Latest / Seeking Approval Podcast / SA Ep111 - The Way...?

Transcript

SA Ep111 - The Way...? · Seeking Approval Podcast

0:19
SPEAKER_01: So you want to be here today seeking the purple.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Seeking the Proval, the video series where I've been taking things that are being preached and taught that's surrounding our churches and surrounding our people.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: And I want to make sure that uh we look at these videos or these clips uh from a biblical point of view.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh I've got another one I want to share with you today.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh the the basis, I'll just show you a small portion of it uh of the video, but the basis of it is dealing out of John chapter number 14.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: This lady was discussing uh one of the most familiar statements Jesus ever made when he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by me.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh those aren't very complicated words, I believe, uh, but they're being made to be very complicated.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: And I want to show you this clip just so we can be on the same uh footing as we get started in this study today.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: To be do kind all kinds of awful things in the world, to punish people for not being Christian or not being their version of Christian, to punish or condemn people for all kinds of beautiful diversity that we see in the world, not to love, not to bless the world, but to condemn it.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: All kinds of awful things have come from those little words.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing, before we even dive in, we have to get one thing straight.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not come into this world to preach and to teach a my way or the highway kind of religion.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: And in every other one of the gospels, people come to Jesus and they ask him point blank, teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
2:19
SPEAKER_00: And in the gospel of Mark, Jesus' answer is this follow the Ten Commandments, love God, be an ethical person, do the right thing.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: And where the person who's asking, How do I inherit eternal life follows up and says, Well, who is my neighbor?
2:36
SPEAKER_00: And he says, the person who is on the way to eternal life, the person who has got it, who loves God and loves their neighbor, it can even be a Samaritan, somebody who is not of our religion, not of our tribe, not of our ethnicity, and worships God in a completely different way.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: That person can inherit eternal life.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: So again, to make a claim that Jesus in the Gospel of John is now preaching and teaching this radically different message that you have to follow God in a certain way.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: You have to say the Jesus prayer just like this.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: You have to be part of our tribe, or you have to be part of our faith, or you have to claim Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you won't get into the kingdom of heaven.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: Makes no sense.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: When you look at it in light of this consistent character of Jesus, jump into my hands, Jesus is saying, look into my eyes.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: I am the way into this pool.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: We as Christians get to jump, not because it is an exclusive experience, but because it's authentic, because it is true alongside other truths in the world.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: And so this is my heart and my hope for you.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: That when you encounter this scripture, and maybe you'll encounter some Christians who think very differently about it, you'll be able to explain to them and help them understand that anytime you're talking about the gospel of John, and especially anytime you're talking about a conversation with Thomas, Jesus is not to be taken literally, but metaphysically.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: Now, when we look at this verse out of John 14, I don't think the words are hidden in some obscure passage that requires a theological degree from a seminary somewhere or a philosophical mind to explain it to you.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: I think the words of Christ are very simple and spoken directly to one of his disciples.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: But the message is being muddled uh as people like this person who is uh discussing this.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to say preaching, uh, but as this person is discussing this, that Jesus is not saying that he was the only way to God.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: Somehow they are taking this and saying that he's uh that he's just suggesting that he is one form of a way uh to reach eternal life, and that your own beliefs and it's your own good morals can get you there.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't want to discuss the person that is making these statements.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, these are very public statements.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh anything that is put out uh through you know some sort of social media or live stream, uh they're public, that's what they are.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: Everything that we do through the church is public, these that I'm putting out is public.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: Feel free to use those.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: And feel free to try to refute anything that that we're talking about.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: But we're going to do the same thing.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: And these are questions that people have asked over the years, uh, and now we have access to be able to show a description or give a demonstration of what we're talking about.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: But the question here is, did Jesus really claim that he was the only way?
