Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 338 | Jase Almost Has His Man Card Revoked & Phil Is Wowed by Sadie

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

Phil is impressed when Sadie shares the Word with 1,200 girls and more than 100 get baptized. Jase speaks to 600 people in the path of a hurricane but nearly has his man card revoked. Zach shares his eye-opening experience at a women’s conference. Phil talks about immaculate conception and the struggle that Joseph went through. And Jase gives an astronomy lesson based on the star of Bethlehem. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Someone just gave me some information where my granddaughter gave a speech, you know, women's gathering. I said, and over 100 of them obeyed the gospel. I said, I don't know, you might rethink of it would be siding the churches. I said, all I can think of is the four daughters of Philip, I said, which is kind of amusing. No, but it was a women's conference in our hometown. Yeah, the women's conference. And somehow you were there.

One little young. Yeah, I was one of the five men that were there. How did you wind up there? So Jill was speaking at the conference. And so I went to help her with Ruth and she was selling bucks and all that. And to be honest with you, I was a little bit like, well, let me tell you what I learned. Just you got to be careful when you can't. You can't predict when God's going to wreck you and when you're going to have an encounter with him because I'm sitting there thinking I'm at a teeny bopper.

It's all like teenage girls. And I'm like a grown man, 43 years old. I'm at this conference. Kind of bored with the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah, a little cynical, you know. And she's, Sadie starts preaching. And I'm in the audience.

And I mean, because I'm a theological snob. And I really, and I hate that, but I am. But, man, she was preaching the word, and it was very bold. She didn't hold back. It was saturated in love. But it was, I mean, she was hitting some tough issues, and it was about truth. And how many girls were there? About 1,200.

I didn't even know that place. I held 1,200 people. Listen, so I leave, because the baby starts crying. I'll take the baby, Jill. I'll go out into the nursery where they got the screen of Sadie. She's still talking, you know. I'm back there with John Luke and his wife and their little baby, and we're listening to her preach, but we're kind of talking to,

and everything she was saying, we're like, man, she is, she is bringing it. And at the very end of it, she says, we're going to do something we've never done in this building before. And we're going to bring in a baptistry. And if you want to respond to Jesus, and she explains about baptism, it's a symbol of being buried with Christ, and water and you die with him, you're buried, you're raised, the Roman six passes, raised to live a new life, and she goes through kind of what baptism is.

But let me back up, up into this point, her text was whenever Pilot said to Jesus, what is truth? And she made the point that the people, the culture of the time, when Pilot went out there and said, I find no fault with this man, and they said, give us Barabbas. She said, Barabbas was known as someone who kills, steals, and destroys. Sound familiar? And they're like, yeah, talking about Satan. And she said, it's time to choose.

Do you want Barabbas or do you want Jesus? You got to choose. And so she offers the baptism. Oh, I like where this is headed. Oh. I think I was wrecked, dude. I started crying. This is why I started crying.

She says, I want you to stand up if you want to be baptized. And I'm looking at her face. I can't see the audience because I'm looking. at her on a screen, but I'm just like, I could tell on her face that she was like, whoa, like she was shocked. We may need a bigger. We may need a bigger. We may need a big.

So I'll walk out. So then I, she said, go out this door and they had a whole thing set out. She said, we got, we got you cover. We got, if you don't have clothes, we got clothes, we got shirts, we got towels. We got you covered. And so they start to, I walk out just to see, I wanted to see how many girls were out there. Well, by the time I get out the nursery, I walk five steps. I got a picture on my phone.

There's a line 60. I mean, I can't see the end of it, and it's all through the building. I mean, people are scrambling. They're running out of towels. I mean, look, Phil, they baptized so many people that I've never seen this happen, that about halfway through it, they're like, where are the men? Where are the men? There's like five men in there.

So me and Willie and a few others were like, what do you don't need? They're like, the water's gone. The water in the bad ministry is like, there's not hardly any left. Spillage. Spillage, and they're taking it out with them. So we're grabbing trash cans. We got buckets, and we're like going to the bathroom sinks, and we're all running in there filling up the bad industry.

That was almost an Acts 2 moment. It was. Well, I thought when I heard 108, I was like, 108? I was like, how long did that take? Miss Kay just came up. I sat down to give my lesson yesterday morning, and Ms. Kay just went up there and whispered in my ear. Tell me, she's Sadie,

I had not, you know, preaching indeed. So I thought to myself, I said, when is the last time in the United States of America I ever heard of a female getting up in front of an audience and over 100 respond to the gospel of Jesus? I said, there's something going on here. I think it was a, it was legit. You know, I was speaking, same night.

