Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Miraculous Signs, Evil Spirits, Startling Statement Msg 1620 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Miraculous Signs, Evil Spirits, Startling Statement Msg 1620 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · 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. But 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 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 cusp 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'm as great a need as anyone
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  Speaker 1: in this place today. So we pray you administer to
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  Speaker 1: each one of us. You'd relieve the fears and remove
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  Speaker 1: the confusion, and reach into our hearts that can be
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  Speaker 1: hardened over time and soften us, make us teachable, able
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  Speaker 1: to hear. I'm willing to respond. Thank you for the
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  Speaker 1: people who keep us free, who are in dangerous places today.
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  Speaker 1: Give wisdom to those who make those decisions as to
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  Speaker 1: where they go and where they should fight, and how
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  Speaker 1: they should carry it out. Protect us, we pray in
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  Speaker 1: this threatening era in which we live. Now, Lord, we
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  Speaker 1: give our gifts that they might be used to help
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  Speaker 1: those who serve you in places beyond, and to handle
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  Speaker 1: the needs of ministry at this place and in this community.
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  Speaker 1: May our gifts please you because they come from hearts
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  Speaker 1: that are grateful, lives that are generous. In the name
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus, before whom every knee will bow and every
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  Speaker 1: tongue will one day confess that he is Lord through
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  Speaker 1: Christ alone, we pray. Everyone said, Amen, it's unfortunate that
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  Speaker 1: the Bible is so silent. Here's what I mean by that.
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  Speaker 1: We have words that we can read, and we do,
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  Speaker 1: and we have events that we can trace, and we're
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  Speaker 1: able to do that thanks to maps and other resourceful
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  Speaker 1: tools we can use. We can read the words, we
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  Speaker 1: 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 latitude. 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. So
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  Speaker 1: they're involved in this tit for tat dialogue. And Paul
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  Speaker 1: tells Us in First Corinthians one that the Jews always
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  Speaker 1: want to sign. They want to see the proof. They
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  Speaker 1: 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 then they're saying, 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 synnics. 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: belly 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 it Ninevah.
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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 He announces the message of doom that's going
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  Speaker 1: to come, and the Lord uses his words, though they
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  Speaker 1: were spoken with a bad motive, admittedly, but he uses
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  Speaker 1: 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 Nunovites 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 I f 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 that 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,
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  Speaker 1: swept and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other
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  Speaker 1: spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the
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  Speaker 1: person and live there. So that person is worse off
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  Speaker 1: than before. What I mean, doesn't it make someone else
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  Speaker 1: besides me? Go is did my kids cut some part
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  Speaker 1: of my Bible out of? In between verses forty two
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  Speaker 1: and forty three? What is this about? What is with
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  Speaker 1: the demon coming in and out? What is it about
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  Speaker 1: bringing seven back or bringing the seven with him so
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  Speaker 1: that they enter this individual and he's worse off than
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  Speaker 1: who is the person? Think? Remember when you are reading
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  Speaker 1: your Bible, you need to read it like your dog
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  Speaker 1: gnaws on a bone. You want to look down and
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  Speaker 1: say it's it's it's it's done, dog, there's nothing left
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  Speaker 1: on them. You you turn it over, you work over it,
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  Speaker 1: you imagine, you put yourself in the setting. Otherwise you're
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  Speaker 1: like most people there. That's another part of the Bible
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  Speaker 1: nobody will ever understand. Wait, is that the Bible's fault
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  Speaker 1: or have you become a little cynical to be worse?
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  Speaker 1: I want to suggest that in the context, the person
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  Speaker 1: would be the Pharisee, any one of them. And they're
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  Speaker 1: the ones who said that he has a demon, and
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  Speaker 1: he does his work of miracles, but the power of Satan.
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  Speaker 1: But in fact they were the ones oppressedive demons. They
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  Speaker 1: were the ones wicked enough to be speaking for the
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  Speaker 1: enemy himself. Now I could I possibly say that because
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  Speaker 1: they look so righteous. One man writes this as he
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  Speaker 1: introduces us to Pharisees. They lived by rules and regulations,
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  Speaker 1: but those man made standards led them further and further
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  Speaker 1: from God, turned them into self sufficient, self righteous religious
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  Speaker 1: officials who saw them selves as above all others, having
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  Speaker 1: no need for repentance. When Jesus came with his message
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  Speaker 1: and model of true righteousness, they resented him and they
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  Speaker 1: resisted his message. They were reformed on the outside, but
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  Speaker 1: unchanged within. Then this closing line, which is profound there
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  Speaker 1: is there's never been a group of men more committed
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  Speaker 1: to a demanding religious and moral code than they, and
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  Speaker 1: never a group so far from God. That's right, when
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  Speaker 1: an individual is this self sustaining, this unteachable the cynical.
