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Miraculous_Signs,_Evil_Spirits,_Startling_Statement_Msg_16_20 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: If you have a Bible near you or with you,
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  Speaker 1: please open to the twelfth chapter of Matthew. We're looking
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  Speaker 1: at the last thirteen verses of this twelfth chapter. I
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  Speaker 1: will tell you before we get into it, it's a
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  Speaker 1: tough section of scripture. It's one of those that makes
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  Speaker 1: me sort of think about calling in sick on Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: Let's stand to Saint, preach on it and get it done.
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  Speaker 1: But I didn't do that. It's not for the faint hearted,
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  Speaker 1: as you will see, and you will after we've finished
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  Speaker 1: the reading, realize what I mean by it, because Jesus
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  Speaker 1: is at his very best, which means it includes moments
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  Speaker 1: of real mystery profundity where he never tells people what
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  Speaker 1: they want to hear, but what they need to hear.
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  Speaker 1: And in this case, he's talking to people who despise
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  Speaker 1: him and are planning for his murder. So keep that
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  Speaker 1: in mind and it may help you with some of
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  Speaker 1: the things we'll uncover. Matthew twelve, beginning at verse thirty eight,
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  Speaker 1: Please stand. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. One
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  Speaker 1: day some teachers of religious law and pharisees came to
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  Speaker 1: Jesus and said, teach her, we want you to show
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  Speaker 1: us some miraculous sign to prove your authority. Jesus replied,
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  Speaker 1: only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign.
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  Speaker 1: The only sign I will give them is the sign
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  Speaker 1: of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the
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  Speaker 1: belly of the great fish for three days and three nights,
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  Speaker 1: so will the son of Man be in the heart
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  Speaker 1: of the earth for three days and three nights. The
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  Speaker 1: people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on
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  Speaker 1: Judgment Day and condemn it, for they repented of their
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  Speaker 1: sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than
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  Speaker 1: Jonah is here, but you refuse to repent. The Queen
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  Speaker 1: of Sheba will also stand up against this generation on
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  Speaker 1: Judgment Day and condemn it, for she came from a
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  Speaker 1: distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone
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  Speaker 1: greater than Solomon is here, but you refuse to listen.
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  Speaker 1: When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into
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  Speaker 1: the desert seeking rest, but finding none. Then it says,
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  Speaker 1: I will return to the person I came from. So
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  Speaker 1: it returns and finds its former home empty, swept and
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  Speaker 1: in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more
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  Speaker 1: evil than itself, and they all enter the person and
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  Speaker 1: live there, and so that person is worse off than before.
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  Speaker 1: That will be the experience of this evil generation. As
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  Speaker 1: Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers
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  Speaker 1: stood outside, asking to speak to him. When I told Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: your mother and your brothers are outside and they want
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  Speaker 1: to speak to you, Jesus asked, who is my mother?
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  Speaker 1: Who are my brothers? Then he pointed to his disciples
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  Speaker 1: and said, look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone
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  Speaker 1: who does the will of my father in heaven is
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  Speaker 1: my brother and sister and mother. See what I mean.
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  Speaker 1: I've got the first service that left earlier praying for me,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that we'll be dealing with this in this service,
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  Speaker 1: and our hope is that when we leave you'll have
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  Speaker 1: a semblance of understanding, because it really gets fascinating when
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  Speaker 1: you unfold the story. Please be seated. Just like this
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  Speaker 1: passage of scripture, life is complicated at our church. We
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  Speaker 1: don't deny that we acknowledge it. Jesus is not a
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  Speaker 1: rabbit's foot that we rub on people and hope that
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  Speaker 1: somehow magic will happen. In fact, you can study about
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  Speaker 1: Jesus all your life, and die without hope of eternity
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  Speaker 1: with God, because studying about Jesus does not draw you
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  Speaker 1: any closer to God. We either know the Lord Jesus
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  Speaker 1: as our savior or we do not, And the whole
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  Speaker 1: difference is what we have done with his offer of
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  Speaker 1: eternal life, which was taken care of at the Cross
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  Speaker 1: when he paid the complete payment for our sins, past, present,
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  Speaker 1: and future. Jesus has come to set us free. Never
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  Speaker 1: forget that, not to make us smart, not to pave
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  Speaker 1: a way through life that makes it easy, not to
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  Speaker 1: answer every prayer with yes, and not to relieve us
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  Speaker 1: of burdens, but all of it is put together in
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  Speaker 1: a way that makes us aware of a need to
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  Speaker 1: be freed, freed from sin, freed from ourselves, and freed
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  Speaker 1: from the expectations and demands of others. Only Jesus can
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  Speaker 1: do that. If you've never met the Lord personally, this
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  Speaker 1: would be a great, great time for you to do. So.
