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Andy Stanley - Redefining Messiah · Andy Stanley Sermons

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  Speaker 1: So several years ago, I was at getting my oil
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  Speaker 1: changed with my pickup truck and I was sitting there
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  Speaker 1: and the guy that was doing the work was really young.
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  Speaker 1: And that's how I said, Hey, are you working full
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  Speaker 1: time in school? He goes, no, I'm actually a senior
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  Speaker 1: in high school. I'm like, oh wow, I said where.
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  Speaker 1: He said, I go to Milton High School. I said, oh,
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  Speaker 1: that's where my kids went. And I said where do
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  Speaker 1: you live? You know, we're just chat and I said
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  Speaker 1: where do you live? And he said, and I quote,
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  Speaker 1: I live on the same street as Priest Stanley. And
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  Speaker 1: I said you live on and I named our street.
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  Speaker 1: He goes yeah, And I said, well, I'm Priest Stanley
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  Speaker 1: and he said you're pre Stanley and I said yes, no,
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  Speaker 1: and mostly no. Okay, so he was he was just
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  Speaker 1: a bit confused about my title. But yeah, he lived
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  Speaker 1: on my street. If I i'd never met him before,
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  Speaker 1: it's only eleven homes tells you something about us. But anyway,
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  Speaker 1: but he anyway, so long story, so yeah, he lived
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  Speaker 1: on our street. And so I had to explain I
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  Speaker 1: am a pastor, I'm not a priest actually, and his
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  Speaker 1: family ended up they came here for a while before
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  Speaker 1: before they moved. But the point was I had some
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  Speaker 1: redefining to do, so he understood, you know the difference.
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  Speaker 1: And so I tell you that story because in a
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  Speaker 1: similar but way more dramatic and way more important way, Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus had to redefine his title before he could claim
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  Speaker 1: his title. And this is what I want to talk
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  Speaker 1: about today, and this is something that is extremely important.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to try to make you feel the importance,
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  Speaker 1: even though on the surface and maybe initially you're like,
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  Speaker 1: that's interesting, but I don't know if it's important. It's
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  Speaker 1: actually interesting and it's important, and here's part of the
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  Speaker 1: reason why at the end of Jesus Ministry. And by
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  Speaker 1: the way, if you're of a different faith tradition, I'm
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  Speaker 1: so glad you're listening today or you're in the room
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  Speaker 1: with us, If you're coming back to faith, I'm so
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  Speaker 1: glad you're going to hear this. And if you are
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  Speaker 1: resisting the Christian faith, I'm so glad you're going to
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  Speaker 1: hear this because this may create a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: an on ramp back to faith for you, So tune in.
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  Speaker 2: It's a little bit, it's a little bit of minutia.
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  Speaker 1: But I think you'll understand why I spent the time
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  Speaker 1: saying all the things I'm about to say before I
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  Speaker 1: actually get to my point.
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  Speaker 2: Anyway, So at the end.
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  Speaker 1: Of Jesus' ministry, he's crucified, he rises from the dead.
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  Speaker 1: And once Jesus rose from the dead, it was very
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  Speaker 1: very clear that he was in fact God's Messiah or
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  Speaker 1: God's anointed one, that's what the word messiah meant. Or
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  Speaker 1: ultimately he was God's King because God anointed Jesus as
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  Speaker 1: the king, God's final king. But when Jesus began his
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  Speaker 1: public ministry at age round thirty, when he began his
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  Speaker 1: public ministry, the Judeans had a very distorted view of
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  Speaker 1: what or who Messiah would be.
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  Speaker 2: And let me explain why.
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  Speaker 1: There were two primary groups that kind of ran the
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  Speaker 1: religious system, the temple system at the time. You've heard
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  Speaker 1: this before most of you. There were the Sadducees and
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  Speaker 1: the Pharisees. The Sadducees only accepted Torah as scripture the
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  Speaker 1: first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy. They
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  Speaker 1: didn't believe that the prophets, the books of the Prophets.
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  Speaker 2: Were inspired scripture. Or scripture.
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  Speaker 1: They only accepted the first five books. Consequently, they didn't
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  Speaker 1: believe there was going to be a Messiah because a
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  Speaker 1: Messiah was a king, and there was nothing in Tora about.
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  Speaker 2: Israel having a king. That all shows up in.
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  Speaker 1: The prophets, so they didn't believe there was going to
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  Speaker 1: be a Messiah at all. They weren't looking for Messiah.
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  Speaker 1: The Pharisees, on the other hand, they accepted Torah plus
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  Speaker 1: the Prophets, the Law and the Prophets.
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  Speaker 2: That's how they referred to their Hebrew scripture.
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  Speaker 1: The Law and the Prophets, or the Law of the
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  Speaker 1: Prophets and the writings, or the Law and the Prophets
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  Speaker 1: and the Psalms.
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  Speaker 2: They didn't call it the Bible, but.
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  Speaker 1: They believed because they believed in the prophets, the prophets
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  Speaker 1: were inspired.
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  Speaker 2: They believed there.
