Participants: David Asscherick, James Rafferty, Jeffrey Rosario, Ty Gibson
Series Code: TT
Program Code: TT000031A
|
00:20 Guys, as we launch into the conversation
00:22 that we're going to have today 00:24 one of the crew members had an excellent idea 00:27 and that is that we would employ the "Go-Pro" 00:31 and give a shout out to all those who are viewers 00:33 of Table Talk who are engaged in the study with us. 00:35 Just a great idea. We've got cameras out there 00:37 so now we have a camera on the table. On the table! 00:40 Yeah, we get some close-ups of the facial hair 00:42 and we can pay attention to all the "dudeliness. " 00:44 There's a lot of facial hair around this table. 00:47 I'm the only one clean shaven. Clean shaven; looking good! 00:49 Yeah, if anybody has any opinions out there 00:51 in Table Talk world about it, let us know. 00:53 But we're going to launch into 00:57 the... Looks right on me, huh? 00:59 Yeah, we're going to launch in to a subject 01:01 that I think is pretty provocative. OK. 01:03 So I'll just say the question 01:06 and I think the weight of this idea will immediately 01:11 be evident. "Can those who have never heard the name of Jesus 01:15 be saved? " It's a serious question. Um-hmm. 01:18 Can those - yeah- who've never heard the name of Jesus 01:23 be saved? OK. In my mind... There's a foundation... 01:26 there's a foundation to this question. OK. 01:29 There's something there. Frame it a little bit for us. 01:30 Well, Jeffrey: are there scriptures that explicitly say 01:36 that Jesus is the only way? 01:37 Well, I think we can start with some passages. 01:42 One of them is in John chapter 14. 01:44 Um-hmm. Which is pretty clear and provocative and challenging. 01:49 It's where Jesus mentions His promise 01:52 and in John 14 verse 6 Jesus said: "I am the Way, 01:58 the Truth, and the Life. 02:02 No one comes to the Father except through Me. " 02:05 Um-hmm. So He doesn't say: "I am A way, A truth, A life. " 02:09 "I am THE Way, THE Truth, THE Life. " That's very exclusive. 02:12 And no man... "And no man comes to the Father except through 02:15 Me. " So that kind of sounds like 02:19 what it sounds like. What does it sound like? 02:23 Sounds very exclusive. That without knowing Jesus 02:26 you cannot be saved. Now some people would view that... 02:29 without... What does it not say? 02:32 Without hearing; without knowing; without learning; 02:34 without dot dot dot. Well it says what it says 02:37 but it doesn't say... I know that you were just trying to 02:40 articulate this view that we're going to expound on here. 02:42 It sounds like... exactly. OK, so that is a text that is used. 02:46 It would be helpful for me if we just sort of made it 02:48 very clear that there is a... to our listeners - 02:52 and many of our listeners are going to have heard this - 02:54 some of our listeners might believe this - um-hmm - 02:56 and we're going to do our best to try and dissuade them 02:58 to believe what we believe Scripture teaches - 03:02 and that is the idea that if you don't literally bring your lips 03:06 your mouth to say: "I accept Jesus as my 03:12 personal Savior" or some equivalent thereof... 03:16 Pray the Sinner's Prayer... you know, that thing... 03:18 that you are by that... by that lack of act 03:22 excluded from even the possibility of salvation. 03:25 Right. That's the point. Yeah. 03:26 Now what Jesus is saying there in John 14 verse 6 03:30 doesn't in any way teach that in my view. 03:34 We'll get to that, but that is a text that is used - yeah - 03:37 to say: "Hey, you want to come to the Father 03:40 you have to go through Jesus. " 03:43 OK... that's true. 03:45 But does it mean thereby that you have to say, 03:48 you know, there's some formula... some mantra... 03:51 Is it possible to? In other words, an extension of what 03:53 you're saying: is it possible to encounter 03:57 Jesus to different degrees and in different ways? 04:02 I like the word ways better than degrees. 04:04 Ways... in different ways. You're not born in Christian 04:06 America or in Christian Europe. Maybe you're born in 04:08 a different part of the world. But are there instances? 04:11 Because He says here: "I am the Way, the Truth... " 04:13 Maybe in Miami! "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. " 04:17 So is it possible to encounter the essence of life 04:20 in Christ, truth in Christ, 04:24 without even having heard the name of Jesus? " 04:26 That's the question. Well, let me frame the problem 04:29 in a way that will maybe even feel a little bit more weighty 04:34 to those who are out there looking at this subject 04:38 with us. I read an article a number of years ago 04:40 by an American cartoonist. 04:44 And he's drawing pictures and captions for "funnies" 04:48 in the papers across America. 04:50 And he was known to be a Christian. 04:52 And so a journalist interviewed this guy 04:56 and said: "You're a Christian? " He said: "Yes I'm a Christian. " 04:59 If you're a Christian, do you believe 05:02 that Jesus is the only way for people to be saved? " 05:07 He said: "Yes, I believe that. " 05:09 Then the journalist followed up and he said: "What about all the 05:12 people who lived in the thousands of years of human 05:15 history prior to Jesus' coming 05:18 and never even heard the name of Jesus? 05:20 Are all of them automatically by virtue of the unfortunate 05:25 reality that they were born in that time in history 05:28 are they automatically lost? " 05:29 And then the journalist went a step further and said: 05:31 "And there are people in the world today even after 05:34 Jesus came as a historical figure 05:37 for the last 2,000 years who lived in circumstances 05:40 where they never heard about Jesus... 05:43 Are all of them automatically thereby lost? " 05:46 And he said: "You know, that sounds really hard 05:48 but yeah, that's what I believe. 05:50 I believe that Jesus is the only Savior 05:54 so it is unfortunate but people who have never 05:57 heard the name of Jesus are going to burn in hell forever. " 06:01 The guy said it like that? 06:03 Yeah! Well, the journalist was asking 06:05 "What about eternal torment? " 06:07 The question... I mean, I'm giving my own wording of it 06:10 concerning eternal torment. And he said: "Yeah, they're 06:12 going to be in hell forever. " 06:15 That reminds me about I was telling you guys a story 06:17 of a guy who goes into an art show 06:19 and there's a portrait/painting of Gandhi 06:23 and he's presented there at the art show as a hero. 06:28 But it's a Christian art show? Yes, it's a Christian thing. 06:31 And so somebody - presumably a Christian - writes with a marker 06:35 on the actual picture... 06:38 Oh, that was on a note that was placed on the picture... 06:40 Is that what it was? Yeah, it was a sticky note that was 06:41 placed on the picture. That sound probably more like it. 06:44 And they wrote down something like: "Hello, 06:47 you - slash - he's burning in hell. " Right now. 06:50 Yeah, Gandhi. Gandhi... right. 06:52 And the implication was 06:54 how could Gandhi be saved when he wasn't a professed 07:00 follower of Jesus? Right. 07:03 So that's kind of a hard... hard core conclusion. 07:07 I have my own story that's very similar to that. 07:10 Very similar to that actually. 07:11 So I was working as a... I was working in an 07:16 adventure sports store, so we were selling rock climbing gear, 07:19 mountain bikes, snow boards, 07:21 and this was just prior to my conversion. 07:23 I was 21 years old. I gave my life to Jesus 07:25 when I was 23, so this is two years before my conversion. 07:27 But I was already at least preliminarily 07:30 aware of or interested in spiritual things to some degree. 07:33 At least things of social interest or political interest 07:37 or whatever. And I wasn't an overtly spiritual person 07:39 but I was a spiritually sensitive person. 07:41 That would be the way I'd put it. OK... 07:42 So I'm working there at this place called PJ's Adventure 07:44 Sport in Rapid City, SD. 07:46 And there was a friend of mine who I went to high school with 07:49 who actually lived just down the street from me. 07:50 He was a well-known Christian in our high school. 07:53 Great guy; his name was Tim. 07:55 And he was also a bit of a rock climber. 