Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1273 | The Only 2 Ways to Show That You Really Love God

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

As cultural division deepens and politics dominate everyday life, Jase, Al, and Zach turn to First John to ask a harder question: if we claim to love God, do we love people who disagree with us? John writes, “This is how we know,” pointing back to two simple commands — believe in Jesus and love one another. In a polarized world fueled by outrage, love is the real test of faith. Plus, Jase has an unexpectedly emotional encounter in an airport terminal that leaves tears flowing and a life changed.  In this episode: 1 John 1, verses 6–9; 1 John 2, verses 1–6; 1 John 2, verses 28–29; 1 John 3, verses 1–3; 1 John 3, verses 10–24; 1 John 4, verses 2–13; 1 John 5, verses 2–3; 1 John 5, verse 20; Romans 4, verses 18–21; Matthew 18, verses 1–4 “Unashamed” Episode 1273 is sponsored by: https://www.bruntworkwear.com/unashamed — Get $10 Off at BRUNT with code Unashamed at checkout. https://myphdweightloss.com — Find out how Al lost 80+ pounds. Schedule your one-on-one consultation today by visiting the website or calling 864-644-1900 and mention "AL" https://trustandwill.com/unashamed — Get 20% off and protect your legacy today! http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College 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 Airport Altar Call with No Sermon 06:05 When “If” Becomes “When” 12:40 Mercy & Defense From Jesus 17:55 “This Is How We Know” — John’s Refrain 24:30 The Two Commands: Believe & Love 31:20 Loving Your Brother in a Divided Culture 37:50 When You Want to Want God 43:30 Love in Action Through Suffering 49:40 Knowing Him as Father, Son & Spirit — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. It's been a day for y'all, but it's been four minutes for us. It's been four minutes. And the last podcast, I wanted to make an announcement about First John because we're like halfway through the book. Yeah. Well, I just realized the introduction, like two months in this.

what we should have done from the beginning I just learned and I think it's the way this book is design has caused that yeah it's a John we tried to frame it several ways

as we've been studying it because the way I in my mind it works for me is it's a circular you know we talk about Paul's writings being linear like they start he makes his point

you kind of did an overview y'all did a couple of podcasts has to go the whole book of Romans. You start one place and Paul just goes a straight line to get to the end of what he's trying to say. But John is this particular, and I think it's because he's older, is my opinion when he's writing this. And so when you're older, you tend to try to make the same point several times. I got that from dear old dad, you know, watching him make a point. Well, and I brought up the fact that I noticed these three L qualities, which I shared this with someone in an airport terminal because they asked me, they said, what, what do you think God is like?

Which, well, you're talking about the low-hanging fruit question. I said, well, he became a man to answer that question, his name was Jesus. Maybe I should back up and tell you this story, because I told you two stories that happened in the airport. Well, look, had this happen, we're sitting there. This is the same trip? Same trip. Okay.

I just didn't tell the story. This would have been the third conversation if you're keeping score from the last podcast. So I get up, oh, my phone was done, and I wanted to plug my phone in. So when I got up, people had been staring at me, which it's not unusual. I thought they're trying to figure out,

is this one of these guys from the Duck Show? Right. You know, that's what they were saying. I've tried everything in the world. Now that's Dan sending me a text. That's because you didn't. Dan the butler is trying to get a hold of me. He's called me in the last podcast.

And now he goes... By the way, for those of you have been wondering about what happened to Dan, this is a proof of life. Dan is still here. He still works for us. Even though his role has changed a bit. I'm feeling sorry for my dad right now. And he's no longer on the planet in bodily form. because...

How long is that text, though, is what I want to know. Because he sends some mini novellas to me quite often. Well, he gives you the audio version where he'll record the message. It's like 10 minutes. If you're wondering what happened to Dan, we had an awkward conversation. Not that Dan's an awkward human being, I'm just saying, an awkward conversation because now my dad's going on to be with the Lord, and he was my dad's butler.

So there should be a movie about that or something. What happened to the butler? That's a good movie title. Maybe they could be the next lifetime movie, Zach, after my... I mean, do you get in Phil's truck and you drive and just think, do I keep doing my job here? Even though, because to God... Because he actually drives now dad's old work truck. Oh, I know.

It's gotten weird. And so basically, I'll sum up the conversation that I had with him because he was basically saying, can I still work here? Yeah. What does it look like now? I took that to mean, do I need a butler? And I was like, I don't need a butler. So how about you check in from time to time?

