Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 950 | Phil Figures Out a Way to Beat the Government & Finally Gives Jase a Weighty Responsibility

Episode Date: September 2, 2024

Phil discovers a perk to his advanced years that means less government interference, and Jase steps up to the challenge of fully stewarding their land for the coming hunting season for the first time. The guys explore the difference between free will and coercion in our relationship with Jesus, and Zach cites a gritty experience visiting a rehab center as evidence of the importance of living a life in Jesus here on earth. In this episode: Ephesians 4, verse 17 – Ephesians 5, verse 20; 1 John 4, verse 8 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? The words God became flesh died on a cross. It was resurrected from the dead. Those words are not put together like that. I listen for them all the time. I do not hear it. Well, Phil, you're not listening to a whole lot out there.

Just the occasional radio. Yeah. Two in front of the land. I get it. Y'all just saying, I'm out of, I had a luck. Yeah, well, I've just said, yeah, the world's a big place, Phil, but it seems really small where you live. Yeah.

I mean, you got a couple of neighbors. I'm surprised at it, Jay. Yeah, you got a couple neighbors, no technology. There's no. Local radio for about two miles. Your road is a dead end. Nobody's driving by. For all these listeners on the podcast, you need to know that open inductees.

season, open up on Blue Wing Till that September the 14th through the 29th and I've given us a long time. They cut it back a little bit. But that's what I think that's about normal.

The person talking about that that's Natalie Cribbs. Natalie, I see you sitting there, you got your gun there, ready to go. So we have ladies. women saying get your guns, boys, because it's...

Duck Seasons coming. Maller numbers are up this duck season. Yeah, I did that a couple sessions ago. I told you they were up. I didn't know where we were. Bill was just now... Somebody mailed that to Dad. I'm always coming up from behind after something went down.

Oh, yeah. You ever heard of them computers? I said, I heard about that. No, Dan the Butler printed this out. It's an article. He got this from the internet. Mallard numbers are up. Plus duck hunters may see a three-pintail limit next season.

That'd be good and I, seven. Ooh. Yeah. So, yeah, he's got all his dates here. And the limits, Phil. They said the blue wing teal was coming up in about a week or ten days. It is. But we don't have any water for the two.

We had water, but we had a pipe issue, which I got a guy. But we've got enough. I got a couple of spots we can. have a teal shoot unless you know a friend I just drove through the lake down there where the thing brushed it loose right there

it's plenty of water there yeah but I'm saying in two weeks it's lava to evaporate we got the problem we get we got that problem so we got a guy coming Friday do we need to step out and y'all work through this or we no well here's what happened I think this is interesting you I mean

even if you're not a hunter you know, the government come in because they have a lock system on the Washthaw River and they want to work on the lock. So they just said, hey, they sent out a press release. And it ain't a want to that we're going to work. Yeah, they sent a press release saying we're fixed to drop the river three feet, just letting you know.

Well, for all the till hunters, we pump from the river. But if you drop it three feet where we're pumping from, we can't pump water. You can't get to the water. So I said, hey, I got an idea. Let's go ahead and pump now and before they drop it, because it dropped six inches a day. And so we did. But then maybe it was the pressure from them dropping the water or just a random coincidence.

Somewhere in that the pipe either busted. I haven't seen it. I just heard about it. It's just going through the cracks. Yeah, so we lost all our water that we pumped up. We got bored, board's blocking, and my blocker right down to the bottom of it. He could take the backhoe. He said, it's torn up right now.

It won't work. Yeah, but we got it fixed. I got a guy coming. Well, Phil was going to do the old, what would you call it, redneck ingenuity. But I said, how about let's just fix it? It was like, hey, okay, if you're paying for it, go ahead. Not one time I have I failed not get water over on that hole. Y'all are trying this year.

I said, let them go. I'll just sit back and watch. Yeah, we'll get water on the hole, despite the river being bone dry. So I would lower my expectations. This is your first year to turn it over to the next generation. I can tell you're a little skeptical that they're going to pull it all. Well, but he hasn't taken the tour yet. I'm now, because I just came from the land.

I did change clothes just for, you know, you know, fungies because that was... I had hundreds of Cypress trees. I'm one of the few people on planet Earth or in the state of Louisiana anywhere else that has planted as many cypress trees as I did. Yeah, but the problem was...

