Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 564 | Jase Calls Out the Worst Sin of All & Are Unbelievers Willfully Ignorant?

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

Jase wishes people believed that God is the one who makes the seeds grow — not "Mother Nature" — and Phil points out that God is also the one who can prevent things from growing. Zach says people who don't believe are willfully ignorant. Jase highlights how different Jesus was than the messiah the Jews expected — they were awaiting a messiah who would conquer Rome and bring an end to wars, but Jesus ate with tax collectors, healed people, raised people from the dead, and challenged the Pharisees. Zach says our problems in the world do not need a political fix. Jase warns us all to remain open-minded and to stay away from any traditions or groups of people who don't focus on Jesus and his grace. And Phil and Jase compete over who had the lowest grades. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. We're in Mark chapter 4 in our study of the book of Mark. And at the end of the last episode, we read the parable, the soar, which we talked about back in our Matthew study as well from Matthew 13. It's a really interesting. It was kind of a pivot for Jesus because up to this point, he's been casting out. demons. He's been healing people and he has been teaching and preaching, it says, but we haven't really known what he was talking about until, from Mark's perspective, until we get here to chapter four. And then we were talking about how, on the last podcast, Chase, we were talking about how that he uses these parables as his way of teaching. And it's interesting as to the why of that.

We kind of got in that a little bit on our overtime. So you were making a, you never quite got to your point. No, we ran out of time. It's hard to get away. in edge was at this stage. But I just find it fascinating that one, you know, here's a, Jesus should have been the greatest political figure ever because he just completely changed the culture locally in that he is healing diseases. He is casting out demons. He is trying to change the hearts of people doing sinful things from the tax

collectors and the mismanagement of money and all the corruption that goes with all that. And then the next chapter, he's going to raise the dead. He calmed the storm. I mean, you just think about all the things in life that causes problems. He had the power and showed it to do all this. And people are not accepting him as the son of God. They're trying to plot and kill him. the religious leaders and political parties.

And he's a threat. He's viewed as a threat, not this fix of the world, even though he's fixing the world, which I find fascinating. So he gives the insight to his disciples about using parables, where that it reveals the overall message of his ministry, which was this introduction to this kingdom. He gave a little insight about it when he said that the real family of God are those who do the will of God, you know, in the previous paragraph, which shows you that this kingdom is eternal and it's a family structure. I mean, we're going to live forever with God. So when people hear the message about Jesus, which he says the word in the parable of the soar, they respond differently.

but we all know that only a few are going to accept it. And he kind of gives them the reasoning when he explains the parable in why that is so. So the point I was getting at is here's the creator of the universe who's now in a human form. And he's a man. But you got to remember, Jesus actually created all these seeds that we in the material universe, he was in on that. Nothing that has been created was created without Jesus in John 1. And so, and it's a phenomenon.

Now, science, y'all remember when you were in school, science tells you kind of how the process works, and people say, I believe in science. But still, they can explain who's making this stuff grow. Who is making things with seeds grow? and live. And so you probably see where I'm headed with that. You know, when Paul gave his analogy in First Corinthians, what is that,

chapter two or chapter three, when he said, you know, Paul planted the seed, Apollo watered it, but God made it grow. God's making this grow. That's why in the parable of the sower, the only caveat that really makes sense is that, and I call it the parable of others, some people are like seed, sawed along the path where the word is sown.

As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sewn into them. After that, Jase, it's others, verse 16, others, verse 18. And others, verse 20, others, others, others, gives you the various reasons. Some don't get it at all, and the blame is put on the evil one. Well, but I think the people are the ones who are various states. People allow the evil one to do that.

I mean, you're eventually going to get to a verse where it's like resist the evil one, he'll flee from you. Yep. And in that same book, when James's book, remember when he said, humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. And I'm going back to my point that God makes this grow. When you introduce Jesus to people, this is the way God designed to reach humanity.

He sent Jesus in human form. He lived a perfect life. He died on the cross for our sins. He was buried. He was resurrected. He's now representing us in heaven. he shows us this this is possible this can happen you can live you ask the question who makes it grow who makes who who makes the corn pop out of the ground go into a stalk

and produce another ear of corn because this this corn is dead who keeps it from growing is the parable of the sewer exactly yeah that's a great point who grows it and who keeps it from growing. And that becomes the distinction. Yeah. You're right. That becomes the distinction. And you got it, Jase.

