression is an inevitable 41:12 indicator. 41:14 --That's the right word, inevitable. 41:15 --Of the relationship that is either there or not there. 41:18 --Yeah, wow, this is serious stuff that the bible is 41:21 downloading, teaching us here. 41:24 --If you just jump down to verse 15, I love where you're going 41:26 with that. 41:27 --That's what I was gonna say. 41:28 --You do it, you do it. 41:29 Let me defer. 41:30 --I don't know what point you were, are we out of time? 41:32 --No, I have to take a break, but go for it. 41:34 --I don't know what point you were gonna make. 41:35 --You make your point, and we'll see if it's the same one I was 41:36 gonna make. 41:38 --What verse were you gonna make? 41:39 --Verse 15. 41:40 --Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no 41:42 murderer has eternal life. 41:43 I was gonna make the simple point that hatred, according to 41:47 God, equates to murder, because you were saying 41:48 earlier that it's the inevitable result, because 41:53 self-preservation will always lead to murder. 41:55 So, according to God, any little inkling of self-preservation is 41:59 murder. 42:00 --That's back to his point about Ezekiel, there's violence in 42:04 you. 42:05 God saw violence in Lucifer's initial rebellion. 42:07 --What point were you gonna make? 42:08 --The point I was gonna make is that he doesn't have eternal 42:10 life in him. 42:11 The principle that leads to eternal life, which is 42:14 relational connection and love, connection with God and love for 42:17 God is not in the heart of somebody who's just looking out 42:20 for himself. 42:21 You can't have that in you. 42:23 If there is murderous, violent self-preservation intent in you, 42:30 that is not compatible with eternal life, because at the end 42:32 of the day, if you gave, this is kind of a funny little 42:35 psychological experiment, or mental experiment, if you gave 42:37 someone eternal life who had murderous intent, at the end of 42:39 the day, if it were possible for him, he would be 42:41 the only one left. 42:43 You give it enough time, and he'll whack everyone that 42:45 doesn't see, or she, the way that he wants, and he will be, 42:48 I mean it's really. 42:50 It's dismal, it's bleak. 42:52 --In other words, this is our condition. 42:54 So, knowing this condition, where does that leave us? 42:58 I think that's what we need to visit here in this next session. 43:00 --We do have to take a break. 43:02 We don't want to, but we have to take a break, and we'll come 43:05 back and just keep exploring this. 43:09 [Music] 43:15 Digma videos are short, engaging messages designed for 43:18 opening up discussion with individuals and groups regarding 43:21 the character of God as well as for your own personal spiritual 43:25 growth. 43:26 For your free DVD sample collection of Digma videos, call 43:29 877-585-1111, or write to Light Bearers, 37457 Jasper Lowell 43:37 Road, Jasper, Oregon 97438. 43:40 Once again, for your free DVD sample collection of Digma 43:44 videos, call 877-585-1111, or write to Light Bearers, 37457 43:52 Jasper Lowell Road, Jasper, Oregon 97438. 43:56 Simply ask for Digma DVD 2. 44:00 [Music] 44:05 --Okay, so, James, you took us to Philippians chapter 3, and I 44:09 thought for sure you were gonna get into verses 6, 7, and 8, and 44:12 maybe you intended to, but this is amazing because there's 44:16 background here. 44:17 You read the background. 44:18 Paul is basically recounting for us his religious pedigree, he's 44:23 saying, I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrew, I was a Pharisee, I had 44:28 all my spiritual and theological ducks in a row, and I was 44:33 performing at the optimal level. 44:36 --I'm a religious guy. 44:37 --Yeah, I'm a religious guy, and then he says, verse 7, but, but 44:42 what things were gained to me, he means on a spiritual, moral 44:45 level, the things that he thought were to his spiritual 44:49 and moral credit. 44:51 --Well, he says right there, righteousness, 44:52 which is in the law. 44:55 --Is that... 44:56 --Verse 6, right? 44:58 --Yeah, yeah, so, but what things were gained to me, these 45:01 I have counted loss for Christ. 45:05 That's an amazing inversion right there. 45:07 He's basically saying, all of my spiritual and religious 45:10 accolades basically equate to nothing in comparison to what I 45:17 find in Jesus Christ. 45:19 Then verse 8, yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the 45:23 excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I 45:28 have suffered the loss of all things and count them rubbish 45:33 that I may gain Christ. 45:35 Now, it's interesting, the word rubbish here, what does it say 45:38 in your version, you have the King James Version, 45:39 what is yours? 45:40 --Mine? 45:41 --Yeah. 45:42 --Dung. 45:43 --D-U-N-G, 45:44 --that's a very, very crass 45:45 --It means poop, 45:46 --bottom of the 45:47 --Donkey. 45:49 --Specifically? 45:50 --Dung, D. 45:51 --I don't think so, but the word in the Greek is scubilon, it's 45:58 a, I like the word itself, but the word is horrible. 46:01 Scubilon, yeah, it's fun to say, scubilon, but scubilon means 46:05 what, Jeffrey? 46:06 I don't wanna say the word, so I'll leave you to say it. 46:07 --It means poop. 46:09 --Means dung, King James Version, it means excrement, 46:14 feces, right? 46:16 It's a horrible, horrible description, it's nothing you 46:19 wanna pause to imagine. 46:21 He is here describing what though? 