But they were being crowded out by the button willow. We didn't like that. So JSTM said, they tell you what we do. I mean, it was a bold move, so it's yet to see if it works. No, look, well, here's how confident I am. I now contemplated with one Jay Stone on the way back.

I said, I think I could actually charge admission for what we did for all the rednecks just to come look. You know, kind of like a zoo, but only with trees and, I mean, just get in the paddy wagon and I just do a tour. That's how spectacular this looks. I've been waiting to go look at it, but until they get it all fixed. Well, you better take your heart medicine before you go. You're going to like it. Open in September the 14th. We're right here.

How far are we off of September 14th? About two weeks. I'm at a stage of my life. By the way, I think it's worthy of note. I'm just shy of the 80-year-old mark. But it's just a number. It's just a number. Yeah.

But I've been buying a hunting license. for about the first three years, forget that, because I was a young boy. You just went with it. I said, what is that? Yeah. So we don't even prove that. Yeah. They finally said, you need to carry a license to do this.

I've already been through that stage, and now they're saying you're too old. You don't even need a license if you can make it to the swamp. They'll just let you hunt. They said, yeah, let him hunt. He's barely kicking. Yeah. Well, you got that going for you. Yeah.

I did something. I've never done before. You know, there's a little lake in close proximity to my house that, you know, these crappie have become difficult. Everything I was doing, because, you know, I've told the story, Willie, he's got a bunch of new crappie. Now they're big. Someone sent me some dressed crappie. He told me his name. In the mail?

And I wish I could remember his name. but uh but but uh how did they send them do i don't know i just got into my freezer and i'm looking i said that's that's that's proppy so croppy you know he he didn't put put deboned them and all the whole work filets yeah belay wow croppy well i i i whether you are i they're the friends of some people that we met i i don't know who it was sent you some crappy now that's a good gift some of the few i've ever seen is i tell you what i'll send you Breast, croppy. Well, I went down right before dark.

I got a system, but it hadn't been working. And I did something I've never done last night. I took a lantern because I fish didn't catch anything, but I took a lantern. And I had done this before on the river, but never in this little lake spot. And then bugs, there are so many bugs in Louisiana in summertime. time. I had a little light there. The bugs come to the light, and every time it hit the water,

you know, I'd see a fish. So I was throwing out there. Well, then after a while I could see them, and it was crappie. They'd come up, and I sight fished crappie last night. I'd ever heard of it. And look, I know, and they didn't hit till an hour after dark. Of course, Missy was calling, you know, calling the police. She thought I was, you know, where it was. Because they didn't have my phone. And I fold around them once I, and look, I kept fishing too deep, you know, because I just naturally, I was thinking they'd be under them. Oh, no, I'd just put that jig right under his nose.

You'd hit it, and there'd be two seconds, and then you'd feel him. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah, the last hell caught were monsters. Well, you know. So I'm going to be cooking that today from my love. So you're going to eat some of my old. No, we're going to eat them. today. I got them on ice right now.

I've got some. I just thought out. But I thought it was fun. So you can because she was like, when I walked in, she was like, where have you been? And I was like, oh, you're not going to believe this. You know, so then I got to tell a good story. And then she got excited and for game. November 16th is when Mallard

sees it opens for you guys that are duck hunters. I think that's in the West zone. I think we're a little later. No, it may be. I don't know. There is a West zone and East Zone, Louisiana. So we're excited, Al.

I can tell. I'm in Herman, Missouri is where I'm at. Lisa and I spoke in Springfield. We actually spoke last weekend at the Bass Pro headquarters, which you've been there. I've been there many times, yeah. Yeah. Was there still Canadian geese walking to and fro around a parking? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, there everywhere. Little tootsie rolls all around. You got to step over. But yeah, it was a great event. event and then we're heading up to Illinois from here. But Jason, I'm about a stone's throw from one of our favorite rivers because of its appearance on Josie Wales,

the Missouri River. Oh, yeah. Where Josie told the carpetbagger that they had something called the Missouri boat ride. Yeah. So I think about it every time I look at this river up here. And by the way,

you talked about, Dad, you talked about somebody sending you crappies, someone, and I'm assuming you're a podcast listener. in St. Robert, Missouri, paid for my lunch at the Cracker Barrow. And I'm assuming you're listening to the podcast, so we appreciate that. That was not necessary, but appreciate somebody.

