Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 634 | Jase Put a Wrestling Move on His Neighbor & Crazy Places to Baptize Folks

Episode Date: February 19, 2023

Jase has an embarrassing story about accidentally wrestling his next-door neighbor and entertains Phil with stories of crazy places he’s performed baptisms. The guys explore what the Bible says about certain kinds of justice, and Jase applies a poignant illustration about doing what feels good. Al reiterates the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the guys contemplate the Spirit of the Lord and what it actually is.  In this episode: 1 Peter 4, verses 1-11; Daniel 3; Jeremiah 20, verse 9; Jeremiah 2, verse 13 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So I was at our refresh. We used to call her the marriage retreat. I actually went to one of those. You did? Years ago was it? Maybe 12, 15 years ago maybe.

But yeah, so the whole, I think the time you and Missy went, you and Missy went, Mom and Dad and Will and Corey, I think it was our whole crew. Yeah. Went that one year. Well, I remember it because we, and I was impressed with how that was set up. Mm-hmm. And it was good. But one of the couples that we knew, it's like after the festivities were over on night one, do y'all still do the same thing?

You have like a Friday night. Yeah, starting on Friday about noon, and we run until Sunday about noon. Yeah, so, well, after the Friday night version, the wife of the couple came to us in tears, and she was like, my husband wants to hear the message of Jesus, which I was unaware, you know. And so then we studied most of the night, Friday, and it was really cold. Yeah. And. Because we do it up in Arkansas, maybe about three hours north of here, so it's usually pretty chilly.

It's a round around Valentine's Day every year. And so he said, I want y'all to baptize me. And I was like, well, you know, great. we'll take care of that, you know, Sunday, we get back, you know, and he's like, no, I want to do this right now. I said, look, there's a lake out here because the thing was called Lake Degree. Yeah, Lake de Grey. I said, but, you know, I'm pretty sure we'd had to break some ice. And so they were working on the facility, and they said, well, we have a hot tub.

And I was like, I don't know how that I could get into. And then they said, well, hang on. That's not functional yet, but it has water in it. At least it was inside a structure, though. It was inside a structure, but it was not inside a heated structure. Correct. Because it was under construction. And so, you know, we're talking about suffering, and we're talking about sacrifice.

And so I was like, you know what? This man wants to do this right now. And so let's just do it. And it's one of the coldest baptisms I've ever been a part of. We've had a few through the years. And what's funny is, Jay's, I've thought about him. this year, in fact, because he passed away this past year. Well, he moved on to the next adventure.

There you go. That's a better way. He moved on. But I thought about it that he buried the old man up there at Lake DeGray. And then I thought about he's made that transition waiting on the resurrection the same year. Oh, he moved from the field to the main office. There you go. I like that.

That's pretty good. I'm going to write that down. Write that down and use it. Move from the field of the main office. So we had this year, it was interesting because our theme was forged in fire, was the name of it. And the idea was that when two become one, it's kind of the idea that you kind of, and it was really interesting because I couldn't help but think about we're in First Peter, which the whole theme is about suffering and going through difficulty.

And that's kind of what the marriage, the refreshed theme was, was when you're You go through things, you go through them together a lot of times as families or as a married couple. And so the idea is as many times we're fused together in fire. The idea of when you go through a difficult time, especially as a couple, what comes out of that becomes something stronger. You know, it's kind of the idea of welding or, you know, fusing. And so when, so I spoke, I kind of wrapped it up yesterday. And I went right back to 1st Peter 1, which is where we started this study. and did that first section as my main text.

These have come, these trials. And, of course, Peter's not talking about marriage in that context, but I put it in a marriage context. These have come, these trials, these difficulties, so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes, even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, gore, and honor. So I made the point that gold,

which most people see is such a precious thing, Peter's saying, look, that's nothing compared to faith. Yeah. You know, and so, you know, we look at things as, especially as a family or a married couple, and we think all these things are so important to us. We've got to get back. We've got to get the house done. We've got kids waiting on us.

We've got, you know, all the things of the world and all the things we think is so important. But really the main thing is the faith is the key, you know. Exactly. And, you know, I talked in the last podcast a little bit. And I didn't launch into it because, you know, I've had an emotional week. And because we're, like I said, in a transition period with our little one. And we had all the families together that have helped us and along this journey. And one of the sisters, one of the wives of the couples that have helped us, our neighbors,

you know, I think she could tell, you know, it's emotional for everyone. Even though we're all still playing a role in his life, obviously. We just have a new primary caregiver. because we had a year and we fulfilled our year. And so this sister, I think she sensed that we were all just kind of struggling with, you know, because we love this boy and it, you know, all the time you get to spend, you're not going to spend as much time, but we're still playing a row. And she said, well, I had a word from the Lord early on.

