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Andy Stanley - The Unsettling Solution for Just About Everything Part 1 Undeserveable · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: Now, I know I'm naive to wonder this, and you
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Speaker 1: can criticize me for this later, because I'm just owning
0:07
Speaker 1: the fact that this is kind of a naive, simplistic thought.
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Speaker 1: But I don't know why. I don't know why everybody
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Speaker 1: wouldn't want Christianity to be true. Maybe not the version
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Speaker 1: other people grew up with, or maybe not the version
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Speaker 1: that you grew up with. Maybe not Christianity the way
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Speaker 1: we've made it or what we've turned it into. But
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Speaker 1: I don't know why everybody wouldn't want the original version
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Speaker 1: to be.
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Speaker 2: True jesus irresistible.
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Speaker 1: Version to be true. Because and you know this, but
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Speaker 1: I'll just state the obvious. There's a difference. There's a
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Speaker 1: big difference between I don't believe it's true and perhaps
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Speaker 1: you don't believe the message of Jesus or the story
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Speaker 1: of Jesus is true. I get that, but there's a
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Speaker 1: big difference between I don't believe it's true.
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Speaker 2: I don't believe it's true.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes people just need more information, Sometimes they need more evidence.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes they need to have a difficult question answered. Sometimes
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Speaker 1: there's something they need to read or see, or a
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Speaker 1: story they need to hear. So I get that, But
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Speaker 1: there's a big difference between I don't believe it's true
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Speaker 1: and I don't want it to be true, And I
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Speaker 1: don't understand when people are confronted with your original version
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Speaker 1: of Jesus and the claims of Jesus in the Life
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Speaker 1: of Jesus, why they wouldn't at least want.
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Speaker 2: It to be true.
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Speaker 1: They you may never get to the point where you
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Speaker 1: could actually believe it's true because of you know, for
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Speaker 1: reasons that things I don't understand. But when you hear
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Speaker 1: the Gospel presented, or when you hear the life of
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Speaker 1: Jesus explained, or when you immerse yourself in the first
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Speaker 1: century context, I just don't know why everybody wouldn't want
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Speaker 1: it to be true. Blai's Pascal seventeenth century mathematician philosopher.
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Speaker 1: He was actually homeschool plug for those of you who
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Speaker 1: are homeschool He wrote this.
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Speaker 2: He said, people, this is amazing.
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Speaker 1: People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs, not on the
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Speaker 1: basis of proof, and this is so true. This explains
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Speaker 1: some of the conversations you have in your home with
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Speaker 1: your middle schoolers and your high school students. People almost
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Speaker 1: invariably their beliefs not on the basis of proof, but
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Speaker 1: on the basis of what they find attractive. In other words,
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Speaker 1: when something is attractive to us, we go looking for
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Speaker 1: reasons to substantiate our belief. Now, he's not saying if
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Speaker 1: something's attractive, therefore it's true, and I'm not arguing if
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Speaker 1: something's attractive, therefore it's true. And I'm certainly not arguing, Hey,
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Speaker 1: since Christianity is attractive, it's true. That's not my point.
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Speaker 1: My point is this Christianity in its earliest original form
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Speaker 1: was so extraordinarily attractive that I don't understand why people
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Speaker 1: in modern times wouldn't want it to be true, even
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Speaker 1: if intellectually they can't actually get there. Because Jesus was attractive,
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Speaker 1: people were attracted to Jesus. Early Christianity was attractive, so
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Speaker 1: attractive that eventually it became the predominant philosophy and religious
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Speaker 1: and worldview of the Roman Empire. Christianity has shaped Western culture.
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Speaker 1: There was something so attractive about it. And the thing
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Speaker 1: that makes Christianity so attractive, at least the original version,
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Speaker 1: is a single word. It's the word that makes me
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Speaker 1: want it to be true. But perhaps it's a word
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Speaker 1: that wasn't in the equation for you.
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Speaker 2: And the word is grace. It's grace.
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Speaker 1: Grace is what we this is what we all have
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Speaker 1: in common. Grace is what we crave most when our
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Speaker 1: guilt is exposed. Right, you come home late, your parents
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Speaker 1: were sitting there, They've got the stuff on the table.
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Speaker 1: They know it's yours. There's no excuses, there's no loopholes.
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Speaker 1: There's no point in saying it's my sisters. I don't
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Speaker 1: know you know that we found it in your room.
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Speaker 1: I mean, you are just you are so busted and
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Speaker 1: in that moment, you're thinking about all the things they
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Speaker 1: could take away and should take away, And in that moment,
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Speaker 1: what you crave is you don't know that you didn't
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Speaker 1: know the word maybe in high school or middle school
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Speaker 1: or in college, but it was grace. Or you know,
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Speaker 1: you come home late and your wife's waiting up, you
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Speaker 1: come home late and your husband's waiting up. You know,
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Speaker 1: you come home late and it's your kids who are
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Speaker 1: waiting up. Or your boss walks in and sits down
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Speaker 1: and boom lays it out there and you realize there's
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Speaker 1: no excuse, there's no point in making excuses, there's no
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Speaker 1: loopholes like there's no one to blame, it's just there.
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Speaker 2: It is.
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Speaker 1: And in that moment, even if maybe you don't you
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Speaker 1: didn't think of the word, what you're looking for is grace.
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Speaker 1: You are looking for someone to give something to you
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Speaker 1: or extend something to you.
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Speaker 2: That you know you don't deserve.
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Speaker 1: Grace is at the same time, this is the flip side,
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Speaker 1: and this is why there's so much tension. Grace is
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Speaker 1: what we're hesitant to extend when confronted with the guilt
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Speaker 1: of other people, especially when they've hurt me, or even
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Speaker 1: more so when they've hurt someone I love, And therein
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Speaker 1: lies the tension that grace when we're on the receiving
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Speaker 1: end is extraordinarily refreshing, but grace when it's required of.