It's who. You know, when he said in verse 11, he said to them, he told them the disciples, the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. The secret is not a what? The secret there is a who. Because what made them different? Jesus. I mean, he is the secret to the kingdom of God.

And the other thing, when he mentions Dad, you said the others, every time he mentions word, what's the word? Well, we know from John 1-1, who the word is, not what the word is. So this thing comes back to a who throughout all of these parables. And Jase, you read earlier the next one, and he basically says, who does it? Because all you do is put the seed in the ground and go get in the bed. and then everything starts happening. Well, and you're doing that.

It doesn't matter. Because you now have the same spirit that Jesus had, and you function in the same capacity. Whoever makes it grow is where the power is. That's where the power is. But look, just think about it, the analogy. He didn't give you just some, because you think, well, he made this story up.

No, you can go out there outside and look at who's making all this stuff grow from a pin oak tree. and so that's why we have this big debate. But it trickles down. And finally, as a follower of Jesus, you start looking at what's being taught in these public schools and in science class, and you're saying, these people are,

they're stupid. This is not possible. They're not, it's not stupidity. It's, it's, um, willful ignorance. It's going back to what we talked about last time, but the blaspheme of the Holy Spirit. I'll agree with that.

So listen to this. In reference to the mystery that we just read about in Mark, chapter 3, was it 11, 411? What was the verse again that you just quoted now? Yeah, that was 411. Yeah, so listen to what Paul says in 1st Corinthians and then in Ephesians. He says that I referenced this in the last podcast when we were talking about blasphing the Holy Spirit. But he says, you know, the rulers of this age are passing away. But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery.

It's the same exact language that Jesus is using in Mark 4. It's the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory. The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age understood. If they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. We had a question that popped up from one of our listeners the other day of whenever I'd said something about that Satan did not know the plans of God of what he was trying to accomplish to the crucifixion because if he would have, he wouldn't have killed the Lord of Glory. And she's, where did you get that from? I got it from this verse right here. So when you talk about the who, it's not just the who.

It's also what he did and the accomplishment that he did, which it's the scandal of the cross. It's that Philippians 2 passage, which if you try to explain the gospel, to an unspiritual mind, they're going to look at you and they're going to think, this does not make any sense. But when the Holy Spirit illuminates your heart, that's when you get it. Because he says here in Ephesians 3, by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into what? The mystery of Christ.

What's the mystery? Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to His Holy Apostles and prophets in the Spirit. To be specific, the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of his power. That's quite the run on sentence. But the point is, what the mystery is is that God is graphic.

Gentiles into this covenantial promise that is fulfilled in the most bizarre way, or all other religions are a man climbing to the mountain to get to the top and get to God to prove that they're good enough. And here's this bizarre message that's so bizarre that it's divine of God comes down to rescue his people. And then he's opening his arms up, John 1-1, to save the sins of the world for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, John 316. that that's the mystery and if you go to somebody who who is not a spiritual mind unless the Holy Spirit illuminates their heart to this understanding it's going to sound like nonsense which takes us right back to the last podcast on the block why is it so scary to blaspheme the Holy Spirit because he's the one that's going to tell you about the mystery of the gospel of Christ don't reject that good point no I like it I want to read the what it

what it means, and we read last podcast, the parable the sower. So then when he got to 10, when he was alone, the 12 and the others around him asked him about the parables. And he said, the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside, everything is said in parables, so that, and he quotes Isaiah 6, they may be ever seen but never perceiving and ever hearing but never understanding. otherwise they might turn and be forgiven. Then Jesus said to them,

don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, the evil one comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word at once received it with joy,

but they have no root and they only last a short time. When trouble or persecution comes, because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others like seed among the thorns, hear the word, but the worries of this life, deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke it, choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soul, hear the word,

accept it, produce a crop 30, 60, or even 100 times what was sown. All right, so let's take a break. So let me first do. with this, let's talk about this quote that he does from Isaiah, because it's stuck right in the middle of it, and it seems kind of bizarre. Yeah, because why wouldn't God want everybody? I thought God wanted everybody to be saved. So what's the problem.