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  Speaker 1: Let's pray thank you Father for the pleasure of your
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  Speaker 1: company today. Without it, this would be just another meeting.
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  Speaker 1: We'd leave as needy as we've arrived. We would really
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  Speaker 1: be no better off. But because you were here, because
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  Speaker 1: your word, which is alive and active and sharp enough
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  Speaker 1: to cut where no surgeon's scalpel could reach. Our time
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  Speaker 1: together will be meaningful, but only if your spirit takes
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  Speaker 1: it and clarifies it and applies it. From a very
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  Speaker 1: busy and complicated week, and standing on the cusps of
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  Speaker 1: another week, all of it unknown, surrounded in a word,
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  Speaker 1: by a world that has lost its way, in a
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  Speaker 1: culture that is drifted far from you, we find ourselves
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  Speaker 1: wholly dependent on you for relief, for hope, for peace,
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  Speaker 1: and for the promise of eternal life with you. I
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  Speaker 1: pray for the many who come to day who are confused.
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  Speaker 1: I pray that you would help in ways that we
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  Speaker 1: could not anticipate. Perhaps just a word will be spoken
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  Speaker 1: or read, or in the passing of the time we
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  Speaker 1: have together, a piece of music will have softened the
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  Speaker 1: soil of someone's soul. I pray, as a result that
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  Speaker 1: the seed will land and bear first root and then fruit.
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  Speaker 1: I pray that you'd speak most of all to me,
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  Speaker 1: lest I stand as though I am some kind of authority,
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  Speaker 1: when in fact I am as great a need as
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  Speaker 1: anyone in this place today. So we pray you administer
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  Speaker 1: to each one of us. You'd relieve the fears and
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  Speaker 1: remove the confusion, and reach into our hearts that can
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  Speaker 1: be hardened over time and soften us, make us teachable,
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  Speaker 1: able to hear. I'm willing to respond. Thank you for
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  Speaker 1: the people who keep us free, who are in dangerous
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  Speaker 1: places today. Give wisdom to those who make those decisions
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  Speaker 1: as to where they go and where they should fight,
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  Speaker 1: and how they should carry it out. Protect us, we
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  Speaker 1: pray in this threatening era in which we live. Now, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: we give our gifts that they might be used to
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  Speaker 1: help those who serve you in places beyond, and to
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  Speaker 1: handle the needs of ministry at this place and in
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  Speaker 1: this community. May our gifts please you because they come
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  Speaker 1: from hearts that are grateful, lives that are generous. In
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  Speaker 1: the name of Jesus, before whom every knee will bow
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  Speaker 1: and every tongue will one day confess that he is
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  Speaker 1: Lord through Christ alone, we pray. Everyone said, Amen, it's
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  Speaker 1: unfortunate that the Bible is so silent. Here's what I
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  Speaker 1: mean by that. We have words that we can read,
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  Speaker 1: and we do, and we have events that we can trace,
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  Speaker 1: and we're able to do that thanks to maps and
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  Speaker 1: other resourceful tools we can use. We can read the words,
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  Speaker 1: we can trace the events, we can even study the ideas.
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  Speaker 1: But everything is so without sound, and so all we
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  Speaker 1: have is words on a page, and we cannot tell
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  Speaker 1: much from the words themselves about the spirit of things
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, unless, of course, we are on it
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  Speaker 1: day after day after day, hour after hour and kick
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  Speaker 1: our imagination. Let me let me give you an example.