6:00
SPEAKER_01: And it's a very simple, I think, very simple discussion to have, but again, it's being turned into some philosophical debate on what he was saying.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: In John 14, 1 through 6, before we consider anything else, we need to look at the setting of this.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: You see, in the hermeneutics, uh there's the first three rules of hermeneutics: context, context, context.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh as I've often said, context is king, information is king.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh knowing what uh when you're studying something, knowing who wrote it, what it was written about, where it was written, why it was written, uh the information behind it.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: I mean, all those things, it's key to understanding uh the context of it.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: But uh anyway, uh Jesus is approaching, he's in the final stages, or in, you know, in his three-year ministry here at on earth, he's in those final stages of that, and he's preparing his disciples for his departure.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: And they've at this point, they've they've walked with him, they've they've listened to him teach, they've watched his miracles and witnessed the compassion he has for people, but now he's telling him he's going to go away.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: And he gives them a very beautiful promise in verses two and three when he says, I and my father's, and my father's house are many mansions.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: If we're not so I would have told you, and I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: But notice Jesus is speaking about a very real destination.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: He's speaking about the Father's house.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: This is not metaphorical.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm going, and you're going to go with me.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to prepare it, and I'm going to come again.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to receive you into myself.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: Because in other verses it says this same Jesus will come again in like manner.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: He's he's going away, he's coming again in like manner.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: So this is a very real transaction that's taking place.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: But now in 14.5, Thomas said to him, He said, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how we and how can we know the way?
8:02
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: So Thomas isn't asking Jesus a lesson about accepting other religions.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: He wants to know directly, you said you're leaving, you're going to a place that, you know, we're talking in a literal conversation that you're leaving and you're going to come and take us.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: But how are we supposed to get there?
8:21
SPEAKER_01: We don't know the way.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus answers in 14.6.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: He says, I am the way, the truth, the life.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: No man cometh unto the Father but by me, because he's going to his father's house.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: So the only way that you're going to get here is through me.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: So look at those words very carefully.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, I am a way of many ways.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say I am I'm one among many.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: He didn't he didn't tell you to go discover the path that works best for you in your life.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: He declares himself to be the way, the only way.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: And just in case somebody might misunderstand the meaning, he goes a step further, as the Bible often does.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: I love the way the Bible will explain things in the positive and the negative.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: What that means is if I'm giving you directions somewhere, I'll say, you know, go down to the red light and make a right.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: Do not turn left.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: That's giving you the positive and the negative side to it.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible oftentimes will do that.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: It'll give you a positive direction and a negative direction, uh, or it'll it will it will restate or give you a double statement of the directive or information it's given you.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Jesus is saying.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm the way, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: That would have been good enough.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: But then he goes on and he intensifies it by saying, No man cometh to the Father but by me.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: So it's almost like he's grabbing their ear and pulling a little bit closer and saying, Listen, not only am I the way, the truth, and the life, nobody's coming there but me.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: I mean, how much more clear could that be?
10:06
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why this has become such an issue with people.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: But there's two things in that statement that cannot be ignored.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: First, Jesus makes the claim about who he is.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Second, he makes the claim about how people follow him and how they get to the Father.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: But the the speaker in this video, um they want to retain a little bit of the first part that Jesus is the way, but then they want to make sure that they add in or or um give some clarification that, well, he is the way, but he's just the one way of many.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: Now in John uh 3, 16 and John 4 14 6, Jesus is not building a religious club.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: He's not what he's trying to establish.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: In this message, or in this portion of this message that we've heard, and you can go search out and find the entire uh portion of this, but um in this um message uh she argues that Jesus didn't come to establish an exclusive religious club where belonging to the right group guarantees heaven.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: I'll agree with that in part.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: Has nothing to do with your denomination, has nothing to do with your status, your social economic uh standing, has nothing to do with uh with any kind of rite or or any kind of uh uh religious uh man-made sacraments that you have.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: Has nothing to do with that.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: It's not a club where you if you have enough, give enough, or are popular enough that you can be part of it.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: But salvation isn't found in those things, it's found in Jesus Christ.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: So where the premise of what she's trying to say is almost correct, that she then goes too far.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: It's uh well, you might say she just goes overboard with it.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: The fact that salvation isn't found in religious organizations does not mean that salvation can be found in other avenues other than Jesus Christ.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: There's a different there's a major difference.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: It's a giant leap in logic, I would say.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: To say that denomination and affiliation is not salvation, and then to go say, but you can find salvation in anything.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: That's a that's a that's a it's a great leap to take.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: And and it really uh basically steps outside of the framework of what those verses are saying.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: Those verses are very clear.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: I am the way, the truth, the life.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: No man comes to the Father but by me.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: Now, what we can say with that with those with those verses is he did not say, I am the way, the truth, and life.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: No man comes to the Father unless he's a Baptist, unless he's a Methodist, unless he's a presbyterian, unless he's a Catholic, unless he's a you know Jehovah's Witness.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: If he would have said that, then that would have been what it is.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: But he says, no man comes to the Father but by me.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: So is it true that you can find Jesus Christ in a Baptist church, in a Methodist church, in an at-home Bible study, and your car driving down the road?
