Your Move with Andy Stanley

Andy Stanley - How Good Is Good Enough? (Part 3)

May 31, 2025 | 28:29

Your Move with Andy Stanley — to help people make better decisions and live with fewer regrets.

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Your Move with Andy Stanley | Andy Stanley - How Good Is Good Enough? (Part 3) | May 31, 2025

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Andy stanley: hi, everybody, welcome to "your move" where we
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Help you make better decisions and live with fewer regrets.
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I'm andy stanley and i'll be your guide.
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Now, according to most christians, and you probably
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Know this, according to most christians, following the rules
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Won't get you into heaven, but if that's the case, then why all
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The rules?
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And oddly enough, the answer to that question is the reason
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Everybody should consider, or reconsider, following jesus.
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Stick around and i'll tell you why right here on "your move."
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♪♪♪
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Andy: most folks, especially most americans, believe there's
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An afterlife, believe there's some sort of heaven if you want
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To use that label, and most folks, especially most
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Americans, maybe because we're americans, believe that they're
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Going to end up there.
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And they assume, and maybe you're one of the they, and
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That's fine, it's probably the majority, you assume that you're
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Going to get there, or people assume they're going to get
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There because they're convinced of two things.
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They're convinced, number one, that good people go to heaven,
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And number two, that you're a good person.
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They're convinced, hey, i'm a good person, good people go to
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Heaven, i'm a good person, i'll end up in heaven.
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And as we've said throughout the series, this really makes a lot
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Of sense, and there's reasons people hold to
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These assumptions.
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Number one, it's fair.
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I mean, if you live a good life and there's an afterlife, then
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You should be rewarded for your good life because you're a good
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Person, it's fair.
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And this whole idea is consistent with the notion of a
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Good god.
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If there's a good god in a good place after this life, then good
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God would want to populate that good place with good people and
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You're a good person.
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In fact, that's the other reason people lean into this, is
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Because at the end of the day, you make the cut.
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Now, you're not sure what the cut is, but you're sure you make
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It because you're a good person and you're a good person,
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Especially compared to...
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And... right?
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I mean, you know you're not as good as some people, but you're
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Better than other people.
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But as we said, in both episodes before today, if you scratch
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Beneath the surface or if you start asking too many questions,
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This whole system falls completely apart.
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To begin with, good is a moving target.
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And i won't go into detail, we talked a lot about this in week
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One, good is a moving target historically.
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What was good a thousand years ago we think is evil today, so
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Who's right?
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Good is a moving target culturally.
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Even in our world today, there are cultures you would go into
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And you're like, you can't treat children that way,
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That's horrible.
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You can't treat women that way, that's horrible.
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You can't treat the people who are different than you,
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That's horrible.
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But they think it's fine, that they think that's how it's
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Supposed to be.
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In some cases, they think they're doing the will of god.
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And you're like, well, i don't worship the same god you do, but
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Who's to say who's right?
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Good, the point being good is a moving target?
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And westerners and people in the united states in particular
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Wanna say no, no, no, good isn't a moving target, the bible tells
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Us what is good.
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But as we've talked about, the bible is not helpful in
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This respect.
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The old testament doesn't even mention heaven, and there's
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Certainly no list of things that if you do these things you'll go
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To heaven.
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That's not there.
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In the new testament, the followers of jesus made it clear
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Clear that nobody's good, and nobody is good enough to earn
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Their way to heaven.
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So, if you're looking for an answer to this question, how
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Good is good enough to earn a spot in heaven?
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If you're looking for an answer to this question, which most
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People think there must be a good answer, the bible will not
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Help you, in fact, the bible will hurt you.
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But we said there's an even bigger challenge to this
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Assumption that good people go to heaven, and you make the cut,
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And that's this, if good people go to heaven, then god isn't
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Good, because a good god would have made it clear exactly what
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We need to do so we know where we are in the process.
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Is it 50%, 70%?
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You know, what exactly is good?
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What's most important?
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Does he take our background into account?
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Does he take our age into account?
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I mean, do motives count?
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Do thoughts count?
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I mean, all these things, it's a complete mystery.
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So, if good people go to heaven, and that's really how we get
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There, god isn't a very good god, because god hasn't made the
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System clear.
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In fact, god would need to show up, you know, every generation
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Or so to update the rules because of technology, and
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Because of the way that the world has changed, and it's not
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Like god is, like, moving the goalpost, it's worse than that.
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It's like god is hiding the goalpost.
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Then to make matters even worse, and this is what we talked about
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Last time, if good people go to heaven, then jesus was clearly,
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Clearly mistaken.
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In fact, jesus was misleading because jesus did not teach that
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Good people go to heaven.
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On the contrary, jesus implied throughout his ministry, just
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Read the gospels, that bad people have the potential to end
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Up in heaven, and the goodest of the good weren't good enough.