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  Speaker 1: Let's say you send me an email around noon one
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  Speaker 1: day and you say, I ask our teenage son before
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  Speaker 1: he goes to school this morning to make sure that
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  Speaker 1: he picks up his room and makes his bed, and
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  Speaker 1: he responded, okay, Mom, I'll do that. Now. When I
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  Speaker 1: read those words, I uh, I'm impressed. I think I
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  Speaker 1: never had a teenage kid that would well, I mean
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  Speaker 1: time they did, but not often. It doesn't just it
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  Speaker 1: sounds too good. But what I don't have is a sound. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if I had a video clip, and if I had
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  Speaker 1: audio sound in this, I would be able to see Sam,
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  Speaker 1: don't forget to clean your room and make your bed
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  Speaker 1: before you go to school this morning. Okay mom, same words,
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  Speaker 1: but now you've got aggravation, impatience, disrespect, anger, sarcasm, which
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  Speaker 1: you weren't able to see. If all you had were
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  Speaker 1: just the words? Now where am I going with all
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  Speaker 1: of this? Look at verse thirty eight in your Bible
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  Speaker 1: in Matthew twelve, and then followed by thirty nine. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to ask you, if all you had was words,
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  Speaker 1: does it seem to flow nicely? One day, some teachers
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  Speaker 1: of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, Teacher,
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  Speaker 1: we want you to show us a miraculous sign to
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  Speaker 1: prove your authority. Jesus replied, only an evil adulter's generation
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  Speaker 1: would demand a miraculous sign, But the only sign I
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  Speaker 1: will give him is the sign of the prophet Jonah.
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  Speaker 1: Does that seem a little unusual? Does it seem like
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  Speaker 1: he's kind of killing a roach with a shotgun? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: when you look at it, does it seem overreaching? I
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  Speaker 1: mean they're just asking for a sign. No, they're not.
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  Speaker 1: See that's what you get when all you do is
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  Speaker 1: read words on a page and you don't remember, and
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  Speaker 1: you don't kick your mind into the setting called the context.
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  Speaker 1: To understand why Jesus would answer like that, First of all,
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  Speaker 1: look at who he's talking to. They are the scribes
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  Speaker 1: and the Pharisees. They are the most self righteous individuals
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  Speaker 1: on the planet. They are so impressed with themselves. They're
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  Speaker 1: holier than Thou attitude. Furthermore, they're skeptics. They've already tipped
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  Speaker 1: their hand where we read in the same chapter, verse fourteen,
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  Speaker 1: look at it. These are the same ones. The Pharisees
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  Speaker 1: called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus. So
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  Speaker 1: they're on a plan toward setting him up to find
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  Speaker 1: a reason to wipe him out. He knows that, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: next verse, Jesus knew what they were planning. Now they
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  Speaker 1: didn't know that he knew what they were planning, and
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  Speaker 1: so they're involved in this tit for tat dialogue. And
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  Speaker 1: Paul tells Us in First Corinthians one that the Jews
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  Speaker 1: always want to sign. They want to see the proof.
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  Speaker 1: They want to see evidence. They have had proof after proof,
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  Speaker 1: evidence after evidence. They have seen miracles. They have watched
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  Speaker 1: the lame healed, they have seen the blind received site,
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  Speaker 1: they have watched situations. A lame hand has now been
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  Speaker 1: made whole. And they're saying, uh, how about one of
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  Speaker 1: your signs again, teacher. That's the spirit of it. And
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  Speaker 1: he catches it, and he isn't intimidated by it. He
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  Speaker 1: sees the cynicism, and so he answers them as to
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  Speaker 1: what they were, not so much what they wanted. He
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  Speaker 1: calls them an evil, adulterous generation, not here but later
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  Speaker 1: and yet again a third time, because he knew them.
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  Speaker 1: He knew them to be synics. In fact, he says,
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  Speaker 1: you know your Bible better than anyone else around. You
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  Speaker 1: know the story of Jonah. As Jonah was in the
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  Speaker 1: building of the Great Fish three days and three nights,
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  Speaker 1: so will the son of Man be in the heart
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  Speaker 1: of the Earth Verse forty one. The people of Ninevah
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  Speaker 1: will stand up against this generation on judgment Day and condemnment,
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  Speaker 1: for they repented of their sins after they heard Jonah.
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  Speaker 1: Did you realize, by the way, that the most significant
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  Speaker 1: revival in the history of the Old Testament was at Nineveh?