Exactly. So here's what you have to do, I think, to fully understand why Jesus used that passage. If you go back to Isaiah, and I encourage you to do this, obviously, we don't have time on the podcast to read the whole thing. But if you'll read for Isaiah 4 through 7, it'll set the context of where this quote came from. Because in Isaiah chapter 4, there's a passage there that talks about the branch of the Lord. And he's talking about Jesus. So we know this is like a messianic prophecy that Isaiah is doing.

And then he gets to chapter 6. So he brings up that idea of the eternal branch in chapter 4. And then in chapter 6, he says, in the year the king of Zion, died, I saw the Lord seated on the throne, high and exalted, the train of his robe filled the temple. Then he goes on to describe it. And it's very much like what he described, what John described in Revelation, and starting in chapter four of Revelation, this idea of looking into heaven and seeing God and seeing all these, you know, what's happening. And so Isaiah's having a moment here in his day, and Isaiah 6. And he says, he looks at verse 5, says, woe to me.

I'm ruined. I'm a man of unclean lips. He's talking about himself. I live among a people of unclean lips. So this is a real low time for Israel. And my eyes have seen the king, the almighty God. One of the seraphs, which was an angel, flew to me with a live coal in his hand that he had taken from the tongs. And he touched my mouth and says, see, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away. And your sin atone for. So we're having, we're having this revelation of this branch he mentioned in chapter four, is coming. And then you get to chapter 7 in verse 14, and Isaiah gives you, he tells you exactly who is going to be because he says, the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will be a child and will give birth to a son and we'll call him Emmanuel. So the whole context of this

is that things are bad, but something good is coming. Now let me read the quote from Isaiah, the quote that Jesus quoted. In chapter 6, the angel tells Isaiah, Isaiah says this, go and tell the people. Be ever hearing, but never understanding. Be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people callous. Make their ears dull. Close their eyes.

Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand what their hearts, and turn and be healed. So that's where the quote comes from. What does he mean by that? Well, Isaiah goes on and said, then I said, for how long, Lord? In other words, how long would people not want to believe? And then he says, until the cities lie ruined. And he describes all this.

And at the end, he said, and all the trees are cut down, leave the stumps. So the holy seed will be the stump in the land. So in other words, he says all this destruction, all this parts turned away from God. There's one who's coming. So you just need to continue to tell people, you're ruined people, you're not doing the right thing and keep doing it and keep doing it and keep doing it. And then we would know, and 750 years later, Jesus would come. And so that really is the setting for what Jesus then describes about why he's teaching in parables is because now he's here. Well, let me jump in there because I think I would say you need to go ahead and add reading Isaiah chapter 9 along with that.

Because you got to remember all these people that he's talking to and are hearing this, religious leaders. they were very familiar with what Isaiah the prophet said, and they were looking for this coming one. And I think the problem is they had formed an erroneous opinion of what that was going to look like. Because when you read Isaiah 9, he starts off talking about there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. And he gives to verse 2.

He says, The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of the shadow of death. And he talks about war in verse 5. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. And so you say, what is he talking about? Well, then he reveals it in Isaiah 96.

And I guarantee you all those religious leaders could quote this. Oh, yeah. For us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. Well, who's Isaiah talking about? Oh, we know who he's talking about Jesus.

Oh, yeah. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom. Well, now we're getting into what we're talking about in Mark. it seems like Jesus has come, establishing and upholding it, the kingdom, with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

And so you say, well, what's your point? Why are you reading this? Because when they saw Jesus, they had interpreted this. You start talking about, you know, he's going to be the end of the wars. And they were focusing on the end of the wars and the government on his shoulders. and they did not like how this was transpiring.

They're like, well, you're not him because where's the political edge here? That's good. Man, that's so good. Because how relevant is that for today? I mean, if they'll talk to out this yesterday on the phone, like, we're obsessed. And look, I ran for Congress. I ran for office. I have a background in politics.

