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Sermon on the Mountain, Part 2 · The Rhett Palmer Show

0:00
SPEAKER_02: He is the great I am.
0:02
SPEAKER_02: His first friend was Abraham.
0:05
SPEAKER_02: Surely said to Abraham, I am that I am.
0:25
SPEAKER_04: All right.
0:26
SPEAKER_04: Well, good morning, everybody.
0:28
SPEAKER_04: This is Michael Bagby here in Vero Beach, Florida, and I'm with my friend Rhett Palmer, who is in the mountains of Vermont, where it is 61 degrees today.
0:41
SPEAKER_04: As uh here in Vero Beach, we'll probably be in the low 90s, high humidity.
0:47
SPEAKER_04: And uh welcome to our discussion this morning, A Cup of Friendship.
0:54
SPEAKER_04: And we started uh a few days ago talking about Jesus' most famous teaching, which is the Sermon on the Mount.
1:04
SPEAKER_04: And uh it's a uh it's a quick but lengthy and in-depth uh teaching on discipleship.
1:11
SPEAKER_04: And Matthew uh records this as Jesus' first teaching, and it probably has most significance for those of us who call ourselves disciples of uh Jesus, followers of him.
1:28
SPEAKER_04: Matthew starts off by recording Jesus and saying, Blessed are, blessed are those who are poor in spirit, blessed are those who are mourning, blessed are those who are gentle, blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, uh, blessed are the merciful, uh, blessed are the uh uh pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers.
1:48
SPEAKER_04: Uh and in uh past times uh we have traditionally looked at these blessedness virtues uh singly, and um oftentimes, at least in my experience, they've come by, uh come as a high bar of uh behavior and attitudes that I could never really achieve.
2:11
SPEAKER_04: Fortunately, when you look at it through the eyes of uh the Greek language and study and Greek grammar, um Spiro Sodiatis, the author of Keyword Study Bible and one of my great sources for understanding the Greek language, says that these must be viewed in a progressive sense.
2:30
SPEAKER_04: And if you uh understand the words, you you read this as blessed are those who are desperately in need of God.
2:38
SPEAKER_04: Blessed are those who are mourning the effects of their sin.
2:42
SPEAKER_04: Blessed are those who suddenly get angry at sin and decide to do something about it.
2:47
SPEAKER_04: Blessed are those who are merciful and uh uh looking around and not being judgmental because everyone's uh dealing with their own issues.
2:56
SPEAKER_04: Blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness uh because now we want to do it God's way.
3:02
SPEAKER_04: And in the process, blessed are the pure of heart.
3:05
SPEAKER_04: Uh, a process is going on where we're being transformed.
3:08
SPEAKER_04: We are that new creation that God has created when we received Him and His Holy Spirit.
3:15
SPEAKER_04: And as a result, we have peace with God, and now we are compelled, just because of this, to share it with the people around us.
3:25
SPEAKER_04: So understanding the Beatitudes in a progressive sense helps me uh realize this is my own process to becoming a follower of Jesus, my desperate need of him that results in a chain reaction in me of uh dealing with sin issues and having his power or transformation overtake me.
3:48
SPEAKER_04: All right.
3:48
SPEAKER_04: Then uh we came to this next section: you're the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
3:54
SPEAKER_04: Salt in biblical culture gives a meaning of loyalty, faithfulness, unoffendable relationships.
4:01
SPEAKER_04: Light is defined as service to the people around us, to uh random acts of kindness.
4:10
SPEAKER_04: And I believe what Jesus is telling us is the first step toward really reaching out to the world is for us to be known as loyal, faithful friends who are other centered and are looking out for the needs of the people around us.
4:24
SPEAKER_04: And actually, when we do that, when we are those people, uh people take notice and they begin asking us, uh, what is that that you have?
4:34
SPEAKER_04: And I've uh often experienced this.
4:37
SPEAKER_04: Whatever it is you got, I think I need that.
4:40
SPEAKER_04: Uh so this should be the lifestyle of a follower of Jesus, uh loyal, faithful, unoffendable friendships, uh, who's looking out for the needs of the people around him.
4:52
SPEAKER_04: And now we come down to Matthew chapter five, and Jesus is going to now help us understand how we are to read and understand the scriptures.
5:06
SPEAKER_04: So, Rhett, what do you think about all of that?
5:10
SPEAKER_01: I think that I'm going to read uh Matthew 5, 17.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: Okay, give us a give it a shot.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: All right, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
5:57
SPEAKER_04: Wow, what a statement.
6:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
6:00
SPEAKER_04: Listen to what Jesus is actually saying.
6:03
SPEAKER_04: If we analyze uh this passage, Jesus tells the audience and tells us that the Hebrew scriptures have permanent validity to everyone in the kingdom of God, and that they should be taught and obeyed by the children of the kingdom, and that entrance into heaven is dependent on an inner state of righteousness reflected in the teaching of the Hebrew scriptures.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: Well, no, I understand I understand down here, I understand down here.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: He says to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes, and that's because the the actually the the kingdom of God has not come yet.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom of God is about to come after he pays the price on the cross, then the kingdom of God is here.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: And that means anybody that comes to know the Lord after his uh resurrection, obviously their righteousness exceeds that of the uh of the scribes and the Pharisees.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: And but at the beginning, do not think that I came to destroy the law of the prophets.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh like many people, uh it can that confuses me a little if you could expound on that.
7:07
SPEAKER_04: Well, this is, I think, um, really important that we uh New Testament Christians, as uh we often call ourselves, really understand that what Jesus is saying is the whole word of God is is uh very important for us to uh read, to meditate on, and to understand.
7:25
SPEAKER_04: And uh that the scriptures should be taught and obeyed by us, and they reflect uh God's morality and his righteousness, which is in fact uh going to be a standard for us to enter the kingdom of heaven.
7:41
SPEAKER_04: Now, you point out the very well that uh when Jesus goes to the cross, that now it's his righteousness.
7:46
SPEAKER_04: But I think uh the question that we have here in our culture is well, wait a minute, I'm a New Testament Christian, I'm under grace and not under the law.
7:57
SPEAKER_04: And these words are spoken often when it comes to studying the Hebrew scriptures.
8:01
SPEAKER_04: In fact, if if I opened your Bible and thumped through the pages, I would notice the last uh third of the uh Bible, the New Testament, would be well worn, and probably the first two-thirds might still have some pages stuck together because they've never been uh separated.
8:19
SPEAKER_04: Because we focus on our New Testament, our Christian scriptures.
8:24
SPEAKER_04: And so a lot of people say, well, we don't we're not under law, we don't really need to read the Hebrew scriptures uh because the Old Testament is obsolete and uh it's out of date.
