Latest / The Rhett Palmer Show / Sermon on the Mountain, Part 8

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Sermon on the Mountain, Part 8 · The Rhett Palmer Show

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I know that.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know that.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: I used that though to overdrink while I was showing you.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: No, but he but he turned uh water into wine and it was very good wine.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: And of course it had alcohol, it was an alcoholic wine, it wasn't grape juice.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but they had to have that in that day, right?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: To purify the water.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and they used it to purify the water.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, grape juice really wasn't invented as a common thing until uh the fundamentalist movement of the 1880s, 1890s.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: So uh Jesus drank, it's very, I mean, biblically and culturally, he drank wine that had an alcoholic content.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: But the Bible says don't get drunk with wine.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so there's admonitions of don't overindulge, and and and drunkenness is really something that's not a good thing, as you and I both know experientially.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: So this understanding of we shouldn't be going into a bar, uh, well, uh, some of the restaurants that uh my wife and I enjoy uh serve uh alcoholic beverages.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: And we over the years have become friends with many of our servers and have invited them to church and they have come.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: And great!
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, no, it's it's uh uh let me let me add this little bit here, just so people know.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: I learned this from Zola Levitt, who was a great, great uh Hebrew scholar who was now off the earth, but a great teacher.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't know this.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: That the history, see, in the days of old, if a young man wanted to marry maybe his neighbor or maybe a girl that he'd never even met, he just he would go to the house and he would pour a glass of wine, and he would pour the glass of wine, and if she sipped from it, that was the covenant that they were now engaged.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, that's right.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's no mistake, it's no mistake that Jesus' first miracle, it all works together, was creating the wine.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: So he offers us this wine, and if you drink it, then you have a covenant event.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: So one day you will be part of the bride of Christ.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a it's a it's a wonderful uh it's a uh people need to know that.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's what we do at communion.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: When uh when Jesus broke the bread uh with his disciples the night before his crucifixion and passed it around and said, Take this and eat this, this is my body broken for you, and then he takes the wine cup and he lifts it up and blesses it and takes a sip and passes it around, and this is the blood poured out for the new covenant.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: If we were sitting in that room and we watched him doing this, we would go, Wow, uh, this is what and Peter's thinking, this is exactly what I did when I proposed marriage to my wife, because the common practice at that time, when a young man met his uh the young lady that he wanted to spend his life with, the first thing he would do would be go to her uh her father and he would say something like, Hey uh Jacob, I saw your daughter out in the fields the other day, and your daughter is so ugly that she just scared my sheep and they ran away, and it took me three days to find them.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: Which Jacob would say, My son, you're mistaken.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: My w uh daughter is a beautiful girl, and thus would begin the negotiation for the price of this bride.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: And as this conversation is going on, the young uh lady and her mom would be standing outside the room, and once they had agreed on uh how many bushels of wheat or barrels of oil or sheep or goats was going to be given to the family for this bride, the young lady would come in and with her mom, and she would have a tray with uh bread and wine, and the young man would take the bread and break it and eat a piece and pass it to the young lady, and then he would take the cup, he would bless it, take a sip, and as he passes it to her in cultural language, he's saying, I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Will you be my wife?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: And if she takes a sip, she's accepting the marriage proposal.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: But then he goes to prepare a place for her.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: He might return in six hours or six years, and Jesus said that to his disciples.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: I go to prepare a place for you.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly what the groom is to do.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so in uh the first century you would go back to your father's house, and it was as the homes were an insula.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: They were rooms built on rooms and usually kind of in a square surrounding a yard or a courtyard area.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: And and the dad was uh given the task of the building inspector.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: So when the uh plumbing was in and the windows were in and the air conditioning was in, when all was set, he would give permission for the son to go get his bride.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: And uh the bride was had to be ready because if the man showed up and she wasn't ready, the wedding was off.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: So if he really loved her, he would send one of his friends ahead and say, He's coming tomorrow.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Now, Jesus uses this image, uh imagery so much in his discussion with us, his disciples.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: And afterward, the disciples got it because what are we referred to in the Christian scriptures?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: As the bride of Christ, right?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: So they understood this is an intimate relationship.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: And when we do communion, uh this is a reenactment of this moment where we understand that Jesus is inviting us into a very intimate relationship with him, which marriage is the only example that we have here on earth.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: So getting back, Rhett, we uh we got off our track, but it was a good it was a good uh diversion.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: But uh true prophet or teacher's ministry is going to have a positive effect on the church and will be in accordance with the teaching of Scripture, but a false prophet uh will not be bearing the fruit that will cause people to be encouraged, that they will grow spiritually.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, uh we see in Galatians chapter 5 that uh we see the difference between uh a good spirit and a bad spirit.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: So finally we get to this last section where Jesus says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven will enter.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: This is a very sobering moment, okay?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh in John chapter 14 and 15, Jesus says a lot of things.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: Abide in me, and if if you abide in me and I abide in you, you will bear much fruit.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: If uh you love me, you obey my commandments.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: If you abide in me, those who abide in me are the ones who obey my commandments.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh if you obey my commandments, you will have peace in this world.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: There will be friendship, and your joy will be great.