Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1042 | Jase Goes Wide-Eyed at Alternate Realities in the Bible & 2 Super Awkward Bible Misquotes

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

Jase poses the idea that the love of Jesus is contagious, and Jesus drops a nugget in John that suggests he has a grasp of alternate realities. Al illustrates how an incorrect verse reference can wreak havoc and confusion, and the guys answer a question about how humanity will recognize Jesus at the end of time when Heaven becomes our eternal home. In this episode: John 4, verse 18, John 14, verse 23; 1 John 4, verse 18 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. We're finally getting back to our study today in the book of John. And Jason was funny because I was at an event recently, and I was signing books. And so, you know, we've written a few different books, and I've contributed to other ones. So I've always tried to come up with, like, a unique verse for every book. You know, whatever the verse is, I write. kind of fits the theme of the book, you know. And so the problem is when you write several books,

you sometimes forget what the verse is for the right book. So it causes me to have to think a second before I do it. And so I was telling this guy, we were signed, we have a book called Desperate Forgiveness. And so I found this verse in Luke 747 where the woman is at Jesus' feet. And, you know, he looks at her, looks at Simon, who's judging her in the Pharisee. And he says,

to the one who has been forgiven much, they will love much. And so that's Luke 747. So that was what I was going to sign of the book. But we first came out with a book, I was signing John 747. Just, you know, one little, yeah, well, I want you to look it up, because it has quite a different message than Luke 747. So what does it say? It says, John 747.

It says, you mean he has deceived you also? so. The Pharisee retorted, retorted, which I don't know retorted is even in the Bible anywhere with this verse. So I did it for several books, and nobody ever said anything. I never heard back from anybody. And this book was new. And then finally, our old friend Bob DeMoss sent me a note and said, hey, congrats on your new book.

And he said, what was the, what did you mean the other reference in John 747? He has deceived you as well, which was. So funny, and I was just laughing. I was like, oh, man. I said, so I texted him back. I said, what do you think I meant by them? How many people got that? Probably 300 people.

So I'm sure someone. Oh, you've wrecked. I'm sure someone out there just wrecked because they're thinking, what have I done? Someone out there and understanding that. But Alex sent me this. So this happened to someone else. This was someone who was asked to read a text at a wedding. I thought it was appropriate since we're in the book of John.

And the text this person was supposed to read is 1 John 418, which says there is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear. For fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears has not been protected or perfected in love. And so that's the verse they were supposed to read. Well, what they actually read was John 418, which again had quite the different meanings.

As you want to read John 418? So not the perfect love instead, read it, Jay. John 418 says the fact is you've had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is quite true. So that actually happened at someone's wedding. Can you imagine like this person reading that text and everybody looking around each other thinking, what does that have to do? It's kind of a sick joke here, Al.

I'm telling you, these are things that actually have. You've got to be prepared when you go in, you know what to me. You need to know what you're writing down. What's exactly going on? Well, I think the point is these numbers, they were created just so people could keep up with it. They were not written in this format. Yeah. Yeah.

When John wrote his letters, he didn't say, you know, I think I'll call this one first, John. Well, it's like when Trump called, you know, Corinthians, two Corinthians, which a lot of people do that. Right. They were like, oh, he's mispronouncing. Yeah. Because you say, I mean, I say second Corinthians. But I've heard a lot of preachers say two Corinthians. Yeah.

But I've noticed most of them are not from this country. Right. So I don't know where to go with that. But the bottom line is it's about a person. So maybe there's some truth in there. That's why I don't like these. Margins? No, I don't like these sermons that just go, these sermon series that just, when people say,

hey, we go text by text, verse by verse. But sometimes you miss the big picture. Yeah. Doing that. It's called expository preaching. We preach expositorily, but we also will take time when we will do like a series, He's like we were going through the book of Mark, but then we took a break to go into who is God. So we had four weeks just on kind of like the doctrine of God.

Who is God? Who is God? Who is he? And I think it's helpful. I think both are helpful. Well, James Haynes have a good point. I thought it was called exegetical, preach. No, exegetical is to.

Oh, here we go. Battle of words. Well, exegesis versus isogeesis. Exegesis is I'm pulling out of the text, what the text says. Isogesis is I'm reading into. the text, what I wanted to say. Well, let's make a deal. Drop the ISO and the XA, and let's just talk about Jesus.

