Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1248 | Miss Kay Defies the Odds With a New Milestone

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

Jase and Al celebrate Miss Kay’s latest unexpected milestone that reflects her strength and progress after a difficult season. The guys emphasize that real faith isn’t just something you claim but a relationship that transforms you from the inside out. That leads into a thoughtful discussion about a “reformed” adult film star who publicly professed Christianity before returning to her old life, raising hard questions about belief, trust, and lasting change. Plus, the guys dig into Scripture to explore why people in the Old Testament lived hundreds of years and what that reveals about age, time, and eternity. In this episode: 1 John 1, verses 1–10; 1 John 2, verses 1–2; Genesis 6, verse 3; Psalm 90, verses 1–17; 1 Corinthians 2, verses 6–16; John 3, verse 36; John 5, verse 24; John 15, verses 9–12; John 16, verses 22–24; Romans 5, verses 1–11; Romans 6, verses 1–11; Philippians 4, verses 10–13; Ephesians 2, verses 8–10 Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://open.spotify.com/show/3LY8eJ4ZBZHmsImGoDNK2l Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 00:00-06:54 Miss Kay hits a new milestone! 06:55-20:44 Why people lived so long in the Old Testament 20:45-29:37 The Holy Spirit is a portal to eternity 29:38-38:55 How to have “complete” joy, even in suffering 38:56-45:03 You can’t claim Christ & still live in darkness 45:04-54:45 Who did you bury with your baptism? — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. It was great because I preached yesterday. And mom, especially likes to come when I'm preaching. But she'll come. She likes to come anytime. But, you know, it's kind of hard for her to get around now. It depends on the weather and other things. But she did show up without a wheelchair, which is the first time. She did. And she, I was going to, that's why I wanted to mention it, Jay, is that she, it's the first time. She's like trusted just coming in with a walker and getting around herself, but she's doing so amazingly well. And the most off thing I get asked, either by some of you online or directly if we run into each other, is how is Ms. Kay?

So I like to give you an update every once in a while, and she's doing fantastic. I mean. She is. And now you're not going to believe this. She told me yesterday because I had my friend that we talked last podcast about in the military guy, Ty, was there. And he was like, man, I can't believe how well your mom is doing because she sat right behind us. And I said, well, Ms. Kay, tell him why you're doing so well. She's like, well, the Lord has just decided that he's not done with me yet.

So I thought that was a great answer. And she said, I got a new house, which is a little house in our compound. And she said, and that deer you're bringing me. And I was like, what's the story on that? I was like, well, I've been cooking deer and bringing them to her. And she has elevated that into the Trinity of Recovery. The fried backstrap. Backstrap goes a long way to healing.

There should be a lot. I was like, I had no idea, Miss Gay, how well. Because I mean, we bring her a lot of food. And because my family, we are food snobs. Yeah. And because we've just, we don't eat out. And that's partly because I guess when you become famous, if you go eat out in a restaurant,

you're already going down in value because what we're cooking is better than any restaurant. We could have a restaurant. And then you're kind of being, you know, it turns into kind of a meat and greet while you're trying to eat, which is just not the greatest surrounding. So we just, you know, you learn how to cook and eat well. But boy, she had missed that deer. that fried backstrap, because my dad, he ate that during this time of year, every other meal.

And so, but the key to that is because you're like, well, what's, because that old Thai was looking around. He was like, what, what's the key? So I cooked it for him while he was here. And then he got it, didn't he? I said, the key is to start off with a small deer. Yeah. Because they're just better. Yeah.

And that's, I'm not ashamed of that. Exactly. So she has folks that, some folks that sit with her and, you know, just making sure she gets around good, doesn't fall. But they become part of the family. And the lady that was over this weekend is a sweet, sweet lady, Miss Angela. And she's just part of the family now. She is. What's weird is what, you know, Ms. Kay said, I want to introduce you to my best friend in the world.

