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Andy Stanley - Ninety Part 5: Greater Indeed · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: When you grow up in a religious home, where you
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  Speaker 1: grow up in a religious environment like I did, it's
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  Speaker 1: easy to love your religion more than you do the
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  Speaker 1: people for whom the religion was given. And then if
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  Speaker 1: you're not careful, you end up hurting people with the
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  Speaker 1: religion that was given for people. And then you wonder
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  Speaker 1: why people don't want to get involved in your religion,
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  Speaker 1: and round and round and round it goes. In fact,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: some of you, that's the reason you gave up on religion,
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  Speaker 1: or you gave up on church, is because you ran
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: into some church people who seem to love their church
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  Speaker 1: and love their religion more than they loved you. And
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: that was just kind of odd, wasn't it. That was
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: just kind of odd. We're in a journey with the
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  Speaker 1: life of Jesus from the moment he stepped onto the
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  Speaker 1: pages of history as an adult until the time that
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  Speaker 1: he gave his life as a sacrifice for sin. And
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  Speaker 1: the most important thing about this series in terms of
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  Speaker 1: tracking along with Jesus is I want you to understand
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  Speaker 1: and I wish the world to understand that Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: to introduce something new. He did not come to show up.
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  Speaker 1: He did not show up to content in you something old.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't version two point zero of something. He didn't
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  Speaker 1: come to complete the book, so you know, we'd have
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  Speaker 1: a whole Bible. Jesus came to earth. God sent his
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  Speaker 1: son to this planet to do something brand new in
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  Speaker 1: the world for the world. He came to establish a
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  Speaker 1: brand new covenant or a brand new contract or arrangement
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  Speaker 1: between God and all of mankind. He came to give
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  Speaker 1: us a brand new command that we'll talk about in
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  Speaker 1: a few weeks that would be the governing ethic for
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  Speaker 1: his brand new movement called the Church. Now where we
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  Speaker 1: left off last time on this journey with Jesus, he
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  Speaker 1: had just revealed for the first time what his upside
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  Speaker 1: down agenda for his kingdom would look like. We call
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  Speaker 1: it the Sermon on the Mouth, but it's a sermon
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus gave many, many, many times. In fact, this
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  Speaker 1: was probably the core content of his message whenever people
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  Speaker 1: gather to hear him teach. And in this message, he
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  Speaker 1: began to contrast himself with the laws of the land
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  Speaker 1: and the laws of that era, and he began to
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  Speaker 1: say things like you have heard it said, but I say,
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  Speaker 1: you have been taught but I say, you've heard since childhood.
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  Speaker 1: But I say, in his audio realized, wait a minute,
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  Speaker 1: you're contrasting yourself with Moses the lawgiver. You're contrasting yourself
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  Speaker 1: with Moses the covenant maker. It was Moses that came
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  Speaker 1: down from Mount Sinai with God's code for our conduct.
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  Speaker 1: Moses is our guide, Moses is our lawgiver. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you can't stand in contrast to Moses. You can explain
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  Speaker 1: what Moses taught, but you can't take away from it.
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  Speaker 1: And Jesus felt the tension in his audience, perhaps as
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  Speaker 1: he felt every time he taught this content, and so
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  Speaker 1: he made this statement that we looked at last week.
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  Speaker 1: He said, now, I want to be clear, don't think
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  Speaker 1: that I've come to abolish. I've not come to abolish
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  Speaker 1: the law or the prophets. And the law are the prophets?
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  Speaker 1: Or the Law and the prophets is what first century
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  Speaker 1: second century Jews called their scripture their Bible. They didn't
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  Speaker 1: have a Bible that had Jewish scriptures, and it was
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  Speaker 1: referred to as the Law and the Prophets. It was
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  Speaker 1: essentially everything in your English Old Testament from Genesis all
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  Speaker 1: the way through Malachi, and Jesus said, I've not come
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  Speaker 1: to abolish it. I've not come to abolish them, but
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  Speaker 1: there is something that's about to happen. You are not
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  Speaker 1: imagining things. Change is coming. What you feel, the tension
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  Speaker 1: you feel Israel. I've not come to edit them. I've
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  Speaker 1: not come to say that they're wrong, but i have
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  Speaker 1: come to fulfill them. If God's arrangement with Israel, ancient
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  Speaker 1: Israel was an assignment, Jesus said, I've come to complete it.
