Participants: David Asscherick, James Rafferty, Jeffrey Rosario, Ty Gibson
Series Code: TT
Program Code: TT000023
|
00:12 [Music]
00:20 --One of the things that I'm absolutely loving about this 00:23 conversation is that we are not just sort of randomly going here 00:26 and there and this text and that text, not that there's not a 00:29 value in that, but the story is unfolding in a way that's very 00:34 textual, very biblical. 00:36 --And natural, it's a natural outplay of the story. 00:38 --Where I think we're at right now, because we've spent time 00:41 talking about how Jesus was, we talked about the birth, that he 00:44 was baptized, tempted in the wilderness, we walk through his 00:46 preaching ministry, his healing ministry, cleansing of the 00:49 temple. 00:50 We are now right up against a very important, in fact, 00:53 arguably, the most important thing that is going to happen in 00:57 the life of Jesus, and that is that he's going to die and he's 01:01 going to raise again from the dead, we're hard up against that 01:04 now. 01:05 And Jesus anticipated this, he announced that this was coming, 01:09 much to the incredulity and the confusion of the disciples, who 01:12 didn't get it at all, but what I wanna do and what I think would 01:16 be well for us to do is to go to one of those parables, maybe the 01:18 parable more than any other that communicates Jesus's own self 01:22 understanding of where this story is going, where it's 01:26 tending, and that parable is in the gospel of Matthew. 01:31 So, let's go there, Matthew chapter 21 and what's gonna 01:36 happen here is that we're gonna sort of get a feel for this, 01:38 Matthew chapter 21 and it's going to, if we're doing this in 01:41 the way that I think we're hoping it goes, it's gonna segue 01:43 into what will, in some ways, form the latter third of this 01:47 series. 01:48 We've got 13 parts and about, what, 4 or something to go, and 01:50 that's gonna be getting into Paul's understanding, or for 01:55 lack of a better term, Paul's theology of the story, of the 01:59 events, and so, it's all... 02:01 --Everything he wrote was to explain what we're talking about 02:04 here. 02:05 --This is like, if this is the symphony, we're in the final 02:07 movement here. 02:08 We're getting to the thing that is going to announce the grand 02:13 climax and point of the story, which is gonna be the death and 02:16 resurrection of Messiah. 02:18 Okay, so, we're in Matthew chapter 21, and why doesn't 02:23 someone just read, just read 33, and we'll just sort of comment 02:28 as we go. 02:29 --So, he says, here, another parable, there was a certain 02:32 land owner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around 02:36 it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and he leased it 02:41 to vine dressers and went into a far country. 02:46 --Okay, comment, by the way, he's quoting from Isaiah 5. 02:49 --With the analogies used of, what more could I have done? 02:53 --There you go. 02:54 --Verse 34 says, now when vintage time drew near, he sent 03:01 his servants to the vine dressers that they might receive 03:04 its fruit, and the vine dressers took his servants, beat one, 03:08 killed one, and stoned another. 03:12 Again, that would be the prophets, wouldn't it? 03:14 Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they 03:19 did likewise to them, then last of all, he sent his son to them, 03:25 saying, they will respect my son, but when the vinedressers 03:30 saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir, 03:33 come let us kill him and seize his inheritance. 03:37 So, they took him, they cast him out of the vineyard, and they 03:41 killed him. 03:42 --Okay, now, just stop there, Jeffery, if you don't mind, 03:43 because verse 40 is gonna be the question that Jesus asks the 03:47 basis of the parable. 03:48 So, let's just paint the picture here, what is this story about? 03:52 I mean, it's obvious, but let's say it anyway. 03:54 What's this story about? 03:55 The parable about? 03:56 --It's about Israel and their reaction to... 04:00 --And let's just add that the entire New Testament is about 04:02 Israel. 04:05 --In this particular story, you brought out that it's Isaiah 5, 04:08 so the language that Jesus is using here is not foreign to the 04:11 audience to whom he's speaking. 04:12 --This is their history. 04:13 This is a historical sweep of everything done. 04:15 --They're immediately thinking Isaiah 5. 04:18 --One of the things that you have to love about Jesus is the 04:22 economy of words that he employed. 04:24 I mean, this is basically, he's telling the Old Testament story 04:27 here in about how many verses is it? 04:29 Seven verses. 04:31 Now, the amazing thing is, though, is that as he's telling 04:34 his story, while they may have been aware that it was Isaiah 5, 04:37 to some degree, they're not making the connection. 04:40 The synapse and the neuron are not touching, to themselves, 04:43 right, because... 04:45 --They're like, this sounds familiar. 04:46 --That is kinda familiar, because the servants are sent 04:48 the prophets, they're beaten, stoned, and killed, more 04:51 servants are sent, saying, beaten, stoned, and killed, and 04:53 finally here comes the son, right? 04:56 And then Jesus has a question for them on a basis of the 04:58 parable that he's just told, which is, again, an 05:01 encapsulation of their history in about 7 verses. 05:03 Okay, what's the question, verse 40. 05:04 --Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he 05:10 do to those vinedressers? 05:12 --That is so incredible. 05:14 --Absolutely amazing. 05:16 --It's a setup. 05:17 Jesus is basically telling them a story in order to invoke in 05:23 their mind a sense of the truth and the justice of the situation 05:28 and before they even know what's happening to them, they're 05:31 caught up in the story and they're passing judgment, 05:34 they're discerning exactly what the owner would do. 05:39 --It's like with the prophet told David, remember King David? 05:41 --Of course. 05:42 --What would happen? 05:44 You are the man. 05:45 --And I loved the words you used there, Ty, he's trying to evoke 05:48 justice, you said, and another one. 05:51 Anyway, but the idea is he's even creating a sense of 05:54 outrage. 05:55 Who are these people to do such a thing? 05:57 And the whole time he's out flanking them. 05:59 He's intellectually outflanking them because they don't see 06:02 what's, they don't see the pennies are ready to drop. 06:05 --Against themselves, against their own better judgment, in 06:12 verse 41, they articulate, they vocalize the judgment, they 06:17 said, then they said to him, he will destroy those wicked men 06:21 miserably and lease his vineyard to other vine dressers who will 06:26 render to him the fruits in their season. 06:31 So, what have they just said, what have they just done? 06:32 --They passed judgment on themselves. 06:34 Something that came to me there is what is the purpose of a 06:38 vineyard? 06:39 --Well, to produce grapes. 06:42 --To produce grapes, to produce fruit. 06:43 If this is the history of Israel, this is an encapsulation 06:48 of Israel's history, what was God's design for them? 06:52 --Fruitfulness. 06:53 --Fruitfulness in what sense? 06:55 --The whole world being encompassed. 06:57 --Exactly. 06:58 --And becoming the vineyard. 07:00 --And there's no fruit. 07:02 In fact, quite the opposite, there's an isolationism over and 07:05 against the very ones that they should've been bearing fruit 07:07 among, and they passed judgment on themselves and then Jesus, in 07:11 a moment of what must've been, we shouldn't treat this too 07:14 academically or intellectually, this must've been deeply painful 07:19 and poignant for him. 07:20 Have you never read, he says. 07:22 In your own scripture, in your own story, your own history, 07:25 your own legacy, verse 42, have you never read in the 07:29 scriptures, and he quotes from one of the Psalms, the stone 07:31 which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 07:34 This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. 