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  Speaker 1: The entire city the Ninavites, after hearing the message of Jonah,
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  Speaker 1: remember the story, he makes this amphibious landing. He gets
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  Speaker 1: to nine Uh. He announces the message of doom that's
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  Speaker 1: going to come, and the Lord uses his words, though
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  Speaker 1: they were spoken with a bad motive, admittedly, but he
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  Speaker 1: uses the words, and the people repent. They repent. Jesus said,
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  Speaker 1: you remember the people of the Ninavites. They repented having
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  Speaker 1: heard just the message of Jonah. You have seen me
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  Speaker 1: at work, you have heard my words. You know where
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  Speaker 1: I stand, you know what I'm about, and you have
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  Speaker 1: attributed my work to the work of Satan. Remember that.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, he doesn't stop with that. He says,
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  Speaker 1: now someone greater than Jonah is here. And by the way,
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  Speaker 1: they hated that. When you're cynical, you don't want to
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  Speaker 1: hear again how wrong you are, how you have misjudged
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  Speaker 1: the one who is speaking, or greater than Jonah is here.
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  Speaker 1: But you refuse to repent. The Nnovites repented, You won't.
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  Speaker 1: They're they're dripping with cynicism. Look at the next The
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  Speaker 1: Queen of Sheba will also stand up against this generation
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  Speaker 1: on Judgment Day and will condemn it. She came from
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  Speaker 1: a distant land. Best I can figure, about twelve hundred miles.
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  Speaker 1: The Queen of Sheba, on her own came to meet
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  Speaker 1: with King Solomon, and we read she came from a
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  Speaker 1: distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone
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  Speaker 1: greater than Solomon is here. But you refuse to listen.
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  Speaker 1: She came from a distance, didn't even know Solomon personally.
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  Speaker 1: When she was there, she was impressed with his wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and she listened to what he had to say. You've
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  Speaker 1: been around me day after day, week after week, month
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  Speaker 1: after month, and you still refuse to listen to what
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  Speaker 1: I'm teaching. You refuse to listen. Now, if you read
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  Speaker 1: all of this, and hopefully I have read it correctly
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  Speaker 1: and the spirit of it correctly, you realize how treacherous
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  Speaker 1: cynicism is. And I believe it grows out of overexposure
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  Speaker 1: mixed with an unteachable spirit. It can happen in a
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  Speaker 1: college classroom, it can happen in a seminary, It can
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  Speaker 1: happen in a church. So there's a crucial question that
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  Speaker 1: comes to the surface. If I may pause and apply
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  Speaker 1: this at this moment, it's this you have to ask yourself.
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  Speaker 1: No one else can answer for you. Am I becoming
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  Speaker 1: a cynic? Am I showing signs of Phariseeism? Let me
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  Speaker 1: tell you why I ask that, or I ask you
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  Speaker 1: to ask yourself that Sunday after Sunday. In fact, if
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  Speaker 1: you're involved like many through the week, week after week,
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  Speaker 1: week after week, week after week, month after month, month
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  Speaker 1: after month, class after class, class after sermon after sermon,
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  Speaker 1: Bible study after Bible study, and you are in this
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  Speaker 1: hothouse of exposure. Now I'm gonna probe. Are you any
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  Speaker 1: different than you were a year ago? Are you any
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  Speaker 1: more patient? Are you more thoughtful? Are you more forgiving,
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  Speaker 1: more teachable, more willing to acknowledge needs in your own life?
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  Speaker 1: Or is it just another study, just another sermon, just
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  Speaker 1: another class. I'm not the first one to realize that
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  Speaker 1: these individuals were out of place and asking for a
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  Speaker 1: sign if at Bruce writes, the demand was impudent, hypocritical, insulting.
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  Speaker 1: How many signs do you need to be convinced that
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  Speaker 1: I'm Messiah for you? Never enough? Because when you're a cynic,
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  Speaker 1: you don't really want evidence. You want a reason to
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  Speaker 1: prove it wrong, which is part of their mo That's
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  Speaker 1: where they were going. Now, look at forty three through
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  Speaker 1: forty five. Look at the verses without any words of
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  Speaker 1: setting them up, without any segue. We call it no
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  Speaker 1: transitional statement. Look at this, Jesus continues, after saying, but
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  Speaker 1: you refuse to listen when an evil spirit leaves a
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  Speaker 1: person and goes into the desert, seeking rest, but finding none.
