Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1135 | Jase Is Still Laughing at Phil's Legendary Las Vegas Meltdown & Why God Lets Satan Live?

Episode Date: July 30, 2025

Jase can’t stop laughing as he recalls Phil’s legendary meltdown over Las Vegas casinos and one cash-grab in particular. The guys talk about Phil’s “D-E-D” rule and Zach’s eye-poppingly expensive vacation, which leads to a deeper discussion about deceit and personal responsibility for sin. Jase argues that people often give the devil too much credit when, in reality, we choose to follow our own desires rather than God’s truth. In this episode: Joshua 9; John 10; Matthew 7; James 1, verse 14; Exodus; Ezekiel 28; Job 42, verses 2–6; Luke 19, verses 41–44; Zechariah 9, verse 9; Psalm 118; Ephesians 1, verse 15; Ephesians 4, verse 14; Hebrews 4, verse 12 —  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. We finally got the band back together. Zach is in the house. Zach, welcome back to the Unashamed podcast. It's good to be back. It felt like you've been gone for like longer than a week, but it was only a week. That's how much we missed you. I went to, I went on vacation.

Yeah, how was that? And I refrain, Zach, unlike you, I refrain from calling you or. bothering you because I knew you were on vacation having a big time. And so, yeah, I did the same thing, but guess what? Don't tell me he called you.

Oh, yeah, he called me on his vacation. I was like, I wasn't going to burn you. He didn't call me, so I thought, well,

finally the man's taking some time off. I thought you were on vacation. I did make a few calls, but not many. No, but, yeah, I went down to,

uh, it's called 30A. Yeah, which is about two hours past the southern layer where I'm at in Gulf Shores. There's a city called 38. It's kind of an area, I think, would be a better way to put it. It's just on the other side of destiny.

The only time I've heard of something like this, what is the area in New Mexico? 51, area 51. It's like that, though, isn't it? It's kind of like. What's the acronym that you had? You did an acronym. It was like, don't ever do. DED.

No, I didn't come up. That was fair. That is my dad. What are the same? What's our segment? What would Phil say? What would feel? Dasher?

Don't ever do. Let me give you a DED. Well, 30A is a DED for me. I'll never do it again. I mean, we're talking about these guys got together. I mean, I probably shouldn't even say this. Somebody's going to get mad. But, I mean, they got together.

And they said, how can we get people down here? And we want to suck all their money out of them. This really does sound like that. We're going to have this thing set up where if you want to make a move, you got to pay for it. I mean, I don't care what it is. And there's, it's lines. It's an endless just, it was, I'm telling you all, my daughter picked it out. She said, let's go to 30A.

The beaches are beautiful. Yeah. The water's prettier. Yeah. I've always heard of it. And you have tight tendencies when it comes to. No, this is beyond that, Jason. This is beyond that.

I'm telling you this is like I've never seen anything like it. I mean, you want to, so you say, well, you want an umbrella on the beach? Well, you got to pay for it. You got to pay to have an umbrella on the beach. Their umbrellas and their chairs. So they don't give you the option of taking your own. Well, you can, but you got to go down to like a small section that they've got roped off. And it's like walk the shame.

And that's just so many people. it was $170, Jill spent $170 on an umbrella to rent for the day. So Zach's on vacation this whole time sounds like his mind is just reeling from this just cash flow. But that's what people do. I mean, it's like it's the same reason you can't bring a beverage into a stadium or whatever.

Because then you have to pay $17 for a bottle of water. You go into a water park or something. They're like, oh, no, you can't bring your own stuff. No. You're going to pay eight times. It felt like Disney. It felt like Disney World. It was like Disney World.

It was that packed. It was wall-to-wall traffic, wall-to-wall people. I did the math on it, too, because I was going through all the math on, like, square footage. What am I spending per week on the condo? And then I got on there, and I looked at the closer you get to the beach. We're like four blocks off the beach, and we're still spending a fortune. You get on the beach. I mean, it's astronomical.

Well, then you say, well, what's the most profitable spot in the whole apparatus? Radis. By the way, wherever you're staying, they get, they own the ice cream parlor down the street. They own, if you want ice cream, they're on the bikes. They own the Italian restaurant, the Mexican restaurant. They own everything. They on the pool. You got to pay. Who is they? That's the question. Oh, Zach's wondering the same thing. A bad question. Who is they? Well, the most expensive, here's the most expensive place, though, the profit margin. It is the umbrellas. I did the math on it. I mean, it doesn't take up. Like literally two chairs and an umbrella, $170 a day. And they're, I mean, from the, from the, where the water stops. Well, you got to pay for it.