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In fact, as we saw last time, jesus raised the bar for good so
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High that it made all of us look bad.
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For example, and we talked a lot about this last time, have you
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Ever mistreated another person?
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The answer is yes, and according to jesus, that's a sin.
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In fact, that's kind of at the epicenter of all the sins as
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Jesus talked about what is sin or what displeases god.
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And you can apologize to that person, but you can't roll back
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The clock.
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You can't make up to them what you took, because again, you
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Can't go back in time.
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There's permanent damage that has been done because of the way
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You treated another person, the way you treated a person that
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God the father loves, and according to jesus, you can't be
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Right with god the father if you're mistreating someone god
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Loves, just like you can't be right with me if you mistreat
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One of my children.
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So anyway, according to jesus, no one is good enough to go
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To heaven.
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Good people don't go because no one is that good, the way he,
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Again, defined good.
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According to jesus, and this is where we left off last time,
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According to jesus, forgiven people go to heaven, and jesus
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Claimed, this is audacious, jesus claimed to have authority
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To forgive other people on behalf of god, which was
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Ridiculous until he rose from the dead, and then it was like,
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Hey, game on.
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Because as we say around here, anyone who can predict their own
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Death and resurrection and pull it off, we just go with whatever
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That person says, okay?
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And jesus's first-century followers saw him crucified,
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They knew where he was buried, there was an empty tomb, they
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Had breakfast with him on the beach, and they're like, you
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Know what?
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You are who you claim to be, you are god and a body, you are the
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Resurrection and the life, and you do in fact have the
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Authority to forgive people's sin on god's behalf.
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Clearly, he had that authority.
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So, here's what i wanna do for the next few minutes.
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I wanna kind of turn the page, and i want to talk about, within
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The context of the jewish tradition and the christian
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Religion, i wanna talk about a question that kind of takes us
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To the center of where all the confusion comes from around how
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Good you have to be to go to heaven.
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Because the question is kind of this, if rule keeping, if rule
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Keeping won't get you into heaven, if rule keeping won't
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Get you into heaven, then why all the rules?
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Why all the rules?
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And how did this get so confused?
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And where did the idea even come from that if you, you know, if
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You're good enough, you get into heaven?
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Who made this up?
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That you have to--if you clean up, you get to show up, who
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Did that?
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And this is important, look up here, the answer to this
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Question, the answer to that question, is one of the primary
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Reasons you should consider following jesus or reconsider
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Following jesus.
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So, here's what we're gonna do.
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The best place to start to answer this question is where
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Sometimes the confusion emanates from, the ten commandments, the
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Ten commandments.
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Now, this is a list that some people swear by but don't live
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By, okay?
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This is a list that some people swear by, they couldn't recite
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If their eternity depended on it.
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What about the ten commandments?
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Well, listen, well, name them.
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Okay, well, what about them?
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Do you know if you know where they are?
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They're in the bible, do you know where?
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I think it's the first part of the bible, right?
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So, it's like it's just kind of a smoke screen, the ten
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Commandments anyway.
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So, we're going to talk a little bit about this.
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The ten commandments is actually found in the second section, or
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We call them books, the second book of the hebrew scripture,
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Which is the section of the christian scripture, and it's
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Named exodus.
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And the reason it's named exodus is perhaps you know, is because
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The book of exodus chronicles ancient israel's exodus from
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Egyptian slavery.
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Now, they've been a slave state for 400 years, they have no
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Civil law, they have no constitution, they've never
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Functioned independently, and there's about a million of them,
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Some people say perhaps close to two million people exited egypt
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To follow moses to wherever moses was choosing to lead them.
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So, then god, through moses, provides for the nation a
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Constitution, some laws, civil law, including punishment and
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Rules of how to conduct their lives.
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Because again, they've been under the boot of egypt and
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They've just been told what to do.
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And again, what do you do with your freedom?
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You remember what you did with your freedom?
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Remember, guys, the first time your mom or your dad said,
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"okay, here's the license, we want you to take the car and
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Drive," and you got to drive all by yourself for the first time.
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Do you remember how responsible you were?
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Exactly, so all of a sudden they've got all this freedom,
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Like, what do you mean we're free?
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They don't even know how to act.
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So, god in his mercy gives them this law, and the thing is this,
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And i don't have a lot of time to talk about this, but i want
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To dip into it a little bit because the old testament law
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Gets lot of grief from people and culture, and it's because
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They don't understand the context and you need to do that.
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The law that god gave the ancient israelites, the law that
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God gave the ancient israelites that you find in the first part
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Of your bible, was so far ahead of its time that there's really
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No explanation for it, except perhaps it was in fact given
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By god.
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There's a divine element to this law, because there was nothing
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That paralleled it.
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In fact, it was so ahead of its time that some of israel's
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Ancient law has informed modern law.
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But here's the thing, the law that god gave moses to give the
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People, it doesn't show up until chapter 20.