Somebody picked up my check, and I didn't know who it was to even say thanks. So do yourself in favor and watch Outlaw with Josie Wells so you can know what we're talking about. But to shoot a rope free-handed with the rifles they had back in the late 1800s, Yeah, right after the Civil War. Pretty impressive. I'm not sure how the production went on that, but when's the last time you shot a rope with a rifle free-handed? At about 150 yards. What about that, Zach?

Might have been a little bit. It's been a while since I've done that. Yeah, might have been a little production enhanced, you know. Yeah. But one wonderful movie. You know. And he had the classic spit right before. Remember he said, well, Mr. Carpetbacker, then he leans over and spits.

And he asked him how his elixir worked on stains. Stains, yeah. Because he said, it's good for just about anything. That sounds like me. I've had that problem. I said, back up out of the way now. Hey, yeah. Dad used to, after that movie came out, dad was spitting on everything around there.

He was just like, it was like a redo of the movie. which is kind of funny. Oh, Clint did well on that one. Yeah, it was. I think that was one of his first ones to direct himself as well, which was one of the reasons why it was so good, you know? Yeah, it was kind of a movie about abuse of power and injustice, and then it turned into just a group of people who had all been done wrong,

just trying to find a home, place to live. Missouri ruffian. But it's a lot like our world. I mean, you know, that's why I like the movie. Well, it's funny because my father-in-law, one time we were talking about it, he said, oh, I hated that movie. And I was like, you hated Josie Wales? He said, yeah, because he got gutshot at the end.

So there's no way he lived. I said, yeah, but he rode off. I'm just assuming that he survived. He made it. He made it. It didn't hit a ride of organ. Yeah, it's a cliffhanger, you know. Maybe that could be, there wasn't a sequel, so there could be a,

part two now he he's i think there was a sequel but it didn't have eastwood in it it was which is why nobody's ever heard of it so did it so that he's so did it i guess he survived then if there was a sequel i think there is another book of clint eastwood came out with another movie so i therefore deducted that he lived oh clint is still is he still alive he's still alive he's got to be in his 90s now he was still making movies just up to a couple years ago yeah Yeah. To give you some hope there, Dad, 80's just the number. Eastwood's sale right past 90.

He's actually 94. 94. Man. Well, how old was your mama? How old granny left to what? She was 95, I think. 95, 96. And pretty sharp to the end.

Yeah. She got a little ornery there that last year. She was sharp enough to tell you she didn't like the fried oysters you brought to her. I've had better. You'd worked so hard and had Ben go up there to Captain Avery's and pick up fresh oysters right off the, right, freshly delivered, brought them to your house. You fried them, took them over to her because that's what she wanted. And I think her line was not the best I've ever had. What was her line?

Yeah, it was something like that. Which is what Dad said when he had that cake. The birthday, yeah, the cake is Jason's birthday. I've had better. Orsters are better catch them right on there and go go eat them. Fresh right off the boat. Yeah, I sent you some out there the other night. Did you eat them?

Yeah. Some fresh oysters. Yeah, we did. They were good, weren't they? Yeah. Yeah, I had some too. They were delicious. Oh, we actually caught some on one of our Duck family treasure adventures in the show.

I mean, you just go up there with a hammering. We knocked them off. The water goes down. You go out and get to oysters. We built a campfire. and just seared them on the fire. We're good. Cracked them open and ate them.

Yeah. Delicious. I've been seeing y'all's the show the next season being promoted quite a bit. Yeah. Because it's dropping, so it's good. I forgot somebody didn't want to do it. Murray, he just couldn't get over the idea of it. The texture problems?

We finally coached him. Well, yeah, he's just like, you know, you take a lot. a rock i mean take a hammer do it build a fire something about it he just i was like you got grocery store syndrome

you go get them on the store you know okay he just he couldn't eat him right off like right out the oh i would but well he did and then it was pleasantly surprised after we goaded him into it i think one of the producers was like

you know kind of challenged his manhood there i was like hey, we're acting like me and we're living off the land. Burry's my age. Yeah. We're the same age. But he did. You got to keep mine up here in the mountains.

We do get oysters up here. They bring them up here from the coast. But they cost $24.99 for a dozen. So if you put me on a boat and I can have access, I mean, that's, that's what I'm trying to tell you don't need a boat. Just wait for the water to go now. walk up and get them. That's what we did. I forgot where we were at.

