WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.080 Father, we confess before you that we notice hypocrisy in other people, 00:00:06.940 --> 00:00:10.620 but we don't notice it as often in ourselves. 00:00:11.540 --> 00:00:15.700 We confess before you, Father, that hypocrisy bothers us in other people 00:00:15.700 --> 00:00:20.420 and does not bother ourselves as much when we see it in ourselves. 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:27.640 We confess before you, Father, that our own hypocrisy we often think of 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:32.679 as being very unimportant, just a momentary thing in us. 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:37.320 So, Father, we confess before you that it is hard for us to hear 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:40.159 the words of the Bible speaking to us, 00:00:40.760 --> 00:00:43.320 that it's easy for us to hear it speaking to other people. 00:00:43.539 --> 00:00:46.100 Father, we confess this before you. 00:00:46.100 --> 00:00:50.380 We ask, Father, that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us 00:00:50.380 --> 00:00:52.760 and bring your word home to us. 00:00:53.219 --> 00:00:57.500 We thank you, Father, that you speak these words so that we will turn to you, 00:00:57.500 --> 00:01:01.780 that we will be disciples gripped by the gospel, living for your glory. 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:04.420 So, Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:10.040 Help us to hear your word as a word directly to each one of us and to us as a church. 00:01:10.460 --> 00:01:13.560 And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:14.400 Amen. 00:01:15.140 --> 00:01:15.900 Please be seated. 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:21.640 Some little child is very unhappy. 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:28.960 Some of you who heard me read the scripture just a few moments ago might be thinking something like this. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:35.340 Isn't Jesus being a little bit hypocritical himself by saying that we are of great value to God 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:37.120 and that he's going to cast us into hell? 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:43.880 Isn't that, in fact, the type of religious hypocrisy that we see all around us? 00:01:43.960 --> 00:01:46.320 And doesn't Jesus seem to be guilty of this himself? 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:48.660 We're of greater value than sparrows. 00:01:48.980 --> 00:01:50.100 God will send us to hell. 00:01:50.520 --> 00:01:52.460 There seems to be a little bit of a disconnect. 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:55.860 Does Jesus sort of need to listen to his own words? 00:01:56.960 --> 00:02:00.580 Well, let's listen to the words of Jesus ourselves. 00:02:00.579 --> 00:02:05.359 So if you have a Bible with you, take your Bible and turn in it to Luke chapter 12. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:10.259 And if you've forgotten your Bible or you don't own a Bible, there's always some Bibles up here at the front. 00:02:10.340 --> 00:02:12.340 When you come in the side door, there's always Bibles. 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:14.199 You're welcome to have a Bible. 00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:15.300 Use it today. 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:18.560 Keep it for yourself or return it afterwards. 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:19.759 Luke chapter 12. 00:02:20.259 --> 00:02:24.460 And let's listen to what Jesus has to say about hypocrisy 00:02:24.460 --> 00:02:29.539 and whether he himself is being a hypocrite in terms of what he says, 00:02:29.539 --> 00:02:32.340 whether he's encouraging Christians to be hypocrites. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:34.919 Let's listen carefully to his words. 00:02:35.819 --> 00:02:38.519 Luke chapter 12, verse 1. 00:02:40.079 --> 00:02:44.780 I didn't organize a crying baby to give us an image of hell or anything like that, by the way. 00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:48.280 That's just one of those unplanned things of the Holy Spirit. 00:02:48.519 --> 00:02:50.280 So the poor little child. 00:02:51.340 --> 00:02:52.359 Luke 12, 1. 00:02:52.699 --> 00:02:56.739 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together 00:02:56.740 --> 00:03:01.200 and they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, 00:03:01.460 --> 00:03:04.379 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:08.379 Now, if you just bear with me for a second, I'd like to have a little bit of an aside. 00:03:09.480 --> 00:03:13.360 One of the things which is just sort of interesting to know about these few words 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:17.680 before we get to hypocrisy is sort of a very, very interesting thing. 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:21.840 Often when we think of the New Testament or when people around us think of the Bible being written, 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:28.140 we sort of have this idea that there's these elusive witnesses, 00:03:28.980 --> 00:03:33.140 obscure witnesses that have been found that talk about Jesus. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:39.819 It's a little bit like, not quite, it was the only analogy that I could think of very quickly. 00:03:40.980 --> 00:03:44.379 But you know, how many of you, I don't know how many of you have seen the movie World War Z 00:03:44.379 --> 00:03:47.759 or World War Z, depending if you're an American or a Canadian. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:55.000 And in that movie, part of what it is, is that they want to find an elusive witness 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.519 to the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse. 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:06.019 So they send a guy with, another guy with a team of like the toughest seals that you can imagine. 00:04:06.439 --> 00:04:08.459 Those are the, you know, American ones with guns, 00:04:08.579 --> 00:04:11.500 not the ones that swim in the water and flap their fins. 00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:21.100 And they go there to find the one elusive witness to the beginning of the outbreak way off in South Korea. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:26.540 And sometimes people think that the New Testament, that the Gospels were sort of written like that, 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:28.740 that Luke went and found the one elusive witness. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:31.019 And it's just sort of interesting as an aside, 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:37.079 because Luke, who wrote this work somewhere between the year 62 and the year 65, 00:04:37.079 --> 00:04:39.859 and he himself never saw Jesus. 00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:42.659 And so as he claims at the beginning of the book, 00:04:42.819 --> 00:04:45.279 sort of the second part of his work, 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:48.120 that he went and carefully examined witnesses. 00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:52.419 Luke didn't have to go like in World War Z or Zed 00:04:52.419 --> 00:04:54.819 and find the elusive witness. 00:04:55.419 --> 00:04:58.899 There were thousands and thousands and thousands of people who heard Jesus. 00:04:59.779 --> 00:05:02.659 I mean, it would be a little bit more analogous to somebody saying, 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:06.939 wanting to find out what Martin Luther King said in Washington 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:10.860 when he gave his famous, I have a dream speech. 00:05:11.580 --> 00:05:14.520 There were thousands and thousands and thousands of people, 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:17.060 even though that speech took place over 45 years ago, 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.520 a far greater distance of time than Luke was writing his Gospel. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.440 If you went searching, you could find hundreds, hundreds, 00:05:23.580 --> 00:05:25.720 maybe thousands of people still who were alive 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:28.500 and were right there to hear Martin Luther King speak. 00:05:29.080 --> 00:05:30.980 Many of the things in Martin Luther King's life, 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:34.200 you would still be able to find thousands and thousands and thousands 00:05:34.200 --> 00:05:35.860 of witnesses to what he said. 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:39.160 And this is sort of what Luke is dealing with. 00:05:39.540 --> 00:05:41.060 Luke, when he was writing his Gospel, 00:05:41.200 --> 00:05:43.520 it wasn't that he had to find one elusive witness 00:05:43.520 --> 00:05:46.439 and then create this huge Gospel. 00:05:47.140 --> 00:05:50.360 But it would have been more the case that he could find thousands of witnesses, 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:52.420 people who had become followers of Jesus 00:05:52.420 --> 00:05:54.500 and people who had rejected Jesus. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:57.020 And out of all of the evidence that he heard, 00:05:57.019 --> 00:06:01.459 he winnowed down the true stories and the true sayings of Jesus, 00:06:01.599 --> 00:06:03.279 which he recounts in this Gospel of Luke. 00:06:03.319 --> 00:06:04.579 That's just a little bit of an aside. 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:07.459 But listen, again, what does Jesus say? 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:08.879 So there's thousands of people. 00:06:09.099 --> 00:06:11.240 Those of you who have King James Version Bibles 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:13.599 or remember the days of the King James Version Bible, 00:06:14.159 --> 00:06:16.419 they translate it more literally as myriads, 00:06:16.859 --> 00:06:20.680 which means just thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people. 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:22.439 And what does he say? 00:06:22.740 --> 00:06:25.259 The beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, 00:06:25.660 --> 00:06:27.400 which is hypocrisy. 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:31.060 Just this stark, bold statement. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:31.920 Beware. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:34.519 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:36.100 which is hypocrisy. 00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:38.480 Here's the first thing, if you could put it up. 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:42.300 Jesus warns me, and you, 00:06:42.740 --> 00:06:49.100 me that natural human religion and spirituality grow hypocrisy. 00:06:49.100 --> 00:06:51.379 That's what Jesus is warning us about. 