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Welcome to From the Pulpit and Classic Sermons.

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Each week we bring you a different message

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from some of history's greatest speakers in the

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Christian faith, and powerful sermons from modern preachers

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too.

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This week we have Tim Keller with his

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message, Absolutism.

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Don't we have to find the truth for

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ourselves?

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The scripture is found in Galatians 2 verses

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4 through 16.

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This matter arose because some false brothers had

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infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom

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we have in Christ Jesus and to make

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us slaves.

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We did not give in to them for

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a moment so that the truth of the

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gospel might remain with you.

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As for those who seem to be important,

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whatever they were makes no difference to me.

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God does not judge by external appearance.

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Those men added nothing to my message.

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On the contrary, they saw that I had

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been entrusted with the task of preaching the

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gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had

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been to the Jews.

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For God, who was at work in the

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ministry of Peter as an apostle to the

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Jews, was also at work in my ministry

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as an apostle to the Gentiles.

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James, Peter, and John, those reputed to be

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pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand

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of fellowship when they recognized the grace given

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to me.

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They agreed that we should go to the

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Gentiles and they to the Jews.

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All they asked was that we should continue

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to remember the poor, the very thing I

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was eager to do.

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When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him

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to his face because he was clearly in

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the wrong.

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Before certain men came from James, he used

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to eat with the Gentiles, but when they

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arrived, he began to draw back and separate

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himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid

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of those who belonged to the circumcision group.

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The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy,

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so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was

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led astray.

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When I saw that they were not acting

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in line with the truth of the gospel,

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I said to Peter in front of them

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all, You are a Jew, yet you live

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like a Gentile and not like a Jew.

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How is it, then, that you force Gentiles

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to follow Jewish customs?

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We who are Jews by birth and not

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Gentile sinners know that a man is not

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justified by observing the law, but by faith

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in Jesus Christ.

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So we, too, have put our faith in

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Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by

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faith in Christ and not by observing the

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law, because by observing the law, no one

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will be justified.

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This is the word of the Lord.

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Each week we're looking at a...

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We're choosing one of the things that trouble

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folks in our culture, and especially in New

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York City, the most about Christianity.

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So we're trying to take each week one

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of the things that people say, This is

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my biggest problem with Christianity, or this is

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my trouble, or this is my objection to

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Christianity.

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And today, tonight, we look at one that

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could be put like this.

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Christians believe they have absolute truth.

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That is, they see that they have some

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things that everyone should believe, and everyone should

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do.

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So Christians believe they have absolute truth.

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But people who have absolute truth, the objection

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goes, undermine freedom.

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First of all, they tend to oppress people

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who are different than they are, and they

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tend to impose their views on others, so

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they tend to harm other people's freedom.

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And people who believe they have absolute truth

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are themselves not really free.

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Here they are under the burden of trying

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to comply with this set of divine directives.

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And our culture believes everyone should be free

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to determine for themselves what is true.

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Everyone should be free to determine their own

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truth and what is right or wrong for

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them.

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So absolute truth is the enemy of freedom.

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It harms and erodes freedom.

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That's the objection.

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What do we say to that?

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How do you respond to that?

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You know, the Supreme Court itself, by the

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way, has actually enshrined the cultural mindset on

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this in a famous passage in a 1992

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ruling in which the Supreme Court actually said,

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quote, the heart of liberty is to define

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one's own concept of existence of the meaning

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of the universe.

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So there it is.

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What do we say?

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There's three things to say.

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Truth is a lot more important than you

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would think.

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Freedom is a lot more complex than you

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would think.

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And Jesus is a lot more liberating than

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you think.

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Now, those three principles that, you know, oh,

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absolute truth doesn't fit freedom well, truth is

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more important, freedom is more complex, Jesus is

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more liberating than you think, those principles are

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found in this passage.

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It illustrates these three principles.

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Let's look at them.

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First, truth is more important than you think.

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The passage is a story.

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It's an account of what happened in the

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earliest days of the Christian church.

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The earliest Christians were Jewish.

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And because of that, they observed the Mosaic

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ceremonial law, the ritual purity codes of what

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you ate and what you could wear.

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But when Paul went to the Gentiles and

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preached the gospel, and many of them were

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converted, when the Gentiles started coming to the

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church, the question arose, has Jesus Christ so

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fulfilled the ceremonial law, all the sacrifices and

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the priests and the temple and all the

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dietary restrictions and so on, has Jesus so

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fulfilled all that that now they're obsolete and

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we don't have to observe them?

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And Paul's answer to that question was yes.

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And amongst the Gentile converts, they didn't have

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to do any of that.

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Now, there was a controversy about that because

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there were many people who said, no, that's

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not right.

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And see verse 4 and 5 at the

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very beginning of the passage.

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People came and spied on what Paul calls

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the freedom we had in Christ.

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So Paul had to go to a special

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meeting with all the other apostles in Jerusalem

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where he contended for the truth, verse 5

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of the gospel.

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And as we will see, everyone came to

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agree that what Paul was doing was right.

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But the point is, verse 4 and 5

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says, we have freedom in Christ because of

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the truth of the gospel.

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And in a moment, later on, we're going

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to get back to what that truth of

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the gospel is.

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But for a minute, I would like you

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to just consider the relationship between truth and

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freedom that Paul lays out in those two

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verses.

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Freedom, verse 4, comes from the truth.

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That's the reason why Paul was fighting for

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it.

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Freedom comes from the truth.

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And that's exactly the opposite of the way

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in which we in our culture think.

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We feel like if you have to comply

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with the truth, if you're forcing the truth,

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if you're having to obey the truth, that's

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a lack of freedom.

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Why do we feel that way?

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One of the great, most influential philosophers, French

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philosophers of the last few years was Foucault.

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And Foucault writes something that you may not

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have heard this quote, but the idea has

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been extremely influential in our culture.

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Foucault says, quote, truth is a thing of

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this world.

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It is produced only by multiple forms of

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constraint.

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And that includes the regular effects of power.

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And what Foucault is saying is simply this.

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Truth claims are power plays.

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That when you claim to have the truth,

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what you're really doing is trying to get

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power over other people.

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Claiming to have the truth is a method

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of control.

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Claiming to have the truth is a form

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of constraint, a way of controlling other people's

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behavior and getting power over them.

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Now, that's the view.

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And maybe you think that as a Christian

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minister, I'm going to start off my response

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by saying, what a lot of malarkey.

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But I'm not.

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I am not.

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I think we need to hear that.

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See, Foucault was probably the number one disciple

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of Nietzsche in the 20th century.

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And Nietzsche established the hermeneutics of suspicion.

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And what somebody once said is the hermeneutics

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of suspicion is really philosophical squinting.

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And this is what they meant by that.

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If you would make a truth claim to

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Nietzsche, if you would say everyone should promote

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social justice, everyone should do justice in the

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world, Nietzsche would go, hmm, you're calling everyone

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to justice, are you?

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Why are you calling everyone to justice?

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Is it because you love justice?

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Or is it because you want to start

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a revolution that will put you on the

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top and give you power?

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Or someone would say to Nietzsche, everyone should

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obey God's Word, and Nietzsche would go, everyone

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should obey God's Word, huh?

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Of course he'd say this in German, but

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I can't do that.

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Everyone would obey God's Word, huh?

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Why do you call everyone to obey God's

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Word?

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Is it out of love for God?

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Is it out of love for His Word?

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Or is it as a way of establishing

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your moral superiority?

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Is it a way for you to justify

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yourself and to justify your oppressing and abusing

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or marginalizing at least or ignoring people who

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don't believe God's Word?

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The reason I want you to listen to

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what Nietzsche says and what Foucault says is

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because it's exactly what Jesus says about the

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Pharisees.

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Jesus also says, when he looks at the

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Pharisees, he says, your truth claims, you're claiming

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to have the truth, but your truth claims

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are ways of getting power.

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They're ways of justifying yourself.

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They're ways of justifying your group.

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They're ways of getting control over God.

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They're ways of getting control over other people.

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Listen, truth claims in general, says Jesus, are

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power plays.

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And listen, when Foucault and Nietzsche and Jesus

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Christ all agree on something, you know, it's

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just got to be true.

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I mean, it just has to be true.

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But if you insist that all truth claims,

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all the time, always are all power plays,

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they always destroy truth, that all truth claims

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destroy truth, that anybody who says they have

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the truth destroys freedom, you're wrong.

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C.S. Lewis's little book, The Abolition of

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Man, is a great book.

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And maybe my favorite passage in The Abolition

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of Man reads like this.

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He says, you cannot go on explaining away

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forever, or you will find that you have

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explained your own explanation itself away.

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You cannot go on seeing through things forever.

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00:11:10,420 --> 00:11:12,500
The whole point of seeing through something is

272
00:11:12,500 --> 00:11:13,900
to see something else through it.

273
00:11:14,700 --> 00:11:16,580
For example, it's good that you can see

274
00:11:16,580 --> 00:11:18,480
through a window, but that's only because the

275
00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:20,580
garden behind is opaque.

276
00:11:21,380 --> 00:11:24,440
But if you could see through everything, if

277
00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,600
everything was transparent, a wholly transparent world would

278
00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:28,600
be an invisible world.

279
00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,940
And to see through everything would be the

280
00:11:32,940 --> 00:11:34,500
same as not to see.

281
00:11:35,580 --> 00:11:36,380
What's he saying?

282
00:11:36,860 --> 00:11:38,160
See, he's talking about Nietzsche, and here's what

283
00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:38,540
he's saying.

284
00:11:39,260 --> 00:11:42,260
If you say all truth claims are power

285
00:11:42,260 --> 00:11:43,360
plays, so is that.

286
00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:44,280
What is that?

287
00:11:44,580 --> 00:11:45,900
That's a truth claim, and so is that,

288
00:11:45,940 --> 00:11:46,780
so I don't have to listen to you,

289
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:47,060
do I?

290
00:11:48,380 --> 00:11:52,720
Or if you say, like Freud says, all

291
00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,380
statements about religion and God are really just

292
00:11:55,380 --> 00:11:57,720
psychological projections to deal with your own guilt

293
00:11:57,720 --> 00:11:59,400
and insecurity, well, so is that.

294
00:11:59,480 --> 00:11:59,860
What is that?

295
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,980
That's a statement about God and religion, and

296
00:12:01,980 --> 00:12:03,840
so is that, so I don't have to

297
00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:04,480
listen to you.

298
00:12:05,380 --> 00:12:08,100
You know, you've explained away your explanation, see?

299
00:12:09,900 --> 00:12:13,080
Or if the evolutionary biologists say, you know,

300
00:12:13,100 --> 00:12:15,500
everything your mind tells you about God, morality,

301
00:12:15,620 --> 00:12:17,300
and truth, everything your mind tells you is

302
00:12:17,300 --> 00:12:23,900
really just hardwired brain chemistry that's there in

303
00:12:23,900 --> 00:12:25,200
order for you to pass on your genetic

304
00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:25,540
code.

305
00:12:25,620 --> 00:12:27,480
Well, everything their brain tells them about everything,

306
00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:29,740
including the evolutionary biology, is the same, so

307
00:12:29,740 --> 00:12:30,640
why should I listen to it?

308
00:12:30,860 --> 00:12:32,480
See, to see through everything is not to

309
00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:32,800
see.