And she had kept him for us many times her and her husband and their family. they got three boys. And look, she just quoted Isaiah 43 off the top of her head. And the more she quoted, the fiery, the more fiery she got. I've seen her do this before. She's pretty impressive. And I just want to read a couple of excerpts because, look, it was so needed. And, you know, a lot of times you'll hear somebody say, I had a word from the Lord,

but this is actually a word from the Lord. And she had read this so much. I was stunned at, she did not even bobble. And, but some of the phrases, because you made me think of this when you were talking about the fire, but it says in Isaiah 43, the second part, and I'm just going to pick out a few things that I remember she read. It said, fear not, I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by my name, and you are mine. And, of course, she was reading this because she said the word, you know, that we're all, created in the image of God.

And look, we live in a broken world with broken people and sometimes broken systems that are trying to help the people. And she's like, we're convinced that this little one was created by God. And look,

and it says, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze,

for I am the Lord your God. And it goes on to say, in the last part of verse 6 and 7, it says, bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made. It was just such a inspiring for the situation. She's like, does it mean? And then she gave a little commentary that we're not going to have to be in the fire and the waters may seem high, but the Lord is with us. And then she just, everybody kind of became emotional. And she's like, that's all I have to say.

And we're leaving. It's time for us to go. And so she was hugging everybody. Yeah. Well, I'm fixed to share a very embarrassing yet funny story. So she started coming toward me I mean she hugged Missy She hugged another couple there

Well she's coming and I was like Okay she wants she's hugging everybody Well I'm just kind of laid back on the couch And I have my only my socks home Well as I'm getting up Now you were dressed With your socks You saw that?

I was dressed Yeah I was dressed with my I didn't have my shoes up Okay okay And so that was very awkward It's a group of people Okay, okay. I misspoke.

Okay. So as I'm getting up, I underestimated the force at which she was coming toward me. And I had my socks on. And so when she went in for the hug, my feet went out from under me so quickly that I've lost all about. I'm falling. So she just kind of barrels into you. She barrels in me with a hug. Well, I should have just let go and fell back.

but, you know, your instincts. To grab a hole. Well, I clutched her and essentially did a DDT power driver on her into the couch. We just both came back full forms. Awkward is not the word for the... You TDTed your neighbor. The neighbor's wife. Into the couch.

And everybody's laughing. Are y'all okay? So I come back up. We're like, we both get up together, and she said, I'm so sorry. I'm such an awkward hugger. And when she said that, I'm telling you, we laugh. Of course, you know, there's a lot of emotions. We're running high anyway.

It's probably the hardest I've laughed in my life. We got so tickled by that. Because she kept hugging everybody. Went around. She's like, be careful. Be careful in this moment. I'm an awkward hugger. and just went out the door with that.

But I thought, one, you know, what an awesome word that she spoke here, and especially in the context of First Peter of the suffering. And I think that's what we do when we go through struggles and trials and just life. You know, at the end of the day, we're trying to help this boy get to heaven. Right. And he's come from a lot of brokenness. And so it was just so profound, because, to my knowledge, I'm sure I studied Isaiah at some point, but I just didn't register.

Somebody read that text at the, there's a couple here that was at the marriage. That verse was read by some one of the host couples at our marriage refresh. Because I wasn't aware of it either, Jays, but I heard it this weekend. And it's funny because we had a lot of the same moments. Anytime we're there, we're dealing a lot of heavy stuff. Those late night sessions, Jays, are still going on, both individual for people's salvation, but also some marriage trouble. but we have a lot of those lighter moments too.

And one of the things, Grant Taylor, Grant Caitlin, one of our new host couples this year. So Grant was kind of the emcee of the event, he and Caitlin for the weekend. And so he was kind of in charge of the more humorous things because we try to keep, when you're dealing with heavy stuff, you've got to have some lighter moments. What you just described is perfect because you kind of had to come out for a minute, you know, and breathe a minute. And so they had a thing where they were like, who's the most romantic couple? And so what they did was they took, it's right out of the Bible, but they took some of the texts out of Song of Solomon.