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  Speaker 1: Was ultimately going to be a final king, a descendant
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  Speaker 1: of David that would show up in the pages of
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  Speaker 1: history as Israel's Messiah, God's final king. And when Messiah
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  Speaker 1: showed up, he would be a warrior king. He was
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  Speaker 1: going to take the throne of Israel. He was going
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  Speaker 1: to shatter Israel's enemies. Messiah for them was nationalistic, it
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  Speaker 1: was patriotic, it was political, it was military. He was
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  Speaker 1: going to return Israel to a place of glory, that
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  Speaker 1: once again.
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  Speaker 2: They would be a superpower.
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  Speaker 1: But as it turns out, both groups, the Sadducees and
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  Speaker 1: the Pharisees, were wrong about Messiah.
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  Speaker 2: But what they agreed on was this, if there ever.
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  Speaker 1: Was going to be a Messiah, Messiah would be just
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  Speaker 1: a man whose rule as king would be limited to
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  Speaker 1: the area of Judea or maybe Judea, Samaria and Galilee.
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  Speaker 2: So the point of all that is.
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  Speaker 1: This, before Jesus, this goes to my illustration, before Jesus
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  Speaker 1: could claim to be Messiah, could come out and say
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  Speaker 1: I'm Messiah, he had to redefine Messiah because their understanding.
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  Speaker 2: Of Messiah was completely wrong.
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  Speaker 1: It was one hundred percent human, it was nationalistic, it
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  Speaker 1: was military.
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  Speaker 2: It was take Israel. It was liberate Israel by force.
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  Speaker 1: So here's what's happening because, and here's one of the
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  Speaker 1: reasons I'm spending a Sunday on this. I'm constantly encouraging
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  Speaker 1: you to follow Jesus through the gospels. I'm like, if
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  Speaker 1: you're starting a faith journey or you're coming back to faith. Look,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the Bible's complicated in sixty six books. Just
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  Speaker 1: pick one of the gospels, Matthew, Martin, Luther John, and
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  Speaker 1: just follow.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus through the gospels.
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  Speaker 1: Because his initial invitation is follow me. So the best
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  Speaker 1: way to follow him now is to follow Jesus through
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  Speaker 1: the gospels to discover what he teaches and to discover
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  Speaker 1: what God is like, because Jesus said, You're never going
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  Speaker 1: to get a clearer picture of what God is like
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  Speaker 1: than me. So in the gospels. As you're following Jesus
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  Speaker 1: through the gospels, this is a little confusing.
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  Speaker 2: It's why I want to talk about it. And here's
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  Speaker 2: why I say it's confusing.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus as he is doing his public ministry, is acting
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  Speaker 1: as Messiah and redefining Messiah simultaneously. And this explains several
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  Speaker 1: confusing events in the Gospels.
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  Speaker 2: For example, on.
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  Speaker 1: At least two occasions, maybe three, but on at least
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  Speaker 1: two occasions, he's teaching large crowds and they are so
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  Speaker 1: overwhelmed and impressed, and in one case he had fed
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  Speaker 1: you know, thousands of them.
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  Speaker 2: They attempt to make him.
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  Speaker 1: Their king, they attempt to proclaim him as Messiah and.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus doesn't allow them to do that.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, he escapes, he leaves the crowd, to which
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  Speaker 1: you're thinking, wait, well, if you're Messiah, if you're the king,
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  Speaker 1: and the people are like, hey, we're in you're the king,
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  Speaker 1: why wouldn't you allow them to make you king?
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  Speaker 2: I thought you were the king.
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  Speaker 1: It's because he wasn't the kind of king. He didn't
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  Speaker 1: come to be the kind of king that they were
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  Speaker 1: about to proclaim him to be. He had come to
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  Speaker 1: be a different kind of king to reverse the order
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  Speaker 1: of things. But this was early on, early on in
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  Speaker 1: his ministry. So again, there are all these breadcrumbs, there
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  Speaker 1: are all these hents.
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  Speaker 2: He is redefining what Messiah is like while.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time acting out as Messiah. Another example
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  Speaker 1: of this that Matthew documents such an occasion where Jesus
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  Speaker 1: actually engages the Pharisees and conversation about Messiah. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: he is the one that who begins to talk about
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  Speaker 1: Messiah to sort of again even help the Pharisees redefine
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  Speaker 1: or rethink who Messiah is. I'll read this to you
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  Speaker 1: real quick that I'm going to get to the actual
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  Speaker 1: point of this message.
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  Speaker 2: But this is helpful. Matthew tells Us that while the.
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  Speaker 1: Pharisees were gathered together again, this is the group that
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  Speaker 1: accepts Torah and the Prophets and the Psalms all scripture.
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  Speaker 2: While they were gathered together.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus asked them, usually they're asking Jesus trick questions.
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  Speaker 2: He asked them a trick question.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus asked them, hey, what do you think about the Messiah?
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  Speaker 2: Whose son is he?
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  Speaker 1: In other words, who will Messiah descend from? Now everybody
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  Speaker 1: knew the answer to this question. This is like Sunday
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  Speaker 1: school one oh one. This is one of the everybody
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  Speaker 1: knew if you believe there's going to be a Messiah,
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  Speaker 1: everybody knew whose descendant he would, who he would descend from.
