WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.640 Good morning. 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:03.320 Oh, that's terrible. 00:00:05.560 --> 00:00:09.279 Well, I know it's kind of early in the morning, but good morning. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:12.000 Wow, that's better. 00:00:12.179 --> 00:00:12.960 Okay, we're awake. 00:00:13.120 --> 00:00:13.480 We're awake. 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:13.960 That's good. 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:15.019 That's good. 00:00:16.379 --> 00:00:21.500 We're going through this series in Deuteronomy, and I don't know, for you, the idea of looking 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:26.839 in the Old Testament may be as attractive as kind of hitting your head against a brick 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:27.140 wall. 00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:31.820 But this is a really powerful book that we're going to be looking into. 00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:38.679 Because this morning, I prayed to the living God. 00:00:39.700 --> 00:00:44.480 The living God, this morning, spoke to me. 00:00:46.659 --> 00:00:52.260 I wrote down in my journal some of the things that the living God said to me this morning. 00:00:52.259 --> 00:01:01.659 I am on speaking terms with the God who created the universe and every galaxy. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:06.079 And more than that, I am his beloved child. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:11.539 And one day, I will meet with him face to face. 00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:16.060 And I will see him in his dazzling glory. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.400 That is the stunning claim of Christianity. 00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:29.480 That an intimate relationship with the God of the whole universe, on speaking terms, is 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:30.000 possible. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:38.960 Do you know that in the whole history of religion, that claim to have a God who is both intimately 00:01:38.960 --> 00:01:43.379 close but gloriously separate is unique amongst world religions. 00:01:43.379 --> 00:01:52.379 But as Christians, we talk a lot of the time about having a relationship with God, don't we? 00:01:52.439 --> 00:01:54.159 We talk about having a relationship with God. 00:01:54.420 --> 00:02:02.780 But I suspect most of us, including myself, don't think of those words with stunned disbelief. 00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:10.520 You know, when was the last time you thought, I just, I can't believe it, I can talk to God. 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:12.680 When was the last time you thought that? 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:20.360 You see, we'll Facebook everyone and say, OMG, I saw Rihanna from like a mile away. 00:02:20.659 --> 00:02:22.199 I can't believe it. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:27.900 But we don't say, OMG, I just spent 20 minutes with the living God. 00:02:27.900 --> 00:02:32.800 Because it feels a little different, doesn't it? 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:34.520 A little bit more intangible. 00:02:35.580 --> 00:02:36.099 But why? 00:02:36.200 --> 00:02:39.879 Because other generations have lived with a deep sense of the fear of God. 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:46.099 If you know, Martin Luther, back in the 1500s, he started a whole reformation because the 00:02:46.099 --> 00:02:52.200 truth that God in Jesus Christ had made a way for him to have a relationship with him 00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:53.520 blew his mind. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:58.400 But if you think about it, our world is a slightly different world. 00:02:58.500 --> 00:02:59.640 It's a very interesting place. 00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:04.560 I don't know if you know what the Oxford Dictionary's word for 2012 is. 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:05.160 Anybody know? 00:03:06.320 --> 00:03:08.520 It's the word post-truth. 00:03:09.140 --> 00:03:10.200 Okay, go and check it out. 00:03:10.420 --> 00:03:10.939 Post-truth. 00:03:11.160 --> 00:03:12.840 Post-truth is this. 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:13.560 This is their definition. 00:03:13.879 --> 00:03:19.300 Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping 00:03:19.300 --> 00:03:23.400 public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:27.860 And so they've had Brexit and Trump where all these kind of fake news have come out and 00:03:27.860 --> 00:03:30.640 everyone's believed them more than what is actually true. 00:03:30.939 --> 00:03:36.740 And Speaker Ravi Zacharias, he tells a story of one day when he was watching a procession 00:03:36.740 --> 00:03:41.600 of a golden statue of a God being carried along the street. 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:45.540 And there was one woman who had just received a blessing from this statue. 00:03:45.660 --> 00:03:49.939 And he goes up to talk to her and he asks her, do you believe this God really exists? 00:03:49.939 --> 00:03:58.620 And what he says is, he says, she looked very hesitant and then said, if you think in your 00:03:58.620 --> 00:04:00.900 heart that he exists, then he does. 00:04:01.699 --> 00:04:05.139 And so Ravi said, well, what if you believe he doesn't exist? 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:08.460 And she replies, then he doesn't exist. 00:04:09.479 --> 00:04:11.020 That's post-truth for you. 00:04:11.099 --> 00:04:12.419 Everyone's entitled to their view. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:14.259 Everyone's got their own interpretation. 00:04:14.259 --> 00:04:15.879 It's all equally valid. 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:17.899 Truthfulness is secondary. 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:19.839 We're post-truth now. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.079 And all religions can believe in Jesus. 00:04:24.420 --> 00:04:26.339 And they're all about loving each other anyway. 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:30.399 And people who get too serious about religion, we've got to be very careful of them because 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:34.019 they end up blowing themselves up and being bigots and being intolerant. 00:04:34.139 --> 00:04:35.259 And we don't want that. 00:04:35.259 --> 00:04:42.759 But, you know, people who are too religious become obic, homophobic, xenophobic, funophobic, 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:45.259 every obic you can imagine, right? 00:04:45.719 --> 00:04:46.539 And you know what? 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:48.379 I'm sympathetic. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:49.599 I've studied history. 00:04:50.159 --> 00:04:53.019 And I can see that often in history, some of that is very true. 00:04:53.620 --> 00:04:56.339 So I am not unsympathetic to that at all. 00:04:56.500 --> 00:04:59.039 And if you think about Hong Kong, it's an international city. 00:04:59.159 --> 00:04:59.759 We have people. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.500 We've got 300,000 Muslims. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:03.259 We've got 100,000 Hindus. 00:05:03.259 --> 00:05:03.759 We have Hindus. 00:05:03.980 --> 00:05:04.579 We have Buddhists. 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:06.480 We have atheists, Catholics, Protestants, Jews. 00:05:06.659 --> 00:05:08.839 We have everything here in this city. 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:10.300 And there's some peace. 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:12.879 And we want to keep harmony, don't we? 00:05:13.899 --> 00:05:17.599 Because we don't want to be religious bigots. 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:20.899 And many of my friends from other religions are actually very nice people. 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:23.120 They're nicer than many of the Christians I actually know. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:31.099 But how, as Christians, should we respond in a pluralistic, post-truth society in our culture? 00:05:31.100 --> 00:05:38.200 How should we even begin to consider our own relationship with God when we have so many different competing ideas around us? 00:05:38.640 --> 00:05:40.540 And that's what we're going to have a little look in today. 00:05:40.700 --> 00:05:42.400 So have your passage open. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:44.280 We're going to dive into Deuteronomy 4. 00:05:45.080 --> 00:05:49.540 And you remember we talked last week about what Jeremy reminded us about moving on. 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:53.640 About how God wants us to move on in relationship with himself. 