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Speaker 2: Us is extraordinarily disturbing.
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Speaker 1: It is, in fact, a we're gonna see as you
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Speaker 1: think about how this settles in on your relationships, your
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Speaker 1: good ones and your bad ones, and the ones that
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Speaker 1: you're trying to repair, or the relationship that someone's trying
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Speaker 1: to repair with you, that grace really is the unsettling
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Speaker 1: solution for just about everything. Now, if you grew up
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Speaker 1: in church, you may have heard of a You may
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Speaker 1: have been given a definition for grace, or maybe you
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Speaker 1: know what grace is, but you've never thought of a definition.
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Speaker 1: So here's our definition for the next few weeks. It's
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Speaker 1: simply undeserved, unearned, unearnable favor. It's someone leaning in your
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Speaker 1: direction when they should lean away. It's someone that you
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Speaker 1: know you should pursue because you've hurt them, and they
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Speaker 1: actually initiate the conversation.
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Speaker 2: But grace is strange. You can know more.
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Speaker 1: You can no more deserve grace than you can plan
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Speaker 1: your own surprise party, right. I mean, if you plan
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Speaker 1: your own surprise party, the fact that you planned it
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Speaker 1: voids the surprise, and the moment you think you deserve grace,
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Speaker 1: you've actually you've actually voided the grace. You can ask
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Speaker 1: for grace, you can beg for grace, you can you
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Speaker 1: can you know, plead with someone to extend grace to you,
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Speaker 1: But the minutes you think you deserve it, it's no
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Speaker 1: longer grace. And then here's the additional twist to the
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Speaker 1: whole conversation. Can't recognize this is so important for many
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Speaker 1: of us. We can't recognize or receive grace for what
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Speaker 1: it actually is until we're convinced we don't deserve it.
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Speaker 1: You can't even recognize or experience grace for what it
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Speaker 1: is until you come to the place, and I come
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Speaker 1: to the place that I actually don't deserve it. It can
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Speaker 1: only be experienced within the context of a relationship. Grace
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Speaker 1: is purely relational. It's always tied to a relationship. It
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Speaker 1: can only be experienced in the context of a relationship.
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Speaker 2: Ready for this, where there.
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Speaker 1: Is an imbalance and you are on the negative side
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Speaker 1: of the ledger because of your behavior. And this, my friends,
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Speaker 1: this is what makes Christianity so unique. This is what
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Speaker 1: makes the story and the narrative of Christianity in the
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Speaker 1: arc of the story of Christianity so unique and so attractive.
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Speaker 1: This is the reason that even if you never get
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Speaker 1: to the place intellectually where you can believe it's true,
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Speaker 1: this is why everybody should want it to be true.
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Speaker 1: And this is why God had to show up. Because
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Speaker 1: grace is one hundred percent relational, and you can't experience
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Speaker 1: or understand grace apart from a relationship. This is why
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Speaker 1: God had to show up. This is why we celebrate
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Speaker 1: the way we do it Christmas. We would have never
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Speaker 1: known the grace of God without and are apart from
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Speaker 1: the presence of God. For God's grace to be seen,
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Speaker 1: for God's grace to be known, there had to be
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Speaker 1: a person. It had to be personal. It is the
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Speaker 1: message of Christmas now, John Matthew, Mark Luke, John, the
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Speaker 1: gospel writer John who also wrote three letters in the
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Speaker 1: first century called not very creative, First, second, and third
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Speaker 1: John John who is a disciple of Jesus, John who
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Speaker 1: saw the entire thing. John who lives to be an
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Speaker 1: old man. We talk about him all the time. You
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Speaker 1: outlive Peter and Andrew live James, the brother of Jesus.
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Speaker 1: John is an old man. He probably outlived all of
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Speaker 1: his friends. With hindsight looking back, decides, hey, I need
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Speaker 1: to get my story out.
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Speaker 2: So he sits down with someone and he probably dictated this.
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Speaker 1: Jesus' earliest apostles or followers were probably illiterate men for
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Speaker 1: the most part. So consequently, sometimes we're criticized as Christians.
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Speaker 1: There's no way that ignorant Galileans could have given us
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Speaker 1: that kind of Greek literature. Well, hello, they probably didn't
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Speaker 1: write it, they probably dictated it. In every scribe in
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Speaker 1: the first century we could speak at least two or
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Speaker 1: maybe three languages. So John is an old man, no doubt,
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Speaker 1: sits down, and the Christians around him are saying, John,
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Speaker 1: we got to hear your story. You're an old man.
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Speaker 1: We don't know how much longer you're going to be
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Speaker 1: with us. Tell us your story. And I can just
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Speaker 1: imagine John as he begins trying to figure out, where
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Speaker 1: do you begin this epic tale that's true. How do
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Speaker 1: I make this so realistic that people will believe, and
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Speaker 1: yet it's so fantastic it will be hard for people
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Speaker 1: to believe. And so John begins his account of the
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Speaker 1: life of Jesus this way, and he goes right to
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Speaker 1: the heart of what Christmas is about.
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Speaker 2: He goes right to the heart of what Grace is about.
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Speaker 1: He says this the word, the Greek word is logos,
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Speaker 1: the word became flesh. This was his way of saying,
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Speaker 1: I don't know how to describe it. Please don't ask
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Speaker 1: me to give you any details. All I know is this,
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Speaker 1: God inhabited a body. God came to earth. I know
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Speaker 1: it's hard to believe, but I'm just getting started. God
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Speaker 1: became flesh, and he dwelled. He made his dwelling among
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Speaker 1: us the explanation for all things took up residence among us.