Oh, boy. And they had the couples had to read it to one another. And so, you know, it is funny because it's kind of awkward, you know, because it's a very sensual text that Solomon writes there. And one of these couples, they were from Columbia, which is south of here about an hour. Oh, I thought you meant the country. No, no, Columbia, Louisiana. And this guy, I don't know who, I'd never met him before, but he must be some kind of master of Thespian or something. Anyway, when he reads his, he reads it in some, like an

Antonio Banderas voice. And you talk about funny. Was that not the funniest? We were laughing so hard at the way he was reading this in this sensual Hispanic voice, you know. But it was really those moments of that. But when I was wrapping up my sermon yesterday and talking out of this first Peter, I had this, it struck me in this, had this sermon idea from the Old Testament about Daniel 3. And, you know, most best, I don't know you guys spend a lot of time reading Daniel 3. And I was, in your personal Bible study. But this is one of the great old stories from when you were a kid, which, of course, was Shadrat, Meshach, and Abedigo. You know, they were the ones who were thrown into the fiery furnace. And

since we were talking about fire, And gold. And so you remember in the story, there's a Nebuchadnezzar builds a 90-foot golden statue. 90-foot high, dad, nine feet wide. And so, you know, I got to think about that. By scale, it's not always, how big is that? The statue of liberty is 151 feet high. So this thing was two-thirds the height of the Statue of Liberty.

It was made out of solid gold. And so the deal was you had to, anytime the music cranked up, you had to bow down at the moment and to this golden statue. And you had to, you know, give your honor to it. And so these three Jewish guys who were there in captivity, Shadrat, Mishak, and Abedigo, they said no. You know, the king calls them in. We're not going to do that. And then what was amazing was to show you how powerful their faith was. Let's take the break.

Their faith was so amazing because here's what they said. They said, we serve a God who can deliver us from the fire. Because he told me, if you don't bow down, I'm going to throw you into the fiery furnace. They said, well, we serve a God who can deliver us from the fiery furnace. But if he doesn't, we're still not bound down to your golden idol. And I just thought that was such a powerful thing about faith because what he was saying was he can deliver us if he wants to but if he says no either way we're still delivered because we're not bowing down to the 90 foot gold in a statue so i made the point that's the way it is when

it comes to faith in a marriage or anything else you have to make a decision whether the answer is yes or no the response is still the same i serve god no matter what and so i made the point that gold will fall away but faith never does so so what happens is of course they're thrown into the fiery furnace, the people, Jase, that threw them in, the soldiers, they all get burned up, just throwing them in. That's how hot the fire was. So the guys that throw them in there, they die, they perish. When they get thrown in there, the king looks into the fiery furnace and there's four people in there. They threw in three. And they look in there and they're like, well, who, who's the fourth person? Somebody from the other side, shut up.

shows up with the three, and they're sitting around and just chatting in a fire so hot that it burned up everybody that went into it. So then when they come out, they change the rules. Now everybody has to follow the God of Israel because obviously that's what faith does. And so I asked our folks, Jay, so I said, anybody know where that 90-foot gold statue is to this day? Nobody knows where it is. It probably got smelted down into a million pieces, but we're still talking about Shadratt, Meshach, and Abedigo, and the fourth person in the fire. And so that I made the point about, you know,

there's always Jesus in our relationship and marriage. But I thought it was a great story when you think about that fire is a tester, but if God is in there with you, then you never have to worry about it. Well, how many times has the New Testament referenced what God did in the Old Testament, you know, leading the people to freedom and to the promised land through the wilderness and all the struggles there and all the suffering that had to occur for them to realize that we can't do this without the presence of God. Right.

And in each instance, and even now fast forward to us, because we're going to read in 1st Peter 4.3, you know, when he talks about the two kinds of way you can live, which is following your own evil desires, and he has a list of sins there. Well, the last one, it says in detestable idolatry. And no matter what happens in life, it's either God or something else. And so what I thought is I referenced this a few podcasts ago, but I want to read it since you brought this up. Our minds are in the same place.

I mean, here you are doing a marriage seminar, and here I have been doing a lot of speaking over, you know, this little innocent baby who's come out of brokenness. And because really, and I said this in one of our discussions with the people that, you know, our team, I was like, look, our, the two questions that we've asked in this process is, where's the Lord in this? Number one, whatever decision we make, you know, where, how is this the Lord's will? And number two, you know, what's best for this innocent child to make it to heaven? And so a lot of those decisions we've made within the systems that you're having to work in, because it's complicated.