07:38 Now, just to sort of pause here for a moment, in ancient times 07:41 when a building was built, you would often go looking for a 07:45 stone, a large stone, preferably large and preferably the right 07:50 angle so that you could put that what was called the cornerstone, 07:53 it was the stone that was placed first and around which, the rest 07:56 of the building was built. 07:57 The foundation stone. 07:59 This is the one that if this is right, when the other stones are 08:02 built off of it and upon it, it will make the symmetry and the 08:06 strength of the architecture sound. 08:08 But if it's a bad stone or not the right kind of stone, you try 08:11 to build a building around that, it's not gonna work. 08:13 So, this is a stone, you can just imagine in your mind's eye, 08:16 a bunch of people looking for the stones, no, we don't need 08:18 that, that's not the one, and then they find one, and then 08:20 they throw it out, and he says, the stone, that one that was 08:23 rejected by the builders, he says, that's the one that has 08:26 become the chief cornerstone. 08:29 The kind of building that you're building is the wrong building 08:33 because the kind of building that you should be building in 08:35 terms of your understanding, your self-understanding of who 08:37 you are is actually built around this seemingly unshapely, 08:41 seemingly inappropriate, seemingly out of place stone, 08:46 and that stone is me. 08:48 --Jesus doesn't fit in their construct of God or of 08:51 themselves or of the world. 08:54 --He doesn't fit. 08:55 --Which answers an important question, why didn't the people 08:59 get it? 09:01 Right, I mean, the whole story of the Old Testament is, this is 09:03 a people that are waiting in anticipation of the coming of 09:07 the Messiah, yet he comes and nobody gets it. 09:10 How would they miss it? 09:12 --We read that earlier where, I think it was in, what is it, 09:15 John 1 or somewhere in there where it says that all the 09:17 people were going to see him but no one believed his testimony. 09:21 So, he was very popular but very misunderstood. 09:24 --And I think the point you made is powerful because they were 09:26 reading according to their own, they had their own lens, yeah, 09:31 their own version of the thing, and their version of the thing 09:33 was wrong, so when you're looking for the wrong thing, 09:35 you'll find the wrong thing. 09:37 Someone like asking the wrong question. 09:40 In essence, they're asking the wrong questions. 09:43 --Jesus didn't meet their expectation because their 09:46 expectation didn't fit with God's original plan for Israel. 09:52 They had completely derailed from the original plan, and so 09:57 now they're expecting the conquest of the Romans. 10:01 They're expecting a leader, a Messiah who will be a military 10:05 leader, a violent leader, someone who will marshal forces 10:10 and basically, bring about political liberation, but more 10:14 than political liberation, they were expecting that Israel would 10:20 be exalted above all the nations to basically fulfill their 10:25 aspiration. 10:28 --In a favoritism, like, in a patriotic sense. 10:31 Exactly. 10:34 Now, here's what Jesus says in verse 43 on the basis of the 10:36 foregoing parable and the question and the answer that has 10:40 been given, he then has a conclusion, and the conclusion 10:43 is mind-blowing. 10:45 In verse 43, he says, therefore, I say to you, on the basis of 10:48 this preceding, the anteceding conversation, guess what. 10:52 The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation 10:58 bearing the fruits of it. 10:59 I mean this is one of the most, totally astounding. 11:02 This is one of the most explicit texts in the New Testament where 11:06 Jesus plainly describes the transition from what was to what 11:10 is coming. 11:13 There's a transition taking place here, and then he even 11:16 goes back to Daniel, he goes and calls on the very language of 11:20 Daniel, Daniel chapter 2 in this case, in verse 44, whoever falls 11:24 on this stone will be broken, this cornerstone, this rejected 11:27 stone, this stone that doesn't quite fit, but on whoever it 11:31 falls, it will grind him to power. 11:32 That's the image of Daniel chapter 2, where it grinds the 11:34 other nations into power, and Jesus is like, yeah, that's 11:37 gonna happen. 11:38 But not like you think. 11:40 Not in the way that you think, and I just wanna throw this out 11:42 there, I see you turning in your bible, Ty, if you've got 11:44 something, jump in there. 11:46 --Well, there is, Paul also quotes the cornerstone passage 11:51 in Romans chapter 9, but he adds language and indicates that the 11:56 reason why national Israel was not prepared to receive the 12:00 Messiah is because they had gone about pursuing their own 12:05 righteousness. 12:06 And this series is on righteousness by faith. 12:09 Verse 30 of Romans 9 and onward, what shall we say then? 12:14 That gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained a 12:18 righteousness, even the righteousness of faith, but 12:21 Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained 12:24 to the law of righteousness, and then verse 32, the question is 12:28 posed, well, why? 12:29 What gives, because they, that is, Israel, did not seek it by 12:33 faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they 12:38 stumbled at that stumbling stone, and then we're back to 12:41 Jesus. 12:42 --And he quotes, what does he quote from there in the last 12:45 verse of Romans 9? 12:46 --As it is written, behold, I lay on Zion a stumbling stone 12:48 and a rock of offense and whoever believes on him will not 12:52 be put to shame. 12:54 --Jesus is the stumbling stone, and that language... 12:57 --But why the stumbling? 12:59 That's the point I'm trying to get at. 13:00 The stumbling is deeply psychological and spiritual. 13:04 --It's due to their own misconceptions. 13:06 --Well, they're building, they're building a structure, 13:08 they're building a system of religion, they're building an 13:11 identity, individually and corporately, based on 13:13 righteousness by means of law. 13:18 But Jesus is proclaiming, and the bible all along has been 13:23 proclaiming, righteousness by faith. 13:26 Righteousness of a different quality that is grounded in the 13:28 faithfulness of God, the covenant keeping God of Abraham, 13:33 Isaac, and Jacob, but they want righteousness on the premise of 13:36 their own works, they want acceptance with God, they want 13:38 favor with God on the premise of their own righteousness, and so, 13:42 that's the deep, psychological, spiritual, emotional thing 13:46 that's going on here. 13:48 They can't see Jesus when he comes as the Messiah because 13:53 he's offering something they don't even want. 13:55 He doesn't fit. 13:56 --He's the stone that doesn't fit. 13:58 --Yeah, he doesn't fit with the structure. 14:01 --Something that I just read recently that was really sort of 14:03 enlightening to me and really helped me a lot was that one of 14:08 the reasons that the first century Jews, and of course, 14:11 there's a whole history here, we're dealing with the 14:14 destruction of their temple and a series of subjugations to 14:18 pagan power. 14:19 So, there was a legitimate psychological reason for them to 14:23 long for what they were longing for. 14:25 Like, you can understand, when you're a depressed, dehumanized 14:29 people, that you're longing. 14:30 But here's an interesting thing, there were a lot of different 14:33 ways to sort of deal with the dissonance of thinking, we're 14:35 God's people, but we're in you know, continual subjugation to 14:39 pagan powers, and one of those means was a radical 14:41 isolationism, an internalization, we're gonna 14:45 turn inward, and the thing that I read that was so helpful, it 14:48 was basically saying, when you read much of what Paul has to 14:51 say, and we're gonna get there, about the law, the law, and all 14:55 of that, it's not just that they were gonna do the law in order 14:58 to be saved. 