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Speaker 1: And then he says this and we. And when he
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Speaker 1: says we, he's not talking about you we, or me we,
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Speaker 1: or even we we. He's talking about him We. Okay,
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Speaker 1: He's saying, Look, this isn't something I heard about. This
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Speaker 1: isn't something I read about. This isn't a story that
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Speaker 1: I'm passing along to you. We we, as in Peter
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Speaker 1: and Andrew and James and all the other Apostles and
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Speaker 1: dozens and dozens and hundreds of other men and women,
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Speaker 1: we have seen. We didn't hear at it. We didn't
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Speaker 1: read about it. This is why I'm dictating this, so
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Speaker 1: that you'll know we have seen his glory, the glory
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Speaker 1: of the one and only Son. Again, don't ask me
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Speaker 1: to explain it, John would say, all I know is this,
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Speaker 1: God is our Father, and Jesus, he's the unique son
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Speaker 1: who came into this earth to represent the presence of
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Speaker 1: God and to explain to us what God is really like.
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Speaker 2: Who came from the Father.
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Speaker 1: And then here's here's kind of the punchline that he's
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Speaker 1: gonna drag out through out his entire gospel. Who came
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Speaker 1: from the Father full of grace and truth. Not the
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Speaker 1: balance of grace and truth. That's what we try to
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Speaker 1: pull off, not the balance of when. Anytime you try
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Speaker 1: to balance grace and truth, you lose some grace and
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Speaker 1: you lose some truth. Jesus was full on grace and
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Speaker 1: full on truth. Jesus brought Jesus brought a full dose
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Speaker 1: of grace and truth. This is so powerful regard because
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Speaker 1: you're on one side or the other of the ledger.
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Speaker 1: Some of you are truth people, some of you are
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Speaker 1: grace people. This is why two people have to get married,
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Speaker 1: because we need some grace and truth or our kids
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Speaker 1: will be crazy. This is why some of you are
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Speaker 1: crazy because both of your parents were grace or both
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Speaker 1: of them truth. We need little grace, we need little truth.
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Speaker 1: Some of you are raceed going to grace churches.
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Speaker 2: Some of you were grew up.
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Speaker 1: Going to truth churches and you didn't get enough grace
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Speaker 1: or he didn't get enough truth. Jesus shows up and
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Speaker 1: he is full on grace and he is full on truth.
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Speaker 1: Jesus never watered down the truth, and he never turned
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Speaker 1: down the grace.
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Speaker 2: It's amazing.
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Speaker 1: He called sin sin he called sinners sinners, and then
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Speaker 1: he laid down his life for the sinners and paid
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Speaker 1: for their sin.
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Speaker 2: He was all grace, all truth, all the time.
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Speaker 1: And John saw this, and he saw this with people,
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Speaker 1: and it's what led John, as an old man, to
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Speaker 1: finally pin these words or dictate these words that would
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Speaker 1: change Western civilization, that would shape the way that just
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Speaker 1: about everybody in the world views God. This was an
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Speaker 1: idea that had never been introduced to the human race
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Speaker 1: until John was the first one to say it and
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Speaker 1: someone wrote it. And as crazy as it sounded in
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Speaker 1: the first century, when the world was upside down and
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Speaker 1: all of.
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Speaker 2: His friends had been martyred.
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Speaker 1: Executed, or were lost, John is the one that brings this,
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Speaker 1: this idea that God is love. And the reason John
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Speaker 1: could conclude that God is love is because Jesus was
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Speaker 1: love and a body, because Jesus was full on grace
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Speaker 1: and truth and love. If you're a good parent, you
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Speaker 1: know this love. If you were raised by good parents,
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Speaker 1: you know this. Love is grace and truth. Love is
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Speaker 1: all grace and all truth all the time. John was
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Speaker 1: there that very awkward afternoon when Jesus and his apostles
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Speaker 1: and the crowds that followed Jesus everywhere went through an
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Speaker 1: intersection and they had to stop and face down a
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Speaker 1: tax gatherer. And after they did their bi since, Jesus
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Speaker 1: leans in and he says, LEVI or Matthew, hey, I
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Speaker 1: want you to follow me to all the apostles with him.
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Speaker 1: We're like, no, not not, he's a tax.
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Speaker 2: It's a trader.
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Speaker 1: I mean even if his family won't have him over
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Speaker 1: for holidays, what do you mean he's not gonna be
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Speaker 1: a part of our thing.
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Speaker 2: Matthew, I want you to follow me.
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Speaker 1: And there's no indication that Matthew decided not to be
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Speaker 1: a tax gatherer anymore. He just got up and had
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Speaker 1: one of the subordinates takeover whatever he was doing, and
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Speaker 1: he decided to follow Jesus and Peter and all the
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Speaker 1: guys are stepping back, like this is not gonna go
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Speaker 1: well for us. Okay, we're gonna lose the crowd. And
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Speaker 1: Matthew says, okay, I'll follow you. Where are we going?
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Speaker 1: And then Jesus said something that offended everybody that could hear.
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Speaker 1: He said, Matthew, we're gonna we're gonna go to your house.
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Speaker 1: Peter's like, oh, I'm not gonna go to his house.
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, yes you are, because you're following me too.
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Speaker 1: We're all going to his house. Wait a minute, man,
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Speaker 1: he's a tax gatherer. You haven't even asked him to repent.
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Speaker 1: You haven't even asked him to give back the money
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Speaker 1: he's stolen. You're just gonna ask him to follow us
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Speaker 1: just like that and go to your house. Yeah, this
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Speaker 1: is the most awkward moment ever. They go to his
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Speaker 1: house and Matthew invites his tax gatherer friends because Jesus says,
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Speaker 1: I want to have a dinner.