This is the night before the hurricane. The hurricane's right off the coast. It's coming. And so here I am. My assistant is there. I'm like, no, where's this event at? And she's like, South Louisiana. I said, South Louisiana, there's a hurricane coming.

She's like, yep, but they, we're doing it. Was this in South Louisiana? Yeah. The event? Yes. His event, not saying this. Your event. No, Sadie's event was in our hometown.

Oh, right, I got you. And so, but it was the same night. And so it actually wasn't, she said South Louisiana, but I looked on the map, and it was right below Alexandria, in between Alexandria and the Mississippi River. But still, it was in the hurricane warning color. I was looking at the weather. And I was like, you need to call them and make sure we're doing this. Because, you know, the governor had just talked and said, wherever you're at right now, that's where you need to be. And I said, I'm fixing. Drive. I'm going toward the storm. And so she called and the pastor said, hey, if he don't want to come down here, tell him to turn in his man card.

When she said that, I was like, oh, okay, yeah, let's load up. We're headed there. So I drove down there. I mean, there was, I'd say 600 people out there. the middle of nowhere what town was this near you know i don't even remember it was most people remember the town they were in the night they spoke i'm sorry i can't remember it was a town i've never near new orleans uh on the other side no i said it was it was east of alexandria i mean you put me on a spot now i can't remember east of alexandria east of slightly covington likely phil i'd never heard of this town before so it's not I'm not going to pop in my head.

I hadn't heard it when we went out there. It was in the middle of nowhere. But the fact that 600 people were there, wow. So you're speaking to 600, 600, and Sadie is speaking to 1,200. 1,000 teenage girls. One given day. Yeah. But we're a little bit north.

What I was saying is it's almost like there's a movement going on. Yeah, that's what it felt like. Yeah, I thought it felt like. it had the kind of this revival awakening feeling to it because I'm you know I'm I was like skeptical but I mean I'm I don't get you know we covered that Romans 16 after all the apostle Paul had to say about I'm put here in defense of the gospel that's why I'm so eagerly preach it I'm not ashamed of it and he sticks and then you you after everything goes down in Romans, one through 16. You get to chapter 16, and it's all of these accolades primarily aimed

at women on the help that they, as far as the gospel being going through the Roman Empire, he highlighted the fact that this was women along with men. It was the male or female deal did not become an issue at all. I mean, they really helped me. I mean, they greet them at the house over there. Aquila and Priscilla, and they'll greet this one and that one, another one. But a lot of women were mentioned, and we mentioned that the other day, Jay. Oh, we talked about it because it's a sensitive subject to some people,

especially in what they call a corporate gathering. You know, you have your rules and you're under grace until you step into the building, and then all of a sudden you've got a list of side rules here. Yeah, which is true. Every church has them. But, you know, based on what I read, there was a lot going on in Corinth. They had the spiritual gifts from the hands of the apostles, eyewitnesses of the resurrection.

And so a lot of the people had gotten so excited. And some of the women about having these spiritual gifts, their gatherings had turned into disorder. in chaos. You had people saying, hey, watch me. And I think people get the signs and the wonders and the miracles

way ahead of Jesus. And even today, there's people still, they're in search of this miraculous or this, or the sign or the wonder.

And I'm, it's kind of a pet peeve of mine, but I'm like, Jesus inside of you through the Holy Spirit is greater than any other thing you could ever pursue. Well, I think that what I learned, I'll say learned, what was reaffirmed this weekend was that, you know, to your point, I think we've responded to the gospel, a lot of people have responded in the last 15 years to maybe the way we produced an event that brought them to an emotional experience. Maybe they were like, they were seeking the miracles, they're seeking the,

They're seeking the things of God. I think what moved me about this weekend with Sadie is that her, when she was talking to these girls, it was a bold message and it was completely saturated in truth. I mean, that's the whole thing was about the truth. You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. And then the truth was directed at the end, which is God himself, the nature of God. There was some talk of repentance. there was some talk of, I mean, it was, I was so encouraged because, like, they were responding to who God, like, people saw, like, they saw their sin, they saw their own brokenness. They saw their own depravity in this, in this moment. And that's what they responded to. And I think that if you think about every revival that's ever occurred, any great awakening, what's preceded that is a movement of repentance among God, among people who've said, I'm going to fall on my face.

before the living God. And I watched these girls come down one by one, or actually two by two, and get baptized. And when they would come out, they're all weeping. And I could tell they were tears of repentance. They were tears of shedding off sin. I mean, you've got to keep in mind, this generation is the most confused generation in history. And they're shedding off sin, and you see that.