You know, some people get their feelings hurt because our response to those two questions may not be what they want to do, you know, for, and so it has caused a lot of tension. And so it made me think of this verse. This is in Jeremiah, too, and I think this applies to your same thought. So in Jeremiah 2-4, hear the word of the Lord, verse 5, this is what the Lord says. What fault did your father's find in me that they strayed so far from me? So this is in the context of leading the Israelites out of captivity through the wilderness to the promised land. It says they followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

And verse 6 is what I wanted to zero. in them. They did not ask, where's the Lord? And so what I'm saying is when I asserted that in dealing with, you know, the past year of my life, focusing on this baby, that is one of the thoughts I have. This is obviously to make this a practical wilderness, because it is. It's a tough venture. And we all go through wilderness. You know, Jesus was the only one that went through the wilderness perfectly. He was quoting a lot of scripture and he was trusting in God, but he was saying, where's the Lord? But then he goes on to say, and I think this is a beautiful thing and very appropriate to our study in verse Peter. When he gets to verse 13, he said, my people have committed two sins.

They have forsaken me the spring of living water, which we talked about that on the bonus time the last podcast about this spirit that is poured out now, God's Holy Spirit, the same one that resurrected Jesus from the dead, and by which we asserted that was possibly and probably on Noah when he preached this sermon of righteousness to a world that was heaping abuse on him because they refused to believe that there was going to be a flood in judgment on the world. But it says, they have forsaken me the spring of living water and have dug their own cisterns.

And then it says broken cisterns that cannot hold water. And so when you think about what idolatry really is, idolatry is anything other than God. And based on what we just read, is a broken cistern. It gives the appearance that it's going to fulfill you. I mean, you know, this illustration, this metaphor, we all need water. to survive. You go back to Jesus and Samaritan woman in this whole conversation about living water. Me, when he said, I'll give you living water.

And she's like, well, give me this water where I'll never thirst. And he's like, I am, you're looking at, I'm the living water. But anything else that you put up as the presence of God are most important, what you give, your energy, passion, is a broken sister. it may appear that it's going to hold water to quench your thirst. And so good or bad things, even members of your family, even this situation, if you elevate your kids to Godlike status, not to mention the obvious things that people, you know, fame, money, all the things, drugs that are detrimental.

But I just think it's a beautiful yet sobering analogy of how in life, life, we think, oh, we're not bowing down to idols. Well, no, the idol is when you put, you're putting your hope and trust in that. And so I heard a sermon on that. And when he used that analogy, I shared this before, but I think it's important of a woman who her, her God was her husband. I mean, she was a believer in quotation mark, but her life was all in her husband. And it, and he said that, you know, it didn't dawn.

on her until she was staring at her husband in a casket, that if this is where she had put all her hope, well, I'm looking at a dead man now. Now what? So he was telling this story because he then said, he quoted this text to her. And he's like, even good things in our life, they're all going to be broken.

Yeah. And that's why Jesus conquered that, the brokenness by redeeming us from our sins. I mean, it goes back to the gospel wherever we're at 1st Peter 3 and the resurrection. Even the story that I was telling, sometimes idolatry can try to be hoisted on you by someone else and by peer pressure and cultural pressure. And that was the case in the three guys I mentioned because they were doing their own thing. If they hadn't been ratted out by the bureaucrats to the king, you know, they'd have been able

just do their own thing. But instead, they went to Nebuchadnezzar and said, hey, these guys. over here, they're not bowing down and he was furious about it. And so then they were put to the test and that was the whole deal. James, my three points were interesting since I was at the gathering yesterday. They had a strong commitment to God first. In other words, their commitment was we only bow down to God. We're not bad down to your goal thing. Second thing is they had a commitment to each other. I thought it was interesting because it wasn't like Shadrat, Meshach, and the Bedigo didn't change his name to, hey guys, I got to go. because it was like, I'm not going to, you know, I got a thing about fire. All three of them said, no, we're in this together. And I thought about that group of people you had, you know, you had in your gathering that

we're in this together. So we were going to go in this together. And then the third thing is they had a commitment to go into the fire. You know, they had to go into it. And look, they just saw the guys who went up there to go in burn up. So you're talking about counting a cost. Like when the guys that are putting you in, die. you're like, all right, this is this is the real deal.