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:59.599 How we do that by looking back at what he's done and looking forward to where he's taking us. 00:06:00.379 --> 00:06:03.879 So if you look at verse 15, we're going to look in two particular sections. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:07.639 We're going to look at an incomparable God and an incomparable word. 00:06:07.979 --> 00:06:08.099 Okay? 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:10.039 Incomparable God, incomparable word. 00:06:10.819 --> 00:06:11.479 So here we go. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:13.779 Verse 15. 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:15.139 An incomparable God. 00:06:15.139 --> 00:06:18.939 Therefore, watch yourselves very carefully. 00:06:19.159 --> 00:06:23.579 Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:29.339 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves. 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:33.300 And then he goes on to describe the different images they make. 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:38.839 Because like Hong Kong today, the Middle East in the time of Moses was a pluralistic place. 00:06:38.919 --> 00:06:40.159 They had lots of different gods. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:42.939 The Egyptians had Horus, the god of the sky. 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:45.740 And they created little statues of birds. 00:06:45.840 --> 00:06:47.800 The Canaanites had their own little team of gods. 00:06:47.939 --> 00:06:50.620 You know, they worshiped the sun, the moon, the stars, everything around. 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:52.220 They all had their own little gods. 00:06:52.300 --> 00:06:55.860 And they bowed down to them and they'd ask for blessing from these gods. 00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:58.580 So their life could be a little bit better. 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:03.820 But Moses says in the midst of this culture, he says to Israel, 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:06.500 your God is not like any of the other gods. 00:07:07.180 --> 00:07:08.860 He is the Lord. 00:07:08.860 --> 00:07:14.840 And when you see that word Lord in capital letters in the Bible, that's the word Yahweh. 00:07:15.020 --> 00:07:19.980 It's the word when Moses asks God, what is your name? 00:07:20.180 --> 00:07:21.879 He says, I am who I am. 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:23.980 He says, that's the word. 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:25.379 So when you see that, that's what you tell. 00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:27.080 What he's saying is, I am. 00:07:27.139 --> 00:07:31.819 I'm not tied down to any river, any lake, any sun, anything that you can physically see. 00:07:31.980 --> 00:07:33.360 I am uncontainable. 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:34.340 I am bigger than that. 00:07:34.379 --> 00:07:35.160 I just am. 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:43.120 And because God is not like any other gods, there are two things you can't do. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:46.620 The first thing you can't do is make an image. 00:07:47.780 --> 00:07:50.720 He says, even of me, you can't make an image. 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:54.520 Because everyone else represents their gods in little statues around. 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:58.379 We see this even in Hong Kong, but it was even more then. 00:07:58.579 --> 00:08:01.359 And they get their God down to a kind of manageable size. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:07.120 You know, I can cope with him because that's the kind of God that I like to have about that big. 00:08:07.579 --> 00:08:09.399 But he says, I am not manageable. 00:08:09.599 --> 00:08:10.859 I am not containable. 00:08:11.620 --> 00:08:13.139 Don't make images of me. 00:08:13.139 --> 00:08:16.579 Because if you do, you'll no longer be worshiping me. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:18.819 You'll be worshiping your idea of me. 00:08:19.419 --> 00:08:25.560 He says, rather than me making you in my image, you'll be making me in your image. 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:28.860 And that's not the way it works. 00:08:29.379 --> 00:08:32.360 You know, so often, I try and make God in my own image. 00:08:32.500 --> 00:08:37.019 You know, it's just like, you know, European painters and Hollywood movie makers, 00:08:37.179 --> 00:08:39.919 when they depict Jesus, how do they make him? 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:44.159 He's always like white, and he's got blonde hair and blue eyes, right? 00:08:45.419 --> 00:08:47.799 Well, I think we do the same thing. 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:50.519 We want a Jesus in our image. 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:55.299 So I want a God who hates what I hate and is lenient to what I'm lenient towards. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.819 You know, it's amazing how when I'm on my phone, 00:08:59.439 --> 00:09:02.639 and my wife reaches over to take my phone to have a look at the message, 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.099 I get really annoyed. 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:09.799 And I think, you know, this righteous anger rises within me. 00:09:10.919 --> 00:09:15.779 But then when I go and reach over to my wife's phone and snatch it out of her hand, 00:09:16.899 --> 00:09:19.079 you know, I ask her to be a bit more tolerant. 00:09:19.979 --> 00:09:22.839 Because, you know, you've got to be forgiving. 00:09:22.979 --> 00:09:25.799 In fact, I'm very lenient to myself in that situation. 00:09:27.979 --> 00:09:31.719 And we can do this in a hundred different ways. 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:33.920 It's the God that we want to create. 00:09:34.019 --> 00:09:35.980 We get righteously angry and say, oh, God's very angry. 00:09:36.060 --> 00:09:38.820 He hates those people, and he loves those people that I like. 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:45.720 But actually, so often we're making him in our image rather than taking him for who he really is. 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:48.420 So you can't make an image of him. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.060 But secondly, you can't worship any other gods. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:52.379 Verse 23, he says, 00:09:52.379 --> 00:10:10.320 He says later on in verse 23 and 24, he says, 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:24.580 And later on, he says, 00:10:24.580 --> 00:10:35.080 You see, it's not just that he's incomparable. 00:10:35.660 --> 00:10:38.740 It's there's none other than me is what he says. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:41.900 It's not that there's lots of different options to get to God. 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:45.000 He's saying every other god is a no god. 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:51.259 The word in Hebrew for idol means no god, empty, vain things. 00:10:51.340 --> 00:10:51.539 He says, 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:53.299 The peoples around worship the sun. 00:10:53.399 --> 00:10:54.340 I created the sun. 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:56.200 The peoples around worship the sky. 00:10:56.299 --> 00:10:57.519 I created the sky. 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:01.600 I'm the one who is the authority figure around here. 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:08.440 And I've brought you into a covenant relationship, a love relationship with myself for my eyes only. 00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:11.580 You see, he says this word, 00:11:11.580 --> 00:11:14.299 I am a consuming fire. 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:16.019 A jealous lover. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:20.080 And that seems a little bit, okay, scary God kind of thing. 00:11:20.220 --> 00:11:25.600 But this is not I'm a jealous God in the sense of, you know, you got a promotion. 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:26.100 I didn't. 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:28.039 And now I'm not going to talk to you kind of jealousy. 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:29.580 That's not what he's like. 00:11:30.100 --> 00:11:34.559 This is a jealousy that you get when somebody inappropriately touches your wife. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:38.340 There's a hot, angry jealousy which flows out of love. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:43.759 He will not give you to another because he loves you that much. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:45.379 And he says, 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:48.120 Don't have any idol before me because you're mine. 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:50.120 I want you exclusively to myself. 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:52.220 If you go with anybody else, you're a fraud. 