8:36
SPEAKER_04: And often uh Hebrews chapter 8, verse 13 is quoted, and he said, A new covenant, and he's made the first one obsolete, but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.
8:50
SPEAKER_04: So now let's ask the question: Who is this book of the Hebrews to?
8:55
SPEAKER_04: Who's it to?
8:56
SPEAKER_04: Who's it written to?
8:57
SPEAKER_01: Well, not Hebrews.
8:59
SPEAKER_04: You mean uh the book of Hebrews that I just quoted here, uh the writer is writing to the Hebrews, right?
9:06
SPEAKER_04: He's writing to Jewish believers.
9:09
SPEAKER_04: And what is the issue as you read Hebrews is well, Jesus first spoke through the uh uh fathers, then he spoke through the prophets, now he's speaking through Jesus.
9:21
SPEAKER_04: And Jesus died once and for all on the cross for our sins, and there's no need to go back and do that again.
9:30
SPEAKER_04: And so Jewish believers who at the time were going to the temple daily to offer their sacrifices, the writer Hebrew says, you don't need to do that.
9:39
SPEAKER_04: Uh, that portion of the scriptures is obsolete because Jesus took care of that on the cross.
9:47
SPEAKER_04: And in fact, historically, within uh a decade or two of the writing of these words, Titus came with a thirteen legion.
9:55
SPEAKER_04: Uh Rome came and sent their army to quell the Jewish rebellion, and they destroyed the temple, and there's not been a sacrifice since then.
10:04
SPEAKER_04: Okay?
10:06
SPEAKER_04: So um do not think I came to abolish the law.
10:11
SPEAKER_04: I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
10:15
SPEAKER_04: Now, did Jesus fulfill the law and the prophets?
10:18
SPEAKER_04: Well, of course, many of them he did.
10:21
SPEAKER_04: And perhaps maybe this is why we focus our study on the New Testament and we forsake the Hebrew scriptures.
10:28
SPEAKER_04: But I think the key word here to understand this confusing, often confusing uh statement is the word fulfill, which is the word pleroo.
10:38
SPEAKER_04: P-L-E-R-O-O.
10:41
SPEAKER_04: And according to the biblical languages in Semitic domains, uh in Matthew 5, 17, pleroo uh can mean to fill out, to complete, to make perfect, but in this particular passage it means to give true meaning.
11:00
SPEAKER_04: So Jesus said, I didn't come to abolish the law of the prophets, I came to give them true meaning.
11:07
SPEAKER_04: And in fact, this is what he's going to be doing in this next section of the Sermon on the Mount.
11:14
SPEAKER_04: So, even though we might look at the Hebrew scriptures as an ol as old and out of date, Jesus is saying they're very valid and we should pay attention to them, we should study them, meditate on them, because they are part of God's revelation to us.
11:31
SPEAKER_04: Now, Rhett, there's actually, I think, three ways that we can look at these Hebrew uh sacred scriptures.
11:39
SPEAKER_04: Uh there's one view, and this all comes from John Stott and Alex Mulcher in a book that I read years ago called Uh, the Old Testament.
11:47
SPEAKER_04: These are very mainline theologians, uh, very, very good guys to uh read and study.
11:55
SPEAKER_04: Uh they say that the uh theonomic view is one way that we look at the Hebrew scriptures, and this view says that all the laws are still in effect and they must be obeyed by the uh reader.
12:08
SPEAKER_04: And Red, I've worked with uh Jewish uh Christian believers in uh Israel, and I've uh these are friends that I work have worked with.
12:18
SPEAKER_04: We've sat and had lunch and uh discussed these things.
12:21
SPEAKER_04: They believe that as Jews and followers of the Messiah, they should fulfill and obey the laws as best they can, especially those ones that say, do these to all uh in all your generations.
12:35
SPEAKER_04: Um obviously they're not uh able to obey the sacrificial laws since the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.
12:43
SPEAKER_04: The second approach is the cultural approach, which says that the laws all belong to their day and have nothing to do with our lives today.
12:52
SPEAKER_04: Now, one of my friends told me a really funny story.
12:56
SPEAKER_04: Uh uh her name is Robin, and she had a boyfriend named Matt, and uh uh Matt was uh at the time was a drug dealer, and um they were engaged in a relationship, and Matt, in the process of that, became a Christian.
13:13
SPEAKER_04: And so after he became a Christian, they stopped having sex.
13:17
SPEAKER_04: Uh Matt said, We're not having sex anymore, and she said, Why not?
13:21
SPEAKER_04: And he said, 'Cause because I'm a Christian now.
13:24
SPEAKER_04: And she said, Well, I'm a Christian.
13:25
SPEAKER_04: He said, You are?
13:27
SPEAKER_04: And she said, Yeah.
13:28
SPEAKER_04: And he said, Well, how come we've been having sex?
13:30
SPEAKER_04: Because what I read in the Bible says uh you can't have sex outside of marriage.
13:35
SPEAKER_04: And she said, No, it's okay to have sex.
13:38
SPEAKER_04: He said, Go ask your pastor.
13:40
SPEAKER_04: So Robin went and talked to her pastor, and she said, My boyfriend said that we should uh we shouldn't have sex until we're married, because this is what the Bible says.
13:50
SPEAKER_04: Her pastor said, Now, Robin, you know, back in those days they wore sandals and they rode camels, and we're not riding camels and wearing sandals, are we?
14:03
SPEAKER_04: Uh those uh those laws were for that time, and now our culture has changed, and um of course you can have sex with your boyfriend.
14:14
SPEAKER_04: Well, Red, I I've taken a few camel trips through the Negev, and I I've ridden camels.
14:20
SPEAKER_04: Uh I often wear sandals, and many of my friends here in Vero Beach and my friends in Hawaii wear sandals.
14:28
SPEAKER_04: So um this is a uh this cultural approach uh says all those laws are out of date and no longer applicable.
14:37
SPEAKER_04: And so Robin went back and told Matt, uh, my pastor said it's okay for us to have sex.
14:43
SPEAKER_04: And and Matt said, Your pastor don't know crap about the Bible.
14:47
SPEAKER_04: Let's get married.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: Because I remember that happened to me.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: I got born again.
14:51
SPEAKER_01: I went home to my girlfriend, and I said, We can't do this anymore.
14:55
SPEAKER_01: And that was it.
14:57
SPEAKER_04: Well, uh, they got married, and uh their daughter eventually came on a trip to uh Nicaragua with us, and that's how I became friends, and uh that's how I know these guys.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: How did that story end up?
15:08
SPEAKER_01: Did they did they stay together as a couple?
15:10
SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
15:10
SPEAKER_04: I've I've seen Robin uh in the last few months, and uh so they got married.
15:15
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, they've married, had children, uh doing very well.