I mean, we're not faking anymore. So anything we enter into, and I thought about that yesterday, Jason, when we were there in a situation to have prayer, and the ideas is that when you're in something together with God at the center of, no matter what it is, whether it's for a child, a marriage, just your spiritual walk, you know, that community, that idea of community and being together, that's crucial. I mean, you've got to walk through that fire with people.

If Christian music moves you, that song by Hill Song United, that there's another in the fire, it talks about that scenario. It's a really moving zone. Oh, really? Oh, it's fantastic. I got to listen to that. You think about what the name of the song, there's another in the fire. And that was my point.

I kept saying that you think her alone going through his fire, Jesus is there. There's another, you know, he's there. You're not alone. It's a great song. Give it a listen. Let's take another break. One thing I'll mention before we get back to our text, about Fire Jase because I can't help myself.

In Jeremiah 20, verse 9 was our theme text. We were in the school of preaching. And that says, Jeremiah says, because Jeremiah was preaching and nobody was listening to him. And so after a while, it's just like, everybody was like, why do you keep going? And he said, if I will not mention God or speak any more in his name. Because everybody's like, why are you even going? I mean, nobody's listening to you. Nobody's listening.

noise repenting. He said, his word is in my heart like a fire. It's shut up in my bones like a mighty flame. I am weary of holding it in. Indeed, I could not. Hey, the reason I stuck that out those two years, even though it really wasn't in my lane, because, you know, I'm more of a practical guy than sitting in a room with no windows listening to four-hour lectures. Was that verse really i thought now this is something i'm wrapped my head around i remember the first something when they quoted that verse because you know my first two or three years uh in christ i was young i was 14 and uh i thought that being a christian was just basically surviving and not doing wrong and i realized even you know from pastors that were reading first peter where it says you always be prepared to give an answer to

everyone who asked you, I wasn't prepared when people would say, well, how are you going to go drinking with us? Because that was the questions I was getting. I would just say, no. But I wouldn't tell them why. And so, you know, I got to be about 17. I just, you know, I had a moment. Now, a lot of that was due to just maturing in the faith and getting to know Christ better. And I've told this story before. I had this prank call where I shared Jesus with a person who never said a word. And I got all fired up about it. And so finally I got down to the people I liked, which is terrible, but I was like, I want to see these people in heaven. And I'm going to share with them, you know, the powers and the message. And so, you know, I started sharing, but the first

couple years, no one responded. They all deemed me as crazy. It was like Jeremiah. Yeah. And so I remember that meaning so much to me because I was so frustrated. I was like, well, I know this is real. I know this is true. I know there's a God. They have nothing. I mean, all my buddies were drunkards and, you know, some of them wound up in prison. It was a rough crew that I ran with. And I was sharing this last night with Trent when he's at our house.

You know, the first guy that called me, because I shared it thinking, well, they didn't respond. This is terrible. I moved on, but I didn't realize that there's a timing to this. and you plant the seed and it never leaves them and they keep living their life and then all of a sudden you know one day the power of the gospel pierces their heart you know and my best friend from high school a guy who was literally just doing everything wrong in the world he called me and asked me if if i hadn't seen or heard from him in a couple years he's like let's go fishing but i knew what that meant i was like well come on down. And so when he came down, Phil Polly members, he stayed five days,

and which it took him probably that long to get dried out and sober enough to really let the gospel prick his heart. But even then, I doubted because he said, you know, we were talking about, you know, being baptized. He said he wanted to be baptized in the river, you know, giving his heart to the Lord. But he said, I want to, I want to leave and go back to town because I got a buddy who will do this. And I was, like, well, how do you know? He's like, I just know. He will respond to Jesus.

He's got a good heart. And I was thinking he was, he still hadn't committed himself. He's going to go back for one last. I remember quoting the verse that said when you count the cost, you know, when the guy said, let me first go back and bury, you know, my father. I was like, no one he puts his hand to the plow. I was young and immature, you know, because I was thinking if he leaves, he's not coming back. You know, I was like, no.

But he left, and a couple hours later, to my surprise, he came back and here's this guy in the truck with him. I thought, well, what in the world did he tell him to convince him? And you know who it was, and he heard the gospel, and he immediately, you know, said, I mean, look, I'm going back. And now he had a buddy. 30 years and 30 years ago and those two men have been warriors for the Lord have never looked back and he was right. You know, I was wrong. But it made me appreciate, you know, reading Jeremiah, who I don't know how many years he preached without a response, but 30 or 40, I guess. A long time.