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  Speaker 1: Then it says, I will return to the person I
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  Speaker 1: came from. So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept,
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  Speaker 1: and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits
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  Speaker 1: more evil than itself, and they all enter the person
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  Speaker 1: and live there. So that person is worse off than before.
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  Speaker 1: What I mean, doesn't it make someone else besides me? Go?
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  Speaker 1: Is did my kids cut some part of my Bible
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  Speaker 1: out of? In between verses forty two and forty three?
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  Speaker 1: What is this about? What is with the demon coming
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  Speaker 1: in and out? What is it about bringing seven back?
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  Speaker 1: Or bringing the seven with him? So that they enter
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  Speaker 1: this individual and he's worse off than who is the person? Think? Remember,
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  Speaker 1: when you are reading your Bible, you need to read
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  Speaker 1: it like your dog gnaws on a bone. You want
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  Speaker 1: to look down and say it's it's it's, it's done, dog.
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  Speaker 1: There's nothing left on the you. You turn it over,
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  Speaker 1: you work over it. You imagine, you put yourself in
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  Speaker 1: the setting. Otherwise you're like most people there. That's another
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  Speaker 1: part of the Bible nobody will ever understand. Wait, is
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  Speaker 1: that the Bible's fault? Or have you become a little cynical,
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  Speaker 1: to be worse. I want to suggest that in the context,
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  Speaker 1: the person would be the Pharisee, any one of them.
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  Speaker 1: And they're the ones who said that he has a demon,
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  Speaker 1: and he does his work of miracles, but the power
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  Speaker 1: of Satan. But in fact they were the ones oppressed
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  Speaker 1: of demons. They were the ones wicked enough to be
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  Speaker 1: speaking for the enemy itself. Now I could I possibly
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  Speaker 1: say that because they look so righteous. One man writes
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  Speaker 1: this as he introduces us to Pharisees. They lived by
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  Speaker 1: rules and regulations, but those man made standards led them
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  Speaker 1: further and further from God, turn them into self sufficient,
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  Speaker 1: self righteous religious officials who saw them selves as above
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  Speaker 1: all others, having no need for repentance. When Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: with his message and model of true righteousness, they resented
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  Speaker 1: him and they resisted his message. They were reformed on
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  Speaker 1: the outside, but unchanged within. Then this closing line, which
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  Speaker 1: is profound there is there's never been a group of
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  Speaker 1: men more committed to a demanding religious and moral code
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  Speaker 1: than they, and never a group so far from God.
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  Speaker 1: And that's right. When an individual is this self sustaining,
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  Speaker 1: this unteachable, this cynical, the blindness is profound. He says
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  Speaker 1: things to them no one has ever said in their
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  Speaker 1: entire lives, as they have grown up in their own
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  Speaker 1: little circle, their own little clique of fellow pharisees. And
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  Speaker 1: he comes on the scene, setting people free, relieving people
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  Speaker 1: from them and their control. All a sign of cynicism
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  Speaker 1: and this self righteousness that comes with external reformation, but
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  Speaker 1: no internal transformation. You know what happens to them over
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  Speaker 1: the passing of time. Their heart became increasingly harder, but
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  Speaker 1: they still wore the robes of religion. They still had
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  Speaker 1: that holier than Thou attitude, and they still were big
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  Speaker 1: on judgmentalism, so much so that there's no preacher from Nazareth,
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  Speaker 1: certainly not this one who has anything to teach us.