310
00:12:33,820 --> 00:12:35,600
And to say no one should make truth

311
00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:37,520
claims because that's just a power play, that's

312
00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:38,960
the biggest power trip of all because that's

313
00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:39,620
a great big needle.

314
00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:40,840
You can go around and you can puncture

315
00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:41,580
everybody's balloon.

316
00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:43,080
You better puncture your own, and guess what?

317
00:12:43,100 --> 00:12:44,000
You're back to square one.

318
00:12:45,310 --> 00:12:47,950
Because everybody does make truth claims.

319
00:12:48,310 --> 00:12:49,810
Everybody believes in truth claims.

320
00:12:50,110 --> 00:12:51,390
To say no one should say they have

321
00:12:51,390 --> 00:12:54,090
the truth is itself the most incredible power

322
00:12:54,090 --> 00:12:54,390
trip.

323
00:12:54,650 --> 00:12:55,730
It's a way of getting on top of

324
00:12:55,730 --> 00:12:58,250
your sophistication, you know, and your jadedness over

325
00:12:58,250 --> 00:12:58,990
everybody else.

326
00:12:59,490 --> 00:13:02,050
Look, everybody does make truth claims.

327
00:13:02,970 --> 00:13:03,730
You have to.

328
00:13:04,710 --> 00:13:07,830
And therefore, it's not making a truth claim

329
00:13:07,830 --> 00:13:09,590
per se that leads to oppression.

330
00:13:09,830 --> 00:13:11,230
It's what's in the claim.

331
00:13:11,770 --> 00:13:13,050
It's what's in the truth claim.

332
00:13:13,050 --> 00:13:14,270
Example.

333
00:13:14,690 --> 00:13:17,930
I have just been absolutely amazed by the,

334
00:13:18,330 --> 00:13:21,710
like a lot of you, by the reports

335
00:13:21,710 --> 00:13:25,490
coming out of Lancaster County in the aftermath

336
00:13:25,490 --> 00:13:28,090
of the terrible tragedy.

337
00:13:28,610 --> 00:13:30,190
You know, a man comes into a school

338
00:13:30,190 --> 00:13:35,430
and slaughters these little girls, these Amish school

339
00:13:35,430 --> 00:13:35,790
children.

340
00:13:36,090 --> 00:13:36,350
All right.

341
00:13:37,030 --> 00:13:38,290
And what do we see?

342
00:13:39,270 --> 00:13:40,850
One of the things that most amazed me

343
00:13:40,850 --> 00:13:42,270
was we understand that one of the little

344
00:13:42,270 --> 00:13:44,730
girls who was killed offered to die for

345
00:13:44,730 --> 00:13:45,270
the rest of them.

346
00:13:45,350 --> 00:13:46,890
Said, kill me and let the rest go.

347
00:13:47,870 --> 00:13:49,510
And by the way, they did not watch

348
00:13:49,510 --> 00:13:49,970
television.

349
00:13:51,090 --> 00:13:52,670
They did not see movies.

350
00:13:53,650 --> 00:13:55,410
Where would she have gotten that idea of

351
00:13:55,410 --> 00:13:56,630
dying for her friends?

352
00:13:58,090 --> 00:14:00,090
And when it was all over, the amazing

353
00:14:00,090 --> 00:14:01,410
thing, in fact, usually you could see the

354
00:14:01,410 --> 00:14:06,030
reporters themselves were amazed, that the community and

355
00:14:06,030 --> 00:14:10,970
the bereaved families not only forgave the man

356
00:14:10,970 --> 00:14:13,210
who did it, but took up a collection

357
00:14:13,210 --> 00:14:15,850
and prayed and forgave the widow and the

358
00:14:15,850 --> 00:14:17,350
children of the man who did it.

359
00:14:19,730 --> 00:14:24,150
Now by anyone's definition, the Amish are fundamentalists.

360
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:28,660
And they believe they have the truth.

361
00:14:28,820 --> 00:14:30,760
And have you ever heard anybody say, oh,

362
00:14:30,940 --> 00:14:32,120
fundamentalists, they think they have the truth.

363
00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:32,940
That leads to oppression.

364
00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:33,740
It didn't there.

365
00:14:33,740 --> 00:14:34,140
Why not?

366
00:14:34,180 --> 00:14:36,480
Because it depends on what the fundamental is.

367
00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:39,580
And the fundamental in this case is a

368
00:14:39,580 --> 00:14:41,840
man dying on the cross for his enemies.

369
00:14:42,660 --> 00:14:46,080
A man with whose last breath he blesses

370
00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:48,400
the people around him and prays for their

371
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:48,800
forgiveness.

372
00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:51,020
And if you take that into the very

373
00:14:51,020 --> 00:14:53,140
center of your life, then you begin to

374
00:14:53,140 --> 00:14:55,900
see that it's not truth claims per se

375
00:14:55,900 --> 00:14:57,320
that erode freedom.

376
00:14:57,500 --> 00:14:59,400
It's what's in the truth claim.

377
00:14:59,940 --> 00:15:02,720
It's true, of course, that truth claims can

378
00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:04,060
be used to destroy freedom.

379
00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:06,920
But there is no freedom without the truth.

380
00:15:07,020 --> 00:15:09,340
Because as Jesus himself said in John chapter

381
00:15:09,340 --> 00:15:10,760
8, the truth will set you free.

382
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,920
So it's not just that truth claims aren't

383
00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:15,440
necessarily eroding of freedom.

384
00:15:15,980 --> 00:15:18,220
You've got to have the truth and be

385
00:15:18,220 --> 00:15:20,500
in touch with the truth to have freedom.

386
00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:22,580
Only the truth will set you free.

387
00:15:22,700 --> 00:15:23,200
What do I mean?

388
00:15:23,620 --> 00:15:25,880
I've always wished I was a ship's captain

389
00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,240
in say the 16th century.

390
00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:29,660
I always wanted to be the captain of

391
00:15:29,660 --> 00:15:30,680
one of those incredible ships.

392
00:15:31,860 --> 00:15:34,000
And if I was a ship's captain and

393
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,520
I was trying to take my ship into

394
00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:41,580
the English Channel, you know, between Britain and

395
00:15:41,580 --> 00:15:45,300
France, but I made a mistake and I

396
00:15:45,300 --> 00:15:48,540
sailed up the Bristol Channel, which is far

397
00:15:48,540 --> 00:15:50,140
more shallow and I didn't realize it.

398
00:15:50,460 --> 00:15:52,840
And I just plowed right across thinking it

399
00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:53,460
was the English Channel.

400
00:15:54,140 --> 00:15:55,520
Very soon I would have run aground.

401
00:15:55,940 --> 00:15:57,820
Very soon my ship would be wrecked.

402
00:15:57,820 --> 00:15:59,700
Everybody would be killed.

403
00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:01,760
Why?

404
00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:03,220
I was out of touch with the truth.

405
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:05,020
I was out of touch with the truth

406
00:16:05,020 --> 00:16:06,980
of how deep the channel was.

407
00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:08,160
I was out of touch with the truth

408
00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:09,080
of where I was.

409
00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:11,200
Maybe somebody lied to me.

410
00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:13,820
Maybe I was just miscalculated.

411
00:16:13,940 --> 00:16:14,840
But either way I was out of touch

412
00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:15,320
with reality.

413
00:16:15,380 --> 00:16:16,180
I was out of touch with the truth

414
00:16:16,180 --> 00:16:17,580
and the truth would have set me free.

415
00:16:18,740 --> 00:16:20,000
And only the truth would have set me

416
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:20,300
free.

417
00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:23,140
And you see, the idea, the modern idea

418
00:16:23,140 --> 00:16:24,280
that you have to get away from the

419
00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:26,220
truth somehow to be free and get out

420
00:16:26,220 --> 00:16:28,000
from under the truth and get away from

421
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:29,360
the truth to be free is silly.

422
00:16:29,820 --> 00:16:30,540
It's actually stupid.

423
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:32,160
Only the truth will set you free.

424
00:16:32,260 --> 00:16:34,360
Being closely in touch with the truth and

425
00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:36,440
living in accordance with the truth will set

426
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:36,800
you free.

427
00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:38,740
You say, well, maybe that's true in the

428
00:16:38,740 --> 00:16:41,760
empirical realm, you know, the scientific realm, but

429
00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:43,540
not necessarily in the moral spiritual realm.

430
00:16:43,780 --> 00:16:44,020
Oh, really?

431
00:16:45,220 --> 00:16:46,600
There you can live any way you want.

432
00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:47,000
Oh, yeah?

433
00:16:49,060 --> 00:16:50,320
I think I can say without fear of

434
00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,300
contradiction, if you live for money and only

435
00:16:53,300 --> 00:16:54,920
for money, if you live only to make

436
00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,860
money, if you live only to spend money,

437
00:16:58,060 --> 00:17:00,040
if you live only to have money, nothing

438
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:00,820
else matters to you.

439
00:17:00,860 --> 00:17:01,960
You will shrivel your soul.

440
00:17:03,380 --> 00:17:04,859
You will destroy all your relationships.

441
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,680
You might work too hard and ruin your

442
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:10,460
health and your body.

443
00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:11,380
Why?

444
00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,079
Because you have run aground on the rocks

445
00:17:14,079 --> 00:17:17,440
of a moral spiritual reality that's there, every

446
00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:18,920
bit as much as the Bristol Channel was

447
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:19,180
there.

448
00:17:19,579 --> 00:17:20,420
It's there.

449
00:17:20,819 --> 00:17:22,200
It's the way things are.

450
00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:23,920
You are out of accord with the truth

451
00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:25,920
of how human beings ought to live.

452
00:17:28,300 --> 00:17:29,840
Only the truth will set you free.

453
00:17:31,060 --> 00:17:32,680
The truth is much more important than you

454
00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:32,920
know.

455
00:17:33,540 --> 00:17:35,220
Freedom comes from submission to the truth, not

456
00:17:35,220 --> 00:17:36,560
getting away from it.

457
00:17:37,380 --> 00:17:39,040
Well, you say, now that leads us to

458
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:39,440
a question.

459
00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:40,320
Wow.

460
00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:42,880
I guess I always thought of freedom as

461
00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:44,220
being able to create your own truth, so

462
00:17:44,220 --> 00:17:46,440
you're saying that freedom is submission to the

463
00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:46,640
truth.

464
00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:47,040
Why?

465
00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:47,580
How's that?

466
00:17:47,820 --> 00:17:49,540
Well, you see, what we're getting to is

467
00:17:49,540 --> 00:17:50,940
point two, fortunately.

468
00:17:50,940 --> 00:17:54,100
And point two is freedom now is much

469
00:17:54,100 --> 00:17:55,840
more complex than you think.

470
00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,340
Paul gets up to Jerusalem and has this

471
00:18:01,340 --> 00:18:04,080
debate, has this discussion, and everybody says, yeah,

472
00:18:04,140 --> 00:18:04,640
you're okay.

473
00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:07,280
Your mission to the Gentiles is legit.

474
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,120
And so they shake hands, and we see

475
00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:12,000
down here in verse 9, it says, so

476
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,320
we all agreed that we should go to

477
00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:15,580
the Gentiles, they to the Jews.

478
00:18:15,700 --> 00:18:16,900
But then look at verse 10.

479
00:18:16,900 --> 00:18:19,300
All they asked was that we should continue

480
00:18:19,300 --> 00:18:21,840
to remember the poor, the very thing I

481
00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:22,620
was eager to do.