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Speaker 2: I want you to invite your friends.
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Speaker 1: And Matthew's thinking, okay, you're not gonna like my friends
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Speaker 1: because my friends are nothing like you, and you're nothing
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Speaker 1: like my friends, and they're not gonna like you, and
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Speaker 1: you're not gonna like them, and he invites his friends.
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Speaker 1: We don't know how long this took. This may have
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Speaker 1: been the next day for all we know.
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Speaker 2: We don't know.
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Speaker 1: But he gathers all of his friends, and all of
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Speaker 1: his friends are all the wrong people. And then there's
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Speaker 1: it's Peter, you know, with a bad attitude, and Andrews
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Speaker 1: with a bad attitude. They're all it's so weird it
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Speaker 1: would be and it's not a very good party.
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Speaker 2: It would be like this.
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Speaker 1: It would be like you being in a social setting,
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Speaker 1: maybe out with friends at a restaurant, or maybe you're
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Speaker 1: having a party or an office party or whatever, and
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Speaker 1: everybody has drank just a little bit too much and
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Speaker 1: I walk in, why are you laughing? And it's like,
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Speaker 1: m Downer, we like him on Sunday. We don't like
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Speaker 1: him on Saturday night.
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Speaker 2: You know.
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Speaker 1: So it's like, how long are he and Sandra gonna?
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Speaker 1: I don't know, they'll leave pretty soon. Sin as we left,
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Speaker 1: It's okay, let's get back to it, right. That's how
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Speaker 1: this was. So there's Jesus the Rabbi and the house
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Speaker 1: of Matthew the task gatherer. The whole thing is so
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Speaker 1: ridiculously awkward and unsettling because that's the.
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Speaker 2: Nature of grace.
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Speaker 1: It is, it is, it's the unsettling solution just about everything.
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Speaker 1: But it is unsettling. And when the Pharisees, the Pharisees
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Speaker 1: are that the truth, you know, the protectors of the truth.
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Speaker 1: You know, they walk around like this with their hands,
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Speaker 1: don't get dirty, they step around things, they don't want
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Speaker 1: to touch anybody who's dirty, and they don't want to become
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Speaker 1: ceremonially unclean. They represent God to the people. Have God's
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Speaker 1: anything like that? I'm not sure I want to go
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Speaker 1: to heaven. You know, that's kind of the thought of
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Speaker 1: the first century was some of the religious leaders when
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Speaker 1: the Pharisees saw this, because they weren't invited, and they
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Speaker 1: wouldn't have gone anyway. When the Pharisees saw this, they
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Speaker 1: ask his disciples, what send that to sent a message
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Speaker 1: into the house, because you know they weren't going to go.
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Speaker 1: He's go inside and ask your teacher, why does he
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Speaker 1: eat with tax collectors and sinners? He should be eating
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Speaker 1: if he's a rabbi, if he's a representative of God,
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Speaker 1: he should be eating with us. So they go in
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Speaker 1: and I'm sure whoever delivered the message delivered it out loud.
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Speaker 1: So Matthew and his friends get here to shame them.
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Speaker 2: My friend, you know the.
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Speaker 1: Pharisees outside, you know, the leaders from the temple have come,
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Speaker 1: and Jesus they want to know and announce it. Why
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Speaker 1: are you here eating with this rabble? Why are you
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Speaker 1: here with tax gatherers and sinners? And then Jesus, I
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Speaker 1: think answers equally. Is loud he says. On hearing this,
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, don't call Matthew and his friend's sinners. That
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Speaker 1: may hurt their feelings. They may raise your taxes. Now,
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Speaker 1: Jesus makes an awkward situation even more awkward. He does
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Speaker 1: that grace truth thing that he would do throughout his
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Speaker 1: time on Earth.
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Speaker 2: He's at Matthew's house.
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Speaker 1: He's invited Matthew to follow him, and then Jesus says
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Speaker 1: out loud, I'm sure within the hearing of everybody, who
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Speaker 1: is very quiet at this moment. On hearing this, Jesus
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Speaker 1: actually said, tell the guys outside, it's not the healthy
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Speaker 1: who need a doctor, but the sick.
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Speaker 2: Matthew's taking way.
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Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, waate Jesus, I mean you're my guests,
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Speaker 1: are you?
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Speaker 2: Are you saying I'm sick to.
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Speaker 1: Jesus, Jesus would have said, yes, you're stealing from your people,
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Speaker 1: you're sick, but I still want you to follow me.
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Speaker 1: It's like what wait wait, yes, yes, Matthew, you're sick.
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Speaker 1: That's why I'm here. All of you friends, these are
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Speaker 1: tax gatherers and sinners. Sinners you have your own category
17:29
Speaker 1: because you don't even be tax gatherers. I mean you
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Speaker 1: guys are the worst of the worst. Thanks for inviting
17:33
Speaker 1: me over. Would you follow me? It's like no, no, no, wait,
17:35
Speaker 1: so you've messed up all the categories. If you're gonna
17:38
Speaker 1: be if you want somebody to follow you, you should
17:40
Speaker 1: ask people who are like you to follow you. You
17:42
Speaker 1: don't ask people who are unlike you to follow you
17:44
Speaker 1: unless they decide they're going to be like you. You've
17:46
Speaker 1: asked someone who's nothing like you to follow you. This
17:48
Speaker 1: is you're You're messing up all the categories. And I
17:51
Speaker 1: think Jesus would just smile and he said, oh yeah,
17:54
Speaker 1: by the way, tell the pharisees outside the following tell
17:57
Speaker 1: them this. And this was so offensive, go and learn.