00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:56.420 Jesus warns me that natural human religion and spirituality, 00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:59.920 natural human spirituality grow hypocrisy. 00:07:00.760 --> 00:07:02.620 It's well known to all of us 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:07.320 that there has been a lamentable history of anti-Semitism. 00:07:08.280 --> 00:07:10.400 I remember a year or two ago, 00:07:10.460 --> 00:07:11.960 I watched this really good movie 00:07:11.960 --> 00:07:15.220 that was about some Jewish people 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:18.240 who survived the Holocaust by hiding in the sewer system 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:22.500 in the Polish capital. 00:07:24.400 --> 00:07:25.040 Yeah, there you go. 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:30.800 And it's a very, very interesting side story 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:33.800 of the Polish fellow, Polish Christian, 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:36.560 who sort of was basically a bit of a crook, 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:40.500 helping these Jewish people survive the war. 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:42.139 And there's a very, very funny time 00:07:42.139 --> 00:07:44.139 when it dawns on him for the first time 00:07:44.139 --> 00:07:45.419 that Jesus was Jewish. 00:07:46.659 --> 00:07:47.759 Jesus was Jewish? 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:48.680 Couldn't have been Jewish. 00:07:48.819 --> 00:07:49.740 Jesus was Jewish. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:51.000 Jewish? 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:52.240 The apostles were Jewish. 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:53.419 No, the apostles could. 00:07:53.479 --> 00:07:54.339 Yeah, they were Jewish. 00:07:54.779 --> 00:07:56.800 Well, there's been this long history of anti-Semitism, 00:07:56.979 --> 00:07:58.300 and partly what fuels it 00:07:58.300 --> 00:08:01.019 is when we take words like the Pharisees, 00:08:01.419 --> 00:08:03.740 and we think that Jesus is only talking about 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:06.120 those human beings and that religious party 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:08.699 that happened to exist at the time that he was speaking. 00:08:08.699 --> 00:08:11.979 But we have to understand that on one hand, 00:08:12.159 --> 00:08:14.279 it was a particular group of people, 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:17.120 a religious movement, a reform movement 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:20.899 within Judaism at the time that Jesus is talking about. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:23.039 But Jesus is also talking about Pharisees, 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:25.639 and Luke records it as a bit of a symbol. 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:28.480 He's not saying something to let us off the hook. 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:31.300 Okay, we don't have to worry about the leaven of the Pharisees 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:32.980 because there are no Pharisees anymore, 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:34.939 so whoa, okay, that doesn't apply to us, 00:08:35.259 --> 00:08:36.879 or that's just a Jewish problem. 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:39.460 If you read through the Gospels, 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:40.740 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:43.779 you'll see that Pharisees really become a type of symbol 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:48.240 for natural human religion or natural human spirituality, 00:08:48.860 --> 00:08:52.000 and how there's this natural human religion 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:53.899 that springs up from within us 00:08:53.899 --> 00:08:57.080 that means that even though we might read the Bible 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:58.899 and we might hear the very words of God, 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:00.759 that when we read them through the filter 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:04.580 of natural human religion and natural human spirituality, 00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:07.700 that we'll misunderstand the word of God 00:09:07.700 --> 00:09:09.000 in a constant, constantly. 00:09:09.860 --> 00:09:11.980 In fact, it's a danger for Christians. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:14.820 It's a danger for people who come to church. 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:17.280 And what Jesus is saying here then, 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:19.580 and you sort of have to just trust me that Pharisees, 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:21.120 one of the things that they symbolize 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:22.379 is natural human religion. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:25.180 So the whole course of the book of Luke, 00:09:25.259 --> 00:09:26.220 I can't prove everything. 00:09:26.300 --> 00:09:27.520 Every single time I talk, 00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:30.520 you go back and you listen to some other sermons, et cetera. 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:33.819 And what Jesus is saying here is that natural human religion 00:09:33.819 --> 00:09:35.539 and natural human spirituality, 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:37.379 we have to beware of it. 00:09:37.659 --> 00:09:39.419 It grows hypocrisy. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:40.740 That's what it grows. 00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:42.939 It grows hypocrisy. 00:09:43.939 --> 00:09:47.960 And he uses that by the symbol of leaven, 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:50.039 which is, we would sort of call it, 00:09:50.079 --> 00:09:51.620 if you buy sourdough bread now, 00:09:51.699 --> 00:09:54.179 you're buying bread that's made the old-fashioned way 00:09:54.179 --> 00:09:55.019 that's made with leaven. 00:09:55.100 --> 00:09:58.240 You take a tiny bit of fermented bread, so to speak, 00:09:58.240 --> 00:09:59.820 or a bread that will rise, 00:10:00.060 --> 00:10:01.519 and you take a tiny bit of that dough 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:03.379 and you add it to a large batch of dough, 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:06.159 and that leaven works in the large batch of dough 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:10.740 to make the entire batch of dough leavened. 00:10:11.419 --> 00:10:13.960 So it's specifically an image of growing, 00:10:14.740 --> 00:10:16.519 that natural human religion. 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:18.639 We need to beware of it. 00:10:19.379 --> 00:10:20.519 You and I this morning, 00:10:21.139 --> 00:10:22.419 I need to beware of it, 00:10:22.419 --> 00:10:23.980 you need to beware of it, 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:27.919 because it exists and it grows. 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:29.879 And it's not good. 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:33.600 Jesus warns me that natural human religion 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:35.039 and spirituality grow. 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:36.560 Hypocrisy. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.519 Just a little while after I was ordained, 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:44.080 I was going on a trip with some other Anglican clergy, 00:10:44.460 --> 00:10:46.139 and we stopped for coffee, 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:47.759 and one of the Anglican clergy said, 00:10:47.860 --> 00:10:49.700 listen, George, I'm going to buy you coffee. 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:51.560 And then he said, 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:54.279 I'm going to teach you a lesson that I learned from a boss. 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:55.940 And it was a great lesson, 00:10:55.940 --> 00:10:57.980 and the lesson was this. 00:10:58.040 --> 00:10:58.980 He bought me coffee, 00:10:59.040 --> 00:11:00.160 and as he was buying me coffee, 00:11:00.260 --> 00:11:00.640 he says, 00:11:01.060 --> 00:11:02.340 I won't say the fellow's name, 00:11:02.740 --> 00:11:03.860 we'll say his name is Joe. 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:04.820 He said to me, 00:11:04.860 --> 00:11:05.080 Joe, 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:07.140 always buy coffee, 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.140 because it doesn't cost very much money, 00:11:10.540 --> 00:11:13.020 and it will make you appear generous. 00:11:16.300 --> 00:11:17.000 Sort of funny, 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.019 an Anglican minister was telling me this 00:11:19.019 --> 00:11:21.759 with no sense that this might be an odd thing to teach. 00:11:21.860 --> 00:11:22.000 Like, 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:23.600 he was thinking I should learn from this. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:25.080 Always, 00:11:25.259 --> 00:11:25.399 you know, 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.179 coffee only costs a tiny amount of money. 00:11:27.299 --> 00:11:28.240 Always buy the coffee, 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:30.220 because it makes you appear generous. 00:11:30.980 --> 00:11:31.679 And then he went on to say, 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:33.039 and if you appear generous, 00:11:33.179 --> 00:11:34.200 people will like you more, 00:11:34.379 --> 00:11:34.799 you know, 00:11:34.820 --> 00:11:36.440 your employees will do more for you. 00:11:36.779 --> 00:11:37.340 You have to be careful, 00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:38.799 I buy coffee for my employees. 00:11:38.919 --> 00:11:40.840 I'm not doing it just to appear generous, 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:43.820 if Jeremy and all are listening in. 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:44.800 But, 00:11:44.900 --> 00:11:45.280 you know, 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:45.580 listen, 00:11:46.620 --> 00:11:50.140 if you were to have overheard that conversation, 00:11:50.920 --> 00:11:52.960 and you were an employee of that fellow, 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:55.320 would you trust him as your boss? 00:11:58.520 --> 00:12:00.340 Would you trust what he said? 