Yeah, you know, it does. I mean, because those two years were very frustrating that there were no fruit and results and, you know, in my, immaturity, I just didn't realize how God works here. Because you're still always tempted to make it about you instead of his power. By the way, it was so bad for Jeremiah, if you wonder how bad it was, read Lamentations. It's a book called Lamentations. I mean, it's not good. It was... Which can be depressing. It was tough. It was a tough stretch, you know, it was a hard time. But no, that's a great point, just. But I thought that was that idea again about fire. But I thought, the way, the more I looked into it when we were doing this retreat, we couldn't believe how much

the Bible talked about fire in terms of both from a refinement point of view in our lives, but also from God's perspective about judgment. I mean, there's a lot about fire. Well, there's going to be wilderness. There's going to be suffering. This is the life we lead. And the example is, you know, the wilderness Jesus went through, the sacrifice he went through, the surrender he went through for us. And this is just what God has called us to do. And look, I made the point earlier. First Peter is not at the top of the list on things that people want to hear.

It's just really not. But it is truth and it's reality that life can be really difficult, but there is another in the fire with us. And it was written at a time when the church in particular, the new Christians, because still only a 20-year-old thing. at the time, went through poppy one of the roughest stretches they've ever gone through. Yeah. I mean, look, I'm being honest here.

I've been on the earth over 50 years. This past week has been one of the roughest, if not the, most stressful, just emotional, you know, over just trying to help a baby. I mean, it was just so intense. And you're just like, why are you putting yourself in these situations, you know? But only... It's almost like God knew you needed a first Peter study. You know, that's separate.

saying you look at it. Therefore, that's 1 Peter 4.1. Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. Pretty, pretty amazing. It's a powerful statement, and a lot of people are not real sure what he was talking about. Yep. because it's they're like, well, wait a minute. You're still going to sin, you know, after you're a Christian, which is true, so we know we're not talking about that. But there's an attitude that Christ example has and his presence in our life

that gives us an offensive mindset where he has taken care of our sins. And that very, the action that you're taking, you know, back to going to the first chapter when he said prepare your minds for action. When you're in that mode, you then start realizing that sin is a million miles away in that mode of being aggressive. That's why I told the story where I thought being a Christian was not doing wrong.

I missed it completely. Being a Christian is living like Jesus. Or him living through you would probably be a better way to describe that. And you're like, well, when do you feel the best is when you know you're being unselfish and you're doing something for somebody else in the name of Jesus.

You just think about it. You don't live the rest of his life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. And he knows the difference. Which describes Jesus perfectly. Let's take another way. Well, I'm not sure we want to skip ahead

to chapter four yet, but I will make this point that, and I heard a guy preach a whole sermon on one word, of chapter four and it was uh i thought incredible and it was on the word therefore and i was like well i bet this is going to be good it was really good because his it's a big word his point was for the bible yeah this is what separates christianity from anything else you'll find in the world therefore because there is a truth that will transform you there's a truth from god God that is the basis for making decisions.

And when you don't have that, he used an example of some movie he had watched where they took a festival, I think this was all made up, but this was in the movie, a festival of where the festival was named, Do This Because We Told You, they took that title and turned it into whatever feels good for you, do it. so they had a festival with that theme. And so what happened was when they gathered up to see how this was going to play out, they were in a stadium. I haven't seen this movie. I'm just going by this illustration I heard. They were in the stadium, but all of a sudden the stadium started falling apart. And people started falling and dying and getting injured.

And everybody's trying to figure out what happened. And they finally found the guy who built the temporary stadium. And he said, well, I didn't feel like putting all those bolts and securing everything. Because I didn't feel it was fair for me to do all this work. So I didn't do it. And so you, and you see the point. The point is, now everybody wants justice and they want somebody to take responsibility. And you're like, well, why?

Because there's a therefore here. You know, you need to do your job and be responsible. Therefore, so we can be safe. And so his point was the reason there is morality, the reason there is, is a right from wrong, a right from wrong, it's because God created that and he created and printed it in our minds. For us, when we read something like the grace of God teaches us to say no, because you say, well, what did he just refer to? Why did he say, therefore? Well, he just got through saying, Christ died for our sins in verse 18, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God.