But I will tell you the conclusion that I've come to after seeing how the sausage is made and looking behind the curtain is that our problem, is not a political fix. It is not. It's just not. And I think that the Jews at this time, the Pharisees, man, it's such a good point that you read that out of Isaiah. If you read that out of Isaiah, you would probably interpret it the same way if you didn't have the context of what Jesus did, right? You would think, this guy's coming. When the Messiah gets here, the government is going to sit on his shoulders. He is going to set up an earthly kingdom and we are about to dominate and get everything that we always thought. And then he,

he came and he died. And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. And he was a friend of people that are not welcome. So that's why I think that's why I think that needed to be hidden because they were trying to take Jesus's coming in a manner that was not godly. That was not part of the plan. We're not going to go overthrow Rome and build bigger houses and invite it all. all our friends over and sit around and drink wine and say, look how awesome Jesus is and then

try to conquer the world. Man-made constructs is not the way to go. They missed it. They missed it. And he did. They missed it. And think about this, though. They missed it because here's what they wanted.

They said, this is what they were essentially saying. We will submit to God as long as we get to keep our power structure, right? We're in it for the power. We see the power of God, and we want in on that. But those are the kind of people's heart that God does harden. He does harden people's heart. It's not a popular topic, but God does do those things. He does hide himself because there will be a time, Philippians too says this.

There's going to be a time in history in the future when the Lord of Glory reveals himself. We're going to see him. And the Bible says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Everybody's going to say at some point everybody falls on their face before. for the living God. Why? They're going to fall in their face because they're going to see his power. And God's like, I'm not looking for people to follow me out of my power. I'm looking for people to follow me because I love them and they want to be with me. So even when you get to like Fahara, he hardened Fahua's heart, right? But listen to why he hardened Fahra's heart. This is in

chapter seven of Exodus 6. He says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. What does that mean? What he's saying is that, like, I'm about to unleash some miracles that anybody in their right mind would fold under the power that I'm about to unleash on these people. So what I'm going to do is because I want to do 10 of them. I got 10 plagues, but I want to get through all 10 plagues. So I'm going to, the Hebrew word is Chazak. I'm going to strengthen Pharaoh in his resolve so that I can accomplish these miracles and these things so that people will be talking about this story for years and years to come because it foreshad is the gospel. So God does harden. God does hide himself. There is a mystery that God's like, I'm not going to show you because you're not seeking truth. You're in it for the power. You're not in it for the right reasons. And you've got to come to Jesus. When God eliminates your heart, it's an illumination of humility. And it's an illumination of sacrifice. It's dying the self. It's completely paradoxical to what we think a God would come like.

Let's take another break. I want to reiterate this point I made. ironically, the backdrop of him discussing things in parables and the hardening of some hearts and the softening of others comes when if you just look at what he's doing from a political standpoint, they should embrace this. He's healing diseases. He's casting out demons. He's helping we're going to get to in the next chapter. He's helping the homeless. He's helping the mentally impaired. He has the ability to calm the storm. It's all around us in modern day. He's literally making life awesome here for all people, from the poorest of the poor to those downtrodden.

And the response is from the political parties and the groups of people and even the religious hierarchy is kill him, which in essence is going to be the way. Bad mouth his messengers, too. But in essence, that is the ultimate way that God is going to redeem everyone by him dying, which I just think, look, if you were trying to come up with a story like this, you would never be able to pull it off, you know, not one that's based on historical fact. Here's another mind bender. So we read from Isaiah 4, Isaiah 6, Isaiah 9. if you keep going, you get to Isaiah 53 and 54, guess what they were all told was going to happen.

This Messiah, this branch, this holy one, this righteous one was going to be killed in a terrible, terrible way. And he's going to be like a root out of dry ground, not supposed to be there. Yes. Won't work. They missed it. That's the part they didn't mess. That's the part they didn't get. They didn't see that part.

And when it came, they were like, whoa, we didn't see that. that coming, but you think about like, it does matter that, I mean, obviously God illuminates the heart. The spirit illuminates the heart. The spirit opens us up. The spirit reveals this Christ to us. But our soil does matter according to this parable. I mean, we, it does matter to have good soil versus rocky soil and all the different variations of the, of the four soils. And that one good soil, the reason why you know it's good is because it was receptive to the planting. And the fruit, it had fruit that came out of it. It wasn't a temporary, you know, like emotional moment.

