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How Did Jesus Freely Live a Scripted Life? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: This week we look at authenticity, living out the authentic life. Francisco,
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  Speaker 1: a twenty three year old from Mexico City, wants to
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  Speaker 1: embody the quality of Romans twelve Verses nine to thirteen
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  Speaker 1: in his life over the next year. He asks for
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  Speaker 1: insights from you, Pastor John, and living out this passage authentically.
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  Speaker 1: That's coming up on Thursday. That's next time. But today
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  Speaker 1: we have a question about the life of Christ and
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  Speaker 1: his authenticity. Hi, Pastor John, my name is Mark, and
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  Speaker 1: I have a question for you that I am having
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  Speaker 1: trouble putting into words, but I'll try my best. When
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  Speaker 1: I read the Bible, I keep coming back to something.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus says, it pass over as he's looking toward the cross.
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  Speaker 1: The son of Man goes as it is written of him.
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  Speaker 1: That's Matthew twenty six, twenty four. I don't quite understand
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  Speaker 1: how the cross can be both fully planned out and
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  Speaker 1: still come from Jesus's totally willing heart. I believe he
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  Speaker 1: gave himself as a ransom for all for Timothy two six.
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  Speaker 1: But when I think of an actor following a script,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like they're acting freely or authentically. It's
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  Speaker 1: someone else's will, not their own. So how can Jesus's
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  Speaker 1: life and death be fully scripted out and authentically yielded
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  Speaker 1: at the same time.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I probably should make the problem more difficult before
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  Speaker 2: I make it less difficult. Not only is the life
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  Speaker 2: of Jesus fully scripted, but so is Judas. Indeed, so
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  Speaker 2: is every person's life fully scripted by God. We're all living, acting, speaking, thinking,
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  Speaker 2: feeling according to God's providence, God's decree, God's script. When
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  Speaker 2: Jesus had been betrayed by Judas, let's take Judas as
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  Speaker 2: an example. When Jesus had been betrayed by Judas and arrested,
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  Speaker 2: Matthew writes in Matthew twenty six fifty six, all this
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  Speaker 2: has taken place that the scriptures, the script of the
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  Speaker 2: prophets might be fulfilled. And Jesus said to the disciples
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  Speaker 2: about Judas at the Last Supper, I'm not speaking all
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  Speaker 2: of you. I know whom I have chosen, But the
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  Speaker 2: scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has
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  Speaker 2: lifted his heel against me. So everything is happening that
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  Speaker 2: night according to divine script. And then there are the
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  Speaker 2: sweeping statements in the Bible that cover all people Proverbs
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  Speaker 2: sixteen one. The plans of the heart belong to man,
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  Speaker 2: but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, our hearts are indeed significant in shaping
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  Speaker 2: what we say, but the will of the Lord is
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  Speaker 2: decisive as to what comes out of our mouths. And
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  Speaker 2: Jeremiah says, I know, o Lord, that the way of
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  Speaker 2: man is not in himself, that he's not in man
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  Speaker 2: who walks to direct his steps Jeremiah ten twenty three.
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  Speaker 2: Roverbs twenty verse twenty four says, a man's steps are
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  Speaker 2: from the Lord, How then can man understand his way?
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  Speaker 2: So we have good reason to believe that when Paul
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  Speaker 2: says in Ephesians one eleven, God works all things according
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  Speaker 2: to the counsel of his will. That's the script. He
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  Speaker 2: means all things, including the words and deeds of every person.
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  Speaker 2: All persons are acting out speaking a script ultimately written
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  Speaker 2: by God. So Mark's question to us is, I don't
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  Speaker 2: quite understand how the cross can be fully planned and
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  Speaker 2: still come from Jesus' totally willing heart. He says, when
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  Speaker 2: I think of an actor following a script, it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: feel like they're acting freely or authentically it's someone else's will,
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  Speaker 2: not their own. Now that's of course totally reasonable. That
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  Speaker 2: last question is totally reasonable. If you conceive of an
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  Speaker 2: actor reading a script and memorizing it and speaking it
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  Speaker 2: in a play, then clearly what he says is not
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  Speaker 2: necessarily his own. He's an actor, he's play acting. He's
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  Speaker 2: letting himself be totally and consciously. That's important governed in
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  Speaker 2: what he says by memorizing and repeating a script. And
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  Speaker 2: that's the danger of all analogies. Analogies are wonderful and
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  Speaker 2: they're horrible, like they're just so illuminating and so confusing.
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  Speaker 2: There are true things about the analogy between God's detailed
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  Speaker 2: providence and the script of a play. Right, there's an
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  Speaker 2: analogy there, and there are true things, and there are
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  Speaker 2: wrong things in the analogy between God's providence and the
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  Speaker 2: script of a play. What's true about the analogy is
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  Speaker 2: that God, God does indeed write the script for everything
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  Speaker 2: that happens in the world, and he sees to it
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  Speaker 2: that everybody acts according to his script. That's the meaning
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  Speaker 2: of divine providence. But what's not true about the analogy
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  Speaker 2: is that in reality, no human being can read the
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  Speaker 2: script of divine providence before it happens. Nobody is reading
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  Speaker 2: and memorizing the script of divine Providence then acting it
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  Speaker 2: out like in a play. The script is secret in
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  Speaker 2: every individual life until it's acted out, except for Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus is divine, He's God. His mind and his will
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  Speaker 2: are totally one with the Father. Jesus was there in eternity,
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  Speaker 2: passed sharing in the act of writing the script when
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  Speaker 2: it was written for him. He wrote it with the Father.