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:53.299 They'll be a fraud. 00:11:53.419 --> 00:11:56.360 You'll go with a player who will use you and abuse you. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:58.620 And they'll leave you. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:00.919 But I burn with a passion for you. 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:02.159 Do you know that? 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:04.839 God burns with a passion for you. 00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:16.259 And he says, just as Moses, when he saw a burning bush and he took off his shoes in reverence, he says, 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:17.379 Don't play with fire. 00:12:19.379 --> 00:12:27.379 You see, I have a friend who, the day before his wedding, he found his fiancee in bed with his best man. 00:12:27.379 --> 00:12:31.240 Can you imagine what that's like? 00:12:31.299 --> 00:12:32.620 Some of you may know that pain. 00:12:32.620 --> 00:12:38.740 But if he was to turn around my friend and say, oh, well, that's fine. 00:12:38.779 --> 00:12:40.200 I just figured that's fine. 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:43.580 It's not a big deal. 00:12:45.060 --> 00:12:50.639 If you're not angry in that situation, then I wonder if you ever truly love that person. 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:53.639 Because love and anger go together. 00:12:53.639 --> 00:12:57.620 Because you hate what you love, what hurts what you love. 00:12:59.159 --> 00:13:05.580 And so when God says, I'm a consuming fire, he's talking about a holy love that gets angry at all that is not love. 00:13:06.299 --> 00:13:07.559 All that is not good. 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:09.819 He will not tolerate it. 00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:19.580 And God is so passionate for you that his fire burns for you to run to him, not to run away from him. 00:13:19.580 --> 00:13:27.639 And so the thing is, if we are not exclusively God's, then we're going to be somebody else's. 00:13:27.680 --> 00:13:29.040 And that's what the Bible calls an idol. 00:13:29.160 --> 00:13:35.400 We put things, anything we put higher than God, whether it's money, whether it's our own career success, 00:13:35.680 --> 00:13:39.000 whether it's our relationship, whether it's even just being right in a situation. 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:44.300 When I put that above God, he says that you're creating an idol. 00:13:44.400 --> 00:13:45.740 You're creating a rival. 00:13:45.740 --> 00:13:48.100 You're creating an adultery. 00:13:49.580 --> 00:13:54.540 Now that's kind of not very PC, right, in our society. 00:13:54.820 --> 00:13:56.820 That's a little bit in your face. 00:13:57.320 --> 00:14:04.340 Now I saw last year, just near my house, a picture I'm advertising. 00:14:04.520 --> 00:14:06.540 Can we have that up? 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:11.580 This picture, which I thought was really, really interesting. 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:14.200 It says, God is too big to fit into any one religion. 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:18.960 It says, religion is a powerful weapon that brings people together but also separates people. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:20.080 And that's true. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:26.680 In this call for submissions, we are looking for art that is inspired by your interpretation of what constitutes God, 00:14:27.080 --> 00:14:29.680 be it a personal vision or an abstract concept. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.280 Interesting, isn't it? 00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:39.339 And, like, I get the motivation behind that because we do want to live. 00:14:39.340 --> 00:14:50.700 I mean, as Christians, so often we can be so self-righteous and so intolerant and treating people of different beliefs in a way which is hurtful. 00:14:50.700 --> 00:14:53.740 And Christians have to confess the way they've done that in the past. 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:57.639 So they want to bring people together. 00:14:57.639 --> 00:14:58.980 That's a great desire. 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:06.700 But the problem with their approach is if religion's perspective is inadequate, if we can't fit God into any one religion, 00:15:07.779 --> 00:15:11.639 then whose perspective is adequate, right? 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:16.740 The solution here they give you is it's your interpretation. 00:15:17.319 --> 00:15:21.000 It's whatever God you want to have for yourself, basically. 00:15:21.460 --> 00:15:25.120 If God's all too big, all religions are basically the same. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:26.879 We all worship the same God anyway. 00:15:27.319 --> 00:15:34.659 And what they're actually saying is you've got to lay aside the beliefs of your own religion for the kind of God that is acceptable to all of us. 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:39.100 Diminish your God to a lowest common denominator that we can all agree with, and then we're fine. 00:15:39.100 --> 00:15:39.700 We'll be happy. 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:46.759 But actually that's not really being respectful to the beliefs of the religions themselves. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:55.699 It's actually saying, well, maybe my opinion about what God should be like is not what any of these religions should be like. 00:15:57.379 --> 00:16:03.679 And the struggle with that is when you have a kind of God which is just acceptable to everybody, 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:09.939 then it's always a very diluted, very kind of impersonal, kind of floaty God who is very spiritual, 00:16:09.940 --> 00:16:13.400 but he wouldn't kind of say boo to a goose, right? 00:16:13.560 --> 00:16:15.320 He's the kind of one who's not personal. 00:16:15.680 --> 00:16:19.100 He doesn't have an authority, so he won't make any demands on my life. 00:16:19.140 --> 00:16:21.800 So I can basically carry on living the way that I want to live. 00:16:22.500 --> 00:16:26.240 And, you know, what I'll do, I'll make God in my image, fashion him in a little way, 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:31.820 and then I can go to church and I can pray and I can do the things that maybe help an old granny across the road occasionally. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:33.279 And, you know, he'll bless me. 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:35.980 I'll get life and joy and happiness and it will be fun. 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:42.240 And that's kind of the gods of the people around Israel. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:51.360 But the Bible says if you believe in that kind of God, that's not a God who's worth worshipping if he just looks a little bit like you. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:59.000 And the Bible says, actually, God is not kind of impersonal, apathetic. 00:16:59.419 --> 00:17:03.720 He's a consuming fire who wants a love relationship exclusively with you. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.120 And because he's incomparable, he calls you on his terms, not yours. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:13.219 And yet he says in verse 20, this is really interesting. 00:17:13.919 --> 00:17:20.079 The Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace out of Egypt to be people of his own inheritance. 00:17:21.019 --> 00:17:22.299 Do you know what the iron furnace was? 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:24.819 The iron furnace is where you made idols. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:31.139 And he says, you don't have another image or idol before me. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:36.019 You don't make me into an image because I already have an image. 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:38.159 And that's you. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:40.579 That's you. 00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:43.479 I'm a God who has rescued you out of slavery. 00:17:43.659 --> 00:17:44.779 I brought you to myself. 00:17:44.899 --> 00:17:48.819 And what I'm trying to do, I'm trying to reshape you into my beautiful image. 00:17:48.879 --> 00:17:52.019 And if you diminish me in any way, you're actually going to diminish yourself. 00:17:52.359 --> 00:17:55.459 Because your image, my image is you. 00:17:57.059 --> 00:17:59.819 And so I want you to look more like me increasingly. 00:17:59.819 --> 00:18:07.519 You see, when you put an idol before God, it always dehumanizes us. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:12.159 Worship anything less than a God who is great and awesome and majestic. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:15.559 And you'll diminish your own dignity and value and worth. 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:24.079 And you'll judge everybody else according to your own standards of what's right and wrong. 