You got to have it. So, Zach, I'm so sorry to laugh, but I feel like, I feel like I'm listening to Job. And I'm Bill Dad and so far, you know, the friends of Job. Because they rejoiced at his calamity. Yeah. And I feel like that way was Zach, because this is. It didn't sound like it was a bunch of a vacation. Well, he had to get past it and he probably didn't, which means Jill's probably mad at him because he had a bad attitude.

Which means we need to have her on the podcast soon. Yeah. Well, I said, I did say this. I enjoyed being with my family. I kept caveating with that. That was my caveat because if you thought of complaint. I enjoy being with you guys. This is fun.

This is awesome. But I don't like this part. Yeah. So, Zach, my advice to you is if we get ready to go to the beach and it's going to take you a minute to get back there. Just come on down to Gulf Shores, a lot more relaxed. It's still, you know, more expensive than going down here to Folly Beach at Arbone Lake. But it is. Oh, that's been closed, I think.

But there was a time. Yeah, there was a time. Jason and I walked there when we were like nine years old and five years old. You know, I've always had a dream to go back there and get permission to actually metal detect that bar. Yeah. Because can you imagine? I mean, because those, they would say, concept. They serve you the drinks.

Yeah. But when Zach said that about the umbrella, it's like if you drink enough of those drinks that have the umbrella in it, you won't care about how much you paid for the big umbrella. And so you'll burn up in the sun. That's the thing. It made me think of Phil. That's the problem. You tried it without alcohol. You know, Phil, when we started that DED. So we used to have to go to Las Vegas every year. year for business. Shot so. Yeah.

So all the companies in the waterfowl and just really any outdoor industry. Outdoor industry, they all would meet up at Las Vegas. So we'd have to go. Well, I think at this point everybody understands how Phil a man of the wilderness, which by the way, you taught us last podcast, the meaning of Silas, which you missed Uncle Si. A man of the forest. Yeah.

Yeah. We invited him for a podcast. and then he wouldn't leave. So he actually stayed for two. Oh, y'all did. He was just, well. Well, he said, I never got to my points. And then Maddie was like, well, why don't you just keep going?

And so we were like, okay. Yeah, no, it was fun. That's how you got on this podcast, Joe. He was so excited. Yeah, that's right. But Phil, so every year, what I found fascinating is because he did nothing. He basically, you know, just stayed in the hotel room and watched. Jason Bourne.

And every time he would walk through the casino, he said what, Zach just said him in a go, you hear it, you hear it, boys? I said, what is it? He said, that giant sucking sound. Yeah. Every penny. He said, look over there out.

Penny, pennies. That's what I was going to say. The most offended that he was about everything in Las Vegas. I mean, there's scantily clad women. There's what we called the dirty poppers out on the street. With the pornography. Yeah, trying to lure you in. He got most upset.

about just seeing penny slot machines. He said, can you believe this? They're trying to take your last penny down to the scent. They fleeced you. You don't have anything left. You got two pennies left in your pocket. You're on your way out. At least you got something.

Nope, boys, I want the pennies. He said, you know where they got that idea? Somebody read their Bible. the woman who gave her last two pennies to the Almighty's like they're trying to take it all. So there's a famous. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, I don't, look, here's the deal. If you're going to pay a lot for an experience, I'm okay with that, but you've got to have the experience.

But if you're going to pay a lot to stand in line and to just like that's that, it was the lot. It was the crowd. I think it was the amount of people that got me more than anything. Like, they've got this thing every square inch is a profit center. Yeah. And you feel it when you're there. I mean, you feel it. You're like, whoa, this is.

Which is funny to say that. I live part-time on the Gulf Coast now, and you're right. I don't even like being there in the summer because everybody else is there, even where we are, for the same reason. But I love it, you know, September to May because it's not like that. It's much more accessible. Well, I grew up. You know, I grew up in Florida.

So for me... But you were in the middle of the... You were with all the rednecks up there and... I was with the rednecks, but I said... Trenton and... Well, here's the funny story about that. So then the last day, because, you know, oh, they got you set up on the plane, too.

We flew down there on the Legion. Because I got a flight for 80 bucks each. That's how much my ticket was. I'm thinking, oh, I'm scalding these guys. Yeah. It's all planned out because they only... Like, you seem angry today. I'm little angry.