15:00 Now, that's an oversimplification of what's 15:01 going on, what's, the deeper thing is, is that they knew that 15:06 they were God's chosen people by virtue of their genealogical 15:08 connection to Abraham, but the law in their fastidious keeping 15:13 of the law was the thing that guarded their social, cultural, 15:18 theological identity, and it effectively sealed them away 15:22 from those that were around them, and that became a kind of 15:26 salvation by works but it was because it was preserving who 15:28 they were. 15:30 --You know, I like the way this is summarized in the book of 15:31 Hebrews, if you will, you know, we've talked about how that 15:34 really, Matthew 21, Jesus is summarizing the whole story just 15:39 a few verses, the whole history of Israel, etc, which I 15:42 think is really powerful. 15:44 He obviously had a very clear understanding of the storyline, 15:48 of the way the story was working out in the lives of his people 15:51 and the history of the Jewish nation. 15:53 In the book of Hebrews, it's down to 3 verses, and these 3 15:57 verses are saying the same thing that's being said in Matthew 21, 16:00 but I want you to notice one thing that I think is really 16:03 profound in the context of what we've just concluded. 16:06 And I'm reading from the King James, so it's gonna sound a 16:08 little bit archaic, but I love this language. 16:11 God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners, Jeffery, you 16:15 can tell me what that means later, spake in the time passed 16:18 unto the fathers by the prophets, so we got the same 16:20 thing taking place here, has in these last days spoken to us by 16:25 his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things by whom also 16:29 he made the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory and 16:33 the express image of his person coming to dispel the light and 16:37 to give a revelation of who he really is. 16:39 --Dispel the darkness. 16:40 --To dispel the darkness. 16:41 Disperse the light, dispel the darkness, give a revelation of 16:43 who he really is, and upholding all things, let me go back to 16:48 that, who being the brightness of his glory and the express 16:50 image of his person upholding all things by the word of his 16:53 power, when he had by himself purged our sins, set down at the 17:00 right hand of the majesty of the high. 17:02 By himself purged our sins. 17:03 This is the key point that we're closing on right now in this 17:06 section. 17:08 We're closing in on this idea that Jesus Christ, they came to 17:10 establish their own righteousness, but Jesus Christ 17:12 came to show them, it's not about your righteousness, it's 17:15 about what I'm gonna accomplish, the Son of God, the Israel of 17:20 God is going to accomplish in your behalf, new covenant, for 17:25 you, that which you could not do for yourselves. 17:28 --We know that the, I love what you say there, that Jesus is 17:31 clearly aware of the story, and for Jesus, as well as for Paul, 17:35 the book of Daniel forms an absolutely central piece. 17:39 We spent, like, I think at least a whole program, maybe a program 17:41 and a half on Daniel 9, and Jesus here, this whole story, 17:45 this parable of Matthew 21, this summary of Israel's history, is 17:49 straight out of Daniel 9, because he's saying, when 17:51 Messiah is rejected, there will, a destruction will come. 17:56 Messiah is rejected, destruction will come. 17:58 In fact, when Jesus goes into the temple for the last time, in 18:02 Matthew chapter 23, and we have this impassioned, almost angry, 18:06 I mean, he is impassioned, he's saying whoa to you, scribes and 18:09 Pharisees, whoa to you, he's tried everything, he's tried 18:12 reasoning, he's tried healing, he's tried tenderness, he's 18:15 tried prophecies, he's tried parables, he's tried miracles, I 18:19 mean, everything, and this is, you sense the desperation of the 18:21 moment in Matthew 23, where Jesus is just like, grabbing 18:24 them, as it were, by the scruff of the neck and saying, can't 18:26 you hear what's going on? 18:27 Absolutely desperate. 18:29 And when Jesus leaves, you can feel the pathos, the desperation 18:35 when he leaves the temple, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, he says. 18:39 The one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to 18:41 her. 18:42 That's just the thing he was saying 2 chapters later, in the 18:43 parable. 18:44 --Two chapters earlier. 18:45 --Two chapters earlier, excuse me. 18:47 How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen 18:50 gathers her chicks under her wings, but you are not willing, 18:51 and then, here's the word, this is straight out of Daniel, your 18:55 house is left to you desolate. 18:57 For I say to you, you will see me no more til you say blessed 19:00 is he that comes in the name of the Lord. 19:02 Now, never mind the chapter break, go right into the next 19:05 part, then Jesus went out, he departed from the temple. 19:07 Last time he will ever set foot in the temple. 19:10 And his disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple, 19:12 and said, oh, Jesus, cheer up, look at how beautiful the temple 19:14 is, it's gonna be okay, don't worry, they'll accept you one 19:16 day. 19:17 And then he says, don't you understand? 19:19 Don't you see this temple? 19:20 Assuredly, I say unto you, there's not gonna be two stones 19:21 left upon another that will not be, this thing will be flat, 19:28 absolutely leveled. 19:29 How does Jesus know that? 19:31 How does Jesus know that the temple and the city will be 19:33 absolutely flattened? 19:35 --He knows because of Daniel 9. 19:36 --But it's not just the temple, it's not just the building, it's 19:41 the entire system, the entire psychoediphus. 19:45 --Because it's happened before, the temple's been destroyed, but 19:48 it's been rebuilt. 19:49 --But now, the whole thing is coming crumbling down 19:52 permanently because the religious system can't bear 19:58 weight. 19:59 It can't sustain what it is that God intends, and that's 20:03 primarily because it can't sustain love. 20:07 It can't sustain an acceptance of others. 20:10 It can't sustain. 20:11 --It's become a part of the problem. 20:12 --It should be very clear to say, not the temple correctly 20:14 understood. 20:17 --The temple pointed to the Messiah, the one who would 20:22 fulfill. 20:23 --You said this a few sessions ago, substance, what was it, 20:26 shadow, meet reality. 20:28 Because, before the temple is destroyed, God is gonna take 20:30 that veil when Jesus dies, and he's gonna tear that thing from 20:34 the top to the bottom saying, okay, the old is passing away, 20:39 the new has come. 20:41 I got chills, actually, James, just a moment ago when you said, 20:45 it will be destroyed. 20:46 Because you said it had happened before and then you said, but 20:48 this is permanent, and here we are 2,000 years later and there 20:53 is no temple. 20:54 Why? 20:56 --Til the consummation, Daniel 9. 20:58 --It just sends chills down your back to think that it's a very 21:03 difficult thing to imagine, take the Jews right now. 21:06 The Jews who are alive today who don't believe that Jesus is the 21:09 Messiah, who don't understand that. 21:10 They have never had a temple again. 21:13 You go to Jerusalem today, you've been to Jerusalem, you've 21:15 been to Jerusalem, you go there today. 21:17 --It's characterized by weeping. 21:19 --Conflict and weeping and a longing for what was and my 21:23 heart breaks and Paul's heart, when you get to Romans 9, you 21:25 were just there, he just, his eyes are, he can't stop. 21:30 --They cannot relate to it at all. 21:31 --We have to take a break. 