13:18
SPEAKER_01: Is it true that you can find that you can come to know Jesus Christ in those years?
13:23
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: But the Bible also says, how will they hear without a preacher?
13:28
SPEAKER_01: Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: But how are they going to hear without a preacher?
13:33
SPEAKER_01: At some point, you have to have somebody who is who is uh uh testifying, who is preaching, who is teaching, who is exhorting, um, uh, who is uh is uh expositing the word to you for you to hear these things.
13:49
SPEAKER_01: You have to open your Bible, you have to find Christ.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: And I know then there's people out there that say, well, you don't even know to look for Christ when you're lost.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: That's a whole different discussion on Calvinism that we have had and we can continue having.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: But the basis of what we're talking about right now is no, denomination does not matter.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be easier to come to know Christ in certain denominations, especially you go to one like a Jehovah's Witness who teaches that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God and that there is no salvation in Jesus Christ.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be very hard to find him when you're in the wrong.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be very hard to find him in some of these other denominations.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: So that's why denomination is important, because it's a where do you where which one magnifies Jesus Christ?
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, when you see this lady who is teaching Christ, she is not magnifying Christ.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: She is, in fact, magnifying everything but Christ.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: So you can see where the problem would be if you're sitting in this congregation, and if Jesus is the only way, which he said, it's going to be very hard to find him sitting in that congregation.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be very hard to understand him if you're sitting in that congregation because now you're trying to figure out, well, well then which is the way?
15:02
SPEAKER_01: If he's not the only way, so that I can do this any other way.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: So that's why in our church, and I can't speak for every other church, that's why we are independent Baptists.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: We are not part of an association, we're not part of a group of any others.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: We're our own group, meaning nobody pays our bills.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: We don't pay anybody else's bills, we are self-sustaining as far as through our tithes, through our offerings.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, we we are our own uh little church.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, and our church, we make sure that we magnify Jesus Christ.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: And when he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh the Father but by me, that's exactly what we take that.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: We take that at the face value.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: There's portions, look at our last video we were discussing.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we were talking about the modesty with the makeup, the gold, and the dress and all those things.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: When we were looking at that video, that's that's why we say that there's portions of the Bible that you need to take literal, and there's something you need to take figurative.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's different ways the Bible is written.
16:03
SPEAKER_01: There's poetry in the Bible, there's law in the Bible, there's prophecy in the Bible.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's there's so much of it.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: Is is all the Bible, should I say, true?
16:10
SPEAKER_01: Yes, all the Bible is true.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Is all the Bible literal?
16:13
SPEAKER_01: No, not all the Bible is literal.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so some we gotta take literal, some but you gotta take uh as a spirit as in spiritual context.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: Some is written to us, some is written for us.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of a lot of talk in the scripture, especially in Jesus' preaching about hell.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: Hell is not written to me.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to hell.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: Why?
16:32
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus Christ is my Savior.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: I will not visit hell.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: But is that written for me, for my understanding, for the edification of those around me to help others?
16:41
SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's written for me, but not written to me.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
16:44
SPEAKER_01: So we've got to understand some of those things.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh when Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and life, and no man, that's written to every single person.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: That's written to you.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: You cannot get there unless you come through Jesus Christ.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: How is that done?
16:59
SPEAKER_01: Through his sacrifice at the cross through the blood of Jesus Christ.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: That is it.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: If any man, any man asks, he shall be saved.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: So this salvation is not an open um, it's not an open call as far as you can come in any sort of manner, you can find salvation in any way you want to find it, uh, and it's open to everybody.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: That's not it.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: Is salvation open?
