Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 672 | Jase Always Gets in Trouble for One Thing at Church & Jesus, Champion of the Oppressed

Episode Date: April 26, 2023

Jase gets judged by lots of church-goers for the same thing – but he doesn’t care a bit! Phil, Al, and Jase took many of the same classes at Bible school, which led to some fiery evenings in the Robertson household! The guys give an introduction to the book of Luke, which is unique for many reasons.  In this episode: Luke 1, verse 5 - Luke 2, verse 52 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So welcome back to Unashamed. We've started into our study of the book of Luke. You know, it's funny, Jase, because I was thinking we've, since we've been doing this podcast, it's a really interesting approach because we start into a new study. You and I went to the School of Biblical Studies way back in the day. and it's kind of interesting because mom and dad, you know, y'all,

they had this kind of parallel school that was running the same time Jason and I were in school. And some of our instructors, dad, I don't know if you remember this, they taught like a night, a series of night classes that y'all took the same time. We were in school.

So you were getting, you were getting a version of the same education that we got. But it was interesting, Jase, because, the Bible, you know, because we were in school literally five days a week. But would it be fair to say that kind of the basis of our education was more based kind of on argumentative style approach to the Bible, doctrine, different groups out there, what they teach? I mean, maybe not every

instructor had that approach, but it was, I would say it was more kind of an argumentative style as approach as opposed to kind of the way we're studying the Bible now, the way we approach it in this podcast, maybe because we're just a little bit older and wiser, is more of an idea just the Bible presented as a picture of, you know, what God's trying to say. I mean, I don't know. It felt like when we were in school, I was approaching it more for kind of like defending what I believed as opposed to just maybe just like presenting what it said. Is that a fair way to put it? I don't know. I felt like we argued a lot with each other, with other people, with, you know, when we had Bible studies, all of it, you know? Yeah, I mean, really, you think

about religion. It's just filled with argument. And that's the reason I read that quote from, you know, Lucas saying, you know, if we could just have some, what it just, you know, ball it down. Tell us what the argument is for faith. So we can win it. Yeah, so we can win it and let's just do it and to the point of the reason i read luke 24 when when jesus was explaining because look like a lot of students out there we didn't get a lot of things well neither did jesus's disciples they they they weren't getting it i mean the reason i read that story at the end of luke 24 because here are these two guys they're walking down the road It's like the, it's like the, you know, the revival ended when the teacher died.

And they're like, well, we had hoped that he was the one, but he's not. And they were literally having a conversation with the guy. That's why every Sunday morning you say, well, what are we going to hear from you today? I said, I never get out of, very rarely do I get out of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Yeah, me either. I stay right there and appoint them to Jesus, tell them, repent, turn to God, and I tell the same story. I go to this one, that one, another, but I stay, I camp out, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Yeah.

Over and over and over. Well, and the reason, you know, when he was having that conversation with him, and he said in verse 27 and 24, he said, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them, what was said in all the. scriptures concerning himself. Then when he got to 44, he said, this is right after he ate a piece of fish. And you said, why is he eating a fish to prove to them that he was alive? He came back from the dead and now he's eating fish. And look, and he made a statement that's just out of the roof. He says, look, all authority.

This is post-resurrection. First thing out of his mouth is all authority. in heaven and on earth. That's a lot of authority, Jay's, has been given to me. Therefore, you go make disciples and you baptize them. Teach them, teach them to do what I've said, and I'll be with you to the end of this whole age. Great point.

So then he says, I told you in 44 of 24, you while I was still with you, everything must be fulfilled. So he's got all the authority and everything, not just some of the scriptures, everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. And the reason we're making such a big deal about it, and I read that C.S. Lewis quote, I think, in the bonus time last time, but it basically he said that of all the things he's written, and he was a scholar in literary writings and poems

and myths and legends, the author, it would be impossible. You don't know how to read if you read the Gospels and say, somebody had this kind of skill set to put all these details to have this one person fulfill all the prophecies, all the scripture, to fulfill the law itself under that system, to fulfill history itself, to fulfill the relationship with humanity. Just think about what he did.