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  Speaker 1: If his arrangement with ancient Israel was a math problem,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus said, I've come to solve it. If it was
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  Speaker 1: a plane, he said, I've come to land it. And
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  Speaker 1: even though it was disturbing, and even though there was
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  Speaker 1: so much contrast, and even this was even though this
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  Speaker 1: was so different, even though it was so new. The
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  Speaker 1: text says that when Jesus finished, When Jesus finished saying
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  Speaker 1: these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because
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  Speaker 1: he taught this one who had authority and not as
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  Speaker 1: their teachers of the law. But this surface yet another
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  Speaker 1: issue that launches us into our discussion today. How much
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  Speaker 1: authority did Jesus really have? I mean, did he really
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  Speaker 1: have authority? Did he really have the authority to replace
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  Speaker 1: everything Moses had put in place? Did he really have
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  Speaker 1: the authority to replace everything Solomon when he had the
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  Speaker 1: temple built put in play? Was he really the person
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  Speaker 1: they'd been waiting for all these centuries who would actually
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  Speaker 1: bring something brand new into the world. Soon after this,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus has a very interesting conversation with some other Pharisees.
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  Speaker 1: Here's how it began. The text tells as Matthew tells
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  Speaker 1: us that at that time, this is a few days later,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus and his guys they're going through the grainfields on
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  Speaker 1: the Sabbath. They moved from city to city, town to town,
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  Speaker 1: and on this particular day they're walking through some grainfields
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  Speaker 1: on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they begin
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  Speaker 1: to pick some of the heads of grain and eat them. Now,
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  Speaker 1: everywhere Jesus went there was a crowd, And everywhere Jesus
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  Speaker 1: went there was a group of pharisees or sadducees trying
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  Speaker 1: to trap Jesus and separate him from the crowd. And
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  Speaker 1: when the Pharisees who were walking along with Jesus saw this,
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  Speaker 1: they said, look, aha, gotcha caughtya. We see what you're doing.
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  Speaker 1: Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.
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  Speaker 1: We've got you. Somebody take a picture. Oh, we don't
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  Speaker 1: do that yet. Somebody do a quick sketch. We don't
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  Speaker 1: do that either. Okay, well, somebody document this because Jesus
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  Speaker 1: and his guys they're violating the Sabbath. And Jesus say stop,
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  Speaker 1: stops and says okay. Well. Wall waits for the crowd
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  Speaker 1: to come closer. He says, look, you know as well
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  Speaker 1: as I do, we're not breaking the Sabbath. There's nothing
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  Speaker 1: into the law that says you can't break grains of
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  Speaker 1: head off, you know, the weed when you're hungry, you
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  Speaker 1: know that. And he throws it right back at him.
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  Speaker 1: He says, besides your priest, they work on the Sabbath.
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  Speaker 1: It was their version of the preacher works on Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: You know. Sometimes I meet people they say I can't
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  Speaker 1: come to church. I work on Sunday. I always say
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  Speaker 1: me too. Anyway, So so he throws it right back
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  Speaker 1: at him. He says, look, the priest work on Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: So they kind of have this little spitting match, you know.
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  Speaker 1: And finally Jesus rears back and gives them like a
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  Speaker 1: big overarching principle. He says, look, look, you're so concerned
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  Speaker 1: about breaking the Sabbath. You've got it all wrong. The
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  Speaker 1: Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
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  Speaker 1: This is a big idea. The Sabbath was made for man,
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  Speaker 1: not man for the Sabbath. In other words, Okay, couples
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  Speaker 1: don't have children, so there will be someone to play
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  Speaker 1: with the toys. That's not a great illustration, is that
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  Speaker 1: I think it is? But anyway, I thought the point
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  Speaker 1: is this, you've got it all backwards. God, God is
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  Speaker 1: is not more concerned about the Sabbath than he is
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  Speaker 1: for people. God created the Sabbath for people. You think
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  Speaker 1: this is what he was saying to them. You think
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  Speaker 1: God loves his law more than he loves his people.