21:34 We're pretty excited about this. 21:35 It's so clear that Jesus is teaching something here that 21:43 upends the entire structure, but something new and beautiful is 21:47 being built. 21:49 The kingdom of God is taking on new form, new shape, but it's 21:53 the form and the shape that God always intended from the 21:56 beginning. 21:58 And let's just pursue that after the break. 22:00 [Music] 22:07 --This is the story of Niyima, who took a bus to the doctor and 22:14 found a piece of paper with words of hope about Jesus, which 22:19 was left by a church member who unpacked a box that came from a 22:23 truck which drove in from Durban where a ship was docked that 22:28 sailed from Seattle, loaded with containers stacked high with 22:32 millions of tracts, trucked in from the Light Bearers 22:36 Publishing House, where more than 600 million pieces of 22:40 gospel literature have been printed in 42 languages. 22:44 Here's the amazing thing, Light Bearers distributes this 22:48 literature free of charge all over the world, and each piece 22:53 costs only 5 pennies to print, transport, and deliver. 22:59 Every day, millions of people buy a $5 cup of coffee, $5 a 23:04 cup, 5 days a week. 23:07 It adds up fast. 23:09 But at just 5 cents apiece, that same $25 can also ship 500 23:15 pieces of literature and give hope to people like Niyima, who 23:21 shared that paper with a classmate, who gave it to her 23:24 cousin, who shared it with his boss, who passed it to her 23:29 grandmother, who left it on another bus, where it will be 23:33 found by someone else. 23:36 And the story continues. 23:39 Five cents doesn't buy a lot these days, but in other parts 23:43 of the world, your nickel could change someone's life. 23:47 Your gift of $25 a month sends out 6,000 pieces of gospel 23:52 literature each year. 23:54 Fifty dollars sends out 12,000, and $100 a month sends out 23:59 24,000 messages of hope every year, all over the world. 24:05 Empower Light Bearers to continue the story. 24:09 Send your gift through lightbearers.org, or by calling 24:13 877-585-1111. 24:18 Who knew 5 little pennies could do so much? 24:23 --Before the break, we were exploring the fact that there's 24:26 a transition taking place. 24:28 This is a very significant transition where Jesus is 24:31 forming a new Israel, and he's explained explicitly in the 24:35 parable of Matthew 21 that this transition is underway, he told 24:39 them in plain language the kingdom of God will be taken 24:43 from you and given to another nation bearing the fruit 24:46 thereof. 24:47 John chapter 1 verse 11, similar idea, different language, he 24:51 came unto his own and his own received him not. 24:54 The question arises, were there any of the Pharisees who 24:58 believed? 25:00 I mean, is this just the whole nation that is rejecting the 25:06 vision that Messiah is casting, or do we have any evidence in 25:11 scripture that some of the Pharisees, or many, even, of the 25:15 Pharisees and religious leaders of the time. 25:17 --We have tons of evidence, we have tons of evidence that even 25:20 though Jesus lays out their future and the way that they 25:24 would fulfill that future in rejecting him, that our God has 25:29 always been a god who pursues us. 25:31 The God of creation is counting all of the people of this earth 25:36 as his children. 25:37 Some of them are children of wrath, but they're still 25:39 children. 25:40 Some of them are prodigals but they're still children. 25:41 And when you look at the story, even when you look at the 25:43 crucifixion event, let's just look there for a second, in Luke 25:46 chapter 23, we have post trial of Jesus Christ, he's been 25:52 condemned to death by Pilot, the Jews have brought these 25:57 accusations that he under political pressure, has 26:00 confirmed, affirmed, Jesus is being lead to Golgotha, Calvary 26:06 in verse 33 of Luke chapter 23, and notice, he's hung between 26:11 two thieves here, one on the left, one on the right, and in 26:17 that context, verse 34, this is the key verse, Jesus said, 26:22 Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 26:27 Now, this is really interesting language. 26:29 They don't know what they're doing. 26:31 Jesus told them what they were doing, he told them what they 26:33 would do. 26:35 And they perceived that he was talking about them. 26:38 So, they knew what they were doing, but they didn't know what 26:41 they were doing, and Jesus here is praying, and I think this is 26:44 kind of an intercessory prayer, Jesus is praying, this is, 26:47 hanging on the cross, Jesus Christ is the gospel. 26:50 This is the gospel, this is the good news. 26:52 This is about a God who pursues us when we're hiding from him. 26:55 Who comes after us when we want nothing to do with him. 26:59 Why accepts us when we reject him. 27:02 So, this is the essence, this is the final revelation of the 27:07 character of God, the full revelation of God's character, 27:09 and as he says this, Father, forgive them, for they don't 27:12 know what they do, and then it says in verse 35, and the people 27:17 stood beholding, and the rulers also derided him saying, he 27:21 saved others, let him save himself if he be the Christ, the 27:23 chosen of God. 27:25 So, right here in the context, you have these same rulers, you 27:27 have these same Pharisees, you have these same people, but 27:30 regardless of the situation, I think it's so beautiful that 27:33 this is set in this bleak language, this bleak 27:36 environment, that it's darker than dark. 27:39 In fact, the very presence of the cross, the atmosphere was 27:42 just darkness, that you have this light of the gospel 27:45 shining, and the answer to your question begins here and that 27:49 takes us right into the New Testament, because in the New 27:52 Testament, the book of Acts and other places, you have hundreds, 27:57 dozens, many, it says, of the Pharisees and the chief priests 27:59 believed. 28:00 --Yeah, I was just reading that here. 28:01 --Okay, what do you got? 28:02 --Acts 6:7, and then the word of God spread, Acts chapter 6 verse 28:06 7, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in 28:08 Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were obedient to the 28:11 faith. 28:12 --A great many. 28:13 --A great many. 28:14 So, even though they were not seeing it in the various 28:16 parables, not just Matthew 21, but through the whole ministry 28:19 of Jesus, who do you think you are? 28:21 You have Jesus trial, they don't get it, they don't get it, it's 28:24 just like, no, no, the penny, in Australia, they would say, the 28:26 penny hasn't dropped. 28:27 But when the penny drops, you know, you put the coin in the 28:30 machine and it, ding, ding, ding, we have a winner, and one 28:34 of those that comes to believe, this is Acts 6, it goes 7 is 28:37 Steven, 8 is Steven, 9 is the conversion of a guy named Saul, 28:41 Saul of Tarsus, who will become apart from Jesus the most 28:45 formative and significant figure in the New Testament. 28:50 --Now, just pause for a second there, let's not go past this, 28:52 and you know why Paul believes, one of the reasons why he 28:54 believes is because the, we don't know if he was standing in 28:58 front of the cross, but we know he was standing next to Steven. 29:00 --Steven when he was stoned. 29:02 --And what Steven does is a duplication of the act right 29:05 here. 29:06 --Steven recounts the history of Israel. 29:07 --He recounts the history of Israel, which is really 29:09 interesting, too. 29:10 Steven is not the Messiah, but he reflects the love of God. 29:13 In other words... 29:14 --When he says, they don't know what they, yeah. 29:16 --And then he looks up. 29:17 --Okay, you're referring to when he praised. 29:19 --Lord, do not charge them with this sin. 29:21 --He's doing the same thing that we see right here. 29:25 So, that reflection comes out to play. 29:28 It melts his heart. 