46:25 He's not describing himself in an atheist state, he's not 46:29 describing himself in a secular state. 46:31 --All his religious performance is like poop. 46:35 It goes back to Isaiah 64, righteousness as filthy rags. 46:42 --So, verse 9, and to be found in him, not having, and here's 46:46 where he makes himself very clear, not having my own 46:50 righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through 46:55 faith in Christ, the righteousness, which is from God 47:00 by faith. 47:01 --That's the point, that's the whole point of what we're 47:03 talking about. 47:04 Righteousness by faith. 47:05 If we wanna understand the practical application of this, 47:09 what it really means, here it is right here, it's spelled out 47:12 point by point. 47:13 And one thing that's really, I think, significant in all of 47:16 this, is verse 8, yea, doubtless, I count all things 47:19 but loss. 47:20 Now, that word there, we don't always look at in detail, but 47:24 that word there, in the Greek, actually means damage. 47:28 I count all this righteousness of the law, this 47:31 self-righteousness, I count it damaging, this is damaging to 47:34 me. 47:35 This has been damaging to me. 47:36 Yeah, it's not just dung, it's damaging. 47:39 --Because it doesn't say it's nothing, it says it's a loss, 47:42 so, there's a negative, there's a deficit there, it's not just, 47:44 it's nothing, it's worse than nothing, it's a loss. 47:50 --It's hurtful because this is what, we talked about hiding 47:53 from God, hiding from God, hiding from God. 47:54 Well, where's the number 1 place people hide from God? 47:58 --In religion. 47:59 --In religion, that's the number 1 place, and that's what Paul is 48:01 saying here, he's saying the number one place. 48:03 --You just dropped a bomb there and just moved on as if it was 48:05 nothing. 48:06 --The whole world is filled with religion. 48:07 --It's the most popular place in the world to hide from God is in 48:10 religion. 48:12 --And this is what Paul was doing. 48:13 He was hiding from God in religion. 48:15 This is what we naturally tend to do. 48:17 We get all of our t's crossed, we get all of our i's dotted, 48:19 and as Paul, we say, hey, I'm doing good. 48:22 Now, how can we know that we are hiding from God in religion that 48:26 we are self-righteous? 48:28 There is a verse in the book of Luke, chapter 18. 48:31 --Hey, I was just going there. 48:32 You want me to read it? 48:34 --I do. 48:35 --I'll read it and you. 48:36 --This is the question, how can we know, see, we want to be 48:40 honest with God, we wanna be true with God, we wanna be 48:43 faithful to God, we want to know where we stand. 48:46 And it's difficult. 48:48 How can you discern whether you're doing righteousness by 48:50 works or righteousness by faith? 48:51 --That's a great question. 48:53 --How can you know if you're connecting with God or if you're 48:54 depending on yourself. 48:55 Here is a verse that identifies how you can know the difference. 48:58 --So, the diagnosis continues. 49:01 Verse 9 of Luke 18. 49:03 Also, he spoke this parable to them who trusted, to some, who 49:08 trusted in themselves that they were righteous and they despised 49:13 others. 49:14 --There it is right there. 49:15 --There's the connection. 49:17 --The way that we relate to other people is an indicator of 49:21 whether or not we are trusting in ourselves. 49:23 Cain trusted in himself. 49:26 He was upset. 49:28 You've misrepresented me. 49:29 You don't understand what my motives are. 49:31 I'm bringing this to God. 49:33 God said, hey, sin's lying at your door. 49:35 Your actions towards your brother are going to indicate 49:37 whether or not you're trusting to me or whether you're trusting 49:40 to yourself. 49:42 --That's exactly what the two commandments teach, number one, 49:43 love God, number two, love your neighbor. 49:45 If you don't love your neighbor, it's indicative that you don't 49:51 really love God. 49:52 --And you're trusted to yourself. 49:53 --This verse is heavy, there's a lot here. 49:55 I wanna emphasize this, Jesus spoke this parable to some who 50:00 trusted in themselves, and they trusted, specifically, that they 50:05 were righteous, they had a self-view, they had a perception 50:08 of themselves, we're righteous, and despised others. 50:13 There's a direct connection between righteousness by works, 50:17 salvation by works, and despising others, and I think 50:20 that what you were getting, James, is you were asking the 50:23 question, how can we know? 50:25 Because we can lie to ourselves. 50:26 You ask the average group of Christians, you have 500 of them 50:30 together in a congregation, how many of you believe in 50:32 righteousness by faith? 50:35 All the hands are going up because on the surface level of 50:38 our theology, we know we're supposed to believe that, so we 50:41 say we do. 50:43 How many of you believe in salvation by works? 50:46 Nobody's hands are going up. 50:48 But here's the real litness test, here's the real indicator, 50:52 looking inside ourselves and the way we relate to people, do you 50:56 despise others. 50:58 Do you look down on anyone else? 51:03 Do you perceive or believe or imagine yourself to be morally 51:09 better than others? 