07:57 In fact, he's the one that got me into rock climbing. 07:58 So he came in and we would just chat it up every now and then. 08:00 And he came into the store and I was working. 08:02 And in the course of the conversation 08:04 Tim says to me... starts to witness to me. 08:07 "Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior? " 08:09 To which I say: "I don't even know what that means. " 08:12 I had just the whole thing when people say: "Jesus Saves" 08:15 I would feel like: "Well for what? That's unclear to me. " 08:17 As somebody who didn't have a theological background 08:20 or a real strong Biblical foundation 08:22 a lot of these platitudes just went off... 08:24 I was like: "What does that mean? " 08:25 So he starts kind of trying to witness to me. 08:27 And in the course of that conversation 08:29 I asked this very question of him. I said: "OK, well Tim 08:31 here's the problem I have. What about the Buddhists, 08:33 the Muslims, the irreligious people in the world... 08:37 not who don't know but who've never had a chance to know? " 08:40 Right. And his response was exactly as you just said 08:43 the journalist's was. His was: "Well then they would be lost. " 08:46 And I said: "Well that strikes me as, you know, 08:51 fantastically unfair. " Yeah. 08:53 And then I said... And then my follow-up question was 08:55 exactly... That's why I was so: "Like really? 08:57 The journalist said it? " 'Cause my question was: 08:59 "Do you also believe that those who don't make that 09:03 verbal specific profession/confession 09:06 that they will go to hell for eternity? 09:09 Like an eternal torment... a conscious torment? " 09:12 And he said: "Yeah. " 09:14 Which by the way is one of our questions later in this series. 09:16 Later in the series. Will God burn people up forever in hell? 09:18 But I didn't know anything about the Bible. 09:20 And at that moment... That does not sound right. 09:23 I just said: "Well whatever it is that you believe 09:25 it's a guarantee that that belief alone right there 09:28 precludes me from even the possibility of believing. " 09:31 Um-hmm. 'Cause I couldn't... I wasn't this sophisticated yet 09:34 in my belief. But this is what I would have been 09:37 thinking in a visceral, intuitive sense 09:39 but now I'll put language on it. 09:41 I could never love, worship, admire 09:45 a being that would make a decision like that. 09:47 That would rule the universe like that. 09:49 That's arbitrary... I can't do that. 09:51 I did do a little push-back but he was just... 09:54 he was a stone wall. Right. 09:56 He said: "That's what the Bible teaches. " 09:57 Um-hmm. Back to the thing we talked about yesterday. 09:59 "The Bible says it, therefore" in this sort of authoritative 10:02 sense rather than: "Come, let us reason together, 10:04 Let's think this through" sense. 10:05 And rather than the narrative of Scripture 10:07 because what many Christians have trained themselves to do 10:12 is to focus on a verse, a sentence, a line 10:16 and to build a conceptual framework or a belief 10:19 on that verse, that sentence, that line. 10:22 Without looking at the whole... Jeffrey just gave one, yeah. 10:24 "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes 10:26 to the Father but by Me. " 10:27 There's one or two ways you can look at that verse, though. 10:29 You can look at it in the narrow context 10:33 that it's saying: "If you don't have an encounter 10:37 with the historical figure Jesus and speak His name 10:40 you can't be saved. " OR you could hear Jesus 10:43 enunciating the fact that in Him is embodied 10:47 the principles and the character and the reality 10:50 of truth and life and the way 10:53 and that people can encounter Jesus prior to Him coming 10:58 2,000 years ago as the historical figure 11:00 that we know by the name Jesus Christ. 11:02 Jesus was active prior to His incarnation in the world. 11:07 I'd like to look at a verse on that - yeah - 11:09 that I really appreciate. It's found in Daniel chapter 3. 11:12 And this is going to the Old Testament but it's also 11:14 going... so it's going pre-Christ, pre-incarnation 11:17 but it's also going to a non-Hebrew person. 11:21 This is a story that involves a heathen king. 11:25 And the name of the heathen king is Nebuchadnezzar. 11:28 Nebuchadnezzar was actually sent by God 11:30 on a mission to bring God's people into captivity 11:33 so they could do some evangelism and reach people 11:35 with the message because God loved Nebuchadnezzar 11:38 and wanted him and others to be saved. 11:40 And Nebuchadnezzar... At this point in the story 11:43 in Daniel chapter 3 Nebuchadnezzar is 11:45 doing this little bit of pride thing 11:47 with God and with His people. He set up an image on this 11:51 plain of Dura, and he's forcing everyone to worship the image 11:55 on the pain of death. Um-hmm. 11:57 And if they don't worship the image they die. 11:59 And Daniel's three friends - the Hebrews - 12:02 aren't willing to worship that image because they follow God. 12:05 And so how the narrative goes is the king gets upset 12:08 with them, heats the furnace seven times hotter, 12:11 throws them into the furnace 12:12 thinking that they're going to be completely consumed 12:14 because the mighty men of the kingdom have been consumed 12:17 just throwing them into the furnace. 12:18 And then he goes, and as he's going over to the furnace 12:21 and we just pick it up right here in verse 25: 12:25 He asked his counselors... verse 24... 12:27 he's astonished and he asked his counselors: 12:29 "Didn't we throw three men bound into the furnace? " Hmm. 12:32 And his counselors answer and say: "Yes. " 12:34 And then he says... in verse 25 he says, 12:36 Daniel chapter 3: "He answered and he said: 12:39 'Lo, I see four men loose 12:42 walking in the midst of the fire 12:44 and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth 12:46 is like the Son of God. ' " 12:49 So there it is! There's the Son of God right there. 12:52 Same word that is used - same phrase that is used. 12:54 There's the Son of God right there. 12:56 Not only is He there with those three Hebrews 12:58 but Nebuchadnezzar, heathen king, recognizes Him. 13:02 He says: "There's the Son of God! " 13:04 We have an Old Testament figure, a heathen king, 13:08 who recognizes the Son of God. 13:10 He recognizes Jesus. And I think the reason why 13:12 he recognizes Jesus is because 13:14 he knew enough about the true God through Daniel 13:19 and his friends and the knowledge that they had given 13:21 to Nebuchadnezzar to recognize Him when He was manifest 13:24 with these three Hebrews. Yeah. So it's an Old Testament example 13:28 of the manifestation of Christ. 13:30 Now... Without the name of Jesus being mentioned. 13:32 Yeah. One other verse though I want to bring up, 13:33 and that is I Corinthians 10:4. 13:35 You're familiar with that verse? 13:36 Paul is recounting the history of the Old Testament. 13:40 He's recounting the history of the world 13:41 and he's recounting the history of the Jews 13:43 as they came out of Egypt. And he says there was a "Rock" 13:45 that was with them, there was a pillar of fire that was there. 13:48 And he says that Rock that followed them, that Rock was 13:51 Christ. Christ, yeah. So Christ was manifest. 13:54 He was available through the Old Testament. 13:56 He was also seen in types and symbols, we know that. 13:59 But I just think this is a powerful story. It is! It is! 14:01 That's a great story. That's why I was asking 14:03 the thing about the journalist. That seems... the journalist, 14:05 I think went a step too far there in the story that you were 14:07 describing. Yes! Because I wouldn't think my friend Tim 14:09 would have said that somebody that was 14:12 chronologically or historically before the time of Jesus 14:15 could have never been... I think he would have said 14:18 "Subsequent to Jesus coming that's a ripple now in time, 14:22 it's a ripple now in history. " Yeah. 14:24 Prior to that... I don't know, I'm just guessing. 14:27 I didn't even think to ask that question. 14:29 I wish I would have. But that would seem... 14:30 If Tim's position was absurd, and to me it is 14:33 and it's not Biblical, um-hmm, then this journalist's position 14:36 that you just have to be anachronistically formed: 14:39 "You know, wrong time, sorry... wrong place. " 14:41 That's like... that's beyond absurd. 