17:59
Speaker 1: When you tell the smartest person in the world in
18:02
Speaker 1: the room to go and learn, you've offended them. What
18:04
Speaker 1: you've said is you're so smart, I'm smarter. You need
18:08
Speaker 1: to go learn something you don't know that I know.
18:10
Speaker 2: So this was Jesus.
18:11
Speaker 1: I think everybody in the room chuckled because they knew
18:13
Speaker 1: this was such a dig at the learn.
18:14
Speaker 2: The teachers of the law.
18:15
Speaker 1: Tell the Pharisees to go and learn what this means,
18:18
Speaker 1: and then he quotes from their own Scripture, the law,
18:20
Speaker 1: and the prophets that they're supposed to be the experts
18:22
Speaker 1: in go tell them to learn what this means. I
18:24
Speaker 1: desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have not come to
18:27
Speaker 1: call the righteous. Then perhaps he swept his hand around
18:31
Speaker 1: the room and said, but sinners. I'm not afraid to
18:37
Speaker 1: call a center a sinner, and I'm not afraid to
18:40
Speaker 1: go to their house for dinner. We should just probably
18:43
Speaker 1: all say that together. I'm not afraid to call a
18:47
Speaker 1: ciner and I'm not afraid to go to there. So
18:52
Speaker 1: when I show up at your party, I expect you
18:54
Speaker 1: to greet me. Will no, and please don't leave here
18:59
Speaker 1: saying an equated himself with Jesus. My children would tell
19:02
Speaker 1: you different than one day and again, this is one
19:05
Speaker 1: of these emotional stories you've all heard. In fact, you
19:07
Speaker 1: don't have to even grow up, have grown up in church.
19:09
Speaker 1: You know this story.
19:10
Speaker 2: But we can't.
19:11
Speaker 1: The emotion is impossible for me to even convey it
19:14
Speaker 1: because I can't even get my mind around it. One day,
19:17
Speaker 1: Jesus goes up the southern steps to the Temple mount.
19:20
Speaker 1: This is the epicenter of the presence of God. This
19:22
Speaker 1: is the holy of Holies. This is the holiest place
19:24
Speaker 1: on the planet. This is the place that when the Temple,
19:27
Speaker 1: or when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans,
19:31
Speaker 1: this was the last stronghold of the Jews because we
19:33
Speaker 1: can't let them take the Temple. This is there's no
19:36
Speaker 1: way to even for the way we think us Westerners,
19:39
Speaker 1: there's no way to even ascribe the value to the
19:42
Speaker 1: Temple Mount that these first century Jews ascribed to this
19:45
Speaker 1: piece of real estate. I mean, right over there is
19:47
Speaker 1: the altar and the animals are being sacrificed, and right
19:49
Speaker 1: over there's the Holy of Holies that houses the God's Word.
19:52
Speaker 1: And here we are on the Temple Mount, and Jesus
19:54
Speaker 1: is there, which always made everybody nervous, and he's teaching,
19:57
Speaker 1: and they drag a woman up to him and throw
19:59
Speaker 1: her down in front his feet. John is the one
20:01
Speaker 1: who includes this story in his Gospel. And apparently they'd
20:04
Speaker 1: held her all night waiting for this moment. And they're like, no, no, no, no,
20:08
Speaker 1: no yet, not yet. Let's wait till he gets on
20:10
Speaker 1: the temple. Let's wait till he gets all the way
20:12
Speaker 1: up next to the Holy of Holies, and then we'll
20:15
Speaker 1: see what he's gonna do. And they drag this woman up.
20:17
Speaker 1: You've heard this story. They throw her down. They say, Jesus,
20:20
Speaker 1: this woman was caught in adult tree. And the law,
20:23
Speaker 1: which is like right over there, like we can go
20:26
Speaker 1: see it if you don't believe us. The law says
20:28
Speaker 1: she must die, she must be executed, she must.
20:31
Speaker 2: Be stoned to death.
20:32
Speaker 1: And Jesus is so Brilliant's why I don't think people
20:34
Speaker 1: made these stories up.
20:35
Speaker 2: It's so brilliant.
20:36
Speaker 1: Jesus says, okay, well, you were the experts in the
20:39
Speaker 1: law stoner.
20:41
Speaker 2: He knows that. He calls their bluff.
20:42
Speaker 1: They're not gonna stone her right there on the temple.
20:44
Speaker 1: Now she's terrified. Imagine she's terrified. No mercy, no love,
20:51
Speaker 1: no compassion, No hey tell me your story, No, what's
20:54
Speaker 1: your background?
20:55
Speaker 2: She's terrified. Then Jesus doyes that cool thing.
20:58
Speaker 1: He says, all right, you guys star and oh yeah,
21:01
Speaker 1: one thing, why don't we start.
21:02
Speaker 2: With a person who doesn't have any sin? You go first?
21:06
Speaker 1: And then he kneels down and he starts writing in
21:08
Speaker 1: the sand. And scholar, if you want to read something interesting. Scholars,
21:10
Speaker 1: Biblical scholars, they love to you know, imagine what Jesus
21:13
Speaker 1: writing in the sand. You know, he's drawn in the sand.
21:16
Speaker 1: I think he was writing it takes one to know one.
21:22
Speaker 1: And aramea, okay, I don't know what he was drawing
21:24
Speaker 1: in the sand. But he stoops down, and finally the youngest,
21:27
Speaker 1: you know, the oldest guys in the crowd.
21:29
Speaker 2: They are like, oh, gos again.
21:31
Speaker 1: They're grabbing the young guys by the No no, don't no,
21:33
Speaker 1: no no, this isn't going to go well, and they
21:35
Speaker 1: all leave, and the.
21:36
Speaker 2: Woman, of course, is like oh. And then Jesus ruins
21:40
Speaker 2: the moment.