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So the question is, what's going on for the first 19 chapters?
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And here's what was going on.
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For the first 19 chapters of the story, god is demonstrating his
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Love and his concern for a group of people that he considered his
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Own, his people that he delivered, not because they kept
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His law, they didn't have a law, not because they were obeying
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The rules, they didn't even know what the rules were.
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He delivered them pre-law, and do you know why god delivered
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Them from egypt?
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Because he wanted to.
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And here's kind of the bottom line for our discussion today.
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When it comes to the god of the old testament, the god of the
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New testament, the god that we worship as christians,
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Relationship always precedes the rules.
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Relationship always precedes the rules.
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God did not give israel the law as a means of establishing a
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Relationship with him, god gave israel the law because they were
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Already in relationship with him.
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It wasn't a condition, it was a confirmation that they were in
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The family.
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Anyway, so three plus months after they leave egypt, moses
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Leads them to the foot of mount sinai, and god provides this
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Extraordinarily, i mean, if you read it, you're just like, how
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Much more of this is there?
00:11:07.251 --> 00:11:08.686
This extraordinarily detailed constitution or law in order to
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Guide the people.
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And listen, in fact, i just want you to listen to how this whole
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Thing begins.
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It doesn't begin with thou shalt or thou shalt not, here's the
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Preamble to this ancient constitution.
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This is fascinating.
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Here's how it starts.
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"i am the lord your god."
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In other words, we've already got something going on.
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"i am the lord your god."
00:11:36.580 --> 00:11:38.015
There's already some sort of relationship established.
00:11:38.015 --> 00:11:40.284
And by the way, if you wanna know exactly who i am, you know,
00:11:40.284 --> 00:11:43.521
A little flashback, 30 days ago, "who brought you out of egypt
00:11:43.521 --> 00:11:47.992
And out of the land of slavery."
00:11:47.992 --> 00:11:50.895
Just a few months ago, god was saying, a few months ago you
00:11:50.961 --> 00:11:53.998
Belonged to pharaoh, now you belong to me.
00:11:53.998 --> 00:11:59.904
A few months ago, you belonged to pharaoh, no freedom, no land,
00:11:59.904 --> 00:12:03.541
No future, no hope, now you belong to me, and you belong to
00:12:03.541 --> 00:12:07.444
Me without me requiring anything from you except a single
00:12:07.444 --> 00:12:14.819
Expression of trust.
00:12:14.819 --> 00:12:16.987
All i asked was that you put the blood of a lamb on the doorpost
00:12:16.987 --> 00:12:20.624
Of your home as a symbol of the fact that you trusted in yahweh.
00:12:20.691 --> 00:12:25.996
I asked for one single expression of trust and you were
00:12:25.996 --> 00:12:30.534
In, and now that you know i have your best interest in mind, i
00:12:30.534 --> 00:12:34.104
Want you to follow me and i want you to obey me.
00:12:34.104 --> 00:12:37.675
And then he gets to the first real command.
00:12:37.741 --> 00:12:40.611
Okay, here it is.
00:12:40.611 --> 00:12:42.479
You, now that you know who i am, "you shall have no other gods
00:12:42.546 --> 00:12:46.083
Before me."
00:12:46.083 --> 00:12:47.418
And they're thinking, you are not even kidding we're not gonna
00:12:47.418 --> 00:12:49.086
Have any other gods before you, did you see, i mean, we saw what
00:12:49.086 --> 00:12:51.922
You did to egypt's gods, we saw what you did to all the gods
00:12:51.922 --> 00:12:55.693
Of egypt.
00:12:55.693 --> 00:12:57.061
I mean, you know, god's message to pharaoh is essentially this,
00:12:57.061 --> 00:12:59.563
These are my words, not god's, but basically the message to
00:12:59.563 --> 00:13:02.466
Pharaoh is, hey, you got something that belongs to me and
00:13:02.466 --> 00:13:05.202
I'm not leaving here without it.
00:13:05.202 --> 00:13:06.670
The fact that yahweh left wherever he was and showed up in
00:13:06.670 --> 00:13:12.476
Egypt, he went into their stadium.
00:13:12.476 --> 00:13:15.479
They had the home field advantage, and he wreaked havoc
00:13:15.479 --> 00:13:18.883
With god, after god, after god, after god, after god,
00:13:18.883 --> 00:13:21.986
Humiliating the entire pantheon of egyptian gods.
00:13:21.986 --> 00:13:25.589
The next command is amazing, it flows from the first one.
00:13:25.656 --> 00:13:29.226
He says, and by the way, i'm the lord your god, you're gonna
00:13:29.293 --> 00:13:32.263
Worship me and me alone, and, little detail, again, what he
00:13:32.263 --> 00:13:35.366
Says next, we read it like, oh, yeah, whatever.