They fly Saturday to... Saturday. That's strategic, by the way, because you've got to stay seven days. The flight doesn't leave until 9 p.m. on Saturday, but you got to check out at 10 a.m. What are you going to do the rest time? We want your last penny, right? So I'm like, we're not going to fall for that, though. What we're going to do is dad's going to take everybody to his part of Florida. I'm going to take you where the rednecks have their vacation. And so we drove about an hour. I looked up, where's a natural spring? I said, you've got to see these natural. Florida Springs because they're beautiful.

They are beautiful. That's where I grew up. We drove to a natural spring. It was about an hour away. And I was so excited. And I get there. Well, now the state has taken over all these springs. They own them all.

The state's bought them all. When I was a kid, it was every man for himself. It was like Folly Beach. It was just a redneck haven. Now it's completely controlled. And they only let so many people in the spring per day. So we get there, we had to wait in line another hour and 45 minutes to get into at the springs I could search up.

Did they charge you or was that free? No, they didn't charge you except for my time. So that was good. They did charge us. Okay. Well, I'll give you some tough love. You chose to be there. Yeah.

You did. But you got to spend time with your family. I got to spend time with the family. That was good. All right, so I got some gifts today. There was so this weekend was one of those interesting times. I happened to be in town. And there was a guy named Corey.

that was traveling through. His kid was in a baseball tournament. And he has been a podcast listener. His life has completely changed. Wonderful story. And so I baptized him in my swimming pool Saturday was great. He was just on the way through. And we were able to work it out because I was in town.

And then I found out there was another guy named Dustin, Dustin, that was from Arkansas. It was here yesterday. Oh, I met him. Yeah, you preached yesterday, and he responded. He responded. And so he was baptized. as well. So he had some gifts.

So this was your gift, Jays. He gave you a deck of cards that's Arkansas cards. He gave me a deck of Arkansas Razorback cards. Because he knew you were a poker player. And so... Which kind of went in with your lesson.

It did. Because it was on deceit. So he gave me this Arkansas Razorback Tumblr, which I have a feeling is going to go to Maddie. from here This is as excited as I've ever seen Maddie doing this podcast.

But Maddie, wait. He gave something to you. He gave you a baseball that came from Omaha and it says Omaha hogs on it and I had him sign it and it says

Maddie Wu Pig Dustin. So Maddie, he was thinking about you but I have a feeling you'll probably get all these guests. If I would have just got her that shirt

that I saw. He's not, these aren't good. he's trolling you guys. That's what he's doing. He's actually a wonderful guy. He's about your age, Zach. And he has a very interesting story of in my sermon. I said, what about that sermon? He said, oh, dude. He said, he said, he said, he said, I might hit where I live. Because I was, my sermon was from the book of Joshua, chapter nine. And it's called the Gibbonite deceit. That's what the header says in the Bible above that chapter. And I made the comment

It was like a born movie. I mean, that would be a good title. They give you a night to see. You know what I mean? It just, it sounds like. And so the whole thing is about these, you know, Joshua was told to clear out everybody around there. These guys come in, they did this whole ruse and to not get wiped out.

And instead of anybody like checking it out or doing it, they questioned it, but then they just bought it. And the key verse, my grandkids were the scripture reader son, and the key verse was that they sampled the provisions, but they did not seek out the Lord, which was the whole, I could have done the whole sermon just on that. Yeah. Because that's the deal. When you sample the provisions, because it was a lie. So it winds up sparing their lives, but it causes all kinds of conflict. The whole next war is because of what happened. I didn't get somebody else to preach that next week. But then later on, the whole bunch of gets wiped out because they become the tribe of Benjamin because of sexual immorality and all

this terrible stuff that happened. So it's interesting because Dustin's life had been that. I mean, he talked about just being a deceitful person with a double life for most of his life, but the podcast has helped him, you know, find in Christ what is needed. So yesterday he started his new life, which is pretty cool. So Maddie gets some Arkansas gifts because of Dustin. Do you play cards, Maddie? Well, okay. Maddie plays cards. Who would have thought that? She's from Arkansas. She plays. card i got a i just came into possession a nice little deck deck with full of hogs and i like that he's a hogg he's a argonshole man so which is good i don't jays you were there what'd you think of the