15:18
SPEAKER_04: Uh nice people, really sweet people.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's nice to know that you know it's the same thing that happened to me of a radical conversion, you just suddenly know because the spirit of truth is in you and says, outside of commitment here before the Lord and a vow.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: That's out of the no, you're not supposed to do that.
15:35
SPEAKER_04: So there's the theonomic view of uh we must obey the laws as best we can.
15:39
SPEAKER_04: There's the cultural view.
15:40
SPEAKER_04: Theonomic.
15:41
SPEAKER_04: There's the cultural view that says uh they're all uh for their time and the time is past, things have changed, and so they're uh out of date, and we no longer need to pay attention to them.
15:53
SPEAKER_04: But then there's a third approach to the Hebrew scriptures, which we call the principal approach.
15:59
SPEAKER_04: And this says that behind each cultural practice is a spiritual principle that is relevant to our lives as members of the kingdom.
16:08
SPEAKER_04: Now, let me give you an example of that.
16:10
SPEAKER_04: Now, a very obscure passage of uh the Old Testament that probably most of us uh have maybe never read.
16:18
SPEAKER_04: It's Leviticus chapter one.
16:21
SPEAKER_04: And here are the uh the way the book opens.
16:24
SPEAKER_04: And the Lord called Moses to spoke to him from the tent of meeting.
16:27
SPEAKER_04: Speak to the Israelites and tell them when someone among you presents an offering to the Lord, you must present an offering from the domestic uh animals, either from the herd of the flock.
16:38
SPEAKER_04: If his offering is a burnt offering, he must present it as a flawless mail and present it at the entrance of the tent of meeting for its acceptance before the Lord.
16:47
SPEAKER_04: Okay?
16:48
SPEAKER_04: So here are the first three books, uh first three verses of the book of Leviticus.
16:53
SPEAKER_04: And from this we can draw three principles that affect our life here in Vero Beach today.
17:01
SPEAKER_04: Verse one, the Lord called out to Moses and spoke to him.
17:05
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
17:06
SPEAKER_04: This tells me that uh God will often take initiative in his communication and conversation with me, which is super helpful when I'm feeling very isolated and alone, and I'm starting to get depressed, and I'm wondering where God is.
17:21
SPEAKER_04: I know God will initiate and speak to me when he's ready.
17:27
SPEAKER_04: This verse two says, Tell the Israelites to bring an offering to me.
17:31
SPEAKER_04: Now, this is part of God's economy.
17:34
SPEAKER_04: Uh, God gives us everything, and he wants us to give something back to him as an acknowledgement of where it all comes from.
17:44
SPEAKER_04: This is a principle that really works for me today.
17:47
SPEAKER_04: The third verse says, Bring a flawless mail, bring your best offering.
17:53
SPEAKER_04: So when I bring something to God or do something, I should bring him my best or do my best.
17:59
SPEAKER_04: And I remember years ago when I was living on Maui, um, uh my friend uh Nick and I decided that we were going to paint the bedroom of his roommate Dan, who was suffering from cancer at the time.
18:13
SPEAKER_04: So we went to the uh Ace Hardware store in Keyhei and we bought some paint and we looked, and at the time uh the the economical paint was$7 a gallon, but the good paint was 11.
18:28
SPEAKER_04: And we we weren't we weren't wealthy.
18:31
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we were just working day jobs, right?
18:34
SPEAKER_04: So Nick and I kind of looked at each other, which which one shall we get?
18:37
SPEAKER_04: We we started digging in our pockets, you know, and Nick said, Well, the Lord says bring him his best.
18:43
SPEAKER_04: So we bought the$11 a gallon paint.
18:46
SPEAKER_04: And so, right here in the first three verses of Leviticus are three principles uh that work for you and I in our life in the 21st century here in the United States of America.
18:58
SPEAKER_01: Now, can I can I add a little story there?
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Is that right?
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, there was this this there was this uh this uh a pastor, and uh he um had this guy painting the uh white church out in the country and a beautiful paint.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: And uh he says, by the way, we had some guests coming in uh from out of town to be here this weekend.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: So see the cottage behind the church, that's where the guests are gonna stay, the guest cottage.
19:24
SPEAKER_01: So I need you to paint that as well.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: And the guy goes, uh hmm.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: So later on his painting is running low on paint.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: So he says, I know what I'll do.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: I'll add some water and extend the paint, and that way, you know, I'll finish up the church and I can finish up the cottage.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Well, he's just about to get done with that, and all of a sudden this big thunderstorm comes.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: And the the rain and the water comes down and then and and the paint starts to wash off because he he had watered down the paint.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: And and and the voice from heaven says, repaint and thin no more.
20:03
SPEAKER_04: Repaint and thin no more.
20:06
SPEAKER_04: Repaint and thin no more.
20:08
SPEAKER_04: That's good.
20:09
SPEAKER_04: All right.
20:10
SPEAKER_04: So uh when we look at the Hebrew scriptures, we have a choice of trying to obey all of these cultural practices, um, or uh we have a choice to ignore them, or we have a choice to sort of look behind them and see what the principle is.
20:26
SPEAKER_04: Now, as you read the uh, especially the Torah, God is giving a lot of laws and commandments to the people that are coming out of Egypt and coming into Cana.
20:36
SPEAKER_04: And one of the great themes is look, I'm bringing you from this land, I'm taking you into Cana.
20:43
SPEAKER_04: Don't uh imitate their practices, their behavior, imitate mine, be holy because I am holy.
20:51
SPEAKER_04: All right.
20:52
SPEAKER_04: And so in Leviticus 22, we have these three verses.
20:56
SPEAKER_04: You should not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed or the produce of the seed which you've sown and increase the vineyard, or it will become defiled.
21:04
SPEAKER_04: Verse 10, you shall not plough with an ox and a donkey together.
21:07
SPEAKER_04: Verse 11, you shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together.
21:12
SPEAKER_04: Seems like these are random uh commandments that have no meaning, but in the context of don't mix my culture with their culture, as God is saying throughout the uh Torah, then these now become object lessons.
21:29
SPEAKER_04: Um and right now I'm wearing a shirt that is uh got cotton in it, and I think it might have a little bit of polyester.
21:37
SPEAKER_04: And so I'm kind of violating the uh the letters here, but I'm doing my best, Brett, not to mix God's culture uh with the culture around me.
21:48
SPEAKER_04: I'm trying to walk it out in uh his culture.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: Well I wonder where we where do we draw the line?
21:54
SPEAKER_01: Because in this town I've made friends with some Mennonites, and they're far more strict uh.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: uh the um the Amish actually came out of the Mennonites.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: And so uh uh and I ironically the the Amish now are more severe and legalistic whereas the Mennonites invited us to their church.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh the women sit on one side, the men sit on the other side.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: They're all dressed in black and white.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: The women all have their hair covered.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: And it it it's quite quite wonderful in that they're very nice.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: But um where do we draw the line on what is legalistic and what is not?