00:13:35.366 --> 00:13:38.402
Unprecedented, unprecedented, it would be 1,500 years before the
00:13:38.469 --> 00:13:44.808
Next civilization caught up with this next statement.
00:13:44.808 --> 00:13:48.512
"i'm the lord your god.
00:13:48.579 --> 00:13:50.214
You shall not make," this is amazing, "you shall not make for
00:13:50.281 --> 00:13:53.150
Yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or the
00:13:53.150 --> 00:13:58.022
Earth beneath or in the waters below."
00:13:58.022 --> 00:14:00.991
No image, you can't.
00:14:00.991 --> 00:14:02.793
There is nothing that represents me accurately, therefore you
00:14:02.793 --> 00:14:06.463
Will have no idol.
00:14:06.463 --> 00:14:08.165
I'm telling you a system of worship without an idol was
00:14:08.165 --> 00:14:12.569
Unheard of.
00:14:12.569 --> 00:14:13.904
It didn't make any sense.
00:14:13.904 --> 00:14:15.272
In fact, if you know the story, it wasn't long before they broke
00:14:15.272 --> 00:14:17.474
This rule because they just couldn't imagine worship without
00:14:17.474 --> 00:14:21.679
An object of their worship, and yahweh was saying i'm the object
00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:25.282
Of your worship, and there is nothing that can explain me and
00:14:25.282 --> 00:14:28.886
There's nothing that can contain me.
00:14:28.886 --> 00:14:30.454
I am the lord your god.
00:14:30.454 --> 00:14:33.223
I am mobile.
00:14:33.590 --> 00:14:34.925
I showed up in egypt.
00:14:34.925 --> 00:14:36.694
I can be wherever i need to be, no image.
00:14:36.694 --> 00:14:40.898
Again, it would be, you know, almost 2,000 years before
00:14:40.898 --> 00:14:44.301
Non-jewish people caught up with this whole idea.
00:14:44.368 --> 00:14:47.004
Then later, later in the the commandments, he said, oh, yeah,
00:14:47.004 --> 00:14:51.041
By the way, i want you to take a day off.
00:14:51.041 --> 00:14:52.576
What, we'll starve.
00:14:53.210 --> 00:14:54.845
No, you won't, i'll take care of you.
00:14:54.845 --> 00:14:56.213
What do you mean a day off?
00:14:56.213 --> 00:14:57.548
Yeah, there's gonna be a day when no one works.
00:14:57.548 --> 00:14:58.916
Get this, again, not even your slaves.
00:14:58.916 --> 00:15:03.587
Okay, wait, maybe we misunderstood.
00:15:03.654 --> 00:15:06.090
I mean, slaves don't get a day off.
00:15:06.090 --> 00:15:07.458
I mean, nobody gets a day off.
00:15:07.458 --> 00:15:08.826
There was no such thing as a weekend.
00:15:08.826 --> 00:15:10.194
And god's going, no, i want to prove to you that i'm going to
00:15:10.194 --> 00:15:12.863
Sustain you.
00:15:12.863 --> 00:15:14.231
I want you to take 24 hours and there will be no labor, and
00:15:14.231 --> 00:15:16.967
You're not allowed to allow your slaves or your servants
00:15:16.967 --> 00:15:19.837
To labor.
00:15:20.404 --> 00:15:21.772
I'm telling you, this was so unprecedented for the citizens,
00:15:21.772 --> 00:15:24.742
This was entirely--there's no way to even begin to understand
00:15:24.742 --> 00:15:28.212
The magnitude and the significance of giving all of
00:15:28.212 --> 00:15:31.215
The slaves and the servants a day off, why?
00:15:31.215 --> 00:15:34.318
Because god was beginning to teach them something it would
00:15:34.318 --> 00:15:37.087
Take them a long time to learn.
00:15:37.087 --> 00:15:38.455
It was like bread crumbs.
00:15:38.455 --> 00:15:39.923
That every human being is valuable to me.
00:15:39.923 --> 00:15:44.762
That everyone has dignity to me.
00:15:44.828 --> 00:15:47.965
And so, we're gonna take care of the lowliest and the great.
00:15:47.965 --> 00:15:51.101
We're gonna take care of the children.
00:15:51.101 --> 00:15:52.536
Everyone matters to god.
00:15:52.536 --> 00:15:54.371
So, in this ancient, ancient, ancient law, god reveals
00:15:54.371 --> 00:15:57.674
Something, sort of an ethic, a value system that was unknown
00:15:57.674 --> 00:16:02.446
And unheard of, and was such a stretch even for the people
00:16:02.446 --> 00:16:06.316
Of israel.
00:16:07.084 --> 00:16:08.452
Then, you know, the next six are basically, hey, here's how to
00:16:08.452 --> 00:16:12.456
Treat people and honor other people.