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  Speaker 1: Second crucial question, is your heart becoming softer in the
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  Speaker 1: passing of time or harder? You want to know who
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  Speaker 1: is the most difficult person to reach for Christ? The moralist,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the one who is religious has scrubbed up on the
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: outside and looks so right. Let me tell you it's
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: much easier to share Christ with an out and out
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: scumbag center who is greedy and immoral and rotten to
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: the core and proud, and all those things I could list.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Because he knows he's a sinner. She knows she's out
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: to lunch. But you try to reach someone who faithfully
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: is in their church, regularly doing the things that are
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: so visibly impressive, and try to convince that individual he's
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: a sinner, it's almost impossible. May God deliver us from
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: religion and a self improvement reformation and make us aware
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: how deeply down inside we are flawed and we are
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: in need of His truth and of his son to
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: set us free from that. Now. As if that isn't enough,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: look at the narrative. Look at it coming right out
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: of the heels of this rather heated dialogue. Look at this.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: brothers stood outside. Stop think, here we go again. Where
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: do they live? They live in Nazareth. Where is Jesus?
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: According to correlated passages, Jesus is in Capernaum, over with
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the sea Galilee. That's quite a walk, and they walked
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: in those days, and they've walked all the way to Capernaium.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Who are they? His mother and his brothers stood outside,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: asking to speak to him. Could anyone in this group
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: right now. Anyone listening to me right now, name his brothers.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Unless you are a Bible scholar, you can't. We don't
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: know the family that well. I'll show you their names
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: in a moment. One is going to surprise you. And
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: are you aware that he had sisters? We know none
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: of their names because they're never named. And where's Joseph? Okay,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: let's spend a few moments on the family, just to
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: kind of get us oriented before we get to this
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: third crucial question. First of all, no doubt Joseph has died.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: In those days, life expectancy was much shorter than our day,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: and so it seems the reasonable answer. Since he does
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: not appear in Jesus' public ministry, he probably is dead.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: So Mary is no doubt a widow and his brothers.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Who were they? I'm glad you asked. Look at chapter thirteen,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Look at thirteen, verse fifty five. I think it is yes,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: look at thirteen fifty five. Then they scoffed. These are
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: people in his hometown. According to verse fifty four, he's
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: in Nazareth. They scoffed, saying he's just the carpenter's son. Stop.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: The carpenter had nothing to do with his conception, unless,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: of course, you live in Nazareth and believe the scuttle butt.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: They believe Joseph and Mary had to get married, and
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: if it wasn't Joseph's child, it certainly was somebody, and
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Joseph took pity on her and married her. The point
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: was when they married, she was well way to having
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: a baby. So they live in the neighborhood of Nazareth,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: maybe right next to them or near them, so by
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: now they've got their minds made up. They're wrong, but
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: they say he's just the garpenter son. In fact, they
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: go further. We know Mary, keep reading, We know his brothers.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: This is the place where they are named James, Joseph Simon.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: And look at that Judas, not the one who betrayed him,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: for in those days that was a common name. Judas
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: Iscariot came later. But James, Joseph Simon and Judath, you
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: know what, they grew up with him. And look further.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: All his sisters live right here among us. All probably
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: more than two, or they would say both his sisters,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: so at least three, maybe four, or maybe like the sons,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: maybe there were five boys and five girls. And what
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: about these brothers. Listen to this John seven, verse five.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: You can check it tells us that his brothers did
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: not believe in him. You can understand that you got
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: a brother who thinks he's Jesus. I had one, No,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: just kidding, just kidding. I'm a fan. I'm a baby
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: in a family of three older brother or of an
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: older sister, Lucy. And then I came along, and uh,
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: I mean we we were just a very real family.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: My sister called my brother Hitler as we were growing up.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: And so it gives you some idea of the love
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: and our family and the closeness we enjoyed together. Uh No,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: My whole point here is ms are real. This is
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: real stuff. Okay, come on, gee, you know what in
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Mark three point twenty one, they were saying, he's lost
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: his senses, do you know that? And he's just getting
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: underway in his ministry. So they're out there, his brothers
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: and his mother sisters didn't come and uh, brothers don't
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: believe in him. John seven five, And they're there to
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: see him, and he's in the midst of a very
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: important time of ministry. Now. Oh, by the way, the
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Catholic Church teaches the perpetual virginity of Mary. I'm gonna
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: leave that with you. I'm not gonna go any further.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: But I mean about nine kids through the math, and
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: and and here is here, here is uh Jesus asking
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: who his mother is and whose brothers are? What is
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: that about? Isn't that what he said? Who is my mother?
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Who are my brothers? When you read your bible, let
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: it be, don't don't don't try to change it. He
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: asked that question. Are those questions? What does he mean?