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Now I understand that because I I have a new friend and I mean not a new friend.
22:33
SPEAKER_01: He's been with us for years but he's newly had a breakdown in his life, surrendered to God and actually had a visitation where God said you know humble yourself and know that I am God.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: And this young man in his early 20s never really knew the word humble.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: And now he's going around saying I had gotten arrogant but the Lord has humbled me and he's a new creation.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: But I keep telling him you know he's got some friends that like to go out and drink.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: And I'm trying to say right now, you know, you're very fragile.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: I think you need to separate yourself from these other people because they'll bring you into their world.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: He lives in New York City as opposed to the kingdom of God.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: What say you Mike Bagby?
23:14
SPEAKER_04: Well uh I say that uh the Bible says very clearly that drunkenness is something to be avoided and that if you're not just that also fornication, you know kids like that.
23:24
SPEAKER_04: Well well obviously God's uh his design for mankind is a family unit with a within a committed relationship called marriage where a husband and wife experience intimacy together and that's what sex is really for is is for not only to create uh children but also the just the intimacy uh between uh husband and a wife and this family unit is something that God is very jealous of very protective of and so he says many things that uh we are to do or not do to really protect the family unit and if you want to see the assault of the our culture and uh our enemy uh Satan against the humanity it's the assault against the family right now.
24:12
SPEAKER_04: So yes uh these commandments in the uh Hebrew scriptures uh like Leviticus chapter 18 uh says don't have sex with your mother-in-law, don't have sex with your sister-in-law, don't have sex with your uh uh cousin and it goes down the list don't have sex uh men with men, women with women and don't have sex with animals because that's really gross.
24:34
SPEAKER_04: You know so these are all commandments that are made to uh take the practices of the culture and in Canaanite culture and in Roman and Greek culture, uh sexual fluidity uh uh same-sex relationships were very common but the Bible says that God thinks that the family unit should be the foundation of society and he does everything he can to for us to protect that.
25:03
SPEAKER_04: And so I think all these commandments have to be taken in a light of yes, what does fornication do?
25:09
SPEAKER_04: You know fornication causes you to give of your body but not give of yourself.
25:16
SPEAKER_04: Uh fornication is sex outside of marriage.
25:19
SPEAKER_04: It's it's sex becomes a commodity.
25:21
SPEAKER_04: You're not uh the Bible is very clear that you should not give your body unless you're willing to give your s entire self.
25:29
SPEAKER_04: And something miraculous happens when you give your entire self.
25:32
SPEAKER_04: And those of us that have been married I've been married for 37 years.
25:37
SPEAKER_04: Um I have to say after 37 years my marriage is not boring at all.
25:43
SPEAKER_04: My wife and I have been able to work through many of our issues and we are in a place of really enjoying one another in ways that when I was in my thirties I didn't think it was possible.
25:56
SPEAKER_04: You know?
25:57
SPEAKER_04: So God's God's really trying to protect the family unit here.
26:01
SPEAKER_04: And that's why we have uh all of the uh admonitions to uh keep yourself pure when it comes to sexual behavior.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah and not not to really I really don't want to go down this road deeply but I do know that yesterday I read online that the Canadians now made it illegal it's called hate speech if you quote the Bible it's against the law to quote the Bible like you just said where it says uh a man shall not lay with a man a woman shall not lay with a woman uh it's not that and it's not that Christians i uh don't love these people we're called to love all people but we're also not going to call something that is sin not sin uh it you know we're not condemning anybody you can do what you want to do you can sin all you want you can rob banks too and you can uh steal and and and kill and destroy but uh if you if you're following the Lord you know so I don't know I don't know what's gonna happen this one of these one of these days though soon we need to delve into this politicalness that in in in Canada yesterday made it illegal to quote the Bible this is well I just think it's a sign of our time right now the assault on the Bible uh Voltaire said if you're gonna destroy Christianity you have to first destroy the veracity and the regard for the Bible.
27:17
SPEAKER_04: He said that and he went on to say that in future generations uh the use of the Bible will disappear and and it will only be seen in a museum and people will wonder why was uh it was such a popular book and the all-time bestseller.
27:32
SPEAKER_04: Interestingly uh after Voltaire died the Geneva Bible Society purchased his home and actually used his home as a storage facility for Bibles that they were distributing.
27:47
SPEAKER_04: So the irony of God you know so um you know um Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy and he said all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work.
28:08
SPEAKER_04: Now when Paul wrote that to his disciple Timothy what scripture was he referring to Rhett?
28:15
SPEAKER_01: Which one was this?
28:17
SPEAKER_04: All scriptures inspired by God and profitable to teach, reprove, correct and train in righteousness.
28:23
SPEAKER_04: Okay what scripture was Paul referring to when he wrote this to Timothy well this is during the first century this is uh when the Christian scriptures didn't exist in fact they were in the process of being written so what scripture he was referring to was the Old Testament the Hebrew scriptures.
28:43
SPEAKER_04: So my challenge is when I'm reading a passage from Second Chronicles or I'm reading the Proverbs which I do every day as just a kind of a way to get my mind on the right path uh we have to ask ourselves what's behind this uh cultural practice what is the Lord trying to teach me uh who is God here what is who is God saying that I'm here how am I observing uh uh followers of God that have gone before me and how they're responding to God or not responding what am I to learn from that so I believe uh it's exciting to read the books of the uh Hebrew scriptures because these uh are given an example for us for understanding God's character his morality his love for us especially and um how we have responded to that in positive ways and in negative ways so um so so as I read this 2 Timothy 316 by the way which is a great memory verse um I have to ask the question of these uh six hundred and thirteen laws that Moses uh is giving and as well as uh the description of the tabernacle what is that relevant to my uh spiritual growth and I think this is the question that we have when we open the Hebrew scriptures okay so now Jesus records uh uh Matthew records Jesus giving some true meaning remember he said I didn't come to abolish the law I came to play roo it to give it true meaning so now he's he's going to help us understand the principles behind the law that religious parties have distorted and often minimized in their significance and application.
30:30
SPEAKER_04: So Jesus says you've heard the ancients say you shall not commit murder and whoever cuts murder shall be liable to the court but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court and whoever says to his brother you good for nothing shall be guilty before the Supreme Court and whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell okay?
30:52
SPEAKER_04: You see what Jesus explaining is the intent of this law not to murder includes murdering someone with your words or even with your thoughts.
31:02
SPEAKER_04: Because if you treat somebody as worthless you're violating God's standards for caring for one another.
31:08
SPEAKER_04: And now we're getting behind the letters of the law to the intent of the heart.