14:43 But in most mainstream Christian thought 14:47 there is something called dispensationalism 14:49 which actually complicates the situation further. 14:52 And in that view it's basically believed 14:56 that you can only be saved 14:59 New Testament time onward 15:01 by encountering and confessing the name of Jesus. 15:04 And those who were saved prior to that 15:06 were saved in the Old Testament dispensation - right - 15:09 by keeping the law. That's probably what my friend Tim 15:12 would have thought or something analogous to that. 15:14 So still Jesus is not the 15:17 universal Savior that transcends the testaments - 15:22 these two periods, these two epochs in human history - 15:25 And so it's a very muddled theology. 15:30 It doesn't take into consideration 15:32 the mercy and the fairness of God. 15:36 And it doesn't take into consideration the fact 15:39 that God has been active throughout all of human history 15:43 impacting, impacting, impacting people in homes and villages 15:47 and societies and nations all through history. 15:52 And every single human being. 15:54 If we were to ask a Christian with that belief 15:58 in the dispensational approach where Christ is not present 16:01 both before or after Old Testament/New Testament, 16:04 if we were to ask them what is the gospel - 16:06 um-hmm - what would the typical mainstream cliché 16:10 answer be to that? What is the gospel? 16:14 Usually it would be... it would involve the name of Jesus - 16:17 right - Jesus came to die for our sins. It would be 16:19 something like that. And the reason I think that's 16:22 fascinating is because in Galatians chapter 3 16:25 Paul says that the gospel "was preached to Abraham. " 16:30 Yeah... exactly. 16:33 So if the gospel is Jesus 16:36 dying for sins and that's the avenue to salvation... 16:40 Yeah. Paul... New Testament theology... 16:43 said that very gospel was preached to Abraham. 16:46 Yeah. But the name Jesus wasn't mentioned to Abraham 16:50 but the gospel was preached to Abraham. 16:51 Which we... we're going back to the point: Is it possible 16:54 to rub shoulders with salvation - 16:57 with the gospel - without the specific name of Jesus? 17:02 Umm. And clearly it is because in the Old Testament 17:05 we're told the gospel was revealed. 17:07 And that's before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 17:10 You know, there's another point here that I think we need to 17:11 connect with that... what you're saying, and that is in 17:14 the Bible names are significant of character. 17:16 People are named according to the type of person they are 17:20 or perhaps even the thing they would accomplish. 17:22 And when you look in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21 17:25 there's a specific name that is given to Jesus. 17:28 Or let me say it this way: 17:31 the Messiah is given the name Jesus for a specific reason. 17:35 And that is: "You shall call His name Jesus 17:39 because He will save His people from their sins. " 17:41 Jesus is Jesus because He saves people from sin. 17:45 And if the gospel includes the world - John 3:16- 17:48 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten 17:50 Son that whoever believes in Him might not perish 17:52 but have everlasting life. " And Jesus is named Jesus because 17:55 He saves people from sin 17:57 that name is more than just a literal 5-digit word - 18:03 you know, letter - 5- letter word. Oh yeah. 18:05 That name is significant of His purpose to save the world 18:09 from sin. That's right. I think there's explicit Scripture 18:12 that gets at the last two points that you guys have made, 18:17 and that's John chapter 1. Um-hmm. And this requires 18:22 that we get into the text and think about it. 18:25 But just follow the reasoning here. I'll read the text 18:27 and then I'll tell you what I think it means 18:29 and see if you guys think that that's actually here 18:32 in the text. Notice... What verse are you in? 18:35 John chapter 1 verse 1. 18:36 It says: "In the beginning was the Word 18:39 and the Word was with God 18:41 and the Word WAS God. 18:43 The same was in the beginning with God. 18:45 All things were made through Him, and without Him 18:47 nothing was made that was made. 18:50 In Him was life 18:51 and the life was the light of men. 18:53 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness 18:57 did not comprehend it. " That's verses 1 through 5. 18:59 Now this is interesting. 19:01 Here is the gospel of John. 19:03 It was about to tell the story of who? Jesus. 19:07 But in the first five verses he's not using the name Jesus. 19:12 He's saying: "OK... let me tell you 19:14 about this One that I'm about to explain. " 19:18 This is good! "He's the Word, um-hmm, He's the Light, 19:21 and He's been the Word and the Light from way way way back. " 19:25 "He's been actively speaking" This is it right here! 19:29 "to human situations all along through human history. " 19:33 Yes! "And He is the Light. He's been giving enlightenment 19:37 to people's minds. He's the Word. He's been speaking 19:39 to peoples' minds. " But verse 5 is amazing. 19:41 Five, five, five. Hold on... I have to say something. 19:43 I've never... These texts are just coming alive for me. 19:47 I mean, I've read them over and over again. 19:49 I've understood them in broader and broader, deeper 19:52 senses, but this is the first time I'm seeing it this way. 19:54 Really? These verses are probably the most profound 19:59 answer to this question. Think about it! Yeah. 20:01 The name of Jesus and then John says 20:04 "Jesus... let me describe who Jesus is. " Yeah. 20:07 "He's that Word that goes all the way back to the very 20:10 beginning. That's who Jesus... No one can be said... 20:12 There's no other way than this Word that goes all the way... " 20:14 Are you getting a sense? So Jesus is... yes! 20:17 in fact the only way. 20:20 Jesus is in fact the only Savior. 20:22 It's not as if all religious roads and all philosophies 20:27 lead to heaven. Jesus is the only Savior. 20:29 He's the only way. But Jesus, the only Savior and the only way 20:33 can be encountered by various different modes of being. 20:38 One is enlightenment in human conscience. 20:41 The idea is the speaking, the ongoing whispering 20:45 in human hearts, is distinguish- ing between right and wrong 20:48 and longing for something better. 20:50 But verse 5 is amazing. Um-hmm. This is the part that really 20:53 just opened this for me. 20:56 It said: "And the light shines in the darkness 20:58 and the darkness did not comprehend it. " 21:00 That's very difficult language. I'm reading the NKJ version. 21:03 If you look at other versions and you look at the Greek, 21:05 this is literally saying "This Word and this Light 21:08 has been - past tense - shining 21:12 in the darkness all along 21:13 and the darkness... " This is how it says it in the Greek... 21:16 the darkness never extinguished it... the light. 21:19 The darkness never overcame the light. " 21:21 So this Scripture is literally saying Jesus has been around 21:24 all along. Jesus has been saving people 21:26 down through human history. Yes! 21:27 The darkness has been trying to steal souls from Him 21:31 but He continues to speak light into human consciousness 21:35 and the darkness is never... has never been able 21:39 to overcome the light. 21:41 And you're going to read verse 9, right? YOU read verse 9. 21:43 This is amazing. Verse 9 just blows it up. 21:45 "That was the true Light 21:47 which lights every man that comes into the world. " 21:50 No one's left out. Yeah! No one's left out. 21:52 Including those that never heard the name of Jesus. Yes! 21:54 Absolutely. And still He hasn't used the name Jesus. Right! 21:58 He's telling all this background, this back story, 22:02 to what has been going on prior to the incarnation of Christ. 22:06 In all that back story he's describing Word and Light. 22:10 Um-hmm. And then you come to verse 14. It says: 22:12 "And then guess what? The Word became flesh 22:16 and dwelt among us. " Here He came into the world: 22:19 the very One who'd been actively pursuing human hearts 22:22 all along through history. 