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's an incredible section.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: It uh it connects our obedience in the small uh decisions of life to many benefits.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit is going to be greater.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: God will come and indwell us, Jesus will disclose himself to us.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: There will be peace, there'll be joy, uh, there'll be friendship with us.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: So Jesus says the criteria of entering the kingdom of heaven is this intimate relationship that is demonstrated on our part by being willing to say yes to God in the small decisions as well as the big decisions.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um He goes on to say, Many will say to me on that day, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, in your name perform many miracles?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: Then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I think this is Jesus' criteria for entrance into the kingdom.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's obedience to God because of this intimate relationship that we have with Him.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now, hold on, hold on.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Let me let me I want to I want to stick on this for a little bit.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: So then Jesus looks over and says, Hey, uh uh you uh you you fed me when I was hungry, clothed me when I was naked, visited me in prison.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: And these people will say, Well, we don't remember you, Jesus.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember you.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: When did we feed you or clothe you or visit you in prison?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And he says, When you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, come in, come in for your reward is great.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this does not mean that salvation comes by good work.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: But it means that you can have an outward appearance of uh this is how I take you you feel free to correct me, Mike.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: But the so you can have an outward appearance of being, you know, uh holy and all those things.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: You can have tent revivals, you can have you can sit in a church pew and you can sit, you can stand in a garage, it doesn't make you a car.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so he's saying, you know, if you truly know me, then the the the the fruition will be your love for the stranger, taking in the orphan, uh vis, you know, welcoming the stranger into your tent, uh, embracing the legal immigrant.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now that's not getting to the illegal or legal, but you know, uh embracing the immigrant or whoever it might be.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: So here's the thing is uh when I I uh I watched a clip the other day of a lady who said that my Jesus tells me I don't have to obey the laws of the uh Old Testament because they're old and out of date.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: And she's quoting from chapter eight of Hebrews, verse 13.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: But when you look at the context of the book of Hebrews, first of all, who's it written to?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's written to Hebrews.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: And what's the uh what's the argument?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: What's uh the point?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, there are followers of Jesus who are Jews living in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Judea and and uh Israel who are still going to the temple and participating and offering sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: And the writer of Hebrew is saying, you know, you don't need to do this anymore.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: This is something that Jesus did once on the cross, and there's impossible for him to get up on the cross again and have a new repentance.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: This is chapter six, that you don't need to do this.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: And interestingly, probably within 20 years of uh this being written, Titus came with the 13th legion and destroyed the temple, and there hasn't been a sacrifice since.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: So this uh uh pastor that was teaching this lady wearing the uh vestiment with the rainbow colors on it, is completely ignoring not only history, but the context of the book of Hebrews, and she's ignoring uh the admonition of uh 2 Timothy chapter 3, all scriptures inspired by God.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I think if Jesus is talking about anyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name and do miracles in your name?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: I look at this lady and others like her, and I think, maybe, maybe this is who Jesus is referring to, someone who's clothed in the garments of a minister, who's saying that they're proclaiming God's words, but yet have twisted and perverted them.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, as Jesus, uh as Paul says, uh uh they're invoking their sensuality and uh their desire for wealth.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: And Rhett, do you know that right now there is a controversy going on in one of the denominations that is moved away from the authority of the scripture?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: They're trying to uh uh bring in a regulation for the ministers of this denomination that these ministers will be in monogamous relationships.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: In other words, they'll only be having sex with one person.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: But pastors in the denomination are protesting, saying, you can't say that because we're allowed to have sex with whoever we want.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I believe that this is teaching that is very far from uh what Jesus uh is saying here and what God would have for us, because when we venture outside the family unit uh that God has created for humanity, that's why uh Leviticus chapter 18 uh says, I'm bringing you from Egypt into Canaan.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: Don't be like the Egyptians, don't be like the Canaanites, be holy, be kadash, display a morality that's not like the culture around you but comes from me.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Be holy.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: And then in uh chapter 19 he says, Don't have sex with your mother-in-law, don't have sex with your stepmother, don't have sex with your sister, your half-sister, your aunt, don't have sex with your uncle, men don't have sex with men, women don't have sex with women, don't have sex with animals.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's ri animals, that's really gross.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: So here's God's cultural practices to protect the family unit.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: And we can't disregard this.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: This is uh these are God's teachings on human sexuality.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: We we can't disregard this.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: And for uh some of our denominations that have moved to a progressive style to say that we don't have to pay attention anymore, I'm very fearful of uh of some of my uh apparent brothers and sisters because I think Jesus in verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: Many will say, On the Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: Cast out demons, perform miracles?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: And here's the criteria.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: Then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: You see, it's this intimate relationship that we're supposed to have.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: This is the criteria.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: Do we have an intimate relationship?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: And Rhett, you and I both know that once we received Jesus as our Lord, once we repented, and see this whole this whole process is as we hear this offering that God is giving us of forgiving our sins and entering his family, we consider that.