WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.339 Each week of the summer and the mornings, 00:00:03.339 --> 00:00:07.060 we're working our way through the biggest challenges 00:00:07.060 --> 00:00:09.980 to the human heart that Proverbs talks about. 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:14.980 So we've looked at pride, envy, anger, and lust last week. 00:00:15.780 --> 00:00:18.719 This week we do the same thing, but today is also different. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:23.039 I hope maybe you've had a chance, regular attenders, 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:24.560 to read through the book of Proverbs 00:00:24.560 --> 00:00:26.560 while we've been going through it this summer. 00:00:26.560 --> 00:00:27.800 It's always a great thing to do 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:30.120 while we're working through a sermon series 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:32.840 to read through that book once or twice. 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:35.399 And one of the reasons, one of the things 00:00:35.399 --> 00:00:38.000 you might have noticed if you've done that 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:42.640 is that there are two groups of terms 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.200 that appear most frequently above all else 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:46.400 across the book of Proverbs, 00:00:46.400 --> 00:00:49.000 and we haven't talked about them yet. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:53.240 And there's even a formula for how they appear, 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:56.280 and it's a contrast every time. 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:57.200 And here's how it works. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:01.640 There's always a beatitude and then a negative statement. 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:03.440 And if you've read through, you've seen this, 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:04.680 it's all over the place. 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.719 And here's an example, chapter 28, verse 14. 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:10.560 Here's the beatitude, blessed is the one 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:14.640 who fears the Lord always, but then it goes negative. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:18.040 But whoever hardens his heart falls into calamity. 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.359 And there's the formula, the positive side, 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:21.200 the negative side. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:23.280 Sometimes it's the negative than the positive, 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.640 but it shows up all across most of the texts in Proverbs 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:31.719 appear under that formula, under that contrast. 00:01:31.719 --> 00:01:34.320 Here's another example, chapter 11, verse five, 00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:38.000 that we read, the righteousness of the blameless 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.000 keeps his way straight. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.200 The righteous, the blameless, but then the negative. 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:45.400 But the wicked falls by his own wickedness. 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:47.000 So you've got the positive and the negative. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.960 Now, these are very general terms 00:01:49.960 --> 00:01:51.400 that get used over and over again. 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:54.400 Righteousness and wickedness, for example. 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:56.680 It doesn't use specifics most often. 00:01:56.680 --> 00:01:58.840 It doesn't say lust, it doesn't say envy, 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:00.280 it doesn't say pride. 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:01.120 It's just general. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:03.480 It's talking about categorical righteousness, 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:07.400 categorical wickedness is the way Proverbs shows up 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:08.240 over and over again. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:10.920 Here's some of the couplets that you'll see. 00:02:10.920 --> 00:02:14.319 The wicked and the righteous, the foolish and the wise, 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:17.800 the straight and the crooked, the blameless and the devious, 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:19.759 the upright and the hard heart. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:20.840 These are the most common ones. 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:25.439 Now, according to Proverbs, it's not hard to see 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.200 that you want to be one and not the other. 00:02:28.200 --> 00:02:33.319 You want to walk in the beatitude, not the negative side. 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:35.879 And so maybe the most important question 00:02:35.879 --> 00:02:38.400 that we haven't asked yet about the book of Proverbs 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:40.800 is how can I be one and not the other? 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:43.319 How can I have the positive side of that 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:44.960 and not the negative side? 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.599 And so let's do that together this morning. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:50.919 We're gonna see three things to unpack this, 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:51.759 to make this clear. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:56.639 First, the sin underneath and then the diagnosis 00:02:56.639 --> 00:02:58.359 that we all share. 00:02:58.359 --> 00:03:00.919 And then lastly, the way of wisdom. 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:04.199 Okay, so let's do that first, the sin underneath. 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:08.599 The sin that lurks underneath this contrast 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:11.439 between the righteous and the wicked. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:15.439 All right, we read chapter 11, verse five twice now. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.159 And it says that there is quote, 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:20.879 the righteousness of the blameless, 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:23.439 the righteous deeds of the blameless, 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:27.520 over against the wicked, whose way is calamity. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:30.719 And there are so many texts that followed that formula, 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:31.560 as we just mentioned. 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:35.159 Now, when you look at that at first glance, 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:39.479 it looks like there are two exclusive groups. 00:03:39.479 --> 00:03:43.599 There are righteous people and there are wicked people. 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:46.560 And the blameless people are known as blameless 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:49.479 and are blameless by their deeds, by who they are. 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:51.079 Their deeds, in other words, 00:03:51.079 --> 00:03:54.199 are the revelation of what's underneath. 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:59.120 And so you could, especially as a modern person 00:03:59.120 --> 00:03:59.959 in the culture we live in, 00:03:59.959 --> 00:04:02.079 you could come to Proverbs and you could say, 00:04:02.079 --> 00:04:05.199 most of the verses do this contrast, 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:07.079 that there's righteous people over here, 00:04:07.079 --> 00:04:09.079 there's wicked people over here. 00:04:09.079 --> 00:04:11.039 And it's tempting to come and look at that and say, 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:15.039 the Bible seems to be saying that there's good people 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:16.039 and there's bad people. 