You know, if you go back to all this, so what it makes you realize is that all these heroes of old, you got, I mean, just start naming them, Joseph. You remember what he did. You know, he shows forgiveness when all his brothers, you know, portrayed him. Well, who is that a shadow of? Well, we see how Jesus fulfilled that.

As great as what Joseph did, you know, if all your brothers sell you to, you know, slavery and pretty much disown you, and then you turn around and have the power to have them all pay and you forgive them, as great as that was, what Jesus did on the cross, showing us 100% flawless character and being 100% sinless. and then him having every right to say, I tell you what, you know, here's what I'm going to do about you not trusting God. No,

he did the exact opposite. He forgave us. His last words were, you know, forgive them for the not what to do. And he gives himself as an innocent sacrifice. Well, that's just Joseph.

I mean, pick another one. You know, Moses, by the way, for you leave, for you leave, Joseph,

that's a mouthful, because those brothers, by the way, those were the 12 tribes of Israel. I mean, those 12 brothers that went into Egypt, you know, and you're about to talk about Moses, were the makeup of the 12 tribes of Israel. So, I mean, that one act basically set up the foundation for the nation of Israel that would bring the Messiah. So the idea of that one act of forgiveness and kindness. that was like Jesus was the foundation of all of Israel. So you're right, Jay.

That was a huge act. And it was like Jesus. It was a foreshadowing that Jesus would fulfill all these problems. Moses leading the Israelites out of bondage. And, well, how liberating did Jesus prove to be by his death on the cross and his resurrection? Way more liberating for humanity. It doesn't make sense. Exactly.

You think, well, the Bible is pretty harsh, but when all this mighty throng, they're coming to John to be baptized. Jesus is with them out there in Luke chapter 3. He's with John. And, you know, he said, well, you know, the Agri got to complain. And, well, what's he out there doing, doing the baptizing?

And they said, well, actually the disciples were the ones who were doing the baptizing. But he said, what do you be? brood of vipers. All he was saying is, all of you are sinful. And up to this point, there's never been a Jesus show up until now. And this is, he's the way out. They were a brood of vipers. You know, they're all hollering about this and that and the other, you know, but so it doesn't come easy. But when Jesus came to the earth, you said, well, now he's finally here. So now let's get this thing going. Well, it, you know, the brood of vipers turned

and to the sons of God and the kingdom of God. Thousands were baptized by John. Later on, in reading the Book of Acts, they had baptism on, well, no spirit given. Well, yeah, it is now. So they clarified John's baptism and the baptism into Christ. So you just look at it. It just all begins to add up, and the kingdom is established.

And unbeknown to a lot of them, it's here now. And one of the members is telling you about it. Jay's to your point, from our study of Hebrews, almost every aspect of Moses' life, from his birth, all the way to his death, almost every aspect of his life, everything he did was the shadow of Christ. I mean, from him being born, the whole idea about him being saved in the river, you know, everything about him in Israel with Pharaoh in the desert, with the people leading him out of Egypt. every one of those things we read about in the book of Hebrews was a foreshadowing of Jesus leading us out and all the aspects of it. It was amazing. I mean, just all throughout history, the idea that Christ was seen all the way through time. And I know of no empire, none that have been started and built and lasted over 2,000 years, except this one.

This is the only one I know of. all the rest of them collapsed all of them yep no exactly but look you could just go down the list you look at david i mean he was a shepherd he was the the youngest son he's the last person you would think to be you know facing facing giants because you got to remember shepherds back that that was the lowest form of a vocation on the on the totem pole and look what happened and so if you don't think that that wasn't a shadow to what Jesus would be, you know, I am I am the good shepherd. I mean, how good is Jesus about conquering giants or opposition? I mean, there's so many. He was, he was the, he was the only king chosen by God, the only physical king of Israel,

chosen by God to be anointed, and God made an eternal covenant with his kingship, that that would be the one that lasts forever. And of course, that was Jesus, the physical covenant that he made with him, that he would be from the House of David, and he was. So to your point, once again, the whole thing was exactly as predicted. All of what Daniels said about when the kingdom comes, there's only one kingdom that's ever going to be a status. and last forever, and it's coming.