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:02.920 If he, 00:12:03.260 --> 00:12:04.920 in such a calculating manner, 00:12:05.020 --> 00:12:05.640 would say, 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:07.020 that spending, 00:12:07.180 --> 00:12:09.000 depending on where you're going for your cup of coffee, 00:12:09.400 --> 00:12:10.320 $1.25, 00:12:10.620 --> 00:12:10.780 $2, 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:12.220 whatever that range is, 00:12:12.660 --> 00:12:13.800 by spending that $2, 00:12:13.820 --> 00:12:16.120 you appear generous, 00:12:17.400 --> 00:12:18.460 in a sense, 00:12:18.620 --> 00:12:20.080 it's easier to manipulate you, 00:12:20.540 --> 00:12:21.760 if I appear generous. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:24.800 It's hypocritical. 00:12:25.920 --> 00:12:28.680 And we have a basic innate sense, 00:12:28.760 --> 00:12:29.660 at least in others, 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:34.100 that if there's such clear calculating hypocrisy, 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:38.140 that who knows how far that is spread in that person's life, 00:12:38.180 --> 00:12:40.420 and how much you can trust anything they do. 00:12:40.419 --> 00:12:41.419 So, 00:12:41.419 --> 00:12:45.000 at a very simple level, 00:12:45.099 --> 00:12:46.879 we see that this is a human problem, 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:49.879 which is why I introduced it by saying natural human religion, 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:51.459 and natural human spirituality. 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:53.059 It's a human problem, 00:12:53.059 --> 00:12:56.240 and we recognize on one level that we agree with Jesus, 00:12:56.579 --> 00:12:59.399 that it's the type of thing that we would worry as a leaven, 00:12:59.500 --> 00:13:00.360 that would grow and grow, 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:04.320 and encompass how a person relates to the truth, 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:06.700 to words, 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:07.860 to policies, 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:08.820 to family, 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:09.639 to friends, 00:13:09.700 --> 00:13:11.279 to a whole range of things. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.259 And so, 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:14.379 Jesus warns me, 00:13:14.439 --> 00:13:15.000 and warns you, 00:13:15.079 --> 00:13:16.459 that natural human religion, 00:13:16.959 --> 00:13:18.639 and natural human spirituality, 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:20.620 grow hypocrisy. 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:22.679 So, 00:13:22.740 --> 00:13:23.480 now you have to wonder, 00:13:23.620 --> 00:13:23.860 okay, 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:25.980 so what's Jesus going to say about this? 00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:29.319 We're going to get to whether he's being hypocritical, 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:30.319 and talking about hell, 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:32.279 but we sort of have to get there, 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:33.299 because it comes, 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:36.199 the statement about hell comes after he's talked about some other things. 00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:37.199 First of all, 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:37.980 we have to understand, 00:13:38.100 --> 00:13:38.419 in a sense, 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:39.100 the problem, 00:13:39.319 --> 00:13:40.399 which Jesus identifies. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:41.279 So, 00:13:41.319 --> 00:13:41.799 what does he do? 00:13:42.980 --> 00:13:43.720 Does he do, 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:48.639 is he now going to give you five easy steps to get rid of hypocrisy in your life? 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:53.039 Is he going to tell us about a set of rituals that we have to go through? 00:13:53.659 --> 00:13:55.699 Is he going to tell us to join a certain club? 00:13:56.019 --> 00:13:58.360 Is he going to tell us to learn certain yoga poses, 00:13:58.579 --> 00:14:00.019 or meditation techniques? 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:04.340 Is he going to tell us to abandon having any moral standards, 00:14:04.500 --> 00:14:06.919 and therefore you do not have to worry about hypocrisy? 00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:09.179 Be up front, 00:14:09.179 --> 00:14:09.939 not a slimy, 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:10.439 evil, 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:11.659 manipulating person, 00:14:11.659 --> 00:14:13.359 with no pretension of being anything like that. 00:14:13.359 --> 00:14:14.179 Is that what he's going to do? 00:14:14.219 --> 00:14:14.359 No, 00:14:14.479 --> 00:14:15.559 he goes in a very, 00:14:15.659 --> 00:14:15.839 very, 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:17.319 very curious direction. 00:14:18.359 --> 00:14:18.719 In fact, 00:14:19.059 --> 00:14:21.899 part of the proof of natural human religion, 00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:23.099 is that we quickly, 00:14:23.339 --> 00:14:24.079 if we're honest, 00:14:24.199 --> 00:14:25.979 want to go in one of those directions, 00:14:26.539 --> 00:14:29.239 of the five easy steps to avoid hypocrisy. 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:30.919 Something technique-wise, 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:31.919 that we can do, 00:14:32.259 --> 00:14:33.259 to rid it from our lives. 00:14:33.259 --> 00:14:36.120 But Jesus goes in a very sort of surprising direction. 00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:37.439 At first, 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:38.539 it doesn't look surprising, 00:14:38.539 --> 00:14:40.580 but when we realize the consequence of it, 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:43.559 because he does an interesting twist to it, 00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:45.019 to make it concrete. 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:47.600 And so, 00:14:47.740 --> 00:14:48.779 let's read along. 00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:50.000 Verses two and three, 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:52.179 is the beginning of the 11 verses, 00:14:52.439 --> 00:14:55.019 of Jesus talking about the problem of hypocrisy. 00:14:55.700 --> 00:14:56.360 Verse two, 00:14:56.360 --> 00:14:58.560 Nothing is covered up, 00:14:58.560 --> 00:15:00.139 that will not be revealed, 00:15:00.580 --> 00:15:01.300 or hidden, 00:15:01.740 --> 00:15:02.720 that will not be known. 00:15:03.560 --> 00:15:03.940 Therefore, 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:05.919 whatever you have said in the dark, 00:15:06.300 --> 00:15:07.620 shall be heard in the light. 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:10.919 And what you have whispered in private rooms, 00:15:11.560 --> 00:15:14.779 shall be proclaimed on the housetops. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:17.320 Jesus gives a very, 00:15:17.460 --> 00:15:20.399 very concrete teaching, 00:15:20.899 --> 00:15:21.399 that Jesus, 00:15:21.659 --> 00:15:22.240 that God, 00:15:22.820 --> 00:15:24.820 that Jesus knows all things, 00:15:24.820 --> 00:15:28.600 and that he will reveal all things. 00:15:30.160 --> 00:15:30.960 In fact, 00:15:31.740 --> 00:15:33.940 rather than Jesus going and talking about, 00:15:34.260 --> 00:15:35.360 what in a sense, 00:15:35.660 --> 00:15:36.060 me, 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:37.680 he talks about God, 00:15:38.460 --> 00:15:40.040 and he's going to leave, 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:40.480 in a sense, 00:15:40.620 --> 00:15:42.520 open the fact that I'm powerless, 00:15:42.640 --> 00:15:43.300 on one level, 00:15:43.379 --> 00:15:44.400 against hypocrisy. 00:15:45.260 --> 00:15:46.420 And he's inviting me, 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:48.000 as he does throughout the book of Luke, 00:15:48.260 --> 00:15:49.040 to come to him, 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:49.480 in a sense, 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:50.040 naked, 00:15:51.140 --> 00:15:51.580 powerless, 00:15:51.880 --> 00:15:53.280 not bargaining with God, 00:15:53.380 --> 00:15:54.440 not manipulating God, 00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:55.260 with my prayer, 00:15:55.420 --> 00:15:57.720 but he invites us to call out, 00:15:58.060 --> 00:15:58.740 from our heart, 00:15:58.940 --> 00:16:00.000 mindful of the fact, 00:16:00.660 --> 00:16:03.700 that we all have hypocrisy, 00:16:03.820 --> 00:16:04.380 excuse me, 00:16:04.400 --> 00:16:05.020 in our lives, 00:16:05.140 --> 00:16:07.060 that we tend to understand hypocrisy, 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:07.620 in other people, 00:16:07.680 --> 00:16:08.380 is very bad, 00:16:08.780 --> 00:16:09.420 in ourselves, 00:16:09.560 --> 00:16:10.500 is excusable. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:11.660 Hypocrisy, 00:16:11.740 --> 00:16:12.900 in another person's life, 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:14.460 is a mark of their character. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:15.840 Hypocrisy, 00:16:15.920 --> 00:16:16.580 in my own life, 00:16:16.620 --> 00:16:18.020 is just a momentary thing, 00:16:18.140 --> 00:16:18.360 that I, 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:19.680 it just sort of happened to me, 00:16:19.680 --> 00:16:21.020 but I'm still a good person. 00:16:21.019 --> 00:16:22.019 That hypocrisy, 00:16:22.019 --> 00:16:23.059 that hypocrisy, 00:16:23.059 --> 00:16:24.579 is a huge stain, 00:16:24.579 --> 00:16:25.399 on a person, 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:26.179 that we don't like, 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:27.019 but in ourselves, 00:16:27.019 --> 00:16:28.379 it's sort of fluid, 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:29.120 and flexible, 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.399 and there's always an excuse, 00:16:32.299 --> 00:16:32.539 and, 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:33.819 and Jesus invites us, 00:16:33.819 --> 00:16:35.240 to not think about that at all, 00:16:35.579 --> 00:16:36.779 but to think about God, 00:16:37.639 --> 00:16:39.480 just to think about God, 00:16:39.579 --> 00:16:40.399 and to think about God, 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:41.259 concretely. 00:16:41.939 --> 00:16:42.159 In fact, 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:42.840 he invites us, 00:16:42.899 --> 00:16:43.699 if you could put it up, 00:16:43.899 --> 00:16:44.159 Andrew, 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:45.799 to do something like this, 00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:47.799 in a naked sense, 00:16:48.079 --> 00:16:50.139 in a non-manipulative sense, 00:16:50.259 --> 00:16:53.259 in a cry from the heart sense, 00:16:53.339 --> 00:16:53.679 to say, 00:16:53.740 --> 00:16:54.199 dear God, 00:16:54.319 --> 00:16:55.199 please grow in me, 00:16:55.240 --> 00:16:55.699 a humble, 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:56.919 trusting knowledge, 00:16:57.459 --> 00:16:59.139 that you know all things, 00:16:59.719 --> 00:17:01.599 and that you will reveal all things. 