I'm ready. Y'all waiting to meet you back in the way. This is the Joe, remember when we were in school, Jay's. It was like, you got to watch some of these people that exit Jesus because they exit Jesus. That was the little lines that they used to use. I think, Zach, he was meaning that towards you. I don't make sure. It's like deductive versus inductive, which is inductive preaching is to try to gather meaning

out of something whereas, you know, the other way around is you're just taking what's in it, which, you know, we tend to do more. It seems like to me it's paralysis through analysis. I mean, rhyming phrases. Well, that is a threat.

But you get the gospel of John, though, let's just say there's a lot of media. Well, I do think it's important. It's the same way we've approached this study. And I'm trying to do the same thing in our Ephesion study at our church. is to continue to get up high and give the big picture

and then go in to the text. Because you've got to keep, Jay's right about one thing. You've got to keep the main thing and the main thing because you can get lost in the weeds of a text. And I've seen people do that and then start hopping around the scriptures and come up with some really crazy stuff

that was never intended in the original. It's like I'm pretty sure, you know, people would say the Roman road has brought a lot of people to Jesus. But when you kind of look at that, you're just kind of taken verses out of the context of which they were written and combining them to make kind of a way to convince somebody, you're out. There's a way in.

But so I'm, you know, I'm not saying that's necessarily wrong in the short term because a lot of people, they're like, well, that's how it came to Christ. the Romans road. Right. And I'm like, well, but once you start studying more and getting into, these men were carried along by the Holy Spirit as they wrote. I mean, even in John's letter, it seems to be very crafty in that he introduces all these big, giant thoughts in the first chapter.

Right. And then it starts breaking down into everyday practical conversations through the word, becoming flesh, his name was Jesus, the son of God. And he doesn't operate like you would think. Right. I mean, like one of the questions I give in a Bible study is not some kind of trap on verses on what you believe. One of the things I'll say is, if you read one of the Gospels, does your life look like Jesus? Yeah.

It's a very profound question. Right. Usually the answer is no. Or I haven't read the book in its entirety enough to really relate. I think people are just looking at verses like, have I checked all the boxes? Right. And I'm fine. Yeah, I call it image bearing.

I mean, this should happen to a person who knows Jesus well enough to trust him enough that he lives in you. You should begin to look like he's described. I mean, that should be the natural progression. And it's not about knowing more always. It's about knowing him better, which I now think is the whole point of the book of Ephesians. Ephesians 117 to know him better. I mean, the mystery of godliness is that Christ is in you. He says that in Colossians.

What's that look like? Or 1st John 4, you mentioned that earlier. In this world, we are like him. Yeah. Or 1 John 2, where he says, whoever, claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. I mean, there's just, these are just coming off the top of my head. It's over and over and over and over.

And you're right. It really applies in any context. I had a young man call me last week and he'd have some marriage issues. And so we talked on the phone. I just tried to encourage him when I get back to town this week and he's like, hey, could I sit down? You know, that really helped me. And so we sat down yesterday, talked another hour.

And it wasn't like I had, you know, know, my Bible out, or I was even giving him text, I was just explaining what love looks like because that's what Jesus is. And if you can apply that into any relationship, especially your marriage, these are things you'll start to see. But it's amazing how it just breaks down the walls. You're not giving somebody like a 10-point thing to a better marriage. You're just describing what it was, what would it look like if there were more love in your heart in marriage? What would be the results of it? But that, that's very impact. to people because it's achievable, you know, whereas other things you look at and say, I just don't know.

He even said, he said, you know, I've been trying to read the Bible and just, as if just random reading is going to get you there. And I'm like, well, how's that working for you? He said, what is not? And I was like, well, let's talk about looking like Jesus and what that looks like. So I just think in any context of any situation, if you can get back to that, then you really start helping people see a way out of whatever it is. that has them trapped. I think when he calls his first disciples, it's just not what we would think,

how it would go down, which is where we left off. Right, yeah. You know, John the Baptist said, look, here's the Lamb of God. So he had obviously figured something out, even though it seems like he's questioning who Jesus is along the way,

especially when Jesus wanted to be. baptized by him, especially when John was in prison. He was like, go ask him if he's still the one. Yeah. Are you sure this is what we're supposed to be doing? It reminds me of that song, you know, you're still the one. Are you still the one? Right.

Still the one. So these two disciples who we've, I guess we've deemed Peter and maybe John. Well, Andrew and John originally, and then Andrew went to tell Peter. Yeah. Andrew and John, then they went and got Peter. Right. But all he says is he turns around and says, what do you want? And they said, where are you staying?