17:30
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: It's open, but it's only through Jesus Christ.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's one exit, there's there's one entrance into that, into that area, and it comes through him.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's where this uh this video becomes a little bit more troubling.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: Um she uh appeals to to Mark and claims that when someone asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life, talking about the rich young ruler, Mark chapter 10, um, I think it's verses uh somewhere around verse 15, 17.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: There's about 10 verses in there.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: We just studied the book of Mark uh for the last uh few years on Sunday mornings.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: But she says that Jesus' uh answer essentially is how to follow the commandments, to love God, be ethical, and do the right thing.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: That's not the complete account.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: So let's look at what happened in this section because again, she's taking a verse, and because she's uh misused one verse, she's now applying it into other places where it's being misused.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: Um if I had a Phillips head screws and I had a small flat head, I could take that small flat head and stick it into Phillips head screw, uh screw head, and and it would work.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: It would, it would, you could get somewhat of the job done, but it's not the right, I'm not using the right tool.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what she's done is she's taken the verse and she's got she's got the she's using the verse wrong.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like it explains other verses, but it doesn't.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: It's being misapplied.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: So in Mark 10, 17, uh this young man, uh young ruler approaches Jesus and says, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
19:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, Jesus begins to remind him of all of God's commandments, and the young man responds that he has observed these things.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: We've got to remember we're on the cusp of the New Testament church.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: Christ has not died yet.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: So we're on the cusp.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: So they're under uh the old covenant, the new covenant that Jeremiah talks about.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: That new covenant is not happening yet.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: So then in verse 21, uh Jesus uh he says, Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: And come, take up the cross and follow me.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: We've got to take the entire account.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: We can't just pull out one part where Jesus says, you know, uh, go be good to people.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: Jesus didn't simply tell the man to keep living an ethical life.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: He confronted the very thing that stood between this man and complete surrender to Christ.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: This young man had all the possessions in the world, but his possessions also had control of him.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: His wealth had become the obstacle in following Christ.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Now take wealth out and put whatever else it might be in your life or in the person's life you're talking about.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: It may be their status, it may be their job, it may be their riotous living, it may be some sin or some addiction, whatever it is, there's an obstacle.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus said, take your obstacle, in this case, the wealth, and take that obstacle, and you've got to get rid of it.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: And when you get rid of it, take up your cross.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about salvation now.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: Take up the cross and follow me.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: That's salvation.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: But remember, this is this is pre-crucifixion.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: So there's no there's no blood to accept right now.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: John the Baptist talked about, talked about that.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there's other portions in scripture uh where they were preaching the salvation of John the Baptist, which is the one John the Baptist taught about, which was about the you know baptizing.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: That was pre-crucifixion.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: So what happens next?
21:15
SPEAKER_01: Young man goes away grieved because he had great possessions.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: He knew he couldn't do it, he couldn't give those things up.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't go the way that Jesus commanded him to go.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: There's something even more.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: And in Mark 10, 26, the disciple says, Who then can be saved?
21:32
SPEAKER_01: And listen to what Jesus says in 1027.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: He says, With men it is impossible, but with God, but not with God, for with God all things are possible.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: That completely destroys what this false gospel, this false teaching that this person would just had in our video, that completely destroys everything.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: Because with with us, with me and you, it's impossible.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: You can't live good enough, you can't be right enough, you can't.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Be holy enough, you can't be righteous enough, you can't give enough, you can't be ethical enough.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: So if salvation was simply a matter of being ethical and compassionate and doing good enough, then why did Jesus declare that salvation is impossible with man?
22:14
SPEAKER_01: So we got to take that whole account in the whole conversation in context into account.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: Now, she also referred, and there's a lot to cover here, so I'm I know I'm at 20 minutes, so let me let me finish up here real quick.
22:33
SPEAKER_01: She also brings up another reference about the Good Samaritan.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: The Good Samaritan is not a lesson in multiple ways to heaven.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: It's over trying over in Luke chapter 10.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, when it says who is my neighbor, she connects that question to the discussion about inheriting eternal life, and then uses the Good Samaritan as evidence that people who follow other religions can inherit eternal life simply by loving people.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: There's a major problem with that.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: Major problem.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: She blended two different conversations.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: The rich young ruler in Mark chapter number 10, and the lawyer asked about his neighbor in Luke chapter number 10.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: So let's look at Luke chapter number 10 account.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Luke 10, 25.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
23:23
SPEAKER_01: Jesus directs him to the law.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: And the lawyer responds that he should love God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love his neighbor as himself.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: Then in Luke 10, 29, uh, it gives us a very revealing verse.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: It says, But he, willing to justify himself, saith unto Jesus, and who is my neighbor?