sermon i mean what was your i thought it was uh i think when you go through the book of joshua that's that's a that's a rough yeah i mean like if it was me i would do about three lessons on the high point because you did one a few weeks ago that i thought was yeah jerry go yeah kind of like the spiritual warfare but uh i thought i thought you did well and and there is a there is a deceit i mean we know the the evil one has many names right satan the devil and he's even mentioned where we're at john 12 here but it's done in a way that you realize no matter what happens or how you view the evil one Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings yeah and the evil one despite his practices on the earth is a servant of the same king I mean Jesus is is the ultimate warrior defeated of

enemies. Which is how I kind of cast it at the end by, because anything that I do in the Old Testament, I believe all of it is just a big neon sign that is pointing to Jesus. And so at the end of the sermon, I got into John 10, which we've talked about on the podcast, because there he talks about just what you just said, I'm the gate, I'm the good shepherd, but he acknowledges that we have an enemy that its purpose is to keep us away from that. So, you know, the same thing in Matthew 7 too. But what my point is, he's a deceiver, a seducer. So I really think, I don't know how to say this really, I feel like as followers of Jesus, people over-emphasize the evil ones power. Yeah. And I think, you know, I mean, you don't underestimate because he is a deceiver and

a tempter. But, you know, and we realize our own sin. It's kind of like what I just told that. He chose to do it. The evil one is not God. Right. He was created by God. And so we know since he's created by God, he's a creature. Right. So he's not, but in the church, people have him everywhere. They have him in everybody's mind simultaneously. Like he's, Like he's out in the present, which he's not. Well, in all knowing. Right. Everybody's like, oh, the devil, no, no.

That is not in the Bible. True. And it just, I think it makes you, when you, I think when you overestimate the evil one, you underestimate your own sin. Because ultimately, he made a choice. And we go back to the beginning, he did start this downward spiral with his suggestion and temptation. Yeah. But still, Adam and Eve, they knew God said, don't do this.

Right. And he just gave a thought, and that desire led to a decision. Right. Because I think you look at the same way with God. He doesn't make people do stuff either. Right. So, you know, why would you give the evil and even more power? It's like, well, the devil made me do it, even though God doesn't make you do anything either.

Right, right, right. So that's why we have a choice in there. Yeah, Jay, I love the way James puts it. He says each one is dragged away and enticed by his own evil desire. So I think that to your point, we give the devil credit when a lot of times, you know, it's our own evil desires that drag us away and entice us. And then that's the birth of sin comes out of your own evil heart. And so I think that when you think about the enemy out there,

if we use Exodus language, who's our Egypt, who's our Pharaoh. It is Satan. He's one of them. And then it is other people who have heard us. And then the third one, and the one that we don't want to mention is us. We're our own enemy. My own wicked heart is my own enemy. And what Christ gives us deliverance from is he gives us deliverance from all three,

eventually all three of those. But we can be freed from our own evil desires. we can be freed from our oppressor, Satan, and we can be free from the others who oppress us by their own evil desire or Satan's influence over him. So it's not that Satan's not real, and we should have a healthy reverence and respect for the evil one and his demonic realm, but we should also remember that we're a big part of the problem too. And part of my thrust on the sermon was, because I made a point that, when you swallow a lie and then you start making decisions based on a lie,

which is what happened in the story. There's three possibilities that I came on. There's probably more. But one is you're naive. In other words, you just think, well, you know, there really is no evil out there. And we're not worried about it. Or you're lazy, which all these people I do was go look. They didn't go look.

Three days later, they went and looked. Yep, they were living right there. I mean, they didn't go look. No due diligence. And the third is pride. In other words, you get to thinking, well, you know, I'm bulletproof and therefore I won't be affected by listening to lies. So that's the, you know, there's a, that's the balance off is the awareness that people will be deceitful and they will lie. You just have to be aware, you know, more than anything else.

You combat lies with truth, which ultimately becomes how we live every single day. So, because, you know, you've got to live with a consequence. It's interesting because God laid this situation out for Israel. They made the oath to make a treaty with these people from Gibbon. And he didn't, I mean, God could have just wiped them out anyway, but he didn't. He said, okay, you made your call, you're going to live with the results that happened. And there were some bad results that happened. So I think that's part of it with us.

You know, we make our calls sometimes, and then we have to live with the consequences that happen as a result. And sometimes that's in this life, sometimes it's in the next. It is. I think it gets tricky because God allows this. I mean, it's like, why doesn't God just, I mean, could he kill the evil one? Well, of course. Yep. They just snap his fingers.