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  Speaker 1: The blindness is profound. He says things to them no
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  Speaker 1: one has ever said in their entire lives, as they
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  Speaker 1: have grown up in their own little circle, their own
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  Speaker 1: little clique of fellow pharisees. And he comes on the scene,
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  Speaker 1: setting people free, relieving people from them and their control.
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  Speaker 1: All a sign of cynicism and this self righteousness that
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  Speaker 1: comes with external reformation, but no internal transformation. You know
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  Speaker 1: what happens to them over the passing of time. Their
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  Speaker 1: heart became increasingly harder, but they still wore the robes
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  Speaker 1: of religion. They still had that holier than thou attitude,
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  Speaker 1: and they still were big on judgmentalism, so much so
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  Speaker 1: that there's no preacher from Nazareth, certainly not this one
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  Speaker 1: who has anything to teach us. Second crucial question, is
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  Speaker 1: your heart becoming softer in the passing of time or harder?
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  Speaker 1: You want to know who is the most difficult person
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  Speaker 1: to reach for Christ? The moralist, the one who is
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: religious has scrubbed up on the outside and looks so right.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you it's much easier to share Christ
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: with an out and out scumbag center who is greedy
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: and immoral and rotten to the core and proud and
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: all those things I could list. Because he knows he's
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: a sinner. She knows she's out to lunch. But you
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: try to reach someone who faithfully is in their church,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: regularly doing the things that are so visibly impressive, and
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: try to convince that individual he's a sinner, it's almost impossible.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: May God deliver us from religion and a self improvement
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: reformation and make us aware how deeply down inside we
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: are flawed, and we are in need of His truth
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: and of his son to set us free from that. Now.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: As if that isn't enough, look at the narrative. Look
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: at it coming right out of the heels of this
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: rather heated dialogue. Look at this. As Jesus was speaking
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside. Stop. Think,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: here we go again. Where do they live? They live
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: in Nazareth. Where is Jesus? According to correlated passages, Jesus
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: is in Capernaum, over for the sea Galilee. That's quite
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: a walk, and they walked in those days, and they've
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: walked all the way to Capernaum. Who are they? His
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Could anyone in this group right now, anyone listening to
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: me right now, name his brothers. Unless you are a
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Bible scholar, you can't. We don't know the family that well.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: I'll show you their names in a moment. One is
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: going to surprise you. And are you aware that he
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: had sisters? We know none of their names because they're
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: never named. And where's Joseph? Okay, let's spend a few
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: moments on the family, just to kind of get us
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: oriented before we get to this third crucial question. First
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: of all, no doubt Joseph has died. In those days,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: life expectancy was much shorter than our day, and so
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: it seems the reasonable answer. Since he does not appear
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: in Jesus' public ministry, he probably is dead. So Mary
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: is no doubt a widow and his brothers, who were they? Well,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you asked. Look at chapter thirteen. Look at thirteen,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: verse fifty five. I think it is yes, look at
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: thirteen fifty five. Then they scoffed. These are people in
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: his hometown. According to verse fifty four, he's in Nazareth.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: They scoffed, saying he's just the carpenter's son. Stop the
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Carpenter had nothing to do with his conception, unless, of course,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: you live in Nazareth and believe the scuttle butt. They believe.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Joseph and Mary had to get married, and if it
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: wasn't Joseph's child, it certainly was somebody, and Joseph took
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: pity on her and married her. The point was, when
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: they married, she was well the way to having a baby.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: So they live in the neighborhood of Nazareth, maybe right
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: next to them or near them, so by now they've
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: got their minds made up. They're wrong, but they say
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: he's just the garpenter's son. In fact, they go further.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: We know Mary, keep reading, We know his brothers. This
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: 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 Judith, 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 kiddy. 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 gets 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 mammies 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, by the way, the Catholic
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Church teaches the perpetual virginity of Mary. I'm gonna leave
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: that with you. I'm not gonna go any further. But
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: I mean about nine kids through the math, and and
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: and here is here, here is uh Jesus asking who
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: his mother is and whose brothers are? What is that about?