31:12
SPEAKER_04: So I I from this I get a principle that murder with your words or thought are often just as lethal as physical murder.
31:20
SPEAKER_04: And this is not something that we should be doing as members of the kingdom.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: Well I know that that that kind of worries me though because uh you and I have both confessed uh to a sin that most of us have today and that is I have gotten I've said I called people things from my car only they only myself and God could hear me but I call them racca or airhead or even to maybe a friend or a a a brother on earth.
31:47
SPEAKER_04: Well and so on Well Rhett this is the this is the standard this is what God is calling us to do is to be very careful in those thoughts and very careful in those words because when they come out of our mouth they affect the person that we're talking to and affects our attitude of them those that we're thinking about.
32:08
SPEAKER_04: So be careful how you um murder people with your words I think the teaching is pretty clear.
32:15
SPEAKER_04: The next yeah that has that has an effect because God spoke the world into existence so we can either bless or curse with our words precisely precisely and if you read the book of Proverbs it's filled with passages about uh directing and guiding and um controlling the things that come out of your mouth.
32:36
SPEAKER_04: Okay the next thing that Jesus says is you've heard it said you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
32:48
SPEAKER_04: Now once again Jesus is going beyond the letter of the laws and he's coming back to heart issues okay and he goes on to say if your right eye causes you to stumble tear it out and throw it far from you for if it's better to lose one of the parts of your body than your whole body to be thrown into hell if your right hand makes you if your right hand makes you stumble cut it off and throw it from you for it's better for you to lose parts of your body.
33:13
SPEAKER_04: Okay so what's Jesus saying here um he's using a hyperbole all right so if we're going to commit adultery in our heart and Jesus says that's just as bad as actually the the physical act because it's all about what's going on in our heart what's usually the beginning of those uh relationships usually usually it's a it's a glance it's a look it's a touch it's a hand that's kind of touching and Jesus says be careful with what you're looking at and what you're touching because this can lead to things in your heart that can really defile you all right because lust that leads to adultery often begins with a look or a touch.
33:59
SPEAKER_04: So it's a a hyper hyperbolic statement here okay tear it out cut it off hyperbolic it's just an over expression it's a it's it's an expression made to get your attention because it's an over exaggeration of a word.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: Okay but what about what about people have taken this literally we've got to well they shouldn't take it literally religious people have actually taken out their eye thinking that they're doing the will of God.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: Rhett this is why we're talking about it this morning because when we're if we're in the audience and we're we're uh uh listening to Jesus say these things obviously mutil self-mutilation is something that the Bible uh really forbids in many ways uh so Jesus says you know is he says this later in Matthew don't you understand that everything goes into man's uh mouth passes into the stomach is eliminated but things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and these are what defile the man for out of the heart come evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witnesses and slanders these are the things that defile man okay now I'd like to I want to I want to put the inject this because we like stories and stories keep people listening uh you know uh I remember a few years ago I literally said to the Lord one night before retiring I said you know I don't know if I want to go to your heaven in all sincerity I said because I if if if the if the angels are religious and puffed up uh we're and other people that are religious and puffed up are there I can't take an eternity being with people like that.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: Well anyway I went to sleep that night I woke up in the morning and happened open to the page of that of the very story where Jesus is sitting there on the ground and he's with his disciples and they're breaking bread and eating.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: And the Pharisees come and they they honored him they called him rabbi but they come in their beautiful outfits of gold and blue and white and they said Rabbi Rabbi uh your disciples here they are uh they're they're they're breaking bread with you but they have not washed their hands.
36:05
SPEAKER_01: They're breaking the law and Jesus looks up at them and goes you follow the precepts of man not God for what goes into a man's mouth and comes out of him does not defile him but what comes out of a man's mouth defiles him.
36:18
SPEAKER_01: And suddenly I realize oh God is answering my prayer that I said last night at midnight before I went to bed and that is he doesn't want religious people in heaven either.
36:27
SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
36:28
SPEAKER_04: So uh this is uh such a focus on heart issues and this is this is I think is what is astounding the crowd um Rhett is the Pharisees focused on outward actions.
36:41
SPEAKER_04: This is religious people focus on outward actions.
36:44
SPEAKER_04: Jesus let it is letting us know that for those of us that are true disciples we should focus on what's going on in our heart because outward actions reflect inward thoughts all right which is just as unrighteous as outward action.
37:02
SPEAKER_04: Excuse me he goes on to say and it was said whoever sends his wife away let him give her a certificate of divorce but I say to you everyone who divorces his wife except for reasons of unchaste makes her commit adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
37:19
SPEAKER_04: Now this has been a prob problematic statement as we read it in English but Spirosodiatis uh gives us a uh understanding of the Greek words here and let me just read you his understanding of this passage and it was said whoever dismisses his wife except for reasons of fornication while she is his wife makes her to be considered as having adultery committed against her and whosoever marries one who is unjustifiably dismissed is considered as having committed adultery.
38:04
SPEAKER_04: Okay?
38:05
SPEAKER_04: And here was the problem during Jesus' times men were leaving their original wives for younger women and uh that left them without support or the ability to start another relationship that would provide and care and security and the love that they need.
38:21
SPEAKER_04: You know some rabbis in Jesus' time said you could legally divorce your wife for many reasons like overcooking your food.
38:28
SPEAKER_04: And Jesus is saying that leaving your wife was only allowed for infidelity on her part.
38:35
SPEAKER_04: You see God never intended divorce to be part of his design for humanity.
38:40
SPEAKER_04: It's the family unit the husband-wife the mother father and the children in committed relationship but God's heart is always for the innocent victim of man's lust for a younger woman and this is why Moses gave permission to officially divorce so that the offended woman would now be able to move on into a new husband-wife relationship okay so uh I think this is the understanding that we must have here because Jesus uh later even goes into details because some Pharisees came to Jesus testing this is in Matthew 19 is it law for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all and he answered and said Have you not read that what he created them from the beginning and he made them male and female male and female and for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one fleshed so they are no longer two but one flesh and what there whatever therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.
39:44
SPEAKER_04: And they said well why did Moses give uh command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away Jesus said to them Because of the hardness of your heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives but from the beginning it has not been this way.
40:02
SPEAKER_04: And I say to you whoever divorces his wife except for immorality and marries another woman commits adultery.
40:10
SPEAKER_01: You know what's really cool about that story what you just said is love.
40:14
SPEAKER_01: We you know it's almost like Jesus came down just to give it a dramatic sense this alien comes down and this alien it comes from a place of absolute love.