It was like that hard, that soil was prepared to receive revelation from God. He said in verse 20, others, the last one, like seed sown on good soil. Got to have it. Oh, you see he's not going to grow. Well, but I think this is where some people go too far and say, well, there's nothing I can do. And there's only a select group that have the good soul, and it was predetermined.

And so, you know, I mean, I'm saying the argument, I'm playing, I'm not going to say devil's advocate, but from an argumentative view. But I just think it should be a warning to all of us to be open-minded. and to search and stay away from traditions of men and, you know, stay away from, you know, groups of people who are not focused on Jesus and His grace that is offered. Leave it up to God instead of saying in your mind,

I don't think that old dude's going to make it. Oh, to me, you're right, Phil. When you, because that's what the whole, that's what the whole pharicyical problem, the reason they couldn't understand the parables is because they're passing judgment on every person, either based on where they're from, what they did, their nationality.

They send too much, I mean, it's just too much as you to you. Well, I think it's worthy of note that faith does not negate pursuit, right? It doesn't negate the pursuit of God. And I think, you're right, Jay. So a lot of people will say, oh, well, you know, I don't have to do anything because God's elect or whatever. And that would probably be not a true representation of reformed theology. But that is a big discussion, right?

So what the soil is God doing it? Am I doing it? It is a modernistic, synergistic, and all these terms we come up with in debates. But I think you read the book of Romans. And there's this letter, like I said earlier, I think I said it in a previous podcast, there's a big bracket around the first and the last paragraph in the book of Romans that Paul says, why he wrote the book and what he was called to do was to bring from the Gentiles to bring them to the obedience of faith. So he has this whole argument.

The whole book of Romans is this argument that kind of coalesces in the Romans chapter 9. And he says in Romans chapter 9, let me not quote it, let me read it. He says that the Gentiles, Romans chapter 9, verse 30, says, what shall we say then? that the Gentiles who did not pursue, there's the pursuit word, righteousness that they attained it, even the righteousness, which is by faith, but Israel pursuing a law of righteousness did not arrive at that law. Why? Why did Israel not get it? And why were the Gentiles grafted in right here?

Because they did not, the Jewish people, Israel, did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. So you said, what does that mean? The good soil, it is the pursuit of God. It's just that we have to pursue God by faith, meaning that we are responding to the revelation of the Holy Spirit. When he convicts us on anything or shares anything or he goes anything to us, we say, God, you are telling the truth. And then are responding in that. That's good soil. And to the degree that I do that, guess what?

A fruit starts to increase in my life. I'm not battling the same old stuff. When I was young, it was with your son, Phil, Jeff and your brother, guys, like, what were you doing? We were out there getting drunk and we were smoking weed and all those things. I don't struggle with smoking weed. I'm not even tempted to do that. But 18 years old, yeah, I was. He said, what's changed?

I didn't walk in with the spirit for 20-something years. God's delivered me because there's a fruit in my life now. That's good soil. It's not us. It's not anything that we're doing. It's not anything we pat ourselves in the back. It's just that, well, I'm just, I want to rest. receive what God is delivering.

I just want to receive it. That's it. That's good soul. And I want to read this. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. But God, who's making it grow, by the way, gives it a body as he to determine. And to each kind of body, each kind of seed he gives its own body.

Now, y'all know that's talking about the resurrection in 1st, Corinthians and 15, but I'm going to make a point here that God, through Jesus, in this parable, use something that could be a reminder anywhere on the planet that somebody is making that corn and those trees pop up out of the ground and bringing life to them and they're reproducing with the seat. Something is doing that. I've had debates. I've had discussions. I had a guy one time said, well, that's, if you want to know who that is, that's mother nature. And I said, well, go get her because I want to have a conversation with her about how this is happening. Well, that ended this discussion. Because now you're having to have faith in Mother Nature, just like I'm having faith in the divine father.