00:18:24.599 --> 00:18:26.359 And those are not reliable standards. 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:33.559 So the living God says, I burn with passion for you. 00:18:33.740 --> 00:18:34.639 I am incomparable. 00:18:34.899 --> 00:18:36.019 Don't have any other gods. 00:18:36.159 --> 00:18:37.799 Don't have any other images. 00:18:38.219 --> 00:18:39.899 And by the way, what that does is, 00:18:39.900 --> 00:18:45.259 we don't have to agree with people of different beliefs. 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:48.759 But if you see them as made in the image of an awesome God, 00:18:48.840 --> 00:18:50.640 then you treat them with dignity and respect. 00:18:52.700 --> 00:18:55.420 That's the difference that having a great God makes. 00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:58.380 An incomparable God, secondly. 00:18:58.980 --> 00:19:00.040 An incomparable word. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:04.400 How does God change people into his image? 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:05.120 Okay? 00:19:05.300 --> 00:19:06.720 How does he change people into his image? 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:07.920 Verse 33. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:15.620 Did any people ever hear the voice of a God speaking out of the midst of a fire as you have and still live? 00:19:17.080 --> 00:19:17.800 What he's saying? 00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:22.140 Our view of God always shapes our view of his word and what he says. 00:19:22.580 --> 00:19:22.720 Okay? 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.700 If this relationship with God is a consuming passion in your life, 00:19:26.840 --> 00:19:29.380 then his words will be precious to you. 00:19:29.940 --> 00:19:32.600 Amidst the crowd of voices that are all around us, 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:34.740 it will be his voice you want to hear. 00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:36.200 Now, this is really interesting. 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:39.380 Because the amazing thing about Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is this. 00:19:40.140 --> 00:19:42.779 He's not just incomparable, but he speaks. 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:46.900 And you think, duh, of course. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:52.319 But have you thought that it's grace that God speaks? 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:54.059 It's grace. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:56.259 God could remain utterly silent. 00:19:57.380 --> 00:19:59.500 He's got no obligation to speak to us at all. 00:20:00.180 --> 00:20:00.740 None at all. 00:20:00.740 --> 00:20:02.900 There's a theologian called Carl Henry. 00:20:03.099 --> 00:20:03.380 He said, 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:06.019 In God's gracious self-disclosure, 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:10.700 he forfeits his own personal privacy that we might know him. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:14.559 God doesn't have a copyright privacy act on himself. 00:20:15.500 --> 00:20:18.160 He wants to reveal himself to us. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:19.000 God speaks. 00:20:20.039 --> 00:20:21.839 And what he says, he contrasts this. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:26.119 All the other images around you, the idols, are mute. 00:20:26.639 --> 00:20:28.039 Jeremiah 10 verse 5 says, 00:20:28.419 --> 00:20:31.119 Their idols are scarecrows in a cucumber field. 00:20:31.439 --> 00:20:31.579 Okay? 00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:34.240 There's not many scarecrows in cucumber fields in Hong Kong, 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:35.720 but just imagine the picture. 00:20:36.459 --> 00:20:37.720 And they cannot speak. 00:20:37.819 --> 00:20:39.699 They have to be carried, for they cannot walk. 00:20:40.059 --> 00:20:43.980 The statues in temples of other religions don't speak to you. 00:20:43.980 --> 00:20:49.319 But here's an incomparable God who wants to speak to us, 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:50.900 and it's grace that he does. 00:20:51.299 --> 00:20:51.660 I don't know. 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:52.400 In a relationship, 00:20:53.180 --> 00:20:56.620 you cannot know the other person if they remain silent. 00:20:57.079 --> 00:20:57.960 I don't know if you've tried that, 00:20:58.039 --> 00:20:59.799 just talking to someone and they never respond to you. 00:21:00.779 --> 00:21:01.039 Right? 00:21:01.380 --> 00:21:02.640 You're just not going to get anywhere. 00:21:03.120 --> 00:21:03.360 Okay? 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:05.160 You can put electric shocks on them. 00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:06.240 You're not going to get anywhere. 00:21:07.099 --> 00:21:09.860 But it's like a dad whose kids run up to him, 00:21:10.099 --> 00:21:11.799 and, you know, he's just watching TV, 00:21:12.039 --> 00:21:13.660 and they want to talk to him about his day, 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:17.120 and he just stays silent, still watching the news. 00:21:18.060 --> 00:21:19.960 And he's there in the room. 00:21:20.980 --> 00:21:21.420 Right? 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:22.300 He's present. 00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:24.200 But he's emotionally absent. 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:25.720 He's not engaged in their lives. 00:21:25.779 --> 00:21:26.920 He's emotionally distant, 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:29.640 because if he doesn't speak, you don't know him. 00:21:29.840 --> 00:21:30.700 There's no relationship. 00:21:32.420 --> 00:21:34.580 And some of you know what that's like, 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:38.920 that kind of devastating barrier in your families. 00:21:39.060 --> 00:21:41.800 But God is not an emotionally absent father. 00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.139 He's not a God who kind of, 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:47.460 who turns away just to kind of say, 00:21:47.539 --> 00:21:48.419 oh, not them again. 00:21:49.659 --> 00:21:51.680 He longs to engage you. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:54.059 That's why he speaks through his word, 00:21:54.259 --> 00:21:56.339 and he wants us to respond. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:57.159 And do you know what? 00:21:57.960 --> 00:21:59.899 This is what I realize so much about myself. 00:22:00.180 --> 00:22:03.899 It's often me who is more emotionally absent than him. 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:07.120 It's more me who's turning away watching the TV, 00:22:07.380 --> 00:22:09.660 not wanting to listen to him, than him. 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:11.200 Right? 00:22:11.580 --> 00:22:13.460 Anyone know what I'm talking about? 00:22:15.800 --> 00:22:17.800 His words have authority, 00:22:18.040 --> 00:22:20.880 but they're not authority just to kind of grind us into the ground. 00:22:21.360 --> 00:22:23.720 They're words that he speaks to us, 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:26.300 out of grace, 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:27.940 to do us good. 00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:30.059 Verse 39. 00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:34.660 It's not just that these are grace to us. 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:35.820 Verse 39 says, 00:22:35.960 --> 00:22:37.820 Know therefore and lay it to your heart 00:22:37.820 --> 00:22:40.500 that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:41.700 There is no other. 00:22:42.299 --> 00:22:42.700 Therefore, 00:22:43.340 --> 00:22:45.380 you shall keep his statutes and commandments 00:22:45.380 --> 00:22:46.580 that it may go well with you. 00:22:47.660 --> 00:22:50.380 The word well here doesn't mean kind of okay, 00:22:50.500 --> 00:22:51.080 not sick. 00:22:51.080 --> 00:22:53.920 It means fully flourishing. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:58.720 It means doing well in every aspect of life. 00:22:59.180 --> 00:22:59.400 You see, 00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:00.980 a God who is jealous for you, 00:23:01.100 --> 00:23:03.279 who has this authority in your life, 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:06.860 he speaks words so that you can flourish. 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:08.960 So that you can flourish. 00:23:11.380 --> 00:23:11.580 Now, 00:23:11.779 --> 00:23:16.220 some of us struggle with the idea that God speaks an authoritative word 00:23:16.220 --> 00:23:18.120 that we need to respond and obey to. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:20.160 We want to be a bit more like, 00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:21.860 I don't know if you know the rock band Queen, 00:23:21.980 --> 00:23:22.680 they sang a song, 00:23:22.800 --> 00:23:23.840 I want to break free. 00:23:24.320 --> 00:23:24.460 Okay? 00:23:24.840 --> 00:23:27.019 I don't want anyone else telling me what to do. 00:23:27.140 --> 00:23:28.720 I want to do things my way. 