And we'll make sure. For those of you that worry for dad, Butler is an affectionate term. We called him that. So we're not demeaning dad. There's the problem of that. Dan believes that. He embraced that. He does have Butler qualities.

Yeah. So anyway, Dan's doing fine and we still have jobs for him. And by the way, one of the things he does, And this is, I don't know this is a job responsibility, but it's certainly something that's very meaningful. And you'll appreciate this, those of you that love our mom out there. He brings in, he takes care of her two dogs because she can't take care of them, you know, in town.

And so he takes care of them, and he brings them in to see her usually one or two days a week, every week. And he'll spend the whole afternoon there and, you know, she gets to be with the dogs and play with them. And so it's... Well, I'll give you a mom update. and then I'll tell the story because this story is very powerful but my mom came and visited me the day

before I left now all of you out there that's not registering we've been visiting my mom for months and she's she's gotten so much better that she has her own little house now

but she just popped in now she had a chauffeur and unannounced. And she's like, I just wanted to visit. And came walking in without a walker. I hadn't seen her do that, which made me nervous. And so she's really come a long way. She's doing great.

When she's dropping in and just hanging out. So she's doing fantastic. So thank you, Lord, for that. Yes. So I'm in the airport to get up to charge my phone, and this young woman comes up and says, you know, you mind if we have a picture. And so I looked and there's a guy standing there.

I was like, oh, y'all are together. She's like, well, yeah, we're dating. And I said, oh, cool. She's like, but I'm from Texas and he is from Iowa. I was like, well, that's crazy. And we were in Dallas. So you are meeting up in Dallas or how's this working? But she said, I need your.

Airport romance. She said, I need your advice on something. After we took the picture, she said, can I ask your advice on something? I was like, now we're doing dating advice. Well, I said, now look, I'm not the brightest bulb of humans on the planet.

So it depends on what this advice is about. I was already loweringing expectations because I thought, like Zach, I thought she's going to ask me for some kind of dating advice. I just met these people. But she said, well, I was raised in a Christian home.

And then as soon as she said that, I thought, Oh, she's faith. We're fixed to have a Jesus conversation right in the middle of this gate at the airport. So I was raising a Christian home. I was baptized. I've always believed in God. But my life does not reflect that.

Wow. That was the question. But she said it. She said it. That's quite the confession. So I looked over at the boyfriend and thought, see if I can get anything out of him. He just kind of hung his head down, you know. And I said, well, you know, this is not about, because she said, I've been going to church my whole life.

She threw that phrase in. But my life doesn't reflect. I was like, well, you threw in that phrase going to church your whole life. I was like, it's not very hard to go to a building that we call church now, which is not really what that is. It has nothing to do with the building, you know. I said, we're followers of Jesus. And so I went through my spell about the book of John. I was like, I think here's my advice.

You need to read the book of John and just see who Jesus is. Now look, I didn't even get finished with that speech and just see what you think of him. Because if this is not personal, if you don't believe he's real and he's out there and that he's close and that he's pursuing you and he's seeking you and that's why he came to earth, none of this is going to register in your life. well I'm kind of going through my speech but I look at it oh tears are flowing conviction

and I said now when you do that for real not just hearing me say it when you really go through there I was like it's going to affect your lifestyle and the way you live but I'm looking at this old boy here I'm putting two and two together

I'm like she's come up here and said my life is not reflecting but I want some advice and I'm like well you need to you need to figure out who Jesus is is that's how he communicates. But I thought, what a powerful moment we just had here.

And so when I went back and sat down and Missy was like, what was all that about? I was like, she just came up and turned herself in. My life is not right. I was like, that was an altar call without a sermon. Yeah. And she responded, and we just had that ma I told her about it. You know, and look. What that was, Jay's, that was exactly what John describes at first time,

the end of chapter one in first couple of verses chapter two. It says if you confess your sin, you tap into this idea we're talking about. It's that reflective look we have. That's why I had an epiphany. Because, you know, when I go on these trips, I just take my Bible. And so I kept reading First John because we're studying First John.

And I had that happen. And for whatever reason, it affected me. Because I thought, this sounds like the Book of John. She's like, I'm claiming to have. have fellowship with him, yet I'm not walking in the light. I'm claiming to do this, but I'm not loving life. She was a walking, living, breathing person person personifying exactly what we've been studied in.