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: And you and I had a moment in life where we were considering that, and then we sincerely uh desired in our heart to receive that invitation, and so we stopped walking away from God, and that point repentance literally means to walk one direction, turn around, walk in another, and surrender.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: And God saw our heart, he saw the sincerity of our heart, and then he received us into his family, and he sealed the deal by giving us his Holy Spirit.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is and on hold on, Mike, and then we were perfect, they're on forever, right?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, the school that's that's the entry.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: You're into school now, but now the lessons begin.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: Now you're uh starting the process where you become a kanos kistis, a previously unseen biological creation that comes from God Himself.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a slow process.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: We call it sanctification.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's something that is uh if you're a Christian, you're a follower of Jesus, you will be changed.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: Christianity is all about being changed from the old self to the new self.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: The Christian scriptures are filled, especially the epistles, with this image of going to your closet, deciding what shirt you're gonna wear that day or what dress you're gonna wear, and you take off the old garment and you put on the new garment, you know, you make a choice.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think, Rhett, those of us that have this intimate relationship with Christ, because of that and because of what he did for us on the cross and because of experience his presence, we are compelled to say yes to him and the small things of small decisions and the big decisions.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, you're saying the right thing today, though.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: You keep using, I don't know if you hear it, uh, but it it's like you're over a loudspeaker when I hear the word relationship.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's all about people think that they're gonna read these scriptures and somehow they're gonna walk circumspectly and do everything right and have an outward appearance of relationships.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, no.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Let me let me find it.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so we'll I want people to know religious activity does not save you, but if you have relationship with them, I love relate.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Look at you love your your your son, and you have a good relationship with your son.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: But if your son should sin, would he once you you had that commitment, you're you're not gonna you're gonna forgive him, uh, as God will forgive us.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know anybody that's watched uh their kids grow up that has changed their diapers, that has taught them how to ride a bicycle, all the things.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, our children are going to uh do things that are sinful because foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: We're born with this uh this rebellion against God and rebellion against authority, okay?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's natural.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: So my point is what you said about relationship.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm on this bent right now.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: It may sound a little strange.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have a dad.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: My father was killed when I was very young.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I never had anybody, I don't, I not that I purpose to be arrogant.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: I never thought I was arrogant, but I knew nothing of humility.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: And when I interviewed uh when I met Willie Nelson, I was on his bus and I went, wow, this is what humility is.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: This guy's really humble.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then later on in life, I got to interview Dr.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Billy Graham.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I will tell you, when I was looking across him, he and I in this room, and he exuded the true humility and kindness and his whole focus.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: There was no agenda in his heart.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so I and I went, wow, it was all about me and my audience.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I look around and I haven't found that in another man yet.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but yesterday I was in, I was on uh Church Street, which they take in in Burlington, Vermont.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I was in a bookstore.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: And as I open up the bookstore, these three women are coming in.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I held the door for them.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, the last one said, Wow, that's really something.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: You put yours here, you were coming out, and instead of going forward, you're patiently waiting and holding the door first.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was really and but you know what?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: As I do that more in life, putting others first, it's really great to not put Rhett first.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying I got this down, but my joy comes when letting somebody else out in traffic, letting holding the door open for others, or giving somebody else the bigger piece of pie.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: I I can say this, Red.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: I met you in 1995, okay?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: You interviewed me when I had written a book called Just Another Lump of Clay.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I walked away from that time with you.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: It was at Mr.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: Manatee's that you interviewed me.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, I used to do my interviews there.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, I don't know if I'm going to be friends with this guy.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I just gotta say, when you showed up at our men's group on Tuesday morning, what was it, five, six, seven years ago?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: I saw a different man walk in the door.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh God, his spirit has really worked in you.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: He has really worked in you.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just a joy to be with you now.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we're on the same page, we're recognizing the work God has done in us at this phase of life.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: We we realize He has more for us to do.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: We're willing to do it.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: And he's faithful to squish us like a grip.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I do want to say this on behalf of me too.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Remember what you said about Laura, your beautiful wife, and your wise wife.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: You were kind of arrogant for maybe the first 20 years with her saying, Well, I'm gonna do this, rah-rah, rah, and you know, it took a lot of that thing where, like Barbara now says, you know, you have a tone.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have a tone.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: So and you said the exact same thing the Lord has said to you.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so Hallelujah, Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to Cup of Friendship with Rhett and Mike.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to order your own cup of friendship, visit us at cup of friendship.com.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: The Sermon on the Mountain series will continue in the next episode.