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:31.500 But if you are like that, 00:23:31.580 --> 00:23:32.440 consider this. 00:23:33.800 --> 00:23:36.800 Everyone lives under the authority of somebody else's words. 00:23:37.620 --> 00:23:38.019 Everyone. 00:23:38.019 --> 00:23:40.920 Some of us have parents, 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:42.039 friends, 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:42.920 bosses, 00:23:42.920 --> 00:23:45.700 who have said words to us. 00:23:46.019 --> 00:23:46.940 Words like, 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:48.220 why are you so stupid? 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:50.299 Can't you do anything right? 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:51.920 You're not good enough. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:52.859 You're not smart enough. 00:23:52.940 --> 00:23:54.200 You're not good looking enough. 00:23:55.019 --> 00:23:56.720 Anyone ever had any of those words? 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:58.900 And even today, 00:23:59.019 --> 00:24:01.900 some of those words still have authority in your life. 00:24:02.420 --> 00:24:04.600 Because they still get to you. 00:24:04.600 --> 00:24:06.540 They still drive you. 00:24:06.879 --> 00:24:08.019 Because what happens, 00:24:08.399 --> 00:24:09.659 if you're anything like me, 00:24:11.159 --> 00:24:12.460 you kind of take those words, 00:24:12.519 --> 00:24:13.539 and whenever you make a mistake, 00:24:13.639 --> 00:24:14.420 then you kind of loop. 00:24:14.639 --> 00:24:16.339 You have this little kind of live stream loop 00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:17.259 that goes in your head. 00:24:17.259 --> 00:24:19.240 And then you say those same words to yourself. 00:24:19.339 --> 00:24:19.519 You say, 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:20.660 why was I so stupid? 00:24:21.420 --> 00:24:23.380 Why has everyone else got a better life than me? 00:24:23.460 --> 00:24:24.599 It's just not fair. 00:24:25.859 --> 00:24:26.200 Right? 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:28.200 And we have this loop that's going on 00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:29.940 all the time in our heads. 00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:31.940 And that loop, 00:24:32.140 --> 00:24:32.579 actually, 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:35.079 is what drives most of the decisions in your life. 00:24:35.180 --> 00:24:37.220 It drives most of the behavior in your life. 00:24:38.180 --> 00:24:38.420 You know, 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:40.440 when people are workaholics, 00:24:42.460 --> 00:24:44.940 you're not a workaholic just because you love your work. 00:24:45.460 --> 00:24:47.380 It's because there's a loop going on in your head 00:24:47.380 --> 00:24:48.680 saying you've got to prove yourself. 00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:50.740 You've got to do better. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:51.940 You've got to get ahead. 00:24:52.420 --> 00:24:54.940 When we're defensive in relationships, 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:56.620 when we enter into arguments 00:24:56.620 --> 00:24:58.360 just to prove that we're right, 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:00.920 it's because we've got this loop saying 00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:03.360 you've got to be good enough. 00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:05.160 You've got to move up to the mark. 00:25:07.220 --> 00:25:07.720 You see, 00:25:07.980 --> 00:25:10.240 words have authority in our life. 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:13.600 And if you want to know whose words have authority 00:25:13.600 --> 00:25:15.380 or who has authority in your life, 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:17.240 just think whose words really impact you. 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:18.160 Even this week, 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.040 whose words do you lean on? 00:25:20.420 --> 00:25:22.740 Whose words have the power to ruin your day? 00:25:24.340 --> 00:25:24.740 Right? 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:27.220 You see, 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:27.540 for me, 00:25:27.620 --> 00:25:28.720 it's the people I respect, 00:25:28.920 --> 00:25:29.860 it's the people I fear, 00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:31.460 it's the people I crave their attention 00:25:31.460 --> 00:25:32.560 and their approval from. 00:25:32.900 --> 00:25:35.600 Their words carry weight in my life. 00:25:37.220 --> 00:25:37.440 You know, 00:25:37.600 --> 00:25:37.779 if, 00:25:38.019 --> 00:25:38.480 I don't know, 00:25:38.519 --> 00:25:40.440 just a random fruit seller down the road 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:41.060 says to me, 00:25:41.059 --> 00:25:41.259 oh, 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:41.899 you're stupid, 00:25:42.019 --> 00:25:42.220 Chris, 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:43.159 and you're good for nothing, 00:25:43.159 --> 00:25:44.279 honestly, 00:25:44.399 --> 00:25:45.259 I don't really care. 00:25:46.639 --> 00:25:48.659 But if my wife was to say that, 00:25:48.679 --> 00:25:49.279 and she doesn't, 00:25:49.379 --> 00:25:50.440 but if she was, 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:51.879 I say, 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:52.419 okay, 00:25:52.420 --> 00:25:55.380 we may have words afterwards, 00:25:55.500 --> 00:25:55.680 but, 00:25:56.680 --> 00:25:59.420 do you know what? 00:25:59.500 --> 00:26:00.320 Her words, 00:26:00.500 --> 00:26:01.860 those words would crush me, 00:26:02.279 --> 00:26:03.180 right? 00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:06.720 Because her words have an authority 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:08.600 because of a relationship that we have. 00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:11.139 You see, 00:26:11.379 --> 00:26:14.059 whoever you ascribe authority to in your life 00:26:14.059 --> 00:26:16.099 has the power in their words 00:26:16.099 --> 00:26:17.759 to lift you up or to crush you down. 00:26:18.859 --> 00:26:23.179 And if anybody crushes you with their words 00:26:23.179 --> 00:26:26.059 and you have nobody else who has a higher authority, 00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:29.219 nobody else whose words have greater weight than theirs, 00:26:29.939 --> 00:26:32.039 then you will always be a slave to their words. 00:26:33.619 --> 00:26:36.959 Then you will not live in freedom. 00:26:37.659 --> 00:26:38.539 You'll be resentful. 00:26:38.599 --> 00:26:39.240 You'll be angry. 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:39.980 You'll be offended. 00:26:40.199 --> 00:26:40.699 You'll be hurt. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:40.980 You'll be like, 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:42.459 I can't believe that person. 00:26:43.859 --> 00:26:45.439 And it will just ruin your day. 00:26:47.099 --> 00:26:47.959 But the thing is, 00:26:48.019 --> 00:26:48.819 when God says, 00:26:49.139 --> 00:26:50.339 I want you to listen to my word. 00:26:50.379 --> 00:26:51.539 I want you to obey my word. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:52.740 I want you to trust me. 00:26:52.899 --> 00:26:54.000 What he's saying is, 00:26:54.159 --> 00:26:56.539 I want your freedom from every other word 00:26:56.539 --> 00:26:57.619 which could bind you 00:26:57.619 --> 00:26:59.719 because I love you that much. 00:27:00.399 --> 00:27:01.059 Do you get that? 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:04.039 You see, 00:27:04.759 --> 00:27:05.519 when those loops, 00:27:05.659 --> 00:27:06.859 and this is one thing that I, 00:27:06.939 --> 00:27:08.459 I don't do enough, 00:27:08.460 --> 00:27:09.240 but when I do it, 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:10.680 it's so life liberating. 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:12.620 I know what my loops are in my head. 00:27:13.380 --> 00:27:13.640 You know? 00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:15.319 If you go and sit down and just work out 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:17.019 what are those loops that go on in your head, 00:27:17.220 --> 00:27:18.819 you'll be able to figure them out pretty easily. 00:27:19.299 --> 00:27:20.380 Oh, you messed up again. 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:21.480 Why did you do that? 00:27:22.059 --> 00:27:23.539 Oh, you're better than everybody else. 00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:24.720 All those different things. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:26.839 I sit down and I write them down 00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:27.880 and then I think, 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:29.740 okay, what's the truth in this situation? 