40:24
SPEAKER_04: And if if we all were imbued with the love of God we would have in endless patience with each other therefore there wouldn't be a need for divorce right well this is the the uh when sin came in all sorts of things happened and as a result of that um just the other night for example I was at a uh event at the Rio Coco Cafe with with Brandt uh Hansen and Sherry and um a bunch of young people and Brand mentioned that people have said to him you know you Christians you're uh the Bible is very limiting and uh and very legalistic and uh and brand said well what do you mean and and the guy said well the Bible says you can't have sex outside of marriage and Brandt said well how's it working having sex outside of marriage in our culture because if we only had sex inside of marriage there would be no divorce there would be no adultery there would be no human trafficking there would be no pornography and he started listing off all the ills of our society that results from this from us basically ignoring this one commandment that God gives us divorce should not be part of the kingdom of God and but because of man's unrighteousness it happens and I think we should always be willing to protect the innocent party in a in a divorce and allow them to move on into a new relationship.
41:54
SPEAKER_04: Now Jesus goes on he's gonna now still explain fully the scripture again you heard the ancients say you not to make false vows, but you should fulfill your vows to the Lord.
42:06
SPEAKER_04: But I say to you make no oath either by heaven or by the throne of God or the earth or the footstool or by Jerusalem nor shall you make an oath by your head you cannot make one hair white or black.
42:17
SPEAKER_04: Let your statement be yes or no anything beyond this is evil.
42:21
SPEAKER_04: See in that time people were deceiving others by making um pledges and oaths by the temple in Jerusalem I swear to you or I swear to you on my mother's grave you know these kind of things.
42:34
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said don't do that don't be deceptive in your uh words and in your relationships just let your yes be yes and your no be no and he also said anything other than that is of the wicked one let your yay be a and your nay be nay just all these years of reading this 40 years for some reason I didn't see that where he says let your yay be a and your nay be nay and then he punctuates it by saying anything beyond this is of evil evil right okay so just be consistent and be clear.
43:07
SPEAKER_04: He's giving true meaning to the law he goes on to say you've heard it say an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth I say to you do not resist an evil person.
43:16
SPEAKER_04: Whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
43:20
SPEAKER_04: If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt let him have your coat also whoever forces you to go to one mile, go with him too.
43:29
SPEAKER_04: Give him who ask of you and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.
43:34
SPEAKER_04: So the eye for an eye is a quote uh from Exodus that it basically says the punishment should compensate the crime.
43:44
SPEAKER_04: And here's the verse in Exodus 21 If a man hits his female or male slave in the eye and the eye is blinded he must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye.
43:54
SPEAKER_04: If a man knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave he must let the slave go free to compensate Compensate for the tooth, okay?
44:02
SPEAKER_04: So this is a kind of a getting the justice system kind of back on an even keel here.
44:08
SPEAKER_04: But some have taken this passage in an extreme pacifistic understanding of this verse, meaning that we should never resist anyone who is unlawfully using force against us to steal or harm for us.
44:22
SPEAKER_04: And I think this gives a uh ignores the context of the entire Bible.
44:27
SPEAKER_04: Like Proverbs 25 says, if the godly give in to the wicked, it's like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring.
44:35
SPEAKER_04: And I think the Bible teaches us that we must defend ourselves and others against those who would do evil things against us.
44:44
SPEAKER_04: But this phrase, whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn him, turn the other to him, okay?
44:51
SPEAKER_04: Now, each of my children, four children, uh spent years in uh martial arts training, Tan Tsu Do.
44:58
SPEAKER_04: Uh two of them are second degree black belts, and my other two are just regular black belts.
45:03
SPEAKER_04: And as I took them to their classes and watched them and their exhibitions and their uh uh and their sparring, I never saw them slapping each other in the face.
45:14
SPEAKER_04: Because this is not considered a lethal blow.
45:17
SPEAKER_04: I saw them punching, uh, you know, a lethal blow is a is a punch to the throat.
45:21
SPEAKER_04: A slap to the face is an insult.
45:24
SPEAKER_04: And what Jesus is saying here, if somebody slaps you on the face, this is an insult.
45:29
SPEAKER_04: Don't respond to insults, just turn the other cheek, because I will take vengeance upon them.
45:34
SPEAKER_04: Okay?
45:36
SPEAKER_04: And so I think the principle from this passage is uh what Jesus is trying to teach us is we should be just in our judicial system.
45:45
SPEAKER_04: We should resist evil with force when needed.
45:48
SPEAKER_04: We don't have the right to revenge, we shouldn't respond to insults, but we should let them just slide off.
45:57
SPEAKER_04: And finally, the last passage here, Jesus says we should be givers to those in need.
46:03
SPEAKER_04: And he says in verse 43, you've heard it was said, you shall love your neighbors and hate your enemies, but I say love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you will be sons of your father who is in heaven.
46:17
SPEAKER_04: And here's the question, Rhett.
46:19
SPEAKER_04: We have a lot of people that are um persecuting us in ways, just like you said in Canada right now, you can't apparently publicly quote a verse from the Bible, okay?
46:29
SPEAKER_04: But how will these people that are making these demands against us, how are they going to experience God's love?
46:38
SPEAKER_04: Probably the best way is is through us when they meet us.
46:42
SPEAKER_04: I mean, when we return good for evil, that's often a starting point for the enemy to understand God's love for them.
46:51
SPEAKER_04: I think our good deeds that are given in a hostile situation will bring shame and repentance on those who despise us.
47:01
SPEAKER_04: And historically this has been the case.
47:03
SPEAKER_04: In the early Roman Empire, when Christians were persecuted, when they were brought into the arena, when they were killed by gladiators and uh animals, and they just stood there praising the Lord.
47:14
SPEAKER_04: People saw that and they saw their response, and they said, Wait a minute, these people have something that we don't have.
47:20
SPEAKER_04: Okay?
47:21
SPEAKER_04: Proverbs twenty-five says, If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat.
47:26
SPEAKER_04: If they're thirsty, give them water to drink.
47:28
SPEAKER_04: You will heap burning coals of shame on their head, and the Lord will reward you.
47:36
SPEAKER_04: And I think harboring grudges uh hinders our work for the kingdom.
47:40
SPEAKER_04: Jesus says that we should remember from where we came, that we should have mercy, we should treat our enemies as if they're our friends.
47:49
SPEAKER_04: This may be the only witness that they might have to God's love for them, and it will be a formidable argument against the lies of the enemy.
47:59
SPEAKER_04: And I love this uh Proverbs twenty-five, verse fifteen.
48:03
SPEAKER_04: Patience can persuade a prince, and soft speech can break bones.
48:11
SPEAKER_04: Even the most uh hardened heart, soft speech can break into that.
48:17
SPEAKER_00: And soft is that the soft answer turneth away wrath?
48:20
SPEAKER_00: Or is that just similar to that one?
48:22
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, right.
48:23
SPEAKER_04: It's very similar, but patience can persuade a prince, and soft speech can break bones, okay?