29:29 He can't get rid of it. 29:31 --Who is this Saul? 29:34 Well, he self identifies in Philippians chapter 3 as a 29:37 Pharisee. 29:39 --A persecutor. 29:42 --And I think that the point that we're getting at here is 29:45 that they, Paul, which I've mentioned before, he said, I had 29:50 to go back and read my own story. 29:52 I had to go relearn my own history, read my own prophecies, 29:55 my own Psalms, my own, the things that were mine in terms 29:59 of by culture and by birth, I misunderstood them. 30:03 He disappears. 30:06 After he's converted, he disappears for like, what is it, 30:09 17 years, 14 years? 30:10 He's just gone, evaporates. 30:12 --He says he went to Arabia. 30:15 --Arabia. 30:16 What's he doing? 30:17 --He's sorting the whole story out. 30:19 --He is learning. 30:20 The way I like to say it is, he's unlearning. 30:24 He's got a lot to learn, but before you can put the new in, 30:27 he's gotta get some old out, and old what that traditional, 30:31 rabbinical interpretation of the story, of Israel's history, of 30:36 the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the whole thing. 30:38 --You know, it's really interesting because when you 30:40 look at the storyline from Matthew 21, you say, wow, how 30:44 could the Pharisees do that? 30:46 How could the rulers know that Jesus was talking about them and 30:48 at the same time want to kill him, wishing they could, but the 30:52 people were there and they were afraid, and how could they 30:55 crucify him on the cross and listen to him say, Father, how 30:58 could they hear the whole history of their nation and then 31:02 turn around and stone Steven to death, and yet, I find myself 31:04 doing the very same thing. 31:06 I know in my own experience when I first became a Christian, I 31:10 had the same mentality, not so much in wanting to kill anyone 31:16 because I believe that God, the gospel was just real to me and 31:19 that was just powerful, but I think about the stoning system, 31:22 I think about in relation to stoning as in being critical or 31:29 negative, hurting other people in maybe words or actions, it's 31:35 not killing them necessarily in the sense of murder, but it's 31:38 just hurting and the first inclination that I had, I mean, 31:43 the first things that I was doing because I was, in a sense, 31:44 I was rejoicing this truth, but in another sense, I was exalting 31:47 myself. 31:48 --Rejoicing that you were right. 31:50 --Right, and everyone else was wrong. 31:51 --Which made you wrong, by the way. 31:52 --It was March of 1985 and I was on a plane, Northwest Airlines. 32:01 --They are no more. 32:03 --And I was heading from Washington, yep, and neither is 32:05 this, I hope, pray God, to England, to London, England, 32:08 that's where my mother lives. 32:09 --This was '85. 32:10 --This was 1985. 32:12 --I was 3 years old. 32:14 --I wasn't born yet. 32:16 [Laughter] 32:21 --And so, but I remember, on the way over, I had a library of 32:25 sermons, there were about 26 sermons, and I had this bible 32:28 right here. 32:29 --The very same one. 32:31 --Archaic King James Version bible. 32:32 --That bible has been around. 32:34 --That belonged to John Wesley. 32:36 That's Wesley's bible. 32:38 --That's why I don't get rid of it. 32:40 And I was marking all these library sermons in there because 32:43 I was going to do war, I was going with my stones. 32:45 --Ammo 32:47 --I had 26, it was so.... 32:50 --Who were you doing war with? 32:51 --My mother. 32:52 --Oh. 32:53 [Laughter] 32:54 --Stop that 32:55 --He said he was flying to England, yes, it was his mother. 32:58 --And seriously, as soon as I got off the plane, because she 33:01 was doing the same thing, she was chinking up the ammunition, 33:04 she was getting ready, and as soon as I got off the plane, I 33:06 remember, we met and immediately, it was just like, 33:09 you believe, yes, I believe that, and I can show, and the 33:14 back and forth, back and forth, back and forth it went. 33:16 So, it wasn't necessarily the same in this sense that we see 33:19 here, but the mentality was the same. 33:20 --In principle, it's the same, Jesus said that. 33:23 You're angry, you're a murderer. 33:25 --I was out in the garden, okay, and I had just, we'd just gone 33:29 through this thing, none of us were getting anywhere very 33:31 quickly, I was out in the garden and the Holy Spirit knocked on 33:34 my shoulder and the Holy Spirit said, James, you need to live 33:39 it. 33:41 Live the gospel. 33:42 You need to reveal love to your mom, not scripture verses, not 33:46 history, you don't need to show her where she's wrong, where the 33:49 church is wrong, where she's been mistaken, where she's 33:51 mistaken, you need to live the gospel, and I think that's what 33:56 we see on the cross. 33:58 That's what we see in Steven, and that's what finally won 34:00 Paul. 34:02 Paul heard the whole dissertation from beginning to 34:04 end. 34:05 He heard all of the history. 34:06 --He heard the reasoning. 34:07 --And the Holy Spirit was there, Steven was preaching under the 34:09 power of the Holy Spirit. 34:11 But when he saw Steven being stoned to death, and in the very 34:15 act of being stoned. 34:17 --The grace, the enmity that he treated his persecutors. 34:18 --Father, lay not the sin of their charge. 34:20 He couldn't get rid of it. 34:21 He tried his best. 34:23 You know, the Pharisees reasoned with him and tried to explain to 34:25 him, and for a bit, he was, but then he just couldn't get rid of 34:28 that picture. 34:29 It was powerful. 34:30 --Everything in your story and in the point you were making 34:35 where he had to experience it, we're on Paul, we're trying to 34:37 make this transition to Paul, and eventually we're gonna get 34:40 into the thought of Paul, but I think since we're on Acts 9, 34:44 talking about his conversion, I just wanted to point something 34:47 out here that it's not merely a theoretical revolution that 34:51 happens in his mind, but also God does something to him in 34:56 terms of how he's relating to others, specifically to the 34:58 church. 35:00 You remember that in Acts 9 when he's converted, he's on his way 35:04 to Damascus, is that right? 35:06 He's on the road to Damascus and he's in possession of letters 35:10 and his errand is he's going to this place in order to find 35:17 these Christians and to persecute them, to literally 35:19 kill them, right? 35:21 And the point is, is that on his way, as we're familiar with this 35:23 very common story, God appears to him in the shining light, he 35:29 falls, I'm in Acts 9, you're looking at, you know, 5, 6, 7, 35:33 all of that, the point is, he falls down, he hears the voice, 35:37 and now he can't see, he's blind, and I just picture, 35:40 here's Damascus here, and here's the road, and he's over here 35:43 somewhere, right before he gets to the gate, and now, the 35:47 instructions are, he's gonna need this man named Ananias, 35:53 who's gonna have to take him by the hand and basically escort 35:58 him in . 36:00 So, who is Ananias? 36:01 The very people that Paul was going to persecute are now the 36:05 very people that Paul depends on. 36:08 Right? 36:09 And it's so fascinating as you're imagining Paul, he's 36:12 making his way in, he was gonna enter the city with pomp, with 36:15 pride and all of this. 36:18 --Persecution. 36:19 --Yeah, and now, he's doing, he's holding his hand, not 36:23 Ananias, but, my point is that he is put in contact with the 36:29 very people he was gonna persecute, now he has to hold 36:31 somebody's hand to go inside the city. 36:33 So, essentially, the pride, the self-centeredness is being 36:38 stripped away, and the very people he's persecuting, he's 36:42 being with them. 36:43 --It's the process of being served by the very people he... 36:45 --And going back to your point, I think that also melts his 36:47 heart. 