You created thing. The difference is I have some documentation and some history and some, you know, some other facts that is way more appealing than if it was just Mother, mother nature but what i was going to say to your point zack is when you think about the spiritual repercussions of this that seed let's just take corn it's not it's not that much to look at when it dies but it goes in the ground and all of a sudden it comes it comes out better it's it's better and when you fast forward to this and you realize what jesus did through his death and his Beryl and resurrection, and when you look at what we represent when we die and we're buried and we're resurrected, it gets back to that planting a seed, burying it, you know, in the ground, which is a cold, dead place.

And the first thing you notice is it doesn't take, Jace, but one seed. and when you look at it, it comes up on a stalk, and on both sides of it, there's about 100, 100, 150. I don't know how many grains of corn there is growing on one ear, but that thing reproduced, I mean, a lot. I mean, you get two ears sticking out or three, and it's loaded and looks just like the one you planted.

You say, that thing is... That's why I made the comment that when I was in, science class in high school. Hang on, Joe. Let's take a break. That's why when I made the comment, and when I was in high school and I was taking biology and I was learning how this stuff was happening from their perspective, which was a non-god view, I said, this is just stupid. I mean, I remember having a debate with a guy,

and he's like telling me, you know, we came from monkeys. And I'm like, they're still here. And he was like, what? I'm like, why are the monkeys still here? Yeah, but at one time, a certain group of them branched off and turned into humans. I'm like, you actually want me to believe this? I mean, they're out of campfire and they're like, look, half of us are going the human route. But you know, you see how silly we are and all that just in life because, you know, back when we were discovering space and, sending rockets.

And you remember what they did? They didn't want to put a human in that first rocket. So they went and grabbed a monkey. And what I always found fascinating was they put a helmet on the monkey. And I thought, why are we protecting his brain? He's not going to tell us anything he's learned. But in our minds, we thought, well, maybe if that's where we came from, we want to protect that experience and information.

And I just think when you look at a parable like this that makes real life make sense, because there has to be an answer in your mind down deep in your heart that there is someone. The evidence is too overwhelming. Somebody's making the physical things grow. And when you look at Jesus being here and you start looking in your life and saying, how am I going to view my life and what's in my heart? And the more you walk with Jesus, the more it all starts making sense. And I think that's what makes you have a good heart because you start realizing,

you know what, I've got a, I've got a maker. I've got a creator. What you're trying to say, Jay, says whatever's making the corn grow makes us grow. Exactly. Sounds like a Luke Bryant song. It's funny, though, when you mention to your larger point that this idea that, which I think, by the way, is probably the grand mystery. I mean, Ephesians defined that as the Gentile inclusion into Judaism, so to speak.

But that's really not even the ultimate mystery. That's a that's a simple. That's a byproduct of the big mystery. The big mystery is what you just said. The old way is dying and the new way is coming. The temple system is dying and a new temple is emerging. Everything is about there's a death coming, and then there's a resurrection coming.

The First Corinthians passage you mentioned is, yeah, it's a lot about our physical resurrection. But you go and Paul says in what was it, First Thessalonians, about obedience to the gospel. We're obeying the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. There is, like we, Mark 16 or Matthew 16, we have to die to ourselves. And that's a good thing because when we die, just like the seed that was dead and was planted by the sower and good soil, like that seed sprouted up into something way more than any of us could ever comprehend. That is the law of the new way. That is kind of like, what is the law of Christ?

It's death to life, but not just to life to abundant life. That's what the Holy Spirit is ultimately revealing. And that's what the motivation is for us is that, you know, Jesus said for the joy set before, our Bible says, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. but why did Jesus die? Well, for the joy that was set before him, the joy of what was going to happen in the resurrection, the joy of what was going to happen in the ascension, the joy of what was going to happen as he sits at the right hand of God and mediates for his people, the joy that he's going to come back one day

and redeem all of us and pull us up to live with him forever. Like, that's the joy that was set before him. And in the same way, we are to embody that sacrificial death. We're to embody that death and that life, not because it's, the sacrifice and we're earning brownie points with God by giving something up, quite the opposite. We sacrifice not to give up anything. We sacrifice to gain everything. That makes sense. Yeah. And you remember when he said, he who has ears, let him hear, that's really the secret to the heart. Because, Zach, you were over in Romans 9 to 11 earlier when talking about the mystery of the Gentiles.

but Paul says something very interesting to go along with what Jesus said. He who has ears let him hear. Paul said in verse 17 of chapter 10 of Romans, consequently faith comes from hearing. It's not that you already have faith. First you have to hear. Faith comes from hearing. What? The message.