I was like, I know Angela. So even though she's doing better, she has moments of like, I'm just sorry, remember when I brought you that dear? Ms. Angela was sitting there. I told Mom yesterday that, so Ms. Angela came with Mom after I preached. It was the first time she had heard me preach, so she was telling me about my sermon, Ms. Angela, and how much she liked it, because she has her own church, you know,

but she's been with Mom on the weekend, so it's been great to have her. So they came over to our house and had lunch, afterwards, and we watched football yesterday because mom's cable is down, so we can't get her football over there. So she came to my house yesterday to watch a couple of playoff games. And so I told Mom, we were laughing because, like you said, Mom is doing great, but she does have dementia. She's been diagnosed, and so she'll have these moments. But I told her, I said, Mom, the good thing about your dementia, because I told her a joke that I told her like, last week I was here, it was a stupid preacher joke. But she laughs every time the same.

I said, you know, the best thing about telling jokes to people with dementia, They laugh every time because it's the first time they've ever heard. But she really is doing great. And it's been fun. And I know a lot of you have been praying for her. And I just want you to know the prayers that were. You know, like anybody that, I mean, she and dad have been together for over 60 years. And so I think none of us realize just how hard that is to say so long for a while by your soulmate,

the person you spent your whole life with. So just the grieving process itself is hard enough to get over. But then when you're sick, physically and some mental. on top of that, that's a hard thing to deal with. Yeah, it took a while. It is. It made me think about where we're at in First John, which I don't know if

we've done a few overviews of First John. We're trying to wrap our heads around it with you together. And he seems to, you know, have built this sermon around life, light,

and love, which is kind of the DNA of God and that John recorded in the gospel of John. Yeah, the gospel of John. But this word, you know, one thing I think that helps you get your head around this, and this kind of goes in context with getting old. And when you think about age, because actually when Ty was here, he asked me a strange question that of all the questions he asked me, this just seemed kind of weird to me.

But he said, look, I got a question. because he was just peppering me with questions during, when we studied half the night about various things. But he said, you know, early in the Bible, these people were living like a thousand years. And I said, well, I think Methuselah was the oldest recorded. And what was he?

Nine something, 62 maybe. And he said, what about that? And I was like, well, what's your question? And he said, well, I did. did some research and they basically told me, which I was like, well, who are they? And he's like, well, whoever's running the internet. Oh, boy. If it's Wikipedia, you better just pass.

They were saying there was something wrong with the calendar. And so I said, well, and here's where I started. I just wanted to get your thoughts on it because where I launched from there, which I thought it was a good question when you think about it, how are these people living there? this long. And so in 1 John 1, if you look up the Greek word for... 969. 969. Well, that's pretty close. If you look up the Greek word for this word, eternal life in 1 John 1, 2. So he's talking about the word of life. We know he's talking about Jesus. And in verse 2, he says, the life appeared. We have seen it and testified to it. And we proclaim to you, these.

eternal life, which was with the father and has appeared to us. Well, if you look up the word eternal and then do your little Greek lexicon thing, if you look it up, so it's 166 in the Greek lexicon, I'm not going to attempt to pronounce this. Ahi O'Neos, which is the Greek word. And then it'll say eternal, eternity for everything. That's 14 times in the book of John that that word appears. All right. Yeah.

But when you look at it, what you'll see is it's an age. Yeah. And so the way the, from my understanding, y'all can clear this up and fill in the details, there's a lot in the Bible about present age and age to come. Yeah. And sometimes this word is translated in that. And I'll just give you some examples. So like in Matthew 12, Jesus says, this is verse 32, blaspheming against the Holy Spirit won't be forgiven in this age or in the age to come.

And so here my little AI paragraph summary of that says contrasting earthly life with eternity. So even AI is trying to wrap its head around what this concept means. I'll give you another one. You remember in Luke 20, 34, and 36, the question was asked in the resurrection, if a woman had been married seven times, who would be her husband in the afterlife? But listen to what Jesus said. It says, in this age, people who marry is contrasted with those who are considered worthy to attain to that age, and the resurrection who neither married.

nor are given in marriage. So he basically says in the age to come, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Ephesians 1, this is verse 21. Paul speaks of Christ's authority, and it says not only in this age, but also in the age to come, referring to power in the present and the future.

Now, 1 Corinthians 2 is where you need to hang out, because it's the whole chapter filled with, and I thought we could read this. You can wrap your head around the point I'm trying to make here before I give you the question. First Corinthians, too or second Corinthians? I think it's First Corinthians too. Okay.