Which did not answer, they didn't answer the question, which I think it goes to our basic humanity. We don't want to, we're embarrassed that we're like stalking. I mean, they're like, we wanted, the answer should have been. And we wanted to know if you are the Messiah. Because that's what they'd heard. Yeah. And that's what John had told them, John the Baptist.

Normal human beings don't like confrontation or conflict. So they were a little deceitful. Yeah. Of course, it's, so then it gets into this. And we didn't talk about it, Jace, but it's interesting that they immediately called him rabbi, which would have put him in a different category in terms of how they viewed people. I mean, and I don't know that we, this is the first time we see him call this. So I don't know if like Jesus's walk up until this point, if it's just his reputation or what.

But he certainly didn't come through the hierarchy of, you know, rabbical teachings. I mean, they had schools. We know the school of Gamal that Paul went to. So he didn't go through any of those things. And yet simply, I'm assuming by the sheer force of his life. and who he was and his reputation. John the Baptist's recommendation. Right.

I think that's what did it. That was a good endorse. That's quite the endorsement. Right. Because he's like most people, it's kind of like, you know, John the Baptist is making a name for himself. But then when people gathered around him,

they were like, well, I'm not the guy. Right. It's to kind of put it in a political environment, here's a guy basically campaigning for someone else. Right. which is unheard of in politics. And when they started trying to nail him down to make him the guy, he's like, nope, not the guy. Not the guy.

You know, it's interesting about that question, though, when they ask when Jesus says, what do you want? My translation says, what are you seeking? If you were to answer that question just on a fundamental kind of philosophical level of what are we all looking for, like what are we all seeking? what do we all want? The interesting thing about the answer to that question is what we all want, what they wanted truly, and what we want is the same thing. We really do want at our core to be with God. I mean, that's what we want wholeness. We want connection. We want intimacy, but that can only be had first with our creator. So that, the answer is that what they really wanted, if they would have known and could articulate, they would have said, we want, we want you

to live with us. So it's interesting that when he says, what do you want, they ask, he, where do you live at? And then really the whole point of John, his gospel, is that John 14 pastors, God's going to live with in people now. So it's kind of funny, they asked that question in response to his question, what do you want? They say, well, where do you live? Yeah. And it's kind of funny how that plays out because eventually he's going to say, I live in you. Yeah. I live in you now. Because he didn't really live anywhere. He didn't live anywhere. He didn't live anywhere. He stayed some places, but he didn't really live anywhere. Well, that's an interesting thought, because when he does say that in John 14,

where it says, anyone who trusts me or obeys me, we will come and make our home. Yeah. My father will love him. This is, was that 1423? Yeah, 1423. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him, which he had started that whole chapter. by saying in my father's house or any rooms.

Yeah. You know, I'm going to go, I'm going to go prepare a place for you. But then he also says in that chapter, I will come to you, like in the same vein of giving you the Holy Spirit. Right. Because we know the Holy Spirit and Jesus, they're one in the same, yet uniquely different. Yeah.

So it's, I think that's the trouble. the religious world has with all this, because we're just not used to looking at something that way. Right. But it goes back to Genesis 1. You say the same thing. You have the father ready to create. You have the Holy Spirit hovering,

and then he starts speaking, and then things start happening through that process, which is the same thing that's going to happen here as far as new creation in human beings. Yeah. I think that question that Jesus asked is not just an accident or random thought in there. He is getting to the core of all of it, which is desire. When he says, what are you seeking is what my translation says. What do you want? What do you desire?

What do you, you know, what are you after? And just automatically what comes to mind, the verses like, seek ye first, the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things, these other things, they'll all be added unto you or those who by persistence seek glory and immortality, they'll be eternal life. So there is like this whole, like there's this kind of core to the, to humanity. Like what does it mean to be human? I think Jesus in this question is getting, I mean, this is not just a random, I don't think

this is a random like, hey, what do you guys want? What are you up to? Now, I think he's, I think he's getting to an existential question here. What are you seeking? What are you really after? Yeah. And they don't even have a clue how to answer that. Every one of my kids when they became a teenager, this question came up.

Not because I knew this is how John started. But it's like all of a sudden you see a bad attitude or you get intel of bad behavior. You sit down and you're like, what's the plan here? I know you've been doing this and that. Then you go through that process. They're like, no, it wasn't me. you know oh yeah who's you what are you trying to accomplish what do you want here yeah so then it forces the issue why am i pursuing this when i know this is wrong so it's a very good good question

now in this case i think he just was more like why are you following me but when they're like well where are you staying which i'm sure they were disappointed yeah because he was homeless pretty much. I mean, later he would say, you want to follow me, but I don't even have a place to lay my head. Right. And then he says, come, and you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying,

but the key phrase is they spent that day with him. Yeah. Now, something happened during that day, because as the story continues, he gives the details. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.