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  Speaker 1: Because they did, they did what many religious people do.
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  Speaker 1: They fell in love with their religion to the neglect
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  Speaker 1: of the people for whom the religion was created, into
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  Speaker 1: whom the religion was given. They prioritize law over people.
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  Speaker 1: This is the essence of legalism. This is the essence
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  Speaker 1: of why so many people, especially in previous generations, just
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  Speaker 1: walked away from the church. Legalism always prioritizes a view
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  Speaker 1: over a you. In fact, you may have left the
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  Speaker 1: church because somebody in the church you grew up in
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  Speaker 1: prioritized the Bible over your divorced mother or your gay brother.
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  Speaker 1: And throughout the Gospels, part of the new that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: introduced was this that when people, whenever people use the
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  Speaker 1: law of God to dishonor people made in the image
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  Speaker 1: of God, oh my goodness, Jesus was quick. He was
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  Speaker 1: quick to remind them that they were on the wrong
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  Speaker 1: side of God. So this conversation goes back and forth,
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  Speaker 1: back and forth, back and forth, and finally he brings
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  Speaker 1: it to an end and he lands this statement that
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  Speaker 1: we looked at last week. That's the hinge point for
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  Speaker 1: where we're going today. And he says, look, look, you're
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  Speaker 1: so concerned about the Sabbath, You're so concerned about the law,
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  Speaker 1: You're so concerned about the Temple. Let me give you
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  Speaker 1: a little information. Lean in, guys, don't let this get out.
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  Speaker 1: I tell you, I tell you something greater than the
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  Speaker 1: Temple is here now. To compare yourself to the Temple.
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  Speaker 1: To declare yourself greater than the temple is either arrogance,
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  Speaker 1: its ignorance, or its insanity, but it certainly blasphemy. Nothing
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  Speaker 1: was greater than the Temple, and certainly no individual person
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  Speaker 1: was greater than the Temple. In fact, to say that
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  Speaker 1: you're greater than the Temple is a threat to the Temple,
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  Speaker 1: and a threat to the Temple is actually a threat
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  Speaker 1: to the nation. The Jewish population in the first century
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  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem, in fact, in the previous centuries and in
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  Speaker 1: centuries to follow, they would die in order to protect
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  Speaker 1: that sacred piece of real estate about thirty seven acres,
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  Speaker 1: where that housed the law of God, where God dwelt,
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  Speaker 1: the epicenter of their worship, the epicenter of their whole world.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing was greater than the Temple. And if you threatened
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  Speaker 1: the Temple, you threatened the nation. Illustration of this Seven
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  Speaker 1: years after Jesus said this, in the year forty, the
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  Speaker 1: citizens of Jerusalem got wind of a plot. The emperor,
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  Speaker 1: Emperor Caligula, was going to send a statue that has
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  Speaker 1: actually shipped a statue of himself to the coast, and
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  Speaker 1: they were going to cart this temple of this statue
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  Speaker 1: of Caligula to the temple. And they were going to
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  Speaker 1: place it inside the temple walls. It was as if
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  Speaker 1: he was picking a fight with the Jews. And Petronius,
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  Speaker 1: the governor of Syria at the time, was given the
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  Speaker 1: assignment of going to the with his legions and taking
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  Speaker 1: this statue and accompanying it south to the city of
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem and placing this statue of the emperor inside the
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  Speaker 1: walls at the temple. And when he arrived at the
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  Speaker 1: port city in order to take possession of the statue,
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  Speaker 1: he was met with thousands and thousands and thousands of Jews,
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  Speaker 1: and when he threatened violence, instead of fighting back, they
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  Speaker 1: went to their knees, and they pulled down their cloaks,
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  Speaker 1: and they said, we are willing to die. They exposed
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  Speaker 1: their necks to Roman blades, said we will die before
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  Speaker 1: we allow you to desecrate our temple. Petronius eventually made
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  Speaker 1: his way to Tiberius. When he got to Tiberius, there
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  Speaker 1: were larger crowds. In fact, first century Jewish historian Josepha
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  Speaker 1: says this. He says, the Jewish people they threw themselves
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  Speaker 1: down upon their faces, and they stretched out their throats
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  Speaker 1: and said we were ready to be slain. And they
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  Speaker 1: did this for forty days, farmers went on strike. The
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  Speaker 1: economy was in jeopardy. Petronius did not know what to do.