First Corinthians two. Let's read a little bit of that. Are y'all following me? I've just lost you. No, no, I'm waiting. Okay. So watch what he says in verse 6 of First Corinthians 2. we do however speak a message of wisdom among the mature now watch this phrase but not the wisdom of this age

or of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing no we speak of god's secret wisdom a wisdom that has been hidden and that god destined for our glory before time began which is kind of what john is doing in first john one This is the same being who came, who was with the Father, before the creation of the world. Yeah, that's the same time and space, right. Now watch what verse 8. None of the rulers, there is again, of this age, understood it for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. However, as it is written, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived,

what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to us by a spirit. The spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God, for who among men knows the thoughts of man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

This is what we speak, not in words talked to us by human, wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit expressing spiritual truths, spiritual words. The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God, for their foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment, for who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him, but

we have the mind of Christ. So my whole point when we're reading that is, we have the mind of Christ now. We have the spirit of God now. And you think about verses like Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So my whole point is the word eternity, when you look it up and you see about this age or the age to come, it's more talking about the quality of the age. So if Jesus is eternal, because even though he became a man,

inserted himself in time. And he's promising, what, eternal life? Well, when you go through and read the book of John, you remember all those passages like in John 5 where it's like this person has crossed over from death to life or even John 3, I think it's 36, where he talks, he uses that word, eternity when he says, 336, whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. Well, he's experiencing the age to come, which is eternity because God is eternal.

Right. And if you receive the spirit, think of like that verse in Romans 8. If the same spirit is living in you in this present age, he who gave life to Jesus' body when he died, the Holy Spirit, will also give life in what the age does. to come life to your body. I said all that to say, to answer this question, when he said, what about these ages? Well, I said, you know, there's passages that kind of explain how the ages went from 900 to 120 to 70 or 80, and those are three passages that say that.

So the first one is in Genesis 6, where whatever's happening with the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms, and they seem to cohabitate in some way with human women. And that's Genesis chapter. It was like I said in my summary of state, we inherited that because that came with the planet. Well, exactly. So the fall of man happens. and as the result of a celestial being that has fallen, the evil one that was in the garden,

and then you just go three chapters later, and now there's multiple fallen celestial beings, and they're somehow mating with human women, and it produces giants, but there's an obscure verse in there. And this is right after Genesis 5, where you see all these people who are living 9669 years and 77, Well, and this really encouraged,

Kyle, when I read this, because he's like, that's in the Bible. And in Genesis 6.3, it says, Then the Lord said, my spirit will not contend with man forever, which is this same eternal word of this age to come. Right. And it says, for he is mortal,

his days will be 120 years. So whatever the result of this celestial invasion into humanity, God said, okay, I'm not going to let you live for 900 years anymore. It's going to be 120. And I was like, I don't know all the details. I'm just reading you that verse. But evidently, and y'all tell me if I'm wrong, I just wanted to introduce this thought because I think in our study of 1st John,

I want to wrap my head around what this fellowship with eternal life exactly means. It's not only in this age and in the age to come. And so I said, then you get an obscure verse in Psalm 90, which is Moses's prayer recorded in Psalms. And I want to read this because you'll be shocked at how this mirrors what we're reading in 1st John. And I want to read this. It says Psalm 90, and it says a prayer of Moses, the man of God. Now this, think about Moses.

well he comes later because then you had the flood which this whatever this carnal spiritual invasion of evil forces with humans it caused a flood and the flood basically did away with it I mean that was well right it limited in that capacity and now you were getting to live 120 so think Abraham and Sarah they were a hundred and ninety when they had this baby right because that goes in with the 120 narrative well now Moses who came later watch what happened here in his prayer.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world. He like First John, he like Jesus' prayer goes to before creation in this relationship of Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And then it says, here's our words, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God, which I look that up. It's the same concept. Erad air. From the age of this forever age of

just you and the Son and the Holy Spirit to now the age of you, the Son, the Holy Spirit after creation. That's what that verse means, which is fascinating. But watch what he says. You return men back to dust. Well, up until Genesis 6, you was letting live here for quite a long time.

But you limited there. Oh, sons of men. And then look at this, what verse is here. For a thousand years in your sight or like a day that is gone by or like a watch in the night. Well, where's that quoted? In First Peter, you remember when he's talking about Jesus coming back in a new heavens and a new earth? And he's like, he doesn't want anybody to perish for you. Like, when this happened for you, a thousand years is like a day and a day.