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and tell them that was from this show. Bruntworkware.com code unashamed. So here's the introduction. I'd like to get your thought. Four things stood out to me when I read this two or three times.

actually previous to that encounter and then after I read it. Four things that I did not notice. I don't know why we didn't bring up. One was the big word that has two letters of if. I did not realize how many times that word is used in the book of John. 22 times. Now, if you read it, you're only going to see 20. Yeah.

And you say, well, how do you know there's 22 when it's only in the NIV? there's only 20. If you have a different translation, it may be the correct 22. But when you look up the word if and look in the Greek word, well, it came up 22 times. And I thought, that's weird because I read it and circled every time it said if, and I only came up with 20. Yeah. Well, twice, it's translated differently than if, it's when.

And that moment was really powerful for me, and that's why I wanted to share this. And you say, well, what are some of the, If. So I went and circled every time it says it. It doesn't take very long for you get into them, and I've already mentioned to a three, but 1st John 1-6, if we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one another. The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.

And you're so tempted to say, well, what if I don't? What if I don't? But he's trying to say, look, you're in this fellowship. This is, it should be when, it should be translated in our lives. When we walk, when we claim to have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we know we're lying and not living by the trip. It should be that, but the word is if. And so I think it'll be a good study for you if you look up all those ifs.

what I found fascinating is the two that it's translated when is in where we're at right now. So 1 John 2.28. And now, dear children, continue in him so that when. Well, it's the same word for if. As if. Well, you know why they translated it when? Because it can be if or when, depending if you go down the Greek. Because they know he's coming back.

Exactly. Somebody's translating this and said, well, wait a minute now. When he appears, this is not from the human perspective about there is a if there. Yeah, right. If you're walking by the, you know, if you're claiming to live in Jesus. So the ifs tend to be for us, the wins tend to be. That's kind of what I concluded. But there is one other difference.

And that is in 1st John 2.1. So I want to go back and say, now they did do this one if, which it should be. be when, but the word is better translated if from my, you know, I'm saying I'm giving you some Greek scholarship that I do not have scholarship on. You can look it up for yourself. But I found this funny because when he says, my dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the father in our defense. I think they pretty much could have said when. Because that's going to happen.

So when you go to Daniel 3, we're back to that song that Mercy Me did. We had them on on the Even If. Bart talked about it, yeah. Yeah, and we talked about that. But I kind of applied that here where I know it says, but if anybody does sin, even if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense.

It's a powerful. Yeah. Thought. Which is going to happen inevitably. But don't you find it fascinating? So the other time that it's translated when is right after that in 1st John 2, where it says, so that when he appears, because if it just wouldn't have the same ring. If he appears, we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

You know that he is righteous. So it's 1 John 3 in verse 2 is the other is. translated when. It says, Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known,

but we know that when he appears. It's the same word. Yeah. And that's why it can mean when. And so there it is. Yeah, when it in the alternate there in the NIV, there's a little letter there, or when it is made known.

Okay, so I started with the ifs. And I shouldn't have. I started, I should have started with the second thing, which is, so we can reverse these, is how many times he says, this is how we know. Now, it's translated in other places by this. And sometimes it's not translated. It's in the text, but they just leave it out. You'll be fascinated how many times he says this in this letter.

And I just did a little Google search just to speed up the process. Look at 1 John 2 in verse 5. It says the second part of the second sentence says, this is how we know we are in him. Well, verse 3 says the same thing. They just put, we know that if we come to know him, it just says same phrase. They just didn't put it in there.

This is how we know that we've come to know him if we obey his commands. Then he's like, this is how we know that we're in him. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. But look at 3-1. It's right where we're at again. 1-John 2, 1-John 3-3. 1-10.

Look at this. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right and it's not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. What it makes me think, you know how people when you'll say something profound, like in a text,

and somebody will be like this, and they'll point up like this. This is what I'm talking about. But he says this over and over. Look, First John 316, same phrase. This is how we know what love is. I mean, that was a song about this. I want to know what love is. First John 316, there it was.

And I keep thinking, every time you say this is how we know, I think of that song from the 90s, this is how we do. it. Do you remember that song's that? This is how we do. Every time you say this how we know, I'm in my mind. He might have read First John at some point. But look, people are like, what do I do? What do I do if this happened?

Well, this. If you just take all the statements, the next one, 1st John 319. It's the same phrase over and over and over. 1. John 319. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. Whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 324.