It's coming. Yep. Yeah, exactly. But you could, you know, you could go through Abraham and you go through Jonah, which he mentions in various times and discussions with the religious people. But Phil made me, you know, think of a good point. You know, part of the opposition in our culture that we referred to in the last podcast, you know, saying this is just a legend and they, you know, they just picked, you know, they did this for

their own agenda and these were Christians that came up with this. What they failed to realize is that that sounds good as an argument. But you got to realize that Jesus, the way he came, pretty much offended every religious person at that time. If you were going to make this up because you had an agenda, you would never pick your arrival coming from an unwed mother. Because back then, I'm going to tell you, they wouldn't have got to the next part. No. In their culture, there's nothing holy about anyone coming from an unwed murder. They just, which goes to the point.

You know, Joseph got a whole of the wrong girl there. I mean, you know. It just wouldn't fly in that culture. These stories about, you know, and the shepherds being the ones telling the story. at his birth. I mean, I'm just picking. They're the mouthpieces.

They have no credibility. None. And look, I'll tell you something else. They would not have, they would have found it offensive that, you know, Jesus does all this,

and then he gets to the end and he's like, you know, my guy, my guy, why have you forsaken me? And remember when he prayed in the garden, when he said,

you know, the verses that we deem controversial, and that's why it makes us feel uncomfortable. We're like, well, why is he doing that? Because that's what happened. you're not going to create, you know, something if you had an agenda that you really have trouble wrapping your head around. And you see it over and over and over again.

And another point that I made before, why would your key eyewitnesses to the resurrection, the death barrel resurrection, be a group of women? They had no status back then, unfortunately, for their word meaning anything. You just wouldn't do it unless that's what happened. he wouldn't hold up in court. So it just baffles me on why, you know, we just say, oh, you know, this is just legends and they made it up. And the other Christians had a general, all these oppositions that come up, that people just think it's just normal.

Yeah, it makes sense, you know. I've had people say that. I believe Jesus was a great guy. But, I mean, come on. God in human form, no way. And I'll tell you something else. He's the one that created the cosmos. Y'all, y'all has gone nuts.

The reason people say that, well, okay, well, Jesus was a great guy. Because they've studied his character and his actions. You think about what he did. What did he do? He basically did what we, from a political standpoint, that, you know, a lot of these left-wing movements seem to imply that they're for, well, Jesus did it all way better. than they could imagine. Look, who did he help while he was here?

Well, back then in their culture, you know, women were, they were just not, their status was way lower. Zero. Yeah. And Jesus took up for him at every turn. He, every time kids were involved, what do you do? He took up for him. The poor, what did he do?

He took up for them. The ones, the afflicted, the, he did all that. No matter where people were from and what. color they were, he was a champion for every person that was oppressed while he was here. So it's hard for them to throw rocks at that because they're like, look at what he did. But then on the other side of it, he made claims that were crazy, that even today, only crazy people make. You know, I'm God, I'll judge the world. All life, you know, it comes through me.

All authority in heaven on earth. Exactly. I mean, so they're like, well, we can't get, we have to get away from that. That is, because that's only something or crazy, some kind of, what do they call those people, megalomaniacs would say. Of course, he did make those statements. But so you have, you have him coming in compassion and concern and bringing people together like no other person in the history of the world. but he has these claims well he's god that you only see people making those claims in insane asylums in our culture that's where we deem the difference is when the reason we're spending so

much time on what luke said in those first four verses we have eyewitness he he based us on eyewitness accounts and when you wrap your head around their culture this would not have worked if it was just made up these things these eyewitnesses would have came forth and said, no, wait a minute, because this was opposed a lot of what Jesus said and the way he came about from, you know, a woman who was not married. They would not have embraced that, which is why he argued with all these religious people from day one. It just, his tactics and his view of the temple and how they worship. The Romans rule the world at this time. It produced Jesus. He came. He came.