So Peter didn't just come up with that. He got that from Psalm 90. Exactly. Trying to wrap his head what I'm trying to wrap around. You sweep men away in the sleep of death. They are like new grass of the morning. Though in the morning it springs up new by evening it is withered, dry, and withered. I mean, people are dying, but as a result of a separation from him, from sin.

Sin has led to death, and you're saying that, even though he limited it on how long you'll be here. And then it says, for we are consuming. by your anger and terrified by your indignation because that was a result of separation of God. It brought death. And God in love is like, this is not how it's supposed to be. So you will be separated from me, and death is a part of that. You have said our iniquities before you are secret sins in the light of your presence. And 1 John is going to go into that about us confessing our sins as we walk in the light in Jesus.

All our days pass away under your. wrath. We finish our years with a moan. Now here's the, here's the kicker. The length of our days is 70 years or 80 if we have the string. So I asked Ty, after he asked me this question, I said, you know what the average life expectancy is today? And he's like, like 72 or 74. And I was like, well, how did Moses know this thousands of years ago that he got it right in the middle? Yes, right. Yet their span is but. trouble and sorrow. We talked about that on the last podcast. It's filled with trouble, whether you're in Jesus or not. Still going to have trouble. Who knows the power of your anger?

For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. And the reason I wanted to read this is because in 1st John, this word propitiation comes up with his appeasing God's wrath. The only two places that's brought up in the entire Bible. Well, this seems to fit in, With this, you know, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and making peace of his anger towards our sin that was done in love. And he gets to love here in the next couple of verses. Verse 12, teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom. That's why we spent two podcasts talking about wise, I understand wrapping our head around the blueprint of humanity, which is God's wisdom.

relent oh lord how long will it be have compassion on your servants satisfy in the morning with look of this with your unfailing love so that we may sing for joy which is first john one four it's james one consider it pure joy first peter one and and watch this that we may be glad all our days make us glad for as many days as you have a flake us glad for as you have a us for as many years as we have seen trouble, may your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord God rest upon us, establish the work of our hands for you. Yes, establish the work of our hands. And we talked about work. And there's two different kinds of work, you know, out there.

God created us to be his workmanship, just like he did in Adam to work the garden, the new creation. We get to do the work of God that he prepared before the beginning of time, Ephesians 2. So that was kind of my answer to that. And he's like, well, that's really blown my head about what eternity is now. So look, so after all of that, he asked me a question. He says, well, wouldn't that mean that we're getting a taste of eternity now? And I said, Ty, bingo. I think you've hit on it.

And he said, and you answered while we only live 70 or 80 years. Who knows why? But we at least see that happen through the Bible. You know what my go-to text is when I used to do a lot of funerals at the graveside? Because graveside is kind of an awkward thing. Traditionally, at least around here, you have a service. and you preach, and then you go to the grave side as well. And so I'm expected as the preacher to say a few words.

But Psalm 90 is what I always read in that moment, because we're here to put this body in the ground. And it is a somber occasion for this family and these people that love this loved one. And in that moment, you have to have that reminder that the taste of eternity is here. It looks like this is the end of the story, but it's not. And it's what I always like, because you're right, the Jews had this idea of two eras because you had Jewish history waiting for the Messiah, and then the Messiah was supposed to come, but most of it was still all aimed at here.

It was, and that's why it was filled with unfaithfulness on their side, oppression. There were other nations taken over. The same ones, these celestial beings had partnered with humans, developed all these other ungodly nations, which is why the world just literally went to hell in a handbasket. and resulted in a flood. And then here's Moses coming out from all this frustration and just with the unfaithfulness of human beings

is able to kind of see in there the vision of God and what he's working to do, even down to how many years we're on the planet. Right. And the difference, I think what the New Testament writers do and John does for sure is that they add an era is essentially what happens, because from the mindset of Christianity is you had the era just like the Jewish history,

but then you had the Messiah coming, which they're still waiting on, but we said, no, he came. He's here. And when he came, when he left, he sent his spirit here for now us to be able to live in this era with a, I think of it in terms of a portal to eternity. It's like, because, you know, the New Testament. I think that's a good way to look at. Because you got this portal, the Paul kept, call it a deposit. What does that mean? That means something that's given us that's going to expand