00:16:12.456 --> 00:16:13.991
So, to summarize the whole thing, it was kind of this,
00:16:13.991 --> 00:16:16.493
Honor me because i rescued you, honor others, they're made in my
00:16:16.493 --> 00:16:23.033
Image, and treat slaves with justice because you were once a
00:16:23.033 --> 00:16:29.106
Slave yourself.
00:16:29.106 --> 00:16:31.642
Do not forget where you came from, it's amazing.
00:16:31.708 --> 00:16:35.946
But, you know, this is the top ten, this is like a table
00:16:35.946 --> 00:16:38.715
Of continents.
00:16:38.715 --> 00:16:40.084
There were like 600 plus other commands, and why so many?
00:16:40.084 --> 00:16:42.719
Because this was their civil law.
00:16:42.786 --> 00:16:44.621
This had to touch on every single aspect of their life.
00:16:44.621 --> 00:16:47.424
And why did god give them such a detailed law?
00:16:47.424 --> 00:16:50.527
Because god cared about his people.
00:16:50.594 --> 00:16:55.499
The point simply being this, when it comes to god,
00:16:55.499 --> 00:16:57.501
Relationship precedes the rules.
00:16:59.503 --> 00:17:02.439
The israelites did not behave their way in, and read the rest
00:17:02.439 --> 00:17:07.945
Of their story, they were not able to misbehave their way out.
00:17:07.945 --> 00:17:14.485
I mean, when you start reading the old testament and you get to
00:17:14.485 --> 00:17:16.587
The prophets and it just sounds like a bunch of angry guys, you
00:17:16.587 --> 00:17:19.156
Know, they're ranting and raving, they're mad, and this is
00:17:19.156 --> 00:17:21.291
Gonna happen, that's gonna happen, it's like, gosh, how
00:17:21.291 --> 00:17:24.161
Much is--you know what?
00:17:24.228 --> 00:17:25.596
This was god's way of warning the people he loved that if you
00:17:25.596 --> 00:17:30.467
Give up my law, you give up your freedom.
00:17:30.467 --> 00:17:34.004
But through all their rebellion, and they would revert back to
00:17:34.004 --> 00:17:37.774
Idol worship, all the stuff, god never abandoned his people
00:17:37.774 --> 00:17:41.512
Because he had an agreement with his people and they were his
00:17:41.512 --> 00:17:44.615
People before he gave them the first thou shalt or thou
00:17:44.615 --> 00:17:48.385
Shalt not.
00:17:48.752 --> 00:17:50.787
And then this is where the music changes, 1500 years later, about
00:17:50.854 --> 00:17:57.394
1500 years later, jesus gathers, this is so amazing, gathers with
00:17:57.394 --> 00:18:03.200
The 12 apostles in a room in jerusalem to celebrate passover.
00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:09.239
And passover was the annual celebration of god delivering
00:18:09.306 --> 00:18:12.743
The nation from egypt.
00:18:12.743 --> 00:18:14.978
They remembered, they remembered, and it was so
00:18:14.978 --> 00:18:17.214
Difficult in the first century during these days, it was so
00:18:17.214 --> 00:18:19.883
Difficult to celebrate passover when you were basically, you
00:18:19.883 --> 00:18:24.354
Know, you were basically a vassal state of the
00:18:24.354 --> 00:18:28.392
Roman empire.
00:18:28.392 --> 00:18:29.726
They had no freedom.
00:18:29.726 --> 00:18:31.094
All the freedoms, all the joy, all the things that they
00:18:31.094 --> 00:18:33.096
Celebrated, you know, under moses, most of that was gone,
00:18:33.096 --> 00:18:37.067
And yet they're still celebrating god's faithfulness
00:18:37.134 --> 00:18:40.237
To the nation.
00:18:40.237 --> 00:18:41.572
So they gather, and that night they're expecting the same
00:18:41.572 --> 00:18:43.674
Thing, and jesus says something and does something so
00:18:43.674 --> 00:18:47.878
Blasphemous, they should have all gotten up and walked out of
00:18:47.878 --> 00:18:51.582
The room.
00:18:51.582 --> 00:18:52.916
They should have walked out, or they should have stoned him.
00:18:52.916 --> 00:18:55.619
There's not an equivalent, but my best shot, and i've shared
00:18:57.321 --> 00:18:59.623
This with you before, what he does next would be like me
00:18:59.623 --> 00:19:01.992
Showing up the first weekend of december and saying, hey, you
00:19:01.992 --> 00:19:05.028
Know, in december we celebrate the birth of jesus, but from now
00:19:05.028 --> 00:19:07.731
On, we're gonna celebrate my birth.
00:19:07.731 --> 00:19:09.766
Yeah, you would leave, or i would leave, or something would
00:19:11.301 --> 00:19:13.237
Happen, right?
00:19:13.237 --> 00:19:14.605
I mean, you just don't do that.