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  Speaker 1: It was a stalemate. This would not simply be armed conflict.
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  Speaker 1: This would be genocide. So we wrote a letter to
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  Speaker 1: the emperor asking for advice, knowing that his failure to
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  Speaker 1: deliver the image of the Emperor to the temple would
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  Speaker 1: cost him not only his job, it would probably cost
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  Speaker 1: him his life. But he did not know what to do.
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  Speaker 1: And then, in a twist of providence or fate, while
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  Speaker 1: the letter was on its way to Rome, Roman senators
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  Speaker 1: conspired with the Roman Probatorian guard and they had Caligula assassinated.
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  Speaker 1: The crisis was averted. I tell you, something greater than
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  Speaker 1: the temple is here. This was impossible. There was nothing
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  Speaker 1: greater than the temple. Besides, this was the second temple.
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  Speaker 1: This was Herod's temple. The first temple, Solomon's Temple, had
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  Speaker 1: been destroyed around five eighty six BC. Later, the people
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  Speaker 1: were expelled from the city. Jews were thrown out of
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  Speaker 1: the city. The Babylonians cart it off the treasure from
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  Speaker 1: the temple and cart it off some of the best
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  Speaker 1: and the brightest people from the city as well. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: they took the fab four Shadrack and Meshak of Ben
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  Speaker 1: to go and Daniel some years later. Some years later,
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  Speaker 1: the Persian emperor allowed the people to return to the city.
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  Speaker 1: Cyrus the Great said, you can go back to your city,
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  Speaker 1: and you can rebuild your temple, but you can't build
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  Speaker 1: it as big as you built it the first time.
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  Speaker 1: I want a little Ecano temple. Okay. I want you
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  Speaker 1: to feel good about yourselves, but I don't want you
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  Speaker 1: feeling too good about yourselves. In fact, some people were
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  Speaker 1: there in the audience when they opened up you Ecano
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  Speaker 1: temple who remembered per Solomon's temple, and the text tells
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  Speaker 1: us that they wept because it was knocked near as
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  Speaker 1: grand and as glorious as the original temple. Then twenty
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  Speaker 1: years twenty years before Jesus is born, twenty years before
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is born, Herod the Great goes to the Jews
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  Speaker 1: in the city of Jerusalem. He says, I would like
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  Speaker 1: to rebuild your temple to its former glory. I would
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  Speaker 1: like to build you a magnificent temple. And they went
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  Speaker 1: back and forth and negotiated back and forth, and finally
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  Speaker 1: they gave him permission. So twenty years before Jesus shows up,
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  Speaker 1: the temple is rebuilt, and it is extraordinary. Here's a
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  Speaker 1: model of what the temple looked like in those days.
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  Speaker 1: These walls, some places were over one hundred feet high.
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  Speaker 1: This is a about thirty seven acres of stone that
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  Speaker 1: was cut stone in order to present to prepare the
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  Speaker 1: context for the temple structure itself. The temple structure itself
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  Speaker 1: about sixty feet high. But the thing that made this
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  Speaker 1: so magnificent, the thing that made it an ancient wonder
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  Speaker 1: of the architectural world, was this that the entire temple
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  Speaker 1: built on this plaza was made out of cut stone.