into something bigger. Right now all we see is the portal, and we see the fruit that comes from the portal, and then in the post-resurrection upon the final return, we get into the third era. And that's the one, even though they sort of recognized eternity, at least half of them did, the Pharisees did in the resurrection. I don't think they ever could get away from the idea of ruling on Earth. They never understood the Earth wasn't the final goal, even even though it is part of who we are. And there's a new heaven and a new earth. So obviously that portal,

you remember the movie Stargate, which I've talked about before, which was just someone made up a movie, but I think it was probably rooted in this, in my opinion. But the idea was, is there was this portal they found that you could then go to this parallel universe that was a lot like our universe,

and there you had the Pharisees, the pharaohs and all this stuff there. And so it was like an explanation. they were really aliens, and you could figure it out in this other world, not our world, but that idea of being able to go in a portal to experience something greater than your own experience. That's what I see the Holy Spirit doing,

and that's the part that's been missed by most of our Jewish heritage, is that power that comes from that. And that really was what Jesus said. That's why he continued to tell his disciples, look, it's going to be better for you when I leave because I'm leaving that little portal, that little ingested part of me,

in you and it's going to be available for everyone. And it's like the new creation is already beginning. And it's just, it's evolving on the planet. You're getting the glimpse of joy and eternity from spirit-filled people.

And it catches on. It becomes contagious. So what did say you, Zach? It's hard because I think we all grew up and a lot of people grew up in an idea that, yeah, eternity was out there. We've talked about a lot of this podcast. It really has become the anchor of what we're doing here

is to redefine what eternal life is from a biblical perspective that it's here now. And in the last podcast, I was talking about, my wife will say, a lot of wives will say about their husbands that they're directionally challenged, meaning they don't know how to follow directions or whatever. and they're going, they have a destination that they're getting to, and they're trying,

and they get lost, they can't follow the GPS. I think in the church, we are directionally challenged in that we don't understand which way this thing is going. We think it's out there. We really do, but the whole context of the scripture is that God is coming and the kingdom is coming and that the spirit is coming. And when you think about the role of the Holy Spirit in eternal life, He is paramount.

I thought about the John 17, 3 verse, obviously, as you were going through that whole thing, that's kind of that key point Jesus made. The eternal life is now, it's to know the ones you're God and Jesus Christ's son whom he sent. The way that the Spirit works in all of this is that the Spirit now comes in and lives and takes up residence inside of human bodies. So if you are a Christian, then you house the Holy Spirit. So now you start looking at all of that Old Testament stuff, and you think about that tower of Babel,

what they were essentially trying to do was build a tower so that they could house God. I mean, that's really what the sin was. But they were going to do it on their terms. And so the New Testament restoration of that idea of all that that happened and the Divine Council falling and overseeing different governments and different movements.

I mean, it's kind of scary when you start thinking about how real some of this stuff is. The rectifying of that and the antidote to that is going to be spirit-filled believers. Now we are like little many temples just running around, expanding out God's presence throughout the whole globe. And to me, it's important because it actually puts like a tangible job that the Lord wants me to do. And I think that sits well with me, like that God has something that he wants me to do. I'm not just sitting back and spectating at what God's done. God said, no, no, no.

I've built the universe in a way that you're actually, as a human, you are actually going to be participating in this with me. This is a very participatory thing that I've invited you into. And so you have a role, and your role, Zach, is you're actually going to be a priest. and what it means to be a priest is you're going to protect the garden and the creation that I've made, you're going to expand the garden, so you're going to cultivate the earth. You have a role here, and that role got thwarted at the very beginning of time, and what's happening now is God is calling us back into that, and so whatever we're doing now, it matters because

it's actually a foretaste of glory divine. It's a first fruit. And so for me, that gives me like a real understanding and motivation that there's stuff we've got to get done here. matters and this world matters. And I like the, in the last podcast, you mentioned First John 1.4. We were talking about James, but you mentioned it. We write this to make our joy complete, which was in the John context.