during the Roman Empire, I mean, when they were really, you know, the greatest empire ever and all these false gods and all that. But you say, after all the smoke cleared, Jesus is still here and the Roman Empire is not. Exactly, which is crazy. But, you know, Jason, another unique thing about Luke was that unlike the other, you know, gospel writers, he would have been a Gentile convert and, you know, probably by Paul since he was a part of his entourage. So he had no tie to Judaism other than what he had learned from the Jews. So therefore, he had no promise to any of the fulfillments other than what he had learned and what he had read. And so he was a student of these things.

And so I think that was interesting, which is probably why. he felt the need to present that at the beginning. And I wanted to read what he said in Acts chapter 1 because I was thinking about this every time you were talking about the idea of the person of Jesus. But here's what he said in Acts 1 when he wrote, because by the way, we didn't mention this, but most of our listeners would know this. But he also wrote the book of Acts. And he says in my former book Theophilus, so the former book, of course, was the book of Luke. He says, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving the instructions to the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.

He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. So that whole deal was what you just said is it was all about him showing who he was and what he did and why it was important for them to know him. And so it's just those points you were making. I was thinking that's exactly what he said at the beginning of the book of Acts because he was making the same point. And then, of course, he went on to describe what the apostles did after Jesus had left. They carried out their instructions when he said all authority has been given to me, therefore, go make disciples of all. all nations, you baptize them, and you teach them everything that I taught you, what basically, and said, so we're, we're, it's on.

But their number one declaration was who Jesus is. Number one declaration, you know, from Peter and Acts to standing up, he's like, let me explain, Jesus of Nazareth, and it just goes on and on and on and on. And so that was another thing I was going to say, is if this was just made up, It really made Jesus' disciples look terrible. I mean, they were just dumb as rocks for not getting his point the whole time. They all hit the road during his script. It makes all the religious people look like mean.

So what I'm saying is when you go back, this gives me great comfort to know, because I know what people say. You know, when we introduce Jesus as the savior of the world and the way off the planet alive and, you know, the focus of our lives. But people naturally, they think, where are you getting this information from? You know, a book of fairy tales. That's their agenda that they have in saying that this is not reliable. You just took some book and now all of a sudden this is not relevant or real. So when you read just a little paragraph of what Luke said in the first four verses about

why this should be taken as reliable, and then you look at the four gospels as a whole with all the details and have all these literary scholars analyze the Bible and can conclude only the fact that it's the greatest written manuscript in the history of the world. No doubt. The power is it was written at it. a time before we figured out how to put little details in stories to make them, uh, you know,

more fun or seem authentic or real. And so that's what struck me by, by reading this. And, uh, I wanted to share this. So, because I read that C.S. Lewis quote,

because it's so shocking. He's like, anyone in the literary world as far as, uh, you know, that's what you do and you've read all this. It makes them all pause. whether they believe in Jesus or not. He's like, that's what got my attention.

He's like, I can't put this down because I'm like, how did they have all this skill set of writing and detail? So, you know, his conversion, which I recommended that movie that I can never remember the name of, but, you know, how C.S. Lewis came to the Lord. So one of his scholar buddies, who was a believer, and of course, C.S. Lewis was not. They take a walk and have a conversation. And the conversation went toward how every story has a hero.

And C.S. Louis was like, that's the reason, you know, I love all these ancient mythological stories of all these, because I like heroes. And the best stories are ones that even though they may be made up, they point to some truth that is helpful. And so in that discussion is where the guy who was a believer tells C.S. Lewis, yeah, but none of those stories are real. You know, they just, they pointed to truth. But Jesus is the truth, the hero slash truth, that all stories point to.