First thing Andrew did was to find his brother, Simon, and tell him we have found the Messiah. That is the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas, which when translated is Peter,

which means rock. And I want to read all those jokes because it's very interesting. Simon, in Hebrew, means to hear, because he's got different names here. Cephas, in Aramaic, means stone, which, like you said, means Petros, which is in Greek, which means rock.

So if you think about it, the names mentioned here for Peter, one who hears, one who is stone, one who is a rock. So that's what his name means now, as Jesus kind of brought him through the process. And that is interesting that that becomes Peter's life.

You know, Luke 5 goes into, the specifics of a conversation that happens, I'm assuming after this, when Peter gets in the boat with Jesus and they have the great catch of fish. And that's what seems to solidify him to realize he's all in. But I just found it interesting

that of these names that he has here, it started with one who hears. And it brought him back to what you said a minute ago about searching, Zach. There's a Greek word here, Eurisco, and it's used five times in our text today. And it's to locate by searching. And I think that's fascinating that...

So that's every time it says found. Yeah. Or yeah, like he's right. He said, Andrew did what was to find his brother. That was to locate by searching. And that's five times that word is used in this one content. Sometimes it was Jesus and them. Sometimes it was them and one another.

Sometimes it was them to Jesus. But every one of them was the case. And I've always had this, I tell people all the time, because they're worried about somebody, and they're like, man, I just, I don't know if they're going to come around. I was like, look, when people search, they will find.

And the reason that I think they'll find is because when you're searching, Christ will find you. So the idea is that he's always looking for those who seek, you know, because you read those verses seeking, you will find it. But if you're not seeking, you're not going to find him. Yeah. Because you're not looking in the right place.

Which gets back to what do you want. Right. What are you seeking? Right. There's like these echoes in scripture or patterns that just kind of, there's like a small, something small happens, but then there's like a bigger pattern of that same thing. And I think that is happening here with this idea of what do you want, what are you seeking? Because what they do is they end up following Jesus, which is, I would say, what we all really want. We may not know we want that, but that's what we want. And when we follow Jesus, if you notice what Jason just said, mentioned, pointed this out. When you're in proximity to Jesus, things change. So whatever happened, I mean, these guys, like, they encounter this rabbi. He goes from rabbi to Messiah.

Well, what happened in between? At first he was the rabbi. They said him, rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? But then whenever they went and were calling others, they said, we found the Messiah, which means the Christ. So something happened in that time period, and it was only they stay with him like with a day. for it was about the 10th hour, verse 39 says. Which is about 4 o'clock in the afternoon by the Jewish clock.

So they probably spent the night there, I would guess. Yeah, so they spent some time with him. And I think the lesson to learn there is when you, when you're in the proximity, when you're in proximity to Jesus, things change because you see who he really is. Now, granted, did they fully understand that? Absolutely not, because we know Peter ends up denying. him at the crucifixion three times. So Peter had his issues. I mean, but on some level, whatever happened here, I tend to think probably what happened, mainly because you look at places like Luke 24 where Jesus would go to the Old Testament scriptures and he would

show them from the text why the Christ had to be risen. He's used all this Old Testament stuff. I'd be curious to know what happened in that conversation when they were with him for this day, when he went from rabbi to Messiah, I guarantee you he pulled out those Old Testament scriptures and started quoting them and made the connection for these guys. Hey, I'm the, yeah, I'm kind of the guy that you've been waiting on.

Well, what I love about it, it seems to imply that when you understand a little bit more about who Jesus is, your first impulse and instinct is to tell someone else about it. And it is interesting to me. The first thing Andrew says, I got to get Peter in on this. and he goes to tell him.

And I think, because you get over to John 4 in a couple of chapters when we get there with a woman at the well, what happens the first time she really is convinced he is who he said it is, she's going back to town to tell everybody. So it's just in the instinct. That's what I think we missed in the religious world. Yeah. Is a lot of what you read is about,

I keep, that word vocation keeps coming in my mind, but it's what God, had planned for us to do, to be. And that's why we're here now. I mean, we're representing Jesus when you think of that 2nd, Corinthians 3 that we referred to last time. I mean, it's like chapter 3 through 6. It's all about God is leading us.