But just even think about that statement. How could joy be completed in this life if our mindset was always, there's no way we can have true joy until after we get into the existence after. the post-resurrection, because that's always been the thought. Well, you just endure this life. Hope you can make it through it. Hope you wind up on the plus side. And then you'll get all the joy.

But that's not what he said here. No, that's why I brought this up by eternal life, because, you know, I've had trouble just wrapping my head around how to explain 1st John. Yeah. And I've noticed these little key words that I think we have always viewed wrongly in that we only think about eternal life when you, Jesus comes back.

But he's writing this saying, you are participating, partnering, fellowshiping with the literal Godhead right now. Right. Don't leave Jesus, which is a theme. And he made that point there in verse 2, which seems, you know, not like a big deal. When he says the life appeared, we've seen it, we testify it, we have proclaimed to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and has appeared to us. But then he says, and our fellowship in verse 3, is with the Father.

Is. It's with him. Well, then when I said, well, what about the other times he brings up this eternal life? Well, in Chapter 2, in verse 23, which everyone gets here, and they start making up all these doctrines about the anti-Christ or anti-Messiah to use the Hebrew version of that. And he basically says, no one who denies the son has the father. Because he had just said in chapter one, you're partners with him. How can you deny the son?

Whoever acknowledges the son has the father also. And this is all in the context of verse 20 saying, you have an an anointing from the Holy One. And we know that's the Holy Spirit. So then he says, verse 24, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. This is now. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and the Father. And this is what he promised us, even eternal life.

And it's almost like he's saying, you don't realize you're experiencing that now. Even eternal life now, not something way off. And then at the end in 1 John 5 in verse 13, and the reason I'm making such a big deal about this, because he just flat out says, I'm writing these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have, you possess eternal life. So I think you kind of see in that, and this was a long way to say, you know, if this is a becomes a reality to you now. And it's like, Ty had it right.

Are you saying we're experiencing that now? All of a sudden, he was ready to run through that door without opening it. Telling anybody in earshot, you can experience it now. That's right. All this pain. I like the word experience. I mean, because it's, if you think about like if you are in love with a woman or if you're a man or a man or a woman, or woman, you're in love with a man, and you find the love of your life, and you guys are

just head over heels for each other, the relationship of whatever that is, it transcends knowledge about that relationship. And what I mean by that is, like, I don't, it's, when I'm, when me and Jill fell in love and we were, we're getting married and we're engaged and we want to spend the rest of our life together, like, it was not built, and even now, even more so now, that we've been together for almost 25 years, like our relationship is not centered on what we know about each other. We know a lot about each other, but our relationship is actually centered on participation with each other.

And so I think the way the big shift that happens when you begin to understand what the Bible is teaching here is that eternal life becomes much more about a participation, like a participatory commute, union in God's inner triune life. Like, who is God and what is life? He is life. He doesn't just give life.

No, he is life. So the invitation to eternal life is not say, God, give me a cup of eternal life. What you're actually saying is, God, give me you. I want to be with you. And so it's way more relational, which is another way of saying what you said, when you said it's much more about the quality of the life than it is the quantity.

The quantity is there because it is on and on and on and on forever and ever. But, man, but that could also describe hell. What separates the two is to Al's point in your sermon is that one is qualified by the presence whose presence you're in versus whose presence you're not in. Well, I said all that to say, because I think the reason I've had trouble wrapping my head around this, is because when we get to verse 6 through 2-1, then all of a sudden it's just like, well, how can this be? He's like, I'm writing this so that you won't sin. Right.

That's in 2-1. Then he also says in verse 8 of chapter 1, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves. And I think he was given the platform to say, look, you're like saying, oh, we get to have eternal life. But he's like, you're participating now. So there's some things we need to address here. If you're sitting here claiming that you have this relationship and participation, but you're lying about your own sin and how you're dealing with it or claiming whether you have it or not, this is silly.

I mean, you're going to live with God forever. And now you think you're going to hoodwink him? Like he doesn't know exactly what you've done. when you did it, what you're fixing to do. He's an eternal being. And so I think that's the trouble was wrapping our head around all this is because, look, we do the same thing

in modern day. I mean, how many people go to an assembly, we go to church, we smile, we sing the song, we say a prayer, then we immediately walk out and do something just ungodly. Like all of a sudden we left the presence of God. And I think it's the proper way to wrap your head around this letter.