He's a creative being. But God allows this to happen, and it actually serves his purpose. I mean, think of the book of Job. Most people think, well, look what Satan did to Job's family. But when you read the text, actually God did it. He just allowed this messenger because it's hard to kind of identify

who the evil one is. I mean, you think, well, he's some sort of fallen angel. Right. Because you get all these pictures, but it doesn't explicitly say what he would. He just appears in Genesis 3, and we don't know anything about him. So you realize he's some kind of celestial being.

Right. And, you know, and if I'm just saying this because I get it, You know, you have this vision in, where's that, Ezekiel 28, where he compares, kind of the evil one with this king, I think it was of Tyre. But it doesn't really explicitly say that. And then you have these passages in Peter and Jude, where it's like these angels that have fallen.

So they're created with a specific role in the image of God, to be messengers to humans. and they basically have the same thing happen, Adam and Eve did. They chose not to trust God. Right. And so they become tempters. They're giving you messages, but then God uses that because they're not God. He uses that for his purpose.

I mean, just think about the evil one having a hand in wanting to crucify Jesus. Right. And you have that passage in Corinthians, you know, that says that none of the rulers or the powers understood it. For if they had, they wouldn't have crucified. Because it was their ultimate demise. Which shows you the evil one's not all knowing. Exactly.

Even in the book of Job. He's like, remember the whole conversation started? It's like, well, the only reason that he's following you is you put a hedge around. Yeah. He's living his best life. Of course he's going to follow you. Take it away and he'll curse you. Well, guess what?

The evil one was wrong. Yeah. He was not proven right, which is my point. He's not, don't put him on the God-like. Which is interesting you said that, Jay, is because at the end of my lesson, I was out of time, and so I didn't take the time to read this. But this was actually the last text I had

because I was making the point that sometimes, and I was using some personal stuff that I had gone through last week as my own, like, guide point, that sometimes you get into something, you're not sure why you're doing it, and then you realize God has you there for some specific purpose.

and I was going to relate that to Job. You just did it. But listen to Job's last, this is the last chapter of Job. Here's what Job came to the conclusion of this whole episode in the book of Job. Here's what Job said to God. I know that you can do all things. No purpose of yours can be thwarted, which this is the way we should look at life. You asked, who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?

But he had asked Job that. Surely he says, I spoke of things I did not understand. things too wonderful for me to know. You said, listen now and I will speak. I will question you and you shall answer me. And here's Job's answer. This is probably the way we should all live. My eyes had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.

Therefore, I despise myself and repent and dust and ashes. At the end of the day, he's like, you're God, I'm not, and I trust you ultimately to do that. And so I ask the question and the thing, sometimes we say, God, why can't I get out of this? whatever it is and maybe a better question is God why do you have me in this? What do I need to do to either be a blessing

of someone else to show deliverance? Whatever the question is you're in charge of this moment this situation and I used it as the last week I called the jury duty

didn't want to go because you know it's open-ended and who wants an open-ended situation that I may be there for weeks I mean I don't expect that but it may happen

I got stuff I got podcasts to do. I got life to live. And yet at the same time, when I went in there, there was this sister there that I hadn't seen in years. And she really means a lot to me and Lisa. I hadn't talked to her in several years. And we caught up. And we were walking out of the courtroom.

And she says, you know, the last time I was in a courtroom, I said, no, when? She said, when I went through my divorce? Do you remember that? And I said, oh, I remember your divorce. And she said, do you remember you were here with me? And I didn't. I mean, unfortunately, I've been in a lot of court roads through the years of ministry, just supporting people, and I was there for her.

Well, all these years later, she said that, and I thought, it just hit me this whole text that I was been working all week. I was like, God had me here for that. I mean, I was here to encourage this, and she encouraged me. Plus, all these people recognized me and were telling me how great, you know, they love dad and all this stuff. And I was like, all right, God, I get it. You know, I didn't want to be here, but you said, this is where I want you.

So yeah, well, and the state of Louisiana said, and I had a summons. Yeah, exactly. Of course, all these people are like, well, just tell them you didn't get it. And I said, well, that's a lot. But I did get it. Yeah. That's deceiving. I can't do that. Look, that's, you know, I mean, I just got a deck of cards. So I guess I'm thinking this. I learned a lot just about how you should view Satan through playing poker, which people who doesn't, who categorize playing poker. poker is gambling. I'll appreciate me saying that. Because the game is about deceit. You're trying to deceive other people. Lying is actually allowed in the game. It's part of the game.