Do you remember? So they were East Coast oysters then, Jason. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. They're usually they're a little bit smaller than what they were. They were small, but I think we ate a couple dozen. Whatever the limit was, how about that? That's what you ate.

There you got. Whatever the limit was. That's what we killed. Nice cover, Jay's. Nice cover. You with all your legal issues. We already get into some Ephesians. Oh, yeah.

I think we left off in Ephesians 4, the end of, we were doing around verse 16. Jace had some interesting. It's a transition here. Yeah. I mean, it goes from God's story to how that affects our story. Yeah, and how we live, right? Yeah, he appealed for unity. He said, get to know Jesus.

better and basically you become the representative of God. I mean, I love that phrase where it says, the life of God. You were, let's see, where are we at on that? Where was that phrase? Yeah, he gets to 17. So he says, so I tell you this. I think it says, therefore, there's a series of therefores,

you know, therefore, chapter four, verse one, based on everything we have in Christ, which I looked it up. We keep misusing the number. It's three dozen times in the book of Ephesians, 36 times. That's why. In Christ. That's why even before you get there,

if you just turn one, two, two pages back, you're all sons of God through faith of Christ Jesus. And when you get to Ephesians chapter four, that's outlined again. For all of you who were baptized into Christ, I'm in Galatians 3 because it's just to repeat, if you start from when Peter preached the first sermon, throughout all these epistles, that keeps coming up.

You've clothed yourself with Christ. You were baptized into Christ. You've closed yourself with him. I just made that point where I could make the point with, this is a group of individuals, never been in here before in my life, first time I ever met them, but I read them,

that verse and this one we're on now, that Ephesians 4, there's one body, talking about the ones who will respond to the gospel, one spirit you're given when you're baptized, just as you recall when, one hope, when you were called, you heard it.

Jesus died, was buried and raised from the dead. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father to all who is over all and through all and in all. I mean, you just look at this thing, it just keeps repeating itself. But the bottom line is, in Ephesians here,

and Galatians before you, get there. They ride that gospel hard, Paul did, when he was in jail. He did this while he was... Well, that's why I mentioned the in Christ theme. Yep. Because he, you know, he goes through, this was the plan of God before the beginning of time, which I think the reason there's so much controversy in the book of

Ephesians from religious people is you got to remember this is an eternal being who is outside of time. Yep. Coming into time. Yep. Through a virgin. So that perspective, I think, helps you wrap your head around this. But what I like about Ephesians is so he, you know, he comes in time in love, you know, Ephesians 1-4.

You know, he predestined us. But he already, God is eternal. Yep. So it's crazy to interject time, but you already know what's happened. Because if you're eternal, you're yesterday, today, and forever. So from his perspective, it's not as confusing as it is from our perspective. We're all sitting here. He's up there waiting or worry.

No, none of that. None of that. He just is. That's why he said, I am. From our perspective, it's it's a little wonky. I mean, he's provided this to everybody himself in love. And if you don't want it, that's on you. Because he's not coercing people, as my point.

It's not love is not love if you're forced. I mean, when you think about it, there's a difference in pursuing and stalking. Because one of them is awesome. I mean, just because you're eventually going to get to marriage. But just think about, because that's, that's in Ephesians 5. And he goes through the roles of what this looks like on planet being spirit-filled people. And he has this beautiful relationship between a man and a woman.

Well, if you go back to dating and kind of look at this from God's perspective, if he said, no, I'm going to force you to do this, well, that would be like me trying to force my wife to marry me. Well, she'd call 911. You know, I would now be a creeper or stalker. That's why I think you can wrap your head around why people, because people say, well, why would a loving God send people to hell? Because they don't want to go. Or they don't want to go with him.

Yeah, it's the, it's the, it's the C.S. Lewis quote, I always sound so helpful in this discussion is he said, there's two kind of people in this world. Those who say to God, they will be done. and then those to whom God says, Thy will be done. So God gives you what you want. And if you want to be in a relationship with him, then you will. So I think that's why the, I think it goes back to that phrase in Christ, because the debate you're talking about is solely on salvation, really justification. I mean, that's like the debate ends and begins there, or begins and ends there.