00:17:02.659 --> 00:17:03.159 Dear God, 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:03.959 please grow in me, 00:17:03.979 --> 00:17:04.440 a humble, 00:17:04.659 --> 00:17:05.480 trusting knowledge, 00:17:05.619 --> 00:17:07.200 that you know all things, 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:10.259 and that you will reveal, 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:11.819 all things. 00:17:11.819 --> 00:17:15.319 Some of you have heard me, 00:17:15.419 --> 00:17:16.220 maybe say that I, 00:17:16.220 --> 00:17:17.700 I get a certain, 00:17:17.980 --> 00:17:19.159 a real kick out of watching, 00:17:19.259 --> 00:17:20.159 the old TV series, 00:17:20.259 --> 00:17:20.980 I think it's been cancelled, 00:17:21.099 --> 00:17:22.000 for a couple of years now, 00:17:22.659 --> 00:17:24.259 of Dr. House, 00:17:25.419 --> 00:17:25.720 and, 00:17:25.879 --> 00:17:27.639 and I would say, 00:17:28.379 --> 00:17:30.279 largely in jest, 00:17:30.419 --> 00:17:31.559 but to be honest, 00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:33.000 I'm getting a little bit red, 00:17:33.079 --> 00:17:34.480 my own hypocrisy moment, 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:37.379 I have to be nice to people, 00:17:38.659 --> 00:17:39.619 I sort of like, 00:17:39.819 --> 00:17:40.819 there's a vicarious, 00:17:40.819 --> 00:17:42.279 this pleasure I get, 00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:43.339 from watching House, 00:17:43.419 --> 00:17:44.539 just say whatever pops, 00:17:44.539 --> 00:17:45.480 into his mind, 00:17:45.879 --> 00:17:47.139 because a lot of times, 00:17:47.220 --> 00:17:47.939 those same things, 00:17:47.980 --> 00:17:48.779 are in my mind, 00:17:48.819 --> 00:17:49.419 about people, 00:17:49.939 --> 00:17:51.460 but I have to be nice, 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:54.200 I was on a Christian board, 00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:54.779 of something, 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:55.919 and there was this issue, 00:17:56.059 --> 00:17:56.980 that had to be dealt with, 00:17:57.099 --> 00:17:58.059 and one of the lay people, 00:17:58.159 --> 00:17:59.059 said to the clergy, 00:17:59.200 --> 00:17:59.599 in the room, 00:17:59.939 --> 00:18:00.259 he said, 00:18:00.339 --> 00:18:00.500 okay, 00:18:01.019 --> 00:18:01.619 you clergy, 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:02.480 here's the problem, 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:03.899 we have with solving this problem, 00:18:04.019 --> 00:18:05.500 you have to be nice to people, 00:18:05.939 --> 00:18:06.839 I'm a businessman, 00:18:06.980 --> 00:18:08.619 I don't have to be nice to people, 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:09.679 this is what, 00:18:09.679 --> 00:18:10.799 this is what has to be, 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:11.019 done, 00:18:11.379 --> 00:18:11.779 and so, 00:18:11.980 --> 00:18:12.259 you know, 00:18:12.299 --> 00:18:12.819 I confess, 00:18:12.980 --> 00:18:13.539 on one hand, 00:18:13.700 --> 00:18:14.519 part of my pleasure, 00:18:14.639 --> 00:18:15.599 of watching House, 00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:16.940 while on one hand, 00:18:17.019 --> 00:18:18.359 I think he's a jerk, 00:18:18.500 --> 00:18:19.259 time after time, 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:19.740 after time, 00:18:19.779 --> 00:18:20.519 but he says what, 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:21.980 he says the truth, 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:23.099 just bluntly, 00:18:23.740 --> 00:18:24.440 hurting people, 00:18:25.619 --> 00:18:25.980 moving, 00:18:26.339 --> 00:18:26.799 plot along, 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:28.839 and, 00:18:28.940 --> 00:18:32.960 and what the Bible, 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:33.460 is saying, 00:18:33.639 --> 00:18:34.139 is that, 00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:35.299 if, 00:18:35.940 --> 00:18:36.879 that one day, 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:39.640 that aspect of George, 00:18:40.100 --> 00:18:41.800 which I know in private, 00:18:41.980 --> 00:18:43.100 will be known in public, 00:18:45.100 --> 00:18:45.680 you see, 00:18:45.760 --> 00:18:46.980 he takes the doctrine, 00:18:46.980 --> 00:18:49.000 of God's omniscience, 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:51.460 which we religious, 00:18:51.620 --> 00:18:53.060 and spiritual people like, 00:18:53.059 --> 00:18:56.000 and he takes it, 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:56.960 in a direction, 00:18:57.559 --> 00:18:58.759 that we don't like, 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:00.179 because you see, 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:01.980 at the heart of natural human religion, 00:19:01.980 --> 00:19:03.480 is that we desire, 00:19:03.639 --> 00:19:05.240 God to be something, 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:06.579 that we do not like, 00:19:06.619 --> 00:19:07.919 when we see it in other people, 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:09.980 we desire God, 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:11.679 to be our enabler, 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:14.779 I'm reading a novel right now, 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:15.500 and part of the, 00:19:15.500 --> 00:19:16.620 the plot of the novel, 00:19:17.180 --> 00:19:17.620 is, 00:19:17.820 --> 00:19:19.560 that a woman, 00:19:19.700 --> 00:19:20.500 who's been abused, 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:21.299 by her husband, 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:22.400 been beat up by her husband, 00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:23.519 many, many, many times, 00:19:23.580 --> 00:19:24.920 over a period of five years, 00:19:25.560 --> 00:19:26.640 she meets this guy, 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:27.519 who's a hitchhiker, 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:28.240 and part of the, 00:19:28.299 --> 00:19:29.259 the novel is about, 00:19:29.340 --> 00:19:30.259 she's trying to talk him, 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:31.400 into killing her husband, 00:19:33.060 --> 00:19:33.460 and, 00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:34.720 and so part of, 00:19:34.980 --> 00:19:36.019 what goes on in the novel, 00:19:36.360 --> 00:19:36.460 are, 00:19:36.460 --> 00:19:38.799 are repetitive conversations, 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:40.000 around the whole issue, 00:19:40.120 --> 00:19:40.720 of why it is, 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:41.819 that she doesn't leave, 00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:44.140 and why it is, 00:19:44.220 --> 00:19:45.160 that she's been, 00:19:45.259 --> 00:19:46.480 to the emergency ward, 00:19:46.579 --> 00:19:47.700 many, many, many times, 00:19:47.779 --> 00:19:48.740 in different hospitals, 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:51.200 but in every single case, 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:52.980 she's provided, 00:19:53.100 --> 00:19:54.299 a convincing reason, 00:19:54.299 --> 00:19:55.380 that she hasn't been, 00:19:55.620 --> 00:19:56.759 beaten up by her husband, 00:19:57.860 --> 00:19:59.240 in this particular novel, 00:19:59.360 --> 00:20:00.299 she rides horses, 00:20:00.779 --> 00:20:01.819 and trains horses, 00:20:01.819 --> 00:20:03.620 so it's easy for her, 00:20:03.740 --> 00:20:04.740 to say that it came, 00:20:04.819 --> 00:20:06.339 as dealing with horses, 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:07.240 that she got kicked, 00:20:07.240 --> 00:20:07.980 by the horse, 00:20:08.539 --> 00:20:10.000 or knocked off the horse, 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:11.799 and it's believable, 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:13.880 and she enables, 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:15.279 her husband's violence, 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:16.279 against herself, 00:20:16.460 --> 00:20:17.599 and part of the novel, 00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:18.740 is working out, 00:20:19.180 --> 00:20:20.000 because the guy's, 00:20:20.059 --> 00:20:21.000 not going to kill her husband, 00:20:21.299 --> 00:20:22.960 and so part of it, 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:24.119 is that working out, 00:20:24.819 --> 00:20:25.359 but you see, 00:20:25.460 --> 00:20:26.740 here's the thing for us, 00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:29.440 you see, 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:30.779 in hypocrisy, 00:20:31.339 --> 00:20:32.519 the God who exists, 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:33.519 we want a God, 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:35.000 who enables us, 00:20:35.099 --> 00:20:36.140 in our hypocrisy, 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:37.820 we either, 00:20:37.820 --> 00:20:39.020 don't think that God, 00:20:39.080 --> 00:20:40.020 knows all things, 00:20:40.700 --> 00:20:41.820 or if we do think, 00:20:41.860 --> 00:20:42.759 that he knows all things, 00:20:42.820 --> 00:20:43.340 we don't think, 00:20:43.340 --> 00:20:44.259 he's going to do anything, 00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:45.480 about knowing all things, 00:20:45.980 --> 00:20:47.840 I'm keeping it quiet, 00:20:48.360 --> 00:20:49.600 God will keep it quiet, 00:20:50.180 --> 00:20:51.220 what's the problem, 00:20:51.580 --> 00:20:54.420 but Jesus, 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:56.340 dealing with the leaven, 00:20:56.540 --> 00:20:57.620 of hypocrisy, 00:20:57.820 --> 00:20:58.280 he says, 00:20:58.520 --> 00:20:58.960 you know what, 00:20:59.020 --> 00:20:59.660 one of the things, 00:21:00.840 --> 00:21:01.980 I'm not going to talk to you, 00:21:01.980 --> 00:21:02.780 about techniques, 00:21:02.980 --> 00:21:04.000 just think about God, 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:05.619 think about God, 00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:08.319 good thing to do, 00:21:08.519 --> 00:21:09.279 think about God, 00:21:09.779 --> 00:21:10.400 and here's the thing, 00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:10.920 about God, 00:21:11.059 --> 00:21:11.779 he knows everything, 00:21:11.900 --> 00:21:12.339 that happens, 00:21:13.059 --> 00:21:13.839 and he's not, 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:14.660 an enabler, 00:21:15.619 --> 00:21:18.359 he won't enable you, 00:21:20.859 --> 00:21:21.460 everything, 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:22.279 that you think, 00:21:22.339 --> 00:21:22.759 and say, 