00:27:31.400 --> 00:27:32.380 And so what I've learned, 00:27:32.539 --> 00:27:35.259 that when those things come into my mind, 00:27:35.460 --> 00:27:37.420 and usually I'm wallowing in them for a while, 00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:41.220 if I have a truth from God's word 00:27:41.220 --> 00:27:43.120 which says to me, 00:27:43.500 --> 00:27:46.240 there's now no condemnation for you in Christ, Chris, 00:27:46.819 --> 00:27:47.620 do you know what? 00:27:47.619 --> 00:27:49.059 My world changes. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.019 I gain freedom. 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:53.799 There is power in the words of someone 00:27:53.799 --> 00:27:54.799 who has authority, 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:56.279 who's incomparable God, 00:27:56.459 --> 00:27:59.259 and whose words are given as grace to set me free. 00:28:02.579 --> 00:28:03.659 It's grace. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:04.679 It's authority. 00:28:05.099 --> 00:28:07.079 These incomparable words to make us flourish. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:09.919 The third thing that these incomparable words do 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:13.300 is they're costly words. 00:28:14.500 --> 00:28:17.900 I don't know if you noticed in that verse 33. 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:19.300 It says, 00:28:19.400 --> 00:28:21.580 did any people ever hear the voice of a God 00:28:21.580 --> 00:28:22.900 speaking out of the midst of the fire 00:28:22.900 --> 00:28:24.140 as you have and still live? 00:28:24.360 --> 00:28:26.340 And the answer that they're expecting is, 00:28:26.980 --> 00:28:27.400 no. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:29.039 The answer, 00:28:29.240 --> 00:28:30.340 there's this kind of shock 00:28:30.340 --> 00:28:31.820 that God could speak to them 00:28:31.820 --> 00:28:33.519 and they could still be alive. 00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:36.539 Now, I'm not sure 00:28:36.539 --> 00:28:39.460 that many of us kind of have that sense. 00:28:39.460 --> 00:28:39.660 You know, 00:28:39.740 --> 00:28:41.120 I don't go and read my Bible 00:28:41.120 --> 00:28:44.319 and walk out of the room thinking, 00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:46.019 wow, I'm glad I survived that one. 00:28:47.620 --> 00:28:48.019 I don't. 00:28:49.420 --> 00:28:51.240 But sometimes I do go 00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:52.340 and I read the Bible 00:28:52.340 --> 00:28:53.960 and I go away with this sense of 00:28:53.960 --> 00:28:56.519 condemnation that I don't measure up. 00:28:57.400 --> 00:28:59.799 I feel like I listened to a sermon. 00:28:59.940 --> 00:29:01.380 I feel guilty that I didn't kind of, 00:29:01.840 --> 00:29:03.319 here's this standard ahead of me 00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:04.860 and I didn't quite get there. 00:29:05.240 --> 00:29:06.200 And you just feel like, 00:29:06.299 --> 00:29:06.519 oh, 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:08.519 and that loop goes again in my mind. 00:29:08.519 --> 00:29:09.619 Oh, you're not good enough. 00:29:12.099 --> 00:29:13.240 Why does it do that? 00:29:13.799 --> 00:29:15.119 Well, sometimes it does that 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:16.579 because what God's Word does, 00:29:16.779 --> 00:29:18.400 it shows you what pure love 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:20.460 and grace and beauty looks like. 00:29:21.079 --> 00:29:22.420 And then you look at your own life 00:29:22.420 --> 00:29:25.819 and you begin to see the difference. 00:29:26.299 --> 00:29:26.660 And you know, 00:29:26.700 --> 00:29:27.319 for the Israelites, 00:29:27.799 --> 00:29:29.160 they had a trail of guilt, 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:30.259 of disobedience, 00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:32.240 of rebellion all behind them. 00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:33.680 It was enough to show them 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:34.320 that man, 00:29:34.380 --> 00:29:35.299 in this relationship, 00:29:35.560 --> 00:29:36.700 we should be burned up 00:29:36.700 --> 00:29:38.100 by this consuming fire 00:29:38.100 --> 00:29:39.380 because man, 00:29:39.460 --> 00:29:41.039 we have not been faithful at all. 00:29:42.180 --> 00:29:43.440 There should be condemnation. 00:29:43.880 --> 00:29:44.220 But you know, 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:45.019 the only way 00:29:45.019 --> 00:29:46.279 that they could hear these words 00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:46.920 and live 00:29:46.920 --> 00:29:48.759 was because there was a mediator 00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:51.080 who stood between them and God, 00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:53.180 this holy God of love. 00:29:53.180 --> 00:29:56.960 And that mediator at that time 00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:57.519 was Moses 00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:59.500 because Moses stood there, 00:29:59.960 --> 00:30:00.940 God spoke to Moses, 00:30:01.060 --> 00:30:02.480 Moses then relayed the words 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:03.080 to the people 00:30:03.080 --> 00:30:04.299 so that they could actually hear 00:30:04.299 --> 00:30:05.140 what God was saying. 00:30:07.220 --> 00:30:07.980 Because you see, 00:30:08.039 --> 00:30:09.440 when you see a consuming fire, 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:10.779 I don't know if you've ever met somebody 00:30:10.779 --> 00:30:13.200 who is just incredibly loving 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:14.120 and you just stand there 00:30:14.120 --> 00:30:15.380 and you see them loving everybody else 00:30:15.380 --> 00:30:15.779 and you think, 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:17.080 oh, I should have done that. 00:30:17.299 --> 00:30:17.980 Oh, oops. 00:30:18.220 --> 00:30:18.380 Oh. 00:30:18.380 --> 00:30:19.380 And you realize 00:30:19.380 --> 00:30:21.920 you're so much less than them. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:22.520 That's what, 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:23.760 when you come to see God, 00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:25.420 there is this holy fire 00:30:25.420 --> 00:30:27.380 and there is an anger at our sin 00:30:27.380 --> 00:30:29.200 and we want to run 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:30.340 and hide from that. 00:30:31.520 --> 00:30:33.000 But 1,500 years later, 00:30:34.220 --> 00:30:36.740 God had seemed silent 00:30:36.740 --> 00:30:38.560 to a rebellious people. 00:30:39.940 --> 00:30:41.380 They hadn't heard his word 00:30:41.380 --> 00:30:42.640 for 400 years. 00:30:43.460 --> 00:30:44.480 They were lost, 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:45.840 directionless. 00:30:46.900 --> 00:30:48.200 And then a man comes 00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:50.440 and he starts teaching them. 00:30:52.279 --> 00:30:54.720 And he speaks words to demons 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:56.299 and demons obey him. 00:30:57.460 --> 00:30:58.440 And they go. 00:30:59.420 --> 00:31:01.519 The demons that everybody else feared, 00:31:01.819 --> 00:31:02.680 with a word, 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:03.779 he casts them out. 00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:06.039 And everyone says, 00:31:06.740 --> 00:31:09.200 wow, this guy's teaching is incredible, 00:31:09.700 --> 00:31:10.900 but it has authority. 00:31:12.580 --> 00:31:15.860 And then he has this burning zeal, 00:31:15.859 --> 00:31:18.959 this burning fire of a passion for his father. 00:31:19.259 --> 00:31:21.139 And he goes into a temple one day, 00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:22.879 smashes over the tables, 00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:24.899 because the people there 00:31:24.899 --> 00:31:27.000 had cheapened the worship of God 00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:28.659 and his word of God. 00:31:28.679 --> 00:31:29.599 And they were just simply out 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:30.559 to get what they wanted 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:32.299 out of their religion for themselves. 00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:34.479 They'd made God into their own image. 00:31:35.259 --> 00:31:36.179 And the Bible says, 00:31:36.379 --> 00:31:38.699 zeal for my house consumed me. 00:31:38.700 --> 00:31:41.200 But a week later, 00:31:42.220 --> 00:31:42.799 this man, 00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:43.680 Jesus Christ, 00:31:44.100 --> 00:31:44.860 his burning, 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:46.880 passionate love for his father 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:48.039 took him to a cross. 