Those who obey his commands live in him and he and them. And this is how we know that he lives in us. We know it by the spirit he gave us. You say I keep raising my voice, because I think that. That's what he was doing. He was like, this is how you know this. This is how you know. It's the same phrase over and over.

Chapter 4, verse 2. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. I mean, don't you find this fascinating? Four, six, same phrase. What is four, six? Last sentence.

This is how we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. Four-thirteen. And you notice everyone is reinforcing a positive in a book with a lot of negatives. It really is. Yeah. We know that we live in him and he and us because he's given us, his spirit was at four-thirteen. We know this. He didn't say this is how he just said we know.

Oh, well, but it should have been. Yeah. So they take sometimes the Greek, for whatever reason, buy this we know, and he took out the buy this. Five, two. This is how we know. This is how we know that we love the children of God by loving God and carrying out his commands.

And by the way, he defined the commands what they mean, because he brings that up three or four times. So he defines these commands that he keeps bringing up in 1, John 3, 20, I never had noticed this because I hadn't looked at the text in this light where he's like, and this is how we know. We obey his commands. You're like, well, what are the commands? Are you talking about the old law?

Well, he defined that in 1st John 323. And this is his command because it's another this. You see what I mean? Yep. To believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. So, Jayce, one of the things that happened to me, it happens to a lot of people in middle age, is you begin to realize the metabolism has slowed and you start putting on some weight. And for men, it's usually right here in the gut. And so a year ago, I realized I need to lose a couple of pounds.

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That's 864-6-44-1900, or you can visit them at my PhD-Wat-Loss.com. Well, that's a big thing when you start thinking about your own life and you think, because the whole point is if he says, if you don't love your brother, then you can't love God. And I'll tell you right now, I've thought about that as enemies have crept up in my life over the years. And it is very, very easy to let Satan grab you and pull you into just kind of like this ongoing, ever-increasing, ever-deepening resentment, which will ultimately turn into bitterness and hatred towards your brother.

And it's very clear here when you think about the commandments of God, I mean, the byproduct of knowing and believing in Jesus is that that gives you the capacity than to love one another. and it's a that's that that's quite the quite the litmus test you know i mean you want to how do and you do make a choice i i got a note through our website uh a person sent recently and i didn't recognize at first what he was it was actually not a pot it was a negative i guess aimed at us he didn't he didn't he didn't directly say it but here's what he said he said um we my wife and i have tried god we've tried this you know we've listened to your family And here was this statement, he said, but it's embarrassing to say that loving God and loving your neighbor is enough. And that was all he said.

And so first I read it and I thought, what's he trying to say? Like was he chastising you? Yeah, it's like, y'all are so simple-minded that, like, because he's like, I'm giving up on God because my life hadn't worked out. And he's like, you guys are embarrassing to say it's something as simple. That was the whole point of the. the first law was to love God and love other people. And that continued. Jesus just introduced a new way to get to that point through his spirit that lives in us.

I have those arguments all the time with people. People by nature, for whatever reason, love being under law. Just give me the rules. Let me keep them. And I'll get back to you. T.S. Eliot said that we develop these systems so that we don't have to be good. but you know if we're hey if we're out of our mind we're out of our mind for christ and maybe it is embarrassing to some people but i think that this commandment to love one another extends beyond

even just that familial like the relationships inside a family i mean i think this is a cultural problem that we have right now that particularly with politics um you want to get your head chopped off in the cultural like ecosystem just get on youtube and say something make a strong political stance and I mean they're coming right or left they are coming and and yeah man this is I mean this is kind of

really controversial but come on with it but problems the problems we have as a culture they can't be solved by politics no I know it's controversial why is that controversial that's not controversial I would call that

common sense in fact I would say politics have added much to the division of people. Well, I mean, well, we're, we're, I mean, I would say I'm, I'm politically conservative, but I don't hate liberal Democrats. I don't. And I think that if you do, then you're not loving your brother. And, and that does not mean just you give word, you know, you just give the words that I love you. It's actually you embody that and actually live that out and vice versa.

I mean, we have to love one another, even if we are. are fundamentally opposed to each other's ideologies or ideas or philosophies. I mean, if you're a Christian at least, I mean, if you're not a Christian, I mean, yeah, this standard doesn't apply to you. But this is the standard by which John is applying, he's applying the standard to people who claimed to love God. How do I know if I love God? Well, you believe in Jesus, the Christ, and then you love one another.