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:23.400 will one day, 00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:24.059 be revealed, 00:21:24.380 --> 00:21:25.519 in such a way, 00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:26.700 that everybody knows, 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:27.720 in a sense, 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:28.720 every one of us, 00:21:28.779 --> 00:21:30.079 is in a reality show, 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.660 every one of us, 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:33.779 is in the amazing race, 00:21:33.779 --> 00:21:34.740 every one of us, 00:21:34.779 --> 00:21:35.680 is in Survivor, 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:37.099 the cameras are going, 00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:37.940 you know, 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:38.500 if you ever watch, 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:38.980 any of those shows, 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:39.619 you think to yourself, 00:21:39.779 --> 00:21:40.480 what are they thinking, 00:21:40.579 --> 00:21:41.619 don't these people realize, 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:42.799 it's going to be on television, 00:21:43.019 --> 00:21:43.920 and millions of people, 00:21:44.019 --> 00:21:44.519 are going to see, 00:21:44.660 --> 00:21:45.339 what they just said, 00:21:45.399 --> 00:21:45.799 and did, 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:47.019 like, 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:49.379 we're that person, 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.940 you and me, 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:53.440 that's what Jesus, 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:54.059 is saying, 00:21:54.899 --> 00:21:57.339 and so, 00:21:58.680 --> 00:21:59.339 as we, 00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:00.420 the words of Jesus, 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:01.660 come home to us, 00:22:01.660 --> 00:22:03.000 in a way, 00:22:03.080 --> 00:22:03.880 which is not about, 00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:04.480 bargaining, 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:06.320 or manipulating God, 00:22:06.840 --> 00:22:07.740 that in a sense, 00:22:07.860 --> 00:22:08.680 Jesus is hoping, 00:22:08.860 --> 00:22:09.580 that from the depths, 00:22:09.620 --> 00:22:10.160 of who we are, 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:10.840 we cry out, 00:22:10.900 --> 00:22:11.279 dear God, 00:22:11.360 --> 00:22:12.220 please grow in me, 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:12.720 a humble, 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:14.180 trusting knowledge, 00:22:14.300 --> 00:22:14.779 that you know, 00:22:14.820 --> 00:22:15.540 all things, 00:22:16.040 --> 00:22:17.300 and that you will, 00:22:17.300 --> 00:22:18.220 reveal, 00:22:18.920 --> 00:22:19.800 all things, 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:26.220 but now, 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:27.619 Jesus goes, 00:22:27.720 --> 00:22:28.639 in another direction, 00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:29.519 as he continues, 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:30.379 to talk about it, 00:22:30.460 --> 00:22:31.079 and this is where, 00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:32.339 that whole concern, 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:33.399 that I began, 00:22:33.659 --> 00:22:34.460 the talk with, 00:22:34.619 --> 00:22:35.339 about is Jesus, 00:22:35.460 --> 00:22:36.299 being hypocritical, 00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:38.319 is he doing, 00:22:38.399 --> 00:22:40.099 the classic religious move, 00:22:40.259 --> 00:22:40.519 oh yeah, 00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:40.740 yeah, 00:22:40.740 --> 00:22:40.940 yeah, 00:22:40.940 --> 00:22:41.139 yeah, 00:22:41.139 --> 00:22:41.279 yeah, 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:41.440 yeah, 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:42.720 God values you, 00:22:42.819 --> 00:22:43.799 but you're going to hell, 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:46.000 God values you, 00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:46.819 you're going to hell, 00:22:46.940 --> 00:22:47.119 like, 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:47.619 you know, 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:48.599 that the subtext, 00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:49.719 and you say one thing, 00:22:49.779 --> 00:22:50.919 but the other thing is happening, 00:22:51.059 --> 00:22:52.799 or you say the hell, 00:22:52.899 --> 00:22:53.819 but then he values you, 00:22:53.879 --> 00:22:55.379 it just doesn't quite sit right, 00:22:55.559 --> 00:22:57.359 and is that what Jesus now does, 00:22:57.419 --> 00:22:57.579 okay, 00:22:57.619 --> 00:22:58.980 even if I see that there's an issue, 00:22:59.059 --> 00:22:59.679 of hypocrisy, 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:00.219 even if, 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:01.379 wow, 00:23:01.500 --> 00:23:02.719 if there is a God, 00:23:02.719 --> 00:23:03.859 and maybe you're here, 00:23:03.939 --> 00:23:04.559 and you're not convinced, 00:23:04.679 --> 00:23:05.519 that God does exist, 00:23:05.659 --> 00:23:06.139 but to think, 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:06.439 wow, 00:23:06.539 --> 00:23:07.199 if there is a God, 00:23:07.259 --> 00:23:07.859 that does exist, 00:23:07.959 --> 00:23:08.939 that does know all things, 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:10.000 and will reveal all things, 00:23:10.039 --> 00:23:11.459 that does actually change, 00:23:11.459 --> 00:23:12.519 the game a little bit, 00:23:14.519 --> 00:23:16.799 but the direction Jesus goes, 00:23:16.859 --> 00:23:17.599 is still troublesome, 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:18.539 let's look at, 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:19.099 what he says, 00:23:19.299 --> 00:23:20.500 it'll take a few minutes, 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:22.079 to sort of tease out, 00:23:22.599 --> 00:23:23.859 the full implication, 00:23:23.859 --> 00:23:24.459 of what he says, 00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:25.079 but let's look, 00:23:25.139 --> 00:23:26.079 it's in verse four, 00:23:27.079 --> 00:23:28.299 I tell you, 00:23:28.419 --> 00:23:29.199 my friends, 00:23:29.740 --> 00:23:30.599 one of the few places, 00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:31.279 in the gospel, 00:23:31.439 --> 00:23:33.699 where he refers to his disciples, 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:34.819 and you and I as friends, 00:23:35.059 --> 00:23:36.119 I tell you, 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:36.959 my friends, 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:38.619 do not fear, 00:23:38.619 --> 00:23:40.099 those who kill the body, 00:23:40.099 --> 00:23:41.139 and after that, 00:23:41.259 --> 00:23:42.000 have nothing more, 00:23:42.139 --> 00:23:42.859 that they can do, 00:23:43.679 --> 00:23:45.000 but I will warn you, 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:46.359 whom to fear, 00:23:47.139 --> 00:23:48.099 fear him, 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:50.039 who after he has killed, 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:50.939 has authority, 00:23:51.219 --> 00:23:52.899 to cast into hell, 00:23:53.899 --> 00:23:54.299 yes, 00:23:54.459 --> 00:23:55.339 I tell you, 00:23:55.699 --> 00:23:56.980 fear him, 00:23:58.299 --> 00:23:59.659 are not five sparrows, 00:23:59.740 --> 00:24:00.959 sold for two pennies, 00:24:02.419 --> 00:24:03.379 just as an aside, 00:24:03.619 --> 00:24:04.179 basically, 00:24:04.959 --> 00:24:06.980 for an average working person, 00:24:06.980 --> 00:24:07.480 in Canada, 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:08.879 that's a half hour's wage, 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:11.500 that's how you can understand, 00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:12.560 what that means, 00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:14.840 are not five sparrows, 00:24:14.840 --> 00:24:16.800 sold for half an hour's wage, 00:24:16.860 --> 00:24:18.340 of an average working person, 00:24:18.660 --> 00:24:19.680 working class person, 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:21.840 and not one of them, 00:24:21.900 --> 00:24:23.280 is forgotten before God, 00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:25.180 while even the hairs, 00:24:25.300 --> 00:24:25.960 of your head, 00:24:26.080 --> 00:24:26.840 are all numbered, 00:24:27.160 --> 00:24:27.820 fear not, 00:24:28.520 --> 00:24:29.940 you are of more value, 00:24:30.300 --> 00:24:31.480 than many sparrows, 00:24:31.480 --> 00:24:33.319 this is a very, 00:24:33.480 --> 00:24:34.900 very curious text, 00:24:35.059 --> 00:24:36.019 which actually, 00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:38.480 it requires some thinking, 00:24:38.620 --> 00:24:39.299 because there's this, 00:24:39.299 --> 00:24:40.539 interesting motion, 00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:42.079 five times, 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:43.599 Jesus uses the word fear, 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:46.019 one to identify what we do, 00:24:46.259 --> 00:24:46.980 three times, 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:48.220 to say what we should do, 00:24:48.539 --> 00:24:49.620 and the fourth time, 00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:51.220 to tell us the consequence, 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:52.799 of going from the first thing, 00:24:52.839 --> 00:24:53.660 to the second thing, 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:54.620 I'm going to put it, 00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:55.599 in the form of a prayer, 00:24:56.099 --> 00:24:57.900 which you might not want to pray, 00:24:58.099 --> 00:24:59.039 but I'm going to explain, 00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:00.039 in a moment, 00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:01.119 maybe after it, 00:25:01.159 --> 00:25:03.460 you'll see the implication of it, 00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:04.339 if you could put it up, 00:25:04.500 --> 00:25:04.759 Andrew, 00:25:05.779 --> 00:25:07.480 here's the point, 00:25:07.579 --> 00:25:08.980 put in the form of a prayer, 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:09.639 dear God, 00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:11.339 please help me to remember, 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:12.319 that hell is real, 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:14.579 please grow in me, 00:25:14.659 --> 00:25:16.420 a humble trusting fear, 00:25:16.779 --> 00:25:17.099 of you, 