And really what that statement did, you know, it stopped C.S. us in its tracks because it made sense of what we read in Luke 24 when Jesus said all those things, all those instances in the past pointed to me and I came to fulfill them. Because when you talk about heroes, they're great and they inspire you to do, you know, things that are helpful, but only to a point, because especially if you made it up. But in real life, if you had a person visit here who was actually capable of redeeming us from our past sins and purified. I am takes on new meaning. Yeah, and you can be resurrected. Well, that's the most heroic. And meanwhile, you show your

character and your actions in all those things of helping the needy and having compassion and you have something for everybody, which is what separates this story from all other stories. You know, you just think about, think about the teachings out there. They're only for certain mindsets. Jesus is for everybody because it's not about each individual. It's about him. The name of the movie is the most reluctant convert. Yeah, the most reluctant convert. You know, getting back to what drives us and what Al said, our time of school, it is filled with arguments about things other than Jesus a lot of times, unfortunately. But I think Luke's picture. of Jesus and his setup to that is a portrayal that there is a God and we saw him. He took on flesh.

And the reason all these details matter, because to me, if this is a fact, if this is history, that getting back to the birth of Jesus and where that didn't come from some agenda from religious people. If you're looking at it from that point of view, or if you're just looking at it like these are clever stories that point to a truth, well, how are you going to apply the birth of Jesus? I mean, there's no application. It wasn't written for that. It was written as fact. If there was a person that came from a woman who was a virgin, if that is a fact, well, that changes everything. Yeah. And so that's why we're going through. the details of this at nauseam because Luke and look he didn't have to it didn't have to be that way but it did

to God God chose that avenue well if you say if that is a fact so if you're driving down the road right now listening to the sound of my voice and it hits you that there was once upon a time a story where a woman who had never been with a man, had never had any kind of surgical procedure, became pregnant and gave birth to the creator of the world. If that happened as a fact, you need to pull over and assess where you're going forward based on that fact.

Pull over and give thanks to him, and then you proceed on you. Exactly. So that's what we're, I think that's what Luke was after. He basically tells a story of Jesus Now, Jesus had teachings. He had encounters with people.

He did all this, but he tells a story of Jesus because when you think about why he does this and why he said that Jesus is the center of everything, he's fulfilled every possible thing that you can conceive. That's why the term, you know, is I am who I am. Yeah. I mean, it's hard to wrap your head around. Well, if he is the fulfillment, if all things, you know, point to a person to Jesus,

then what happened in Luke 24 brings new light. So he has this conversation with these two guys who didn't get it. They didn't get that Jesus was going to die and be buried and resurrected to redeem humanity, of which these two guys were a part of. So then they invite him to the home, and then all of a sudden, we see this picture of Jesus breaking bread, which always represents friendship and family, people gathering around a table. But this is the Savior of the world who was a carpenter and who was dead three days before

having this meal. And all of a sudden, their eyes were open, it says, and to the scriptures. And he goes on to say that again. Well, what was the lightball moment for them? what Jesus tells you, that those scriptures were about me, and you're having a meal with me, and I was dead. Well, that was the lightball moment. And so to Al's point in, where we started,

we're as religious people, we love to argue about frivolous things, and he's trying to reveal historical facts that happen that should inspire you so much that you should just get up, which is what they did, they ran to Jerusalem trying to get a strategy of saying we have to declare this that's why it's called good news and that that snowballed and it was great that you read that in acts one because then you have luke recording what happened next which was what it was the greatest movement the world has ever known and it's still going on but it was it was all because the light bulb moment was god

chose to reveal himself as a person. And that's why all of us searching for these arguments and these are trying to, you know, keep the teachings of the Bible. He didn't write that to reveal the teachings. You're like, what? No, that's what other religions do. You think about it. They say, here's what you do.

And if you do this well enough, you'll be rewarded. Well, if you view the Bible like that, well, you're going to be frustrated. I mean, just read the sermon on the mount. One of the examples Tim Keller gave was an instructor had their students write what they thought about the sermon on the Mount. Well, it didn't go as you would think. Most of them were, this made me feel guilty and terrible, and it terrorized me. Because when you read the sermon on the Mount, no human. being can do all that. You know, it's not only is it don't kill, but it's don't even think anything bad.