But there's, I don't think that's the point that Paul's making in Ephesians. I don't think. he's well i think what my point from bringing this up is now you're going to get into this what this looks like but this looks like we become the characteristics of god that that's what this is all about when it said the life of god we need to find that that word in verse 17 so i'm saying he's like therefore since you i saved you i sent jesus you've been given every spiritual blessing. I brought Jews and Gentiles together. There's a new humanity. You have a new purpose. There's your new creations. You know, all these things that we've discussed up until this

point, who can do more than you can ask or imagine. And now there's one Lord, one faith that what he wrote, one spirit, we have the spirit of Christ in us. And then within that, he's the head of the body of the church and the church has all these different leadership qualities, gifts of God, so that the church may grow up and that's when we went through the babies, we're babies in Christ, we're infants on a boat. But then you have all this persecution. So meanwhile, you're still taking on the same evil powers that exist that he defeated. But we have become Jesus on earth through his spirit. He's our head. And so he then says, so here's what it looks. looks like. So, I mean, the transition is 17. So I tell you this and insist on in the Lord

that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. So you have all this, but they're not living like God. And there's a reason, you know, we'll get into the reasons for them. If you just are patient, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, every one of them. Matthew, all of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. You have the Gospels to look at. Just zero in on the last three pages in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And what will keep coming up, the crucifixion, the death of Jesus, the burial of Jesus. I put different colors, ink. The empty tomb. There is the resurrection. They still did not. understand from scripture that Jesus had to ride from the dead. Yeah.

You turn from Matthew, Mark, but once you do is what I'm saying, it's what you become, your identity is in Christ. And you actually, I mean, got to have it. Part of the problem is when you try to say, well, that's not about what we do. And I understand why people might say that, because we don't want to say that that somehow we're earning our inheritance or that we're earning the gift from God. And so part of, part of me gets the warning there, right? I mean, we don't want to move into a works-based salvation.

But what I've been said, you can't negate works because James says that faith without works is dead. That is correct. And so we spend a lot of time in the church. I spent my whole life in the church pretty much trying to figure this out, like, is it faith or is it works, as if these two things were opposed to one another? And I think that we have to run away from theologies that would pin us against the wall on either one of these. And we have to see that what James said, that faith without works is dead. And you see this here.

So it's not about what we do? What's all this talk about right here, like what you just read in the Ephesians 4-7? Now I say this and testify in the Lord that we must no longer walk, as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. So there is, he's saying, don't do these certain things. They're darkened under. Yeah, it's 17, not seven. What did I say?

Seven. Yeah, it's 17. 17. Boy, 16, you didn't have to go to James, which is true. I mean, 16 says what you just got through saying. It says from him, the whole body joined and held together, supported by every ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. Yeah.

I mean, maybe I should have read that first. That's the whole reason I went by back to the whole thing. Then there's a transition. We're growing up in love. Well, where did that come from? Well, God is love. That's why I made the point of saying the whole plan was based on love from an eternal being that injected himself into creation.

Therefore, to Phil's point, it's in Christ because what did Christ do? He showed you the extent of his love, and there's tons of verses there. John 316, you know, for God so loved the world that he sent his son. Romans 5.8. While we were sinners, God demonstrates his love for us by giving his son. But I'm saying, why make that statement while we were sent? Because he's an eternal being. We're time, Phil.

We're waiting to sin. We do. And what happened? You're like, well, Christ still died for you. You get it? It's available. So look at how he started in verse one of chapter four. He says, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you receive.

You say, well, how is that possible? I can't live a life worthy of the calling. But then he tells you how it is possible because of who God is and what he's done for you. Then you get down to 17 to the points you guys are making. And he says, but to do this, to be, to remain in him, to be in him, you can't live like you used to live. You have to walk away from that. So to the point we're all making, obviously there's something we're giving with the Holy Spirit that allows us to be different, allows us to live a different life. But if we continue to immerse ourselves in the old way of thinking,

which is where he's going to go in this next section, then we're going to, you couldn't differentiate us from anybody else in the world. Well, part of it is, yeah, part of it is you got a big part of it is, It's redefining what the prize is, and the prize is not eternal existence. The prize is to be in the presence of God, to be in Christ. And so it does change the trajectory of kind of our effort here in that I think what we're trying to, like think about people to say, well, you know, if I asked Jesus in my heart, I said the prayer or I did the baptism, whatever your version of that is. I had that moment when I was 18, 19, 20 years old.