We're reflecting Jesus. We're God's ambassadors. We don't view people from a worldly point of view. We're new creations. I mean, it's just over and over. So I think here, you're right. It naturally goes to this. It's like Jesus is contagious.

Like we would view some kind of health problem. But contagious in a good way. And I don't think he really, I mean, you say, well, he might have gone to the Old Testament scriptures. I just think, you know, when you meet somebody, I mean, it takes you about 10 seconds to get a feeling. in here. And usually a minute, you've already formed an opinion.

And them of you. Well, exactly. It's just like, this guy, you know. I don't know. I mean, but just think about, we know Jesus never sinned Hebrews 4, said in that 12 and 13. So you're never going to, it's like the more you watch him, you never catch him.

there's been people who don't believe in God trying to read through these books. He's this most intelligent person in the world. I mean, it's like you're seeing all this. He's the most humble person in the world. And think of every situation imaginable circumstance-wise. And you're like, what is the best course of action? And he's doing it. Well, he always does the best course of action.

He never says, I wish I would have said. Whatever he said was the thing you wish you would have said in the moment. Well, I haven't thought about it. his trips to the temple, because we know he went back for Passover, which was that time of year when they would go. But the only time we see him there actually on site, you know, one time he's 12 years old, he's having a discussion about God. And then the other time he comes in, he's flipping over tables and flipping out because of what's going on there. But what we never see in scripture is him going in to offer a sacrifice. That's true. I mean, in the times we read

about him around the temple, he's not going there to offer sacrifice. for himself. And also you see when he overturns the tables in the temple, at least in the second time he did. I think he did it twice because it's in John 2. Yeah, we're going to read about it next chapter. It's also in Mark. Mark has an account. It's a little later on in his ministry, but he kind of says the same thing, but Mark's account kind of narrows it down a little bit more. He says, you've taken a father's house that was meant to be a place for the nations. Everybody to come in worship, you turn it into a den of robbers. So we do see. Jesus' intention and his anger.

But I was thinking about, as you said, that word vocation, that's a great thought, Jase, because what we've done in evangelical church, at least how we all grew up, and I think this is a problem with kind of the evangelical movement of the last 50 years, is that we've been so set on the word is satirology, but it means just like our justification or salvation, that we don't ask a question, what now? Okay, I get it. You're saved. Great.

Yeah, they read every passage in that vein. How do I check the box to be saved where I don't have any kind of consequences or I don't want to go to hell? But it's like, as long as I check that box. So I can get back to live in my life. Then in the same vein, it's like, there's nothing you can do to save yourself, you know. So they're like, okay, I got it. They're like, so what are you going to do now? Well, nothing.

You know what I mean? You can't even ask that question. No, you're saved by Christ's like, yeah, we all agree to that. But when you read all the verses. Yeah, you read all the verses about, you know, we were, God created us to do, you know, good works before the beginning of the world that Ephesians 2. We're God's like workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, things like that.

You're like, well, what is exactly? does that mean, you know? And or what does it mean to be God's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us? Yeah. That's that Corinthians 5. Well, I wanted to bring up one other just personality trait before we moved to that,

because that's really what I wanted to talk about also. But even subtle things like in Matthew 11, when Jesus in verse 20, when he says Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed because they didn't repent

and he says, woe to you, and he names these towns. He says, if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in these other cities, they would have repented long ago.

And my only point here is is not only does Jesus like know what the best course of action is, He'll say things like if something would have happened that didn't happen, this would have happened. Yeah. Well, that's, we're going down a rabbit hole that other humans can't even fathom. Yeah. So when you think about him as pure.

Alternate realities. You know, innocent. And he gives the impression that he's inviting everyone to this. You even see these subtleties in who he ate with. Yeah. You know, he's just attacking the Pharisees, you know, as people would put it. He's always in opposition. And then there's a story that says, well, he was over at a Pharisee's house having supper.

And they were reclining. And you remember that story that comes up? It's like, well, what's he doing there? Yeah, he did that frequently. Yeah, I mean, he's somehow able to express truths and still leave the door open, even like with Nicodemus. It's like, I mean, he told him the most crazy thing Nicodemus probably ever could imagine. You need to be born again. Start over.

Wait, what? But it actually impacted Nicodemus in a way where at the end of Jesus' life, he's getting the body and preparing it. I mean, I just think he had a way to invite everybody, be innocent, yet be very strong in what he said as far as truth. but he also has he's making the right decisions he's also doing this for the father in in a humility type lifestyle of always giving credit to you know to god the father you just wasn't you know didn't have a banner saying hey let's conquer the world it's just it's fascinating well i think it's kind of like us though jays we have the same like when i run upon people that are super zealous for the faith.