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  Speaker 1: So they give the you know, the standard answer. They said, well,
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  Speaker 1: the son of David. Why are you asking this that
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  Speaker 1: everybody knows that that Messiah is going to be a
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  Speaker 1: descendant of King David. You know, David lived a thousand
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  Speaker 1: years or so earlier. And Jesus is like, huh, that's
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  Speaker 1: so interesting. He said, if that's the case. Now this
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  Speaker 1: is a little clunky, so follow me.
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  Speaker 2: He says, If that's the case, then.
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  Speaker 1: How is it that David, speaking by the spirit, calls
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  Speaker 1: him Messiah his lord. And then he quotes an from
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  Speaker 1: an Old Testament Psalm, where David refers to Messiah. So
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  Speaker 1: David lives, you know, way way before all this refers
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  Speaker 1: to Messiah, but he refers to Messiah, not as his
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  Speaker 1: son or as a descendant. He refers to this Messiah
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  Speaker 1: as his lord, giving some sort of divine title to Messiah.
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  Speaker 2: And so Jesus continues.
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  Speaker 1: He says, if then David calls him Messiah, if David
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  Speaker 1: calls the Messiah his lord, then how can he Messiah
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  Speaker 1: his son? You follow all that any questions so far?
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  Speaker 1: I know this is kind of a lot anyway. So anyway,
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  Speaker 1: he's so, he's, hey, you believe that, you know, Messiah
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  Speaker 1: is gonna come from David.
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  Speaker 2: But David, when he talks.
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  Speaker 1: About Messiah, refers to Messiah as his lord.
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  Speaker 2: And Jesus says, how can that be?
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  Speaker 1: And the Pharisees look at each other, like, honestly, we
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  Speaker 1: just never thought about it, and Jesus is like, huh.
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  Speaker 2: He shrugs and just moves on, and he doesn't claim
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  Speaker 2: to be Messiah. But what has he done?
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  Speaker 1: He's dropped a hint a little breadcrumb that you guys
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  Speaker 1: need to rethink Messiah. That if Messiah is who David
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  Speaker 1: says Messiah is, if Messiah is who other prophets say
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  Speaker 1: Messiah is, Messiah is not gonna simply be a mere mortal.
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  Speaker 2: There's going to be more to Messiah than that.
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  Speaker 1: He's not gonna simply be a physical descendant of King David.
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  Speaker 1: And then he kind of moves on. Now, let me
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  Speaker 1: tell you kind of what's going on. Maybe this illustration
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  Speaker 1: wal help. When I'm talking to pastors, sometimes I show
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  Speaker 1: them a picture. I was gonna bring it Todavi, but
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  Speaker 1: I'll bring it some other time. I often show them
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  Speaker 1: a picture of our son Garrett, when he's this big,
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  Speaker 1: at this tall, walking down the beach with Sandra's father,
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  Speaker 1: who you know, his grandfather. And the picture is taken
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  Speaker 1: from behind, so you see this older gentleman holding hands
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  Speaker 1: with a little boy walking down the beach. And the
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  Speaker 1: reason I show pastor is this picture. I say, this
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  Speaker 1: is what it looks like to pastor a church. And
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  Speaker 1: I say who is setting the direction of this walk?
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  Speaker 1: And they all say the grandfather? And then I say
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  Speaker 1: who sets the pace of the walk? The grandson, right,
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  Speaker 1: because anybody here who has kids, or especially grandparents or
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  Speaker 1: early any of us. If you walk to if you
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  Speaker 1: set the pace and you're walking with a little child,
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  Speaker 1: what does the little child eventually do they just stop?
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  Speaker 2: It's like I did I give up?
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  Speaker 1: Or they just wander off, you know, So you set
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  Speaker 1: the direction. Well, this is what Jesus is doing, just
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  Speaker 1: like a good shepherd. He's setting the direction, but he's
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  Speaker 1: in a first century culture and he's having to allow
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  Speaker 1: the people around him. This is going to help you
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  Speaker 1: so much as you listen to Jesus teaching through the Gospels,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus setting the direction. He's helping them redefine what God
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  Speaker 1: is doing in the world and what Messiah is all about.
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  Speaker 1: But he has to move it their pace or he's
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  Speaker 1: taking into consideration where they are. So that's what's going on.
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  Speaker 1: So he drops these hands all along the way. So
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  Speaker 1: with that as the broad context, there is one thing
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  Speaker 1: in particular that Jesus teaches, or one thing in particular
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus said on two different occasions that is very
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  Speaker 1: confusing to Bible readers. And I don't want you to
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  Speaker 1: be confused. And you are all above average, so I
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  Speaker 1: knew you could handle a little in depth Bible teaching today,
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  Speaker 1: but this is so foundational for your Christian experience, and
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  Speaker 1: it's so foundational for the framework through which.
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  Speaker 2: We teach at all of our churches.
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  Speaker 1: In terms of Jesus being Messiah, God's final king. I
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  Speaker 1: don't want you to be confused. And again, this is
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  Speaker 1: so critical. It's really critical to understanding what happened after
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  Speaker 1: the resurrection in the Book of Acts. So here we
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  Speaker 1: go on two occasions. On two occasions, Jesus references the following.