22:24 Isn't that just? It's powerful! I just love it! It IS powerful! 22:27 Love it; love it; love it! 22:29 And it makes so much sense 22:31 now when you read scriptures like Acts chapter 4 22:34 verse 12, yeah: "There is no name given among men... 22:39 no other name given among men whereby we must be saved 22:42 but the name of Jesus. " Yeah. 22:43 Jesus is the only Savior. 22:46 But He's been actively pursuing and people have been actively 22:50 encountering Him in their hearts and their minds - 22:52 and no man's been left out - all along. Every man. That's right. 22:55 We're so excited about this 22:58 that we're forgetting about our break. 22:59 We have to take a break. 23:01 We have to take a break and then we'll come right back. 23:10 This is the story of Naiema 23:13 who took a bus to the doctor 23:14 and found a piece of paper with words of hope about Jesus 23:20 which was left by a church member who unpacked a box 23:23 that came from a truck which drove in from Durban 23:27 where a ship was docked that sailed from Seattle 23:31 loaded with containers stacked high with millions of tracts. 23:35 The truck came from the Light Bearers Publishing House 23:39 where more than 600 million pieces of gospel literature 23:43 have been printed in forty-two languages. 23:48 Light Bearers distributes this literature free of charge 23:51 all over the world. 23:53 And each piece costs only 5 pennies to print, transport, 23:57 and deliver. Every day millions of people 24:02 buy a $5 cup of coffee. 24:04 Five dollars a cup five days a week: it adds up fast. 24:10 But at just 5 cents a piece that same $25 24:14 can also ship 500 pieces of literature 24:18 and give hope to people like Naiema 24:22 who shared that paper with a classmate 24:25 who gave it to her cousin 24:27 who shared it with his boss 24:29 who passed it to her grandmother 24:31 who left it on another bus 24:34 where it will be found by someone else. 24:38 And the story continues. 24:41 Five cents doesn't buy a lot these days. 24:44 But in other parts of the world your nickel could change 24:47 someone's life. 24:49 Your gift of $25 a month 24:51 sends out 6,000 pieces of gospel literature each year. 24:55 Fifty dollars sends out 12,000. 24:58 And $100 a month sends out 24,000 messages of hope 25:03 every year all over the world. 25:07 Empower Light Bearers to continue this story. 25:10 Send your gifts to Lightbearers.org or by calling: 25:18 Who knew 5 little pennies could do so much? 25:28 So we ended on a very exciting note. 25:30 John chapter 1 is so powerful in bringing to our attention 25:34 the fact that Jesus is the Word and the Light 25:37 that has been actively pursuing people 25:40 in their thoughts, in their minds, in their hearts 25:42 bringing illumination all through history. 25:45 The John chapter 1 concept is also present in 25:49 two other passages that I want to see what you guys think of. 25:51 Now here it's The Word, right? Yeah. 25:54 In Deuteronomy chapter 30... listen to these words. 25:58 It'll just click. This is in Deuteronomy chapter 30 26:01 starting with verse 11. 26:03 This is Moses speaking to the children of Israel. 26:05 He's been instructing them and telling them 26:07 everything from the Ten Command- ments to all kinds of teachings. 26:09 And he says: "For this commandment 26:11 which I command you today is not too mysterious for you 26:14 nor is it far off. 26:17 It is not up in heaven that you should say: 26:19 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it... ' 26:22 that is, this Word, this Truth... 'down for us 26:25 that we should hear it? ' 26:26 Nor is it beyond the sea that you should say: 26:29 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it? ' " 26:31 That is this commandment, this Word, this Truth, to us. 26:33 Who will bring this to us from over across the sea? 26:35 But notice this... he says: 26:38 "But... " verse 14... "The Word... " The what? 26:41 "The Word is very near you. 26:45 It is in your mouth and in your heart 26:49 that you may do it. " 26:50 Do you hear what Moses is saying here? 26:52 He's saying: "Listen, all this stuff I've been teaching you, 26:56 all this instruction, 26:58 it's not mysterious. 27:00 You just need to pay attention 27:02 to The Word that's been speaking to you even before 27:04 I began instructing you. " Um-hmm. 27:06 "You need to pay attention to The Word that's been 27:08 on your own tongue and in your own heart. " 27:12 What does he mean "on your own tongue? " 27:14 Human beings even apart from the declarations 27:18 of Scripture, they don't have the Bible before them 27:21 necessarily but on their lips they're holding one another 27:24 accountable. "Why did you just treat me like that? " Um-hmm. 27:26 "That was inappropriate the way you treated... " 27:29 So the word of truth is coming out of us 27:33 in calling one another to account on issues of 27:37 mercy and justice. It was written on the conscience. 27:39 And he says: "And it's in your heart. " 27:41 "The Word is in your heart. You don't need to go up there 27:43 or over there to get it. Just pay attention to what 27:45 God is telling you. " Wow! I have several thoughts 27:47 and they're bubbling over. The first thought is 27:49 is that what you just said there, Ty, is hugely significant 27:53 when you couple that with the fact 27:55 that Jesus and Paul said that the summary... 27:58 the summation, the distillation of the Old Testament is 28:01 to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 28:04 Umm. Right? That's Galatians what is? Five or six? 28:06 And Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. 28:08 "This is the law and the prophets: " - yeah, um-hmm - 28:10 "do unto men as you would have them do unto you. " 28:12 So the point that you're saying there is that this isn't some 28:15 thing you have to climb to the top of a mountain 28:17 or sail across the sea to get. You know; this is inside of you. 28:21 It's intuitive to you. Yeah. Now here's the second point 28:23 that's bubbling over. Paul quotes that very text 28:27 in Deuteronomy, and I see you're going to Proverbs in a second. 28:28 But that text that you just found in Deuteronomy 28:30 Paul quotes that in Romans 10. 28:32 That's right. I'll just read it, but then 28:34 it's fascinating where he goes with it. 28:36 Romans chapter 10 he says: 28:38 "Do not say in your heart... " I'm in verse 6... 28:40 "Do not say in your heart: 'who will ascend into heaven... ' 28:43 he's quoting Deuteronomy... 28:44 That is, to bring Christ down from above. 28:47 Now you say: "That's Christ! " 28:48 That Word... yeah... he said: "That's Christ. " 28:50 He said: "Or who will descend into the abyss? " 28:53 That is, to bring Christ up from the dead. 28:55 So then he says: "But what should you say? 28:58 The Word is... " The WORD... he just said it's Christ. 29:02 John said it's Christ. 29:03 Moses is saying it's Christ. Powerful! 29:05 "That Word is near you; it's in your mouth 29:08 it's in your heart. This is the Word of faith 29:10 which we are preaching. " And then he says in verse 9, 29:13 and this is a verse that's actually used to teach 29:15 the exact opposite. I've gotta take notes on this. 29:17 He says in verse 9 that: "If you confess with your mouth 29:20 the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God 29:23 raised Him from the dead... " four words... 29:24 "you will be saved! " 29:27 This is amazing! It's huge! 29:29 So what now? Romans 10 beginning in verse 6 29:33 and then Deuteronomy 30. 29:35 And the thing that's so big to me there is that 29:37 Paul tells you what the Word is. 29:39 He says: "That is to bring Christ down from above. " 29:41 "That is to bring Christ up from... " No, it's right there. 29:44 It's next to you. " You wouldn't say there's 29:46 a contradiction in verse 9 "If you confess with your mouth 29:49 that Jesus... " No, because Paul is writing to people 29:52 who do historically know the name of Jesus. 29:54 He's writing to a church in Rome 29:56 and in that circumstance he's saying: "If you confess with 29:58 your mouth that Jesus... " But the point is 30:00 that he's drawing on this idea that God through Christ 30:03 has pervasively been working in the whole of human history. 