00:25:18.639 --> 00:25:19.159 dear God, 00:25:19.259 --> 00:25:19.799 please help me, 00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:20.259 to remember, 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:21.519 that hell is real, 00:25:22.619 --> 00:25:24.000 please grow in me, 00:25:24.099 --> 00:25:26.619 a humble trusting fear, 00:25:27.259 --> 00:25:27.680 of you, 00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:33.100 first of all, 00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:34.420 what Jesus says to us, 00:25:34.500 --> 00:25:35.080 is something, 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:35.779 which is very, 00:25:35.900 --> 00:25:36.740 very true, 00:25:37.560 --> 00:25:38.519 to all of us, 00:25:38.560 --> 00:25:39.279 to some extent, 00:25:39.420 --> 00:25:40.039 partly it's just, 00:25:40.100 --> 00:25:40.940 because as human beings, 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.259 we're created to be social, 00:25:43.180 --> 00:25:45.380 but Jesus says something, 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:46.460 which is true, 00:25:46.580 --> 00:25:47.240 and all of us, 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:47.860 have it out of whack, 00:25:47.940 --> 00:25:48.560 some of us have it, 00:25:48.560 --> 00:25:49.759 massively out of whack, 00:25:49.840 --> 00:25:50.960 but we all are out of whack, 00:25:51.460 --> 00:25:52.620 is that we fear people, 00:25:53.560 --> 00:25:54.259 how much, 00:25:54.340 --> 00:25:55.299 during the course of the day, 00:25:55.299 --> 00:25:56.700 if you were honest with yourself, 00:25:56.779 --> 00:25:57.799 or during the course of the week, 00:25:57.879 --> 00:25:58.559 do you ask yourself, 00:25:58.680 --> 00:25:59.480 what will he think, 00:25:59.779 --> 00:26:00.759 what will she think, 00:26:01.299 --> 00:26:02.399 what will they say, 00:26:02.759 --> 00:26:03.759 what will she say, 00:26:04.159 --> 00:26:05.200 what will they do, 00:26:05.779 --> 00:26:06.659 if I do this, 00:26:06.919 --> 00:26:07.899 what are they thinking, 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:09.039 what are they saying, 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:10.159 what are they doing, 00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:11.659 how many of us, 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:12.639 are bothered, 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:13.799 after an encounter, 00:26:14.099 --> 00:26:14.700 afterwards, 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:15.279 wondering, 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:16.559 what are they saying about me, 00:26:16.579 --> 00:26:17.319 now that I've left, 00:26:17.379 --> 00:26:18.279 and how many of us, 00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:19.319 are bothered by that, 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:21.000 for minutes, 00:26:21.619 --> 00:26:22.039 hours, 00:26:22.379 --> 00:26:23.099 even days, 00:26:23.180 --> 00:26:24.180 or weeks afterwards, 00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:25.600 how many of us, 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:26.680 I've come across it, 00:26:26.700 --> 00:26:27.299 in counseling, 00:26:27.820 --> 00:26:29.440 even a year after, 00:26:29.580 --> 00:26:30.039 some event, 00:26:30.080 --> 00:26:31.039 are still puzzled, 00:26:31.080 --> 00:26:32.400 over what people are saying, 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:33.060 and how it is, 00:26:33.100 --> 00:26:34.100 that they could interpret it, 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:34.420 that way, 00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:35.140 and what they continue, 00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:36.320 to be saying about them, 00:26:36.660 --> 00:26:38.039 and Jesus just identifies, 00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:38.820 the fact that, 00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:40.019 what one of the things, 00:26:40.080 --> 00:26:41.460 that contributes to hypocrisy, 00:26:41.580 --> 00:26:42.080 is the fact, 00:26:42.180 --> 00:26:43.220 that we fear people, 00:26:43.860 --> 00:26:45.140 that people are too big, 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:46.039 in our lives, 00:26:47.660 --> 00:26:48.759 you've heard this quote, 00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:49.279 before maybe, 00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:49.779 if you're a guest, 00:26:49.840 --> 00:26:50.200 you haven't, 00:26:50.220 --> 00:26:51.080 it doesn't come from me, 00:26:51.120 --> 00:26:51.840 I'm not smart enough, 00:26:51.900 --> 00:26:52.759 for a quote like this, 00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:54.019 I think it's a guy, 00:26:54.180 --> 00:26:55.200 by the name of John Maxwell, 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:55.720 who said, 00:26:55.799 --> 00:26:56.539 you know what the problem is, 00:26:56.559 --> 00:26:57.200 with us people, 00:26:57.980 --> 00:26:59.700 we buy things we don't need, 00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:01.559 with money we don't have, 00:27:01.940 --> 00:27:02.819 to impress people, 00:27:02.900 --> 00:27:03.539 we don't like, 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:07.879 and then we don't think, 00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:08.920 we have any problems, 00:27:09.099 --> 00:27:10.160 and we can't hear the Bible, 00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:10.940 we can't hear the words, 00:27:11.019 --> 00:27:11.500 about Jesus, 00:27:11.619 --> 00:27:12.160 about money, 00:27:12.200 --> 00:27:13.059 and how it might heal us, 00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:13.339 but we, 00:27:13.859 --> 00:27:15.079 you know how many of us, 00:27:15.220 --> 00:27:16.359 how many of us, 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:17.839 spend money we don't have, 00:27:18.339 --> 00:27:19.440 to buy things, 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:20.960 that we don't really need, 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:22.539 to impress the people, 00:27:22.620 --> 00:27:23.080 at work, 00:27:23.320 --> 00:27:24.200 who afterwards, 00:27:24.320 --> 00:27:25.180 we're still wondering, 00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:26.620 why did they say that, 00:27:26.700 --> 00:27:27.440 what are they saying, 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:28.279 what are they thinking, 00:27:29.080 --> 00:27:30.740 and we just bought, 00:27:30.840 --> 00:27:31.320 those things, 00:27:31.400 --> 00:27:32.200 to try to somehow, 00:27:32.340 --> 00:27:32.940 impress them, 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:33.960 we don't even like them, 00:27:34.380 --> 00:27:36.440 and then we don't think, 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:37.440 we have any problems, 00:27:38.019 --> 00:27:39.820 and maybe we don't think, 00:27:39.860 --> 00:27:40.360 we have problems, 00:27:40.420 --> 00:27:41.120 because we don't think, 00:27:41.120 --> 00:27:42.460 we're as bad as our friend, 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:43.640 or our mom, 00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:44.640 or our dad, 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:46.120 or me, 00:27:46.180 --> 00:27:47.460 after you hear my stories, 00:27:47.539 --> 00:27:48.160 you go away thinking, 00:27:48.259 --> 00:27:48.559 well at least, 00:27:48.620 --> 00:27:49.420 I'm not as bad as, 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:50.559 George up at the front, 00:27:50.680 --> 00:27:50.960 you know, 00:27:51.660 --> 00:27:51.940 and, 00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:53.880 but so the first thing is, 00:27:53.940 --> 00:27:54.840 Jesus just identifies, 00:27:54.840 --> 00:27:56.460 the fact that we fear people, 00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:58.580 and then three times, 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:00.080 he tells us to fear God, 00:28:00.259 --> 00:28:01.840 and you don't have to be, 00:28:02.059 --> 00:28:02.960 an expert, 00:28:03.120 --> 00:28:04.200 you don't have to have a PhD, 00:28:04.380 --> 00:28:05.840 in New Testament hermeneutics, 00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:07.600 to understand, 00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:08.840 that if basically, 00:28:08.840 --> 00:28:10.799 in the same 15 words, 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:12.059 in 15 words, 00:28:12.100 --> 00:28:12.779 or 12 words, 00:28:12.840 --> 00:28:14.019 the same command, 00:28:14.080 --> 00:28:15.100 appears three times, 00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:16.640 it's probably significant, 00:28:16.940 --> 00:28:19.259 to say it, 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.440 and Jesus says, 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.759 that we are to fear God, 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:25.740 and I've talked about this, 00:28:25.779 --> 00:28:26.420 at different times, 00:28:26.460 --> 00:28:27.140 in other sermons, 00:28:27.460 --> 00:28:29.259 it's a constant Old Testament, 00:28:29.400 --> 00:28:30.400 New Testament theme, 00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:32.480 and it basically means, 00:28:32.660 --> 00:28:32.860 that we are, 00:28:32.980 --> 00:28:33.160 if we're, 00:28:33.299 --> 00:28:33.840 we should just, 00:28:33.940 --> 00:28:34.980 we should ask God, 00:28:35.080 --> 00:28:36.460 to grow within us, 00:28:36.539 --> 00:28:37.400 a fear of him, 00:28:37.820 --> 00:28:38.759 and what that means, 00:28:38.820 --> 00:28:39.460 in the New Testament, 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:41.320 is an ever deeper awareness, 00:28:41.500 --> 00:28:42.539 that God is God, 00:28:42.580 --> 00:28:43.340 and that I am not, 00:28:43.400 --> 00:28:44.860 it's an ever deeper awareness, 00:28:44.859 --> 00:28:46.339 of who God is, 00:28:46.779 --> 00:28:48.879 and how there is no possible way, 00:28:48.879 --> 00:28:49.939 that I am God, 00:28:50.139 --> 00:28:50.559 and to have, 00:28:50.879 --> 00:28:52.019 a clearer and clearer, 00:28:52.139 --> 00:28:52.919 and clearer sense, 00:28:52.959 --> 00:28:53.719 of who God is, 00:28:53.779 --> 00:28:55.099 a clearer and clearer sense, 00:28:55.139 --> 00:28:55.919 of who I am, 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:58.199 and not mix that up at all, 00:28:58.479 --> 00:28:59.419 and on one hand, 00:28:59.479 --> 00:29:00.799 to have a growing sense, 00:29:00.859 --> 00:29:01.419 of the complete, 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:02.639 and utter transcendence, 00:29:02.699 --> 00:29:03.740 and difference of God, 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:04.859 and at the same time, 00:29:04.919 --> 00:29:05.899 how close he is, 00:29:06.139 --> 00:29:07.519 yet he's never me, 00:29:07.699 --> 00:29:08.659 and that is a, 00:29:08.659 --> 00:29:10.099 a fundamental aspect, 00:29:10.099 --> 00:29:10.679 of what it means, 