00:19:14.605 --> 00:19:15.939
Okay, what jesus is about to say to them, it doesn't even compare
00:19:15.939 --> 00:19:20.410
To how audacious, and how strange, and how crazy that
00:19:20.410 --> 00:19:24.081
Would sound.
00:19:24.081 --> 00:19:25.415
He says gentleman, from now on when you celebrate passover,
00:19:25.415 --> 00:19:29.653
From now on you keep celebrating, but from now on
00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:31.955
When you celebrate it, i don't want you to do this in
00:19:31.955 --> 00:19:34.625
Remembrance of what happened 15 or so 100 years ago, from now
00:19:34.625 --> 00:19:39.396
On, i want you to do this in remembrance of me.
00:19:39.396 --> 00:19:43.066
In other words, what god did for our people all those centuries
00:19:44.534 --> 00:19:48.972
Ago, he is about to do for the entire world.
00:19:48.972 --> 00:19:54.678
He is about to invite the entire world to form a single
00:19:54.678 --> 00:20:01.618
Expression or embrace a single expression of trust that will
00:20:01.618 --> 00:20:05.956
Then introduce them into a relationship with god
00:20:05.956 --> 00:20:09.359
Our father.
00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:11.328
He goes on to say this, this cup that they had taken so many
00:20:11.328 --> 00:20:13.830
Times, they knew what it represented.
00:20:13.830 --> 00:20:15.666
He said, no, we're gonna do this different.
00:20:15.666 --> 00:20:17.634
"this cup is now the new covenant," a new relationship,
00:20:17.701 --> 00:20:23.106
A new order, a new kind of approach.
00:20:23.106 --> 00:20:27.311
This is something brand new.
00:20:27.311 --> 00:20:28.712
It's a new covenant, and it's going to be my blood, which made
00:20:28.712 --> 00:20:32.482
No sense to them that night, but the next day he would shed his
00:20:32.482 --> 00:20:35.619
Blood for them, and for you, and for the entire world to
00:20:35.619 --> 00:20:38.322
Establish this covenant.
00:20:38.322 --> 00:20:39.990
That first covenant with israel was done with a lamb, with
00:20:39.990 --> 00:20:42.859
Lamb's blood on the side of the door, and jesus says i am the
00:20:42.859 --> 00:20:45.562
Final one.
00:20:45.562 --> 00:20:46.930
And they're thinking back, they remember that day, some of them,
00:20:46.930 --> 00:20:48.865
Not all of them, when john the baptist looked at jesus and
00:20:48.865 --> 00:20:51.368
Said, you remember this?
00:20:51.368 --> 00:20:52.703
"behold, the lamb of god who comes to take away the sins of
00:20:52.703 --> 00:20:56.473
The world."
00:20:56.473 --> 00:20:57.808
And suddenly, it all comes together for them, that the
00:20:57.808 --> 00:20:59.643
Nation of israel was the backstory to the main story, but
00:20:59.643 --> 00:21:02.913
It was the essential story to get them to this point in
00:21:02.913 --> 00:21:05.349
History, and god was about to do something new, a brand new
00:21:05.349 --> 00:21:09.019
Covenant, not simply with a nation, but for and with
00:21:09.019 --> 00:21:12.356
The world.
00:21:12.789 --> 00:21:14.191
He was saying just as god delivered our people from
00:21:14.191 --> 00:21:17.928
Slavery in egypt, he's about to deliver the world from slavery
00:21:17.928 --> 00:21:23.066
And from the ultimate consequence of sin.
00:21:23.066 --> 00:21:26.737
And the term and the condition would be the same as it was
00:21:26.737 --> 00:21:31.975
1,500 years ago, a single expression of trust.
00:21:31.975 --> 00:21:39.783
Isn't that amazing?
00:21:39.783 --> 00:21:41.184
Paul, who again was on both sides of the aisle, he was a
00:21:41.184 --> 00:21:43.620
Pharisee, he considered himself, like, the greatest pharisee
00:21:43.620 --> 00:21:46.123
Ever, then he becomes a jesus follower and he considers
00:21:46.123 --> 00:21:48.458
Himself the chief of all sinners.
00:21:48.458 --> 00:21:49.893
It's like which one are you?
00:21:49.893 --> 00:21:51.228
He's like, chief of all sinners.
00:21:51.228 --> 00:21:52.696
I thought i had it going on, i thought i knew, but i
00:21:52.696 --> 00:21:54.765
Didn't know.
00:21:54.765 --> 00:21:56.133
When i met jesus, my whole worldview changed, right?
00:21:56.133 --> 00:21:59.102
And paul, because he'd been on both sides, he was an educated
00:21:59.169 --> 00:22:01.671
Pharisee, he understood this parallel track.
00:22:01.671 --> 00:22:04.374
He understood the parallel between what god had done for
00:22:04.374 --> 00:22:07.344
The nation 1,500 years ago and what god had done through jesus
00:22:07.344 --> 00:22:10.914
For the entire world.