30:06 He's the Light that lights every man that comes into the world. 30:08 Now we should bring this point out: 30:09 did the Jews in a sense have a special dispensation? 30:13 Did the Jews in a sense have a special... maybe that's even 30:15 the wrong word to use. Did they have a privilege? 30:18 Paul actually says that. In Romans - yes, yes - 30:20 Paul is saying 'cause he's basically saying: 30:22 "Hey, look, circumcision doesn't help you. 30:23 That's not the thing. " So Paul understands 30:26 and then he says in chapter 3 verse 1 of Romans, Romans 3:1, 30:30 he said: "Well what advantage then does the Jew have? 30:32 Or what profit is there in circumcision? " 30:34 And he says: "Well, mainly this... " Um-hmm. 30:37 "that they receive the Word of God. " 30:39 Um-hmm. So while it's possible for somebody that does not have 30:43 the actual exposure of God's works in history 30:46 both Old and New Testament to respond 30:49 to the sense in their heart. And Paul's going to say that 30:51 in Romans 2, which I'm sure we'll get there eventually. 30:53 It's easier if we have the written record of... 30:56 but that doesn't mean that God can't work in various ways. 30:59 Doesn't mean that he's not working. And He IS working. 31:02 Yeah. I mean, we quoted in an earlier presentation 31:05 that: "The heavens declare the glory of God 31:06 and the firmament shows His handiwork. 31:08 Day unto day utters... " Speech... the word... 31:11 "night unto night shows forth knowledge. " 31:14 And even the context of what you're saying, David, 31:15 is so profound because it's talking in the context 31:18 about how Christ is the end of the law... 31:20 He's the goal of the law. 31:22 Christ is the goal of the law, and then previous to that 31:25 he says: "What shall we say, then? " 31:27 Verse 30 of Romans chapter 9 31:29 that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness 31:32 have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of the 31:35 the Gentiles. The Gentiles, in other words the non-Jewish 31:36 people. The non-Jewish people because the goal, the whole 31:39 reason why Moses was given the law 31:42 was to lead to Jesus Christ. That's the goal of the law; 31:44 that's what it leads to. Yeah... yeah. 31:46 So I said I had two scriptures. 31:48 OK, that was a big parenthetical statement. Back to you. 31:50 OK... two scriptures that correlate with John 1. 31:54 OK. The first was Deuteronomy 31:56 and then you took us forward to Paul in Romans 10. 31:59 All right. But listen to this, you guys. 32:01 So if Jesus is The Word in chapter 1 of John, 32:05 listen to this language from Proverbs. 32:08 What's happening in Proverbs chapter 4 through chapter 8 32:11 is Wisdom with a capital W 32:15 is being personified as if wisdom is a person. 32:19 OK. Now we think of wisdom 32:21 as just information and data. 32:25 But here it's very interesting because in chapter 4 32:28 the person who's writing this... Solomon is saying 32:32 "Wisdom is crying out in the streets. " Um-hmm. 32:37 "Wisdom is over by the city gate declaring justice 32:41 through the men who pass sentence on people who commit 32:44 crime. Wisdom is heard in the marketplace 32:48 when you're doing deals with people and you're about to 32:51 exchange money for product Wisdom is actively... " 32:55 Wisdom, Wisdom, Wisdom is in every aspect of life. 32:59 And then it's interesting. 33:01 He says of this Wisdom: 33:04 "Love her and she will keep you. " 33:07 What verse are you in? I'm in verse 6 and 7. 33:10 "Love her... " The latter part. Well I'll read all of 6 and 7. 33:13 "Do not forsake her - that is, Wisdom - 33:15 and she will preserve you. 33:17 Love her and she will keep you. 33:19 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom. 33:23 and with all your getting get understanding. " 33:26 Now, just hold that in your mind and go over to chapter 8 33:29 'cause we don't have time, of course, to go through 33:31 all his explanation of Wisdom's activities. 33:34 But then when you come to chapter 8 33:36 he says in verse 1: "Does not Wisdom cry out? 33:40 and understanding lift up her voice? " 33:42 And then in verse 3: "She cries out at the gate. " 33:46 I mentioned that. And he's just going on. In verse 7: 33:49 "For my mouth will speak truth and wickedness as an abomination 33:53 to my lips. " All this is going on in the human experience. 33:56 Let me put it that way. I got you. OK, then come to 33:58 verses 35 and 36. 34:01 Wisdom is speaking now in the first person. 34:04 OK... "For whoever finds me - 34:08 Wisdom - finds life and obtains favor... " 34:13 That's grace... "from the Lord. 34:16 And whoever sins against me 34:18 wrongs his own soul. All who hate me love death. " 34:24 When we come to the New Testament 34:26 in I Corinthians chapter 1 verse 24 34:29 Paul says that "Christ is the wisdom of God. " Um-hmm. 34:34 He's the very One who is personified here in the book 34:39 of Proverbs. Jesus in the New Testament is 34:42 the source of life: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. " 34:44 But here wisdom... if you latch onto wisdom 34:46 there's life in wisdom. 34:48 That's not saying that wisdom detached from personhood 34:53 has salvation. It's saying that all wisdom 34:56 has its source in the person that is Christ. 35:00 What you were saying: is it possible to run into 35:02 Jesus - yeah - and it is! 35:05 Right? Wisdom comes from Christ. 35:07 So discovering wisdom allows you in a sense to 35:10 rub shoulders with Jesus. Yeah. 35:12 Even more than that, I Corinthians chapter 1 is 35:14 saying: "For Christ is our wisdom and our righteousness. " 35:17 He IS wisdom... wisdom personified in a sense 35:20 because it talks about how wisdom here in chapter 9 has 35:23 built her house, etc., etc. Right. 35:25 In other words, God is putting Himself 35:28 in this personification of wisdom. 35:30 "I am Wisdom. If you love Me, you love life. 35:33 If you hate Me, you love death. I am wisdom. " 35:35 And then Paul says that wisdom that the Old Testament was 35:38 talking about, was personifying, Paul says that wisdom 35:40 was Jesus. Yeah. 35:42 So all those Old Testament preachers and prophets... 35:44 I'm just... Just go to... 35:50 Get 'em out there; get 'em out there; get 'em out there! 35:53 We want to explain this with clarity and we want to get it 35:56 so bad! All these verses in Proverbs 35:58 that are talking about wisdom and we say: "It's Solomon. " 36:00 No, no, no, it's NOT Solomon! 36:02 That's Jesus. That's God speaking right there. 36:04 Just as a word on that, recall that... and we said this 36:07 in a previous conversation but it bears mentioning here 36:10 that "In the beginning was the Word" is the logos. 36:13 Yeah. That doesn't just mean... It doesn't mean only 36:15 a word. It's the same root word from which we get like 36:19 biology or theology 36:23 or anthropology. The logy part at the end 36:27 is, for example: biology is the word 36:29 or the study about life. 36:31 Anthropology: the study about man. 36:34 Knowledge... wisdom... theology. 36:37 That's right. Knowledge, wisdom of God. 36:39 Many believe that... Many scholars believe that 36:42 John is intentionally here utilizing a Greek idea, 36:45 a Greek concept, to speak to people about 36:48 that thing... that pervasive, ubiquitous: that is Jesus. 36:53 And there's something I wanted to say about the light 36:55 and the dark. He says two things in John 1. 36:57 He's the Light that lights every man that comes into the world 37:00 and He is The Word. OK, so then on the most basic level 37:03 what is the purpose of light? 37:05 To dispel darkness. 37:07 And on the most basic level what's the purpose of a word? 37:09 To communicate. Um-hmm. 37:11 So God is dispelling darkness 37:15 and He's communicating through the whole of the human 37:18 experience, through the whole of human history, 37:20 through... And we have to get to these texts eventually 37:23 that talk about how He does it through creation, 37:25 He does it through our innermost conscience. 37:27 Doesn't He also do it through the Word? Of course He does! 37:29 Does He do it through Christians? Occasionally 37:32 He does get through through persons. 37:35 So... And the point is that there is this pervasive 37:40 sense in which God is not playing favorites. 