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  Speaker 1: And you are familiar with this, even if you're not
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  Speaker 1: a Christian. You've heard somebody talk about this. Jesus reference
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  Speaker 1: is loving God and loving one's neighbor. Loving God and
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  Speaker 1: loving one's neighbor on two occasions. He mentions as two
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  Speaker 1: occasions that are recorded in the Gospels.
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  Speaker 2: Anyway, this is very familiar.
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  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, unfortunately, this is considered by most Christians to be
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  Speaker 1: the ultimate commands of Jesus, that these are our Christian
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  Speaker 1: marching orders. You just love God and you love your neighbor.
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  Speaker 2: That's what Jesus said, we're supposed to do. Now.
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  Speaker 1: One of the occasions where Jesus used this language is
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  Speaker 1: recorded in the Book of Mark and the Book of Matthew.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to look at both. It's two different books
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  Speaker 1: of the Bible, but it's the same incident. The other
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  Speaker 1: incident where Jesus uses this language is in the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Luke.
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  Speaker 2: So we're going to look at all three real.
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  Speaker 1: Quick, and then I'm going to make the point that
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  Speaker 1: I think is so important for you to understand. So
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  Speaker 1: occasion number one, Jesus is debating with the Sadducees about
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  Speaker 1: the possibility of resurrection. They're trying to explain to Jesus
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  Speaker 1: the whole idea of people rising from the dead in
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  Speaker 1: the future is absurd. And here's the framework that they
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  Speaker 1: were kind of mitigating against, their arguing against when people
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  Speaker 1: die today is Christians, we think, or we say, well,
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  Speaker 1: when you die, when people die, they go to heaven.
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  Speaker 2: That's the Christian way of thinking about life after death.
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  Speaker 1: In the first century, they didn't think that way. The
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  Speaker 1: Jews thought, when you die, you go to sleep. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the Sadducees said, when you die, you go to sleep
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  Speaker 1: and that's the end of you. But the Pharisees taught,
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  Speaker 1: and Jesus intimated, and Jesus, you know, I agreed with
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  Speaker 1: I mean, there's indications he agreed with this, that when
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  Speaker 1: you die, you go to sleep, but at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the age, And this is what the Pharisees believed
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  Speaker 1: and taught so Jesus again bread crimbs moving at their pace,
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  Speaker 1: that when a person died, they would go to sleep,
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  Speaker 1: and at the end of the age there would be
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  Speaker 1: a grand resurrection of all the righteous, and the righteous
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  Speaker 1: would rise from the dead and ultimately live forever or
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  Speaker 1: live in the New Age, and the new Kingdom resurrected
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  Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. Some Pharisees believe that there would be
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  Speaker 1: a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous, that the
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  Speaker 1: righteous would go on to be part of the Kingdom
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  Speaker 1: of God, and the unrighteous would be judged. Now, the
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  Speaker 1: reason these were all theories is because nothing there's no
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  Speaker 1: teaching in the Old Testament or what we would call
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  Speaker 1: their Bible or the Law of the Prophets. There's no
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  Speaker 1: teaching about life after death at all. There are little
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  Speaker 1: bits and pieces of verses that if you strung them
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  Speaker 1: all together, you'd still come up with kind.
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  Speaker 2: Of a hazy view of all this.
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  Speaker 1: So between the Testaments, four hundred years, between all the
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  Speaker 1: New Testament.
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  Speaker 2: There were several different theories that had arisen.
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  Speaker 1: So the Sadducees had decided because of Torah. Hey, there's
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  Speaker 1: no life after death. So Jesus is having a conversation
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  Speaker 1: with them about resurrection.
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  Speaker 2: So here's what happens.
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  Speaker 1: One of the teachers of the law came and heard
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  Speaker 1: them debating. This is a Pharisee who heard him debating
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  Speaker 1: with the Sadducees, and he noticed that Jesus had given
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  Speaker 1: the Sadducees a good answer. He gave him a real
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  Speaker 1: good answer. They thought they were going to shut him down,
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  Speaker 1: and Jesus shut them down. And so he asked Jesus
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  Speaker 1: pay attention. He asked Jesus, Jesus, of all the commandments,
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  Speaker 1: which is the most important. And here's where the confusion begins.
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  Speaker 1: The question is not Jesus, of all the commands or
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  Speaker 1: laws or commandments in the universe or in the world.
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  Speaker 2: Which is most important.
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  Speaker 1: The context for the question is Torah, the law that
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  Speaker 1: God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. The law of
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  Speaker 1: Moses Israel civil and religious law.
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  Speaker 2: So Jesus answers this question.
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  Speaker 1: He answers this question accurately, but he answers it within
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  Speaker 1: the context of the question, the context in which the
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  Speaker 1: question was asked. He's saying, of all the laws in
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  Speaker 1: the Law of Moses, which one is most important? And
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  Speaker 1: Jesus gives this pharisee the answer that the Pharisee had
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  Speaker 1: grown up with, that they'd all grown up with.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus is like, well, that's easy.