21:43
Speaker 1: He leans down and looks into her eyes, and he says,
21:48
Speaker 1: leave your life of sin.
21:54
Speaker 2: Not hey, you're fine.
21:55
Speaker 1: You had a tough upbringing. I know your dad, you know,
21:58
Speaker 1: I know, I know. Everything just gonna be okay, I know.
22:01
Speaker 1: I mean, leave your life of sin, grace and truth.
22:08
Speaker 1: You are guilty, but I don't condemn you.
22:12
Speaker 2: Like wait what wait? Wait?
22:14
Speaker 1: If I'm guilty, you're to condemn me. No, I know
22:17
Speaker 1: you're guilty, but I don't condemn you. Wait if I'm innocent,
22:20
Speaker 1: you don't condemn me. If I'm guilty, you condemn me?
22:22
Speaker 1: How can I be guilty and you don't condemn me,
22:25
Speaker 1: isn't it? Isn't it either, or isn't it the other
22:27
Speaker 1: way around?
22:28
Speaker 2: No, it used to be.
22:29
Speaker 1: But see in this moment, for your benefit, for your benefit,
22:32
Speaker 1: for your benefit, for my benefit, Grace has touched down.
22:37
Speaker 1: There is a new lawgiver, there is a new covenant maker.
22:43
Speaker 1: There is a new representative of God the Father. And
22:48
Speaker 1: he was all grace, all truth, all the time, and
22:52
Speaker 1: over and over. This is why, even if you never
22:56
Speaker 1: get there intellectually, you should want this to be true.
22:59
Speaker 2: Over and over.
23:00
Speaker 1: Jesus leaned in toward pre repentant, guilty people and invited
23:07
Speaker 1: them to follow him.
23:09
Speaker 2: Over and over.
23:10
Speaker 1: He leaned into people who had not acknowledged their sin
23:14
Speaker 1: and initiated relationship and said follow me.
23:19
Speaker 2: And then John was there at the very end.
23:23
Speaker 1: We know he was there at the very end, because
23:24
Speaker 1: at the very end of Jesus' life he says to John,
23:27
Speaker 1: who brought us so much of this, He said, John,
23:30
Speaker 1: my mother Mary is like your mother. That was his
23:33
Speaker 1: way of saying, care for my mother. And in fact
23:37
Speaker 1: things were so difficult in Judea and so difficult in
23:39
Speaker 1: Galilee that tradition tells us that John took Mary, the
23:43
Speaker 1: mother of Jesus, and they went to Ephesus, And if
23:45
Speaker 1: you visit Ephesus today, they will.
23:47
Speaker 2: Show you where.
23:48
Speaker 1: They believe that John took care of Mary, the mother
23:51
Speaker 1: of Jesus, until she finally left this life.
23:55
Speaker 2: So we know he was there.
23:57
Speaker 1: And when Jesus was crucified, John witnessed the ultimate expression
24:02
Speaker 1: of grace. This was the most unsettling expression of grace
24:06
Speaker 1: at all. This was the moment that put amazing in grace.
24:12
Speaker 1: Here's what he saw. The text tells us that there
24:15
Speaker 1: were two men crucified along with Jesus.
24:17
Speaker 2: Both of them were criminals. They were let out with
24:20
Speaker 2: him to be executed.
24:25
Speaker 1: First century religion and first century politicians decided they had
24:30
Speaker 1: to get rid of grace and truth in a body.
24:34
Speaker 1: It is so uncomfortable, isn't it.
24:42
Speaker 2: The text continues when they came.
24:44
Speaker 1: To the place called to the Skull or Galgatha, they
24:47
Speaker 1: crucified him there. And as we've said before, there's no
24:51
Speaker 1: detail given, because everyone who heard this had seen it,
24:56
Speaker 1: smelled it, seen the aftermath of a crucifixion.
24:59
Speaker 2: There was no no reason to give details. None were necessary.
25:03
Speaker 1: Along with the criminals, one on his right and one
25:06
Speaker 1: on his left.
25:08
Speaker 2: And then here's one of.
25:09
Speaker 1: Those phrases that if you read the New Testament, you
25:11
Speaker 1: read right by it. But this is horrifying, this is
25:13
Speaker 1: this is so disgusting, and yet this is you, this
25:17
Speaker 1: is me, because this is what we do, isn't it.
25:19
Speaker 1: This is a detail that reminds me that John is
25:22
Speaker 1: not writing a fantasy. This isn't a once upon a time,
25:25
Speaker 1: you know, in a village.
25:26
Speaker 2: Far far away. This is what he saw.
25:29
Speaker 1: And as he dictates his story, he says, and it
25:32
Speaker 1: was horrible because the crowd gathered and the people stood,
25:38
Speaker 1: and they watched, and the rulers even sneered, and they
25:46
Speaker 1: said to Jesus and each other, he saved others, Let
25:50
Speaker 1: him save himself if he supposedly God's Messiah, the chosen one,
25:55
Speaker 1: because they understood that this is what he either claimed
25:57
Speaker 1: for himself or the people closest to him claimed for him.
26:02
Speaker 1: And then one of the criminals, one of the criminals
26:04
Speaker 1: who hung there, hurled insults at Jesus. He was going
26:09
Speaker 1: to take his venom, he was gonna take his vengeance,
26:12
Speaker 1: he was gonna take his anger all the way to
26:15
Speaker 1: death with him. But the other criminal rebuked him, and
26:18
Speaker 1: he said the most interesting thing. And I believe that
26:21
Speaker 1: these statements weren't together in a nice, neat paragraph of
26:24
Speaker 1: the period at the end, because of what we understand
26:27
Speaker 1: about crucifixion. There may have been multiple seconds or maybe
26:31
Speaker 1: even minutes between each of these utterances, because you had
26:35
Speaker 1: to build up an extraordinary amount of nerve to raise
26:39
Speaker 1: yourself up, to take it to inhale and to speak
26:42
Speaker 1: was terribly painful, and to breathe was terribly painful. And
26:45
Speaker 1: he says, don't you fear God, since you are under
26:53
Speaker 1: the same sentence we are punished. This is amazing justly,
26:59
Speaker 1: for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man,
27:04
Speaker 1: who they knew had heard of, has done nothing wrong.