And then, but, you know, I haven't really walked with Christ. And the question, and then they asked the question, I mean, am I saved? And, you know, that's not for us to say, but it's like, but this was one of our pastors said this Sunday. He says, kind of like saying, you know, I used to play golf. I played golf when I was a young guy. I haven't played in 30 years. Are you a golfer?

Well, I mean, I haven't played in 30 years. I plan to play in the future and I played in the past. but I'm really played in 30 years. So yeah, I guess I'm a golfer. But that's not really what he means, you know, when we ask that question. It's that Christ is the prize. And so Christ is the answer, like to live in him is the prize. And I think that's what's so difficult for us when we try to reduce our salvation to just a moment that we had when we were, quote, unquote, justified, that we miss the actual prize, which is to be.

in him. That's the new life that we are to live, and that's the descriptive language here in Ephesians 4. He's describing what a life in Christ looks like. And to your point on the Holy Spirit's role in this, I think if you understand the role of the Holy Spirit is to enlighten us to this reality that life is only found in Christ, then the opposite of that would be true, meaning that if we don't listen to the Holy Spirit, then we're not going to understand it, which is the language of darkening in their understanding. Verse 18, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their heart.

So it's like there's a block in our minds when we don't listen to the Spirit. Then what we're being blocked from is life of God. That's what the Holy Spirit is directing us to. That's where he's showing us. Your imagination of the good life. And everybody has one, right? What is the good life? What do you think the good life is?

What the Holy Spirit is saying is the good life is over there. It's in God. And he keeps pointing there. If you block that off, then what happens to your understanding and your mind is it becomes futile. And you can't see that. And so you actually end up believing a lie that life is found in something other than God. So that phrase in Christ, that's what that means. It's pulling us into the life.

life of Christ. Yeah. That makes sense. A good question is, what is your life? Look, not. And it only becomes the life of Christ. They still did not understand from Scripture. The ones that ran to the tomb and are there, they still didn't get it.

They did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Well, they were just humans. But he did tell them, I'm going to build my church. Yep. I mean, and we're here. now the church has been built. I mean, he did what he said. And the church should look like Jesus.

But Jase used the illustration earlier of marriage. You just think about you and Missy got married. If you made a decision to commit your life to her. So if you just decided to keep dating other people and, you know, just still checking things out. But you're married now, but you're going to, you're still going to be looking and deciding what you're going to do in the future. I mean, that wouldn't be a marriage, right?

That wouldn't be a commitment. That's exactly what you see here. When you make an all-in call that Jesus is Lord, I am in him, and now he is in me through His Holy Spirit, that's an all-in commitment. And so it would reflect a different lifestyle. And why would you want, think about this, if you spend your whole life not being in Christ, then why would you want to be with him in eternity? it doesn't make any sense.

And I think that's why for so many people, for me, for years, I could not connect with, I couldn't figure this out. I'm like, you're telling me it's not about what I do. Well, back up. First, it was about what I do. Then we understood grace. And then now it's not about what I do. And then I would hear things like, it's not about what you do, you know.

You come to Christ and you confess him as Lord and you get baptized and you're still going to sin. But Christ forgives it. Just get back up. your best. That's all that matters. Just do your best. And I'm sitting there thinking, if I'm doing my best, then I'm not sinning. That's what sin is, me not doing my best. And so I put me right back into the workspace thing. And I'm like, where is great? Where does all this like fit? And I think the reason why we have trouble, reconciling grace and works or faith in works is because we are limiting our whole view of what Christ did for us as,

only dying for our sins for the penalty of our sin. And that's as far as we take it. And that's where that's justification. It stops and ends there. What's the gospel that Christ died for my sins? Yeah, that's part of the gospel. But Jesus also says that he died, gave his his body for the life of the world. So yes, it's freedom from sin, but he also died to life so that I can have life in him. And that's why this language here, if you listen to it in Ephesians 4, when he's given the language of not pursuing this way of life in Christ, you look at the language. The language is inward focus as opposed to us directing our desire and attention towards

Christ or towards him. It says that you become callous, giving themselves up to sensuality, verse 19, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. So what does that mean? Everything then becomes inward. I'm going to pull in everything around me so that I can feel something. That's why the sensuality happens. You give yourself up to sensuality because you become callous. You can't feel anymore. So what we have to do is we have to be greedy and practice all kind of impurity, become sensual, so that we can start to feel something again. But then he juxtaposes that in verse 20. He says, that's not the way you learn in Christ. That is not the way of the kingdom of Christ, assuming that you heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.