00:22:10.914 --> 00:22:12.315
And he writes, he says, look, just as god demonstrated his
00:22:12.315 --> 00:22:17.354
Love for the nation, his love for israel, "god demonstrates
00:22:17.354 --> 00:22:21.792
His own love for us in this, that while we were," this is so
00:22:21.792 --> 00:22:29.566
Powerful, "that while we were still sinners, christ died
00:22:29.566 --> 00:22:34.404
For us."
00:22:34.404 --> 00:22:35.739
I gotta explain this word real quick, this is so important.
00:22:35.739 --> 00:22:37.340
You see, when we read this verse, especially if you grew up
00:22:37.340 --> 00:22:40.043
In church, you've heard this.
00:22:40.043 --> 00:22:41.378
"while we were still sinners, christ died for us."
00:22:41.378 --> 00:22:42.746
It's like, okay, i know what he's meaning, but okay, i wasn't
00:22:42.746 --> 00:22:44.648
Still sinning when he died for us because when he died for us,
00:22:44.648 --> 00:22:47.083
I wasn't even alive, but anyway, i'm sure, you know, this means
00:22:47.083 --> 00:22:49.553
Something important.
00:22:49.553 --> 00:22:50.887
Here's why this is so important to how paul wrote it.
00:22:50.887 --> 00:22:52.589
You see, paul was alive when jesus was crucified.
00:22:52.589 --> 00:22:56.626
Paul's friends, the people that paul knew, were alive when jesus
00:22:56.693 --> 00:22:59.596
Was crucified, but he was nowhere close to it, and he
00:22:59.596 --> 00:23:02.365
Realized, this is kind of his own testimony.
00:23:02.365 --> 00:23:04.434
I realize now while i was 100% wrong about god, i was so wrong
00:23:04.434 --> 00:23:11.508
That when i heard the message of jesus, i began to persecute the
00:23:11.508 --> 00:23:14.444
Jesus followers.
00:23:14.444 --> 00:23:15.779
I was wrong.
00:23:15.779 --> 00:23:17.113
I was in error.
00:23:17.113 --> 00:23:18.482
I was an enemy.
00:23:18.482 --> 00:23:19.816
And while i was alive on this earth, and god knew everything i
00:23:19.816 --> 00:23:22.619
Was about to do, his son died from my sin anyway.
00:23:22.619 --> 00:23:30.760
While i was still a sinner, christ died for me, for us,
00:23:30.760 --> 00:23:39.069
Before we did anything, before we knew there was anything that
00:23:39.069 --> 00:23:42.606
Needed to be done, he did something for us.
00:23:42.606 --> 00:23:44.875
Two verses later, he writes this, he says, "for if, while we
00:23:44.875 --> 00:23:48.578
Were god's enemies," talking about himself and talking about
00:23:48.578 --> 00:23:52.115
Some of us and all of us to some extent, right?
00:23:52.115 --> 00:23:54.851
"while we were still god's enemies," before we did
00:23:54.918 --> 00:23:58.455
Anything, before we knew there was anything to do, he went
00:23:58.455 --> 00:24:00.957
Ahead and he reconciled us to him, and how did he do it?
00:24:00.957 --> 00:24:04.995
He tells us, through, through, through what?
00:24:04.995 --> 00:24:07.330
Through rule keeping?
00:24:07.330 --> 00:24:08.698
Through doing our best?
00:24:08.698 --> 00:24:10.033
Through making more promises?
00:24:10.033 --> 00:24:11.401
He says, no, he would say, look, i was the pharisee of pharisees,
00:24:11.401 --> 00:24:13.203
I tried that route, there's no peace.
00:24:13.203 --> 00:24:15.372
You never know where you stand.
00:24:15.372 --> 00:24:16.740
You just become judgmental, you mistreat other people thinking
00:24:16.740 --> 00:24:19.442
You're right with god.
00:24:19.442 --> 00:24:20.777
No, we're done with all that.
00:24:20.777 --> 00:24:22.913
Through, and this is the jumping off point for some of you,
00:24:22.913 --> 00:24:30.787
Because this is the fork in the road.
00:24:30.787 --> 00:24:35.659
How do you find peace with god?
00:24:35.659 --> 00:24:37.193
He says i'll tell you how.
00:24:38.328 --> 00:24:39.696
I tried the other way, "through the death of his son."
00:24:39.696 --> 00:24:46.770
The reason that the gospel, the reason that the arrival of
00:24:46.770 --> 00:24:51.041
Jesus, the reason the message of jesus is good news, is because
00:24:51.041 --> 00:24:56.046
We don't good our way in.
00:24:56.046 --> 00:24:58.615
We don't behave our way in any more than my children behave
00:24:58.682 --> 00:25:03.219
Their way into our family.
00:25:03.219 --> 00:25:05.455
Best news of all.