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: As best I can understand, he is expanding their understanding
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: of a spiritual family. He is enlarging it so that
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: it isn't just the immediate mom and Joseph and four
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: boys and brothers and sisters. It's my followers. I got
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: a couple of things I want to say about this.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Stop and think I say it again. Some of you
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: are closer to other people in the family of God
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: than you are to your own siblings. Don't answer out loud.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: I know that I have some people that are so
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: near and dear to me. They are as close, if
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: not closer, than my own brother. And as much as
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: I love my sister, some of those people are as close,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: if not closer than my own sister and some older
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: ladies that I know of, women of God and people
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: who have helped shape my life. There they mean as
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: much to me as my own mother, if not at
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: times more. You got it. That's one thing I want
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: to say, because I think that is implicit in what
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: he's asking. In fact, he points to his disciples and said, look,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: look there's my mother. There's my mother, and there's my brothers.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: So first in this, in the family of Christ, there
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: are relationships that are absolutely intimate in the right sense
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: of the word, and deeply satisfying, fulfilling, and where they're
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: they're they're like family. I can go to Canada, I
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: could go to Australia, I could go to an island
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: in the Sea. I could go to South America, I
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: could go to a part of Europe, and I would
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: meet up with and spend enough time with those in
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: the Family of God. They would be just like one
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: of my own. That's what he's saying. You know what
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: else he's saying, Uh, He's saying to be careful that
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: you don't make a family member an idol so important
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: to you, so significant that they take first place, which
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: is to be occupied by only one Christ himself. He
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: was to free us from that. I appreciate the words
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: of Kent Hughes, who writes this in his book on Mark.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Listen carefully today, we're witnessing the disintegration of the family
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: all around us, even in the church. In a valiant
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: effort to stem the tide, many Christians and non Christians
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: alike have made the family everything, meaning their immediate family.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: Every moment of every day, every involvement, every commitment, every
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: engagement is measured and judged by the question, how will
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: this benefit my family. While this is generally commendable, it
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: can degenerate into a familial narcissism. I've never seen words
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: those two words put together into a familial narcissism. The
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: four walls of the home become a temple, and only
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: within and for those walls, or any sacrifices made, thus
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: we commit domestic idolatry. This is an immense tragedy. I'll
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: tell you how it becomes a more very real, practical tragedy.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: The Lord calls you to pull out, to move away,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: to be engaged in ministry for his purposes and for
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: his glory, and it will mean the sacrifice of this
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: with your family. In fact, you may rarely see them again.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: There isn't a missionary alive who serves in some field
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: beyond these United States. If they're Americans who have not
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: gone through this, and you pull away, but you do
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: it because there is one who is first place. And
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: it's not your mother, and it's not your father, or
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: your brother or your sister. In the words of Jesus
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: as he points to his disciples, these are my mother
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother. Question,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: is Christ really in first place in my life? I
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: am as serious as a judge. Listen to me. Is
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: Christ first? Don't be glib and respond oh yeah, absolutely,
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: to stop. If he calls you somewhere, which will mean
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: the sacrifice of the closeness that you've enjoyed through the
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: years with You're going to do it. You're going to
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: say yes if you are to be engaged in something
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: that will cause some hardship for the family, but it's
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: for the glory of Christ. You're going to sacrifice. Are
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: You're going to be overly protective and never cause difficulty
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: for family? Because after all, their family, well that means
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: your family's first. So you've got to answer the crucial question,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: is Christ really in first place? Above friendships, above geography,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: above career, above possessions. Now you realize, though it is
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: a difficult passage, it's like a sword that drives its
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: way right into the core of your being. You're becoming pharisaical,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: your heart softer or harder. Christ in first place? You
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: know the beauty of Christ. He really says it as
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: it is. And in fact, if I may go back,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: just briefly to marry, will you please stop the veneration
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: of Mary if you're caught in that She needed the
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: Savior just as much as the brothers, and just as
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: much as you and I for all of sin fallen
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: short of the glory of God. She certainly was chosen.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: She certainly was the vehicle God used. But please, she