00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:11.319 to fear God, 00:29:11.319 --> 00:29:11.899 it's why, 00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:13.299 that the New Testament, 00:29:13.439 --> 00:29:14.200 and the Old Testament, 00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:14.899 both say, 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:15.799 that that is something, 00:29:15.939 --> 00:29:16.500 that we are to, 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:18.159 to grow within us, 00:29:18.740 --> 00:29:20.000 and Jesus in a sense, 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:20.279 says, 00:29:20.539 --> 00:29:21.779 the problem you have George, 00:29:21.899 --> 00:29:22.619 part of the problem you have, 00:29:22.659 --> 00:29:23.519 is you fear people, 00:29:23.980 --> 00:29:24.720 what do you need to do, 00:29:24.879 --> 00:29:25.299 fear God, 00:29:25.399 --> 00:29:25.779 fear God, 00:29:25.879 --> 00:29:26.339 fear God, 00:29:26.460 --> 00:29:27.519 and guess what happens, 00:29:27.859 --> 00:29:29.379 the more you have this sense, 00:29:29.399 --> 00:29:30.480 of who God is, 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:32.000 in his transcendence, 00:29:32.099 --> 00:29:32.899 in his immensity, 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:34.119 in his reality, 00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:35.339 that he's not a figment, 00:29:35.339 --> 00:29:36.240 of my imagination, 00:29:36.939 --> 00:29:38.759 that he is not the same as me, 00:29:38.859 --> 00:29:39.519 that he doesn't have, 00:29:39.619 --> 00:29:40.460 he's completely, 00:29:40.460 --> 00:29:41.299 and utterly different, 00:29:41.319 --> 00:29:41.679 than me, 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:42.339 yet he's completely, 00:29:42.339 --> 00:29:43.200 close to me, 00:29:43.619 --> 00:29:44.099 that I have, 00:29:44.220 --> 00:29:45.279 an ever increasing, 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:47.480 sense of where I begin, 00:29:47.559 --> 00:29:48.500 and where I end, 00:29:48.579 --> 00:29:49.399 and where God, 00:29:49.700 --> 00:29:50.939 is different from me, 00:29:50.980 --> 00:29:52.200 and I'm not confusing, 00:29:52.200 --> 00:29:52.659 at all, 00:29:52.740 --> 00:29:53.240 and the more, 00:29:53.439 --> 00:29:54.500 I have a sense of that, 00:29:54.779 --> 00:29:55.740 what does Jesus say, 00:29:56.659 --> 00:29:58.559 you don't live a life, 00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:00.240 characterized by fear, 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:03.339 go back and read it, 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:04.720 that's the flow of the text, 00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:07.279 how many of us, 00:30:07.980 --> 00:30:09.279 live lives, 00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:10.319 with a significant, 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:10.859 significant amount, 00:30:10.859 --> 00:30:11.720 of anxiety, 00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:15.139 a significant amount, 00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:16.159 of hypocrisy, 00:30:16.879 --> 00:30:19.179 a significant amount, 00:30:19.179 --> 00:30:19.859 of fear, 00:30:19.859 --> 00:30:25.460 and Jesus does say, 00:30:25.740 --> 00:30:26.720 and I'm not going, 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:27.240 to go into it, 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:27.659 but it's, 00:30:27.819 --> 00:30:28.720 he does teach, 00:30:29.099 --> 00:30:31.639 that hell exists, 00:30:32.059 --> 00:30:32.980 and that it's real, 00:30:32.980 --> 00:30:35.099 he's the main one, 00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:35.779 in the Bible, 00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:36.480 who teaches, 00:30:36.980 --> 00:30:37.819 on the reality, 00:30:38.420 --> 00:30:39.059 of hell, 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:41.480 and, 00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:43.720 by him bringing this up, 00:30:43.900 --> 00:30:44.079 it's, 00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:45.240 remember I just said to you, 00:30:45.299 --> 00:30:46.059 that one of the problems, 00:30:46.180 --> 00:30:47.380 for us religious types, 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:48.319 is that we easily, 00:30:48.839 --> 00:30:50.200 can know different doctrines, 00:30:50.339 --> 00:30:50.480 but, 00:30:50.740 --> 00:30:52.200 part of natural human religion, 00:30:52.299 --> 00:30:53.480 and natural human spirituality, 00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:54.839 is to turn the doctrine, 00:30:55.180 --> 00:30:56.200 and twist it, 00:30:56.279 --> 00:30:57.220 so that God becomes, 00:30:57.319 --> 00:30:58.160 our enabler, 00:30:58.160 --> 00:30:59.500 oh yeah, 00:30:59.560 --> 00:30:59.779 yeah, 00:30:59.779 --> 00:30:59.900 yeah, 00:30:59.900 --> 00:31:00.200 yeah, 00:31:00.300 --> 00:31:00.460 yeah, 00:31:00.460 --> 00:31:00.600 yeah, 00:31:00.600 --> 00:31:00.920 okay, 00:31:01.120 --> 00:31:01.380 George, 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:02.400 God knows everything, 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:03.600 going on in George's head, 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:04.100 but George, 00:31:04.100 --> 00:31:04.960 isn't going to say it, 00:31:05.040 --> 00:31:06.000 God's not going to say it, 00:31:06.019 --> 00:31:06.840 what's the problem, 00:31:07.420 --> 00:31:08.700 well the complete opposite, 00:31:08.840 --> 00:31:09.360 of God being, 00:31:09.600 --> 00:31:10.540 an enabler, 00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:12.160 is that, 00:31:12.259 --> 00:31:13.040 there will be, 00:31:13.100 --> 00:31:13.640 an accounting, 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:16.180 there will be, 00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:16.720 an accounting, 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:18.160 it brings, 00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:19.920 home that God, 00:31:19.980 --> 00:31:20.440 is not, 00:31:20.500 --> 00:31:21.400 an enabler, 00:31:21.820 --> 00:31:23.000 that God, 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:24.100 is not, 00:31:24.500 --> 00:31:25.460 an enabler, 00:31:25.460 --> 00:31:34.039 now some of you might say okay george it's a bit of a shock to think that jesus teaches that hell 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:42.160 exists it's a bit of a shock to actually come into a church in 2014 in canada and one of the 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:48.680 sermon points is that we are to pray to god to remember that hell is real 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:59.900 you probably figured out we're not seeker sensitive on one level and just on one level 00:31:59.900 --> 00:32:05.360 but george don't you think that the belief of hell in hell breeds violence 00:32:05.360 --> 00:32:12.140 like look at those isis or whatever the the right way to refer to them right now is look at those 00:32:12.140 --> 00:32:18.660 guys they all believe in hell look at the terrible things they're doing don't you think that this 00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:26.480 belief in hell almost always breeds violence don't you think that's george it's it's sort of socially 00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:34.240 and culturally dangerous for you to take the words of jesus and say this is what jesus means he does 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:42.759 believe that hell is real he does believe that god is not an enabler um and and and and don't you think 00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:48.140 that well before we sort of continue to to unravel that a little bit especially by how it's connected 00:32:48.140 --> 00:32:53.600 with the final few verses where jesus talks about it here's i think a more general point if you could 00:32:53.600 --> 00:33:02.540 put it up andrew thinking up thinking on the greatness of god without being gripped by the gospel 00:33:02.540 --> 00:33:06.280 will encourage hypocrisy and other evils 00:33:06.280 --> 00:33:12.000 thinking of the great on the greatness of god without being gripped by the gospel 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:22.640 will encourage hypocrisy and other evils and um you see it's often as you have this sense of the 00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:29.220 greatness of god and the greatness of hell that you in fact do see hypocrisy grow and evil grow 00:33:29.220 --> 00:33:38.700 that um it's as if as as we as we sense the greatness of god and we have this sense of fate that that that 00:33:38.700 --> 00:33:46.319 you know like in in india and in many uh eastern lands there's this huge sense of fate and that's why 00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:53.480 lower caste indians or people the low strata of of any type of society that they somehow deserve to be 00:33:53.480 --> 00:34:00.140 there that karma has put them there that some iron hand of fate has put them at the bottom of the social 00:34:00.140 --> 00:34:04.620 heap and those of us at the higher part of the social heap that that fate has also put us there 00:34:04.619 --> 00:34:12.000 and and that you know god uh you know god has sort of foreordained in in islamic teaching that some are going to go to hell 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:16.420 and some are going to go to blessedness and and we know that we're the ones going to blessedness and so 00:34:16.420 --> 00:34:21.759 these people are all going to hell and so if we do these types of things it's all right if we do them 00:34:21.759 --> 00:34:28.619 and and even for us canadians who who have a very very powerful cultural belief that when you die you go to a better place 00:34:28.619 --> 00:34:34.940 we think you die and you go to a better place when it's our favorite uncle joe but we don't think those 00:34:34.940 --> 00:34:39.920 isis fanatics are going to go to a better place when they die and we'd like to have some soldiers go over 00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:46.779 there and kill them and put them in hell quickly and i'm not arguing against dealing with the uh 00:34:46.779 --> 00:34:51.519 the horrendous evil that's going on over there i'm not i'm not saying anything about that at all i'm just 00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:58.539 merely pointing out that beneath our civilized and spiritual and religious facade of going to 00:34:58.539 --> 00:35:02.300 a better place lurks a sense of us and them 00:35:02.300 --> 00:35:13.880 that isis reveals our natural human religion and spirituality which we impose on the text of the 00:35:13.880 --> 00:35:20.360 bible but does not come from the bible itself because jesus is going to do something in fact 00:35:20.360 --> 00:35:26.219 the very next words of jesus which at first seems so odd because we read the books of the bible expecting 00:35:26.219 --> 00:35:32.519 it to go in a natural