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  Speaker 1: The most important one, Jesus answered, is this.
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  Speaker 2: Hero Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: he's quoting from their scripture. Love the Lord's your God.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: You've heard this before, with all your heart, with all
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: your soul, with all your mind, and your strength. And
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: the Pharisees about to move on in Jesus, Jesus, I'm
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: not finished. The second is this, And he's thinking I
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: just asked for one. Jesus is like, yeah, but let
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: me finish. The second is this, love your neighbor as yourself.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: There is no commandment singular greater than these two.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: There's actually two great commandments.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: This is the first time anybody's ever combined these two ideas.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: But listen to what Jesus is doing. These are bread crumbs.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: It's not just love the Lord's your God. You have
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: to love your neighbor. He combines these two, he's moving
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: them in a direction. It's a hint that there's something
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: else coming. But he's quoting from Torah. So that's Mark.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Matthew records this same conversation, but there's a little bit
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: different twist. He adds some things that Jesus said that
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Mark left out. Here's how this one goes. Here's how
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Matthew records it. Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: the Pharisees got together and they're like, hey, let's see
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: if we can ask him a tricky question. And one
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: of them, one of the Pharisees an expert in the law.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: He's a lawyer. Which law the law of Moses.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Torah tested him with this question, teacher, same occasion, same question,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: which is the greatest commandment in the law. And Matthew
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: records Jesus giving the same answer that Mark does, because
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: it's the same occasion. Love the Lord your God of
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: as yourself. But Matthew includes something that Mark left out.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: He adds this quote from Jesus. Jesus says this all
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: this is important all the law and the prophets.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: That's how they referred to their Bible.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: All the law and the prophets, that is, the five
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: books of the Law, and then all the books of
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: the prophets.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Again, these are breadcrumbs that's going somewhere that he says,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: everything in your six and the six hundred and thirteen
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: or so laws, six hundred and thirteen laws, and the
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Law of Moses, because it's civil and religious law. He says,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: all of that can be reduced to these two big ideas.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: You love God and you love your neighbor.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: But again Jesus restricted his answer to the context of
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: the question, which is in the Torah, in the first
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: five books of what we call the Old Testament. What
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: are the greatest commandments? Okay, everybody following me.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: So far good.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Later later Jesus is asked another question, and Luke records
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: this conversation. And the gentleman who asked this question had
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: been listening to Jesus. He knew the Sunday School answer,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: what's the greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God with
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: all your heart, soul, of mind, and strength. But then
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: he heard Jesus add and love your neighbor as yourself.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: So he's heard that, so he comes to Jesus. And
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: this adds some potential confusion to the whole equation, which
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: is why we're talking about. Okay, So here's what happens
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: in Luke. On one occasion, an expert in the law,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: a lawyer the law of Moses.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: Stood up to test Jesus.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: In other words, he's the inference, is this, the implication
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: is this, Jesus. I've been listening to you, and I
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: think I found a loophole. Jesus, I've been listening to you,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: and I think I've got a gotcha teacher, he asked,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: what must I do to inherit eternal life? Pay attention
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: eternal life for this Pharisee. For the Sadducees, they're like,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: there ain't none. When you're dead, You're dead.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: That's the end.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: For the Pharisees, the ultimate goal was eternal life. But
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: you know how they defined eternal life. Eternal life was
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: participating in the resurrection at the end of the age,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: where you are a part of God's forever kingdom. Life
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: of the age is what the little Greek phrase eternal
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: life is literally translated.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Life of the age.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: How do I He's like, how do I know I
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: can know for sure? How can I have confidence that
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: I'm going to wake up and be a part of
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: that grand resurrection and be a part of the Kingdom
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: of God in the future.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: He wants to know. Now, a couple of things going
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: on here. He's sincerely part of this is a test.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: He's trying to trick Jesus, but there's something else going on.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: He doesn't have any assurance. And the reason he doesn't
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: have any assurance, even though he's a teacher of the law,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: is that the law doesn't give any assurance about how
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: a person can for sure know they're going to participate
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: in the resurrection at the end of time, because nothing
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: in the law says, here's how to make sure you
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: get to be a part of it. Here are the laws,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: and here are the penalties for breaking the laws. But
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: there was nothing about life after death in the law
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: or the prophets, so they had these theories. So on one end,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: he's trying to trick Jesus. On the other hand, it's like,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: I kind of want to know. And then Jesus asked
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: him a question.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: He's like, well, you're a lawyer, you know the law,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: so this is so great. Jesus says, well, you.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Tell me what is written in the law. I mean,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: you're asking me how can I know for sure? And
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: you're wanting me to kind of.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Backstop this off. What the law says. You're the lawyer.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: What is written in the law. Jesus replied, how do
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: you read it? And the lawyer.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Gives the standard answer, the answer we've already seen twice
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: when Jesus was asked, what are the greatest what is
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the greatest command?
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: And here's here's what he says.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: The lawyer answered, well, what I've always been told, what
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I was brought up to believe. Best I can tell
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: to have eternal life is I got to love the Lord,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: your God, with all your heart, all your soul, all
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: your strength, and all your mind. And how do you
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: know if you're doing that right?