He just said that baptism saves you not taking a bath, but it's a pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him. Well, then guess what? When you read that and then you read, therefore, oh, that therefore has some, them wait. Are you kidding me? God came down. He took care of my sins. He rose from the dead. He's ascended above all powers and has all of this in submission to him. Therefore, since Christ suffered, oh, I can have that same attitude. And look, I'm telling you, that's why I'm sharing this. I think it was a powerful way. I mean, he said a couple of cheesy

jokes that, you know, when you see the word therefore, you need to say, why is that therefore? But it really is because I went and started looking. And it's always, it is always a powerful moment. So before we get into that, and we can even go back even to what some of these thoughts are about what people believe, you know, on the controversial aspect. But I just wanted to make that point that when we get down to not live in our life in verse two for evil, earthly desires and evil human desires on earth, but rather for the will of God. God's never saying, here's the rule book, here's the manual. No, he showed us his love and his grace and his power.

And then he always says, therefore, it's the motivation matters to God. When you were saying that, it made me think about this concept. up you said that about how people have an expectation of someone else doing the right thing so I can do what I want. And it made me think about this current concept of justice. And you can put whatever you want to put in front of that word. Because currently there's anything. You know, we think social does, but there's anything. Reproductive justice, this justice.

But it's the word justice that keeps getting thrown around, which means that I want what I want, but you've got to do the right thing. for me to get what I want. And it made me think of this verse in 2, Corinthians 7. Here's what Paul said. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you, what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves,

what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. And I love that concept and that idea that whenever we're godly repentant, whenever we look to God and say, we want to do whatever you want to have us done, that's true justice. Because we want to do the right thing by God. Not that we want other people to have to do it for us.

And so it's such a different concept, it's such a different idea in the way the world views it. You do the right thing so I can do what I want. and I can have what I want. Exactly. It's just a... Well, and Phil always says that do you have a better idea? When you just take this one thought,

the world doesn't have a therefore. They don't have a basis. No. To therefore live and act. Well, when you take that basis away, you don't have a better idea than what God's truth and love revealed as the therefore. Right. And not only that, you have a historical document,

woven through history that documents his plan, you know, for our life. It's not like he just came up with a rulebook because that's what people misinterpret this as. Oh, you're saying God wrote a rule book. Oh, no, he told us a story. Right. And it's a love story to bring us to God. Right. So you said a minute ago, I think we should do in our last few minutes on this podcast

is since we kind of left off in the last one on the end, of chapter three, the big point that we all agreed on was that Peter is making a point that the Spirit of God is now in, is what makes it available for us to look differently at suffering and how we deal with things. I mean, the Spirit of God is what did it for Jesus and it's what does it for us. And it's what did it for Noah. Now, we lean toward that view of the reason he made that illustration. And I think that's sound not to, you know, try to get into that theological debate again. But I think I said on the bonus time that if you read that verse 18,

Jesus was put to death in the body but made alive by the spirit, through whom, that spirit. If you focus on the spirit, went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. we lean toward the best view being that same spirit of God that rose Jesus from the dead was living through Noah and his declaration of righteousness in a world where judgment was coming. Right. And God was making available a way out, which in that case was the art.

Ultimately, it would be Jesus, which is the way out. Exactly. And that was the parallel that he was trying to show. It was the statement I made to sort of sum up this text. And I want to talk a little bit about that in terms of the new birth idea and the spirit. The spirit of God, this is my sort of summation of this 1st Peter 3, 20 through 22. The spirit of God has been, that's going back to the Noah deal, and is actively leading humanity to salvation. Because he says, it saves you in verse 21.

by the power of the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus Christ. I mean, that's sort of a summation. The Spirit of God is what does it because it's what raised Jesus from the dead, right? And so when Jesus went, and the reason I think he mentions the ascension is because Jesus told his disciples, I can't send you the Spirit to be available for you and all of humanity unless I go back to the right hand of the Father. Remember you told him that, John 14, 15, 16? Awesome point. Yeah.