00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:22.079 And I know that all of you love church history illustrations, 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:24.800 that is your favorite category of illustrations. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:26.399 So I've got one for you today. 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:29.879 In about the year 250 AD, 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:33.039 there was a man by the name of Manny, M-A-N-I. 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:36.920 And he started a movement. 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:40.120 This is 220 years after Jesus lived and died 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:43.160 and rose again and 220 years later, Manny comes 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:47.160 and he says, he looks at the Bible and he says, 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:51.600 there is an absolute good and there's an absolute evil. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:55.399 And these two forces are battling against one another. 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:58.199 And we don't yet know who's gonna win out. 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:00.639 They're basically equal, they're fighting. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:03.600 And that means that because there's absolute evil 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:04.680 and there's absolute good, 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:08.079 that what's happened is that that's gotten into people. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:12.639 And so people are born either good or bad. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:13.839 They're one or the other. 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:15.319 And then that manifests in life. 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:17.719 There's Gandhi and there's Hitler. 00:05:17.719 --> 00:05:20.879 And all of us appear on either side of the threshold. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.240 Either we're on Gandhi's side or we're the other way. 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:24.680 We're righteous or we're wicked. 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:27.000 And that was Manny's way of seeing the world. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:31.639 And he thought he was getting that from the Bible. 00:05:31.639 --> 00:05:33.479 And then all the theologians got together 00:05:33.479 --> 00:05:36.079 and all the pastors got together and they said, 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:38.759 that's actually, they called it heresy. 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:40.560 That's not at all what the Bible's doing. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:41.919 That's not at all what Proverbs is doing. 00:05:41.919 --> 00:05:46.199 And actually, even though you could read it that way, 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:48.879 you could say, well, doesn't it kind of seem like that? 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:50.839 Let me say that this approach, 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:52.639 that there are good people out there 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:54.759 and there are bad people. 00:05:54.759 --> 00:05:56.399 And everybody's one of the two. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:58.519 This is, it's something you can't get out from underneath. 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:01.680 This is actually the way that the contemporary world 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:03.599 approaches what we call anthropology, 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:06.200 the study of what a human is, and ethics. 00:06:06.200 --> 00:06:08.800 The modern world says that that's true. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:11.720 Manichaeanism, Manny, he was right. 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:13.480 That there are good people and there are bad people. 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:15.280 And you can only be one or the other. 00:06:15.280 --> 00:06:18.640 And the judge, the place where we determine 00:06:18.640 --> 00:06:20.960 who's good and who's bad is where. 00:06:20.960 --> 00:06:21.800 It's social media. 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:24.200 Social media is the courtroom. 00:06:24.200 --> 00:06:26.360 It's where the populace gets to decide 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:27.920 who are the good ones and who are the bad ones. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:29.680 And if you're determined to be a bad one, 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:31.200 you have to be canceled. 00:06:31.200 --> 00:06:32.160 You have to be pushed away. 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:35.360 There's no forgiveness in the courtroom of social media. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:36.560 There's only good and bad. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:37.400 And that's it. 00:06:37.400 --> 00:06:39.840 That's what we call a manichaean way 00:06:39.840 --> 00:06:43.680 of understanding humanity, anthropology, reality. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.400 And Proverbs does not do that. 00:06:46.400 --> 00:06:48.280 The Bible doesn't do that. 00:06:48.280 --> 00:06:52.400 That's not the ethics of how the Bible works. 00:06:52.400 --> 00:06:55.320 Yes, there is a way of righteousness 00:06:55.320 --> 00:06:56.800 and a way of the wicked. 00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:58.320 We read a bunch of verses. 00:06:58.320 --> 00:07:01.160 We sang Psalm 14 and it says, 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:03.240 the full says in his heart, there is no God. 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:04.840 His deeds are vile. 00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:08.240 But there's actually something underneath. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:10.439 There's a layer that's gotta be peeled back 00:07:10.439 --> 00:07:13.680 to see what's really going on with texts like that. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:15.840 And let me give you, there's two keys in Proverbs 00:07:15.840 --> 00:07:18.440 that tell us, two keys to unlock this door, 00:07:18.440 --> 00:07:21.400 to understand what it's really saying about human beings. 00:07:21.400 --> 00:07:22.240 And here they are. 00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:27.400 We read very famously, chapter one, verse seven, 00:07:27.400 --> 00:07:30.120 the key that unlocks all the Proverbs. 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:32.720 The wise life, how does it begin? 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:36.160 It begins with the fear of the Lord. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:38.720 In other words, the fear of the Lord. 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:41.160 It's not timidity. 00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:44.399 It's not shaking in your boots before God. 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:45.840 It's not being scared of God. 00:07:45.840 --> 00:07:47.759 That's not what fear of the Lord is instead. 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:48.920 It's reverence. 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:51.240 It's all, it's bowing the knee. 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:54.639 In other words, did you hear it says, 11, five says, 00:07:54.639 --> 00:07:59.360 the way of the blameless is a straight road, a straight path. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:02.240 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:03.759 It's the beginning. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:05.639 In other words, how do you unlock the key 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:07.879 to being on the way of the righteous, 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:09.000 the way of the blameless? 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:09.840 What does it mean? 00:08:09.840 --> 00:08:11.560 It doesn't mean to be sinless. 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:13.840 It doesn't mean that you're a good person. 00:08:13.840 --> 00:08:17.600 Proverbs says very clearly, it begins only with this. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:20.639 Fear the Lord, reverence God, bow the knee, 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:22.560 honor and revere the Lord. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:25.840 That's the beginning point of the hope of the way of wisdom 00:08:25.840 --> 00:08:26.680 that there's no other way. 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:28.199 That's what's underneath. 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:30.879 That's what separates righteousness and wickedness. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.000 It's not fundamentally deeds. 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.960 In other words, it's fundamentally a condition of the heart. 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:37.319 Let me give you the second key 00:08:37.319 --> 00:08:39.159 because it makes it even clearer. 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:41.679 Chapter three, verse six, 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.200 in all your ways acknowledge him 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:46.720 and he will make straight your paths. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:51.319 Now, the Bible is of course translated 00:08:51.319 --> 00:08:53.240 from Hebrew and Greek to English. 00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:55.200 And there are different ways to do that 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.080 that are all meaningful and helpful. 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:59.759 Here's a way to translate that verse 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:02.400 that would be literally word for word, 00:09:02.400 --> 00:09:04.600 exactly as it appears. 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:07.879 And this is what it says, in all your travels, 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:11.720 know God and he will straighten your road. 00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:14.160 In all your travels, know God. 00:09:14.160 --> 00:09:16.600 And so Proverbs is saying life is like a journey. 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:18.400 It's your own path. 00:09:18.400 --> 00:09:22.360 And every day on the path, know the living God, 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:27.279 fear God, honor God and he straightens your path. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:29.240 And so when you go to chapter 11, verse five, 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:32.759 and it says the blameless have a straight road ahead of them, 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:35.840 they do not have a straight road because of their deeds. 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:39.720 They have a straight road because they fear the Lord 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:42.639 and know God on the midst of their travels 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:44.840 and he straightens the path. 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:48.720 And that means, that means at the heart of Proverbs, 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.360 this is what it is saying, 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:53.200 that the difference in the way of wisdom 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:54.039 and the way of folly, 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:57.919 the difference in the righteous life, in the wicked life, 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:01.480 yes, deeds are visible, yes, deeds matter, 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:04.279 but fundamentally it's not an issue of deed. 00:10:04.279 --> 00:10:06.200 Fundamentally, when you uncover the surface, 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:09.320 what's going on is the difference, simply this, 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:12.840 it's the difference in belief and unbelief. 00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:15.680 The difference in faith and not faith. 00:10:15.680 --> 00:10:17.560 In other words, Proverbs is saying exactly 00:10:17.560 --> 00:10:19.000 what the New Testament says. 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:23.600 The life of wisdom is the life of faith. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.960 And you can't live the life of wisdom at all 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:29.679 until you start with faith. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.759 The beginning of all wisdom is the fear of the Lord. 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:34.559 It's the starting point, faith, 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:37.600 belief is the very starting point. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:42.600 All right, secondly then, the diagnosis that we share. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:46.879 All right, we've shown so far that in the book of Proverbs, 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:49.360 the issue is actually unbelief and belief. 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:52.200 It's the question, do you wanna be wise? 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:55.519 Do you wanna live in the way Proverbs talks? 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:58.480 Then faith is the key, faith is fundamental. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:01.159 A couple, let me show you a couple more ways 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:02.399 that this is true. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:04.399 Chapter 28, verse 14, 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:08.679 whoever hardens his heart against God 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:10.960 will fall into calamity. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:11.799 Did you hear that? 00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:13.120 Whoever hardens his heart, 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:18.039 that's an Old Testament phrase for unbelief. 00:11:18.039 --> 00:11:20.519 And the most prime example we see of that 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:23.080 in the whole Bible is in Exodus, 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:26.440 when Pharaoh hardens his heart against the Lord. 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:28.320 And it's not atheism, 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.360 it's not saying I intellectually deny God. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:34.360 It's saying I wanna shake my fist at God. 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:37.279 It's saying I refuse to live for God. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:40.240 That's what Proverbs calls unbelief. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:43.200 Chapter 30, verse eight and nine, very famous. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:44.519 We looked at this week one, 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:47.320 give me neither poverty nor riches. 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.480 Feed me with only what I need, Lord, why? 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:51.879 Why is the prayer, Lord, 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:55.440 don't give me more than I can handle financially, materially. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:57.039 And then this is what it says, 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:01.720 lest I be full, I have a full belly and I deny you. 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:03.960 And I say, who's the Lord? 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:06.600 You see, it's saying that the temptation 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:09.399 underneath all temptations with a full belly 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:12.039 is unbelief. 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:14.840 It's Lord protect me from getting to a place in my life 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:17.120 where I say, who's the Lord? 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:18.480 I'm comfortable. 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:20.759 I don't need, I don't know that I need God. 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:22.199 It's not atheism. 00:12:22.199 --> 00:12:23.240 It's just indifference. 00:12:23.240 --> 00:12:25.679 It's just not caring. 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:27.759 You see, the issue in Proverbs is unbelief. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:30.439 Lastly, chapter 14, verse two, 00:12:31.319 --> 00:12:36.000 whoever is devious in his ways despises God. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:38.079 He says, it's talking about deeds there. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:40.600 Whoever lives a life of devious things, 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:43.320 as God says, are devious. 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:45.320 There's something going on underneath that. 00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:47.639 Life is not simply determined by deeds. 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:48.720 It's an issue of the heart. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:51.480 It says they, in their heart, they've rejected God. 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:52.560 They've despised God. 00:12:52.560 --> 00:12:56.360 In other words, the problem is unbelief. 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:59.400 And the Bible says that it's universal, 00:12:59.400 --> 00:13:01.000 that it's everybody's problem, 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:03.520 that it's all of our problem, unbelief, 00:13:03.520 --> 00:13:07.520 that we have to choose today the way of wisdom. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:09.120 We have to say today, I fear the Lord. 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:10.799 I choose the way of wisdom. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:14.039 Now, let me put a few details on this. 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:16.879 There are many ways to struggle with unbelief. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:20.639 You know, when you say, when a pastor, 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:24.960 when we say in the church, the problem of unbelief today, 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:29.439 probably the first thing that you think about is atheism. 00:13:29.439 --> 00:13:31.559 You know, you think about Christopher Hitchens 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:33.919 and Richard Dawkins about the God delusion, 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:35.360 about God is not great, 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.120 about the intellectual denial of God. 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:39.879 Getting to a place in life where you say, 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:41.399 look, if there is no God, 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:43.039 then I have nothing to feel guilty about. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:44.240 If there is no God, 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:46.440 then the word wickedness is really meaningless 00:13:46.440 --> 00:13:49.200 because I have no ultimate judge to stand before. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:52.320 That's an intellectual denial of God's existence. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:54.840 But again, level two, 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:58.360 that's not what Proverbs is really talking about, mostly. 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:00.840 Proverbs is talking about a different type of unbelief, 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:01.879 and this is it. 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:06.879 In other words, atheism is not where most people are today. 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:09.919 Do you know that in the modern world, 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:13.279 atheism is still really rare, even in Edinburgh, 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:15.879 that most people in Edinburgh aren't atheists? 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:18.320 Instead, most people in Edinburgh 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:19.320 would say something like this, 00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:21.679 look, I don't know if there's a God, 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:23.399 I don't know if there's a higher power. 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:25.000 I think there probably is, 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:28.200 but I know that I'm okay with my life, 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:31.120 and that's religion and all that is good for you, 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:32.840 but it's not really something for me. 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:35.519 That's where most people in the modern world are. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.679 The secularization thesis was a thesis in the 19th century. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:41.320 It started with Karl Marx, 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:43.600 and Karl Marx and others said that, 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:47.759 when you have flushable toilets and iPhones, 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:49.200 Karl didn't talk about iPhones, 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:51.720 but when you have flushable toilets and iPhones, 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:55.519 you don't really need God, because you're comfortable. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:57.279 And that was the secularization thesis 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.279 that eventually religion will die away, 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:01.480 belief in God will die away, 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:03.199 as we get more and more comfortable, 00:15:03.199 --> 00:15:05.159 as hospitals get better and better, 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:06.240 and that never happened. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:08.199 And now the sociologists are scrambling 00:15:08.199 --> 00:15:09.759 to try to understand why is it 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:12.000 that people won't stop being religious? 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:15.079 Most people believe in the supernatural. 00:15:15.079 --> 00:15:17.959 The issue is that they're just simply indifferent to it 00:15:17.959 --> 00:15:18.799 in their daily lives. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.679 They won't let the objectivity of the claim 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:25.959 actually override their desires and take hold of them. 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:30.440 And that's exactly the issue Proverbs is addressing, 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:32.440 that we believe in God, 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:35.840 but we either despise Him in our heart 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:40.320 because life has been hard, or we just don't care. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.720 We don't let the claim really soak in. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.160 We don't let the claim do what it's meant to do. 00:15:45.160 --> 00:15:46.600 Look, here's the way of being religious 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:48.360 and indifferent at the same time. 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:51.680 Last week, last week we read Proverbs 7, 00:15:51.680 --> 00:15:53.040 and we talked about lust. 00:15:53.040 --> 00:15:55.040 Do you remember what Lady Folly said 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:57.199 to the young man in Proverbs 7? 00:15:57.199 --> 00:16:01.000 She said, I've offered my sacrifices. 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:04.439 Now let us go to my house because my husband is not home. 00:16:04.439 --> 00:16:05.519 You know, you see, she said, 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:08.000 I've already gone and done my religious bit. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.519 I went to the temple, but now I'm free. 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:11.599 I can do whatever I want. 00:16:11.599 --> 00:16:15.159 Sunday's fine, Monday to Saturday, that's my time. 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:17.759 That's religious and indifferent at the same time. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:21.879 That's where so many people are in the contemporary world. 00:16:21.879 --> 00:16:25.720 The objectivity of the claim of God's reality 00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:29.279 has not really struck, but there's a third level. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:30.720 And let me say before I mention it 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:33.279 that it's qualitatively different from the other two. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:34.720 Qualitatively different. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:36.759 And here it is, you're a Christian. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:39.279 God's changed your heart. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:40.120 He saved you. 00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:42.360 You know today that you've repented of your sins. 00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:45.960 You've come to belief in Jesus Christ maybe long ago. 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:49.399 You are walking in the faith. 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:53.000 But at the same time, James chapter four says, 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:57.039 believer, you go into Monday and you forget. 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:00.480 You start making your plans and you forget about God. 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:03.519 And then all of a sudden it's Friday and you realize, 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:06.160 you know, I haven't been conscious of the living God 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:07.639 one time this week. 00:17:07.639 --> 00:17:08.480 I've just been living. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:10.279 I've just been living my life. 00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:13.480 And the New Testament says that's unbelief. 00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:16.200 That unbelief is a Christian problem. 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:18.680 Now it's qualitatively different 00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:20.880 because it's in Christ. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:21.720 It's our problem. 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:23.480 It's our sin struggle, but we're in Christ. 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:25.120 But it is our problem. 00:17:25.120 --> 00:17:27.840 And so the Christian has the resources to say, 00:17:27.840 --> 00:17:31.560 Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief. 00:17:31.560 --> 00:17:34.680 Now wherever you are today, and I have no doubt 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:37.039 that there are all three represented 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:39.840 with all sorts of variations here today. 00:17:39.840 --> 00:17:44.160 Wherever you are, we all have something to do 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:47.200 and something to see here according to the book of Proverbs. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:49.240 Every one of us has something we can do. 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:54.240 And let me say this, without defending any of these claims, 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:56.720 because we're in church, you came to church, 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.400 you expect the people at church to believe in God boldly, 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:01.240 without defending any of these claims. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:05.640 Let me say that we come to church every single week 00:18:05.640 --> 00:18:10.640 as a Christian to be reoriented to the claims 00:18:11.120 --> 00:18:12.640 that the Bible makes once again 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:15.440 in the midst of our struggle with unbelief. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:17.799 And if you come to church, you step in curious 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:21.400 as a non-Christian, don't you come to be confronted 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:23.600 a little bit by the claims of the Bible? 00:18:23.600 --> 00:18:25.039 That's what you expect when you come here. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:27.080 And so let me assert these claims. 00:18:27.080 --> 00:18:28.519 Here's what the Bible says. 00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:32.200 It says there is a God, Christian today, there is a God. 00:18:32.200 --> 00:18:36.440 Non-Christian, the claim is that there is a God 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:39.279 and he created the world and he makes sense 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:42.360 of why we exist and everything else. 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:47.359 And secondly, he made you for himself 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:49.279 and that the only place that you can find 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:51.439 ultimate fulfillment and resurrection hope, 00:18:51.439 --> 00:18:53.759 life beyond death is in him. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:54.599 That's claim number two. 00:18:54.599 --> 00:18:57.479 And claim number three, there is a moral order. 00:18:58.359 --> 00:19:00.959 There is real objective morality 00:19:00.959 --> 00:19:04.039 and we can live into that or against it. 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:05.919 And that's the difference in righteous deeds 00:19:05.919 --> 00:19:07.319 and wicked deeds. 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:09.879 And there's a solution and it's the way of wisdom. 00:19:09.879 --> 00:19:10.779 And this is what it is. 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:14.000 It's a life that turns from the twisted crooked view 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.680 of reality, which says I live for myself, I'm self-centered. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:19.960 I just, I'm chasing after my own pleasures 00:19:19.960 --> 00:19:24.319 and turns to be objective and says, God made me 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:25.440 and he tells me how to live. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:28.119 I can't just do what I want with my life. 00:19:28.119 --> 00:19:31.079 And only that can fulfill, only that can forgive. 00:19:31.079 --> 00:19:32.519 That's the fear of the Lord. 00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:35.019 Now these are the claims. 00:19:35.019 --> 00:19:38.519 And this is what the church for centuries has called 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:42.279 faith seeking understanding. 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:45.319 It says, I don't have all the answers, 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:49.319 but I'm also not gonna subject God to every single. 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:52.579 It's where faith eventually comes and says, 00:19:52.579 --> 00:19:54.920 I believe, help my unbelief. 00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:57.759 It's faith that seeks understanding. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:19:59.440 Now the last word before we move on 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:01.119 to the close of this point, 00:20:02.500 --> 00:20:06.240 I think that it's very difficult to believe this today. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.559 More than the previous centuries, 00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:11.599 more than the previous generations. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:14.599 And let me give you one reason why, before we move on. 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:17.680 Here's the reason why unbelief is more prominent, 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.640 even if most people remain religious. 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:24.000 And the reason is this, we live in a culture 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:27.039 that's more individualistic than any culture 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:28.519 ever has been in human history. 00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:32.319 And for that reason, the culture promotes 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:34.900 to each of our hearts to see the world 00:20:34.900 --> 00:20:38.320 through our own personal desires exclusively. 00:20:38.320 --> 00:20:41.320 That we live in our own personal worldview. 