And that's why it's called Awakening, Great Awakening, because they're. you're awakened to reality that is God. Well, I did yesterday in three texts, and I will let old Jay's pontificate. But my lesson to the brothers, I said, you know what's really interesting? We're in speaking of Matthew, here's a tax collector, most hated individual probably. He's running with illiterate commercial fishermen. he's been a chosen to be one of the disciples. And in Matthew 118, I'll give you three texts that were profound, in my opinion.

Let's take a quick break before you do that film. All right. So here it is. Matthew, this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. Now, he just matter-of-factly says, now he's a bean counter. he's collecting, he's taxing people. You say he gets put in a position where he's writing a book, one of the gospels in the New Testament.

So God is really using him. So he just, matter-of-factly says, this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother, Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, no sex. She was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Uh-oh. So right off the bat, he says,

This is the way this thing went down. This is how Jesus got here. And she was found a young girl to be found with child through the Holy Spirit. Now, she's not married yet. So this guy, Joseph, is dating her. And you say, he's thinking, what? And it said, yes, she's pregnant, but don't worry. You're like, yeah.

I mean, here he is dating. It's like you, dating Jill. And Jill said, look, I know this may surprise you, you know, but I'm pregnant. And you know you didn't sleep with it. She said, but I'm pregnant. I'm going to have a child. So I just want to give you the information. So you wouldn't get upset.

And think about it from a human standpoint. A physical birth, you have to have sperm, an ovum, which turns into an embryo once the sperm hits it. And it's called, it could be by hub. husband's decree, it's a physical birth. All of a sudden, we've got a birth human beings coming out of women, and there was no sexual activity and no sperm and ovum. Just so y'all are kind of getting ready to say, this is how, what, how has this work?

Because Joseph, her husband was a righteous man. he did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He said, I can't go. I said, this girl I'm dating. I mean, good night. She's been sleeping around, you know. So now, you know, what am I going to do now? He said, well, I'm going to go.

I'm not going to just submit her to let the wolves throw her to the wolves. He had in mind to divorce her quietly. I need to check her to this, this girl, quick. I mean, yeah, I mean, she's pregnant, you know, by the Holy Spirit. Yeah, okay. Yeah. But he's doing it in a way. Yeah, he, that's, it's just a matter of fact,

he just, it's honorable. Well, because I would have, when I heard this, you would have heard the door shut. Right. And you'd say, where'd he go? That's my point. He's gone. So look, I'm making a point here, but look, and I gave you three texts.

This one, John's account and Luke's, and you put them together, it's the wildest thing he ever heard. An angel of the Lord, but before he, after he considered this, well, you know, I'm going to grab my wife, you know, and I'm going to move on with my life. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. That tells you that God does work through dreams in human beings, minds, deep into the night. Joseph, you, y'all struggle with that one.

Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Calm down there, Joseph. I know you're thinking something went on here. No, you missed it, son. Because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. There was no sex involved in this birth. Now, it's an interesting point because we all understand human births

and we all understand that human beings, the only way they get here is through sexual activity or a taking of the sperm and inserting in a female. We got that part. You get a birth. That's right. Well, we come up there. Because she's the, what's what went on here

is the power of God. God is intervening with another kind of birth. I know it's a little. little shaky for you at the time, son, but this is the way it happened. She will give birth to a son, and it's all going to come from the Holy Spirit without any sexual activity, not to be like a human birth, and you're to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place, which was a lot by human standards. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.

Now he's talking about, oh, what's name starts with a G, oh, Gabriel. So watch. You'll be with child, he quotes Isaiah 7, 700 years earlier that had said,

she'll be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God's with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angels of the Lord had commanded him, and took Mary home as his wife.

It did it for him. He said, so that is what's going on. Well, I'll have to admit, the guy was a pretty sound individual to say, oh, okay. I think he's one of the most underrated people in the Bible. I said, we ought to talk more about this, Joseph. Because he basically turned into a guardian for Jesus. So we took her home. He had no union with her.