And not only that, you love them like you would your family. You're like, wait, what? It's a bar that's too high for a human to do. And you said, well, what was his point then in doing it? His point was it revealed his character that he kept all of it flawlessly. It's something we should us and aspire to be. But by his death, he showed that even though he kept all that and showed you what true, you know, righteousness is, he was willing to forgive us. And so then supplied the motivation for us to aspire to have him in our life so he could do it and not us. It's the total opposite of all other religions. It's about him and not us. That was one of the things, Jay said, I noticed in the distinction between Luke's approach in his gospel to the

say Matthew and Mark was that, you know, the others apply a lot, definitely to sort of the Jewishness of it, distinction about law and about fulfillment, whereas you see a lot of Luke goes more to the idea of universal grace. In fact, I made a couple of notations in Luke 232 and 36, which was, one was that Simeon, when he runs upon the baby Jesus gets a blessing from Simeon at the temple. And so this is just a Jewish guy that's there at the temple. But in that blessing, he talks about Gentiles in salvation, which is really interesting because here's the baby Jesus. Why is they already talking about Gentiles?

And then in Luke 3,6, it's John the Baptist talking about salvation for all nations, quoting Isaiah. And then you get over to 24, and you were just mentioning when their minds were opened, it says, to the scriptures. What does he tell them? you're going to go and preach the gospel to all nations beginning in Jerusalem. So Luke has this idea of the gospel going out to everyone sprinkle throughout his gospel, and you don't see that as much in the other gospels. And so him being a Gentile, he has an understanding of that. And another thing I noticed was that he has a lot of Jesus spending time with the outcast

that you don't necessarily see in the other gospels. And it is all over this. You got the sinful woman in chapter 7. You got Mary Magdalene. You got the Samaritan. You got the tax collectors and sinners in 15. You got the beggar. You remember in chapter 16?

You got the lepers. Of course, even the dying thief. You know, he's going to get a much more detailed account of him. So you got a lot of Jesus with the outcast. And you already mentioned the women because they're mentioned much more in the, in Luke's. gospel. And so there's definitely a concept here and a construct of Jesus dealing with people that other people wouldn't deal with. And so I don't know if that's just Luke's, you know, because he's a Gentile, because he's more sensitive to that, or he's just giving us a little bit of a deeper

picture. But you're going to see that much more in this gospel. We're going to spend a lot more time diving into that when we go through it. This idea about salvation being much more grace-driven, and I think that maybe you see in the other Gospels. I just kind of saw that all throughout. Yep. It's pretty straightforward for God so loved the world, Al, without any hesitation, all of them. Right.

No, he did. And that's why when you put it all together, I mean, the first thing we're going to read, you know, John the Baptist, I mean, once again, I'm going to go back to this. If you were going to make this up, come on. He didn't fit any religious narrative. still doesn't look i still get chastise for what i'm wearing or frowned upon in church settings

because of the way i look my start there and it morphs out from there jay well that's what i'm saying well you just don't look holy i'm like okay how do you get that that holy look going You know, it's funny. I was telling you all about on the last podcast when we did the Q&A at the Treasure Hunt, and that was the first question I got was, you know, you being a believer, how come you don't shave? That was the question. Now, I didn't know how to interpret that, but you being a believer, how come you don't shave. But whatever that question was for, I just basically ignored it and told the fringe benefits of the beard.

Just let me tell you what a beard is good for. Which what's funny is the guy who asked the question, had a beard. So there you go. There you go. But look, I wanted to do something kind of fun. Because I know it makes people feel uncomfortable. You got to remember Jesus, he did give tea. and a lot of what we teach in our classes and you hear every Sunday morning, you know, or the rules of the faith or, you know, whatever.

There's a big debate on how many rules there are. And like I said, if you're focused just on the commands and the teachings of the Bible, which I think you've missed the point. And to illustrate that, I'll ask you questions. So these are multiple choice answers, and it's either. Because what is the Bible about? You know, and the two answers are, is it about him or is it about me? Because I think, really, when you boil this down, you can read the book of Luke and you can have one or two possible conclusions. Is it about him or is it about me?