23:41
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss the expression there.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to justify himself.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: The man wasn't simply asking an innocent question about community relationships.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to justify himself.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to circumvent, circumvent Jesus, go around him, go around the way, the truth, and the life.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus answered him by telling the very familiar Samaritan story that we've discussed many times out of many pulpits.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: And you probably remember that man traveling to Jericho.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: He falls among thieves.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: He's beaten, he's robbed, and there's a whole thing about traveling to Jericho.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: That's a sinful road.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: You're going down.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, he was robbed.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: He was uh beaten, he was left half dead on the side of the road.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: Priest passes by, Levite passes by.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: But then a good Samaritan stops and has compassion and treats the man's wounds and makes the arrangements for his care and all those things.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: At the conclusion, Jesus asks, which of these, which of the three had been a neighbor to the injured man?
24:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, the lawyer answers in Luke 10, 37, and he says, He that showed mercy, showed mercy on him.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus saith unto him, Go and do thou likewise.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: So here's a question.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: Where in the account does say does Jesus say that following another religion is an equally valid way to receiving eternal life?
25:03
SPEAKER_01: He never said that.
25:05
SPEAKER_01: The point of the parable is that loving one's neighbor must extend beyond religious, ethnic, and social boundaries.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: I don't love somebody because they look like me.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: I don't love somebody because they uh worship like me.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't love somebody because they have the same likes and dislikes as I do or from the same area as I have.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: In fact, um if you want to know what Jesus taught about the good Samaritan and salvation, you've got to go back to John chapter number four.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, he doesn't dismiss her because she's a Samaritan.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: He treats her with dignity, with kindness and respect.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: And we've got a good video coming on that interaction very soon.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: Very shocking video.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: That's going to be a whole lot different type of video.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: John 4 22, he says, You worship uh you know not what.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: Jesus didn't tell the woman that every system of worship was equally correct.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: He corrected her understanding and pointed her back to the truth.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: And what happened to the Samaritans in the city that heard Jesus?
26:14
SPEAKER_01: John 4, 42.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: For we have heard in him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: They didn't go back and say, hey, keep doing what we're doing.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: We're good.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: They went back and said, Whoa, wait a minute.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: We're wrong.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: He's right.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: He's the savior of the world.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: So there's a there's a lot more that we couldn't uh discuss out of this little video.
26:42
SPEAKER_01: But the main thing is there's not many ways.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: And then at the end, uh this whole thing about uh we need to take Jesus metaphysically and um not um at face value that we should take him.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: Um this this whole metaphysical Jesus thing is taking over.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: I think I'm gonna have to do a whole video just on the metaphysical Jesus uh point of view, which is utterly um ridiculous, I guess, to just uh to start with.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: But we need to take Jesus at face value.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: He says all have sinned to come short of the glory of God.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: Wages of sin is death.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: And if we don't come through him, there is no other way.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing metaphysical to take about that.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: There's no uh ifs, ands, or buts.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: He is the way, the truth, the life.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: No man's coming to the Father but by him.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: Being good is not the same as being saved.
27:41
SPEAKER_01: Being holy is not the same as being saved.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: You can't be holy without being saved.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: Um you can't be set apart.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: You can't be sanctified unless unless there's salvation.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: Salvation is the basis.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: It must come first.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: So if you're wondering today if being good to your neighbor means you're saved, no.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: If you're wondering today if being good to your neighbor uh is equal to salvation, no.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: Is your religion salvation?
28:12
SPEAKER_01: No.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, religion is probably the worst way to salvation.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: He is the way, he is the truth, he is the life.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: Grace and peace to you from Gillian Baptist Church.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us today on Seeking Approval.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: You know, our faith oftentimes grows in quiet places.
28:30
SPEAKER_01: I hope today's conversation gave you something worth carrying throughout the rest of this day.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: And join me after Chris Spencer again next time as we continue thinking.