51:11 --All the time, I'm just being honest, all the time. 51:15 I go home after a day, shooting table talk or doing whatever, 51:19 and I'm in a moment of quietness, no one else is 51:23 around, I've called my wife, I've checked in with my family, 51:26 I've done all the things I need to do, I'm laying on my bed, 51:28 whatever, and I'm getting ready to just go to sleep, and I'm 51:31 just communicating, just talking to God, and he's talking to me. 51:34 And things are coming to my mind that remind me that I have 51:38 trusted, -to some degree or another, to some level or 51:41 another, in my own righteousness, things that I 51:44 regret, things that I said, things that, whatever they were, 51:46 that were in the context of despising others, in the context 51:50 of belittling somebody else, putting someone else down, and 51:53 that whole concept that goes all the way back to Genesis of 51:56 pointing the finger, pointing the finger, pointing the finger, 51:58 and therefore, wanting to justify yourself, relying upon 52:01 yourself upon something good in yourself. 52:03 It all just comes in like a flood, and at that moment, and I 52:07 know we're not getting into this here, not only do I feel that 52:10 utter depravity, that lostness, but I also am pointed to the 52:13 remedy. 52:14 --Amen. 52:15 Maybe we could just quickly read through this parable because 52:18 there's a lot, we've quoted verse 9, which is Luke's 52:21 introduction to the parable, but there's some data in here that's 52:24 only gonna buttress the thing that we're talking about. 52:27 Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other 52:29 a tax collector. 52:31 The Pharisee stood up and said, and prayed thus with himself, 52:34 God I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, 52:37 unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 52:40 I fast twice a week, I give tithes on all that I possess. 52:44 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much 52:46 raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, 52:49 God be merciful to me, a sinner. 52:52 Verse 14, Jesus evaluation, I tell you, this man went down to 52:55 his house, justified, rather than the other, for everyone 52:57 who, and this is where we've been driving it the whole time, 53:00 everything who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who 53:04 humbles himself will be exalted. 53:06 --Jesus is a genius. 53:08 --He was a relational genius. 53:10 Psychological, he knew what was, in fact the bible even says 53:13 that, nobody had to tell him what was in man, he knew what 53:15 was in man. 53:17 What I love about this and this is, frankly, the review to me, 53:21 and I so appreciate you being vulnerable there, James, and 53:23 being honest about your own awareness of your shortcomings, 53:26 so, too, with me. 53:28 The deception, there's two things we can keep coming back 53:31 to again and again here, and that is that sin is deceitful 53:34 and violent. 53:35 It's deceitful and violent. 53:37 We see both here. 53:38 No, there's no violence there, oh, what are you talking about 53:41 there's no violence there? 53:42 Looking down on another, despising another, again, is 53:45 just in the continuum of... 53:47 --Violence. 53:48 --Absolutely, it is violent behavior. 53:50 Even, by the way, even our own legal system says so. 53:53 If you just yell at somebody, saying, I'm gonna, and I'll do 53:55 this, even if you don't ever actually do it, that's assault, 53:58 when you actually do the physical punching, that's 54:00 assault and battery. 54:02 --A hate crime would just be a comment. 54:03 --Exactly. 54:05 Now, there's the violent thing, but look at the deceit thing. 54:07 The guy is completely self-deceived. 54:09 God, I thank you. 54:13 --That I am not like other men. 54:14 --Yeah, he's deceived about, number one, his own standing, 54:18 number two, his standing with God. 54:20 So, here we have a situation that is exactly the thing we've 54:23 been describing that sin is saturated with both violence and 54:27 deception, self-deception, which is the trickiest kind of 54:30 deception. 54:31 I think it was, somebody said famously, the easiest person to 54:34 fool is yourself. 54:36 And this guy here, completely self-deceived and Jesus 54:38 evaluation is, if you go along the line of self-exaltation, 54:45 that train doesn't get off here, you don't get off that train 54:47 here, here, here, you follow it to its logical end. 54:49 You're the only one left in the universe. 54:51 You will even see to dethrone God, which is the experiment 54:54 that we're in the midst of now. 54:56 --That's to Lucifer. 54:57 --We don't say it like this, though, we're so convoluted and 55:00 self-deceived, we don't say, I thank God that I'm not like 55:02 other men, we say things like, I can't believe she would do 55:05 something like that. 55:08 --It comes up in this sort of pious gossip. 55:11 --Wow, that's, how could you do such a thing. 55:15 The moment we say to somebody in noticing their failure, I can't 55:18 believe you would do such a thing, or, worse yet, about 55:20 them, outside of their presence, we bely the fact that we 55:25 ourselves are infected with the sin problem so deeply that 55:31 number one, that's how can we so quickly discern and judge 55:35 another, and secondly, we are so deceived that we imagine we 55:39 wouldn't do those things, but the fact is, we would do those 55:42 things. 55:44 --It's like, look, you're in a sinking boat, and then your line 55:46 follows and, oh, me, too. 55:47 ---So am I. --Me too 55:49 --That's a good place to close. 55:51 [Music] |
Revised 2014-12-17