482
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,560
Well, we can't, I think I've told you,

483
00:18:26,700 --> 00:18:28,920
in this series, we don't go that deeply

484
00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:29,960
into these passages.

485
00:18:30,540 --> 00:18:32,340
But there's a lot there, and here's what

486
00:18:32,340 --> 00:18:32,660
it is.

487
00:18:32,900 --> 00:18:36,440
Paul was going to the Gentiles, and that

488
00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,260
was a place where the power was and

489
00:18:38,260 --> 00:18:38,560
the money.

490
00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,620
And what the apostles in Jerusalem were trying

491
00:18:42,620 --> 00:18:45,840
to remind him of is the Judean Christians.

492
00:18:46,300 --> 00:18:48,800
In fact, the people of Judea had far

493
00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:50,680
less money and far less power.

494
00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:52,300
And what they were saying is, remember what

495
00:18:52,300 --> 00:18:53,440
the Bible says about the poor.

496
00:18:55,820 --> 00:18:57,420
You can win them to Christ, but they

497
00:18:57,420 --> 00:18:58,700
have to see what the Bible says.

498
00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:00,480
They have to care about the poor.

499
00:19:01,260 --> 00:19:03,160
And suddenly you begin to realize something really

500
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:03,500
weird.

501
00:19:04,060 --> 00:19:06,220
In verse 4, Paul says, we're free in

502
00:19:06,220 --> 00:19:06,460
Christ.

503
00:19:06,500 --> 00:19:07,560
We're free, free.

504
00:19:09,260 --> 00:19:11,080
But now in verse 10, we see that

505
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:14,380
Paul says, yes, of course, we're still restricted

506
00:19:14,380 --> 00:19:16,120
to the biblical ethical norms.

507
00:19:16,260 --> 00:19:17,300
You can't live any way you want.

508
00:19:17,380 --> 00:19:18,640
You can't spend your money any way you

509
00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:18,800
want.

510
00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:20,080
You have to tell the truth.

511
00:19:20,180 --> 00:19:21,440
You can't commit adultery, all that.

512
00:19:23,060 --> 00:19:23,960
So now, wait a minute.

513
00:19:24,140 --> 00:19:26,000
Here in verse 4, we're free, he says.

514
00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:27,460
But in verse 10, we're restricted.

515
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:30,880
We're still restricted to certain living in certain

516
00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:31,160
ways.

517
00:19:31,460 --> 00:19:33,560
And our response as modern people is, wait

518
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:33,740
a minute.

519
00:19:33,740 --> 00:19:36,240
I thought that freedom is the absence of

520
00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:36,800
restrictions.

521
00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,060
I thought freedom is the absence of all

522
00:19:40,060 --> 00:19:41,660
constraints and boundaries and restrictions.

523
00:19:42,220 --> 00:19:46,400
The fewer restrictions there are, the more free

524
00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:46,820
I am.

525
00:19:47,300 --> 00:19:49,420
Freedom is not having any restrictions on anything

526
00:19:49,420 --> 00:19:49,900
I do.

527
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:51,860
Wrong.

528
00:19:53,380 --> 00:19:53,840
Oversimplification.

529
00:19:54,300 --> 00:19:55,440
I'm here to try to show you that.

530
00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:56,840
Freedom is much more complex than that.

531
00:19:57,120 --> 00:19:58,020
Let me give you a couple of examples.

532
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,400
First of all, as you get older, as

533
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:03,460
you will find, you can't just eat anything

534
00:20:03,460 --> 00:20:03,900
you want.

535
00:20:06,020 --> 00:20:07,760
And at a certain point, the doctor will

536
00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:12,360
say to you, now look, there's a lot

537
00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:13,440
of these things that you love eating.

538
00:20:13,780 --> 00:20:14,860
You can't eat them anymore.

539
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:17,080
And so what you're going to have to

540
00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:18,200
do is you're going to have to restrict

541
00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:18,820
your freedom.

542
00:20:19,580 --> 00:20:21,300
You're going to see them on the table.

543
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:22,640
You're going to see them on the shelf.

544
00:20:22,740 --> 00:20:23,600
You're going to get near them, and you're

545
00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:25,840
going to have to go, no.

546
00:20:27,580 --> 00:20:28,840
And you're a constraint.

547
00:20:29,820 --> 00:20:30,500
That's constraint.

548
00:20:30,660 --> 00:20:31,260
That's restriction.

549
00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,020
So you have to give up your freedom

550
00:20:34,020 --> 00:20:36,280
to eat anything you want if you want

551
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,100
to be released into the richer, deeper freedom

552
00:20:38,100 --> 00:20:39,900
of good health and long life.

553
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:41,860
Or if you want to, you can just

554
00:20:41,860 --> 00:20:42,540
eat anything you want.

555
00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:43,960
No restrictions.

556
00:20:44,220 --> 00:20:45,820
Be totally free.

557
00:20:46,300 --> 00:20:48,820
And then you will lose both your health

558
00:20:48,820 --> 00:20:52,300
and probably have a shorter year.

559
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:54,540
So you can't have them both.

560
00:20:55,220 --> 00:21:00,860
And obviously, the freeing, the liberating restriction of

561
00:21:00,860 --> 00:21:03,740
freedom is to be restricted here so that

562
00:21:03,740 --> 00:21:06,020
you can get that richer and deeper freedom

563
00:21:06,020 --> 00:21:07,540
of good health and long life.

564
00:21:07,620 --> 00:21:08,560
Let me give you another example.

565
00:21:09,740 --> 00:21:11,640
It's not as simple as just loss of

566
00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:12,100
restrictions.

567
00:21:13,820 --> 00:21:15,820
A lot of you have musical skill because

568
00:21:15,820 --> 00:21:16,680
this is New York City.

569
00:21:17,340 --> 00:21:18,840
And at some point in your life, you

570
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:20,080
made a decision.

571
00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:22,160
And that is you were going to restrict

572
00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:24,060
your freedom because you were going to practice,

573
00:21:24,260 --> 00:21:24,840
practice, practice.

574
00:21:25,860 --> 00:21:26,860
You're going to practice every day.

575
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:28,080
You're going to practice a long time every

576
00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:28,260
day.

577
00:21:28,340 --> 00:21:29,800
You're going to practice, practice, practice, which means

578
00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:31,800
all kinds of stuff that other people can

579
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:32,520
do you can't do.

580
00:21:32,700 --> 00:21:33,360
You don't have time.

581
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,360
So you're restricting yourself now, but only if

582
00:21:36,360 --> 00:21:39,420
you restrict yourself then would you eventually be

583
00:21:39,420 --> 00:21:41,460
released into the far richer, deeper freedom of

584
00:21:41,460 --> 00:21:43,840
being able to perform, being able to express,

585
00:21:44,140 --> 00:21:45,980
being able to thrill a crowd, being able

586
00:21:45,980 --> 00:21:47,940
to compose, all kinds of stuff you could

587
00:21:47,940 --> 00:21:50,000
never even begin to do if you didn't

588
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:51,060
restrict your freedom here.

589
00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:52,720
You could never be released into that freedom

590
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:52,940
there.

591
00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:54,860
Oh, you're starting to say, OK, I see

592
00:21:54,860 --> 00:21:55,000
it.

593
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:55,440
I see it.

594
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:58,020
So this naive idea that freedom is an

595
00:21:58,020 --> 00:21:59,260
absence of restriction, no.

596
00:22:00,420 --> 00:22:02,740
Discipline, restriction can release you into a greater

597
00:22:02,740 --> 00:22:03,180
freedom.

598
00:22:03,580 --> 00:22:06,040
So discipline is a good in itself, right?

599
00:22:06,140 --> 00:22:06,860
No, no, no.

600
00:22:07,620 --> 00:22:08,000
Oh, no.

601
00:22:09,060 --> 00:22:11,020
Hey, freedom is not the absence of restriction,

602
00:22:11,140 --> 00:22:12,900
but freedom is not the presence of restriction.

603
00:22:12,900 --> 00:22:16,080
In a more liberal culture like ours, we

604
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,060
think of freedom as the absence of constraint.

605
00:22:18,900 --> 00:22:21,040
But in traditional cultures, there's a feeling like

606
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:23,180
discipline is a good per se.

607
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:24,320
Discipline is always good.

608
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:25,660
That freedom comes through discipline.

609
00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:25,980
Really?

610
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:30,780
Well, for example, imagine a young guy, 22

611
00:22:30,780 --> 00:22:36,080
years old, 5'3", he's 115 pounds, and

612
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:37,800
he dreams of being an NFL lineman.

613
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,420
And because he's gone to American schools all

614
00:22:42,420 --> 00:22:44,700
his life, every year his teacher has said,

615
00:22:44,940 --> 00:22:46,400
you can be anything you want to be.

616
00:22:50,220 --> 00:22:51,640
And like an idiot, he believed.

617
00:22:52,980 --> 00:22:54,080
And so now he gets up and he

618
00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:54,940
says, this is my dream.

619
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:56,000
I'm going to be an NFL lineman.

620
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:57,140
I'm going to practice, and I'm going to

621
00:22:57,140 --> 00:23:00,060
discipline myself, and I'm going to restrict myself,

622
00:23:00,180 --> 00:23:01,340
and I'm going to work out, and I'm

623
00:23:01,340 --> 00:23:03,280
going to build myself up, and you know,

624
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:04,520
he's going to waste his life.

625
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:12,700
Because freedom is not the absence of restriction

626
00:23:12,700 --> 00:23:18,080
or the presence of restrictions, but it's freedom

627
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:21,380
is the presence of the right restrictions, the

628
00:23:21,380 --> 00:23:23,500
ones that fit in with your nature, with

629
00:23:23,500 --> 00:23:25,400
who you are, the truth of who God

630
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,000
has made you to be, the truth of

631
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:29,680
the givenness of your nature.

632
00:23:30,820 --> 00:23:34,760
And if you find the truth of who

633
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:36,560
you are, the truth of what you've been

634
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,020
given, see, the musician, because of her aptitude,

635
00:23:40,500 --> 00:23:41,720
restriction releases her.

636
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,640
The little guy who wants to get into

637
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,020
the NFL because he doesn't have the nature

638
00:23:49,020 --> 00:23:51,260
and the aptitude, restriction destroys him.

639
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:53,680
Freedom is not the presence of restriction or

640
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,180
the absence of restriction, it's the presence of

641
00:23:56,180 --> 00:23:58,100
the right restrictions, the ones in accord with

642
00:23:58,100 --> 00:23:59,620
the truth, who God made you to be.

643
00:24:00,140 --> 00:24:01,920
And then when you give up your freedom,

644
00:24:02,180 --> 00:24:06,500
you surrender to those restrictions, it will release

645
00:24:06,500 --> 00:24:08,360
you into richer, deeper freedom.

646
00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:11,720
The truth will set you free.

647
00:24:12,700 --> 00:24:14,760
This is the reason why, for example, a

648
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,040
fish out on the grass, a fish out

649
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,340
on the grass isn't free.

650
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:22,820
A fish out on the grass has lost

651
00:24:22,820 --> 00:24:25,260
its freedom to move, even to live.

652
00:24:26,300 --> 00:24:29,960
You have to restrict the fish to the

653
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:30,280
water.