00:20:41.320 --> 00:20:43.400 We think about life and the things that we want, 00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:45.120 we want to achieve, we wanna accomplish 00:20:45.120 --> 00:20:47.480 about reaching our personal happinesses 00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:49.060 at every stage of life. 00:20:50.080 --> 00:20:54.040 You know, who needs, Marx at least was right about, 00:20:54.040 --> 00:20:58.080 he said, who needs, do people need God 00:20:58.080 --> 00:20:59.700 intellectually and existentially 00:20:59.700 --> 00:21:04.700 when you have iPhones, Netflix and flushing toilets. 00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:09.319 You know, comfort, comfort and individualism 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:11.880 is one of the biggest struggles we have in belief. 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:14.559 Comfort and individualism. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:17.039 And when you rest in comfort 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:20.039 and you rest in individualism and say, 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:21.600 you know, I don't know that I need this. 00:21:21.600 --> 00:21:22.840 I don't know that it's really for me. 00:21:22.840 --> 00:21:25.080 I don't know, even if I'm here every week 00:21:25.080 --> 00:21:29.559 that I'm going to allow it to really bathe over my life. 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:32.799 And change who I am Monday to Saturday. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:34.639 Then let me just say that I think 00:21:34.639 --> 00:21:37.139 that it's gonna leave you empty. 00:21:37.139 --> 00:21:40.319 Over time, you're gonna find that it's not fulfilling, 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:42.319 that Netflix eventually gets boring 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:44.200 and the comforts eventually fall away 00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:47.799 and the iPhone eventually causes an addiction 00:21:47.799 --> 00:21:51.839 that actually makes you sad, makes you struggle. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:55.720 And in other words, the modern culture we live in 00:21:55.720 --> 00:22:00.720 creates for us a technocratic illusory life. 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:03.279 One where we think that life is all about us. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:05.000 And let me read to you, 00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:09.480 C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:11.279 One of the books, The Silver Chair. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:17.039 Lewis captures so well what the individualistic culture 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:21.200 does to us in causing us to be people 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:22.799 who struggle with faith, with belief. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:27.079 Here's what happens, the children are trapped 00:22:27.079 --> 00:22:30.879 in an underground cave with the evil witch, 00:22:30.879 --> 00:22:34.480 the principal evil of character of the Narnia series. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:36.759 And the witch tries to convince them 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:40.119 that the world above, the sunshine, the flowers, 00:22:40.119 --> 00:22:42.119 the grass, everything above the ground, 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:47.000 that it doesn't exist, that all of their memories of it 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:48.480 are just illusions. 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:53.120 And in other words, Jill says, I miss the sunshine. 00:22:53.120 --> 00:22:55.920 And the witch says, there's no such thing as the sun. 00:22:56.759 --> 00:22:58.680 He said, do you see, do you look around, 00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:00.160 do you see the sun? 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:02.240 Instead, what you're doing Jill, 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:05.680 is you're taking this lamp post that's in the cave 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:09.240 and you're thinking about it in much grander terms. 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:10.599 You see, you're taking a little bitty lamp 00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:12.160 and you're thinking, well, there's light, 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:14.960 but I can imagine a much bigger light, a much greater light. 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:17.319 And then you're fabricating, 00:23:17.319 --> 00:23:19.200 you're thinking about something called the sun, 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:20.200 but it's not real. 00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:22.399 All you really see is the lamp post. 00:23:22.399 --> 00:23:23.799 And this is what Jill says. 00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:28.679 I suppose that the other world must all be a dream. 00:23:28.679 --> 00:23:31.119 Yes, it is all a dream, said the witch. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:33.480 Yes, all a dream, said Jill. 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:36.519 There never was such a world, said the witch. 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:37.799 No, said Jill. 00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:39.480 Never such a world. 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:42.839 There never was any world, but mine, said the witch. 00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:45.559 Never any world, Jill, but yours. 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:49.000 You see what Lewis is doing? 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.200 He's saying, look, it's the problem of divine absence. 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:56.960 You can't, you haven't seen God, have you? 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:00.240 There's only one world, Jill, and it's yours. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:04.039 And so live your life and be all about yourself. 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:07.639 And Lewis is saying that that's the cave. 00:24:07.639 --> 00:24:09.679 That's living in a cave. 00:24:09.679 --> 00:24:13.759 It's not actually wrestling with objectivity and reality. 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:18.400 And Proverbs says the way of wisdom is stepping out of the cave. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:22.079 In other words, getting out of your own head and heart. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:24.559 And saying that I don't get to just be who I wanna be. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.160 I don't get to just choose who I am. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:28.640 I don't get to live life the way I determined 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:30.720 because I'm created. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.279 I come underneath something much bigger than that. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:35.039 That's the fear of the Lord. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:36.160 It's the way of wisdom. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:39.440 Now lastly, a few practical things. 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:42.519 How do you get this? 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:44.519 The way of wisdom. 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:47.519 How do you step into this faith 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:49.200 more and more and more in your life? 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:50.920 Whether you're a Christian today 00:24:50.920 --> 00:24:54.559 or something else you're struggling, you're curious. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:56.599 How do you get this? 00:24:56.599 --> 00:24:59.319 Chapter one, verse seven. 