37:43 I love those texts that say God is not a respecter 37:45 of persons. He's not setting this nation aside and saying: 37:48 "Ah, phooey on all those other nations. 37:50 This is My nation; you're the really special one. " 37:53 In fact, God did not just give truth to the descendants of 37:56 Abraham and Israel. His intention of calling 37:58 Abraham and Israel was to give truth through - yeah - Abraham 38:02 and Israel - yeah - the descendants of Abraham. 38:05 You go for it but one quick thought 38:07 and in the book of Daniel that is another point 38:10 because the first person to get a prophetic dream in Daniel 38:12 is not Daniel; it's not Daniel's friends. That's right. 38:14 It's Nebuchadnezzar; it's the king! 38:15 And God is saying: "I love that guy! " 38:18 Pagan, murderous, dictatorial... Yeah! 38:20 Gets a prophetic vision! 38:22 And what I love in Daniel 4... 38:24 I love in Daniel 4 where he penned this vision... You know, 38:26 the vision of the tree that's cut and all that. 38:28 We don't have to get into that, but Daniel says: 38:30 "God has done this... " Is this Daniel 2 or 4? Four. 38:34 "to show you the thoughts of your heart. " 38:36 So God was communicating. 38:38 "God is reaching out to you, Nebuchadnezzar! 38:40 You're a pagan, idolatrous, murderous king 38:43 and yet God loves you! " 38:44 And the tree is going to be cut down but the band is 38:46 going to... It remains! 38:48 And then we get to Daniel chapter... what is it? Six 38:50 where Nebuchadnezzar writes the chapter. 38:53 Is that 5 or? That's four... that's four! 38:55 Where he is saying: "I extol the Most High. " 38:57 Poor Jeffrey over there... he wants to make a point. 38:59 The heathen author of scripture in the Old Testament. 39:03 It's Nebuchadnezzar. Um-hmm. 39:04 Well most of you know that chapter 4 was written by 39:06 Nebuchadnezzar, right? That came as a shock to me. 39:08 OK. I need to go to Acts chapter 17 39:10 because I think it wraps everything we've been saying. 39:13 This is where Paul goes to Athens 39:15 and he... the intellectual capital of the world... 39:18 he's in the hub of... you mentioned Greek. 39:21 John purposely uses this Greek idea, but 39:24 in Acts 17 Paul is in Athens, 39:27 the mecca of this Greek philosophy, 39:31 and as he's there he's just overwhelmed 39:35 by how people are just searching and searching 39:38 and trying to arrive at this thing we've been talking about: 39:42 the logos. OK... keep going. 39:46 Faster, though, 'cause I've got something to say. 39:49 Hurry, hurry, hurry! In Act's 17, I'm purposely going 39:52 to go slow mo. Man, this is going to kill me. 39:55 In verse 23 he says that he finds an inscription 39:57 "to the unknown God. " Right? Which I think we should 40:00 we should dwell on that. But in verse 26 40:04 he said: "We're going to encounter this in creation. " 40:06 Verse 26: "He has made from one blood 40:11 every nation of men to dwell on all the face 40:14 of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed time 40:17 and boundaries of their dwelling. " Ooh! 40:21 So there's time there and there's geography. 40:23 So God is in the business of positioning people at the right 40:27 time in history and in the right places. Yeah, yeah. 40:30 For the purpose of what we would ask Paul. 40:32 Providential orchestration. 40:33 That's right. And the purpose is, verse 27: 40:36 So that... God is doing this for the purpose... "that they 40:41 should seek the Lord in the hope that they might 40:45 grope for Him and find Him. " And I want to just say 40:48 a few things here. "Grope for Him. " 40:51 Take your time. This idea of "groping" for God... 40:55 We've been on light and darkness. Yeah, right. 40:57 I'm imagining entering into my house. 40:58 When I get home at night it's dark, and I'm in my room and I'm 41:01 groping around trying to find my way to the light switch. 41:04 Right? So they're groping around trying to find Him. 41:08 And then it says: "that they might find Him 41:10 though He is not far from each one of us. " 41:14 Speaking of John chapter 1 fast forward, the last thing 41:18 I'll say then you guys can just get out of your cage. 41:20 In Hebrews 3- we've gotta take a break - 41:23 "Truly the times of ignorance God overlooked... 41:25 Um-hmm. "but now commands all men to repent. " 41:28 Seems to me that that's a powerful passage! 41:30 It shows and affirms every- thing we've been laying down. 41:33 Yeah. That God has been working from day one. 41:36 It's not just the manifestation of Jesus in Bethlehem 41:38 and onward. Right. But that God has been in the business 41:41 of interacting with humanity 41:44 throughout different time eras and throughout different 41:47 locations for the simple purpose of making Him 41:50 as the logos, as the Word, 41:52 as the Light accessible to people... Um-hmm! 41:55 And people in their ignorance - um-hmm - 41:57 have been rubbing shoulders with Jesus 42:00 and He's accepted that. But then he says: 42:02 God winked at that ignorance 42:04 but His ultimate goal is to bring them one step further 42:06 for the honor of His name. And He says that He is not 42:09 "far from any one of you" in Acts 17. 42:12 That's the very point that Paul was making, 42:14 the very point that Moses was making. 42:15 You don't have to ascend into the heavens to bring it down. 42:17 You don't have to sail across the sea to get it. 42:19 It's right there! That He's near. 42:21 One other thing, though. Jeffrey missed this verse 42:23 but it's verse 23. By the way, we're two minutes over 42:26 for the break, but go and finish this one point 42:28 we'll take the break. Well, verse 25 says that 42:30 "In Him we have life and breath and all things. " 42:33 And Jeffrey mentioned... he's saying, Jeffrey's saying, 42:35 he's suggesting these verses show us that God has been active 42:38 through all time with all different people. 42:40 And he says "In him we have life and breath and all things. " 42:42 You just go back to Daniel chapter 5. 42:44 This guy cannot stay away from Daniel! 42:46 Daniel chapter 5. This is coming to the end 42:50 of the reign of Babylon, OK? 42:53 The king here, Belshazzar, is being confronted by a dream. 42:56 Not a dream but a hand that has written. 43:00 And Daniel comes in to interpret it, and this is what Daniel says 43:03 to him. Daniel says to him: "You know the history of 43:05 your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. 43:07 You haven't humbled yourself. You've lifted up yourself 43:09 against the Lord of heaven. You've brought the vessels 43:11 of His house before you. You've eaten... your lords 43:14 and wives have drunk out of them. 43:16 You've prayed to gods of silver and gold, 43:18 the gods of stone that see not nor hear not. " 43:21 Then he says this: "But the God in whose hands 43:23 thy breath is and whose are all thy ways 43:26 thou hast not glorified. " Yeah! And in the context of that 43:29 he says: "Even though you knew this. " 43:31 Jeffrey, you said people have been ignorant... 43:33 But some people have NOT been ignorant. 43:35 God has manifest Himself to heathen kings and told them: 43:39 "I've given you life and breath and all things. " 43:41 And the entire court of Babylon is hearing this. 43:43 Yeah, wow! The entire Medo-Persian empire 43:45 hears about this God. Everyone hears about this God. 43:48 We don't want to take a break but we have to take a break. 43:52 It's painful! It's painful and we'll come right back. 43:54 So just push the pause button. 43:58 The Light Bearers story is a short, award-winning video 44:02 that gives an inside look at one of the boldest 44:04 and most effective missionary ventures of our time. 44:07 You will see how multiple millions of gospel publications 44:10 are flooding the nations free of charge by surprisingly 44:13 simple means. For your free copy of the Light Bearers Story 44:17 call: 44:45 Simply ask for The Light Bearers Story. 44:53 So you all know that something really... literally exciting 44:57 happened in the break. What? 44:59 I don't know what you're talking about. 45:01 Just so our viewers know we were getting the program 45:03 going and we got about 2 minutes into it 45:06 and this lightness above us went blue 45:08 and then it went boom! I thought it was the second coming. 