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  Speaker 2: So unlike everyone else, he did know in detail what
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  Speaker 2: he was to do at every moment, because he himself
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  Speaker 2: planned to do it, and so he did not act
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  Speaker 2: against his will when following the script. His script. The
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  Speaker 2: words in the garden, nevertheless, not my will, but thine
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  Speaker 2: be done, did not mean that God the Son was
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  Speaker 2: out of step with God the Father. It meant that
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  Speaker 2: the truly human nature of Jesus found the prospect of
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  Speaker 2: the crucifixion horrific and undesirable in itself. But the unity
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  Speaker 2: of the will between the Son and the Father prevailed.
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  Speaker 2: So there's no sense in which Jesus was following a
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  Speaker 2: script contrary to his ultimate desires. He wrote the script
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  Speaker 2: together with his father. He loved the script, and he
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  Speaker 2: wholeheartedly acted the script from his whole soul eternity to eternity.
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  Speaker 2: But Mark's question to us is much more difficult when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to Judas and everybody else. We didn't write
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  Speaker 2: the script of Providence. We can't read the Script of
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  Speaker 2: Providence before it is acted. We don't know God's detailed
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  Speaker 2: plans for us the rest of this afternoon, or this
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  Speaker 2: evening or tomorrow morning. But we will all act and
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  Speaker 2: speak in perfect accord with the Script of Providence. Now
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  Speaker 2: to deal with this, I have maybe one minute left,
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  Speaker 2: which is why I wrote a seven hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 2: page book to answer this one minute long issue. And
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  Speaker 2: so I feel just a little bit of comfort that
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  Speaker 2: if somebody finds this next minute inadequate, I can at
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  Speaker 2: least say, would you please consult my book Providence, which
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  Speaker 2: has seven hundred and fifty pages of defense and explanation
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  Speaker 2: of this of this doctrine. So I take some comfort
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  Speaker 2: in that the essential mystery regarding Providence, the Divine Script,
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  Speaker 2: is how That's the key question, How God governs all
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  Speaker 2: things in such a way that human choices are still
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  Speaker 2: blameworthy or praiseworthy. That is humans are still real moral
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  Speaker 2: agents and are really accountable for our actions. That God
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  Speaker 2: governs the world this way is clearly revealed in scripture.
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  Speaker 2: How He does it is not clearly revealed in scripture.
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  Speaker 2: So let me close with two verses for you to
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  Speaker 2: think about in this mystery. Two Corinthians eight sixteen. Thanks
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  Speaker 2: be to God who put it into the heart of Titus,
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  Speaker 2: the same earnest care I have for you, for he
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  Speaker 2: is going to you of his own accord. God put
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  Speaker 2: it in the heart of Titus to do something, and
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  Speaker 2: the result is he's doing it of his own accord.
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  Speaker 2: That's the mystery. Same thing in Romans six seventeen, Thanks
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  Speaker 2: be to God. Notice, thanks be to God that you,
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  Speaker 2: who were once slaves of sin, have become obedient from
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  Speaker 2: the heart. So Paul, thanks God, not the Roman Christians,
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  Speaker 2: that they have become obedient from their own heart, authentic,
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  Speaker 2: real heartfelt choosing and obedience. It is really their choice,
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  Speaker 2: and God is the one who ultimately brought it to pass. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: there is so much more to say, but I end
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  Speaker 2: with this. We owe John Piper ows this is why
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  Speaker 2: I love this doctrine. We owe our eternal lives to
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  Speaker 2: the sovereign grace of God to overcome our sinful will
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  Speaker 2: and make us new creatures in Christ, Christ the Spirit
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  Speaker 2: who is at work in us, to will and to
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  Speaker 2: do his good pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Pastretohn's book Providence is a must read here. You have
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  Speaker 1: to own it. You have to read it. It has
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  Speaker 1: to get deep inside of you and change the way
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  Speaker 1: that you think about everything in life. It'll change everything
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  Speaker 1: for building out a God center view of the world.
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  Speaker 1: Check out the book Providence at Desiring Good dot org,
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  Speaker 1: Forward Slash Books. Thank you, Pastor John, and speaking of
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  Speaker 1: living authentically, Francisco, a twenty three year old from Mexico City,
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  Speaker 1: wants to embody the qualities of Romans twelve Verses ninety
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  Speaker 1: thirteen in his life over the next year. He wants
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  Speaker 1: to work on that text and work on his own life.
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  Speaker 1: He asks for insights on how to live out a
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  Speaker 1: genuine life of affection in Christ. A great aspiration, Great
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  Speaker 1: question up next time from Tony Rankie. We'll see on Thursday,