human religion a natural human spirituality direction and jesus once again 00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:41.279 seems to go in an odd direction but his odd direction is the direction of grace the direction to wake us up 00:35:41.279 --> 00:35:50.199 the direction of hope not natural human religion listen what he does verse eight and i tell you 00:35:50.199 --> 00:35:56.899 everyone who acknowledges me before men the son of man also acknowledged before the angels of god 00:35:56.899 --> 00:36:03.159 see for many of us we think okay just have to acknowledge jesus like for many people in our culture that just 00:36:03.159 --> 00:36:09.179 seems sort of arbitrary okay christians say acknowledge jesus but you know really why doesn't he just say 00:36:09.179 --> 00:36:14.539 acknowledge the color blue or think of the number you know if you're don't douglas adams think of the 00:36:14.539 --> 00:36:19.619 number 42 because that's the meaning of life just think of 42 think of the color blue it just seems 00:36:19.619 --> 00:36:25.940 to be completely and utterly arbitrary but but listen again verse eight and i tell you everyone who 00:36:25.940 --> 00:36:31.420 acknowledges me before the son of man sorry acknowledges me before men the son of man also 00:36:31.420 --> 00:36:37.300 acknowledged before the angels of god but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the 00:36:37.300 --> 00:36:42.940 angels of god and everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven but the one who 00:36:42.940 --> 00:36:48.240 blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven and when they bring you before the synagogue 00:36:48.240 --> 00:36:53.460 and the rulers and the authorities do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you 00:36:53.460 --> 00:37:00.619 should say for the holy spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say and how do we put 00:37:00.619 --> 00:37:02.860 all of that type of stuff together 00:37:02.860 --> 00:37:11.539 first of all jesus isn't talking just about some mere careless words we see this when we look at the new 00:37:11.539 --> 00:37:18.500 testament in fact when we even look at luke's gospel itself you contrast peter and judas both peter and 00:37:18.500 --> 00:37:25.679 judas denied jesus but they have radically different outcomes to their lives so jesus isn't talking just 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:32.300 about a random type of comment about himself and some of us might think well we've never actually i've 00:37:32.300 --> 00:37:36.719 never even heard anybody say anything blasphemous against the holy spirit so what on earth is going on 00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:44.619 well you see the the lynchpin of everything in this text is the the overarching literary context 00:37:44.619 --> 00:37:50.639 of the book you've been here other weeks you know what i'm going to say is that jesus from chapter 9 00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:56.699 to chapter 19 everything that's being said is within the context that jesus is going to jerusalem to die 00:37:56.699 --> 00:38:08.779 and he'll continually tell people about it and everything is connected to that journey 00:38:08.779 --> 00:38:18.939 he's going to jerusalem to die why is jesus not being hypocritical because what jesus knows is that he's 00:38:18.940 --> 00:38:32.139 going to jerusalem to die for hypocrites to die for pharisees to die for isis to die for soccer moms 00:38:32.139 --> 00:38:46.619 to die for gay activists to die for cubicle dwellers in ottawa and when he goes to die in our stead 00:38:46.619 --> 00:38:59.980 he will experience the functional equivalent of hell in exchange for us that from the cross he will cry my god my god why 00:38:59.980 --> 00:39:10.699 have you forsaken me that hell which is the eternal separation of a human being from god that jesus will 00:39:10.699 --> 00:39:14.299 experience that on our behalf 00:39:14.299 --> 00:39:23.339 that that's what he's going to jerusalem to do 00:39:23.339 --> 00:39:30.659 that in jerusalem that whole transaction that's going to take place on the cross when he 00:39:30.659 --> 00:39:33.980 has the functional experience of hell that he experiences 00:39:33.980 --> 00:39:39.019 not because of anything he's done but he does it out of love for you and me and he does it for you and me 00:39:39.019 --> 00:39:47.579 this is telling you and me that just what the words here are saying is that on one hand i you and i 00:39:48.139 --> 00:39:57.179 are of vastly more value than we ever imagined that god the son of god would set aside his glory and 00:39:57.179 --> 00:40:04.539 splendor and divine prerogatives and that he would willingly do that for you and me that's why jesus says we 00:40:04.539 --> 00:40:13.659 have more value than we can possibly imagine and hell tells us that we are in vastly greater danger 00:40:13.659 --> 00:40:16.059 than we usually think 00:40:18.619 --> 00:40:23.739 but not because of anything that we do that we can have a vastly greater hope 00:40:23.739 --> 00:40:34.779 because jesus's death upon the cross is a power of god that comes from god for salvation to all who will receive it 00:40:37.419 --> 00:40:42.219 and we receive it in our heart and confess it with our lips 00:40:42.219 --> 00:40:49.899 and that what jesus is talking here about the unforgivable sin is that maybe some today 00:40:50.699 --> 00:40:55.500 the holy spirit is pressing in on your heart and pressing in on your mind of the need to pray 00:40:57.099 --> 00:41:02.939 and jesus is warning us that god will continue to press in on your heart and press in on your 00:41:02.939 --> 00:41:07.739 heart and press in on your heart even this text this frightening text today is an opportunity for 00:41:07.739 --> 00:41:11.579 him to once again through the holy spirit to press on your heart and press on your heart and press on 00:41:11.579 --> 00:41:16.779 your heart and there is a a warning that there is a time that we say no to that pressing no to that 00:41:16.779 --> 00:41:21.179 pressing no to that pressing and and as we do it more and more and more and day in and day out it 00:41:21.179 --> 00:41:27.259 becomes more and more and more of a habit that our heart becomes so completely and utterly hard that it is 00:41:27.259 --> 00:41:34.059 impossible for us to receive the power of god for salvation which is jesus dying upon the cross for us 00:41:34.059 --> 00:41:35.659 hypocrites 00:41:38.699 --> 00:41:46.460 but just like aragon says before the gates of mordor today does not have to be that day for you 00:41:52.299 --> 00:41:55.500 but to call out to god i have a hard heart 00:41:57.179 --> 00:42:03.500 i have 20 years 30 years 50 years 70 years of saying no and quenching that holy spirit but i thank you 00:42:03.500 --> 00:42:08.699 father that your holy spirit that your holy spirit can pierce through those decades of hardness 00:42:08.699 --> 00:42:17.500 in one flashing brilliant moment as i come to you and confess from my heart that that is describing me 00:42:17.500 --> 00:42:24.860 and i need a power of god for salvation that can only come from you and that god rushes in and does it 00:42:24.860 --> 00:42:32.620 turn in your bibles to romans chapter 10 which is the flip side of the same teaching 00:42:35.180 --> 00:42:37.740 romans chapter 10 verses 9 to 13 00:42:39.820 --> 00:42:41.500 romans 10 9 to 13 00:42:41.500 --> 00:42:49.179 it's the flip side in a sense jesus shows to use modern language the dark side 00:42:50.780 --> 00:42:57.659 our hearts getting harder and harder and harder and so we won't confess jesus and he shows the side of 00:42:58.460 --> 00:43:04.300 the power of god for salvation coming into our heart which bears is it we confess with our lips 00:43:04.300 --> 00:43:11.580 what does it say because if you confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and believe in your heart 00:43:11.580 --> 00:43:19.820 that god raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart one believes and is justified 00:43:19.820 --> 00:43:25.660 and with the mouth one confesses and is saved for the scripture says everyone who believes in him will 00:43:25.659 --> 00:43:33.659 not be put to shame for there is no distinction between jew and pagan between american and muslim and 00:43:33.659 --> 00:43:41.099 isis and greek orthodox and evangelical protestant and buddhist and hindu there is no distinction between 00:43:41.099 --> 00:43:46.299 this i'm not saying that the different religions don't matter i'm just saying that no matter what your 00:43:46.299 --> 00:43:53.099 trajectory your life story is the time comes to call out on jesus to call out on jesus 00:43:53.099 --> 00:44:00.699 for verse 10 for with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and 00:44:00.699 --> 00:44:05.420 is saved for the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame for there is no 00:44:05.420 --> 00:44:11.579 distinction between jew and pagan for the same lord is lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call 00:44:11.579 --> 00:44:19.579 on him for everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved if you put up the final point andrew 00:44:19.579 --> 00:44:27.179 dear god please grow in me a humble trusting habit of confessing with my lips 00:44:27.739 --> 00:44:33.579 that my heart trusts jesus christ crucified as my savior and my lord 00:44:37.819 --> 00:44:45.739 that's to be the prayer of our heart it's how we become a christian it's how as a follower of jesus 00:44:45.739 --> 00:44:52.059 that's how we become a christian it's how we become a christian it's how we become a christian 00:44:52.059 --> 00:44:56.939 and the gospel and the gospel grows in us please stand 00:45:00.379 --> 00:45:06.459 if the holy spirit is so prompting you out loud or quiet please join with me in saying if you could 00:45:06.459 --> 00:45:08.299 put the prayer back up andrew that would be great 00:45:11.659 --> 00:45:15.659 out loud or silent i invite you to join with me and praying such a prayer 00:45:16.619 --> 00:45:20.379 um if you haven't had time to write the other prayers down that'll be on the web page you can 00:45:20.379 --> 00:45:25.579 look it up later on if you want i think it goes up monday afternoon and we'll say this prayer and 00:45:25.579 --> 00:45:33.659 then i'll just say another prayer in closing dear god please grow in me a humble trusting habit of 00:45:33.659 --> 00:45:42.939 confessing with my lips that my heart trusts jesus christ crucified as my savior and my lord in jesus name 00:45:42.940 --> 00:45:49.340 amen father pour out your holy spirit upon us pour out your holy spirit upon us pour out your holy 00:45:49.340 --> 00:45:57.740 spirit upon us father please grow in me grow in us a humble trusting knowledge that you know all 00:45:57.739 --> 00:46:05.339 things and that you will reveal all things please grow in me please grow in us a remembrance that hell 00:46:05.339 --> 00:46:14.379 is real and grow in us a humble trusting fear of you and most of all father make us disciples gripped 00:46:14.380 --> 00:46:31.260 by the gospel living for your glory all this we ask in the name of jesus your son and our savior amen