By the way, just out of kindness, he said, you know, know what? If that's what went down, I'm not going to lay nothing on her sexually. I'm back at all of this. I'm just let this unfold and let it happen. But I'm not going to jump in there and say, well, what did you do? You know, once you're married, okay, get after it. He's like, now, there won't be a honeymoon here. I've decided to forego that out of deference to my God. So, which is pretty interesting. Look, now that's what. one. And the two is, if you, if you look at John, I'll get John before Luke. I went to John first and then Luke. And John's account, I think, is a stunter. There came a man who was,

first of all, Jesus, he was the word, the word was with God. He came as a witness John the Baptist concerning that life. This is John chapter one so that all might believe. He himself was not the light. He came as a witness to the light. The true light gives light to ever man was coming into the world. The light of the world is coming through a human being with no sperm hitting any ovum. You're like, this is a big one. He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, the Jews, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to all who believed to in, him who believed in his name.

He gave the right to become, now watch, he gave him the right to become children of God. It's a different kind of birth. We have another kind of birth that you've never heard of, humanity. You've never dreamed this up in your wildest dreams.

We have another kind of birth other than male, female, sexual activity, sperm, over, and then the embryo and then the child comes down. There's a whole complete birth And this one is God ordained. And instead of your earthly father being your father, where the sperm came from and your mother, in this case, God is going to be your father with this birth.

You're like, whoa, do what? And no sex. And here comes, I'm born a gut. It's nothing physical. It's nothing humanity about it. You say, this is the wildest thinking. That's what he took. Just a few chapters later, that's what, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's,

just think of it. Now, watch. Children born, not of natural descent. That's why, that's why I'm, that's why I'm, keep going back to the summary. You, you, you're like, no. Well, Joseph was just reeling back from it. Mary was like, I'm a virgin. How you, how's this going to work?

Mary was arguing with Gabriel, say, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm going to do what? You're going to be with child. She's like, wait a minute here. That's over in the other one. But anyway, not of human decision. No, not this birth. Or a husband's will, not this birth.

Here's what I like. But born of God. You're like, good night. How in the world is God going to be able to pull this off? Now we get to Luke. And all I do is he tells the same story. But I'm going to give you one. line in Luke chapter one. Watch nothing because now we're talking about Elizabeth. The woman's

an old woman. Her and Zacharovite, they were at least in their 60s going into 70s or whatever. She was that old. And look, even Elizabeth, your relative is going to have a child in her old age. And Mary's like, Elizabeth is going to have a baby. and she's been barren her entire life, and she's going to, are you crazy? Well, I think that was. Here's my point of the lesson yesterday and today. I just thought I gave you all a little sermon this morning. Here's my point.

And I guarantee you this is what the crux of the matter is. That's Luke 117. And after all this explanation of how to get Jesus here in John the Baptist, the Bible says, John recorded, Nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. I said, I'm going to leave you with that because when you say,

well, I don't know my sins and my death, we worry about it. But when you look at this birth coming down out of heaven that had never been heard of or matched since, if that's the root of it all, you say, what are we coming down to? We're coming down and nothing's impossible for God. If he could pull that off.

I mean, just think about it. I think that's one of the ways that when there's an Ephesians. So that was my sermon yesterday, but I think I just thought I would do that because we're going into the Book of Matthew and all these things are going to really boil down to one thing. Man, you read how you got Jesus here, how you got him here. And there's nothing impossible. No, I think that's a good point because that's when it says Jesus was the first. That will preach. He was the first born over all creation.

He was a. That's right. He was spiritually born to the Holy Spirit. All these verses. And then we're. And we're born of the Holy Spirit. You're like, boy, you talk about something while going on here. But he was linked to John the Baptist and you brought up, they both had miraculous births.

Yeah. Because she was, Elizabeth was too old and Mary was a virgin. That's my point. Then they were cousins. And John of Baptist was the forerunner. Well, he preached to baptism or repentance. he kind of represented the law. Yep.

And then here's Jesus, his cousin. He represented grace. Oh, no, what I mean. Just think about, just think how, what kind of thinking would have had to go on into this to pull that off. You see the same, you see the prototype pre-Jesus even with, with Abraham and Sarah. Yeah. Way too old to have babies, but God intervenes.