And sometimes they get so zealous that they forget about that we're trying to impact people with this. It almost looks like you're excluding people because they're just not good enough to get in on how good this is. But I'm comfortable with talking with them to try to expand their possibilities to think maybe God wants you to put something out there

that attracts people to something good as opposed to making it seem like it's unattainable. And I always think about the life of Paul, you know, when he was Saul, he was, you didn't get more zealous than him for righteous perfection in his mind. And then all of a sudden in one day, he realized he had missed the whole thing. Yeah. And it was all of a sudden, it was like, wait, you want me to go to talk to Gentiles? I mean, like, yeah. That's, that's a place you got to get to. It was probably a progressive. There's a great Christian writer, probably the great, one of the

greatest Christian minds in history in terms of just from the standpoint of they contributed a lot to the Christian faith was Thomas Aquinas. And he wrote, I would call it a Magnus Opus. Like it's one of the core text and books for kind of Western Christian thought. It's held as like this is one of the greatest works ever. And at the end of it, I find this interesting. He wrote the whole thing and he said at the very end of it, he said that he had a beautific vision about. beautiful vision of Christ that made all of his writings seem like straw. And I think there's a lot of, like, that's, that's the posture that I think when you're really with Jesus, like when you're with him and you're following him, all of our formulas, all of our, and not to say doctrine doesn't

matter. Of course, it does. Man, when you start thinking about who God is, I mean, really, whatever we think we've figured out is about that small. It's just rubbish. It's rubbish compared to who he is. And I think that's the transformation in it. And that is, I would say, Jace, is the vocation. The vocation is to be transformed into the image of the sun. Well, I do think, and I agree, which, you know, Romans 8 says that. But Al brings up a good point because subtly it's kind of like, well, who's choosing who here? Yeah.

Which now later on in John 15, you remember what he says. He's like, you didn't choose. me, but I chose you. Right. Because here you're like, well, they're following him. Yeah. He's like, what you want. But remember what he says?

I chose you to go and bear fruit. So it's like, well, there's that mission again. I have a job for you. That's why when you brought up Peter, because it's a struggle to say, well, a lot of religious people, they're like, well, see, he saved them right here, you know, because he chose And they're looking at it from purely, what's one of your words, justification type. But it's like, well, I'll make you fishers of men when you tie in what Mark does. And they're actually repeating what he just said when he said, come and see.

When they said, where are you staying? He's like, come and see. What's fascinating is when you read the next paragraph, well, then you see them. doing what he did. Yeah. Because he says the next day, this is in verse 43, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee, find it, there's your word again,

finding Philip. He said to him, follow me. So who's being found here? Yeah, exactly. Now they're finding each other, which is why I'm saying, if you look at it kind of from how this is going to work moving forward.

because when I skip to John 15 and said, well, here's this passage where he says, you didn't choose me, but I chose you. I think that shows you who's in charge of this thing. Especially from a vocational view, he's in charge. He's going to be the head of the church, the people who are doing what.

They're telling other people that haven't surrendered and gone all into Jesus, come and see. That's what we do. Yeah. Like when you meet somebody, what are you initially trying to do? You're trying to introduce Jesus, which is what this is how this is working. But watch what he says in 44.

Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Besseta. Philip found, oh, there's a word again. Now Philip's finding Nathaniel and told him, we have found. It was a very good point that you pointed this out. Locate by searching. The one Moses wrote about in the law and about whom the prophets also wrote Jesus of Nazareth, which is really a profound statement,

because now they're saying, look, they're going back and saying the Old Testament, it was about Jesus. And now here he is, which is going to be a constant theme in Jesus' ministry. And it is interesting that he says, the son of Joseph, which, again, he's described,

his physical attribution. I mean, like, but really and truly, we all know that that didn't really matter that much. Because he wasn't the physical sign. I mean, it was the royal line, but it wasn't, yeah. But that does go in with the overall thought of the word became flesh. Yeah. Even when you get to the end and who was that that said,

behold the man. Yeah. When he was dressed with the robe and had the crown of thorns and a pilot, right? He said, behold, the man. I mean, he's like, I think he was saying that, like, he's just a man. Yeah, right. Because that's what, in every kind of physical kingdom, it's all about, you know,

somebody has this reputation, and, oh, he can do miracles, and he's powerful. Oh, he claims to be God. Well, what do Roman kings, any king? They're like, no, he bleeds just like every other man. Here's your king. Right. But he didn't realize, oh, just wait, just give it a second. But I wanted to read this because then when it gives to verse 40, he says,

Nazareth, can anything good come from there? And we'll talk about that in detail later. Nathaniel asked, and look what Philip says. Come and see. Well, all of a sudden, things have changed. Where do you get that from? Yeah. Which I find this absolutely fascinating.