Yeah. You do that. Well, that's why when Jay said that a minute ago. and read that text, I thought that's exactly what John is articulating is at the heart of everything. That is the command. Well, that's why I wanted to read that this, that was the biggest this moment for me was that the one I just read

when he said, and this is his command. And you're like, drum roll, what is this command? Because he had said that over and over. This is how we know way back in chapter two that we have come to know him, 1 John 2, 3, if we obey his commands. So he keeps with that line, but you're like, well, what are these commands, John,

brother John, and then he spells it out. And this is his command. Drum roll. Yeah. What's he fixed to say? To believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him,

and he and them. And this is how we know that he lives in us. We know it by the spirit he gave us. So you have all these this moments. We have all our ifs, and the wins are when Jesus is involved. It's like when we sin, not if we sin,

he comes to our defense. Just like he came to pursue us, which is why he came to this earth. We talked about that on the last podcast. Same principle. Yeah. He's coming. He's there.

Looking for you. And so Zach actually did a perfect segue. The other interesting thing I noticed, now look, I know I talked about the three Ls, the light, the life, and the love. But do you know the agape love word in 1st John? 45 times. Yeah.

Forty-five? Now, what's fascinating is, when you look that up and look at the Greek word because it's used in two different ways, even that word, because one is just the essence of it. There's two variations of the word.

Because if you look up agape, you may see half that. But then that inaction is another form of agape. Right. So it's like, but isn't that what this is talking about? That itself was fascinating because half the times that this self-gaping,

giving ultimate sacrificial love, the Greek word for it is agape, is used equally. The action of it is used. And I forgot, it's 400, I guess, a couple hundred times apiece. Because that's what he's trying to say. God is love. So that would be, you know, the noun. But then we love one another because we're participating in that. love and it comes out which is what he's saying over and over and over and I'm not going to go all through the 45

verses just saying that's a pivotal moment in this book is that this love must come out you can't participate in this that's such a good point without it coming out that that's what struck me because the way that this would typically be read is okay now I need to go make sure that I confirm my election, so to speak, or I confirm my status with God, I confirm that I actually love you, that I actually am a Christian. Let me go confirm that by doing these things. And that's not the point of the text. The point is, this is how you know if you love God, is you actually believe in Jesus, meaning I trust in his revelation, and I love my brother. This is the byproduct of it. And so it is about participation. And it's not even, I don't think this is a,

even meant to draw us into like, how do I know I'm saved? I don't think that's the point here. I think what John is unfolding in particular first John is what you said, Jason. And we kept using this language intentionally, for that matter, about participation. It's much more participatory in the life of God, in communion with God, than it is about, I got the right system down pat. Now, I've organized my thoughts correctly. I hold in my container the right belief about God.

That's not really what he's talking about here. When he says believe in Jesus, he's not saying believe in the right doctrines about Jesus. Not that doctrine doesn't matter. It matters, but this is more of a participation in the life of Jesus. And the reason why you know that is because when he gets to the end of 1st John, we'll get there in a little while.

He talks about these commandments. And then he says, if you really get them, guess what? They're not even a burden. These commandments are not burdensome. Exactly. So it's super important that you live with purpose and build a legacy, right? And sometimes that's difficult when you think about how you pass that down to your kids or even who cares for your kids in the case of something might happen to you. And I want to tell you about a way that you can do that in a super simple format. It's with trust and will. You can create a plan in this little as 30 minutes to protect the guardianship of your children, your pets, your asset distribution, and your health care directives. Their products are state-specific. their attorney design and they're customized to your needs. Super easy to use. By the way, super user-friendly. Trust and will was created by legal experts and designed to grow with you so you can easily update your plan that any time, any life stage you're in or any transition, trust and will has bank level encryption and secure sharing features so that your most important

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A. N-D-will.com slash unashamed. You know why is that? Because you've gone to my fourth point. So let's just review. So you got all these else. Well, what if, what if, what if? And so then he says, this is how, this is how, this is how, this is how. Well, all those, this is how, this is how, this is how, revolve around, number one, this contagion love idea. Then the last thing is knowing him. 25 times, I'm shocked over two dozen times. It talks about in some capacity, you knowing him. You know this, and it leads you to knowing him a person.

And I'll just give you a little sampling of that. So 1 John 2, 3, 3, 3, 5. Now by this, we know that we know him. You see that? 1st John 2, 13, 14. Remember the little song? Yep. What was the song?