I was thinking when you were reading this, I was thinking about wrong. I mentioned that yesterday. I say about Romans 9, because we read Book of Romans, man, we get so awful on the book of Romans, because we miss the grand context of it. And Romans 9, it makes the same point that you're making when it says, it says it's not as though God's word had failed. By the way, this is right after he's talking about admonishing the Jewish people, but for having the law, for having the patriarchs, for having everything, and then they reject it. And he's like, and Paul's like, man, I would die.

I would give up my own self if it meant the inclusion of my, if these people, people would come to saving faith in Jesus. And then he says in Romans 6, Romans 9, 6, it's not those that God's word have failed for not all who are descended DNA, DNA, they don't have Israel's DNA. They're not, for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. It's not the physical children. You miss the promise. That is correct. Nor because they are his descendants, are they all Abraham's children. The DNA is not the point, is what he's saying. On the contrary, it is through Isaac, quoting Genesis here, that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it's not the natural children who are God's children, but is the children

of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. And then he goes into the whole thing. And that's still in the bedrock of who God's people are, who they are. It is the children of the promise. It's the ones who are spiritually born. It's what Jesus told Nick. Academists, it's the ones who are born again. And he's thinking, how can I enter my mother's womb and be born? Like, I'm a grown man that's not going to work physically. That's right. You're not getting it.

That's right. You've got to be born of water and spirit. Human beings have struggled with what we're discussing right here, ever since human beings have been on the earth. They just have not considered. You look at the cosmos. You think that would do it now. They're thinking, no, they're looking for salt water.

They say, we'll find the fountain of life. But when you get right down to it, you have to be born of the spirit. You say, yeah, when you get right down to it, you say, if you go with God, there's nothing impossible for him to do. There's nothing. Let's take a quick break. But you would think people would line up for miles around. Oh. When you read this story, look, I've been to Bethlehem.

There ain't nothing there. I mean, you're talking about a humble place. Very few people. It was very, and it was fewer back then. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's hard for people to wrap their head around to say, oh, this is where the son of God was born at. You know? I mean, when you read chapter two, when you start, because I wasn't real familiar with Matthew 2 because I've always read Luke 2 when you talk about the birth of Jesus.

Well, it's more PG. people do plays every year for Christmas, you know. And while you read Matthew 2, and you're like, man, this is almost rated R. Yeah. I mean, first you're getting the graphic details of what Joseph was thinking from a sexual viewpoint. Which Phil just gave us. Yeah. Well, it is graphic.

Well, it is. You're right. Well, then it gets worse. Because then he's, because, you know, Luke talks about the angels talking to the shepherds. And which they showed up at the birth, you know. So evidently most scholars say time has passed now in Matthew's version. But he focuses on really these magi who weren't even Jews coming from the east, who were, I guess, stargazers because they said, well, we saw the star,

which in every other context in the Bible, these people are not viewed upon favorably. people who are astronomers are putting their faith in they're like the cult they're like

the pagans the astrologists the yeah but what what made me think about that is

is where are the religious people who are studying the scriptures and we now have the fulfilled prophecy

that the son of God the Messiah is here ain't none of them here you know why because they're like where's this happening Bethlehem

now I mean it's a joke. But when you start reading chapter two, he then focuses on Herod, King Herod also, and the Magi says after Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where's the one who has been born, King of the Jews? Which I think is an interesting phrase, because that phrase is going to eventually lead to Jesus' death. Yeah.

That declaration. You know, it's used here in the beginning, and then it's used when he's confronted and arrested. It's like, are you the king of the Jews? Which is what Sadie was using as a, you know, to Zach's point, second John, a while ago you were talking about that, to the chosen lady and her children whom I love in the truth,

not that not I only, but also those who know the truth. because of the truth, which lives in them and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace. Father, will be with us in truth. He has given me great joy to see your children walking in the truth. Five times in a place about this wide. Well, he gets on over a little further, and he says, many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh

have gone out into the world. Such person is the deceiver and the anti-grisible. Christ and he said later don't even invite them into your house but let's you get this on straight about who Jesus is and Matthew said this is how it came about but it seems so matter-of-factly when you read the Matthew account I never had looked at Luke John and Matthew together saying the same thing but once I put them all three together well it's quite different their perspectives But the point is, because I was thinking that one, Zach was talking earlier, when Pilate said, what is truth, what he missed was,

because he was wanting to hear the reasoning. But Jesus had already declared, look, that I am the truth. Yeah, he'd already said, yeah. He's looking for what, and he missed who? And I think what you just read, five times it said that in First John, true, true, true, truth. Then it said, he who acknowledged that Jesus, is your Christ. Well, there's your truth.