Someone's like, do you have it? You're like, sure. But that's part of the game. You can say that. Because what, you want me to turn my cards over unless you see? But you use human nature to try to deceive people and thinking they have the best hand when they actually do not. However, having said all that, because people who don't understand the game, they're like, well, how do you do that?

You do it by betting. This doesn't seem, you can't have it this time. You're telling a ruse. But at the end of the day, you choose whether to call or fold or rate. No matter what it looks like, ultimately, I didn't make you put all your chips out there. That would have been a good old search for my server yesterday. Well, you're not a card play. I'm the one who loses all the time.

I think most Christian people don't play it because of that reason. The game is all about trickery and deception. So it's not about the cards, really. You're just using that as a backdrop to trick people and put their money out when they think they have the best hand. Their human nature takes over depending on how they... You know why? Because they'll look at the side. They'll look at all.

Oh, look at the middle. Yeah, they're like, you'll see them looking at it. And they're like, look, I would love to have all that money. So when you get them doing that, they're in trouble. Yeah. You know, they've been tricked. But you still, and that's why there's so many common men in our world, don't ever doubt it. It's the same concept, and we know the root of that, where it comes from.

And it's contagious, just like sin is. We're born in this world where we're all having this moment in the garden as humans. You have these other celestial beings that have fallen. So they're just giving you suggestions. There's no. I think where we get off is because we read some of these verses, you know, the evil one has taken you captive to do his will. Or even when we were in John 8, you know, you belong to your father, the devil.

You know, he was a murder from the beginning. but you realize it's a metaphor. You're acting like him. I mean, he's going back to, you know, Cain and Abel. Your life, you've gone along with this narrative that is anti-God. Right.

But you chose it. So I think that's going to be important when we... It's a huge point to me where we're heading in John 12, especially when we get to the end of this, because this whole section kind of lays out where he, John's going to come. conclude this part of this chapter with kind of a recap is what I call it of everything Jesus has been teaching up until this point and choice is a big part of that too so well go

through uh we'll pick up where you know because I'm I hate you miss I Zach wasn't boring was it was fired up was he fired up he was fired up excited which excites me and so but we just we didn't really we just sort of bounced around because he was so excited about the concept of the son of man that we spent most of our time with him talking about that which is great and obviously a big theme but we we left off to act the last time you were here with right after the mary's anointing of jesus and sort of this i don't know what you'd call it i guess a scandalous provocative show of grace you know is the kind of way we described it and we described it to the same woman over in luke seven but we got to the triumphal entry and we had even mentioned that so i want

read this text and I was talk about that because Zach you talk a lot about this idea of Jesus as a king in the kingdom and that becomes the whole point and so let's pick it up John 1212 it says the next day and so this is after that anointing that happened in bethany the great the next day the great crowd that had come for the feast because remember this was the this is the beginning now the Passover feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem because they've been looking for him. Remember, he kind of went off in the wilderness to prepare. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, which is a picture of a king, a returning king. That's the idea. And they said, Hosanna, and that's a direct quote from Psalm 118.

No, is that? Yeah, Psalm 118. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Psalm 118, blessed is. blessed is the king of Israel. So they're saying it directly. He's a king. Jesus found a young donkey and set upon it as it is written. So this was to fulfill prophecy as well from Zechariot 9. Do not be afraid, O daughter of Zion, see your king is coming.

Seated on a donkey's colt. And a lot of scholars have said this is kind of more the idea of a king that comes in peace. so whatever you want to make of that. Verse 16, at first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize, that was after his resurrection, that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

Now, the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, talking about this death and raising him. And now, of course, he's the king coming in, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, see, this is getting us nowhere.

Look how the whole world has gone after him, which is an interesting statement because it's just the people in Jerusalem at the feast, but they sort of see it as a bigger situation, which, of course, it really is. Well, I wanted to say something about the Psalm 118, because you remember a few podcasts ago we did this thing on love from John 11 which you know he used the same agape Greek word

for love in that he said he loved Lazarus Mary and Martha and I did that kind of we read I think it was Psalm 136 where he's like every sentence is his love endures forever but even then the Psalm 118 because I know a lot of people

say well you just picked out a Psalm which songs. That's why you see these repeated lines. But I wanted to say, look, even in Psalm 118, when you start reading it, it says, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever. Well, we're back on it here. Yeah, same thought. Is this just a random occurrence? Let all Israel say, his love endures forever. Didn't he just say that? Let the House of Aaron say, his love endures forever. Verse four, let those who fear the Lord say, his love, Endurts forever. I mean, it's almost you're getting the point where this is the overarching motivation for this whole narrative of bringing life to humanity. And I mean, when I say bringing life,

not only on this earth with a fulfilling life, you don't think John 10, life to the full, but in eternal life, which is going to be the last thing he says in John 12 here. Which, and I mentioned this on a previous podcast, Jay's, but to your point, the only other time we see where Jesus openly wept, other than at the tomb of Lazarus, was when he was in this scene, when he's coming into Jerusalem. I think it's, yeah, he weeps for the coming destruction. Luke 17. Yeah, Luke 19, I think. Luke 19. Which says he wept over the city.