And what your answer is will drastically affect how you view and interpret the Bible. So I'll just give, for instance, so I'll give five questions. So who is the Bible about? What would your answer me? I mean, you only have two choices. Is it about Jesus or is it about me? So who is the Bible about? It's about Jesus.

Would you agree with that? I would agree with that. It's about Jesus. Yep. Yeah. Well, we don't have, I didn't, y'all, y'all kind of hesitated until I wasn't sure. I'm only giving you two possible answer. No, I wasn't trying to slick us or not.

No, I wasn't trying to slick you. That is the answer. I'm playing a trick on you, but it comes later. Well, it's about Jesus, but it has a whole lot to do with us. It does. I'm just saying, what is it? Because I'm using Luke for his example. He said, we've carefully investigated this.

We have eyewitnesses, so I'm going to give you an account. I'm going to give you a story. Well, he gave you the story of Jesus. I mean, we can go back and read these first verses. It is undeniable that he is fixing to give you an account. And what I'm saying, I know we haven't read it yet, but we have read it before. What is Luke about? What is he fixing them?

I'm kind of, it's hard for us to have this view because we already know what it's going to say. But I'm saying, just act like you had never read the book of, Luke and here he comes and says look many have undertaken you know to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled so and you're like what things is he's talking about among us just as they were handed down to us by those who were the first eyewitnesses well you know i what things did they witness so you're trying to figure out what's he getting at and they were servants of the therefore since I myself have carefully investigated everything what is everything what was he talking about I'm feeling who he claimed to be what he well I know but you're jumping to

I'm saying if you had never read the the book of Luke and you read that you're like wait a minute now he's investigated something some people have claimed to see they've seen something yeah and he's investigating it it seemed good for me to write an account count. And so I'm going to write this to this, this fella, so that you may know the certainty of the things that have been taught. So then he writes, and we'll get into it the next podcast, he starts talking about John the Baptist. Well, what did John the Baptist do? He pointed to a person. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. And he was careful to say, and it ain't me.

Well, right. But these things. It's the old CCR song. It ain't me. It ain't me. In fact, John, I mean, we'll get into that. But remember when he said, he must become greater and I must become less. So I'm asking these, who is the, who is, what is Luke about?

Well, is it about me or is it about Jesus? It's about Jesus. Okay. So what is the point of not only Luke, but the entire Bible? And I'll read a verse that I've read this is the third time. In the end of Luke, he says, all the law and the prophets and the scriptures pointed to me. It's about me. Yep.

All right. Who are the miracles about? Jesus. They're about Jesus. Okay. Well, he gave, he did things to people. So he said it was for them. Well, they died anyway, right, at a later date.

So who were they for? They were actually to show that he was the son of God. Good? Now, I'm sure in the short term, it was great. But they were actually for him. Mm-hmm. Okay. So have I asked all the questions?

Yeah, so the last question, so who are the teachings about or commands? Oh, it's Jesus 100%. It is, but most people would say, well, now those are about me. Yeah, because they're telling me what to do. They're telling me what to do. And so here's why I did that little ridiculous question and answer. because if you study the Bible and look at it as a rule book, you're going to be oppressed. Oh, yeah.

If you try to measure up, if you just try to look into here and say, well, let me figure out the arguments and let me figure out the commands and what I need to do. And like, that's why I brought up the sermon on the mount. That's what other religions do. It's then based on your performance. So Jesus came with a universal conclusion already established, and it is that all people post being a child is flawed. He just assumed that fact. Well, is that fact still true today?

Once people reach adulthood, what do we see? Mistakes. one after the other one after another so what would have been his purpose to say well here's what you need to do that's why the sermon of the amount was so shocking and it was it was a

mic drop moment because people said well man we didn't think this guy supported the law and now all of a sudden he's gone way over and beyond what even this how can we do that we can't do this And what we miss without really thinking about it, we need to keep in mind after all the writings about Jesus that Luke referred to, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. We need to, when all the explanations of Jesus, you say, the underlying thing is he came to save us, not to condemn us.