But here's the deal. From a human standpoint, the reason it's such a rassan man in the pursuit of truth, because the truth that saves us all by human standards is impossible. Yeah. You get a

birth with no sperm. You say, you know, sperm and an ovum. Well, wait a minute here. What you're saying is the truth is impossible. But my point is a lot of religious people. The Bible's true because it's inspired by the Holy Spirit. But they, what's that verse that says they rightly divide the word of truth? And so they try to get perfect agreement on all truths of the Bible, which is impossible. Small teas and what

Jesus is offering is. And without putting Jesus. Without faith, it is impossible to please go. Yeah, but what my point is, and so you have all these arguments and you have all, and you have a debate kind of like what pilot and Jesus were having. They're like, well, what is the truth or what is the most important? And Jesus, if he didn't do anything else, you know, one of his common phrases was, I tell you the truth.

Yep. And then he later just says, I am the truth. But you know why I think of that, why it's so offensive. you see you see what happened here by the way you were just about to read this part about herod it's funny to me by the way in verse three in chapter two of matthew when herod heard when he hears about the coming of the messiah you know who he calls together he all the religious people oh that that's right i thought the same thing you want to know who the enemies of jesus would be they're the people that he gathered in verse four.

When he called together all the people, people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. And they're like, in Bethlehem, look, they had read the prophecies, because they quoted it. But you, Bethlehem and the land of Judah are by no means, least among the rulers of Judah.

So I'm like, why are they not down there worshiping? Who we got worshipping? Three astrologers. that were not God's chosen people. That were Gentiles. Yeah, they're Gentiles. I think there's something here.

Because later on, when you get to Matthew 28, I think it all comes together that we're Jesus, who has all authority and power. He's proven that. It says, go into all nations. And he starts here because he knew that these religious people were too prideful and pious

to go down there and get in line. And it was a threat to Herod For they were had picked aside Well to them who had the power They thought he had here Look I did some research on this guy Because when you get to the radar Part about he because he felt threatened here

He's like where exactly is this I need let me know Y'all find out where he is and let me know Because he was going to kill him But he said he was going to go worship him I want to go worship now I want to kill him That's what powerful people do they lie yeah well what do you say they they kill steal and destroy yeah and so this guy look

one of the roman emperors at that time had made this quote about king herod they said it was it was better for you to be his pig than his son and you said what what was his point well he had killed three of his sons because back in their their day that's who succeeded the throne well if he didn't if he felt threatened and he also killed one of his wives and so they roman emperor said that i mean he was paranoid about his power so it it wouldn't be beyond his character because you got to remember bethlehem was a small place back then so killing these babies were probably eight or ten or twelve and he's he he was so paranoid about his power he he did that which is absolutely atrocious.

And even him lying about this. And later on, it's interesting as the story unfolds because it becomes almost like, I think, another shadow of what Moses went through. You remember when they had the decree of kill the babies and, you know, Moses is put down the river. And, of course, I mean, there's similarities there. Fero's daughter, rescues the baby.

In this case, it's a dream. they come to Joseph, an angel and says, hey, move. And then when all of the people that were a threat died, which is the same thing happened to Moses, he's like, all right, it's safe to come back. That's what's interesting about this is Jesus has moved to Egypt, which is the last place you would think he would be sick because of the representation of the bondage in their history.

But it became a spiritual thing. And I think, in essence, I think Moses became the freer of their physical bondage, and then later Jesus became the freer of humanity and their spiritual bondage, which is this is not happening by coincidence or accident. It's almost a shadow of that revelation. Let's take a quick break. To your point, it's not happening by accident. I think that what's offensive here and what's threatening,

as, as Phil said, when he was talking about the birth of Jesus, you used the term by his, by the husband's decree. I'm glad you said that because that, I mean, husband, wife deciding or even, definitely decided to engage in the act that leads to life, but the way Jesus was born, not this birth. That's right. It was, it was decreed from the sovereign will of God, and God's sovereignty is offensive because it robs us of all. We can't claim to be like the originators of any of this.