To your point, why would he be? why would he be weeping in this moment of coming in? And of course, we know the reason is is because he knows what's going to happen in this place, you know? Well, you got to go back to Mark, and Mark's account of the Triumphal Entry.

As soon as Jesus goes into the city, where does he go? He goes to the temple. Yeah. And he turns over the tables in the temple. He gets really angry with what they've made of his father's house and he says that you've turned my father's house into a den of robbers when this was actually meant to be a place for the nations to come and worship the one true God.

What's there? You get that picture right of that eschatology that we talk about of all the nations coming up. So it is interesting that as king, when Jesus enters into Jerusalem, the place that he goes is to where the king should live, which is in the palace, which is kind of the temple motif, right? And then he leaves the temple and comes back to the temple. And he has interaction there, and the disciples are like, they're on the olive of that, the amount of olives. And they're like, look at this great structure.

And that's when Jesus gives that prophecy that all of the, this whole structure is coming to an end. And he says, not one stone will be left, you know, unturned, or Africa Hayes says it exactly, but in other words, this whole temple structure is going to collapse. And so he gives the prophecy of the destruction of the temple. And then he says something very profound in Mark 13 that this generation will not cease to pass before these things happen. So in other words, this is going to happen within the next 40 years. And then roughly about 40 years later was 80, 70, and that's when the temple was destroyed.

So I think that he's seeing all of this and Christ is coming in as a fulfillment of a lot of Old Testament prophecy. And we say this a lot, but I think this is so interesting in John in verse 16, it says that at first his disciples did not understand all of this, all of what? They didn't understand what's going on here? What's up with the palm branches? Why are they shouting Hosanna? Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel. Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion, see your king is coming seated on a donkey's cult.

They didn't understand that Jesus in that moment was actually fulfilling a messianic prophecy because the very next verse says only after Jesus was glorified, did they realize that these things have, been written about him and that these things have been done to him. So think about like what this means is that they did not really understand what the heck was going on. They did not understand that all of that Old Testament scripture that they knew backwards and forwards. They knew it. They knew it very well. They did not know it in this moment that it was all pointing to Jesus. Which is exactly why he said that. I want to read this. I know Jay says a verse. And Luke, here's the verse. you mentioned Mark,

here's the way Luke put it, Luke 1941, as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. And he said, if you, even you,

had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.

There's that siege. There's that siege, going to happen in 8070. They will dash you to the ground. You and the children within your walls, they will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. That's why I brought this up about Psalm 118. Y'all quickly went to where I was going. Because you think, well, why didn't they understand? Because if you read Zachariah, you think, what was his point here? And if I go back and just read you the gist of it, this is Zechari 9-9. Rejoiced greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout daughter of Jerusalem.

See, your king comes to you righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, a colt the fold of a donkey, which I think they thought, oh, he's going to deceive him, he's going to come in acting like he's meek. Yeah. He's going to be in a donkey. But watch what happens. I will take away the chariots and the war horses from Jerusalem and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to all the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the great river to the ends of the earth.

As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. So what's the idea they're getting? Oh, he's fixed to take this Rome now. We're all going to be freed. he's going to turn and look he's going to come in it's a ruse it's a ruse on the donkey but then he also quote psalm 118 which is why i read where it starts off he's saying his love endures forever his love endures forever love endures forever love endures forever and then he gets to verse five he says in my anguish i cry to the lord and he answered by setting me free same language

the lord is with me i will not be afraid what can man do to me same language we're we're taking over but he started off saying his love endures forever four times the lord is with me he is my helper i will look in triumph on my enemies now this is before we get to the quote that john uses here this is before in psalm 118 to the quote that john uses but watch when he goes on in that psalm read the whole psalm in your own time but verse 22 it says the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone sound familiar oh yeah the lord has done this and it is marvelous in your eyes this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad oh lord save us grant us success o lord blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord from the house of the lord we bless you

so there's the quote the lord is god and has made his light shine upon us which has been the whole theme, one of the themes of John. And watch this. You are my God and I will give you thanks. You are my God and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. And I think that's the part they were missing in that, okay, he's coming as king.