Yeah, there was a story out just this week about some person who was in the adult film industry that supposedly came to Christ. And that story goes out and everybody says, oh, man, that's great news. And then she goes right back and continues doing adult films. And she's up, but now I'm a Christian. It's like, no, I think you missed that whole point. You can't stay till the corner. So I want to show you this, and you mentioned this last time, Judge, and it proves exactly what we're talking about today, I think, about this idea, about complete joy.

So you remember those passages in John that you mentioned in the last podcast, you read them? Each one of those are very interesting because they show sort of the evolution, I think, of what we're talking about here, about how the Holy Spirit is the game changer. In John 329 through 30, which you read before, that's John the Baptist who says that

about Make My Joy Complete, and he's testifying about the idea that the bridegroom has now come. Don't like Jesus. Jesus mentions it in John 15, 9 through 12, but that's his testimony about the Father sending him here to make his joy complete. Now I'm here.

Then in John 16, he tells the disciples, look, when I leave, I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit to then make your joy complete. So you're watching the evolution. And then listen to this. This was the capper for me. This is Philippians 4 in verse 10,

where now Paul, who's speaking, as people who have the Holy Spirit, here's what he says. And he's talking about himself, I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I'm not saying this because I am a need, for I've learned to be content whatever the circumstances. That's a huge statement, because this is at the base of joy. I know what it is to be a need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether they're living in plenty or in need. I can do everything through him who gives me

strength. Now, that said, as a spirit-led believer, is saying that joy can be complete in this life, but it doesn't mean that I'm in a great situation. I could be in wanting or I could be in need, but either way, the difference is now I have a spirit, the spirit. The spirit is, of God that lives in me, and part of its fruit is joy, no matter what's going on. Well, because what does the spirit do? The spirit, when he comes, Jesus calls him the spirit of truth when he comes, he'll guide you into all truth. And then that John 17 passage also says that we're sanctified by the truth. Your word is truth. So when you think about the role of the Holy Spirit, going back to the porn star that you mentioned that had found, I guess

gave her life to Christ, but then goes right back immediately into the pornography. what that says is that she doesn't really trust in God. And so belief is trust expressed in life. And that's really what it means when we say we put our belief in Christ. This isn't a cognitive acquisition of just that kind of knowledge. It's a different kind of knowledge. It's, I believe, I trust in the provisions of Christ. I trust in his ways. And when I do that, what I'm actually he's saying is, I trust that his way will yield joy. And that enables me to actually suffer and go through difficult times. Because if you read what Paul says that for the joy set before Christ, he endured the cross. So for Christ himself as an example, like Christ was able to

suffer horrendously on the cross. But the Bible says that what motivated him to be able to do that was that there was some joy that was set before him. And that was what enabled him to endure the cross. And in the same way, we can endure things because we actually do believe that God's way is better. So it's that whole desire in God concept that I love that John Piper says that God is most glorified in us when we're most satisfied in him. So our satisfaction and experience of joy is not on a different track than giving God glory and living for him.

Those are actually on the same exact track. You can't have one without the other because one leads to the other. They're mirror images of each other. Well, and then I think that leads to the new creation, the born again. Because Paul addressed these kind of arguments like you brought up with the porn star. It made me think of Romans 5. And the little heading over Romans 5 is peace and joy. And you start reading, you're like, oh, those are fruits of the spirit.

And he's like, therefore since we have been. been justified through faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we've gained access by faith into this grace. And then it says, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings. So we're back to that. But that leads to him saying, while we were sinners, Christ died for us. You know, God demonstrates his love. verse 8. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. But the very next chapter, he brings up this argument because he knows what happens in human minds. They're like, what shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? You know, and in First John's context, it's like,

oh, we have all this. But are we really sure that Jesus became a man? I mean, okay, this is great. He's given us in terms. But are we really sure of that? But in Paul's case, he then goes to, no, we shouldn't sin so that grace increase, which is why John's fixed to launch into that about our sins. If we claim we're without sin, we're a liar. If we confess our sins, and it kind of goes back to that Psalm 90, God knows our secret sins. And we're now in a relationship with him, and it's going to last forever.