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  Speaker 1: Some of these stones were eleven by sixteen by like
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  Speaker 1: forty four feet long. Some of the stones in this
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  Speaker 1: building weighs over five hundred tons. This was an area
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  Speaker 1: where earthquakes were frequent. Harod built an earthquake proof temple
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  Speaker 1: for the Jews, something greater than the temple Jesus, I
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  Speaker 1: don't think so. So one afternoon, Jesus and his guys
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  Speaker 1: are in the temple on the temple plaza, and they're leaving,
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  Speaker 1: and they go down probably the southern stairs, and they're
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  Speaker 1: walking back, and as they're leaving, one of jesus guys
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  Speaker 1: turns and he looks over his shoulder, you know, looking
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  Speaker 1: at the temple, and he says, look, stop, teacher, come here,
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  Speaker 1: come here, Look teacher, What massive stones, what magnificent buildings.
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  Speaker 1: As many times as they'd been there, it was one
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  Speaker 1: of those things that you see, you see it over
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  Speaker 1: and over and over, and every time you see it,
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  Speaker 1: you you just can't get over whatever it is you're seeing.
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  Speaker 1: And this was one of those things. I mean, the
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  Speaker 1: size of the stones, the foundation stones for the temple.
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  Speaker 1: Every time they saw it, it's like, how in the
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  Speaker 1: world did they carve stone this large? How in the
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  Speaker 1: world did they transport it to this mouth, How in
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  Speaker 1: the world did they get it up here? It was
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  Speaker 1: just overwhelming, And so they pause once more to marvel
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  Speaker 1: at this extraordinary, extraordinary building. Jesus stops and he looks
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  Speaker 1: back with him, and what comes next should make you
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  Speaker 1: sit up straight. And what follows if you're not a
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  Speaker 1: follower of Jesus for whatever reason, you had a bad
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: church experience or something about six day creation or how
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: they get all the animals on the art, you know,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I understand those challenges I just want you to lock
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  Speaker 1: in for just one minute, because I bet you haven't
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  Speaker 1: heard this before. In fact, what I'm about to say
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  Speaker 1: is so extraordinary. I would love for you to fact
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  Speaker 1: check me, because what happens next, what happens next, It
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  Speaker 1: really is epic. Jesus says, guys, you see all these
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  Speaker 1: great buildings. You see all these great buildings, replied Jesus, sure,
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  Speaker 1: not one stone, not one stone, these fabulous stones that
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  Speaker 1: we wonder how they even carved them, much less transported them,
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  Speaker 1: much less got them to this place. Not one stone
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  Speaker 1: here will be left on another. Everyone will be interesting
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  Speaker 1: Greek term here it doesn't mean fall down. It means
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  Speaker 1: exactly what it says in English. Every one of these
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  Speaker 1: stones will be thrown down as into the valley below
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  Speaker 1: the base of the walls of the plaza. And they
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  Speaker 1: they just stare like like, okay, so is there a punchline?
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  Speaker 1: I mean what I mean? And then Jesus was saying, look,
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  Speaker 1: don't be too impressed. It's a teardown. Now. The problem
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  Speaker 1: was this, Come on, we're with me. This is impossible.
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  Speaker 1: You couldn't tear down Herod's temple. It's impossible. An earthquake
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  Speaker 1: may topple a parapet An earthquake, may crack a foundation
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  Speaker 1: here and there. You may lose a few bricks off
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  Speaker 1: a building, you may have to repair a floor. But
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: even then earthquake couldn't throw all the stones of the
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  Speaker 1: temple off the plaza into the valley below. There was
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  Speaker 1: only one force in the world powerful enough to do that,
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  Speaker 1: and that would be the Roman army. And the Roman
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  Speaker 1: Army is not about to destroy Herod's temple. Herod is
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  Speaker 1: a vassal king who works for Rome, and Herod's the
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  Speaker 1: one that built the temple to keep the Jews quiet
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  Speaker 1: and to keep them peaceful. I mean, Jesus, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you know, maybe we misunderstood, but this, this is a
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  Speaker 1: This isn't just disturbing, this is impossible. In fact, if
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  Speaker 1: this happened, this would be apocalyptic. This would be the end.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, the end of the temple is the end
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  Speaker 1: of the world as we know it, and we will
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  Speaker 1: not feel fine. So they make their way down into
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  Speaker 1: the valley and they make their way up to the
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  Speaker 1: Mount of Olives. And his guys are so disturbed by this.