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: And then he's I.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Think, he smiles, and he says, and because I've been listening, Jesus,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: and love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, I've
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: been paying attention. And Jesus smiles, and I think the
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: only time in the New Testament Jesus acknowledges this someone
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: answered one of his questions correctly because they are there.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: You know, he's just so smart, and you know he
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: asked these questions that kind of leaves them all with
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: their head spinning. And Jesus says, this is such a compliment.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: You have answered correctly.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Now, if you were raised like me in a Protestant church,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: which many of you were, we're like, no, that's not correctly.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: That's the wrong answer. But yes it was the right answer.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: And no it's not the right answer. And here's what
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: I what I mean by that, And here's why it's confusing.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: That's why we're talking about it.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: If someone were to ask you, if you're a Christian,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: if somebody ever say to you, how can I know
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: for sure.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: I have eternal life? You would not say to them.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: You just need to love the Lord your God with
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: all your heart, all of it, all of it, all
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: your soul, I don't even know what that is, all
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: your mind, and all your strength, all of it all
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: the time, and your neighbor as yourself, and then you
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: can know for sure you.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Have eternal life. Well, how do you what does that
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: even mean? That's not the answer.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: We would give, not because we don't understand the answer,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: but because that's not the answer. And the reason that's
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: we don't point people to Torah is because this is
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: so important, is because something significant, paradigm rending happened after
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: those conversations. It turns out the Messiah had come. It
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: turns out the Messiah had an agenda different than the
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: agenda of the Pharisees or the teachers of the Law.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: It turns out that.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: God was doing something new in the world for the world,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: and that the Messiah Messiah had shown up a bit
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: in disguise, not because Jesus didn't want people to know
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: he was Messiah, but because he had set the direction,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: but his culture set the pace, and little by little
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: by little, he is revealing God's is so amazing. He's
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: little by little revealing God God's ultimate plan for the
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: human race. But he has to start where they are
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: in order to take them where they ultimately need to be.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: This is a really important principle. Listen, okay, when you
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: read the scriptures. Because God loves us and because God
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: is a perfect heavenly father, God accommodates to our.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: Capacity like every good father.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Somebody says you know where do babies come from? It
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: depends on who's asking the question in terms of how
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: you answer the question. You answer the question where do
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: babies come from? Different to a five year old than
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: a fifteen year old into a twenty five year old
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: who's going to be his study and to be a doctor. Right,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, you don't lie, you don't exaggerate, but you
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: accommodate to the capacity of the person asking the question.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Jesus does this all the time because he was moving,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: trying to move at the pace of the people that
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: he was ministering to and that he was influence, influencing.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: So but his purpose in coming it wasn't to continue
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: something old.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: It was to close a chapter and to begin a
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: brand new one.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: So throughout his earthly ministry, hence hence breadcrumbs, hence redefine, redefine, redefine,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: confused and redefine. He would tell a parable. If you
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: read the Gospel, tell a parable. Everybody's confused. They walk off,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: and the disciples are like, that was fascinating, what are
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: you talking about? And Jesus say, I'm going to tell you,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: but I'm not going to tell everybody else. So there's
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: so much of this in the Gospel. So when you
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: read the Gospel, so Jesus gets to the end of
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: his earthly ministry, of his public ministry, and he reveals
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: and the end who he is and what God has
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: sent him into the world to do. That he had
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: again he came to close one chapter and to begin
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: a new one. And he wasn't beginning a new one
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: just for the nation of Israel. That was the other
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: part of the confusion, is when are you going to
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: bring the kingdom? Are you going to re establish Israel?
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: They kept asking him those questions even.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: At the end.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: But finally he gathers with his apostles for the final
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Passover Meal in order to reveal to them God's ultimate
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: plan and to kind of take off his rabbi robe
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: and say it's true, I'm who you have suspected I am,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: and I am at times who I have claimed to be,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: and it is for real. I am God's final King,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: I am Messiah.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: So he's in Jerusalem. There's so much drama. He's in Jerusalem.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: They're celebrating the Passover meal privately where no one knows
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: how to find them, because people all over Jerusalem at
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: this point are looking for Jesus, and they're celebrating the
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Passover meal, which is Israel's most sacred meal, most sacred
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: festival in the first century, where they commemorate and remember
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: God doing the amazing miracle of delivering the nation of
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Israel from Egyptian bondage. And it's a very political climate
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: because here they are they're the you know, Rome has
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: their heel on Israel.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: They're overtaxed.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, things are so difficult being under Rome, and
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: so here they are under Roman domination. They're not just invaded,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: but they're occupied by Rome. At the same time, they're
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: celebrating God delivering the nation from Egypt. So there's so
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: much tension. So they're having this Passover meal and Jesus
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: does the unthinkable. There's no way for me to even
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: put words around the emotion when it comes to what
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Jesus said that night sitting around the table.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: He changed the meaning of Passover.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Now they've been celebrating Passover since they were little boys.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: It would be like me, and I know I've used
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: this illustration before. I don't know a better one.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: It would be like me coming next Sunday, as we
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: start the month of December to say, hey, you know
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: how in December we begin ramping up to celebrate the
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: birth of Jesus.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: Well, this year we're going to do it different.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: We're going to celebrate my birthday during the month of December.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: That would be your last Sunday, or it should be.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: In fact, if I said it in the first service,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't even be here for the second service.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: The elders would have me in my green room.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Back they're saying, thank you, Andy, you are officially dismissed.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Andrew take him home. He has lost his mind. That's crazy.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Then somebody's gonna have to get up the next Sunday
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and apologize. And he tried to make Christmas about himself.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Jesus is making Passover about himself.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Again. If they had.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Not already experienced everything they experienced with Jesus, they would
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: have gotten up and left the room.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: They should have gotten up and left the room.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: But something new is happening, Something other was happening. God
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: was closing a chapter in history in order to begin
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: a new one. On behalf of you and your family
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: and your children and the world. He took the bread,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: tells us, and he gave thanks, and he broke it
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: and he gave it. And they'd been doing this since
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: they were kids, saying.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: This is my body. They're like, what, this is my
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: body given for you?