And the message is heard through the word of Christ, who Christ is. Which was inspired by the Holy Spirit. So this is a great question. If faith comes from hearing the word, if I'm going to hear something, then what does somebody else have to do? They have to speak. They have to speak. Which is what he said earlier in chapter 10. Yeah, that's it.

The spirit's revealing these things to us. That's why when you say, blast him the spirit. Yeah. If faith comes from hearing the word and the only I can hear is if God speaks and God speaks to me through the Holy Spirit and I reject the Holy Spirit. And every time he speaks and says, you're lying, Holy Spirit. that he's like, we can't be forgiven for that. Why not? Because he's telling you the way to be forgiven, and you're saying, I reject that. Like, it's not rocket science.

Don't reject. Don't bite the hand that feed you. That's kind of what's going on here. Well, and who's the word? You're not believing the pathway. There was a figure in the Bible. Hang on, Jay. Let's take our last break.

Who is known as the word? Jesus. John 1-1. So I said all this to say, if I want to read this. Because I did want to make that transition into the spiritual, just like Jesus did with Nicodemus. He said, you need to be born again. And be born in water and spirit. Nicodemus said, well, how can I, what do you mean?

How can I get back into my mother's womb? And then he starts explaining the mystery of how the spirit works in human beings. Well, when you read 1, 22, everything we've set up until this point, I think explains the reason he's telling the parable. the sower. He says, now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth. So we hear Jesus and we respond. So that you have sincere love for your brothers, which would be a fruit of the spirit, love one another deeply from the heart. Now watch this very carefully, verse 22. for you have been born again, not of perishable seed. You said, seed, what's he bringing that up for?

Because it's the same concept of when you die, when you respond to Jesus, because of the word you heard that's been planted in you, you're then buried just like you would plant a perishable seed of corn or whatever. but it's not of perishable sea but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God because God is eternal Jesus is eternal and look what he makes the example he makes this quote in first Peter which is from Isaiah 40 Al all men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you. That's pretty well the whole story.

It's fascinating to me that you can look at a corn, pistago corn growing and go through that in your heart on how did this get here? How is that made? How are these things reproducing? You're introduced to Jesus and you're like, oh, I can spiritually transform through the power of God and the work of the Holy Spirit just like that. And the difference is I'm going to live forever in that position. Yeah. And at the very beginning of what you just read, notice the correlation of that five-letter word, truth. It's in the center of all of this. And so you have truth is in the center of all the soil, everything that if you're going to experience a transformation, I promise you this. Truth is going to be at the center of it. A classical definition of truth is when my thought

matches up with reality, the way the world really is. That is what truth means. That my thought, my thought, whatever I'm thinking, it matches what is real in the world. And the goal of the Holy Spirit, the main goal is to make sure that we know what is true. That's why at the end of that passage in John 17, I said earlier that the most exhausted text in the Holy Spirit, because you're not going to have, if you're going to have truth at the center of it, you're not going to get truth outside of the Holy Spirit revealing it to you. And this is what Jesus said at the end of John 17 or almost at the end. John 17, 17, he says, sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth. Sanctification, being freed from the power and the grip of sin. How do I really experience transformation in my life? Because there are a lot of people listening right now. They're like, man, I am not. I love Jesus. I'm trying to follow him. But man, I do not see transformation.

Transformation comes from submitting to the spirit as he reveals truth to. why I said earlier, when you're tempted with sin, the Spirit doesn't say it's wrong or right. He says it's true or false. He's saying this is reality. This is real because this is where I'm at. And the ultimate prize is to live in the presence of God and to dwell with him. And that's what Jesus is offering here. So the big mystery is that. It's truth that God came down and is with us, Emmanuel God with us. Yeah, that's why Pilate, who was a government official, remember what he asked Jesus? When Jesus went through this, you know, I'm not, I'm not, not from here.