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Isn't that what he said? Who is my mother? Who
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: are my brothers? When you read your bible, let it be,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: don't don't don't try to change it. He asked that question.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Are those questions? What does he mean? As best I
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: can understand, he is expanding their understanding of a spiritual family.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: He is enlarging it so that it isn't just the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: immediate mom and Joseph and four boys and brothers and sisters.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: It's my followers. I got a couple of things I
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: want to say about this. Stop and think I say
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: it again. Some of you are closer to other people
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: in the family of God than you are to your
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: own siblings. Don't answer out loud. I know that I
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: have some people that are so near and dear to me.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: They are as close, if not closer, than my own brother.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: And as much as I love my sister some of
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: those people are as close, if not closer than my
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: own sister and some older ladies that I know of
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: women of God and people who have helped shape my life.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: There they mean as much to me as my own mother,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: if not at times more. You got it. That's one
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: thing I want to say, because I think that is
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: implicit in what he's asking. In fact, he points to
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: his disciples and said, look, look there's my mother. There's
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: my mother, and there's my brothers. So first in this,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: in the family of Christ, there are relationships that are
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: absolutely intimate in the right sense of the word, and
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: deeply satisfying, fulfilling, and where they're they're they're like family.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: I can go to Canada, I could go to Australia,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: I could go to an island in the Sea. I
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: could go to South America, I could go to a
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: part of Europe, and I would meet up with and
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: spend enough time with those in the Family of God.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: They would be just like one of my own. That's
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: what he's saying. You know what else he's saying, Uh,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: He's saying to be careful that you don't make a
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: family member an idol so important to you, so significant
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: that they take first place, which is to be occupied
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: by only one Christ himself. He was to free us
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: from that. I appreciate the words of Kent Hughes, who
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: writes this in his book on Mark. Listen carefully today,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: we're witnessing the disintegration of the family all around us,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: even in the church. In a valiant effort to stem
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: the tide, many Christians and non Christians alike have made
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: the family everything, meaning their immediate family. Every moment of
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: every day, every involvement, every commitment, every engagement is measured
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: and judged by the question how will this benefit my family.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: While this is generally commendable, it can degenerate into a
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: familial narcissism. I've never seen words those two words put
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: together into a familial narcissism. The four walls of the
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: home become a temple and only within and for those walls,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: or any sacrifices made, Thus we commit domestic idolatry. This
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: is an immense tragedy. I'll tell you how it becomes
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: a more very real, practical tragedy. The Lord calls you
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: to pull out, to move away, to be engaged in
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: ministry for his purposes and for his glory, and it
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: will mean the sacrifice of this with your family. In fact,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: you may rarely see them again. There isn't a missionary
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: alive who serves in some field beyond these United States.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: If they're Americans who have not gone through this, and
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: you pull away, but you do it because there is
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: one who is first place. And it's not your mother,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: and it's not your father, or your brother or your sister.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: In the words of Jesus as he points to his disciples,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: will of my Father in Heaven is my brother and
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: my sister and my mother. Question, is Christ really in
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: first place in my life? I am as serious as
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: a judge. Listen to me, is Christ. Don't be glib
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: and respond, oh yeah, absolutely, to stop. If he calls
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: you somewhere, which will mean the sacrifice of the closeness
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: that you've enjoyed through the years with You're going to
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: do it. You're going to say yes if you are
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: to be engaged in something that will cause some hardship
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: for the family, but it's for the glory of Christ.
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: You're going to sacrifice. Are you going to be overly
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: protective and never cause difficulty for family because, after all,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: their family, well that means your family's first. So you've
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: got to answer the crucial question, is Christ really in
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: first place? Above friendships, above geography, above career, above possessions.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: Now you realize, though it is a difficult passage, it's
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: like a sword that drives its way right into the
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: core of your being. You're becoming pharisaical, your heart softer
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: or harder. Christ in first place? You know the beauty
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: of Christ? He really says it as it is. In fact,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: if I may go back, just briefly to Marry, will
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: you please stop the veneration of marry if you're caught
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: in that she needed the Savior just as much as
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: the brothers, and just as much as you and I
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: for all of sin fallen short of the glory of God.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: She certainly was chosen. She certainly was the vehicle God used.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: But please, she is not the media tricks between man
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: and God. Don't go there. Part of the reason I
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: love that wonderful song that Buddy Green sings Mary, did
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: you know, Mary, did you know that this child that
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: you delivered will one day deliver you? Love that line?
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: Do you know that you know what she knew that.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: Do you know that the beauty of the teaching of
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: Christ is that it just brings such freedom. I say
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: it again. I'm freed from the expectation of a fellow
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: who may come along and be a pharisee in my life.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: I'm 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 disobey.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: You can run from or to Christ. You could choose
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: to become a faithful Christian or an unfaithful Christian. You
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: can cry and cuss and fit and laugh and sing
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: 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
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: mean the young woman said hesitantly that I could go
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: wherever I want to go. Yeah, it means you are
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: free to go wherever you want to go. Then, with
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: tears welling up in her eyes, she said, I think
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: I'll go with you. Listen to me. That's Christ's message.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: You don't want to go with anyone else. You're being
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: slaved by those who would love to play the Pharisee
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: in your life. When he comes, he sets us free,
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: free to obey him, free to follow him, free to
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: shove 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,
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: free to be vulnerable without fear. Free. Indeed, that I
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: think is what these verses are teaching. I invite you
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: before you turn this off, to make sure you have
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: addressed the three questions. And then what have you done
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: with 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 R. Swindall, Inc.
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.