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: is not the media tricks between man and God. Don't
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: go there. Part of the reason I love that wonderful
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: song that Buddy Green sings Mary, did you know, Mary,
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: did you know that this child that you delivered will
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: one day deliver You? Love that line? Do you know
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: that you know what she knew? That do you know
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: that the beauty of the teaching of Christ is that
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: it just brings such freedom. I say it again. I'm
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: freed from the ex expectation of a fellow who may
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: come along and be a pharisee in my life. I'm
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: free of intimidation because of what Christ means to me.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: And I'm freed, by the grace of God of picking
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: up the traits of a self righteous pharisee because of
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: the brokenness Christ can bring into my heart. You can
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: be freed the same. I'm freed from a hard heart
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: because Christ lives within me and softens it regularly as
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: He doesn't work in my life that I can't describe
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: in any other way than profound. And I'm freed from
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: As much as I love my family, absolutely adore my wife,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: she is not in first place in my life, nor
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: should she be. Knowing her she doesn't want to be,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: nor am I in hers. I love the words of
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Steve Brown in his book Scandalous Freedom. Please listen. You
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: are really and truly free, completely free. There's no kicker,
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: there's no if and or, but you are free. You
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: can do it right or wrong. You can obey or
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: disobey you can run from or to Christ. You could
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: choose to become a faithful Christian or an unfaithful Christian.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: You can cry and cuss and spit and laugh and
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: sing and dance. You can read a novel or the Bible.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: You can watch television, or you can pray. You're free.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: You're really free, he writes. Abraham Lincoln went to a
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: sleeve market. There, he noted a young, beautiful African American
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: woman being auctioned off to the highest bidder. He bid
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: on her and won. He could see the anger on
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: her face. In the woman's eyes, he could imagine what
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: she was thinking, another white man will buy me and
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: use me and then discard me. As Lincoln walked off
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: with the young woman by his side, he turned to
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: her and said, you're free, unshackle her. You're free. Yeah,
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: what does that mean? She replied? It means you're free.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: Does that mean I can say whatever I want to say? Yes,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: replied Lincoln, smiling. It means you can say whatever you
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: want to say. Does it mean, she asked, incredulously, that
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: I can be whatever I want to be. You can
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: be whatever you want to be. You're free? Does it mean?
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: The young woman said, hesitantly that I could go wherever
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: I want to go. Yeah, it means you are free
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: to go wherever you want to go. Then, with tears
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: welling up in her eyes, she said, I think I'll
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: go with you. Listen to me. That's Christ's message. You
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: don't want to go with anyone else. You're being slaved
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: by those you would love to play the Pharisee in
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: your life. When he comes, he sets us free, free
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: to obey him, free to follow him, free to shove
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: all of the idols off the tables of our lives,
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: so that we really can operate as mature believers in Jesus.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: Is that great? Free indeed? Free at last? Please bow
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: with me. Just sit right there, just stay right there.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: First of all, do you really know Christ? If you don't,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: what in the world are you waiting for? He has come,
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: He has died, He has opened the way, He is
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: cut through the curtain. He has made it possible for
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: you can for you can know and talk with and
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: walk with the Living God. Trust Him now, believe in
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: him now. And if you know Christ, are you really free?
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: That's all part of the package. Free to forgive, free
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: to understand, free to accept, free to love without idolizing, free,
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: to be vulnerable without fear free. Indeed, that I think
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: is what these verses are teaching. I invite you before
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: you turn this off, to make sure you have addressed
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: the three questions. And then what have you done with
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: Christ and his offer of freedom? In our journey Lord,
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: from Earth to Heaven, Filled with all the obstacles that
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: life throws at us, it is easy to get confused
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: and to get so bound up in pleasing people, including ourselves,
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: then we lose our way. I pray Father, that you
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: will clear the path of understanding, that every person hearing
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: these words today will answer the questions and will turn
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: to your son as Lord and Savior, the source of freedom.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: The question is not didn't Mary, No? The question is
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: do we know? Do we know? Help us as we
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: answer it? Lord, name of Jesus, I pray this. Everyone
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: said amen.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Miraculous Signs, Evil Spirits Startling Statement was
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in twenty sixteen and twenty twenty one, and the
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty one by Charles Rswindahl, Inc.
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.