What Jesus had told. Well, he's become contagious. Because he is our righteousness. He is our wisdom. He does make you smart. There's something compelling about him that's very hard to describe that all of a sudden, whatever happened, we're putting the pieces together because they're like, oh, we come and see. Because when he answered that call from Jesus, whatever he saw, which doesn't go into detail,

It's now made him tell somebody else, oh, I don't have to tell you. You just need to come and see this. I mean, this goes back to basic redneck DNA in my world. Because I'm like, come look at this. I mean, how many times did our dad come in from a fishing trip or come in from a hunting trip? And he would just stick his head in the door. And here we are. And he's like, come check it out.

Come look at this. Oh, we took off running because I knew whatever was going to be exciting. You know, and I'm like, oh, my goodness. It was usually a 35-pound, I police his catfish. Big old alligator guard, some massive thing. Or the first time he ever caught a bobcat in a trap, I remember him saying, y'all come look at this, boys. And we were like, we had never seen one up close, you know.

Which I would argue the cell phone has tried to take Jesus's mantra. And that's why everybody has a cell phone. Yeah. Well, it's right. It was like, hey, come look, come look, look. And we do crazier and wilder, and people are breaking their neck trying to do four-flips. They start making up stuff to do. Yeah, and it's like the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat both works.

And they just to get people to come and see. And it's amazing how easy you fall for it, Jay, is because just this morning I was checking on X, which is the only real social media I look at very much. And I was looking at it. And someone had filmed there was a long log, just an old, look like a pine log. And I guess they had greased it. And at the end, there was a flag. And these people were trying to run down this log and grab the flag.

It's over water. And, you know, about the second step, they kept wiping out and falling in the water. They'd crotch fall right on that, you know, log. And I'm laughing. I'm watching it. They never got to the flag. But I said, boy, they got me for a minute because I watched it for a minute. That's what they do, which is, here's, I'm going to give you how you could go by this.

You should spend more time reading the Gospels because that's, that's when you go and see Jesus. Yeah. Then you do on your cell phone. And I will say, I spend more time, I spend more time in my life reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. I definitely do too. than I do on my phone, which is, I thought about that before I was going to say it. Yeah. But I think if you polled people, that might not be going on.

Yeah. I mean, but what are you putting in? What if you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on your cell phone? Well, I think you would get partial credit. But I'm a, I read a lot on my devices. Well, that's true. And I would say... And some people are that's all they have now.

They don't even have... But you know what I'm saying. You're... It sounds like a guilty man fighting for his life over there. But... But I just think it's fascinating that when God became a man, he was so confident in what you were going to see.

Just watch me. I mean, that's basically what he said. Watch me. Which is something we say as, you know, when we're toddlers. Watch me, watch me, watch me, watch me. And then we see it. We're like, okay, that wasn't that impressive. But they thought it was the greatest thing ever.

And that's why I said we're immature in that. I mean, Jesus as an adult, he just, that's what he portrayed. You're fascinated. Which, look, this is getting back to how I came to Jesus. Literally reading the book of John just wowed by this wasn't what I thought it was. Right. I thought Christianity was rule-oriented. It was, you know, do this, see, don't go to hell.

You know, we need an escape hatch. I mean, I don't know what I thought, but I didn't think it was wow. Just looking at a human being who claiming to be God, the way he functioned really wowed me. Right. And I've continued to be wild. Well, and I even thought back, I mentioned Saul earlier in Acts 9. You know, when Jayce, he asked him a question. When he's just traveling along, he's going to get round up some Christians,

and all of a sudden this bright light shines on him so bright that it winds up blinding him temporarily for days. And he says, remember what happened? It was like the question, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And Saul says, who are you, Lord? Yeah. I mean, he's like, I don't know who you are. Who are you?