00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:03.000 Put away the heart, heart, the self-centered heart 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:06.200 and say, I don't have all the answers 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:07.559 but I want to fear the Lord. 00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:10.319 I want to, in other words, I want to honor, revere, 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:14.679 esteem, acknowledge, trust, give myself to God. 00:25:14.679 --> 00:25:18.200 That's the way that Proverbs tells us to do it. 00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:21.799 Maybe you're here today and you don't believe in God. 00:25:23.399 --> 00:25:26.480 And maybe you're here because you don't believe in God 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:30.119 but you're also curious and you're also intellectually open. 00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:32.240 Or maybe you're here today 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.799 and you are okay intellectually with God 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:36.359 but practically and existentially, 00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:38.159 God means very little to you 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:41.240 when it comes to Monday morning. 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:46.840 And for both situations, let me say that we sang Psalm 14. 00:25:46.840 --> 00:25:49.640 It says the fool says in his heart, there is no God. 00:25:49.640 --> 00:25:52.240 It's not the Bible trying to be unnecessarily harsh. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:55.080 It's saying the reason it's foolishness 00:25:55.080 --> 00:25:58.200 is because it's actually twisting reality. 00:25:58.200 --> 00:25:59.800 It's a losery. 00:25:59.800 --> 00:26:03.080 When the Bible uses the word crooked, it means twisted. 00:26:03.080 --> 00:26:04.480 It means that God is saying, 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:08.360 look, you've taken what's real and you've twisted it 00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:11.920 to fit your own comforts perhaps. 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:14.200 Is that the case? 00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:15.559 Or are you willing today to say, 00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:18.039 maybe I can step out of the cave and look at the sunshine? 00:26:18.039 --> 00:26:20.440 Maybe there is something beyond what I can see. 00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:23.920 Maybe the problem of divine absence isn't as big. 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:27.920 Maybe the problem is that I live in a technocratic age 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:32.039 where I'm governed by my mastery over creation, 00:26:32.039 --> 00:26:35.639 by my iPhone, by my comforts, by all of these things. 00:26:35.639 --> 00:26:38.559 And I've just been unwilling to look beyond myself. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:40.440 Could it be the case? 00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:43.799 Could it be the case that there is objectivity like that? 00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:46.720 Now I want to close the last thing is this. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:49.200 For all of us, whether you're a Christian struggling 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:52.319 with unbelief on Monday or not, either way, 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:54.839 the New Testament comes to us 00:26:54.839 --> 00:26:59.839 and gives us a great, helpful story about unbelief. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:02.039 And it's in John chapter 20. 00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:05.119 We read it at the beginning of our New Testament reading. 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:07.359 It's the story of doubting Thomas. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:09.759 And I just want to say one or two things about it. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:11.000 Remember doubting Thomas, 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:12.720 if you've read through John's gospel, 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:15.079 Thomas was one of the disciples. 00:27:15.959 --> 00:27:18.720 And a week before, Jesus had risen, 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:20.599 died and rose again from the dead. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:25.159 And Jesus had shown up to all the other disciples, 00:27:25.159 --> 00:27:26.439 the apostles themselves 00:27:26.439 --> 00:27:28.799 and also many other people that followed him. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:30.519 But Thomas was not there. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:35.480 And so in this scene in John chapter 20 verse 24, 00:27:35.480 --> 00:27:38.159 Thomas is with the disciples and they're telling him, 00:27:38.159 --> 00:27:42.519 Thomas, Jesus Christ, he's alive. 00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:44.279 He rose from the dead. 00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:45.200 And what does Thomas say? 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:50.200 He says, guys, if I don't see the wounds in his hands, 00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:55.200 if I don't touch him, I can't believe it. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:56.200 I won't believe it. 00:27:56.200 --> 00:28:00.360 And you see, Thomas was struggling with the problem. 00:28:00.360 --> 00:28:02.519 He was struggling with unbelief. 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:05.600 And it's even more acute 00:28:05.600 --> 00:28:08.440 because for every single one of us, we struggle. 00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:11.600 But Thomas, Thomas had seen the miracles. 00:28:11.600 --> 00:28:13.680 Thomas had walked with Jesus Christ 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.559 and seen the things that Jesus Christ had done. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:19.600 And he was struggling with unbelief. 00:28:19.600 --> 00:28:22.319 And even more, he was struggling with the problem 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:24.759 of divine absence. 00:28:24.759 --> 00:28:27.440 If I can't physically see, you know, 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:29.839 he was like a modern science, 00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:34.079 he had succumbed to the problem of modern scientism. 00:28:34.920 --> 00:28:36.920 If I can't believe it, it must not be real. 00:28:36.920 --> 00:28:38.000 If I can't see it, excuse me. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:39.440 If I can't see it, it must not be real. 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:42.079 If I can't see it, then there's no way 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:43.799 that I can believe it. 00:28:43.799 --> 00:28:46.319 And look, this is what Jesus does. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:47.160 This is what Jesus does. 00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:48.000 He does two things. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:50.440 He says, Thomas, he shows up, he says, 00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:52.680 Thomas, touch me. 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:54.560 Touch my wounds. 00:28:55.560 --> 00:28:57.880 And Thomas needed that. 00:28:57.880 --> 00:28:59.279 And the reason he needed that 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:01.360 is for more than you might think on the surface. 00:29:01.360 --> 00:29:03.880 It's because Thomas is an apostle. 00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:08.960 And an apostle is a person who has officially 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:12.960 and really seen the resurrected physical Christ. 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:14.120 And has been sent by God 00:29:14.120 --> 00:29:16.759 to send that message forward into history. 00:29:16.759 --> 00:29:18.320 All the other apostles had seen him, 00:29:18.320 --> 00:29:20.120 now Thomas had to see him. 00:29:20.119 --> 00:29:23.119 In other words, he wouldn't be an apostle. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:24.719 He wouldn't be one of the 12. 00:29:24.719 --> 00:29:26.519 So he had to see him. 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:27.919 But what else does Jesus do? 00:29:27.919 --> 00:29:31.519 Jesus says this, blessed is the one 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:35.159 who has not seen God and believes. 00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:40.000 Blessed is the person who has not seen 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.239 Jesus Christ in the flesh yet and still believes. 00:29:44.239 --> 00:29:46.839 And that is the way of wisdom. 