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  Speaker 1: It's like you, we remember you saying you're greater than
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  Speaker 1: the Temple. Okay, that was weird. I mean, you're greater
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  Speaker 1: than the temple, and now you're telling us that this
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  Speaker 1: building is going to somehow come tumbling down all the
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: way into the valley below. So later, as Jesus was
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: sitting on the Mount of Olives, they took a break
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  Speaker 1: opposite the temple. With this panoramic view of the city
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  Speaker 1: and the temple. You can visit the site. Peter, James,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: John and Andrew went to him privately. They just had
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: to know. They just couldn't let that hang there. This
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: was much too big of a deal. And they said
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: to him, tell us when will these things happen? And
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: so he did. In fact, I would love for you today, tomorrow,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: sometime soon. Find yourself a Bible. Download one on from
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the internet. You know the YouTube. I mean you version Bible.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: It's extraordinary online Bible. Dust off your grandmama's Bible. Find
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: yourself a Bible and go to Matthew Martin Luke chapter
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: twenty one, and read what Jesus says about the days
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: when this would happen. He said, when this takes place,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: you will see an army surrounding the city. And when
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: you see the army surrounding the city. You'll know the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: destruction of this city is about to happen. You should
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: leave the city, you should take everything with the city.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Woe unto the pregnant woman. Pray that your wife is
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: not pregnant in these days. Pray that there are no
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: nursing mothers in these days. Men will die by the steward.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: They will pray for mercy, they will pray to die.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: It will be so extraordinary when what I predicted takes place.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: He wasn't apologetic, He didn't say, oh, I was speaking figuratively.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: He wasn't really nostalgic. But when you read how he
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: described what would happen, clearly he was heartbroken and he
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: was disturbed, but he was not exaggerating. But if that
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: were to happen, the world as they knew it would
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: literally come to an end. And forty years later, that's
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: exactly what happened. After four years of battling with basically gangs,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Jewish gangs that had created an uprising against Rome, they
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: had one giant victory over a Roman legion and they thought, oh,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: we can expel Rome. And their one victory gave them
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the momentum they needed to begin raising armies all over
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Galilee in Judea. The citizenry was scared to death. They
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: knew this probably would not end well. But the young,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the young men, like, this is our time. We can
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: rise up and we can conquer Rome. And Rome sent
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: in the tenth Legion and others, and they began to
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: herd the Jewish rebels from the Galilee all the way
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: down south, and eventually they rounded them all up in
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: the city of Jerusalem, and they built a wall stone
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: wall all the way around the city. By this time, Vespasian,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: who started this war, had gone on to be emperor,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: left his son Titus, and early as they began to
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: build siege works around the city, thousands and thousands and
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of Jewish people, pilgrims, because it was
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: a festival time, began to make their way toward the city.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: And initially the Roman army said, no, you can't enter
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the city, and Vespasian said, no, open the gates, allow
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: them to enter. Accompany them to the city. And once
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: they're all in seal it because their food supply, their
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: food supply will be depleted faster. And what happened in
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the side of the city was horrible. They fought with
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the Romans by day, they fought with each other by night.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: The grain stores caught on fire during one of the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: internal skirmishes. They were so sure that they were going
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: to expel the Romans they began fighting each other for
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: who would be king of Israel. And on August sixth,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: eighty seventy, the second Wall was breached. The tenth Legion
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: went into the city and killed just about everything they
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: could that couldn't be sold into slavery. They burned everything
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: that would burn in the temple, and then they literally
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: fact checked me. They literally dragged every single stone used
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to build the temple off the ledge of the plaza
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: and dumped it into the valley below to say this
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: is the end of Judaism. In fact, today you can
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: go to the southwestern corner of the temple and see
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: some of those stones for yourself. It was never rebuilt
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: on that day. Ancient Judaism died, never to be resurrected,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: just as Jesus predicted. This is what it looks like today.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: You've seen pictures like this Dome of the Rock. Around
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: seven hundred AD eighty seven hundred, the Muslims came and
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: built the Dome of the Rock. It was a place
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: where people cook. Jewish people and Muslim people could take
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: a pilgrimage to see where Abraham sacrificed, either Ishmael or Isaac,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: depending on which religion you embraced. They built a mosque.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: They alocked a mosque around seven hundred. It wasn't the size.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Then earthquake destroyed it. They rebuilt it. Another earthquake destroyed it.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Then they built it to this size. Ten ninety nine,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: the Crusades retook the city. They turned the mosque into
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a church. Eighty eight years later, Solidin came retook the
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: city for the Muslims and turned it back into a mosca.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Rabbinic Judaism was born, but ancient Sini Judaism was never resurrected.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Just as Jesus predicted, not one stone will be left