And then he says, Jesus. I mean, he tells him who he is. Interestingly enough, he spends the next. three days blind so it's going you want to see come and see but you can't see and he's stumbling around until he gets down an ice who then explains who jesus is the scales fall off he's got his mission for the rest of which which goes back to that mission which look i was just reading the other night and in luke 11 really not doesn't have anything to do per se with what we've been studying but when i read this i thought well this is interesting because

I do think you've hit on something when he said, come and see. After John had already said, he would be the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it. And this kind of goes to, you know, Missy and one of her Bible studies was telling me the other night that she got an interesting question. She said the question was, well, will we recognize, how are we going to recognize Jesus when he comes back? Of course, Missy was like, what do you mean? When he left, it got into an interesting conversation,

which I don't want to go down this rabbit hole, but I guess I'm here now. Because Jesus didn't have to levitate. He was no longer bound by time, space, or matter. Dimensions, right. Dimensions. So this gets interesting because even going back to something, we've been talking about, this phrase, you know, I'm going to heaven, that kind of has a little bit negative connotation because people who view everything like that, number one, has to deal

with all the times that heaven comes down in the Bible. It's like through the temple, through the tabernacle, creation itself, you know. He created the heaven's earth, and he was down on the planet walking around in the garden, the temple, the tabernacle. Then you have Jesus coming down. Then he sends the Holy Spirit down. Then you get to Revelation 21. And then all of a sudden, the church is coming down. The bride of Christ, remember?

Right. And he's like, there's a new heaven and a new earth. So it gets kind of complex. And the reason I've used that phrase before, you know, going to heaven. But it's kind of more like it kind of, leads people to think, oh, God made a mistake in creating the earth. And this, you know, he's going to burn it all and then rescue us, you know. And so it kind of makes people think like we're just hitchhikers waiting on a ride.

Yeah. To go back to Zach's point about we have nothing to do here. This thing's doomed. Yeah. And it tends to make people real negative and the messaging is negative. And you're like, well, wait a minute, have we, have we not missed something here? and what I'm proposing is Jesus by this, even calling his first disciples, he's put in this mission in their minds of, look, you're going to be me here.

And that's why when you get to John 14, 15, and 16, you're really going to see it because he's like, I'm going to go and represent you in heaven, and you're going to represent me. I'll come to you through my spirit and you start operating like me. I think the problem we have with wrapping our heads around that is that, but we're flawed. Even Zach earlier said, but Peter, you didn't quite get it. But neither did Thomas. Neither did Mary. She's crying, grabbing a hold to him.

He's like, hey, I got to go. This is part of the, this. Yeah. It's a misunderstanding of heaven too. Heaven is the best way I've heard it described. Heaven is here. I mean, you can't fully see it because there's a veil, but like, it's here. It's not like way out there, which I think that's the story that you're seeing

and the point of Jesus is coming is that he's making his home here. And we sing a song, which one of my favorite songs, Christ alone, and there's a line at the end until he returns and calls me home. And I was singing it at a, with another church, not our church, another church, and they had changed the lyrics, which I liked. It's like, and it said something like, till he returns and makes his home. Because the idea is that Evans coming here, or like it's going to be realized here, and the veil's going to be gone,

and it'll be united. And it's a much more, like, intimate picture. And I think what it does is it forces us into understanding that the real prize is not a destination out there in the distant future. The real prize is to be in communion with Christ. And that is the vocation. That's why the rich young ruler, when they asked, and he said,

hey, what do I have to do? What are the good things that I have to do to inherit eternal life and to have eternal life? What do I got to do? I think most of us would probably rebutte Jesus in his answer. We might say, because Jesus didn't say you don't do anything. He actually gave him instructions to do something. He said, you've got to basically follow the law. And he said, which one?

I followed the commandments. He said, well, I've kept them all. And then Jesus is like, okay, then sell everything you have and come follow me. That's it. Come follow me. That's the point is that Jesus is the vocation that we have. It's what you see here. Come and see.

What are you going to do once you see? Well, you're going to follow him. So there's this following of Christ, and there's getting in proximity to Christ. And then that's why this all plays into it. Because when you get to John 16, what does Christ say about the Holy Spirit coming? He said, he's got to come because he said when he comes, he's going to convict the world about righteousness,

this because I go to the Father where you can no longer see me. Well, if the point is to follow Christ, and he said, I'm getting out of here. Well, how do we follow Christ if he's not here anymore? Well, that's the Holy Spirit. He lives in us. And there's this whole picture of union with Christ through the Spirit, connecting us to the father that is the ultimate point of the entire gospel of John. I would say it's the main point of the entire Bible.

Well, I didn't get to my Luke 11. Maybe you can leave with that. I'll lead with that because. this is where I was going anyway. Yeah, all right. So we'll start with that next time on Unashame. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast.

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