36:49 --What's the first word that he hears after this whole 36:54 experience is done, when he's, he's been blinded, he walks into 36:59 the city, he's in a house, God appears to Ananias, says, hey, 37:02 go talk to this guy. 37:03 What, you talking about that guy? 37:04 He's the one that persecuted. 37:05 No, no, go, just trust me, I've got a plan for this guy. 37:07 What's the first word he hears? 37:08 --Brother. 37:09 --Brother. 37:10 Puts his hand on his shoulder, Brother Saul, Brother Saul? 37:15 --That melts his heart. 37:17 --Reminiscent of Jesus with Judas as Judas comes to betray 37:21 him, and he's about to plant the kiss of betrayal on Jesus, Jesus 37:26 says, friend, are you betraying the Son of God with a kiss? 37:32 --Which takes us back to Zachariah 13:6. 37:34 When the question is asked, what are those wounds in your hands, 37:37 the answer is, they with which I was wounded in the house of my 37:43 friends, which is the you know, we gotta get past just Israel 37:47 because Jesus died for the sins of the entire world. 37:50 That my friends, it's the Romans, it's the Jews. 37:54 --To understand Paul's thought is important to understand his 37:56 experiential encounter. 37:59 --I think that the both of you are so onto something and it's 38:01 frankly something I've not seen before as you're bringing it out 38:03 here, that Paul's heart was melted by the love that he was 38:08 shown, not just the theology that persuaded him. 38:09 Because look at this, what it says, in Acts 9 where it says, 38:13 Brother Saul, I just, man, let that sink in. 38:16 --What verse are you in? 38:17 --I'm in 17. 38:18 Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as 38:22 you came has sent me that you might receive your sight and be 38:24 filled with the Holy Spirit immediately they fell, there 38:27 fell from his eyes something like scales and he received his 38:30 sight at once and he arose and was baptized. 38:32 --Love helps people see. 38:34 --His eyes were opened, but also his heart was opened. 38:38 --And when your heart opens and now you can see with your eyes. 38:41 --And you don't have to go very far, look at this, look at this, 38:42 here we go, verse 20, this transitions us exactly where 38:45 we're headed, which is into Paul. 38:47 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues that he 38:51 is the Son of God. 38:54 So, in answer to the broad question, where there any that 38:56 believed? 38:57 There were a lot that believed, but none more important, at 39:01 least in terms of the actual canon of the New Testament, than 39:03 Paul. 39:04 I mean, he's converted, he's befriended, and he begins to 39:08 preach Christ. 39:09 But he had to relearn his own religion. 39:11 He had to go back and learn his own faith. 39:13 --And the reason for that is because, as we're realizing 39:16 here, there is a direct connection, there's direct 39:19 linkage between theology and experience. 39:24 He's on a persecution mission. 39:26 James is talking about his experience, which I can identify 39:28 with, and I think all of us can, where there is condemnation and 39:34 there is judgment in the context of religion, in the context of 39:37 the name of Jesus. 39:39 How can that be? 39:42 Well, Saul's on a mission of persecution why? 39:44 Because, psychologically, we all tend to act out our picture of 39:51 God. 39:52 Which is simply to say that theology dictates relationship 39:56 and experience. 39:57 And this radical transformation in Saul's thinking about God is 40:05 affected by contact with people who are now accepting him. 40:10 God is using human beings as a medium of acceptance and 40:14 forgiveness and love, which, in turn, reacts upon him, and now 40:17 he becomes a man of peace, and the persecution... 40:21 --Preaching a gospel of peace. 40:22 --Yeah, he's so intent on persecution, but there is no, 40:25 there is no compulsion to persecute, to condemn, to judge 40:30 anymore when the gospel takes hold of the human heart. 40:33 Jeffery, you go, and then we take a break. 40:35 --We're gonna take a break right here, but, and then, now that 40:39 he's, his heart is melted by the very people he's out to 40:42 persecute, he receives a conversion experience, 40:44 immediately, he begins to preach, not only does he preach 40:46 to the gentiles, he also ministers to the Christian 40:50 believers. 40:51 Very quickly, in Galatians 1, verse 23, don't turn there, but 40:54 it says here, this is the reaction when the brethren hear 40:57 that this guy, Saul, now Paul, is one of us now, they're like, 41:01 it says here, and this is Paul writing, Galatians 1:23, but 41:05 they were hearing only, quote, he who formerly persecuted us, 41:11 now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy, in verse 41:16 24, and they glorified God in me. 41:20 --In Paul. 41:21 --The believers are saying, now that's beautiful. 41:23 --So, now, they're listening to the very man that was 41:26 persecuting them. 41:27 --We don't want to, but we have to stop right there, just for a 41:31 break, though, we're coming right back. 41:34 [Music] 41:40 --The Light Bearers Story is a short award-winning video that 41:44 gives an inside look at one of the boldest and most effective 41:47 missionary ventures of our time. 41:49 You will see how multiple millions of gospel publications 41:52 are flooding the nations free of charge by surprisingly simple 41:56 means. 41:57 For your free copy of the Light Bearers Story, call 42:00 877-585-1111, or write to Light Bearers, 42:05 37457 Jasper Lowell Road, Jasper, Oregon 97438. 42:12 Once again, for your free copy of the Light Bearers Story, call 42:15 877-585-1111 or write to Light Bearers 42:20 37457 Jasper Lowell Road, Jasper, Oregon 97438. 42:27 Simply ask for the Light Bearers Story. 42:32 [Music] 42:36 --Before the break, we were basically discussing Paul's 42:39 conversion in the book of Acts and the remainder of the book of 42:43 Acts is basically the story of Paul preaching the gospel. 42:47 His theology has now gotten off the ground, it's taken shape and 42:51 we see in the remainder of the New Testament, much of it is 42:55 written by the apostle Paul, and what is he doing? 42:58 He's articulating the gospel, which is to say, he is 43:02 reconfiguring his thinking regarding his own scriptures, as 43:07 a Jew, and he's recasting the vision in the light of Christ. 43:11 --And he's writing many of these letters, Romans and Galatians 43:16 and other places, two churches that he himself either planted 43:19 or played a significant role in growing. 43:22 There's a beauty in that. 43:24 He was gonna persecute and now he's growing, now he's 43:27 nurturing, now he's ministering, and that's just the, it's a 43:30 gospel within the gospel. 43:33 --I love the way this whole picture introduces Paul because 43:37 while it gives the history of him persecuting, it transitions 43:40 quickly to this revelation, it takes place on the road to 43:44 Damascus and this prophecy that God gives to Ananias, and I just 43:48 wanna touch on this verse right here in Acts chapter 9, verse 43:51 16, God is speaking and he's saying, I've chosen Paul, that's 43:55 the context, to be a vessel unto me, to take my name, to bear my 43:59 name, to reveal my character, if you will, to the gentiles, and 44:03 to the kings and the children of Israel, so it's all inclusive 44:06 again, that's the big story, the big picture that we're looking 44:09 at, and then it says in verse 16, and here's the prophecy, I 44:12 will show him how great things he must suffer for my sake. 44:17 I'm gonna show him how much he's going to suffer for my sake, and 44:21 if this is a picture, if Paul's experience is grounded in the 44:26 Calvary event, and if the Calvary event is a summation of 44:30 the story, if Calvary is a picture of the story of the 44:35 heart of God, then what we see in Calvary, what we see in this 44:39 prophecy is the heart of God. 44:41 The heart of God is suffering, the heart of God is agonizing, 44:45 the heart of God is in pain, and Paul has been chosen, and 44:48 actually, you and me and Jeffery and David have been chosen, 44:54 prophesied, called by God to reveal the heart of God, and so, 45:00 when we think about Christianity, we think about, 45:02 you know, preaching, we think about being a part of this 45:05 movement, sometimes we think about it in different terms. 