00:25:05.455 --> 00:25:07.424
We can't bad our way out any more than my children can
00:25:07.490 --> 00:25:13.797
Misbehave their way out of our family.
00:25:13.797 --> 00:25:16.466
They are my children, i am their father, regardless.
00:25:16.466 --> 00:25:20.804
He's offering a gift, take it.
00:25:20.804 --> 00:25:26.309
It's why jesus didn't say you must behave again.
00:25:26.309 --> 00:25:33.483
John was there for this when jesus was talking to nicodemus,
00:25:33.483 --> 00:25:37.053
And nicodemus was a smart, educated guy, and he was a
00:25:37.053 --> 00:25:41.057
Leader in the temple system, and he's trying to figure this out,
00:25:41.057 --> 00:25:45.028
And jesus didn't say come on, nicodemus, you gotta
00:25:45.095 --> 00:25:47.297
Behave again.
00:25:47.297 --> 00:25:48.665
He said no, nicodemus, you must be born again.
00:25:48.665 --> 00:25:53.036
Because the law was simply confirmation of god's love for a
00:25:53.103 --> 00:25:57.307
People, but you're born into a family and god is inviting you
00:25:57.307 --> 00:26:01.911
To be born again into his family.
00:26:01.911 --> 00:26:05.882
So, if you're wondering where you're standing with god, and
00:26:07.884 --> 00:26:12.122
You keep looking at how well you're doing, according to jesus
00:26:12.122 --> 00:26:15.258
Who rose from the dead, you're looking in the wrong place.
00:26:15.325 --> 00:26:19.396
Why all the rules?
00:26:19.896 --> 00:26:21.698
Well, for israel, god was not attempting to make bad people
00:26:21.698 --> 00:26:26.536
Good, god was keeping free people free, and the same is
00:26:26.536 --> 00:26:30.440
True for you, and the same is true for me.
00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:31.808
With god, with god, as with all good parents, the relationship
00:26:31.808 --> 00:26:35.178
Always precedes the rules, and the rules are simply god's way
00:26:35.178 --> 00:26:40.717
Of saying because i love you, here's how i want you to live.
00:26:40.717 --> 00:26:44.821
Because i love you, here's why i want you to forgive.
00:26:44.888 --> 00:26:48.258
Because i love you, here's why i want you to serve one another.
00:26:48.258 --> 00:26:51.695
Because i love you, here's how i want you to treat your enemies.
00:26:51.695 --> 00:26:54.364
Because i love you, this is why i want you to take the log out
00:26:54.364 --> 00:26:57.133
Of your own eye.
00:26:57.133 --> 00:27:00.170
This is how i want you to live because i love you and i know
00:27:00.170 --> 00:27:03.840
What brings the most happiness, and fulfillment, and peace.
00:27:03.840 --> 00:27:07.777
To follow the cue, to follow the life, to follow what my son
00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:13.683
Modeled on earth.
00:27:13.683 --> 00:27:17.153
We are reconciled to god, are made to be able to fit with god
00:27:17.153 --> 00:27:21.624
By grace.
00:27:21.624 --> 00:27:23.460
We choose to follow.
00:27:23.460 --> 00:27:25.228
We choose to obey out of gratitude, and jesus summarized
00:27:25.228 --> 00:27:30.233
It, he made it so simple.
00:27:30.233 --> 00:27:31.601
He said here's all i want you to do.
00:27:31.601 --> 00:27:32.936
Here's what it looks like to follow and obey me.
00:27:32.936 --> 00:27:34.537
Here's your one rule, i just want you to treat other people
00:27:34.537 --> 00:27:38.608
The way that i have treated you.
00:27:38.675 --> 00:27:42.078
Do not forget that once upon a time you, too, were a slave.
00:27:42.078 --> 00:27:49.552
Andy: hey everybody, thank you so much for tuning in.
00:27:49.619 --> 00:27:51.654
If you'd like to watch this episode again or share it with
00:27:51.654 --> 00:27:54.491
A friend, head on over to the website at the bottom of
00:27:54.491 --> 00:27:56.593
The screen.
00:27:56.593 --> 00:27:57.961
The website is the best place for you to find other "your
00:27:57.961 --> 00:28:00.563
Move" episodes, access additional resources, and learn
00:28:00.563 --> 00:28:03.333
More about our mission to engage culture with the teaching of
00:28:03.333 --> 00:28:06.636
Jesus because we're convinced following jesus will make your
00:28:06.636 --> 00:28:09.606
Life better and make the world a better place,
00:28:09.606 --> 00:28:12.442
And now it's your move.
00:28:12.442 --> 00:28:14.711
♪♪♪
00:28:15.044 --> 00:28:22.051
...
00:28:25.288 --> 00:28:29.010

Andy Stanley - How Good Is Good Enough? (Part 3)

May 31, 2025 | 28:29

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