00:31:49.180 --> 00:31:51.080 And he became the mediator 00:31:51.080 --> 00:31:53.700 between this people, 00:31:54.700 --> 00:31:56.500 who frankly, 00:31:56.660 --> 00:31:57.279 like you and me, 00:31:57.340 --> 00:31:58.360 are often emotionally 00:31:58.359 --> 00:31:59.959 and willfully absent 00:31:59.959 --> 00:32:01.539 from the relationship. 00:32:02.439 --> 00:32:06.019 He took the holy anger of God 00:32:06.019 --> 00:32:08.539 at our rebellion. 00:32:08.879 --> 00:32:10.639 Some of us have heard that many times, 00:32:10.719 --> 00:32:12.000 but it doesn't resonate 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:13.299 because we don't really see 00:32:13.299 --> 00:32:15.079 the hurt and the grief 00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:16.039 and the fire. 00:32:17.899 --> 00:32:19.139 But he took it 00:32:19.139 --> 00:32:21.519 so that when you come to his word now, 00:32:21.639 --> 00:32:23.019 you do not come with fear, 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:24.099 you come with confidence. 00:32:25.219 --> 00:32:26.019 You can come, 00:32:26.019 --> 00:32:28.319 because when Jesus rose again, 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:29.420 he invited us 00:32:29.420 --> 00:32:30.599 into this relationship 00:32:30.599 --> 00:32:31.299 with himself. 00:32:31.700 --> 00:32:31.980 And do you know 00:32:31.980 --> 00:32:33.079 what the first thing Jesus did 00:32:33.079 --> 00:32:34.500 when he rose again? 00:32:35.740 --> 00:32:36.940 He did a Bible study 00:32:36.940 --> 00:32:37.599 with his followers. 00:32:38.599 --> 00:32:39.700 He reminded them 00:32:39.700 --> 00:32:40.700 of what he told them. 00:32:41.559 --> 00:32:41.720 You know, 00:32:41.740 --> 00:32:42.299 he doesn't tell them, 00:32:42.379 --> 00:32:42.500 okay, 00:32:42.619 --> 00:32:43.759 go and do all this stuff first. 00:32:43.799 --> 00:32:44.379 What he says is, 00:32:44.539 --> 00:32:46.119 I want you to hear my word first, 00:32:46.379 --> 00:32:47.220 and then you're going to go off 00:32:47.220 --> 00:32:48.119 and do a load of stuff. 00:32:51.299 --> 00:32:52.700 Because that as a church 00:32:52.700 --> 00:32:53.500 needs to be 00:32:53.500 --> 00:32:54.859 where we're up to as well. 00:32:54.859 --> 00:32:55.759 You know, 00:32:55.859 --> 00:32:58.039 there's this amazing advert 00:32:58.039 --> 00:32:59.939 where a guy wants to tell a girl 00:32:59.939 --> 00:33:00.819 how much he loves her. 00:33:01.539 --> 00:33:03.240 And I think it's Milk Trey. 00:33:03.679 --> 00:33:05.079 This is like a really old advert. 00:33:05.539 --> 00:33:07.379 And he jumps into his helicopter. 00:33:07.879 --> 00:33:08.479 He dives, 00:33:08.679 --> 00:33:09.899 he jumps out of the helicopter 00:33:09.899 --> 00:33:10.740 into the sea, 00:33:10.879 --> 00:33:12.179 kind of swims through the waves 00:33:12.179 --> 00:33:12.779 and the storms, 00:33:13.159 --> 00:33:14.479 climbs up a rock face, 00:33:15.099 --> 00:33:16.079 gets into a car, 00:33:16.419 --> 00:33:17.740 climbs up a skyscraper, 00:33:17.899 --> 00:33:19.079 smashes through the window, 00:33:19.319 --> 00:33:20.399 and lands with a box 00:33:20.399 --> 00:33:21.339 of chocolates there. 00:33:21.479 --> 00:33:22.059 And it goes, 00:33:22.179 --> 00:33:23.240 all because he loves. 00:33:23.240 --> 00:33:25.759 Whatever the word is. 00:33:30.500 --> 00:33:31.120 You see, 00:33:31.279 --> 00:33:32.640 he was trying to give a message 00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:33.319 to the woman 00:33:33.319 --> 00:33:35.160 of his love for her. 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:39.620 God gave 00:33:39.620 --> 00:33:41.339 a message 00:33:41.339 --> 00:33:42.900 so much more costly than that. 00:33:44.519 --> 00:33:47.059 He brought his son to die, 00:33:47.059 --> 00:33:48.579 and if his message 00:33:48.579 --> 00:33:49.319 and his words 00:33:49.319 --> 00:33:50.539 come at such a cost, 00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:52.399 will we treat them lightly? 00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:55.000 Will we treat them lightly? 00:33:57.639 --> 00:33:59.159 An incomparable God, 00:33:59.859 --> 00:34:00.759 no other images 00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:02.579 before him. 00:34:03.259 --> 00:34:04.599 An incomparable words. 00:34:05.259 --> 00:34:05.960 This year, 00:34:06.779 --> 00:34:08.099 for us as Watermark, 00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:09.219 we live in a city 00:34:09.219 --> 00:34:10.619 with so many different voices, 00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:12.159 so many different things, 00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:13.059 but the only way 00:34:13.059 --> 00:34:14.059 we will be distinctive 00:34:14.059 --> 00:34:14.659 and different 00:34:14.659 --> 00:34:15.900 is not through first 00:34:15.900 --> 00:34:17.079 by being activists 00:34:17.079 --> 00:34:18.500 and doing a hundred 00:34:18.500 --> 00:34:19.420 different programs. 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:21.039 The way that we will 00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:22.500 first become distinctive 00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:24.519 is if God's word 00:34:24.519 --> 00:34:25.960 begins to shape us, 00:34:26.539 --> 00:34:28.519 and we become expecting, 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:31.799 expecting the living God 00:34:31.799 --> 00:34:33.239 to speak to us. 00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:35.340 Because some of us 00:34:35.340 --> 00:34:37.239 can read God's word, 00:34:37.380 --> 00:34:39.460 we can study in community groups, 00:34:39.460 --> 00:34:40.840 we can listen to sermons, 00:34:41.460 --> 00:34:42.380 but we don't actually 00:34:42.380 --> 00:34:43.640 expect him to speak. 00:34:44.180 --> 00:34:44.940 We just read. 00:34:46.120 --> 00:34:46.380 Do you know, 00:34:46.460 --> 00:34:47.019 he wants, 00:34:47.200 --> 00:34:48.720 he's done all of this, 00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:50.079 not so you just read a book. 00:34:51.079 --> 00:34:51.800 He's done it 00:34:51.800 --> 00:34:52.880 so that you can enter in 00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:53.700 and know him, 00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:54.720 and he wants you 00:34:54.720 --> 00:34:56.059 to do that through his word. 00:34:57.579 --> 00:34:58.960 And that comes in many ways, 00:34:59.079 --> 00:35:00.660 and you know, 00:35:00.720 --> 00:35:01.840 sometimes we get into this thing, 00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:02.960 oh, have I read enough? 00:35:03.660 --> 00:35:04.920 Did I, okay, 00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:05.559 some of us know 00:35:05.559 --> 00:35:06.240 that we should be reading 00:35:06.240 --> 00:35:06.980 the Bible and aren't, 00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:08.180 and we're feeling guilty about it, 00:35:08.220 --> 00:35:09.079 and this is just making you 00:35:09.079 --> 00:35:09.980 feel even more guilty. 00:35:11.500 --> 00:35:13.100 But if you think like that, 00:35:13.200 --> 00:35:14.760 then you've missed 00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:15.640 the whole point. 00:35:15.940 --> 00:35:16.740 He's not just about 00:35:16.740 --> 00:35:17.620 ticking some box, 00:35:17.720 --> 00:35:18.620 he wants a relationship. 00:35:20.519 --> 00:35:21.260 Here's a question 00:35:21.260 --> 00:35:22.039 I always ask 00:35:22.039 --> 00:35:22.920 when I come to listen 00:35:22.920 --> 00:35:23.539 to a sermon, 00:35:23.880 --> 00:35:24.880 when I come to reading 00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:25.539 God's word, 00:35:25.680 --> 00:35:26.740 I want to say this, 00:35:26.920 --> 00:35:28.860 if I actually believe this, 00:35:29.320 --> 00:35:30.500 if I actually believe 00:35:30.500 --> 00:35:31.240 this is true, 00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:34.340 if this is really God's word, 00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:34.940 I mean, not just, 00:35:35.120 --> 00:35:36.100 we theoretically know 00:35:36.100 --> 00:35:36.640 it's God's word, 00:35:36.700 --> 00:35:37.460 I mean, most of us, 00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:38.039 if we're Christians, 00:35:38.120 --> 00:35:39.160 will say this is God's word, 00:35:39.159 --> 00:35:40.920 but if I actually believed it, 00:35:41.420 --> 00:35:42.059 like really, 00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:44.259 what would change 00:35:44.259 --> 00:35:45.399 in my life this week? 00:35:46.699 --> 00:35:48.019 What would change 00:35:48.019 --> 00:35:49.420 in my life? 00:35:50.739 --> 00:35:52.219 Do I simply read 00:35:52.219 --> 00:35:53.179 his words, 00:35:53.259 --> 00:35:54.179 or do his words 00:35:54.179 --> 00:35:55.179 have authority 00:35:55.179 --> 00:35:56.019 with the decisions 00:35:56.019 --> 00:35:57.659 you make in life? 00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:00.839 That I find convicting. 00:36:01.899 --> 00:36:02.960 I want to show you 00:36:02.960 --> 00:36:03.779 a quick video. 00:36:03.780 --> 00:36:04.680 We did this 00:36:04.680 --> 00:36:05.800 a couple of years ago. 00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:06.840 That actually, 00:36:06.960 --> 00:36:07.980 this is not just 00:36:07.980 --> 00:36:09.680 me by myself with God. 00:36:09.760 --> 00:36:11.240 This is a community thing 00:36:11.240 --> 00:36:12.280 where we're shaping. 