45:07 In other words, I believe that it's very possible for us today 45:11 to be thinking like the Jews think. 45:13 Oh, glory, manifestation of all these positive blessings and all 45:19 of these things that we're going to do that are gonna be so 45:21 great, you know what I'm saying. 45:23 And yet, right when Paul is chosen, God makes it very, very 45:27 clear why I have chosen him, and this, we see this fulfilled in 45:29 Romans 9, Paul talks about it, he's chosen him to suffer 45:34 because Paul is going to reveal to the gentiles and to Israel, 45:39 to the entire world, he's going to reveal my heart. 45:41 And my heart, in relation to the sin problem, is a heart that's 45:45 been suffering, that's been filled with the anguish of 45:49 fallen humanity from the very inception of sin, and I want 45:51 that to be revealed through you. 45:54 --Well, that's a good launch pad into Paul's theology. 45:57 What is Paul's theology? 46:00 How has he recast the vision? 46:02 How is he thinking at this point, post-conversion, what is 46:07 the gospel according to the apostle Paul? 46:11 --That's funny, I started turning my page and I'm 46:13 thinking, wait a minute, you haven't given me a bible verse 46:15 yet. 46:16 --The perfect for that would be 1 Corinthians 15. 46:19 --Take us there, Jeffery. 46:20 --1 Corinthians 15, where, I mean, loaded chapter, by the 46:24 way, but in 1 Corinthians 15, it begins with this in verse 1, 46:28 I'll just read the first 3, 4 verses. 46:31 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel, and then later 46:37 on, he's gonna define that. 46:38 The gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and 46:42 in which you stand, verse 2, by which you also are saved, if you 46:48 hold fast, that word which I preached to you unless you 46:51 believed in vain, for I delivered to you first of all 46:54 that which I also received, and here it is, that Christ died for 47:00 our sins according to the scriptures. 47:03 And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day 47:09 according to the scriptures. 47:11 That's a beautiful definition of the gospel, that Christ died for 47:15 our sins according to the scriptures, he was buried, and 47:18 that he rose again the third day according to the scripture. 47:20 Everything is sandwiched with according to the scriptures. 47:23 --Yeah, and it's the first of all. 47:25 I like that phrase that he uses, I don't know how your bible says 47:28 it, but mine, it's the first, it's the foundation of the 47:31 gospel, it's the first of all, I'm gonna describe to you, here 47:34 it is, here's the first, here's the foundation. 47:37 --Okay, I have a question for you. 47:38 So, how is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ the 47:44 gospel? 47:45 What makes it good news? 47:46 How does that event constitute the gospel, in what sense? 47:51 --Well, one of the ways it constitutes the gospel, I 47:54 believe, is if you go all the way back to the beginning of the 47:56 story, and we see that God has been obscured, his light, his 48:01 love, his heart has been obscured, he got, Satan got into 48:04 our psych, and caused us to look at God in a way... 48:09 --So, man's heart has been obscured. 48:10 --God is self-serving. 48:11 The gospel's been obscured. 48:12 Did I say something different? 48:13 --You said God. 48:14 --God has been obscured, the gospel's been obscured, we have 48:18 looked at God as self-serving, God is out to serve himself, so 48:23 the very first thing that I see here is that the gospel 48:26 according to the death of Jesus Christ reveals a selfless God, a 48:31 God that is other centered, a God that is willing to give 48:33 himself for us who counts us more valuable, I should say, who 48:38 has given his life in exchange for us, who says, basically, I 48:41 would rather have them live, I would rather die for them then 48:44 lose them. 48:45 --Well, later on in the chapter, and I totally agree with that, 48:50 that is happening here for sure, let me add something to it later 48:52 on in the chapter, verses 21 through 26 approximately and 48:56 then 45 and 47, you have Adam brought to light here, and 49:02 there's a sense in which Paul is saying that Jesus is the second 49:05 Adam, he's the second man, so what we see here is that the 49:11 death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that Jesus 49:14 Christ himself, the Christ event rewrites human history, going 49:19 all the way back to Genesis. 49:21 --Adam was the representative of our race, now Christ becomes the 49:24 new representative for the human race. 49:26 --So we have somebody else to identify with now. 49:27 We have a new history to identify with. 49:30 Adam's history is a fallen history that derailed the plan 49:36 that he became a sinner. 49:37 Well, we have a new Adam now, we have a new man who rewrites 49:41 history and creates a new package of objective facts, 49:48 history that we can identify with. 49:51 He lived a perfect life in harmony with God's covenant 49:54 love. 49:56 He died on the cross, he rose again, he ascended to the throne 50:00 on high and that encapsulates God's plan for all of us as 50:06 human beings. 50:07 --We gotta touch on this for just a second because history is 50:10 huge. 50:11 What you identify with genetically in your history is 50:15 huge, it can have a huge impact on you. 50:17 I talked to you in an earlier session about how I look at my 50:20 genetic history, and I look at alcoholism, it's there, it's 50:22 there, it's there, it's there. 50:24 Something I didn't tell you that I, you know, have, that has 50:28 impacted me, my grandfather on my mother's side. 50:32 Now, my father and my mother were never married. 50:34 So, my father's name is Miller, my mother's name is Rafferty. 50:39 And on my mother's side, my grandfather, her father, his 50:42 name was James Rafferty, it's kinda strange to go to a 50:46 gravestone and see your name written there. 50:49 --My uncle's name was David Ascherick. 50:51 --Look at that. 50:52 Now, something that's interesting, as I went through 50:55 my early teen history and gravitated into alcoholism very 50:59 naturally tended into that direction, I remembered my 51:03 grandmother who told me in later years that even though my 51:06 grandfather, her first husband, owned a pub in Ireland and 51:10 alcoholism was rampant through our whole family on that side 51:13 and on the other side, my grandfather, James Rafferty, she 51:17 said, never drank, he didn't drink. 51:20 --Does that impact you to just hear that? 51:22 --It impacted me. 51:23 No, it impacted me, and at that time especially, because I was 51:26 deep into it by that time, it impacted me and I was just 51:29 thinking about that in relation to this story, this second Adam 51:32 story. 51:33 Yes, we're all born under this guilt and this weight of this 51:37 first Adam and how he was deceived and misunderstood God, 51:41 but now we have this second Adam. 51:43 In other words, Paul was saying, hey, you have a new genetic 51:45 history that's been written for you in Jesus Christ. 51:47 --Your own cultural background, you know, we all know it defines 51:51 who you are, how you talk, how you relate to things, what your 51:55 interests are. 51:56 --That's why you sound so Miami. 51:58 --You know, listen, when we were in school, we'd wear these 52:02 little flags, our flag, like, we'd wear bead and we'd put our 52:06 flag into beads, you know, in the shape, and we'd wear that 52:08 with pride because that's your identity, that's your history, 52:10 that's your heritage. 