45:12 You had the craziest look on your face. 45:14 Your eyes just went bloop! I think you were making 45:18 such a powerful point that it emitted enough energy 45:21 to blow that bulb. 45:24 Well somewhere on our Instagram or on our website or something 45:26 we'll put up my face 'cause it was like: "What has happened? " 45:29 Boom! It was like the end of the world was coming. 45:31 It was "end of the world" stuff. 45:32 So what was the point? So here's the point: 45:34 OK... So Jeffrey left us off in Acts 17. What I love 45:37 about Acts 17 is not just the fact that 45:40 the Word is near and He's close and you can grope. 45:43 And I like to say that if you can grope and find something 45:46 it can't be difficult to find. 45:47 It can't be far. If you put somebody in a totally dark 45:50 room and say: "OK, there is a dime in that room... 45:54 find it. " Well, that's going to be a tall order: 45:56 to grope and find a dime in a perfectly pitch dark room. 45:59 But if you say: "OK... find the wall. " 46:01 OK... you can grope and find the wall. 46:04 And the fact that Paul uses that imagery 46:06 says that and his point is it's not far from you. 46:08 Right. Which was Moses' point. You don't have to sail 46:11 or you don't have to ascend. OK... what I love is that Paul 46:15 uses points of connectivity with the culture that he's in. 46:18 Paul was a master of contextualization. 46:21 So Paul said: "Some of your own poets have said" 46:23 to the Athenian philosophers in Acts 17... 46:25 He says: "Your own sculpture to the unknown God 46:29 in all things I perceive that you are very religious. " 46:31 So he's drawing points of connectivity. 46:33 He's trying to find those redeemable elements in their 46:37 culture. Yeah. And even if they're not perfectly redeemable 46:40 he grabs them, twists them, 46:42 and forces them into the gospel. 46:44 He's like: "This is pointing to Jesus; this is pointing to 46:46 the Word; this is pointing to the light. " 46:48 OK. Every relic of truth is eventually pointing to 46:50 the same truth. All truth is God's truth. 46:52 Yeah, that's the point. Regardless of where it's found. 46:56 All truth is God's truth; all beauty is God's beauty. 46:59 Now check this out: right now at my local church that I pastor 47:03 the Kingscliff SDA church... just want to give a shout out 47:05 to my people - Kingscliff. 47:06 We're preaching right now through the book of Acts 47:09 and we did that at our Light Bearers Convocation 47:11 a couple of years ago. Um-hmm. Well, I just recently preached 47:13 before I came here on Acts 12, 13, and 14. 47:17 And in Acts chapter 13- 47:20 follow this - Paul here is the master of contextualization 47:22 and building bridges to communicate the gospel, 47:25 he says: "If by any means that I might draw or direct 47:28 somebody's attention to Jesus... " He was so passionate! 47:31 "To the Jew I become a Jew; to the Greek as a Greek. 47:33 Under the law as under the law; without the law as without 47:35 the law. " So in Acts chapter 13 47:38 Paul goes into the synagogue. This was his custom. 47:41 He's in Antioch; he goes into the synagogue. 47:43 And even though there's about 30 speeches recorded in the book 47:47 of Acts, most of... I think about 12 of which were Paul... 47:50 this is the only speech or sermon that Luke records 47:55 Paul as speaking in a synagogue. This is it. 47:57 Hmm. And just take a guess without looking at the text 48:00 what do you think? He's in a synagogue; 48:02 he's speaking to Jews, Jewish context. He himself was a Jew. 48:05 How do you think he tells the gospel story? 48:08 What words is he going to use? What people is he going to 48:11 talk about? He's going to reference the people of Israel. 48:13 Exactly! He says: "Israel, Israel, Israel, Israel. " 48:16 "Abraham, Abraham, men of Israel, Israel. " 48:19 The whole thing is built around Abraham and Israel. 48:21 OK. He then travels from Antioch to the south and the east 48:25 and he comes to three cities. He comes to Iconium, 48:27 Lystra, and Derbe. 48:29 And this is the place you'll remember when he comes into 48:31 Lystra where they say: "Oh, these are the gods that have 48:33 come down among us. " Now Paul doesn't go into the 48:36 synagogue in Lystra. Guess why? 48:38 There isn't one. There's a temple of Zeus in Lystra. 48:41 So he begins to preach, this man is healed, and the people 48:44 are like: "Whoa! The gods have come down to us. " 48:46 Now this is contextualization that's a bit too far. 48:48 Paul is not going to pretend like he is Zeus. 48:51 He's not going to pretend like Barnabas is Hermes or Mercury. 48:55 Now this is amazing. 48:56 I'm in verse 13. "Then the priest of Zeus 48:59 whose temple was in front of their city brought oxen 49:01 and garlands to the gates intending to sacrifice 49:03 to the multitudes. But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, 49:06 heard this they tore their clothes and ran out into the... 49:08 among the multitude crying out. " 49:10 In other words, just seren- dipitously there's a sacrifice 49:13 a garland sacrifice all decorated... Where are you? 49:16 I'm in Acts 14 verse 13. OK. 49:18 This just happens to be going by and the priests in the city 49:21 come out and say: "Oh, we'll offer this sacrifice 49:24 to these gods that have just come down 'cause this guy 49:26 was just healed. " Paul runs into the midst 49:28 in an act of very Jewish symbolism tears his clothes. 49:32 Right? This is an abomination. 49:34 Verse 15... now watch this: 49:36 "Men, why are you doing these things? 49:38 We are also men the same nature as you. " 49:42 Notice connectivity. Um-hmm... um-hmm. 49:44 "And we preach to you that you should turn from these useless 49:47 things to the living God. " Now watch where he starts 49:50 speaking not to Jews, not in the synagogue, 49:52 not to people that under- stand this religious context: 49:54 "useless things to the living God 49:57 who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all 50:00 the things that are in them. " Where does he start? 50:02 He starts at creation. 50:04 Um-hmm. Now look at this: 50:05 "Who in bygone generations allowed all nations 50:07 to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not 50:10 leave Himself without witness in that He did good. " 50:13 How did He do good to us? 50:15 He... aw, this is awesome: "He gave us rain from heaven, 50:19 fruit for our seasons filling our hearts with food and 50:21 gladness. " And look at this. They loved what he was saying: 50:24 "With these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitude 50:27 from sacrificing to them. " Now our point is huge! 50:30 When Paul speaks to the Athenian philosophers what does he say? 50:33 "Greek culture, Greek culture, Greek culture. " 50:35 God is trying to get even the Greeks' attention. 50:38 When he goes into a Jewish synagogue what does he say? 50:40 "Abraham, Israel, Abraham, Israel. " 50:42 When he's even in a pagan society 50:43 that's getting it all wrong trying to worship him 50:45 he's like: "No, no, no, no. " Where did he direct them? 50:48 He directs them to creation. He directs them to the rain, 50:50 to the fruitful field, to the food that fills our belly. 50:53 Um-hmm. Paul didn't come with a patently Jewish message 50:57 and try to force the culture of Judaism into... 51:03 You see what I'm saying. And we need to be so careful 51:05 we don't do that. What do we want to do? 51:06 We want to say: "Sit in buildings with pews 51:09 that have steeples and a man in a suit with a tie 51:12 standing behind a pulpit singing Onward Christian Soldiers 51:15 and now you're saved. " 51:17 Not that there's anything wrong with any of that. 51:19 But God didn't call us to make Westerners out of people. 51:22 He didn't call us to turn people into our culture. 51:24 He told us: "Point people to the Messiah that's been 51:27 speaking to them in their culture, in their heart, 51:29 in their family, in their life... the whole time. " 51:32 Yeah. Powerful! Love it, David... beautiful! 51:35 Man, I'm just so on fire about it! Right in the context of Acts 51:40 and the story that's unfolding here 51:42 if you just back up... I don't know if you guys have 51:44 noticed this scripture. It just came to me a few minutes ago. 51:48 Back in chapter 10 Peter is talking 51:52 and he, of course, is preaching Christ. 