To put off the old self, which is the one that's self-consuming everything, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. Why are they deceitful? Because they tell you that you can be fulfilled by consuming things around you. So get rid of that, verse 23, and then to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. and to put on the new self created after the lightness of God in true righteousness and holiness, which is self-sacrificial love, by the way, is displayed in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. That's what he's calling us into.

And if we leave that part about Christ, what Christ is calling us into, we're going to be left with holding us this dichotomy between faith and works and not ever really figuring out what God's calling us to. What you just described, Zach, was why sensual life, only going for the pleasures of whatever it is in this world that drives you, ultimately is an unfulfilled life. It never will fill what's inside of you. I call it the unfillable hole. It's why people turn to drugs and turn to sex and turn to all the sensuality. He's mentioned in this text is because you're trying to fill this hole inside of you with something.

other than what you were designed for, and that was to be filled in Christ and in God. And so that's why it doesn't work. That's why I always, that's why rehabs are full, you know, because of that very thing. I was just thinking that. I was just thinking that you say, well, I don't know. That might work. It might work. You know, try it.

Let me tell you yesterday, and you guys know the full story, I won't get into the full story here, but we took someone special to us yesterday to a rehab. have and walk in. And we've all been involved in recovery ministry for years. And so we've seen all this over and over again. But, man, you walk in. And we drop this young lady off at detox. And, man, I'm just looking around.

And there's a girl there that told you, I just OD'd on fentanyl three days ago and died. And they brought me back with Narcan. And the other girl talking to her had her whole face literally like her like she had been beaten so bad. She had a scar on her face. Her cheek had been caved in. She had been in a just got back to this detox program. There's four other girls sitting there. And I'm looking around.

I'm thinking these are right out of the world, right off the streets, hadn't even gotten to the program yet. They're just coming off of the worst of worse. And I'm saying I'm looking at my wife and just is so painful to see. Like what happens when you do this, when you pursue your own personal pleasure above all? You say, I'm going to chase what feels good to me. That's the description of what's happening here in Ephesians 417 through 19. And the result, if I mean, if you said, could you just define it in one word? You know what the word I'd use?

Death? It just looks like death. It looks like isolation. it looks like loneliness. It looks like honestly a description of hell, hell on earth. And I think that's the big thing. You know, somebody said this about salvation. Like, it's not so much that God's trying to get us into heaven,

but he's trying to get heaven into us. And he's not trying to keep us out of hell, but he's trying to get the hell out of us. And I love that phraseology because I think it paints a picture for you can be in hell right here on planet earth. You can be tasting morsels of hell or you can be tasting the morsels of the kingdom of heaven. And I'm opting for the latter. And you see the progressive nature of how he described as a,

it was a dark mind that led to a hard heart. By the way, that Greek word, their porosis for the hardening of the heart is petrified wood. And if you've ever seen that, you know, what once was a beautiful living tree, then loses not only its life, but then becomes so hard that it could never have life again. And that's what you see with this idea. He's talking about once that heart gets to this point, it's so hard. It's petrified. I mean, it once had life and vibrancy and opportunity and then become something that's impenetrable because of the hardness of it.

So it really is a scary picture of what the life that we left that we don't want any part of, you know, to have something, an opportunity to do something so much better, which is what you described in 20 through 24. Look at the result of the hardening of the heart is in verse 9. They have become calloused. And so if you harden your heart, you become callous, which is the thing that I used to say, well, he's just got to hit rock bottom. He's got to hit rock. She's got to hit rock bottom.

Here's the thing. There's no rock bottom. The rock bottom is death. You don't get down the road of sin and think, man, I, It finally got so bad that now I see. Now I get it. That's not how a sin works. Like, the lie doesn't stop until you die.

There's no, like, point that you get to. You can't sin enough. They'll finally, oh, finally I see it. I mean, we took this young girl to rehab and she has nothing. Doesn't have a place to live, has no money, nothing. I mean, no food. I mean, nothing. And we get her into a place.

where she has a bed, she has people that are going to love on her, she's got health care, see all the things. And within two hours, phone rings. And she's like, this ain't for me. I need to get out of here. And I'm thinking, you have nothing. There is no rock bottom. And that is the danger that I think of sin is that it changes the way you think.