52:12 I don't have one right now. 52:14 I put it back on after the set, but basically, you know, that's 52:18 powerful, how you said, he wrote a new history, we have a new 52:21 history to identify with. 52:23 --Jesus is a rewrite of human history. 52:26 --And there are specific instances in which that history 52:31 is, comes in very sharp focus. 52:36 For example, the first Adam was unfaithful in a garden. 52:41 The second Adam, Christ, was faithful, he made the decision 52:45 to be faithful until death in a garden. 52:47 The first. 52:49 --Gethsemane. 52:50 --The garden of Gethsemane. 52:51 The first Adam had a rib removed from his side that became the 52:55 thing that made his bride, Eve. 52:59 The second Adam, Christ, was pierced in his side, and 53:02 scripture says, out comes blood and water. 53:04 The two things, the blood of Jesus and the water of the 53:07 Spirit. 53:08 So there's just so much here. 53:09 That makes the church, these are the things that make the church, 53:12 and there are others, but the point here is that this isn't 53:14 just something that Paul's like, hey, this is interesting. 53:17 There are touchstones, there are instances where that history has 53:22 been recapitulated by Jesus in the same way that we talked 53:25 about the recapitulation of Israel. 53:27 --But you mentioned earlier about Luke, the genealogy, that 53:30 he goes straight back to... 53:31 --As the son of God. 53:33 So and so, the son of so and so, Adam, the son of God. 53:36 --Yeah, so he wants you to see the link between Adam and Jesus. 53:38 --The two primary figures in the Old Testament that are the Son 53:42 of God are Adam and Israel. 53:45 When Jesus comes on the scene, you brought this out earlier, 53:48 Ty, when that term, son of God is used, it's not just some 53:51 willy nilly term, and we should just say here, it doesn't mean 53:54 the literal son of God in the same sexual sense that it means 53:58 when I have a son and when you have a son, in other words, in 54:01 terms of offspring. 54:03 And there's too many people that misunderstand that, even 54:05 well-meaning sincere people that come from a strong 54:08 non-Trinitarian perspective and they'll say, wait a minute, but 54:11 Jesus is the son of God. 54:12 --Therefore, he had to have a beginning. 54:14 --He had to have a beginning, and he has to be chronologically 54:16 younger than his father, because my sons are younger than me, my 54:20 father is older than me. 54:22 But what Jesus is, the term son of God is not a chronological 54:26 term, it's a relational term, it's a term of connection. 54:30 Right, so, in that sense, yes, the son of God, he's Adam, he's 54:35 Israel. 54:36 So, he's rewriting not only the history of Israel, he's 54:39 rewriting the history of Adam and I think, Ty, we should just 54:42 read some of those verses in 1 Corinthians 15 where he says 54:45 that. 54:46 Let's just do it, he says there in verse 20, but now Christ is 54:49 risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those 54:53 who have fallen asleep. 54:54 He's the first one of those that were asleep, asleep in the grave 54:57 that will be raised. 54:59 Verse 21, for since, by man came death, by man also came the 55:03 resurrection of the dead. 55:05 Adam, Adam. 55:06 Verse 22, for as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all 55:10 be made alive, but each one in his own order. 55:12 Christ, the first fruits, and afterward, those who were at his 55:15 return, his coming, and he goes on, but the point that he's 55:18 drawing out here is that Adam did a thing, Jesus did a thing, 55:22 Adam did a thing, Jesus did a thing. 55:24 --One clarification on that first fruits, I think it's 55:26 important, too, to understand that the first fruits were not 55:28 necessarily first, like you were saying with this paternal thing, 55:32 in the sense of chronology, they were the first in the sense that 55:36 they were the best. 55:37 --Because we know that Moses was resurrected already. 55:38 --He was the best of those that were resurrected, he was the 55:41 chief. 55:42 --Like the first lady. 55:43 --Yes, and another thing here that I think is really powerful, 55:45 you know, when I was, just to identify again, when I was a 55:47 kid, I was born in the States, but I was raised in England. 55:52 My mother raised us in England, so when I was 10 months old, off 55:55 we went to England, that's where my sister and I, twin sister and 55:58 I were raised. 55:59 I remember in my early years in England as I started to grow up, 56:01 knowing that I was American, but I was being raised in England, 56:04 half Irish, I was interacting with other kids, and back then, 56:08 this is the '60s, you know, really, it's the '60s, the whole 56:11 time is the '60s, not even the '70s, this is like 20 years 56:14 after the end of World War II, I was raised in an environment in 56:17 England that was still recovering from that, and I 56:19 remember kids saying things to me about me being American about 56:24 the Americans having this attitude, about all this kind of 56:28 stuff, I remember thinking, I had never been to America, I had 56:32 no identity with America, nothing, but I felt connected to 56:36 America. 56:37 It was like, I'm American, and you don't say bad things about 56:40 us, you know what I'm saying? 56:41 There was an identity. 56:43 When Paul here identifies us with Christ, there's something 56:50 that he's doing here to our psyche. 56:53 He's saying you are connected with this Adam. 56:55 --You know what I just wrote down on this piece of paper 56:57 here, I wrote down, the holy history, that is to say the holy 56:59 history of life, of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus 57:02 is your history. 57:04 And I think we're gonna talk about that in our next session 57:07 or one of the sessions about this universality of what Jesus 57:11 has done. 57:12 It's not just an individual, oh, he did it for Ty and he did it 57:15 for James, he did it for the world. 57:18 --David, it's right here in the text that we just read in 1 57:20 Corinthians 15, for as in Adam, all die, even so... 57:25 --You're in which verse? 57:26 --Verse 22, even so shall all be made alive. 57:29 So, there is a universal sense in which Jesus is now, can I use 57:35 this language, the new representative head of the human 57:40 race. 57:42 So, again, it's not, Jesus isn't dealing here with just 57:44 individual salvation, getting each of us individually out of 57:47 trouble and... 57:49 --Because God is really angry. 57:50 --And getting us into heaven, Jesus here is working something 57:54 out that has universal implications. 57:57 --We respond individually, of course. 57:59 --We respond individually, absolutely, but there's only one 58:03 way to respond individually, Jeffery, and that is if you have 58:06 something objective that you're responding to that is applicable 58:10 for all. 58:11 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son 58:13 that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have 58:16 everlasting life. 58:18 That text, John 3:16 says that the love of God, by which the 58:22 sacrifice of Christ was made, was for all, but the believing, 58:25 the subjective part is individual. 58:29 In other words, put it this way, that believers in Christ do not 58:32 manufacture the facts of the gospel. 58:35 They apprehend them. 58:37 --They respond to something that is already fact. 58:39 --They respond to an objective reality that is worked out in 58:43 totality in Christ. 58:46 --Faith doesn't make facts, faith takes hold of the facts. 58:49 --That's right. 58:50 It's so crucial that we understand this and that's the 58:54 only way, really that you can grasp that salvation is 110% by 59:02 grace through faith alone in Christ. 59:05 There must be a solid, objective foundation upon which subjective 59:12 faith... 59:13 --Is laying hold of it. 59:15 --That's exactly right. 59:16 So, boy, this is pretty exciting, and we're just gonna 59:19 have to delve into it in our next conversation. 59:26 --Awesome. |
Revised 2014-12-17