48:29
SPEAKER_01: Where are you reading that from?
48:30
SPEAKER_04: This is uh Proverbs 25, verse 15.
48:33
SPEAKER_04: You see, gentle arguments will turn even the most stubborn minds around.
48:39
SPEAKER_04: And I think the whole point of this passage is we are to remember that we're God's ambassadors here on earth, and that we must treat others, even if they're opposing us and saying nasty things about us and persecuting, we still must treat them with dignity and respect.
48:55
SPEAKER_01: And uh and I'll tell you something else as I get older.
48:58
SPEAKER_01: People like power.
48:59
SPEAKER_01: Well, the one thing is when you give in emotionally to uh someone who offends you, it's really powerful.
49:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm finding out late in life that if somebody offends you and you sit there and you don't you don't return retort for retort or uh nasty word for nasty word, suddenly you have the power to place them first.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm not gonna be pulled into this.
49:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm not going to respond with anger with anger.
49:24
SPEAKER_01: And it's actually it's very uh very effective.
49:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
49:30
SPEAKER_04: It really is.
49:31
SPEAKER_04: It's cool.
49:32
SPEAKER_04: So Jesus finishes up this passage with this uh final verse, verse 48.
49:38
SPEAKER_04: Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.
49:43
SPEAKER_04: Now, when you hear that, what do you think that Jesus is saying?
49:47
SPEAKER_04: That we have to be perfect, not make any mistakes?
49:51
SPEAKER_04: Well, when we read 1 John chapter 1, John says, if we think we have uh not sinning, we're crazy, because of course we are, and when we sin, we have someone we can go to who will forgive us of that.
50:04
SPEAKER_04: So uh I don't think uh uh fortunately, when I delve into my dictionaries, this word uh can mean perfect without error.
50:14
SPEAKER_04: The Greek word is the word teleos.
50:16
SPEAKER_04: Um it means finished, that which has reached its end, complete, full, wanting in nothing, mature in one's behavior.
50:28
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
50:29
SPEAKER_01: Specifically, you're a dad, you're a dad, Mike Bag, but you have four children.
50:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they're part of your missionary team down south and here in the US.
50:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh so and you're called poppy.
50:39
SPEAKER_01: I love that term, by the way.
50:40
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's how did you come to terms with that as opposed to, in other words, you have loving relationship with your children from the little bit I've seen.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: I really don't know your your personal life that well, but it seems like the there's a there's a thing there.
50:55
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure that at some point you had to come to terms with either being the the you could be the the bitter father or the what's the word, a very a very legalistic father, or show uh, you know, uh forgiveness and kindness and do and and and and give your laws in a in a loving manner.
51:14
SPEAKER_04: Well, here's the reality, Rhyth, is I have a wife that's very sensitive uh to uh another person's uh emotions and their spirit.
51:22
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
51:23
SPEAKER_04: And uh many times in our uh parenting, uh Laura would say to me after um a discussion that I would have with my children, she would say, you know, I saw them wilting a little bit when you were saying the things to them in the manner in which you did.
51:39
SPEAKER_04: And if you want to really communicate to their hearts, I would encourage you to consider your words in the manner in which you present them.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: Your wife said this?
51:49
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, of course.
51:50
SPEAKER_01: What a wise woman, isn't that great?
51:52
SPEAKER_04: Well, I mean, um I uh spent uh 10 years in the military.
51:57
SPEAKER_04: I'm uh used to receiving orders and barking out orders, you know?
52:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
52:02
SPEAKER_04: And sometimes that works, but sometimes it doesn't.
52:06
SPEAKER_01: And also you're you are a fighter pilot, and you want your pilot to be very the word I use is anal.
52:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean you don't want him missing a button.
52:14
SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
52:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
52:16
SPEAKER_04: See, uh the word uh most often used for sin in the uh in the Greek New Testament is the word harmtiya.
52:23
SPEAKER_04: Actually, 70% of the time you see the word sin, it's this word harmartia.
52:27
SPEAKER_04: It's actually like an archery term, it means missing the mark.
52:31
SPEAKER_04: And I often miss the mark.
52:33
SPEAKER_04: And now my children are all adults, and so when they see me missing the mark in a conversation, uh, an attitude, uh, they have uh enough equity in our relationship to say to me, uh Papa, you ought to think about what you just said.
52:50
SPEAKER_04: Or maybe you might want to consider another point of view, or that's not really the best way to communicate to me.
52:59
SPEAKER_04: And so I'm I'm not perfect.
53:02
SPEAKER_04: But I think what Jesus is calling us to be here when we understand this word teleos, yes, uh perfect can mean without error, but in English it comes across that we're supposed to have this high standard of never sinning.
53:14
SPEAKER_04: And Rhett, have you ever met someone that has reached a state of their personal sanctity and righteousness that they don't sin anymore?
53:23
SPEAKER_01: Talk about buffed up religious people.
53:25
SPEAKER_04: I I I have met people that say that they don't sin anymore.
53:30
SPEAKER_04: Oh my word.
53:31
SPEAKER_04: And that's when I step uh back a few paces and I look up to see if there's some cumulative nimbus clouds that are forming overhead because uh we're we're we're not perfect.
53:43
SPEAKER_04: We're not perfect, and we're not gonna be perfect.
53:45
SPEAKER_04: And uh as Paul says, we see dimly through the mirror and we're uh short of perfection, but soon we will be perfect.
53:52
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, you said something the other day that that influenced me, and that uh Barbara, my wife, has said that I have a tone at times.
54:00
SPEAKER_01: And of course, I thought it was just me, and I can't seem to come to terms with uh understanding her.
54:06
SPEAKER_01: And then you told me you too for many, many years, your wife would say you had a tone, and you almost said, Well, you're gonna have to live with it.
54:13
SPEAKER_03: What are we talking about?
54:13
SPEAKER_03: What are you talking about, Red?
54:15
SPEAKER_03: I don't have a tone.
54:18
SPEAKER_01: And so, well, anyway, it's nice to know someone else has been in the same doghouse because then I don't feel as though I'm, you know, it's what's bad is when we condemn ourselves and think we're the only ones that have done such a sin.
54:30
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
54:31
SPEAKER_04: This is the human condition, okay?
54:33
SPEAKER_04: And what Jesus is calling us to do, okay, look, he says, don't think I came to abolish the law.
54:38
SPEAKER_04: I came to play roo it.
54:41
SPEAKER_04: I came to explain it more fully.
54:43
SPEAKER_04: Pleroo is a word that a Greek physician, if you came to him with a broken bone and he put the bone back in its place, he would say, I playrood the bone.
54:55
SPEAKER_04: I put it back in its place.
54:58
SPEAKER_04: What Jesus is doing here in five different instances is he's putting the law back in its place.