But his main weapon is love. And that's why he didn't look like, the king, they were expecting because they were like, he's coming with muscle. And they didn't understand the love aspect. And I think that's why they ultimately didn't embrace him. I mean, he had no power from their eyes. He was from the wrong part of town. Right.

He had no money. He had no political pedigree. He had no religious pedigree. Right. He didn't have any money. His followers are a bunch of fishermen. and, you know, a tax collector, just a montage group. And, but I think it's interesting that he used those two places to quote from,

because you combine them together and you're like, oh, wow, this is a king who's a lover. That's what he's going to do. Which I remember, you remember that text where he talked about that he brings a, he did bring a sword, but it wasn't the way you would think a sword. would be used. It was a sword that divides us. In other words, it's a sword that divides your heart from what you thought was the way to his way. And so, you know, you read that verse in Hebrews that talks about the sword that goes down to the marrow. I mean, the dividing your, you know, inside of who a person is and who they're going to live their life for. And so that really is the

sword. It becomes the ultimate decision. Do I trust him or do I not? Is he a my king or no. Well, I think about the sword, the sort of truth. You know, like you were talking about the deceit earlier from your sermon. I was thinking about the nature of evil, it really is rooted in deceit. When Satan speaks a lie, then he's actually speaking in his native tongue, the scripture would say. And so if you think about reality is God's reality, and it doesn't change based on our perception of it. It's his reality. He reveals that reality to us, and that reality is good because that reality is ultimately himself. And so evil in sin is just a deviation from what's real and what's true. And I think that's the overarching thing of what love is,

is, you know, connected to truth because God's revealing himself through truth, but he is love. And so I think that's why you can't separate truth from love. And so I think that's what's happening in the end is the way that he's waging war. He's actually bringing the sort of truth into our hearts. And he's cutting away the things that would prevent us from seeing the ultimate reality, which is his inner life that he's invited us to participate in. And that's what he's offering. Not everybody wants that, though, and he's going to give you if you don't want that.

I mean, obviously he's going to honor that. And he's going to say to you, that will be done. As C.S. Lewis said, there's two kind of people in the world. Those who say to God, that will be done. And then those to whom God says, that will be done. Well, and that's the interesting look sort of ironic fact here, Zach, is because when you get to 80s, 70, it looks like because Jesus had been predicting all this, well, this is when it all started.

But it had already been going on for 40 years. people already had the kingdom had been spreading like wildfire all across Rome and all across Macedona and all across these places and the kingdom was already here and working and so by the time the temple went down and this kind of old commitment to a Messiah that was already there it was already off and running which is what made him sad that so many people missed out yeah but Zach when he I thought Zach did a good job explaining that because when people say well why why you making such a big deal about this truth and love that he's bringing, this king who's a lover? Well, fast forward to the book of Ephesians, and here's this exalted Christ above, you know,

all powers, including the evil one, Ephesians 115. He's exalted above all powers. He's bringing heaven and earth together under one head, you know, in Christ. And you get to Ephesians 4, talking about him being ascended so that he can feel the whole universe. And he starts talking about his body, which is the church. And he gets down to verse 14, and it's like us growing as the body of Christ, we're no longer tossed back and forth by every wind of teaching and the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Well, why?

instead as the church the group of people who have surrendered to the king of kings instead speaking the truth in love it was the exact statement that Zach just said that popped into my my head we will in all things grow up into him who is the head that is Christ I mean I think that's that's the connecting dots for us which is why you know if you're going to be like do you Jesus, you're going to spend a lot of time reading what he did and what he said. Because he's even going to make that point at the end of this chapter, the very words that I'm saying will judge you from the father. I mean, the very thing's coming out of my mouth.

Which is why I think it makes this moment they were here in the text so powerful is because it was a powerful moment if we imagined it and what that looked like. and, you know, we watch people like, you know, Dallas Jenkins and others that recreate this event. But for us, who realized that our king had come, as we look back, all these, you know, 2,000 years later, this was a huge momentous event. So we're out of time, but we'll pick it up here next time in John 12. I'm unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast.

Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcast. And don't miss an episode by subscribing. on YouTube and be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.