654
00:24:31,140 --> 00:24:34,080
And in the water, its strength returns, and

655
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:37,280
its power returns, and it can swim away

656
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:37,820
like lightning.

657
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,380
And therefore, freedom is a lot more complex,

658
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:42,100
is it not?

659
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:44,780
It's the right restrictions, the restrictions that fit

660
00:24:44,780 --> 00:24:46,720
in with the givenness of your nature, the

661
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:48,340
restrictions that fit in with the truth of

662
00:24:48,340 --> 00:24:49,780
who you are, and the truth of how

663
00:24:49,780 --> 00:24:50,280
things are.

664
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,180
And the ultimate example of the complexity of

665
00:24:53,180 --> 00:24:54,520
freedom is love.

666
00:24:55,900 --> 00:24:57,000
Oh my goodness, yes.

667
00:24:58,220 --> 00:25:00,880
You see, love is a way to get

668
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:02,060
free, is it not?

669
00:25:02,180 --> 00:25:04,040
I mean, doesn't love bring you the freedom

670
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,040
of security and fulfillment and joy?

671
00:25:06,500 --> 00:25:10,520
But Francoise Sagan, the famous French writer, some

672
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:12,600
years ago when she was having a magazine

673
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:14,580
interview, she was, I think, kind of up

674
00:25:14,580 --> 00:25:16,380
in years at the time, and they asked

675
00:25:16,380 --> 00:25:17,900
her, have you lived the life you wanted

676
00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:18,380
to live?

677
00:25:18,380 --> 00:25:20,220
And she said, yes, I have lived to

678
00:25:20,220 --> 00:25:20,780
be free.

679
00:25:21,220 --> 00:25:23,020
And then the interviewer said, then you have

680
00:25:23,020 --> 00:25:24,120
had the freedom you wanted.

681
00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:28,780
And Sagan said, yes, well, I was obviously

682
00:25:28,780 --> 00:25:30,740
not free when I was in love with

683
00:25:30,740 --> 00:25:32,820
someone, but one's not in love all the

684
00:25:32,820 --> 00:25:33,640
time, fortunately.

685
00:25:34,180 --> 00:25:36,640
Apart from that, yes, I've been free.

686
00:25:38,380 --> 00:25:40,140
Very realistic, and I'll tell you why.

687
00:25:40,140 --> 00:25:44,460
The freedoms of love only come if you

688
00:25:44,460 --> 00:25:48,420
surrender all kinds of individual freedom.

689
00:25:49,380 --> 00:25:52,140
I remember very shortly after I was married,

690
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,780
like days or maybe the most weeks after

691
00:25:54,780 --> 00:25:57,360
I was married, I remember I was coming

692
00:25:57,360 --> 00:26:02,240
home from work, and I suddenly had an

693
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:02,580
idea.

694
00:26:03,020 --> 00:26:04,360
I don't even remember what it was, but

695
00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:05,520
I took a detour.

696
00:26:05,620 --> 00:26:07,640
I went someplace to buy something or something,

697
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:09,200
and I got home about 25 minutes late.

698
00:26:09,740 --> 00:26:11,040
And my wife looked at me and said,

699
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:12,800
where were you?

700
00:26:14,820 --> 00:26:16,560
Now, you have to remember, this was before

701
00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:18,460
cell phones, and as some of you probably

702
00:26:18,460 --> 00:26:20,040
suspect, it was before phones.

703
00:26:23,780 --> 00:26:25,100
But the whole point was, so I should

704
00:26:25,100 --> 00:26:26,120
have written her a letter, I guess.

705
00:26:29,140 --> 00:26:30,760
Pony Express probably would have been a good

706
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:31,020
idea.

707
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,200
But the point was, I mean, all of

708
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:35,620
my life, I had, you can make a

709
00:26:35,620 --> 00:26:39,460
little, I suddenly realized, oh my gosh, I'm

710
00:26:39,460 --> 00:26:42,620
married, and therefore my right to make even

711
00:26:42,620 --> 00:26:45,540
small unilateral decisions is over forever.

712
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,180
The scripture is found in Galatians 2 verses

713
00:26:49,180 --> 00:26:50,520
4 through 16.

714
00:26:51,380 --> 00:26:54,180
This matter arose because some false brothers had

715
00:26:54,180 --> 00:26:56,560
infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom

716
00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:58,780
we have in Christ Jesus and to make

717
00:26:58,780 --> 00:26:59,380
us slaves.

718
00:26:59,780 --> 00:27:01,520
We did not give in to them for

719
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:03,160
a moment so that the truth of the

720
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:04,700
gospel might remain with you.

721
00:27:04,700 --> 00:27:07,140
As for those who seem to be important,

722
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,680
whatever they were makes no difference to me.

723
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:12,320
God does not judge by external appearance.

724
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:14,900
Those men added nothing to my message.

725
00:27:15,700 --> 00:27:17,540
On the contrary, they saw that I had

726
00:27:17,540 --> 00:27:19,760
been entrusted with the task of preaching the

727
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,540
gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had

728
00:27:22,540 --> 00:27:23,380
been to the Jews.

729
00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:25,680
For God, who was at work in the

730
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,680
ministry of Peter as an apostle to the

731
00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:30,080
Jews, was also at work in my ministry

732
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:31,940
as an apostle to the Gentiles.

733
00:27:32,500 --> 00:27:35,080
James, Peter, and John, those reputed to be

734
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,660
pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand

735
00:27:37,660 --> 00:27:40,040
of fellowship when they recognized the grace given

736
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:40,500
to me.

737
00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:42,660
They agreed that we should go to the

738
00:27:42,660 --> 00:27:44,340
Gentiles and they to the Jews.

739
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,440
All they asked was that we should continue

740
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,000
to remember the poor, the very thing I

741
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:50,840
was eager to do.

742
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:53,900
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him

743
00:27:53,900 --> 00:27:56,120
to his face because he was clearly in

744
00:27:56,120 --> 00:27:56,500
the wrong.

745
00:27:57,100 --> 00:27:59,680
Before certain men came from James, he used

746
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:01,800
to eat with the Gentiles, but when they

747
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,420
arrived, he began to draw back and separate

748
00:28:04,420 --> 00:28:07,000
himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid

749
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,140
of those who belonged to the circumcision group.

750
00:28:09,700 --> 00:28:12,160
The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy,

751
00:28:12,380 --> 00:28:14,880
so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was

752
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:15,480
led astray.

753
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:17,880
When I saw that they were not acting

754
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:19,520
in line with the truth of the gospel,

755
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:21,600
I said to Peter in front of them

756
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:24,240
all, You are a Jew, yet you live

757
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,060
like a Gentile and not like a Jew.

758
00:28:26,060 --> 00:28:29,020
How is it, then, that you force Gentiles

759
00:28:29,020 --> 00:28:30,500
to follow Jewish customs?

760
00:28:31,380 --> 00:28:33,480
We who are Jews by birth and not

761
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,740
Gentile sinners know that a man is not

762
00:28:35,740 --> 00:28:38,460
justified by observing the law, but by faith

763
00:28:38,460 --> 00:28:39,380
in Jesus Christ.

764
00:28:39,740 --> 00:28:42,080
So we, too, have put our faith in

765
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:44,300
Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by

766
00:28:44,300 --> 00:28:47,060
faith in Christ and not by observing the

767
00:28:47,060 --> 00:28:49,860
law, because by observing the law no one

768
00:28:49,860 --> 00:28:50,620
will be justified.

769
00:28:51,140 --> 00:28:52,360
This is the word of the Lord.

770
00:28:55,180 --> 00:29:01,350
Each week we're choosing one of the things

771
00:29:01,350 --> 00:29:04,810
that trouble folks in our culture, and especially

772
00:29:04,810 --> 00:29:07,730
in New York City, the most about Christianity.

773
00:29:08,390 --> 00:29:12,250
So we're trying to take each week one

774
00:29:12,250 --> 00:29:13,930
of the things that people say, This is

775
00:29:13,930 --> 00:29:15,890
my biggest problem with Christianity, or this is

776
00:29:15,890 --> 00:29:18,150
my trouble, or this is my objection to

777
00:29:18,150 --> 00:29:18,650
Christianity.

778
00:29:18,650 --> 00:29:23,790
And today, tonight, we look at one that

779
00:29:23,790 --> 00:29:24,990
could be put like this.

780
00:29:26,650 --> 00:29:29,410
Christians believe they have absolute truth.

781
00:29:30,310 --> 00:29:33,230
That is, they see that they have some

782
00:29:33,230 --> 00:29:36,470
things that everyone should believe and everyone should

783
00:29:36,470 --> 00:29:36,770
do.

784
00:29:37,750 --> 00:29:39,250
So Christians believe they have absolute truth.

785
00:29:39,390 --> 00:29:42,010
But people who have absolute truth, the objection

786
00:29:42,010 --> 00:29:45,690
goes, undermine freedom.

787
00:29:46,630 --> 00:29:49,170
First of all, they tend to oppress people

788
00:29:49,170 --> 00:29:51,290
who are different than they are, and they

789
00:29:51,290 --> 00:29:53,710
tend to impose their views on others.

790
00:29:54,070 --> 00:29:56,750
So they tend to harm other people's freedom.

791
00:29:57,290 --> 00:29:59,190
And people who believe they have absolute truth

792
00:29:59,190 --> 00:30:01,050
are themselves not really free.

793
00:30:01,690 --> 00:30:03,250
Here they are under the burden of trying

794
00:30:03,250 --> 00:30:06,050
to comply with this set of divine directives.

795
00:30:07,130 --> 00:30:10,870
And our culture believes everyone should be free

796
00:30:10,870 --> 00:30:12,650
to determine for themselves what is true.

797
00:30:12,650 --> 00:30:15,970
Everyone should be free to determine their own

798
00:30:15,970 --> 00:30:17,810
truth and what is right or wrong for

799
00:30:17,810 --> 00:30:18,090
them.

800
00:30:19,050 --> 00:30:21,910
So absolute truth is the enemy of freedom.

801
00:30:22,450 --> 00:30:23,710
It harms and erodes freedom.

802
00:30:23,970 --> 00:30:24,710
That's the objection.

803
00:30:25,530 --> 00:30:26,970
What do we say to that?

804
00:30:27,470 --> 00:30:28,610
How do you respond to that?

805
00:30:29,690 --> 00:30:32,570
You know, the Supreme Court itself, by the

806
00:30:32,570 --> 00:30:36,150
way, has actually enshrined the cultural mindset on

807
00:30:36,150 --> 00:30:38,470
this in a famous passage in a 1992

808
00:30:38,470 --> 00:30:41,670
ruling in which the Supreme Court actually said,

809
00:30:42,390 --> 00:30:45,290
quote, the heart of liberty is to define

810
00:30:45,290 --> 00:30:48,290
one's own concept of existence of the meaning

811
00:30:48,290 --> 00:30:48,910
of the universe.

812
00:30:49,230 --> 00:30:49,830
So there it is.

813
00:30:50,590 --> 00:30:51,490
What do we say?

814
00:30:51,930 --> 00:30:53,090
There's three things to say.

815
00:30:55,010 --> 00:30:57,530
Truth is a lot more important than you

816
00:30:57,530 --> 00:30:57,970
would think.

817
00:30:58,750 --> 00:31:01,450
Freedom is a lot more complex than you

818
00:31:01,450 --> 00:31:01,910
would think.