Which I had missed it in the song before. I just missed it. Because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, Father. He's saying something because you. you have known him who is from the beginning. And he repeats that over and over. First John 3-1.

How great is the love, there's that agape that the father has, and look, lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are. the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him what's the implication but now we know him because watch where he goes with this three six this is just lovely the way he wrote this he says no one who lives in him keeps on sinning no one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him Well, that's a big, big difference.

That's why I told you that story. But this girl, she's been going to church. She's been baptized a couple of times. She's looking around. She's like, I don't, my life is not. Well, the simple answer was, you don't know him. Yeah. Because if you knew him, you would know that he's been pursuing you the whole time.

Right. And you've just been going through the motions, you know, getting the knowledge, participating and all the things that are the result of it, but not him. Yeah. It has not become personal. That's why I think the best advice you give someone is you need to go and read one of the Gospels and figure out who Jesus is. Yeah, because the hope here is not, it's not that I get to go to heaven. That's what we've all been doing, right?

We're like, give me the bare minimum of how to get to heaven and then I can live forever in my own autonomy. me, but the call is into the participation of the life of Christ. You're actually being, you're entering into his very nature. And, you know, we're doing this Hillstale course, you know, on Fridays. And, I mean, I know it's been deep as we've gotten into C.S. Lewis. But there's been some stuff in there that's like, man, so meaty. But one of the things that Lewis talked about when he imagined the concept of hell, particularly in this book, The Great Divorce.

And he does a story of this guy that are these people that go on like a bus trip to heaven from hell. And then the experience I have, it's a fictional book, but it really draws a lot of beautiful pictures of heaven and some dark pictures of hell that help us understand it. But one of the things he says about hell is he has this idea of like the doors locked from the inside.

Yep. And it's like, that's what it's like here on earth when you're locked into your own hell. It's like you're locked into your own. own way and like the actual way into life is just open the door and there's like abundant life life abundantly the verse you started with you know life and life abundantly just walk through the door but in your own quest for i want to be i got to be my own boss got to be my own i got to run my own show i got to do my own thing that you're creating your own hell and so the the call of first john

is not, guys, you got to do the right things and make sure you obey all the commandments, all the rules so that you can get to go and get the prize, which is heaven. That's not the call. The call is, hey, guys, you're believing in a lie that the very definition of that is hell. And God is inviting you into his life, which is pure joy. And that's why these commandments, they're not a burden. These are the descriptions and the instructions, and the instructions. of walking in the pathway of joy. That's what they are. It's like me saying, hey, go in the fridge and grab the milk out and go make you a bowl of cereal.

That's not a commandment for my kid to, like, prove their loyalty to me. I'm actually telling you, if you want to eat, there's the food. So the commandments and the burden, it's just, I've just given you instructions. You say you're hungry. I'm saying, oh, go in the pantry or go in the fridge. That's how you should see the commandments of God. The if is, are you willing to participate in the food that's right there waiting on you? That's it.

That becomes the if. A perfect example of this, too, because a lot of people will take, like obviously the person that sent me that email I mentioned earlier, will look at difficulties of life as reason why we can't embrace Christ. But, you know, when you see this the other way, we've got a couple of listeners on here, Al and Kim that are up in the Memphis area, and they're both going through cancer. in their lives. And yet they, it's just amazing because we communicate a lot about their attitude about that and how they help people in the midst of that. So they're back and forth to NB. Anderson all the time because of their cancer treatments. And recently in our storm, we mentioned

about a young man who used to be at our church at WFR. And, you know, a limb fell on him and broke his back. And so he's, now he's, he had to go to NB. Anderson for therapy to try to, you know, where he can walk again. And so they're going to, down there. They're going to be down there for several months going through this process to a lot of people have been praying about it. And so somehow this couple from Tennessee, because they listened to our podcast, had heard about this and reached out to me to connect them to this family because they're like, you know, we go to Houston all the time. We'd like to just pray for them and explain to it how the system work. And I just thought, here's two people going through

cancer. And because of their love for Christ and now other people, they're like, give us somebody we can help while we're in the midst of this. And it really moved me and touched me because they're a great couple. They stop by here all the time because we're halfway to Houston. And I just thought, that's your love. No matter what you're dealing with on this earth and things are tough and, man, things are bad. I'm going through something difficult.