00:29:46.839 --> 00:29:50.359 In other words, you could put it like this. 00:29:50.359 --> 00:29:54.439 One commentator says this, what did Thomas really need? 00:29:55.439 --> 00:29:59.559 To be an apostle, Thomas needed to see Jesus in the flesh. 00:29:59.559 --> 00:30:02.759 But to be a Christian, to have faith, he did not. 00:30:03.720 --> 00:30:07.720 Jesus saying, you do not need to see me in the flesh 00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:08.599 in order to believe. 00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:10.439 That's what he said. 00:30:10.439 --> 00:30:11.519 He said, that's real. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:14.480 You don't need to see in order to believe, not yet. 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:16.359 But that means what did Thomas need? 00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:20.039 Whenever the other 11 apostles said to Thomas, 00:30:20.039 --> 00:30:23.919 look, Thomas, we saw him last week 00:30:23.919 --> 00:30:26.279 and we touched his hands. 00:30:26.279 --> 00:30:29.039 All Thomas needed to do was to believe 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:30.639 the apostolic witness. 00:30:31.479 --> 00:30:33.240 In other words, he needed to hear, 00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:35.199 there are 11 other people here 00:30:35.199 --> 00:30:39.359 that are objectively saying, I saw him 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:40.319 and they're not lying. 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:42.799 He needed to believe them. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:46.079 And listen, whether you're a Christian or not today, 00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:48.879 almost every single bit of your life 00:30:48.879 --> 00:30:50.799 is completely based on testimony. 00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:54.839 On things that you've never seen before. 00:30:54.839 --> 00:30:57.759 Does Australia exist right now? 00:30:59.639 --> 00:31:01.000 You can't tell me that it does. 00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:02.559 You can't prove it. 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:03.679 None of us can. 00:31:04.599 --> 00:31:06.240 Because even if somebody shows us a video, 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:07.279 it could be fabricated. 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:09.559 Look, that's a silly example, 00:31:09.559 --> 00:31:12.159 but almost everything in your life 00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:16.240 is believed on testimony, not on experience. 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:19.880 Jesus says that you need this, 00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:23.240 we all need the same thing that Thomas needed. 00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:27.000 We need to listen to the apostolic witness. 00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:28.640 It's objective. 00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:32.960 More than 500 people saw Jesus Christ die 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:33.920 and rise from the dead. 00:31:33.920 --> 00:31:36.880 More than 500 people touched his wound. 00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:38.120 They saw him in the flesh. 00:31:38.120 --> 00:31:39.720 It's objective. 00:31:39.720 --> 00:31:41.560 What the world needs more than anything today 00:31:41.559 --> 00:31:43.799 in the individualistic culture we live in 00:31:43.799 --> 00:31:45.919 is to get out of ourselves 00:31:45.919 --> 00:31:49.480 and to say that there is an objective claim in front of me. 00:31:49.480 --> 00:31:52.000 And that a man in the middle of history died 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:54.960 and rose from the dead and people touched his wounds. 00:31:56.119 --> 00:31:58.720 And it's an enormous claim. 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:00.599 It'll take over your life 00:32:00.599 --> 00:32:03.879 if you approach it with faith, seeking understanding. 00:32:03.879 --> 00:32:06.079 And it'll give you hope and it'll fulfill you. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:08.079 And it's the offer of forgiveness 00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:10.559 for all the unbelief of the past. 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:15.440 And so today, do what Thomas did at the very end. 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:17.119 At the very end, Thomas, 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:19.759 Thomas never touched Jesus in the episode. 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:22.279 Jesus said, you can touch me, but Thomas didn't. 00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:26.039 He simply said, my God, my Lord. 00:32:26.919 --> 00:32:28.240 And in doing that, what was he doing? 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:33.240 He was saying, I will not put conditions on God. 00:32:34.679 --> 00:32:36.359 I will not put barriers. 00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:39.440 I will not say to God, look, you have to do this 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:40.759 if I'm ever gonna believe. 00:32:41.799 --> 00:32:43.039 Because if God is real, 00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:45.360 then he gets to determine the condition. 00:32:45.360 --> 00:32:46.200 He's bigger than you. 00:32:46.200 --> 00:32:47.519 He's bigger than me. 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:49.080 We can't put the barrier in place. 00:32:49.080 --> 00:32:51.400 We can't be like Bertrand Russell, 00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:53.320 the atheist at the early 20th century, 00:32:53.320 --> 00:32:54.640 the great philosopher. 00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:57.960 He said, if I die and I get to heaven 00:32:57.960 --> 00:33:01.880 and there really is a God I have to stand before, 00:33:01.880 --> 00:33:04.640 I'm gonna say to him, you didn't do enough 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:06.160 to show me that you were real. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:10.480 Don't put conditions before God. 00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:11.480 God is God. 00:33:11.480 --> 00:33:13.560 He gets to determine the condition. 00:33:14.800 --> 00:33:18.320 Instead, do what Thomas did and say, my God, my Lord. 00:33:18.320 --> 00:33:21.240 In other words, you're the creator, my God. 00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:23.000 And now because of that, you're my Lord. 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:24.920 You're my Redeemer, I bow the knee. 00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:27.720 It's faith, seeking, understanding. 00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:30.680 So for all of us today, here's the prayer. 00:33:30.680 --> 00:33:34.040 Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. 00:33:34.039 --> 00:33:36.319 Let's pray that now. 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:40.839 Father, I asked that you would move in our hearts 00:33:40.839 --> 00:33:45.839 and help us to say, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. 00:33:48.680 --> 00:33:50.559 And so wherever we are, Lord, meet us. 00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:53.319 Whether we're atheists right now 00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:55.559 and we're maybe thinking about these things, 00:33:55.559 --> 00:34:00.000 whether we're indifferent religious people, help us. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:03.799 Whether we're Christians, God, who truly bowed the knee, 00:34:03.799 --> 00:34:06.119 but we struggle, Lord, with unbelief. 00:34:06.119 --> 00:34:10.639 So for each of us, make our prayer, Lord, I believe, 00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:11.599 help my unbelief. 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:17.440 Move upon us now, we ask, Lord, and show us yourself. 00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:20.679 Help us to see Jesus in the gospels when we read 00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:25.519 and to see the claims and that they're so different 00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:27.239 than maybe what we presume. 00:34:28.840 --> 00:34:30.519 So we just ask, Father, for a movement 00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:32.880 of the Holy Spirit now to help us. 00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:35.640 And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.