My kingdoms of another place. And remember what Pilate asked? He said, what is truth? He was so close, yet so far, because if he would have asked, who is the truth? Because Jesus and John 14, you know, you mentioned that John 14 through 17, but he laid the foundation because a lot of people said, well, how do I, how am I ever going to be find, you know, how are we going to find out what truth is? Because everyone argues about the truth. This is the truth as I see it. This is the truth as you see it. So let's argue about

the data or the history and try to find out what's true. And Jesus cleared it all up by the foundation principle when he said, I am the truth. But Jay's, Jay's, the reason he couldn't ask the right question was because, he couldn't see Jesus as being the king of anything. Remember he said, I have the power to decide whether you live or die. And Jesus is like, no, you don't. But he couldn't see that. In other words, in that situation you described with Pontch's pilot,

he thought he had all the power and he was talking to the creator of the universe. That's why he couldn't ask who. That's why if you had to rank the sins, if you were going to rank them, the number one, the one you must stay away from. from at all cost. I think it's the worst is pride. Because it keeps you from seeing the truth, which is a person. You have a premeditated way of thinking that you cannot, you just can't go along with Jesus coming down here,

the Son of God, the saviour of the world, and go into a guy's house who's a tax collector. So you just throw out everything based on that. Well, that's pride. That's pride. Yeah, and I think that that's, I'm so glad you guys brought up that Jesus is the personification of truth. Because in that text that I read, your word is truth. You think about how Jesus or how John started his gospel. In the beginning was the Word.

The Word was with God. The Word was God. And so I think that when we say that truth is the matching of our thought with reality, well, what is real? Ultimately, what is real is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because that's the only, I want to say thing. It's the only person. It's the only body. It's the only essence.

It's the only being. It's the only being that has eternally existed is God himself. So in all of God's revelation from the Holy Spirit, like, say, what's he really? What's he really ultimately revealing? It's even beyond truth and false. Ultimately, what God is revealing is himself. Why would he do that? And you know what?

Because he wants to have it. Why? Well, because people like me who, you know, I'm based on the worldly view, I'm not very smart. I'm just, I'm just not. You know, I mean, I barely made it through high school. But I can see a person and I can, watching and I say okay I get it and that's why I think Jesus he chose these ordinary men and what did they do what was his main commission I told you all you weren't here on that podcast but I told you

I thought the most profound statement in the first three chapters of mark that we had read was that when he said in verse 14 of chapter three he appointed 12 designated them apostles that they might be with him. It wasn't like he was going to give them. I mean, he did. You know, he taught them. The presence of being in God, being with God through Jesus, walking with him on a daily basis, is what made them the most powerful people, the smartest people, the most wise.

Because at the end of the day, you saw their ministry on what that led to through the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, were they the smartest people on the planet? at that time, yes. Because ultimately it comes with this fact. If you can figure out your purpose on earth, if you can figure out how you even got on the earth, but you can figure out how you can live forever

with the creator of the universe, that is the ultimate education. That's the ultimate teaching. You're the smartest person out of all people because you've figured out a way, and it was God's idea, not yours, to live forever. Well, if you pull that off, you got, what else do you need? That's why he said the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, talking about the 12.

Let me read this text before we sign off, and we can talk about a little bit in overtime. It's the next thing that he says to the disciples. He said to them, do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? this is after he explains to him the parable of the sewer. For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed. And whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, there's a statement again.

But now he's talking to the disciples. Let him hear. Consider carefully what you hear, he continued. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you. And even more. Whoever has will be given more. whoever does not have, even what he has, will be taken from him. So we'll unpack that a little bit in the overtime as we kind of wrap up this thought.

So if you want to follow us over, it's blazedtivet.com slash unashamed to hear a little more pontification. I don't care what they say, boys. That's an exciting greed. You're going to be surprised to hear what I think about that next. There's the tease for overtime. We'll see you on those sides. spoken from a man that's not very smart. I'm C plus.

Well, I'm D-minus. 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 blazTV.com slash unashamed.