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: on another, everyone will be thrown down. Now I'm going
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: to depart from the storyline for just a minute because
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: what I want to explain next is a little bit complicated,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: but it is oh so important. The group of men
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: who followed Jesus apostles after the Peter was martyred, Paul
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: was martyred, Andrew was martyred. They say Matthew was martyred.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: When all of jesus first century original followers died, the
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: next group of people that stepped into leadership in the
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: church are called the church fathers. And the church fathers
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: were quick to do exactly what I'm doing today. The
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: church fathers were quick to say, Aha, it happened just
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: as Jesus predicted. Jesus is who Jesus claims he is.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: How in the world could someone predict something so you know, epic,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: so cataclysmic, so so easy to verify. Jesus must be
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: who Jesus. They did exactly what I'm saying. They're saying,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Jesus said it, and it happened. Jesus predicted it, and
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: it happened. But the gospel writers, the writer of Matthew,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the writer of Mark, the writer of Luke, the writer
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: of John, don't do that. And the question we have
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: to wrestle to the ground, especially if you're a skeptic
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: of this, how could they resist, How could they resist
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: editorializing on such an extraordinary, extraordinary phenomenon, How could they resist,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: you know, adding to their text something like this. And
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: so it came about just as Jesus said it would,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Because if you read the gospels carefully, they do this
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: all the time. Throughout the Gospels, they'll say Jesus said.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: But the disiples didn't understand it at the time. They
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: remembered it later later they understood. They constantly editorialized because
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: they were looking back on the life of Jesus, writing
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: about what he said, what he did, and then they
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: would interpret what he said and what he did because
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: they were on the other side of the crucifixion and
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the resurrection. So why in the world with Matthew and
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: why wouldn't Mark, and why wouldn't Luke and why wouldn't John?
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: How could they resist saying and oh, my goodness, it
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: happened just as he said it would, especially when you
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: read the detail he gives in Luke chapter twenty one
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: and in Matthew and Mark. So why not leverage this,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: why not see say see there I told you so,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and here's the answer. And this should make you set
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: up straighter, this should make you fall on your face
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and declared Jesus as your lord. Because when the Gospel
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: of Mark, who was written, the temple was still standing.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: That's why Mark didn't say it when the Gospel of
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Matthew was written, the temple was still saying, that's why
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Matthew didn't say, And sure enough it happened. When Matthew
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: was written, gave he included Jesus' prediction, but he didn't
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: include the fulfillment of the prediction because it hadn't happened yet.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: When the Gospel of Luke was written, Luke who said,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I have thoroughly investigated all these things so that you
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: would have an orderly account of what the life of
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Jesus looked like, what he taught, and what he did.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: When the Gospel of Luke was written, the temple was
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: still standing. And my friends, here's the problem. When you
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: were in school, or if you were to go back
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: to school, or when you begin to read information to
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: the contrary the reason you were told and the reason
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I was told in school that the Gospels were written
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: by not eyewitnesses, but people who arete many generations afterwards,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: is this very prediction. Because if Jesus predicted the fall
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem with the detail that he gives us, and
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: it was not written in after the fact, my friends,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: it is indisputable evidence that Jesus is worth following Matthew
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: didn't include it because it hadn't happened yet. Markn didn't
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: include it because it hadn't happened yet. Luke didn't include
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: it because it happened. It didn't happen yet. But my friends,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: it happened just as Jesus said it would. It is
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the most verifiable prophecy ever given anywhere by anybody. Not
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: one stone, not one stone will be left on another.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Everyone will be thrown down. And it looks as if
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: the only reason Jesus stopped to share this with his
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: guys was because they marveled at the temple, because they
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: ask him. And when you read it, Jesus isn't happy
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: about it. Jesus isn't lefal Jesus isn't vindictive. Jesus isn't
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: see there when this happens, everybody can know I'm who
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I claim to be. There's none of that. His heart
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: was broken because these were his people and they would
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: suffer in a way that is unimaginable to our modern senses.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: But Jesus was clear. The days of temple sacrifice, the
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: days of animal sacrifice, the days of God's covenant with
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the nation of Israel is coming to an end, and
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: it will be replaced by something new, by something improved,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: by something universal, and by something portable. Twenty years later,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: twenty years later, while the temple is still standing, twenty
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: years after Jesus gave this prediction, the apostle, Paul, the Apostle, Paul,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: the ex temple loving Christian, persecuting Fair, writes to ex
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Pagans in Corinth who had their own temple experience, and
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: he writes them these astounding words that again we miss
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: because we've never been temple people. But here's what he said.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: He said, do you know or do you not know?