The love of Christ now that you have and understand is just another opportunity for you to help somebody else. And when we get that, like this couple got that and this other. family is there and you see that we're the ones that are bringing joy to your point, Zach, about difficulties. That's how you can have joy. That's how when James said, count it pure joy when you go through trials, that's how you do it.

And you can't do it without the relationship. I mean, it is what comes out to relationship over ritual or religion or that's why he keeps saying you know him. I mean, when I back up, it made me think of what happened this morning. I'm going to share this. But when he said, if you know in verse, what's that, 29 of chapter 2, if you know that he is righteous, why are you going to know that he's righteous? You've got to get to know him in an intimate way.

Right. And the more you know him, then you start looking at how he views you, and that's how this works. And, of course, then he does all this in the context of saying, and now we're children. And it makes you think of Matthew 18 about, you know, unless you become like children, you'll never understand the kingdom of God.

Because it's this childlike father relationship, because he goes on to chapter three and saying, how great is the love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. But it made me think this morning, so we had a little man this morning, and Missy was going to take him to a movie.

They're at the movies right now, some cartoon that, you know, means nothing to me. He's never been to a movie. Oh, this is his first one. Yeah, first time. And, I mean, she was looking at the parental guy to make sure that, you know, it's 100% nothing bad is going to happen.

And so she asked him if he wants to go. Well, he exploded, you know. But the reasons he wanted to go was shocking to me. Because Mrs. I got to go, you know, let me go get ready. You talk to jail right before he leaves. And he's like, because she said I have to go to work. and if you can call this word.

But when he thinks work, because we just had the ice storm, that's what he's thinking. Because he's like, what's J-Rock doing out there on the roof or with the chains are on? She's like, he's working. So anyway, but when he was telling me,

I was like, are you excited? And he was like, I'm going to get to sit by Lulu. But J-Roc, next time, you can go and sit beside me because I love you. And I thought, he's just looking at the base. I'm going to get to go sit beside Lulu. Because he has no concept of what's fixing to happen.

It's your point. It's your point you made in the past that it's not where you're going. It's who you're going with. And so I got all like, man, this is the kingdom of God speaking through a four-year-old this morning because all he's concerned about, and when he got to the popcorn, he's like, and me and Lulu are going to eat. And we may share out of the same bag.

I'm sorry, Jay Roth, that you're not going to be there. You're going to miss it. But next time you can go with, he was so worried that I was not going to be there and I'm missing out because I can't sit beside him. But next time, look, you can sit beside me. What he didn't know is you were so glad that she was taking him and you didn't have to go. Well, I'll tell you what, I'll be making the next trip. So Missy sent me this. I read this the parking lot before I walked in.

She said, I wish I would have recorded this, but he came so fast. So, little man, when I get big, I'm going to be like J-Rock. And so Missy says, yeah, you can saw down trees and cut firewood. And little man, I'm going to have a beard like J-Rock, too. So Missy says, and you can go to work like J-Rock, he said, I'm scared to go to work. She said, why are you? scared because J. Rock does hard work. And she's like, well, I mean, but at some point, you're going to have to, you know, go with him and do this. And he said, I probably will

because J. Rock is my hero. And Lulu, you're my best friend. I mean, this kid, he is quite that. He's quite the charm, man. Well, but you know why? It hit me that he's looking at everything through a relationship standpoint. At some point, we get older and we become independent and we start missing the things that matter, which is your knowing God in an intimate way and knowing people and having that love be the connective tissue. I'm like, this is a sermon from a four-year-old. He's not even thinking he's preaching the sermon. Everything goes back to the relationships, especially the ones that are showing love. Which is why the last two podcasts, we've been talking about the simplicity of authenticity and how that relays in everyday life. And that's why you do see it through a four-year-old.

It's the simplicity of understanding life that way and understanding God that way, instead of getting into the minutia that becomes this negative, religious experience that people go through all the time. And it's such a shame because you can, and you can even see it what's happening because against the backdrop of all these things you're talking about jace and all these greek phrases here it came down to a simple thing people were trying to lead people astray here in the first century from the simplicity that jesus really did come and he really was a man oh i mean that's the backdrop behind this whole book if you think about that girl's question though and i love these airport conversations by the way because it's like this is real world this is

where we're at this is where people are interacting in the marketplace i thought man, as we're sitting there talk about, we're talking about this, we're telling you, or we're not, John is telling us that to know how we really know if, how we really know if we love God is just two simple things. Do we believe in Jesus Christ's son? And do we love one another? Well, then you come into the question of what if I don't, but I want to? Well, there's the if. You're going through the formula that John created.