And God said, if you're going to be born of me, it's going to originate with me, not you, which leads to the question of what is my responsibility in that? And one of my favorite books is by a guy named Francis Schaefer called True Spirituality that really shaped my faith a lot. And in that book, he uses this story to talk about this idea of how we respond in faith to God. And he uses Mary, and I guess he could use, Joseph too, but he used Mary as this prototype of how God works. Mary did nothing to initiate this conception in her womb. She did absolutely nothing. God, the Holy Spirit, did everything. But she did

yield her body. And Schaefer points out that she could have had an abortion, she could have committed suicide, she could have, there's a lot of things that she could have done to end the pregnancy, but she didn't. So he uses this term called, he says, active, it's active passivity. And so I think this explains a lot, even when we get to Romans, but how we respond to God is we're not conjuring up any of, any of our spirituality. It's not, we're not getting, making this happen. God's making it happen. We just yield, as Mary yielded her body to the Holy Spirit, we yield to God who produces the fruit in our life. And just like Joseph yielded. Joseph yielded. Everything about his life. He, he just,

literally. He had to. But it's offensive. I've thought a lot better of Joseph after I saw what he went through. Oh, I agree. And these are all predatized for us because I think that what we want to do is we want to claim the power for ourselves. We want to be like Herod in our sinfulness.

We want to be like Herod. And when we feel like we're going to lose our sovereignty or we're going to lose our power, then we're going to, okay, we're going to try to stop that from happening. God becoming flesh is a gigantic. stumbling block. That was huge. A lot of people. Thomas Jefferson included,

he just couldn't make that leap because that's why I read the text that says nothing's impossible for God. You have to have that kind of faith or you're never even going to believe Jesus is the one who came out of a woman. I mean, God becoming

fledged is a big move. Well, I think Matthew's version really gives you a good a good reason to understand why people reject Jesus because it just seems so crazy that here's these magi I mean when you read it if I pick up and start reading in verse 7 you know Herod called the magi secretly

and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared and look meanwhile people have tried they've looked up which stars were and which comets went through a couple thousand years ago, you know, and they're just like, nothing makes sense. And I'm like, why are you trying to make sense of this? God is giving birth to be a virgin. You already said nothing is impossible. God can do anything. Stars don't just stop their orbit over a baby. So evidently, God is allowing this to happen. Let me save you some time. The miracle keeps getting bigger.

Let me read this one quote because I wrote this down. John Piper said this. He said, this is what you said. People are trying to figure out, you know, all the stars and how it worked. He said, people have, he calls it a mentality for the marginal. Like they want to find the marginal point in the text and then they're going to like hunker down on that and do all this. He said, look, he said, these types of people seldom have a capacity for deep joy in the sensual. truths of the text and of the gospel.

Yeah. And I think that to your point, you're missing the point if you get bogged out on that. Exactly. And I want to keep reading here because we're almost out of time. So he then says in verse 9, after they had heard the king, they went on their way and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. That's not normal star activity. And that's why I made this point about these guys, these Gentile Magi, whoever they were, coming to worship. And it just made me realize here that when you look at the religious world of that day, none of the religious theologians are showing up,

and you have worldly people who are not who we would think, tracking stars to try to find the son of God. He bypassed them. And I thought, you know what, it made me think. think today, you don't want to have churches full of all these great thinkers who are too proud or too set in their own own reasoning just to fall down and do radical things and worship God. Unschooled and ordinary men, might tell a few of them in. And so I thought, you know, a lot of times in the world, that's how it works.

You've got worldly people showing up and they're hearing about Jesus and they're radically falling down and worship in Jesus. you got all the religious people on one side saying, I don't know about this, you know. It just, it's the same. Well, you look at the stark contrast here in the arrival of Jesus, one of two things. Either you tried to kill him or you bowed down to worship.

Exactly. Well, verse 11, verse 11 said, on coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worship. Then they opened their treasures, And these don't seem like, you know, you would think baby toys or presents for a baby, but it's kind of what they represented because they were, maybe God had inspired them.

But, you know, you think gold, you're thinking king, and you think the incense and of myr and having been worn in a dream. Let's see, what was the other things? Yeah, the incense, things like for a priest, because they were getting a big picture that Jesus would become a priest for humanity. Yeah, yeah. Basically the bridge. And so, and having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country. Because Herod said, when you find out the exact location, come, because I want to go worship him too, which was a lie. So when Herod found out about this, this was down in verse 16, that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious.