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: You know how you used to do this and remembrance
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: of everybody leaving Egypt from now on, I want you
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: to do this.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: In remembrance of me. And they were stunned, confused, offended.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Why why would you do that? Why would you make
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: such a claim?
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Because the old was coming to the end, The old
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: was coming to a final end.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Something new was about to happen.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: He was about to inaugurate a brand new covenant, a
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: brand new contract between God and the entire human race,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: between God and you, to.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Replace the old one.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: And here's the fascinating more Bible minutia. This new covenant
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: had been predicted by the prophet Jeremiah about six hundred
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: years earlier. Here's what Jeremiah said about the night Jesus
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: met with his disciples for Passover. Ready for this, Jeremiah says,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: the days are coming in the future. Six hundred years
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: before Jesus, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: I will make a new covenant with the people of
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Israel and with the people of Judah.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: And it will not be like this is amazing.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: It will not be like the covenant I made with
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: their ancestors when I took them by the hand and
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: to lead them.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Out of Egypt.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: He says, this new covenant is not going to be
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: like the old covenant. This new covenant is not going
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: to be like the covenant God made with the nation
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: on Mount SINAI listen to this next line. This is
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: the if you're a Christian, if you've been attending this
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: church for a while, you have experienced the fulfillment of
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: this next line. He said, I in the future, when
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: I established a new covenant, ready for this, I'm going.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: To put my law in their minds.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: There's going to be something that is so catalytic that
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: once you hear it, you won't be able.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: To forget it.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: And he said, not only that, I'm going to write
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: it on their conscience and I'm going to write it
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: in their hearts. I'm going to fine tune their conscience
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: to this new covenant command. And not only that, the
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: sacrificial system.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Is going away once and for all.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: I this is I'm going to here's the implications of
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: the statement. Jeremiah saying, what God is going to do
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: in the future. God says, I'm going to announce forgiveness.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Ahead of time.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: I'm going to announce the forgiveness of sin ahead of time,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: before you even commit the sin. I'm announcing your forgiveness
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: ahead of time as part of this brand new covenant.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: For I will forgive their weakness and I will remember
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: their sins no more so.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: After the Supper, the text tells us that Jesus took
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: the cup of wine and echoing Jeremiah's promise so epic,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: he says, this is my blood of the new covenant,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: which is poured out for many.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: For the forgiveness of sins. I'm announcing forgiveness ahead of time.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: But Jesus wasn't finished because see, covenants like contracts. Were
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: all familiar with contracts. Covenants have terms and conditions. The
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: original terms and conditions for the Mosaic Covenant were like
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: six hundred and thirteen laws, which included the punishments and
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: if you do it on purpose, there's one punishment. If
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: you do it by accident, you said, if you violate
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: their laws by accidents, another punishment. It was so complicated,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: but it needed to be complicated. There were a nation
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: of slaves that didn't have any laws.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: To live by.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: So in this, at this dinner, at this passover meal,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Jesus establishes the new Covenant.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: And then he announced the term and the condition.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: It is so simple it will be immediately imprinted on
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: your mind. You will not have to memorize it, just
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: like Jeremiah Propheside. And he did not give them a
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: six hundred and thirteen terms and conditions. He didn't even
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: give them ten terms and conditions. He gave them one
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: a new command for the new covenant, a new command.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: I give you.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Love one another, to which they may have thought, Okay,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: that's not really new, to which Jesus would have said, well,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I'm not really through love one another as I have
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: loved you. And Jesus could have gone around the room,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: starting with Matthew. He said, Matthew, you remember when we met, Yes, sir?
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Do you remember what you were doing? Yes, sir, you
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: were an embarrassment to your nation and an embarrassment to
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: your family, and I invited you to follow me. Do
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: you remember that math you yes, sir. I want you
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: to extend that kind of grace to every person you
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: meet for the rest of your life could have gone
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: all the way around the room.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: A new command.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: I give you love one another as I have loved you,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Jesus amazing.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Jesus inserts himself as the.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Standard for what love looks like, love acts like, and
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: love sounds like.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Who would do such a thing? God's final King?