819
00:31:02,430 --> 00:31:04,230
And Jesus is a lot more liberating than

820
00:31:04,230 --> 00:31:04,610
you think.

821
00:31:06,210 --> 00:31:09,350
Now those three principles that, you know, oh,

822
00:31:09,470 --> 00:31:11,130
absolute truth doesn't fit freedom well.

823
00:31:11,590 --> 00:31:12,650
Truth is more important.

824
00:31:13,130 --> 00:31:14,090
Freedom is more complex.

825
00:31:14,410 --> 00:31:16,650
Jesus is more liberating than you think.

826
00:31:17,010 --> 00:31:19,030
Those principles are found in this passage.

827
00:31:19,250 --> 00:31:21,190
It illustrates these three principles.

828
00:31:21,290 --> 00:31:21,970
Let's look at them.

829
00:31:22,170 --> 00:31:24,770
First, truth is more important than you think.

830
00:31:25,190 --> 00:31:27,290
The passage is a story, it's an account

831
00:31:27,290 --> 00:31:30,210
of what happened in the earliest days of

832
00:31:30,210 --> 00:31:30,990
the Christian church.

833
00:31:31,670 --> 00:31:33,790
The earliest Christians were Jewish.

834
00:31:35,030 --> 00:31:38,410
And because of that, they observed the Mosaic

835
00:31:38,410 --> 00:31:42,850
ceremonial law, the ritual purity codes of what

836
00:31:42,850 --> 00:31:45,190
you ate and what you could wear.

837
00:31:45,930 --> 00:31:48,710
But when Paul went to the Gentiles and

838
00:31:48,710 --> 00:31:50,770
preached the gospel, and many of them were

839
00:31:50,770 --> 00:31:53,650
converted, when the Gentiles started coming to the

840
00:31:53,650 --> 00:31:57,410
church, the question arose, has Jesus Christ so

841
00:31:57,410 --> 00:32:02,410
fulfilled the ceremonial law, all the sacrifices and

842
00:32:02,410 --> 00:32:05,330
the priests and the temple and all the

843
00:32:05,330 --> 00:32:07,650
dietary restrictions and so on, has Jesus so

844
00:32:07,650 --> 00:32:09,890
fulfilled all that that now they're obsolete and

845
00:32:09,890 --> 00:32:11,070
we don't have to observe them?

846
00:32:11,690 --> 00:32:14,390
And Paul's answer to that question was yes.

847
00:32:15,490 --> 00:32:17,850
And amongst the Gentile converts, they didn't have

848
00:32:17,850 --> 00:32:18,710
to do any of that.

849
00:32:21,490 --> 00:32:24,250
Now, there was a controversy about that because

850
00:32:24,250 --> 00:32:25,390
there were many people who said, no, that's

851
00:32:25,390 --> 00:32:25,870
not right.

852
00:32:26,230 --> 00:32:28,110
And see verse 4 and 5 at the

853
00:32:28,110 --> 00:32:29,490
very beginning of the passage.

854
00:32:30,470 --> 00:32:34,130
People came and spied on what Paul calls

855
00:32:34,130 --> 00:32:35,850
the freedom we had in Christ.

856
00:32:36,430 --> 00:32:38,070
So Paul had to go to a special

857
00:32:38,070 --> 00:32:39,690
meeting with all the other apostles in Jerusalem

858
00:32:39,690 --> 00:32:42,030
where he contended for the truth, verse 5

859
00:32:42,030 --> 00:32:42,590
of the gospel.

860
00:32:43,190 --> 00:32:45,690
And as we will see, everyone came to

861
00:32:45,690 --> 00:32:47,290
agree that what Paul was doing was right.

862
00:32:47,290 --> 00:32:50,350
But the point is, verse 4 and 5

863
00:32:50,350 --> 00:32:53,570
says we have freedom in Christ because of

864
00:32:53,570 --> 00:32:54,790
the truth of the gospel.

865
00:32:55,490 --> 00:32:56,730
And in a moment, later on, we're going

866
00:32:56,730 --> 00:32:58,070
to get back to what that truth of

867
00:32:58,070 --> 00:32:58,630
the gospel is.

868
00:32:58,690 --> 00:32:59,830
But for a minute, I would like you

869
00:32:59,830 --> 00:33:02,290
to just consider the relationship between truth and

870
00:33:02,290 --> 00:33:04,030
freedom that Paul lays out in those two

871
00:33:04,030 --> 00:33:04,390
verses.

872
00:33:06,050 --> 00:33:08,610
Freedom, verse 4, comes from the truth.

873
00:33:08,730 --> 00:33:10,430
That's the reason why Paul was fighting for

874
00:33:10,430 --> 00:33:10,570
it.

875
00:33:11,090 --> 00:33:12,490
Freedom comes from the truth.

876
00:33:13,550 --> 00:33:15,710
And that's exactly the opposite of the way

877
00:33:15,710 --> 00:33:17,070
in which we in our culture think.

878
00:33:17,730 --> 00:33:19,150
We feel like if you have to comply

879
00:33:19,150 --> 00:33:21,490
with the truth, if you're forcing the truth,

880
00:33:21,570 --> 00:33:23,750
if you're having to obey the truth, that's

881
00:33:23,750 --> 00:33:24,610
a lack of freedom.

882
00:33:25,450 --> 00:33:26,430
Why do we feel that way?

883
00:33:27,730 --> 00:33:31,250
One of the great most influential philosophers, French

884
00:33:31,250 --> 00:33:33,850
philosophers of the last few years, was Foucault.

885
00:33:33,950 --> 00:33:37,330
And Foucault writes something that you may not

886
00:33:37,330 --> 00:33:39,650
have heard this quote, but the idea has

887
00:33:39,650 --> 00:33:41,850
been extremely influential in our culture.

888
00:33:41,850 --> 00:33:45,730
Foucault says, quote, Truth is a thing of

889
00:33:45,730 --> 00:33:46,370
this world.

890
00:33:47,710 --> 00:33:50,010
It is produced only by multiple forms of

891
00:33:50,010 --> 00:33:50,510
constraint.

892
00:33:51,630 --> 00:33:53,990
And that includes the regular effects of power.

893
00:33:56,030 --> 00:33:58,850
And what Foucault is saying is simply this.

894
00:33:59,490 --> 00:34:01,510
Truth claims are power plays.

895
00:34:02,210 --> 00:34:04,010
That when you claim to have the truth,

896
00:34:04,810 --> 00:34:06,330
what you're really doing is trying to get

897
00:34:06,330 --> 00:34:07,570
power over other people.

898
00:34:08,790 --> 00:34:10,230
Claiming to have the truth is a method

899
00:34:10,230 --> 00:34:10,929
of control.

900
00:34:11,690 --> 00:34:13,550
Claiming to have the truth is a form

901
00:34:13,550 --> 00:34:16,370
of constraint, a way of controlling other people's

902
00:34:16,370 --> 00:34:18,409
behavior and getting power over them.

903
00:34:20,429 --> 00:34:21,710
Now, that's the view.

904
00:34:22,310 --> 00:34:23,850
And maybe you think that as a Christian

905
00:34:23,850 --> 00:34:26,150
minister, I'm going to start off my response

906
00:34:26,150 --> 00:34:28,070
by saying, what a lot of malarkey.

907
00:34:29,389 --> 00:34:30,449
But I'm not.

908
00:34:32,230 --> 00:34:33,210
I am not.

909
00:34:33,469 --> 00:34:34,730
I think we need to hear that.

910
00:34:35,630 --> 00:34:40,090
See, Foucault was probably the number one disciple

911
00:34:40,090 --> 00:34:42,449
of Nietzsche in the 20th century.

912
00:34:43,350 --> 00:34:46,570
And Nietzsche established the hermeneutics of suspicion.

913
00:34:47,730 --> 00:34:49,429
And what somebody once said is the hermeneutics

914
00:34:49,429 --> 00:34:52,350
of suspicion is really philosophical squinting.

915
00:34:53,630 --> 00:34:55,730
And this is what they meant by that.

916
00:34:56,170 --> 00:34:58,810
If you would make a truth claim to

917
00:34:58,810 --> 00:35:04,970
Nietzsche, if you would say everyone should promote

918
00:35:04,970 --> 00:35:09,170
social justice, everyone should do justice in the

919
00:35:09,170 --> 00:35:15,200
world, Nietzsche would go, hmm, you're calling everyone

920
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:16,240
to justice, are you?

921
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:18,720
Why are you calling everyone to justice?

922
00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:20,220
Is it because you love justice?

923
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:22,160
Or is it because you want to start

924
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:23,980
a revolution that will put you on the

925
00:35:23,980 --> 00:35:25,760
top and give you power?

926
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:29,640
Or someone would say to Nietzsche, everyone should

927
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:35,680
obey God's Word, and Nietzsche would go, everyone

928
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:37,020
should obey God's Word, huh?

929
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:39,200
Of course he'd say this in German, but

930
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:39,740
I can't do that.

931
00:35:41,540 --> 00:35:43,160
Everyone would obey God's Word, huh?

932
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:45,780
Why do you call everyone to obey God's

933
00:35:45,780 --> 00:35:45,920
Word?

934
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:47,120
Is it out of love for God?

935
00:35:48,180 --> 00:35:49,500
Is it out of love for His Word?

936
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:52,120
Or is it as a way of establishing

937
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:54,200
your moral superiority?

938
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:56,660
Is it a way for you to justify

939
00:35:56,660 --> 00:36:01,280
yourself and to justify your oppressing and abusing,

940
00:36:01,460 --> 00:36:04,080
or marginalizing at least, or ignoring people who

941
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,020
don't believe God's Word?

942
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:10,060
The reason I want you to listen to

943
00:36:10,060 --> 00:36:12,200
what Nietzsche says and what Foucault says is

944
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:14,460
because it's exactly what Jesus says about the

945
00:36:14,460 --> 00:36:15,120
Pharisees.

946
00:36:16,460 --> 00:36:18,700
Jesus also says, when he looks at the

947
00:36:18,700 --> 00:36:20,960
Pharisees, he says, your truth claims, you're claiming

948
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:22,340
to have the truth, but your truth claims

949
00:36:22,340 --> 00:36:24,860
are ways of getting power, they're ways of

950
00:36:24,860 --> 00:36:25,960
justifying yourself.

951
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,440
They're ways of justifying your group.

952
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:31,000
They're ways of getting control over God.

953
00:36:31,100 --> 00:36:32,600
They're ways of getting control over other people.

954
00:36:33,260 --> 00:36:36,960
Listen, truth claims in general, says Jesus, are

955
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:37,740
power plays.

956
00:36:38,260 --> 00:36:41,360
And listen, when Foucault and Nietzsche and Jesus

957
00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:43,860
Christ all agree on something, you know, it's

958
00:36:43,860 --> 00:36:44,780
just got to be true.

959
00:36:44,980 --> 00:36:47,180
I mean, it just has to be true.

960
00:36:49,820 --> 00:36:53,040
But if you insist that all truth claims,

961
00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:57,640
all the time, always, are all power plays,

962
00:36:59,180 --> 00:37:01,940
they always destroy truth, that all truth claims

963
00:37:01,940 --> 00:37:03,560
destroy truth, that anybody who says they have

964
00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:06,800
the truth destroys freedom, you're wrong.