Well, the point is, you're right. How we live is not going to save us. But how he lived, and he is life, does save us. Because just when you get to the end of Luke, so all the teachings and commands, what do they do? They reveal his character. It also reveals that no matter how much you try, it doesn't mean you shouldn't try to keep him. They'll give you a better life. I mean, God's way is always right.

but if you're just trying to be saved and extend your life and find purpose in your performance, it's just not going to happen. That's why I said he told you a story of Jesus that was documented by eyewitness accounts. And we just touched the hymn of the garment on how many eyewitnesses there were. But think about what Paul said in first game of the 15. Remember, and even Luke says in Acts 1, he appeared over 40 days. you know, giving him any convincing proofs that he was alive.

Well, Paul said there was over 500 that saw him. Well, that's a lot of people. It seemed like to me if this wasn't legit and it was all made up and they're using people's names and not somebody would have come forth and said, hey, no, wait a minute. This is.

So then you take it to the end. All these people, except John, were killed. And now we're just getting in. to other sources of history, not just the Bible. All of them went to their death as martyrs because of the current climate and in the Roman environment because they refused to deny that Jesus was the Messiah and went to their death. You want to talk about history.

It's important something. After everything we've gone through with all the details and all the eyewitnesses and he fed 5,000 men, none of them came forth and said, wait a minute, that wasn't real. No, they ate the fish and the bread just like everybody. Nobody's opposing the eyewitness testimony. The 500 are not opposing. And then all of those who saw him, all of them,

you find a historical grave that they lost their life as martyrs because they refused to deny that Jesus was the Lord and Christ. I'm telling you, the more you, when Luke said, this is eyewitness accounts. Here are the details. This is about Jesus. And then you put your life, you put your head on a chopping block.

When all you have to do is deny him and they'll let you live, it just doesn't make sense. You wouldn't do that. Great point. I mean, we did two podcasts saying, how reliable is this that you read? It's undeniable.

Not just from the literary works of it. I mean, people, that's what calls C.S. Lewis to say, I would have to forget I know how to read if I read this and said that there wasn't some divine intervention here because you have people writing way before everything we learn from modern culture in writing. And it simply is because it was true. And you're right. There were no historians from this period of time in the first two, three centuries that dispute any of this. and the most famous of which is Josephus, which was a Jewish historian, which is Sympatico with all what we read in the Bible.

And look, he had no reason to be in line with him. He was a believer in Jesus. And he had every reason to dispute it if he was just going by what he believed because he was no believer in Christ. And yet all of his writings are right in line with what the Bible says. So, you know, or at least, you know, backs it up. So to your point, Jay, it's all right in line with what the Bible says. So it's all true, which we know that to be true, you know. And unlike other religious leaders, he chose to do it in public.

You know, that's what's amazing. He wasn't hiding in a cave somewhere and getting his followers to come and say, here is what you need to do. He took on every form of system from government to, religion, to various, you know, groups. Everybody was invited. And he did it in public. People feared him, contrary to him not fear anything or anybody.

Which is what got him all the eyewitnesses is because he lived his life in public. That's why he didn't have a place to lay his head. He was just on the move. Yeah, the day of his death, he went right up the chain to everybody. So, all right, we're out of time. One of the things I want to mention is beginning the week of May the 7th. We're going to make a little bit of change blazes on when they release the podcast. So it's been releasing on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

They're going to switch that to Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So for your convenience, we know you like to do a lot of things with your family on Sunday. And so not as many of you're able to download on Sunday. So they're going to switch it for you. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, beginning the week of May 7th. So be sure and look for that change. There's a few more things before we get into our text that a few more interesting things about the book of Luke that we'll discuss in our overtime before we get to the actual text. We'll pick up starting in verse 5 the next time we get into Luke on the podcast.

So if you want to follow us over at blazTV.com slash unashamed for a little bit more about the uniqueness and distinctiveness of the book of Luke. You can follow us over to our overtime for that. So we'll see you there. 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,

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