And he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem in its vicinity who were two years old and under. I mean, just absolutely horrible. And I think a lot of people trying to make this feel like, well, why did God allow that to happen? You know? But I think you get back to the same thing. God created this. He gave us the choice of good and evil

and to do what we decide to do and the consequences of that is seen in Herod's quest for power. And then verse 19, he dies and an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, take the child and his mother

and go to the land of Israel for those who were trying to take the child's life or dead. That's why I keyed in on that because the same thing happened in Moses' his life. The same identical rendering. So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. And so then when you get down to the end, they go to Nazareth. And I wanted to read this because this is another thing that sent scholars out the wazoo. Matthew says, so was fulfilled the last verse in 23 what was said through the prophet he will be called a nazarene so every bible scholar goes and looks in the old testament where the prophet said that and guess what can't find it

so then there's a long debate and ongoing about what does that mean when you can't find the fulfilled passage because there's like 23 fulfilled prophecies that matthew recorded i mean he was real big on that, which is amazing, hundreds of years ago. But here you have different variations of the word, and they're like, one of them is Nazarite, and they're like, well, it can't be Nazarite, because to be a Nazarite, you never could cut your hair, you couldn't drink, which is why John the Baptist, he had never touched a drop, you know, and that's why he had long hair, and you couldn't touch a dead body. Well, they're like, well, Jesus touched a dead body, and you read Luke,

seven and the difference between John to Baptist and Jesus, despite what some crusty theologians think, it gives every indication that Jesus drank. Now, we know he didn't get drunk and he never sin, but he drank fine wines. Yeah. I mean, I want to read that because somebody probably, you know, pulled over and said, oh, no, what do you say? Let me just read what, what, I think Luke seven, when they were given the difference between Jesus and John the Baptist, or Jesus was given the difference, he says in 28, I tell you, among those born of women, there is no one greater than John,

yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And then he goes on to say in verse 33, for John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say he has a demon, the son of man who he's speaking of himself Jesus is because I see the red letters came eating and drinking and you say here's a glutton and a drunkard

a friend of tax collectors and sinners I don't know how else to interpret that but Jesus had a bad reputation he didn't have one of a Nazarene so what do you think that means I think it's kind of what Philip and Nathaniel, when they had that conversation, when Philip told Nathaniel, that's in John,

I think chapter two, or at the end of chapter one, Philip said, we found the Messiah. Just the same problem that was going on in the religious world. And he's like, where's he from? It was like, Nazareth. And Nathaniel's like, Nazareth. There ain't nothing good coming out of Nazareth. And I think it was all of the words used around Nazarene,

was basically he's a nobody. And I think that's what God had in mind to give the impression that this is from him and not us. Well, yeah, I think to wrap it up, it is interesting. You've got two kings. You got Herod, you get Jesus. Herod had really no power, right?

And he's going to thwart in his mind, the will of God. And God had all power, and he condescends and becomes a baby. Yeah. I mean, you see, he's just, and so you see why our God is worthy of worship. It's not just his power that makes God glorious. It is, it is his power and his condescension, which is, which exemplifies his love. I mean, you think about this.

What kind of God would do this? I mean, this is, you could not write this because it's insane that that's a sovereign. The real one. Well, tell you. To answer your question, I think the shadows, and there is a version of this Nazarene, which most people agree that there's a word mentioned in Samuel, speaking of coming from the seed line of Jesse, which, you know, David was born in Bethlehem also, King David, and now here's Jesus, and so we see that similarity there too. But back in the Old Testament, the power of God

was revealed, and here all of a sudden Jesus coming, you see. this vulnerability that, you know, he's a baby. I mean, they're having to take him in the middle of the night and move. And he's from Nazareth in places that you wouldn't think some powerful king would come from, which we know that this becomes God's love story for us, him becoming a man. It's disruptive. Yeah, and being vulnerable and living our life as a man and then eventually given his life for our sins. Well, I think that sums it up. And the world in some form or another,

there is still something to be dealt with. It's called Christmas. Yeah. And it still makes powerful people nervous. It does. And they try to kill him, whether physically or spiritually or theologically. And it's still religious people are still shaking their heads. and it just can't be.

Well, the good news is they can't kill him again. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click that little bell to get notified about new episodes. And for even more content that you won't get anywhere else, subscribe to Blaze TV at blazedtv.com

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