Well, what if? well, this is how, and then you're going to see love in a really intimate relationship. But I wanted to give hope for anyone who's listening, and I'm going to give you this first out of Romans 4. But basically, I want to give you hope if you're in this position where you're like, man, right now, I don't, I'm not living for God. I want to. So you would have maybe what's called a latent desire, and that's a desire that's underneath your desire. I don't want God, but I want to want God. And, man, like this girl that came up to, she clearly wanted to want him.

She wanted, you know, the fruit of the spirit. She just didn't have it in her life because she wasn't walking with him. So what do I do? You said, we'll just believe in Christ. Well, man, that's the problem. I kind of don't. I want to believe in Christ, but, man, I've got all these doubts. I can't really trust him.

How do I know he's real? All the, just go down the list. And that's not a. switch you can turn on. And that's not the point. And so I think Romans 4 gives us a really, really tangible expression of what exactly are you supposed to do to move into that kind of relationship with God. And it's a whole lot like you would with any relationship. It's a process and it's time. So listen to how Paul frames it up in Romans 4 when he basically gives us a picture of the Father of All Faith, which is Abraham.

And the story of Abraham just goes throughout the whole scripture, right? That he was told he was going to have all these grandkids. And God said, and you're going to have him to this guy, Isaac. And when he told him that at first, they were so old that they could have kids. And it's like unbelievable promise. And Abraham believed God. And it was credited to him as righteousness. And even whenever God said sacrifice Isaac, Abraham still believed God.

He still believed in the promise and the provision of God. Did not understand how God was going to do it, but he did it believe him. So how do I get that kind of faith? I want the kind of faith that Abraham had. And Romans 4 gives us this little nugget, and this, I'm reading it from the ESV. It said that no belief made him waiver concerning the promise of God or how. But he grew strong in his faith. So the process of growing strong in your faith is a process.

It wasn't just already matured in a moment. It grew. So faith is something that can go stronger. What is faith? Your trust in God. Your trust in His promises. You're leaning on Him for your understanding. That grows as you spend time with him because this is what the word says.

But his faith grew strong. He grew strong in his faith as he. gave glory to God. So what do I do in a moment where I don't feel it? Well, that's when you start the rhythms of giving glory to God in your life. You start the rhythms of prayer. You start the rhythms of reading his word. You start serving people. You just start doing the things that God's called us to do and give him glory and thank him for it. And what you'll find every single time that you live in that kind of way is that your faith will actually increase. And then your heart will catch up with what your body is doing.

And so I love that prescription that we get in Romans 4. You don't have to sit in that brokenness. You don't have to sit in that despair. Well, and it's a bittersweet moment. And that what C.S. Lewis called it, Zach. He said the reason it's hard is because to be born knew something has to die that was old. And so remember the lizard on the shoulder of the guy, the lust, and the idea is you want to give it up in that late.

desire you talked about, but it's hard because something has to die for that to happen. For God to get that glory, you've got to give up yourself. And I think that's a, Lewis called it a bittersweet moment. Because we have to walk away from something to walk to something. And it may mean, it may mean you have to die to yourself and be born again. You may to be. Yeah, I want to finish this, just to put a bow about this, about the knowing, because what you'll find is we come to know.

You got 60 seconds, yeah. We come to know Christ in an intimate way. We come to know the Father in the intimate way. and we come to know the Holy Spirit in an intimate way, even though the NIV missed this translation. But I want to read 1 John 324 where it says, Those who obey his commands live in him and he and them, and this is how we know that he lives in us.

We know it by the spirit he gave us. But then in verse 2 of chapter 4, it says, this is how you can know, even though the NIV translated that recognized. Same word, no, the spirit of God. You can know the Spirit of God. You can know the Father. And the last one I want to read is the last verse, next to the last verse, First John 520.

We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ, He is the true God and eternal life. And if you read that three times, you're going to say, is he talking about the father or the son we know? And the answer is, exactly. Yes, the answer is yes. So there's your formula. You got the ifs of life and the ifs of the Christian life.

You got this is how. And you have the love that connects us to God, and it's his love. But it's in action in our lives. And then you realize, I'm getting to know the creator of the universe in his diversity. and in his complexity in an intimate way in my life. So my earworm to leave with you is, this is how we do it. This is how we do it.

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