965
00:37:09,620 --> 00:37:12,080
C.S. Lewis's little book, The Abolition of

966
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,740
Man, is a great book, and maybe my

967
00:37:14,740 --> 00:37:17,400
favorite passage in The Abolition of Man reads

968
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:17,920
like this.

969
00:37:18,460 --> 00:37:21,200
He says, you cannot go on explaining away

970
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,340
forever, or you will find that you have

971
00:37:24,340 --> 00:37:27,080
explained your own explanation itself away.

972
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,660
You cannot go on seeing through things forever.

973
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:34,380
The whole point of seeing through something is

974
00:37:34,380 --> 00:37:35,760
to see something else through it.

975
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:38,440
For example, it's good that you can see

976
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,340
through a window, but that's only because the

977
00:37:40,340 --> 00:37:42,460
garden behind is opaque.

978
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:46,340
But if you could see through everything, if

979
00:37:46,340 --> 00:37:49,460
everything was transparent, a wholly transparent world would

980
00:37:49,460 --> 00:37:50,440
be an invisible world.

981
00:37:50,860 --> 00:37:54,820
And to see through everything would be the

982
00:37:54,820 --> 00:37:56,380
same as not to see.

983
00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:58,240
What's he saying?

984
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:00,020
See, he's talking about Nietzsche, and here's what

985
00:38:00,020 --> 00:38:00,400
he's saying.

986
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:04,120
If you say all truth claims are power

987
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:05,220
plays, so is that.

988
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:06,140
What is that?

989
00:38:06,460 --> 00:38:07,780
That's a truth claim, and so is that,

990
00:38:07,820 --> 00:38:08,660
so I don't have to listen to you,

991
00:38:08,660 --> 00:38:08,920
do I?

992
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:14,600
Or if you say, like Freud says, all

993
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:17,240
statements about religion and God are really just

994
00:38:17,240 --> 00:38:19,580
psychological projections to deal with your own guilt

995
00:38:19,580 --> 00:38:21,260
and insecurity, well, so is that.

996
00:38:21,340 --> 00:38:21,720
What is that?

997
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:23,840
That's a statement about God and religion, and

998
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,700
so is that, so I don't have to

999
00:38:25,700 --> 00:38:26,380
listen to you.

1000
00:38:27,220 --> 00:38:28,860
You know, you've explained away your explanation.

1001
00:38:29,740 --> 00:38:29,960
See?

1002
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,940
Or if the evolutionary biologists say, you know,

1003
00:38:34,980 --> 00:38:37,360
everything your mind tells you about God, morality,

1004
00:38:37,500 --> 00:38:39,180
and truth, everything your mind tells you is

1005
00:38:39,180 --> 00:38:45,780
really just hardwired brain chemistry that's there in

1006
00:38:45,780 --> 00:38:47,060
order for you to pass along your genetic

1007
00:38:47,060 --> 00:38:47,400
code.

1008
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,380
Well, everything their brain tells them about everything,

1009
00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:51,620
including the evolutionary biology, is the same, so

1010
00:38:51,620 --> 00:38:52,520
why should I listen to it?

1011
00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:54,360
See, to see through everything is not to

1012
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:54,660
see.

1013
00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:57,460
And to say no one should make truth

1014
00:38:57,460 --> 00:38:59,400
claims because that's just a power play, that's

1015
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:00,820
the biggest power trip of all because that's

1016
00:39:00,820 --> 00:39:02,000
a great big needle you can go around

1017
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:03,440
and you can punch everybody's balloon.

1018
00:39:03,660 --> 00:39:04,940
You better punch your own, and guess what?

1019
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:06,140
You're back to square one.

1020
00:39:07,830 --> 00:39:09,830
Because everybody does make truth claims.

1021
00:39:10,170 --> 00:39:11,690
Everybody believes in truth claims.

1022
00:39:11,970 --> 00:39:13,250
To say no one should say they have

1023
00:39:13,250 --> 00:39:15,950
the truth is itself the most incredible power

1024
00:39:15,950 --> 00:39:16,270
trip.

1025
00:39:16,270 --> 00:39:17,590
It's a way of getting on top of

1026
00:39:17,590 --> 00:39:20,130
your sophistication, you know, and your jadedness over

1027
00:39:20,130 --> 00:39:20,870
everybody else.

1028
00:39:21,270 --> 00:39:23,910
Look, everybody does make truth claims.

1029
00:39:24,790 --> 00:39:25,590
You have to.

1030
00:39:26,570 --> 00:39:29,690
And therefore, it's not making a truth claim

1031
00:39:29,690 --> 00:39:31,470
per se that leads to oppression.

1032
00:39:31,710 --> 00:39:33,090
It's what's in the claim.

1033
00:39:33,630 --> 00:39:34,950
It's what's in the truth claim.

1034
00:39:35,590 --> 00:39:36,110
Example.

1035
00:39:36,570 --> 00:39:39,830
I have just been absolutely amazed by the,

1036
00:39:40,450 --> 00:39:43,570
like a lot of you, by the reports

1037
00:39:43,570 --> 00:39:47,370
coming out of Lancaster County in the aftermath

1038
00:39:47,370 --> 00:39:49,990
of the terrible tragedy.

1039
00:39:50,530 --> 00:39:52,070
You know, a man comes into a school

1040
00:39:53,810 --> 00:39:57,290
and slaughters these little girls, these Amish school

1041
00:39:57,290 --> 00:39:57,650
children.

1042
00:39:57,950 --> 00:39:58,210
All right.

1043
00:39:59,210 --> 00:40:00,150
And what do we see?

1044
00:40:01,150 --> 00:40:02,710
One of the things that most amazed me

1045
00:40:02,710 --> 00:40:04,130
was we understand that one of the little

1046
00:40:04,130 --> 00:40:06,590
girls who was killed offered to die for

1047
00:40:06,590 --> 00:40:07,930
the rest of them, said kill me and

1048
00:40:07,930 --> 00:40:08,730
let the rest go.

1049
00:40:09,330 --> 00:40:11,370
And by the way, they did not watch

1050
00:40:11,370 --> 00:40:11,850
television.

1051
00:40:12,690 --> 00:40:14,550
They did not see movies.

1052
00:40:15,610 --> 00:40:17,270
Where would she have gotten that idea of

1053
00:40:17,270 --> 00:40:18,510
dying for her friends?

1054
00:40:19,870 --> 00:40:21,950
And when it was all over, the amazing

1055
00:40:21,950 --> 00:40:23,270
thing, in fact, usually you could see the

1056
00:40:23,270 --> 00:40:27,910
reporters themselves were amazed, that the community and

1057
00:40:27,910 --> 00:40:32,850
the bereaved families not only forgave the man

1058
00:40:32,850 --> 00:40:35,070
who did it, but took up a collection

1059
00:40:35,070 --> 00:40:37,710
and prayed and forgave the widow and the

1060
00:40:37,710 --> 00:40:39,130
children of the man who did it.

1061
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:46,040
Now, by anyone's definition, the Amish are fundamentalists,

1062
00:40:48,630 --> 00:40:50,530
and they believe they have the truth.

1063
00:40:50,690 --> 00:40:52,650
And have you ever heard anybody say, oh,

1064
00:40:52,790 --> 00:40:53,990
fundamentalists, they think they have the truth.

1065
00:40:54,010 --> 00:40:54,830
That leads to oppression.

1066
00:40:55,010 --> 00:40:55,610
It didn't there.

1067
00:40:55,690 --> 00:40:56,030
Why not?

1068
00:40:56,050 --> 00:40:58,350
Because it depends on what the fundamental is.

1069
00:40:59,330 --> 00:41:01,470
And the fundamental in this case is a

1070
00:41:01,470 --> 00:41:03,730
man dying on the cross for his enemies,

1071
00:41:04,470 --> 00:41:07,950
a man with whose last breath he blesses

1072
00:41:07,950 --> 00:41:10,270
the people around him and prays for their

1073
00:41:10,270 --> 00:41:10,690
forgiveness.

1074
00:41:11,330 --> 00:41:12,890
And if you take that into the very

1075
00:41:12,890 --> 00:41:15,010
center of your life, then you begin to

1076
00:41:15,010 --> 00:41:17,830
see that it's not truth claims per se

1077
00:41:17,830 --> 00:41:19,170
that erode freedom.

1078
00:41:19,470 --> 00:41:21,270
It's what's in the truth claim.

1079
00:41:22,030 --> 00:41:24,610
It's true, of course, that truth claims can

1080
00:41:24,610 --> 00:41:26,950
be used to destroy freedom, but there is

1081
00:41:26,950 --> 00:41:29,530
no freedom without the truth, because as Jesus

1082
00:41:29,530 --> 00:41:32,110
himself said in John 8, the truth will

1083
00:41:32,110 --> 00:41:32,650
set you free.

1084
00:41:33,130 --> 00:41:35,790
So it's not just that truth claims aren't

1085
00:41:35,790 --> 00:41:37,310
necessarily eroding of freedom.

1086
00:41:37,310 --> 00:41:40,110
You've got to have the truth and be

1087
00:41:40,110 --> 00:41:42,410
in touch with the truth to have freedom.

1088
00:41:42,970 --> 00:41:44,470
Only the truth will set you free.

1089
00:41:44,590 --> 00:41:45,090
What do I mean?

1090
00:41:45,510 --> 00:41:47,730
I've always wished I was a ship's captain

1091
00:41:48,430 --> 00:41:50,110
in, say, the 16th century.

1092
00:41:50,370 --> 00:41:51,530
I always wanted to be the captain of

1093
00:41:51,530 --> 00:41:52,550
one of those incredible ships.

1094
00:41:53,610 --> 00:41:55,870
And if I was a ship's captain and

1095
00:41:55,870 --> 00:41:59,390
I was trying to take my ship into

1096
00:41:59,390 --> 00:42:03,470
the English Channel, you know, between Britain and

1097
00:42:03,470 --> 00:42:07,070
France, but I made a mistake and I

1098
00:42:07,070 --> 00:42:10,430
sailed up the Bristol Channel, which is far

1099
00:42:10,430 --> 00:42:12,010
more shallow, and I didn't realize it.

1100
00:42:12,390 --> 00:42:14,710
And I just plowed right across thinking it

1101
00:42:14,710 --> 00:42:15,350
was the English Channel.

1102
00:42:16,010 --> 00:42:17,390
Very soon I would have run aground.

1103
00:42:17,830 --> 00:42:19,470
Very soon my ship would be wrecked.

1104
00:42:19,930 --> 00:42:21,530
Everybody would be killed.

1105
00:42:23,230 --> 00:42:23,630
Why?

1106
00:42:23,950 --> 00:42:25,090
I was out of touch with the truth.

1107
00:42:25,810 --> 00:42:26,890
I was out of touch with the truth

1108
00:42:26,890 --> 00:42:28,850
of how deep the channel was.

1109
00:42:29,090 --> 00:42:30,050
I was out of touch with the truth

1110
00:42:30,050 --> 00:42:30,950
of where I was.

1111
00:42:31,910 --> 00:42:33,070
Maybe somebody lied to me.

1112
00:42:34,170 --> 00:42:36,070
Maybe I would just miscalculate it, but either

1113
00:42:36,070 --> 00:42:37,190
way I was out of touch with reality.

1114
00:42:37,290 --> 00:42:38,070
I was out of touch with the truth,

1115
00:42:38,090 --> 00:42:39,430
and the truth would have set me free.