You start believing stuff that's absurd. And the opposite of that is true in this text as well, that if, when you're, we're going to, And you put that away and you quit listening to the lies of the devil, and then you start to worship the one true God, and you listen to the truth of the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says that truth will set you free. So freedom comes from submission to the revelation of the Holy Spirit that renews our mind to understand the reality, which Colossian says, is found in Christ. There's that phrase again.

So this message of what's going on here in Ephesians 4, I mean, this is honestly the key to the whole thing. I mean, this is the key to the whole thing. There's a thing called limerance. Have you ever heard of this, Al? Are you guys ever heard of this term limerence? Yep. And I just learned this from a marriage and family therapist because I was talking to him about a couple who had had an affair and the one who had committed the affair. and this is very common, by the way, that they had reported that the sex was just the greatest

sex that you could ever imagine. And it's actually a clinical term called limerence that you experience a heightened sense of euphoria from the affair that's not even actually rooted in reality. It's almost like a drug-type euphoria. And that's what is going on here. It's this idea that you start to believe in these. lies and then that's amplified, even biologically amplified in whatever this is. But to this therapist's point is, is everyone who has this experience of limerance, they all wake up next to the

spouse or the lover that they leave their spouse for. They all wake up next to that same person one day and think, what have I done? It's gone. And I'm right back in the spot that I thought I was getting out of when I started this affair in the first place. That's the picture of Ephesians chapter four. And the only hope in that sequence is then to go find it again and again and again. But like you said, that leads you to death. I mean, it doesn't, it never plays out in fulfillment of a relationship. And it, because we weren't designed that way. And so it's going against what God designed in us. And that starts from the garden all the way right up to today, which is what you described. I mean, I have a slightly different picture, but I mean, I

agree with what he said, but I think you're looking at two things. I think love and life is the common theme. And you say that, and maybe this is in response to, you know, I got a letter from a guy who basically had a different view of Ephesians. But after I read the first sentence, he's like, you know, y'all keep talking about love, but actually love is not in the Bible. much. And so then I kind of lost interest in whatever was fixed to happen next. Because I thought, is this where we're starting? And so I just think that he's defining love. I mean, a great definition is in 1 John 4. We're all familiar with that God is love. It's like, this is love for God, not that you love him, but that he loved us and sent his son.

because what I'm saying is when he gets to Ephesians 5-1 and says live a life of love, when you look at 416, I mean, now 415, where he says we speak as the church, the truth in love, when you read Ephesians 2, where it says because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. even when we were dead in our transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved, and God raises us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

Well, he's using present tense there, because that's why I said he's an eternal God. When you go back to Ephesians 1-4, he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in love. He predestined us to be adopted. So maybe I'm saying, Well, let's find out what love is.

And because when you get to the sinful behavior, when he gets to the end, which we'll get into next time, his point is not really just here's the rules. Don't speak falsehood. Don't get into greed. Don't get into sensuality. He then starts saying put off falsehood so that you can tell people the truth. You know, in your anger, you know, don't sin. because that is a quality.

It's okay in love to be angry, but don't sin in it. You know, we can get into that as characteristic of God. But then when he's like, don't steal, but why? So that you can work and do something useful with his own hands so that he can share. So I'm saying he's contrasting these two lives, the old life and the new life. The old life is just self-absorbed. some of the things that Zach was talking about. But he's describing the new life.

And that's where I'm pushing back a little bit. Now, it's not so you can go to heaven or so you'll be rewarded. It's so that you can look like Jesus. His goal is for you, it's not about stealing. Which is heaven. Yeah, it's not about stealing. It's about sharing. You're like, what?

Oh, he's flipping that on its head because we read the Bible like, oh, I can't do this, I can't do this, and I can't do this. And if I don't do those things, then I'll go to heaven. He's like, no, I'm telling you, you need to be sharing with each other, because that's what real love looks like. And then people say, ooh, what is this? Well, now you're seeing the life of God. You're not going to see the life of God if you're carjacking, you know, every day

and then going to church on Sunday. Well, I just will say one thing, that the life of Christ is his love, in my opinion. And I think that's the first John 4-8 passage is so important, but we can get in that discussion another time. All right, we will, because there's some great contrast coming up. So we'll get into this next time on Unashamed. 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.