55:04
SPEAKER_04: He's explaining it more fully.
55:07
SPEAKER_04: He's dealing with heart issues behind the letter of the law.
55:11
SPEAKER_04: He's explaining it more fully, okay?
55:14
SPEAKER_04: And he finishes up by saying, okay, now that you understand the intent of the law and understand the principles behind it, now leave behind your childish behavior and grow up, become fully mature.
55:31
SPEAKER_04: And Paul echoes this in Ephesians chapter four, where he says, the goal of all of our service and all of our instruction is maturity, that we would uh no longer be uh knocked around by the waves of deceit, that we would grow up to the maturity of a man that's in Christ.
55:47
SPEAKER_04: This is Ephesians chapter four.
55:49
SPEAKER_04: Maturity is the call for all of us.
55:52
SPEAKER_04: We should be changing more and more into the personality and character of Christ and less and less and less of who we were.
56:00
SPEAKER_04: We got to be.
56:01
SPEAKER_01: And also not to become self-righteous.
56:04
SPEAKER_01: I uh I remember I went to Hyde Park one time in London.
56:08
SPEAKER_01: You've been to Hyde Park.
56:09
SPEAKER_01: I was there to see the Billy Graham Crusade, and I got that there was a man who was frothing at people and they were booing him and everything.
56:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, finally his time was up, and they allowed me to stand on a crate of actual soapbox.
56:20
SPEAKER_01: And I started to talk about Jesus.
56:22
SPEAKER_01: But what I did was I said, we, I didn't point fingers at them.
56:26
SPEAKER_01: I said, we tend to do this, or we tend, and the whole crowd moved in and really listened and received me because I did not give the appearance of thinking that I was holier than thou, you know?
56:39
SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
56:40
SPEAKER_04: So um getting past religious behavior, getting to the heart of um what God's expression of his character, his uh desires for us, his morality, and us understanding that and now walking in it.
56:58
SPEAKER_04: I think this is Jesus' point of this first part of his most famous sermon.
57:03
SPEAKER_04: And he says, Come on, guys, grow up, understand maturity here in a spiritual sense is understanding God more and allowing him to conform us into his character.
57:15
SPEAKER_04: So we're always gonna be growing in our understanding of God and his ways.
57:20
SPEAKER_04: We're gonna be acquiring his characteristics through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
57:25
SPEAKER_04: We're gonna become more like him, we're going to become spiritually mature as long as we stay on the path and pay attention.
57:34
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
57:34
SPEAKER_01: We're about out of time.
57:35
SPEAKER_01: We want to sum this up and then we'll be back again next week.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to uh sum this up, Mike?
57:41
SPEAKER_04: Well, uh we're gonna continue with uh the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.
57:47
SPEAKER_04: But so far, what Jesus has told us is the first step in being a true disciple is to recognize your need for Him and the uh the sorrow that you have for your sin and the desire you have to walk it out God's way.
58:01
SPEAKER_04: And and then the your relationships with the people around you are gonna change because you're gonna not be offended and not be judgmental, but you're gonna become loyal, empathetic, compassionate friends, willing to look out for their interests and serve them.
58:15
SPEAKER_04: And then as we open the scriptures and read what God's words are to us, we're to understand it's all about heart issues.
58:23
SPEAKER_04: It's it's not about outward actions, it's about what's going on in our heart.
58:27
SPEAKER_04: And that's really where uh the Holy Spirit wants to deal with us, and that our goal should be maturity, that we should be willing to change, because as we read uh uh in our last session, it's God uh who gives us the desire to change.
58:43
SPEAKER_04: This is Philippians chapter 2, verse 12, 13, and 14, and the power to do it.
58:49
SPEAKER_04: So God is the initiator of the desire, and God is the one that supplies the power.
58:54
SPEAKER_04: And so I think this is the Christian walk, Rhett.
58:57
SPEAKER_04: This is what we should all be about.
58:58
SPEAKER_04: And as we do this, Jesus says, we are going to very organically and naturally impact the culture around us.
59:06
SPEAKER_04: And that's the way he wants us to represent him.
59:10
SPEAKER_01: And it's all about love, it's false and esteem others.
59:13
SPEAKER_01: In the end, it doesn't come like, well, I did this right and this right, and all fulfilling all the laws.
59:17
SPEAKER_01: No, it's about relationship, even with God.
59:20
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't want you doing it like because you have to like he has the angels and he said, bow down, and the angels bow down, get up, the angels get up.
59:28
SPEAKER_01: He says, What am I gonna do?
59:29
SPEAKER_01: So he made man a little less than the angels and said, I'm gonna give you free will.
59:34
SPEAKER_01: You can choose to respond to my love or not.
59:37
SPEAKER_01: But this is a love relationship.
59:39
SPEAKER_01: And and if you don't want to have a love relationship with me, then I've done my best to communicate that because who else would die on a cross for your sins?
59:47
SPEAKER_01: And so we can have father and and child relationship, uh, and that'd be that'll but it'll be a free choice.
59:54
SPEAKER_01: And so we all we all have that choice to do it.
59:56
SPEAKER_01: By the way, if you have a little love in your heart for what we're doing here, Mike Bagby and Rhett Palmer have started a little coffee company, and we'd like you to try some.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_01: It will support us a little bit financially.
1:00:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's and uh tell them about that if you want.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's uh coffee that we uh source from our friends uh in various countries in Central, South America, and in Asia and in Africa.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_04: Uh, we roast it right here in Vero Beach, Florida.
1:00:24
SPEAKER_04: It's all high-altitude, hand-picked coffee, specialty grade coffee.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_04: And our uh our uh our bags are cups of friendship.
1:00:35
SPEAKER_04: And we have three different blends that we're offering, uh Hearty Handshake, Kindred Spirit, and uh others.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_04: And so go to cupofriendship.com, cupofriendship.com, take a look and uh order a few bags and invite uh your friends over for a cup of coffee and uh have a conversation and uh do your best to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world to them.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and all the money's made go towards missionary work of his family, uh uh my my my world too, and we we uh that's what we're doing, spreading the gospel because we're certainly not making any uh profit here.
1:01:17
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, a cup of friendship.com.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh so Mike Bagby, uh God bless you, my friend, and uh we're gonna uh move on to something else today.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_01: And thank you folks for joining us, and uh we will continue uh having these conversations with Mike Bagby, biblical historian.
1:01:34
SPEAKER_01: Anything else, Mike?
1:01:35
SPEAKER_01: Aloha.
1:01:36
SPEAKER_01: Aloha.
1:01:37
SPEAKER_01: All right, peace and love.
1:01:41
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_01: Now Mike Mike Okay.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_01: I just want uh I hope you'll stick around a little bit to get in on the con to get in on the conversation with uh with uh the uh with um