1116
00:42:40,590 --> 00:42:41,870
And only the truth would have set me

1117
00:42:41,870 --> 00:42:42,190
free.

1118
00:42:43,090 --> 00:42:45,030
And you see, the idea, the modern idea

1119
00:42:45,030 --> 00:42:46,150
that you have to get away from the

1120
00:42:46,150 --> 00:42:48,110
truth somehow to be free and get out

1121
00:42:48,110 --> 00:42:49,730
from under the truth and stop, get away

1122
00:42:49,730 --> 00:42:51,210
from the truth to be free is silly.

1123
00:42:51,650 --> 00:42:52,390
It's actually stupid.

1124
00:42:52,890 --> 00:42:54,030
Only the truth will set you free.

1125
00:42:54,150 --> 00:42:56,250
Being closely in touch with the truth and

1126
00:42:56,250 --> 00:42:58,330
living in accordance with the truth will set

1127
00:42:58,330 --> 00:42:58,690
you free.

1128
00:42:59,230 --> 00:43:00,510
Ah, you say, well, maybe that's true in

1129
00:43:00,510 --> 00:43:03,230
the empirical realm, you know, the scientific realm,

1130
00:43:03,410 --> 00:43:05,410
but not necessarily in the moral spiritual realm.

1131
00:43:05,670 --> 00:43:05,870
Oh, really?

1132
00:43:07,070 --> 00:43:08,470
There you can live any way you want.

1133
00:43:08,550 --> 00:43:08,870
Oh, yeah?

1134
00:43:10,900 --> 00:43:12,200
I think I can say without fear of

1135
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:15,160
contradiction, if you live for money and only

1136
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:16,780
for money, if you live only to make

1137
00:43:16,780 --> 00:43:19,720
money, if you live only to spend money,

1138
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:21,900
if you live only to have money, nothing

1139
00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:22,700
else matters to you.

1140
00:43:22,700 --> 00:43:23,820
You will shrivel your soul.

1141
00:43:25,180 --> 00:43:26,720
You will destroy all your relationships.

1142
00:43:28,500 --> 00:43:30,560
You might work too hard and ruin your

1143
00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:32,320
health and your body.

1144
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:33,100
Why?

1145
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:35,960
Because you have run aground on the rocks

1146
00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:39,280
of a moral spiritual reality that's there every

1147
00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:40,780
bit as much as the Bristol Channel was

1148
00:43:40,780 --> 00:43:41,040
there.

1149
00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:42,300
It's there.

1150
00:43:42,660 --> 00:43:44,060
It's the way things are.

1151
00:43:44,300 --> 00:43:45,780
You are out of accord with the truth

1152
00:43:45,780 --> 00:43:47,780
of how human beings ought to live.

1153
00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:51,680
Only the truth will set you free.

1154
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:54,800
Truth is much more important than you know.

1155
00:43:55,420 --> 00:43:57,080
Freedom comes from submission to the truth, not

1156
00:43:57,080 --> 00:43:58,440
getting away from it.

1157
00:43:59,220 --> 00:44:00,920
Well, you say, now that leads us to

1158
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:01,300
a question.

1159
00:44:01,300 --> 00:44:02,140
Wow.

1160
00:44:02,660 --> 00:44:04,740
I guess I always thought of freedom as

1161
00:44:04,740 --> 00:44:06,080
being able to create your own truth, so

1162
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:08,220
now you're saying that freedom is submission to

1163
00:44:08,220 --> 00:44:08,480
the truth.

1164
00:44:08,620 --> 00:44:08,900
Why?

1165
00:44:09,020 --> 00:44:09,440
How's that?

1166
00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:11,400
Well, you see, what we're getting to is

1167
00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:12,800
point two, fortunately.

1168
00:44:13,380 --> 00:44:15,980
And point two is, freedom now is much

1169
00:44:15,980 --> 00:44:17,660
more complex than you think.

1170
00:44:20,700 --> 00:44:23,200
Paul gets up to Jerusalem and has this

1171
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,940
debate, has this discussion, and everybody says, yeah,

1172
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:26,480
you're okay.

1173
00:44:26,900 --> 00:44:29,180
Your mission to the Gentiles is legit.

1174
00:44:29,180 --> 00:44:31,980
And so they shake hands, and we see

1175
00:44:31,980 --> 00:44:33,840
down here in verse nine, it says, so

1176
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,180
we all agreed that we should go to

1177
00:44:36,180 --> 00:44:37,880
the Gentiles, they to the Jews, but then

1178
00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:38,780
look at verse 10.

1179
00:44:39,140 --> 00:44:41,160
All they asked was that we should continue

1180
00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,720
to remember the poor, the very thing I

1181
00:44:43,720 --> 00:44:44,440
was eager to do.

1182
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:48,420
Well, we can't, I think I've told you,

1183
00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:50,760
in this series, we don't go that deeply

1184
00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:53,600
into these passages, but there's a lot there,

1185
00:44:53,700 --> 00:44:54,520
and here's what it is.

1186
00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:58,280
Paul was going to the Gentiles, and that

1187
00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:00,140
was a place where the power was and

1188
00:45:00,140 --> 00:45:00,440
the money.

1189
00:45:02,180 --> 00:45:04,480
And what the apostles in Jerusalem were trying

1190
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:07,680
to remind him of is the Judean Christians,

1191
00:45:08,020 --> 00:45:09,960
and in fact, you know, the people of

1192
00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:12,160
Judea had far less money and far less

1193
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,040
power, and what they were saying is, remember

1194
00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:15,300
what the Bible says about the poor.

1195
00:45:16,540 --> 00:45:18,880
You know, you can win them to Christ,

1196
00:45:18,980 --> 00:45:20,280
but they have to see what the Bible

1197
00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:20,560
says.

1198
00:45:20,780 --> 00:45:22,340
They have to care about the poor.

1199
00:45:22,980 --> 00:45:25,020
And suddenly you begin to realize something really

1200
00:45:25,020 --> 00:45:25,360
weird.

1201
00:45:25,860 --> 00:45:28,060
In verse four, Paul says we're free in

1202
00:45:28,060 --> 00:45:28,320
Christ.

1203
00:45:28,420 --> 00:45:29,480
We're free, free.

1204
00:45:31,140 --> 00:45:32,940
But now in verse 10, we see that

1205
00:45:32,940 --> 00:45:35,680
Paul says, yes, of course, we are still

1206
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:37,980
restricted to the biblical ethical norms.

1207
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:39,160
You can't live any way you want.

1208
00:45:39,220 --> 00:45:40,500
You can't spend your money any way you

1209
00:45:40,500 --> 00:45:40,660
want.

1210
00:45:40,740 --> 00:45:41,940
You have to tell the truth.

1211
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:43,300
You can't commit adultery, all that.

1212
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:45,840
So now wait a minute.

1213
00:45:46,020 --> 00:45:47,880
Here in verse four, we're free, he says,

1214
00:45:47,980 --> 00:45:49,320
but in verse 10, we're restricted.

1215
00:45:50,780 --> 00:45:52,760
We're still restricted to certain living in certain

1216
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,180
ways, and our response as modern people is,

1217
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,360
wait a minute, I thought that freedom is

1218
00:45:57,360 --> 00:45:58,660
the absence of restrictions.

1219
00:45:59,780 --> 00:46:01,920
I thought freedom is the absence of all

1220
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:03,520
constraints and boundaries and restrictions.

1221
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:07,620
The more, the fewer restrictions there are, the

1222
00:46:07,620 --> 00:46:08,680
more free I am.

1223
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,280
Freedom is not having any restrictions on anything

1224
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:11,760
I do.

1225
00:46:13,220 --> 00:46:13,700
Wrong.

1226
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:15,680
Oversimplification.

1227
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:17,300
I'm here to try to show you that.

1228
00:46:17,380 --> 00:46:18,700
Freedom is much more complex than that.

1229
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:19,880
Let me give you a couple examples.

1230
00:46:20,020 --> 00:46:22,280
First of all, as you get older, as

1231
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:25,320
you will find, you can't just eat anything

1232
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:25,760
you want.

1233
00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:29,620
And at a certain point, the doctor will

1234
00:46:29,620 --> 00:46:34,220
say to you, now look, there's a lot

1235
00:46:34,220 --> 00:46:35,320
of these things that you love eating.

1236
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:36,720
You can't eat them anymore.

1237
00:46:37,860 --> 00:46:38,940
And so what you're going to have to

1238
00:46:38,940 --> 00:46:40,060
do is you're going to have to restrict

1239
00:46:40,060 --> 00:46:40,680
your freedom.

1240
00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:43,160
You're going to see them on the table.

1241
00:46:43,300 --> 00:46:44,500
You're going to see them on the shelf.

1242
00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:45,460
You're going to get near them, and you're

1243
00:46:45,460 --> 00:46:47,680
going to have to go, no.

1244
00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:51,560
And you restrict your constraint.

1245
00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:52,340
That's constraint.

1246
00:46:52,500 --> 00:46:53,120
That's restriction.

1247
00:46:54,460 --> 00:46:55,880
So you have to give up your freedom

1248
00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,140
to eat anything you want if you want

1249
00:46:58,140 --> 00:46:59,940
to be released into the richer, deeper freedom

1250
00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:01,760
of good health and long life.

1251
00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:03,720
Or if you want to, you can just

1252
00:47:03,720 --> 00:47:04,400
eat anything you want.

1253
00:47:05,020 --> 00:47:05,820
No restrictions.

1254
00:47:06,100 --> 00:47:07,680
Be totally free.

1255
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:10,700
And then you will lose both your health

1256
00:47:10,700 --> 00:47:14,160
and probably have a shorter year.

1257
00:47:15,180 --> 00:47:16,420
You can't have them both.

1258
00:47:17,380 --> 00:47:22,720
And obviously, the freeing, the liberating restriction of

1259
00:47:22,720 --> 00:47:25,600
freedom is to be restricted here so that

1260
00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:27,880
you can get that richer and deeper freedom

1261
00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:29,400
of good health and long life.

1262
00:47:29,500 --> 00:47:30,460
Let me give you another example.

1263
00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:33,340
See, it's not as simple as just loss

1264
00:47:33,340 --> 00:47:34,020
of restrictions.

1265
00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:37,680
A lot of you have musical skill because

1266
00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:38,560
this is New York City.

1267
00:47:39,220 --> 00:47:40,700
And at some point in your life, you

1268
00:47:40,700 --> 00:47:41,920
made a decision.

1269
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:44,040
And that is you were going to restrict

1270
00:47:44,040 --> 00:47:45,900
your freedom because you were going to practice,

1271
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:46,740
practice, practice.

1272
00:47:47,700 --> 00:47:48,720
You're going to practice every day.

1273
00:47:48,720 --> 00:47:49,940
You're going to practice a long time every

1274
00:47:49,940 --> 00:47:50,140
day.

1275
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:51,680
You're going to practice, practice, practice, which means

1276
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:53,660
all kinds of stuff that other people can

1277
00:47:53,660 --> 00:47:54,360
do you can't do.

1278
00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:55,220
You don't have time.