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: So he says, as I've loved you, so you must
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: love one another by this. By your love for one another,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: everyone will know that you are my follower, my learner,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: my student, my disciple. This is the mark of a
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: new covenant, Jesus, follower. Everyone will know that you are
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: following me. Ready, if you love one another as I
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: have loved you.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Then a few years later, there's.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Someone we don't know whose name it is, who I
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: don't know who it is, who wrote a document It's
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: like a long sermon called the book called the Book
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: of Hebrews.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: It shows up in our New Testament.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: This is many years later, and he's dealing with Jews
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: who are confused because they're still Temple oriented and they're
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Jesus oriented, and they're mixing and matching, and they're confused,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: and some of them are moving back toward the old
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: way because the new way isn't socially acceptable, especially if
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: you're living in Judea.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: And the author of Hebrews.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Says, no, no, no, no, no no, you can't go back,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: you can't go back to the old way, the old way. Listen,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: he says, that door on the old way is slowly, slowly,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: slowly closing.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Listen to how he says it.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: He says by it, And he was referring to Jeremiah's
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: prophecy and referring to what Jesus taught. He said, by
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: calling the Covenant new, the brand new covenant that Jesus established,
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: by calling it Covenant new, he has made the first
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Covenant obsolete.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: And what is obsolete and outdated, Look.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: At this language in your New Testament, outdated will soon disappear.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: He's like, look, the door is closing, closing, closing, And
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: if you go back to the old way, when that
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: door closes, you will be isolated from the grace of God,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: not actually.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: But practically. And here's the amazing thing.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: About forty years after Jesus proclaimed the establishment of the
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: New Covenant, there's this in between time when they're both
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: covenants operating at the same time, but the old one's
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: closing closing, closing, and then something catalytic happened. Jesus predicted
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: it in detail in seventy a d rome breached the
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: walls of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple and scraped every
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: single stone of every single building off the temple mount
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: into the valley.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: And you can.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: See those stones to this day. And in that afternoon,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: and that afternoon, the Old Covenant came to an actual
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: physical end.
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: You could no longer.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Practice mosaic Judaism anymore. There was no temple on that day.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: The Sadducees disappear from history.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: On that day.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: The Pharisees, who had already man he had already escaped
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: the city, have to reassemble and scramble to recreate what
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: it looks like to follow Torah because they can't do
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: it the way it was established. Because the Old Covenant
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: was closed by Jesus and then physically, literally.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: It came to an end. It will soon disappear. So
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: from now on, when you hear.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Someone say, well, Jesus said we just need to love God,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: love our neighbor, you say, well, he did, but he
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: wasn't talking to you, and he wasn't talking to me.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: That's not our covenant. Those aren't our commands. Then you
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: smile and you say, but hey, hang on, our commands,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: our covenant better, and our commands. Our covenant is simpler,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: but there is a gotcha. Our covenant and our command
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: is more demanding, because there is no loophole in love
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: one another as Christ loved us. Give me three rules,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: I'll find you loopholes and work arounds.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: Give me two.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: This is so brilliant, Jesus said, no, it's real simple.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: You are commanded to love as I've loved you. That
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: means you forgive as I forgave you, You serve as
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: I served you.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: You others first, as I other first?
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: Did you you love your enemies as I love my enemies?
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: And then he would look at all of us, and
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: starting with me, and say, Andy, you are to love
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: your enemies like I loved you when you were my enemy.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: That's our jersey. Those are our team colors. It's the
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: mark of a Jesus follower.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: Jesus followers, we don't just love God and our neighbors.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: We love our neighbors and strangers and friends and enemies
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: as He loved us, Which means when you're unsure about
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: what to say or do you just ask what does
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: christ like love require of you? When you're unsure of
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: what to say or do, is like, what does christ
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: like love require of you? Jesus was in fact the Messiah,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: God's final king, the king who reversed the order of things.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: But he didn't come simply to lead and liberate a nation.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: He came to lead and liberate people from every nation.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: So his invitation to you, whether you're from a different
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: faith tradition or a Christian faith tradition, rediscovering faith, not
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: even interested in faith, it's a standing invitation.
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: He listened. It's amazing.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: He's already announced your forgiveness ahead of time. And the
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: standing invitation is this, Since I have taken sin out
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: of the equation, it's no longer an option or a barrier.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: He says to you what he says to Matthew that day.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: He says, I just want you to follow me, follow me.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: And if you do, you will for sure become the
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: best version of you. But it's bigger than that. If
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: we do, the world.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Becomes a better place, Communities become better places, families become
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: better places because we will. And I'm closing with this
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: to pay attention because if we choose to follow Jesus
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: individually and collectively, you know what we will do. We
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: will be the answer to the prayer that Jesus commanded
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: us to pray. His kingdom will come and his will
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: will be done on.
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: Earth as it is in heaven.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: This was the plan all along, and you have been
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: invited to participate.
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: In it.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: Is that amazing? Why would anyone be personal? Why would
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: you resist that? You should at least be curious, because
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: that's the invitation of a lifetime, and it's the invitation
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: that changes lives.