00:36:12.500 --> 00:36:12.620 So, 00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:13.600 can we just show 00:36:13.600 --> 00:36:14.640 this video 00:36:14.640 --> 00:36:16.940 for a couple of minutes? 00:36:21.980 --> 00:36:23.560 A very youthful looking Eric. 00:36:23.559 --> 00:36:31.039 You see, 00:36:31.340 --> 00:36:32.699 we want to be serious 00:36:32.699 --> 00:36:33.480 about God's word 00:36:33.480 --> 00:36:33.980 in community, 00:36:33.980 --> 00:36:34.639 and I know 00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:36.960 that some of us 00:36:36.960 --> 00:36:38.000 have a lot of questions. 00:36:38.579 --> 00:36:39.279 I'm not addressing 00:36:39.279 --> 00:36:40.619 all your questions here, 00:36:40.739 --> 00:36:41.940 but I want to start 00:36:41.940 --> 00:36:43.239 a conversation with us. 00:36:43.400 --> 00:36:44.480 Some of you may be thinking, 00:36:44.980 --> 00:36:45.900 if you're not a Christian, 00:36:46.019 --> 00:36:46.679 you may have questions, 00:36:46.779 --> 00:36:47.900 why should I trust the Bible? 00:36:48.440 --> 00:36:49.480 You may have questions, 00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:50.340 you've been a Christian, 00:36:50.440 --> 00:36:51.659 but like the Old Testament, 00:36:51.659 --> 00:36:52.960 and you read Deuteronomy 00:36:52.960 --> 00:36:53.440 and it's like, 00:36:53.539 --> 00:36:53.779 ooh, 00:36:53.859 --> 00:36:54.699 I have no idea 00:36:54.699 --> 00:36:55.159 what's going on. 00:36:55.279 --> 00:36:56.319 We want to start 00:36:56.319 --> 00:36:57.319 that conversation. 00:36:57.579 --> 00:36:58.379 We want to be talking 00:36:58.379 --> 00:36:59.420 about this as a group. 00:36:59.739 --> 00:36:59.940 So, 00:37:00.019 --> 00:37:01.019 if you have questions, 00:37:01.119 --> 00:37:02.279 you can email me 00:37:02.279 --> 00:37:03.899 or email any of the staff, 00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:04.920 and we want to be able 00:37:04.920 --> 00:37:06.119 to begin to start 00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:06.940 talking about 00:37:06.940 --> 00:37:07.719 these things together 00:37:07.719 --> 00:37:08.779 because if God's word 00:37:08.779 --> 00:37:09.859 is this important, 00:37:10.460 --> 00:37:11.579 then we need to be serious 00:37:11.579 --> 00:37:12.739 about understanding it. 00:37:16.319 --> 00:37:17.079 Last thing. 00:37:17.079 --> 00:37:21.920 when we come 00:37:21.920 --> 00:37:23.579 to the word of God, 00:37:23.940 --> 00:37:24.819 we don't come 00:37:24.819 --> 00:37:28.019 just wanting 00:37:28.019 --> 00:37:29.400 to do a religious activity. 00:37:29.980 --> 00:37:30.779 We come 00:37:30.779 --> 00:37:31.799 because we have 00:37:31.799 --> 00:37:32.719 an awesome God 00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:35.420 who wants to transform us, 00:37:36.099 --> 00:37:36.819 change us. 00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:38.000 He wants to make you flourish, 00:37:39.059 --> 00:37:40.319 and if you allow 00:37:40.319 --> 00:37:41.980 his word into your life, 00:37:42.980 --> 00:37:44.639 he will truly change you. 00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:46.739 If you don't know 00:37:46.739 --> 00:37:47.719 how to read the Bible, 00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:49.819 if you've been reading 00:37:49.819 --> 00:37:50.960 the Bible for a while, 00:37:51.159 --> 00:37:52.099 and you've been learning 00:37:52.099 --> 00:37:52.839 how to discuss it 00:37:52.839 --> 00:37:53.420 in community groups, 00:37:53.460 --> 00:37:55.000 but it's dry for you now, 00:37:55.920 --> 00:37:57.019 here's my challenge. 00:37:57.440 --> 00:37:58.859 Come and find me afterwards. 00:37:59.420 --> 00:38:00.339 I would personally 00:38:00.339 --> 00:38:01.799 like to spit down with you 00:38:01.799 --> 00:38:02.539 and walk through 00:38:02.539 --> 00:38:03.440 the Bible with you. 00:38:04.279 --> 00:38:05.940 If you are like, 00:38:06.099 --> 00:38:07.000 I just don't know 00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:07.639 where to start, 00:38:07.819 --> 00:38:08.719 come and find us, 00:38:08.799 --> 00:38:09.279 and either I 00:38:09.279 --> 00:38:10.139 or one of the staff 00:38:10.139 --> 00:38:11.199 will come and go through it. 00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:13.019 It's this essential 00:38:13.019 --> 00:38:14.500 to the life of our community. 00:38:15.239 --> 00:38:16.559 Because we're doing it together. 00:38:17.219 --> 00:38:18.519 We're on a journey together, 00:38:18.900 --> 00:38:20.239 and we want to know 00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:21.159 this awesome, 00:38:21.400 --> 00:38:22.460 incomparable God 00:38:22.460 --> 00:38:23.339 because he's going to 00:38:23.339 --> 00:38:24.539 change your life 00:38:24.539 --> 00:38:25.759 totally. 00:38:26.420 --> 00:38:27.259 Let me pray. 00:38:27.260 --> 00:38:38.100 Father, I just, 00:38:38.280 --> 00:38:40.020 I realize that 00:38:40.020 --> 00:38:43.540 so often 00:38:43.540 --> 00:38:44.560 I kind of go through 00:38:44.560 --> 00:38:45.260 the motions 00:38:45.260 --> 00:38:46.580 in Christianity. 00:38:48.840 --> 00:38:49.740 I know the things 00:38:49.740 --> 00:38:50.520 that I should say. 00:38:50.640 --> 00:38:51.360 I know the right things 00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:52.060 I should read. 00:38:52.180 --> 00:38:52.820 I know the things 00:38:52.820 --> 00:38:54.080 that I should and shouldn't do. 00:38:54.079 --> 00:38:56.639 And yet I don't come 00:38:56.639 --> 00:38:58.819 expecting you 00:38:58.819 --> 00:39:00.420 to speak to me. 00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:03.139 Even this morning, 00:39:04.460 --> 00:39:05.900 I pray that you 00:39:05.900 --> 00:39:06.860 would give us 00:39:06.860 --> 00:39:08.619 an expectancy. 00:39:09.619 --> 00:39:10.920 Whether it's a good sermon 00:39:10.920 --> 00:39:11.799 or a bad sermon. 00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:13.519 Whether it's a great 00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:14.380 community group time 00:39:14.380 --> 00:39:14.819 or not. 00:39:15.079 --> 00:39:15.679 Whether it's a, 00:39:17.059 --> 00:39:18.279 even when we're struggling 00:39:18.279 --> 00:39:19.519 to read the Bible 00:39:19.519 --> 00:39:20.059 ourselves, 00:39:20.199 --> 00:39:20.900 that we would see 00:39:20.900 --> 00:39:22.639 that you have made 00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:24.639 a way with such cost 00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:26.340 because you want 00:39:26.340 --> 00:39:27.500 to relate to us. 00:39:28.079 --> 00:39:29.259 And you want to speak 00:39:29.259 --> 00:39:30.659 right where we're up to. 00:39:31.159 --> 00:39:32.280 Words of comfort, 00:39:32.519 --> 00:39:33.340 words of challenge, 00:39:33.579 --> 00:39:34.300 words of grace, 00:39:34.460 --> 00:39:35.400 words of transformation. 00:39:36.719 --> 00:39:37.619 Some of us, Lord, 00:39:37.659 --> 00:39:38.559 I pray that you would 00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:40.000 help us to turn 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:40.699 from the words 00:39:40.699 --> 00:39:41.519 that have held us 00:39:41.519 --> 00:39:42.219 for so long. 00:39:42.920 --> 00:39:43.699 The words which 00:39:43.699 --> 00:39:44.800 keep coming back 00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:47.440 and keep crushing us down. 00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:49.760 And I pray that you 00:39:49.760 --> 00:39:50.940 would help us to see 00:39:50.940 --> 00:39:53.300 that actually we have, 00:39:53.780 --> 00:39:54.760 we need to repent 00:39:54.760 --> 00:39:56.519 that we have allowed 00:39:56.519 --> 00:39:57.480 other people 00:39:57.480 --> 00:39:59.420 in their words 00:39:59.420 --> 00:40:00.460 to have more authority 00:40:00.460 --> 00:40:01.220 than your words 00:40:01.220 --> 00:40:01.900 over us. 00:40:02.519 --> 00:40:03.860 I pray that this morning 00:40:03.860 --> 00:40:04.679 we'd hear that we 00:40:04.679 --> 00:40:05.420 are your children. 00:40:06.740 --> 00:40:07.900 That if there are people 00:40:07.900 --> 00:40:09.019 here who don't know you, 00:40:09.119 --> 00:40:09.200 Lord, 00:40:09.240 --> 00:40:10.280 that they would see 00:40:10.280 --> 00:40:11.980 that this is serious. 00:40:12.220 --> 00:40:13.200 That your love 00:40:13.200 --> 00:40:13.880 for them 00:40:13.880 --> 00:40:14.579 is not something 00:40:14.579 --> 00:40:15.700 they can just flick off. 00:40:16.119 --> 00:40:17.079 We have a God 00:40:17.079 --> 00:40:18.360 who is not just 00:40:18.360 --> 00:40:19.659 vague and impersonal, 00:40:19.799 --> 00:40:20.940 but a gloriously 00:40:20.940 --> 00:40:22.039 personal God. 00:40:23.099 --> 00:40:24.099 I pray that people 00:40:24.099 --> 00:40:25.000 might come to know 00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:25.619 him this morning. 00:40:26.420 --> 00:40:27.319 In Jesus' name. 00:40:28.119 --> 00:40:28.400 Amen. 00:40:28.400 --> 00:40:28.539 Amen. 00:40:28.539 --> 00:40:28.599 Amen.