So he says, look, the resurrection and me coming back by the power of spirit is important. But look, it's just as important that I go back to the Father because when I do, I'm going to send you this counselor, this guide, this teacher. Remember all the words you used in John 14, 15, 16? He said, they're going to, he's going to be there to literally guide and lead your life every single day. And this is new. This has never happened before in the history of humanity. So I think that's the point, the big point. That is the point.

to the therefore. And that's the reason John's baptism came along to prepare the way for the Lord. It was a baptism of repentance because it was a submission to what was coming. When Jesus came, he surrendered, you know, he surrendered his place, you know, Philippians too, and became a human. But he also submitted in that moment and God made a declaration and the Holy Spirit did what? It came on him. Then he started his ministry. He started doing the, you know, the miracles. Which, by the way, is another example of the Holy Spirit coming on somebody. before Jesus, it came on John the Baptist as well. Exactly.

The reason I'm making this point is because the reason I think baptism is one of the most argued things and the most misunderstood things. Because if you go here to 1st Peter 3 and immediately start having a conversation without realizing what is the theme of this? Well, there's been two themes that have stood out to me in 1st Peter more than anything else. Submission and suffering. That's exactly right. Now, just to prove that, so when he said in chapter 2,

verse 12 when we went through this submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every you know authority you remember all that you know verse 18 servants submit yourselves and masters you remember that you remember chapter three wives in the same way be submissive are you seeing a pattern here well when you think about the reason he uses this analogy here in baptism and you're based on this on Jesus's submission his surrender of his place in heaven doing this. So then he gets to this analogy, which is why I'm, I was going to say 100% I'm pretty much at 100. The reason baptism comes up, and he uses this analogy with Noah and the ark and salvation through what God provided, which for everyone ultimately is Jesus.

Well, then we have another submission moment because it says this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also. Once you look at it from the submission avenue, because a lot of people say, well, no, this is not saying that, you know, and we go through all these Christianese views of how to sum up baptism, because it is difficult. Because there's one side saying any emphasis you put on baptism,

you're somehow saying you're saving yourself or doing a word. Or the water saves you something. And I'm like, submission. So it's in a context in 1 Peter 3. He just declared what the therefore is all about. That's good. Jesus died. He was sacrificed on a cross for our sins. It's clearly in here. It saves you. It's clearly in here. It's not taking a bath or it's not something you're ceremonially doing. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus. Salvation has always and will always be about the grace of God, Jesus on a cross, and the love that is shown, and the resurrection

through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can live again and live eternally. So you're like, well, why does he throw that into it? That's when you submit, which is the exact opposite of anything you would do as a work. And I've used this analogy hundreds of times. I'll use it again. This is the only time in life that I know of where you're in a battle, because we have plenty of verses about that. And the weight of victory is actually waving the white flag. Surrender.

No one ever would say, well, you can never win if you surrender. Well, you can't end Christ. And so what their demon baptism is something that you're doing. No, it's not. You're doing anything. You've heard the story of Jesus. your heart has been pricked. This is all about Jesus.

You've realized I can't do anything. That's what's caused me all the problems, my accolades and what I thought I was and me trying to do it myself. And so there's a white flag that's waived in the context of submission. And so that's why I think if people looked at it that way, it would end all this argument over all these,

I think, erroneous questions about, you know, should I be baptized or when you? should have he baptized or how important is baptism i'm like you're you're looking at this the wrong way this is about jesus and this is about a way for you to wave the white flag in jesus and give up all accolades authority uh selfish things that you think you can accomplish no i think that's that was a rant but i felt like it's needed because peter makes this hard to explain he does and i think you're i think you're so on point there. And to show your right,

even what he mentions by the resurrection and the ascension is the reenactment portion of what baptism is. In other words, you get that picture of going into a tomb and being raised to live. Peter shows you the same picture of Jesus being put into a tomb, resurrected, and then ascending, which is the same picture of the matter.

It's mentioned over a hundred times. You've got to think, look, it makes sense now when Jesus, said, hey, if you want to live, you've got to die. You're like, well, how am I going to do that? Well, let me turn over here to First Peter 3. You see what I mean? Then all of a sudden, you're telling what Jesus did, and you're like, oh, I have an opportunity to surrender and die.

Yeah. They're like, in the name of Jesus, you do. Right. And again, back to my point that I started, and then we'll wrap with this. The guys that walked into that fiery furnace, their mindset was we may burn up. but either way we're not bound down to your God exactly

so they were ready for death or deliverance but either way that's what we're going to do and that's the mindset wave the white flag I love it all right if you want to follow us on to overtime

we'll flesh this out a little more and talk a little bit about that therefore since we kind of introduced first Peter 4 so we'll talk about that placetvue.com slash unashamed thanks for listening to the unashamed podcast help us out by rating us on iTunes

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