Let's come and come out with the truth since you have the spirit about what's going on. And that's the relationship that works. But then Paul uses that argument in Romans 6. He's like, we died to sin. Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead

through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. And so I've asked that question so many times of people who they're doing something that's obviously not godly. And they're like, I don't, you know, I don't know what the problem is. And I've asked this question so many times and it's so profound because I always say, well, who died and who did we bury when you surrendered to Christ? I'll say, did you surrender your life to Christ?

And it's usually some years ago, oh, yeah, I surrendered Christ. But now you're living the exact opposite of what you know to be godly. And we're sitting here on the couch having a conversation. Who did we bury? and that's just always a real profound moment in people's lives because it's echoing what Roman 6 here is saying and I think it's a good question for everybody to ask is this real or not are we really having a relationship

do we really believe it I mean think about what the spirit's revealing to us I mean you had mentioned earlier in this podcast about making the backstrap from Miss Kay and we talked about crawfish pie you know in between podcasts and I was thinking like a good analysis would be as if Ms. Kay is eating spam. And you're like, hold on. There's a new chef in town. He's right across the road from your house.

Just walk over here and there's this meal that I prepared for you. We've got crawfish pie. We've got the fried deer steak. We've got the bed. I mean, this is a table. I mean, this is a spread. There's joy over here. Yeah.

And she says, oh, yeah. And she tells all her friends, guys, I got a new chef. Jace is taking over. He's doing all the cooking. I've got a new chef now. But instead of going over there, she just pulls out her spam and keeps eating it. And you're like, well, I thought, do you believe in? Oh, yeah, I believe in Jace.

He's the cook now. It's everything. It's the best food ever. But you're eating the spam. Do you really? Yeah, oh, yeah, I believe that you don't believe that there's a meal over there. If you're still eating the spam, you don't actually believe in the revelation. For all our listeners in Hawaii, it's not, we're not saying spam

is bad. What we're saying is, I'll tell you this. If you eat spam right after you've eaten fried backstrap with a side of crawfish pie

homemade with the crust that just is hard to describe it so good. If that spam does not make you gag, you're delusional. Oh, no. We just lost to Hawaii.

It would literally make you vomit. And I think to put in your lifestyle, here you have the spirit and your God is using you. And then all of a sudden you're going to take a break and go eat some spam. No, I do. I do think y'all are both tapped into what John is going to put forth. And I think we've set it up properly because the idea of the Holy Spirit is the difference

makers, the paraclitus, which we're going to get into in two one, because it's Christ then sending the Spirit to us. And why would you want to go back? Which is Paul's whole point that he makes in Romans 5, 6, and said, why would you want to go back? Like, it's not worthy of who you are now. And I think that becomes the picture that we want to do going forward. And he's going to start that next time we come back with this idea that God is light.

And, Zach, I love what you said earlier. Truth shines light. And once it's lit up, why would you want to go back to the darkness? You know that's not where you need to be. So it does change us. The Holy Spirit is the game changer. Because once the portal is open,

then there's an understanding of what true light is. Why would you want to live in darkness any longer? Which is going to be, John. Well, the reason we're going at this at nauseam is because we tend as human beings to make it all complex. And we're all involved in people's lives and they sit down and they're like, they've heard the gospel. They're like, I just don't know what my problem is. When it all comes down to that passage, Zach recited in that prayer in John 173, it's like, well, do you believe this or not? Yeah.

I mean, because you're acting like it's complex. I don't know. Oh, no, it's pretty clear. It's pretty clear. You're eating spam claiming. You're eating spam. Because you're following the greatest chef ever. Oh, you got, because think about where all of First John's going is really to this thing in John,

First John 5, where he says that the commandments are not burdensome. So if I view them as a burden, then that tells me something. I'm missing some part of the story. If you hear, if you read this, you hear the gospel, you hear what God's calling to, you say, oh, this is a burden. You're missing something. Very important, either one, Jesus is lying or to your midst and something because the Bible says here, John says that his commandments are not burdensome. So that's the thing we got to start thinking about.

And I think that's the whole point of First John is pulling us into this understanding. We can see, oh, wow, they're not burdensome. They're actually the keys to us finding the thing that we want most, which is life. All right. So we're going to get a little bit deeper into this as we go in First John. So appreciate you being along for the ride. See you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast.

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