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Because they didn't know? Do you not know that your
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: bodies this was a game changer, that your bodies, your
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: physical bodies, are temples. Something's changed, something new has come.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: That your physical bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the very spirit that inhabited the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: That building that he could have said, that is still
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: standing is no longer inhabited by the Holy Spirit, because
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit has left the building and inhabits the
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: hearts of men and inhabits the hearts of women. You've
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: been inhabited by the Holy Spirit, who is in you
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: whom you have received from God. You are not your own.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: The significance is lost on us, but it is loaded
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: with implications for century Pagans and first century Jewish people.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: And here are the implications that sacred. With the arrival
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: of Jesus, sacred has been commuted. There are no more
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: sacred objects, there is no more sacred geography, there are
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: no more sacred sites. There are only sacred individuals, sacred people.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: The message of the Gospel, the message of Jesus, the
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: new that he came to introduce, not for a group
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: of people, but for the world. Is this that you
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: are seated beside sacred, that you are raising sacred, You
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: married sacred, you hire, and you work for sacred. The
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: stage was set with Jesus. The stage was set for
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: the upending of all society. The seeds were sown for
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: the end of slavery. The seeds were sown for dignity
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: for all mankind, but more importantly, for all womankind as well.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Because there is an inextricable link. There's an inextricable link
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: between the message of Jesus and human freedom. Because there
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: is a link between the message of Jesus between human
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: dignity and the cross, the price he paid to declare
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: the worth of every single person who has ever walked
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the planet. There's an inextricable link between the teachings of
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Jesus and your value, your worth. You're intrinsic, not a sign,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: your intrinsic dignity. I tell you. He said, something greater
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: than the Temple is here, and it was something greater
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: than the temple had come to the world for the world.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: And then as he predicted, the temple came down, along
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: with eventually temples all over the Roman Empire, for the
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: light and the love of God had been released and
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: manifest to the world for the world. And here's where
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: this intersects with you. And here's where this intersects with you.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: And here's where this intersects with me. That Jesus' original
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: invitation still stands, and as it stood before the temple
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: came down, how much more powerful now that the temple
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: has come down. Before the resurrection, this extent, this invitation
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: was extended, How much more significant is it that it's
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: extended to us today after the resurrection. And the invitation
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: is simply this, It's follow me, follow me, follow me,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: and you will find life that is truly life. Follow me,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: and you will find abundant life. Follow me and you
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: will find meaning and life. Follow me and you will
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: find fearless life. Follow me and you will find life
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: placed within the bookends of eternity. And you'll never be
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: the same, and you'll never see the same again. And
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: follow me not because of faith, Follow me because I
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: have demonstrated myself faithful. And follow me because I have
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: given you more than enough evidence to know that I
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: am he who your heavenly Father sinned to pay for
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: your sins and to establish a relationship with your heavenly Father.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Follow me. Why wouldn't you do that? Why would you
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: resist that? Why would you fear that