27:08
Speaker 1: In other words, if the kingdom of heaven is reserved
27:13
Speaker 1: for good people, if the kingdom of heaven is reserved
27:16
Speaker 1: for righteous people, if the Kingdom of heaven is reserved
27:19
Speaker 1: for people who get it right. Every time, his acknowledgment
27:23
Speaker 1: was we have no hope and no chance.
27:27
Speaker 2: His only hope was what.
27:29
Speaker 1: He deserved the least, something he had extended very little
27:33
Speaker 1: of to other people during his life. So, in an
27:37
Speaker 1: act of desperation, Jesus, He says, when you come to
27:42
Speaker 1: your kingdom, because there's no doubt in my mind that
27:45
Speaker 1: where you're going is different from where we're going. Jesus,
27:47
Speaker 1: there's no doubt in my mind that you are a king. Jesus,
27:51
Speaker 1: when you come and to your kingdom, would you remember me,
27:55
Speaker 1: to which the people in the audience who could overhear
27:58
Speaker 1: these whispered conversations from the cross, had to think, why,
28:03
Speaker 1: I mean why, I mean, what a what a ridiculous
28:06
Speaker 1: thing to ask? I mean, is he repenting? I mean
28:08
Speaker 1: repenting from across is meaningless? Right, rededication you know, from
28:12
Speaker 1: now on, Hey, from now on's about thirty minutes. Okay,
28:16
Speaker 1: there's no point in rededicating. There's no way to make restitution.
28:19
Speaker 1: There's no way to do anything good for the rest
28:22
Speaker 1: of your meaningless, despicable little life. There's nothing to promise,
28:26
Speaker 1: there's nothing to offer. You have no bargaining power with
28:30
Speaker 1: man or God. And then, in this moment, Jesus disturbs
28:35
Speaker 1: the order of things. Jesus introduces that unsettling thing that
28:40
Speaker 1: his followers are so accustomed to. But never did they
28:43
Speaker 1: imagine in their wildest dreams that he would take it
28:45
Speaker 1: to this, to this extreme. He interferes with this man's karma,
28:50
Speaker 1: and he does the unthinkable. He listened, and he responded. Jesus,
28:57
Speaker 1: the text says, answered him. I ask you a question.
29:02
Speaker 1: Does God hear the prayers of sinners? Yes, those are
29:09
Speaker 1: the only kinds of prayers there are, Jesus answered him.
29:17
Speaker 1: But why even acknowledge him?
29:19
Speaker 2: Every word costs Jesus dearly.
29:22
Speaker 1: Every breath was, you know, combined with her associating with
29:26
Speaker 1: excruciating pain. But he answers anyway. And do you know why,
29:31
Speaker 1: because that's what grace does. Grace answers anyway. Truly, I
29:39
Speaker 1: tell you, Jesus said, Truly, I tell you today you
29:43
Speaker 1: will be with me. Exhale the criminal thought, that's the problem.
29:50
Speaker 1: I'm with you here.
29:56
Speaker 2: In Paradise.
30:00
Speaker 1: Holiness with human hands promised a man who had done
30:07
Speaker 1: nothing good and had nothing good to offer. Holiness with
30:12
Speaker 1: human hands offered a man who had no bargaining power.
30:16
Speaker 2: This promise where I'm going. You're going.
30:21
Speaker 1: He grants a last minute request. He grants a request
30:26
Speaker 1: to a last minute convert He grants a request that
30:29
Speaker 1: essentially says you are gonna have the same eternity as
30:32
Speaker 1: Stephen who will later be stoned because of his faith
30:35
Speaker 1: in me.
30:36
Speaker 2: You're gonna have the same eternity.
30:37
Speaker 1: As Peter who followed me these last three and a
30:41
Speaker 1: half years.
30:42
Speaker 2: And why why would Jesus do this?
30:45
Speaker 1: I think this was mind boggling to John and to
30:49
Speaker 1: Peter and the other men in the crowd. I mean
30:51
Speaker 1: how I mean, we've said the woman in adultery, that's
30:53
Speaker 1: one thing. I mean, asking Matthew to follow this one thing.
30:56
Speaker 1: This is like a whole other thing. Why And here's
30:59
Speaker 1: what I want you to hear if you don't hear
31:01
Speaker 1: anything else, I say today, because like life, grace is
31:07
Speaker 1: not fair. Like life, grace is not fair. It is
31:13
Speaker 1: better than fair. It is disturbingly better than fear. It
31:16
Speaker 1: is unsettlingly better than fair. I mean, Jesus will continue
31:21
Speaker 1: this after his resurrection.
31:22
Speaker 2: This is unbelievable. If you know the narrative.
31:24
Speaker 1: After the resurrection, Jesus pulls Peter aside, and Peter is
31:28
Speaker 1: overcome with shame and guilt. I mean, when Jesus was arrested,
31:32
Speaker 1: Peter fled. When he was asked, do you even know
31:35
Speaker 1: who Jesus is? Peter denies even knowing Jesus and Jesus
31:39
Speaker 1: pulls Peters signes as Peter, I'm putting you in charge
31:43
Speaker 1: with the whole thing. Nobody was less deserving. Very soon
31:51
Speaker 1: after that, maybe a few months after that or a
31:53
Speaker 1: year after that, Jesus recruits sawl of Tarsus, who was
31:56
Speaker 1: trying to dismantle and destroy the entire Jesus move and
32:00
Speaker 1: Jesus and ca recruits Saul of Tarsus calls him Paul.