51:54 Jesus is the Savior of the world 51:57 and he's going on and on and on 51:59 but then he throws this curve ball. 52:01 "Peter opened his mouth... " chapter 10 verse 34... 52:03 "Peter opened his mouth and he said: 'In truth I perceive 52:07 that God shows no partiality. ' " That's right! 52:10 Now this is interesting. 52:11 "God shows no partiality... " verse 35... "but in every nation 52:16 whoever fears Him and works righteousness 52:19 is accepted by Him. " That's it! 52:20 This is very clear that he's saying: "Right now in this 52:23 moment I'm preaching Jesus to you. 52:25 And the gospel that we're preaching about Jesus 52:28 is going to all nations, is going to the Gentiles" 52:30 but Peter says: "but I'm here to tell you that all along 52:34 God is accepting anybody in any nation 52:36 who responds... " Who fears... Yeah, "who fears God or 52:40 reverences God and does what's right. " 52:43 It's just astounding. Not only that but what's really 52:47 interesting to me: there's this seed that was sown. 52:50 David, when you were sharing that there was a seed sown 52:52 and it took me back to a book in the Old Testament: 52:54 and it's the book of Daniel. Daniel is it? That's right! 52:58 What a surprise! I don't think there's any other book 53:00 in his Bible. It's just Daniel. There's like a New Testament 53:02 and then the Old Testament is by Daniel. 53:06 But here's the interesting thing: 53:08 you... the seed that was sown when you were talking was 53:12 Paul contextualized. He didn't speak to the Gentiles 53:17 about things that he used with the Jews: 53:19 Abraham, Jacob, Isaac. 53:20 He didn't speak to the Jews about things he talked with... 53:23 No. Creation. He contextualized. 53:26 Well, God did the same thing in the book of Daniel. 53:28 So when God sends His man 53:31 to evangelize in Babylon 53:34 what does God use as a tool to reach them in evangelism? 53:39 What is it that He uses to communicate? He uses a statue. 53:42 Yeah, but what does that statue represent? 53:45 Nations... The history of nations! OK... got it! 53:47 So He gives Nebuchadnezzar this revelation 53:49 of his history. "Nebuchadnezzar, this is you. 53:52 This is your history. " He's speaking his language. 53:54 He's speaking his language! Using what the Jews would 53:56 regard as an idol but God is using to... 53:59 He's using to... YES! He's using his language. 54:02 I'm thinking 'cause you were talking about this in relation 54:04 to evangelism and how we need to contextualize. 54:06 I'm just thinking: "This is am- zing! This is so consistent. " 54:09 And the other thing that's really interesting I think 54:11 in the context of what we're saying here 54:12 is that if you read Joel chapter 2 carefully, 54:16 you'll understand that it's a prediction of the very thing 54:19 that Nebuchadnezzar accomplished. 54:20 And in Joel chapter 2 God describes Nebuchadnezzar 54:23 and his men as "His army. " He says: "This is My army. " 54:26 In other words, God will actually use Gentile people 54:30 to accomplish His purposes. God will give Gentile people 54:33 dreams. God will... He's no respecter of persons. 54:35 This is what Ty is bringing out. 54:37 He's no respecter of persons. 54:38 So this idea that there's no other name under heaven, 54:41 this idea that only the people who knew this certain name 54:44 is completely bankrupt when you look at it. 54:47 Yeah! The wit, the tenor, the evidence in Scripture 54:51 is overwhelmingly taking us in a different direction. 54:53 I'm going to say very quickly: and some might think 54:56 that this idea would diminish the uniqueness 54:59 and the potency and the special, beautiful, wonderful 55:03 peerless thing that is Jesus Christ. 55:06 On the contrary, it magnifies it 55:09 so that it's not just this little formulaic, 55:11 this almost mantra secret recipe that you say 55:15 and then it's like: "OK... you're good. " 55:17 Yeah, Jesus is not a lucky charm; He's not a magic name. 55:23 It's not words that you speak and something happens. 55:27 Jesus embodies the principles of grace and truth 55:31 by which salvation comes to a human being. 55:34 And He's been approaching people all through history. 55:37 That's what we're realizing. 55:39 There will be people... We mentioned in the break 55:42 yesterday a book that I've read. I think Ty's read it as well. 55:45 Maybe you guys have. A book by Don Richardson called Eternity 55:47 in Their Hearts. And he basically documents 55:50 where there are instances of where missionaries have 55:53 arrived to cultures that had no exposure... 55:56 previous exposure to Christ or the message of Christ 55:59 and yet they had redemptive gospel elements 56:03 in their culture. And he's basically saying 56:05 "Eternity in their heart, eternity in their heart, 56:07 eternity in their heart. " What's that? Ecclesiastes 7? 56:09 Or is that Ecclesiastes 3? Chapter 3 verse 5. 56:12 God has placed a longing, a sense of otherness, 56:16 of "out-there-ness, " of truth, of grace, 56:19 of egalitarianism: treating others as you yourself would 56:21 want to be treated. He's placed that in everyone. 56:24 And He is reaching, longing, hoping that 56:27 anyone will respond to the spark of interest. 56:30 Yeah. There will be people who will walk up to Jesus 56:33 in the courts of heaven 56:34 and introduce themself. "Hi, I'm Tom and You are? " 56:40 "I'm Jesus and I've got a story to tell you. " 56:42 Yeah. That's exactly what we see in Zechariah chapter 13 56:46 and verse 6. Um-hmm. This is a prophecy 56:50 of people. I mean, try to imagine this. 56:53 People who will ask the question 56:56 "What are these wounds in Your hands? " 56:59 Now think about that for a minute. Wow! 57:00 You and I... we get into the kingdom, 57:04 into heaven let's say, 57:06 I'm not going to ask: "Jesus, why do you have scars 57:09 on Your hands? " Um-hmm. Why? Because I know that story. 57:12 I live at a time in history... 57:14 My experience unfolded in such a way that I encountered 57:17 Jesus by name and the story of His life in the text. 57:21 So I know why He has scars in His hands. 57:24 But some people would actually ask: "Why do You have scars 57:27 in Your hands? " And the implication is that 57:29 they will be meeting Jesus by the name Jesus 57:33 for the very first time and He's saying: 57:35 "Well I'm Jesus. I'm your eternal Savior. " 57:38 "You saved me? Well how did You save me? " 57:41 "Well do you remember when 57:44 and you were thinking and you were feeling 57:47 and then you were regretful and then you changed your course? 57:51 Later people will call that repentance. 57:54 They have some theological language they apply to this 57:56 but you were turning in your heart. Do you remember all? " 57:58 "Yeah, I remember feeling dissatisfied. " 58:01 You were groping! 58:03 I wish we had Jesus. And then Jesus says: 58:07 "That was Me... that was Me, the wordless Word, 58:11 the whispering in your heart: that was Me. 58:14 The conviction you were sensing, that was Me all... " 58:17 "That was You? " "That was Me; I'm your Savior. 58:19 You're here because you responded 58:24 to My overture to you. I took the initiative 58:27 and on some level of your heart you said 'Yes' to Me. " 58:31 I love that by the way, and I can even sense 58:34 that in that fictitious scenario there, 58:36 that imaginative scenario there, that they would say: 58:39 "You know, I was never quite comfortable with the way 58:41 the world operated. " Um-hmm. "There was injustice, oppression 58:44 and You mean to tell me You're the One? " "I'm the One. 58:46 Here's the story. " Yeah, yeah, yeah. 58:48 Because there is... For many of us this world, 58:51 many in the world not just Christians, this world 58:53 fits like a garment that doesn't fit right. Yeah. 58:56 Something's wrong; it's broken; this world isn't our home. 59:00 We've realized in this time together that 59:02 Jesus is the only Savior. Yes! 59:05 But we've discovered that He has been active, 59:08 I would even say aggressive, 59:10 all through history in every time, in every nation, 59:13 in every culture pursuing people and giving them 59:16 an opportunity to know Him. 59:18 Yes. Hallelujah! Amen. |
Revised 2019-08-08