32:03
Speaker 1: We know it missed the apostle Paul, and he allowed
32:06
Speaker 1: him to write about half the New Testament.
32:07
Speaker 2: Why this was Jesus' way of saying, over and over
32:10
Speaker 2: and over.
32:11
Speaker 1: That I am a person who brings grace and truth,
32:14
Speaker 1: not in half measure, not the mix of, not the
32:17
Speaker 1: blend of full on grace, full on truth. I'm all
32:20
Speaker 1: grace and all truth all the time, because that's what
32:23
Speaker 1: love is, and I am love personified.
32:29
Speaker 2: Now you're pushback on this.
32:30
Speaker 1: We'll talk about this next week, so don't miss next
32:32
Speaker 1: time you're pushback on this. Am I pushback on this
32:34
Speaker 1: is as simple? This is why it's so unsettling. Wait,
32:37
Speaker 1: did Jesus not? I mean, those are cool stories, Andy,
32:39
Speaker 1: and you've made it emotional. I get all that, But hey,
32:42
Speaker 1: was Jesus not concerned about justice? And was Jesus not
32:46
Speaker 1: concerned about consequences? No, that's not the issue. Jesus knew
32:51
Speaker 1: better than anyone about justice and consequences.
32:53
Speaker 2: You know what he knew.
32:54
Speaker 1: He knew that God's justice would crush us because all
33:01
Speaker 1: have sin and nobody can pay God back. And Jesus
33:07
Speaker 1: wasn't unaware of consequences. He knew better than anybody that consequences,
33:13
Speaker 1: the consequences of sin were already crushing us because every
33:18
Speaker 1: single sin, every single sin, whether you believe in sin
33:21
Speaker 1: or not, whether you believe in New Testaments, sin or not,
33:23
Speaker 1: regardless of how you view the world, every single sin,
33:26
Speaker 1: and you've lived, if you're an adult, you've experienced this.
33:29
Speaker 1: Maybe you didn't use these words. Every single sin comes
33:33
Speaker 1: prepackaged with a gotcha. Every sin has a gotcha, every
33:39
Speaker 1: single one. And so Jesus and his grace and in
33:43
Speaker 1: his mercy at Christmas came.
33:49
Speaker 2: To get you.
33:51
Speaker 1: See, this is why, this is why I don't know
33:55
Speaker 1: why everybody wouldn't want it to be true, Because when
34:00
Speaker 1: grace is on display, and if you would open yourself
34:05
Speaker 1: up to even consider the possibility, you don't have to
34:08
Speaker 1: admit it to anyone to consider the possibility that there
34:11
Speaker 1: is a creator God who has invited you to talk
34:15
Speaker 1: to him and to reflect with him and to communicate
34:18
Speaker 1: with him as if he is a perfect, heavenly father,
34:22
Speaker 1: and that he is known for his grace and truth
34:25
Speaker 1: that dropped down in the person of Jesus.
34:28
Speaker 2: Why wouldn't we want this to be true.
34:32
Speaker 1: When grace is on display, people will want it to
34:35
Speaker 1: be true before they ever believe it's true. Jesus said
34:37
Speaker 1: it this way. It's one of my favorite verses in
34:39
Speaker 1: the New Testament. Luke sixteen sixteen. This is so powerful.
34:42
Speaker 1: This is Jesus kind of summarizing the transition between the
34:46
Speaker 1: Old Testament and the New Covenant that he came to establish.
34:49
Speaker 1: He said this the law and the prophets, that's what
34:51
Speaker 1: we would call the Old Testament. The law and the
34:54
Speaker 1: prophets were proclaimed until John, not John who wrote the
34:58
Speaker 1: Gospel of John.
34:58
Speaker 2: John the Baptist.
35:00
Speaker 1: He said, up until the time that John the Baptist
35:02
Speaker 1: showed up to announce my coming, up until that time,
35:05
Speaker 1: the law and the prophets were proclaimed. But since that time,
35:10
Speaker 1: since the end of the Old Covenant, since the day
35:13
Speaker 1: I stepped foot on planet Earth as an adult. Since
35:16
Speaker 1: that time, this is so powerful. The good news of
35:19
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God is being preached and everyone is
35:23
Speaker 1: forcing their way.
35:25
Speaker 2: In to it. And that is exactly what happened historically.
35:30
Speaker 1: It's why two thousand years later we are here that
35:35
Speaker 1: when people caught a glimpse of what was actually being offered,
35:40
Speaker 1: they leaned in, hoping looking for evidence of the fact
35:45
Speaker 1: that this is in fact an act of God.
35:50
Speaker 2: In the course of human history.
35:53
Speaker 1: The good news that Jesus referred to is embodied in
35:56
Speaker 1: a person. Jesus news is summarized in a word, and
36:03
Speaker 1: it's our word.
36:04
Speaker 2: It's the word grace. And grace is an invitation.
36:11
Speaker 1: It's an invitation very much like the invitation that Jesus
36:14
Speaker 1: extended to Matthew. It's an invitation that goes like this.
36:19
Speaker 1: I know all about you, the good and the bad,
36:24
Speaker 1: and I want you to follow me.
36:26
Speaker 2: But be warned.
36:28
Speaker 1: If you follow me, I will lead you away from
36:31
Speaker 1: your sin. And no, I have not forgotten what you've done.
36:36
Speaker 1: It's better than that. I remember all of it, and
36:41
Speaker 1: I love you anyway. Now come follow
36:49
Speaker 2: Me.