1279
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:58,220
So you're restricting yourself now, but only if

1280
00:47:58,220 --> 00:48:01,280
you restrict yourself then would you eventually be

1281
00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:03,320
released into the far richer, deeper freedom of

1282
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:05,720
being able to perform, being able to express,

1283
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:07,840
being able to thrill a crowd, being able

1284
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:09,800
to compose, all kinds of stuff you could

1285
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:11,860
never even begin to do if you didn't

1286
00:48:11,860 --> 00:48:12,920
restrict your freedom here.

1287
00:48:13,060 --> 00:48:14,560
You could never be released into that freedom

1288
00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:14,800
there.

1289
00:48:15,220 --> 00:48:16,720
Oh, you're starting to say, okay, I see

1290
00:48:16,720 --> 00:48:17,280
it, I see it.

1291
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:19,900
So this naive idea that freedom is an

1292
00:48:19,900 --> 00:48:21,120
absence of restriction, no.

1293
00:48:22,140 --> 00:48:24,600
Discipline, restriction can release you into a greater

1294
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:25,040
freedom.

1295
00:48:25,460 --> 00:48:27,900
So discipline is a good in itself, right?

1296
00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:28,720
No, no, no.

1297
00:48:29,500 --> 00:48:29,860
Oh, no.

1298
00:48:30,940 --> 00:48:32,880
Hey, freedom is not the absence of restriction,

1299
00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:34,760
but freedom is not the presence of restriction.

1300
00:48:35,060 --> 00:48:37,260
You know, in a more liberal culture like

1301
00:48:37,260 --> 00:48:39,240
ours, we think of freedom as the absence

1302
00:48:39,240 --> 00:48:39,920
of constraint.

1303
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:42,900
But in traditional cultures, there's a feeling like

1304
00:48:42,900 --> 00:48:45,040
discipline is a good per se.

1305
00:48:45,220 --> 00:48:46,180
Discipline is always good.

1306
00:48:46,180 --> 00:48:47,540
That freedom comes through discipline.

1307
00:48:47,700 --> 00:48:47,840
Really?

1308
00:48:48,060 --> 00:48:52,640
Well, for example, imagine a young guy, 22

1309
00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:57,940
years old, 5'3", he's 115 pounds, and

1310
00:48:57,940 --> 00:48:59,660
he dreams of being an NFL lineman.

1311
00:49:01,540 --> 00:49:04,260
And because he's gone to American schools all

1312
00:49:04,260 --> 00:49:06,340
of his life, every year his teacher has

1313
00:49:06,340 --> 00:49:08,040
said, you can be anything you want to

1314
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:08,260
be.

1315
00:49:11,910 --> 00:49:13,510
And like an idiot, he believed.

1316
00:49:14,830 --> 00:49:15,950
And so now he gets up and he

1317
00:49:15,950 --> 00:49:16,810
says, this is my dream.

1318
00:49:16,970 --> 00:49:17,890
I'm going to be an NFL lineman.

1319
00:49:18,010 --> 00:49:19,010
I'm going to practice and I'm going to

1320
00:49:19,010 --> 00:49:21,950
discipline myself and I'm going to restrict myself

1321
00:49:21,950 --> 00:49:23,210
and I'm going to work out and I'm

1322
00:49:23,210 --> 00:49:24,890
going to build myself up.

1323
00:49:24,970 --> 00:49:26,010
And you know, he's going to waste his

1324
00:49:26,010 --> 00:49:26,390
life.

1325
00:49:30,990 --> 00:49:34,570
Because freedom is not the absence of restriction

1326
00:49:34,570 --> 00:49:36,210
or the presence of restrictions.

1327
00:49:38,170 --> 00:49:41,350
But it's freedom is the presence of the

1328
00:49:41,350 --> 00:49:44,170
right restrictions, the ones that fit in with

1329
00:49:44,170 --> 00:49:46,670
your nature, with who you are, the truth

1330
00:49:46,670 --> 00:49:48,070
of who God has made you to be,

1331
00:49:48,550 --> 00:49:51,210
the truth of your, the givenness of your

1332
00:49:51,210 --> 00:49:51,550
nature.

1333
00:49:52,770 --> 00:49:55,970
And it's a great, if you find the

1334
00:49:55,970 --> 00:49:57,930
truth of who you are, the truth of

1335
00:49:57,930 --> 00:49:58,870
what you've been given.

1336
00:49:59,450 --> 00:50:02,770
See, the musician, because of her aptitude, restriction

1337
00:50:02,770 --> 00:50:03,590
releases her.

1338
00:50:04,210 --> 00:50:07,530
The little guy who wants to get into

1339
00:50:07,530 --> 00:50:10,030
NFL, you know, into the NFL, because he

1340
00:50:10,030 --> 00:50:12,210
doesn't have the nature and the aptitude, restriction

1341
00:50:12,210 --> 00:50:13,130
destroys him.

1342
00:50:13,710 --> 00:50:15,550
Freedom is not the presence of restriction or

1343
00:50:15,550 --> 00:50:16,610
the absence of restriction.

1344
00:50:17,210 --> 00:50:19,250
It's the presence of the right restrictions, the

1345
00:50:19,250 --> 00:50:20,750
ones in accord with the truth, who God

1346
00:50:20,750 --> 00:50:21,490
made you to be.

1347
00:50:22,110 --> 00:50:23,790
And then when you give up your freedom,

1348
00:50:24,110 --> 00:50:27,570
you surrender to those restrictions.

1349
00:50:27,830 --> 00:50:30,230
It will release you into richer, deeper freedom.

1350
00:50:32,550 --> 00:50:33,590
The truth will set you free.

1351
00:50:34,610 --> 00:50:36,070
This is the reason why, for example, you

1352
00:50:36,070 --> 00:50:38,570
know, a fish out on the grass.

1353
00:50:39,310 --> 00:50:42,210
A fish out on the grass isn't free.

1354
00:50:43,170 --> 00:50:44,690
A fish out on the grass has lost

1355
00:50:44,690 --> 00:50:47,130
its freedom to move, even to live.

1356
00:50:48,390 --> 00:50:51,830
You have to restrict the fish to the

1357
00:50:51,830 --> 00:50:52,150
water.

1358
00:50:52,870 --> 00:50:55,950
And in the water, its strength returns and

1359
00:50:55,950 --> 00:50:57,770
its power returns and it can, you know,

1360
00:50:58,190 --> 00:50:59,690
swim away like lightning.

1361
00:51:00,770 --> 00:51:03,310
And therefore, freedom is a lot more complex,

1362
00:51:03,450 --> 00:51:03,970
is it not?

1363
00:51:04,330 --> 00:51:06,650
It's the right restrictions, the restrictions that fit

1364
00:51:06,650 --> 00:51:08,590
in with the givenness of your nature, the

1365
00:51:08,590 --> 00:51:10,210
restrictions that fit in with the truth of

1366
00:51:10,210 --> 00:51:11,650
who you are and the truth of how

1367
00:51:11,650 --> 00:51:12,170
things are.

1368
00:51:12,550 --> 00:51:14,430
And, you know, the ultimate example of the

1369
00:51:14,430 --> 00:51:16,370
complexity of freedom is love.

1370
00:51:17,690 --> 00:51:18,870
Oh, my goodness, yes.

1371
00:51:19,930 --> 00:51:22,750
You see, love is a way to get

1372
00:51:22,750 --> 00:51:23,950
free, is it not?

1373
00:51:24,050 --> 00:51:25,910
I mean, isn't love bringing you the freedom

1374
00:51:25,910 --> 00:51:27,930
of security and fulfillment and joy?

1375
00:51:28,350 --> 00:51:32,390
But Francoise Sagan, the famous French writer, some

1376
00:51:32,390 --> 00:51:34,450
years ago when she was having a magazine

1377
00:51:34,450 --> 00:51:36,450
interview, she was, I think, kind of up

1378
00:51:36,450 --> 00:51:38,270
in years at the time, and they asked

1379
00:51:38,270 --> 00:51:39,790
her, have you lived the life you wanted

1380
00:51:39,790 --> 00:51:40,250
to live?

1381
00:51:40,250 --> 00:51:42,090
And she said, yes, I have lived to

1382
00:51:42,090 --> 00:51:42,650
be free.

1383
00:51:43,090 --> 00:51:44,890
And then the interviewer said, then you have

1384
00:51:44,890 --> 00:51:45,990
had the freedom you wanted.

1385
00:51:47,230 --> 00:51:50,650
And Sagan said, yes, well, I was obviously

1386
00:51:50,650 --> 00:51:52,610
not free when I was in love with

1387
00:51:52,610 --> 00:51:54,690
someone, but one's not in love all the

1388
00:51:54,690 --> 00:51:55,530
time, fortunately.

1389
00:51:56,050 --> 00:51:58,490
Apart from that, yes, I've been free.

1390
00:52:00,210 --> 00:52:02,010
Very realistic, and I'll tell you why.

1391
00:52:02,790 --> 00:52:06,350
The freedoms of love only come if you

1392
00:52:06,350 --> 00:52:10,350
surrender all kinds of individual freedom.

1393
00:52:11,210 --> 00:52:13,490
I remember, it was very shortly after I

1394
00:52:13,490 --> 00:52:16,150
was married, like days or maybe the most

1395
00:52:16,150 --> 00:52:18,290
weeks after I was married, I remember I

1396
00:52:18,290 --> 00:52:23,770
was coming home from work, and I suddenly

1397
00:52:23,770 --> 00:52:24,470
had an idea.

1398
00:52:24,890 --> 00:52:26,250
I don't even remember what it was, but

1399
00:52:26,250 --> 00:52:27,390
I took a detour.

1400
00:52:27,490 --> 00:52:29,490
I went someplace to buy something or something,

1401
00:52:29,650 --> 00:52:31,090
and I got home about 25 minutes late.

1402
00:52:31,690 --> 00:52:32,910
And my wife looked at me and said,

1403
00:52:33,330 --> 00:52:34,650
where were you?

1404
00:52:36,630 --> 00:52:38,430
Now, you have to remember, this was before

1405
00:52:38,430 --> 00:52:40,350
cell phones, and as some of you probably

1406
00:52:40,350 --> 00:52:41,950
suspect, it was before phones.

1407
00:52:45,660 --> 00:52:46,960
But the whole point was, so I should

1408
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:47,980
have written her a letter, I guess.

1409
00:52:50,940 --> 00:52:52,640
Pony Express probably would have been a good

1410
00:52:52,640 --> 00:52:52,840
idea.

1411
00:52:53,100 --> 00:52:56,060
But the point was, I mean, all of

1412
00:52:56,060 --> 00:52:57,480
my life, I had, you can make a

1413
00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:01,340
little, I suddenly realized, oh my gosh, I'm

1414
00:53:01,340 --> 00:53:04,480
married, and therefore, my right to make even

1415
00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:07,580
small unilateral decisions is over forever.

1416
00:53:09,580 --> 00:53:13,020
Because the more intimate a love relationship, the

1417
00:53:13,020 --> 00:53:14,640
less independent you can be.

1418
00:53:17,850 --> 00:53:20,230
The only way to get the freedoms of

1419
00:53:20,230 --> 00:53:23,290
love is to surrender freedom, all kinds of

1420
00:53:23,290 --> 00:53:24,110
freedom, drastically.

1421
00:53:25,930 --> 00:53:27,210
And this is, now we've come to the

1422
00:53:27,210 --> 00:53:29,770
place where New Yorkers really start to freak

1423
00:53:29,770 --> 00:53:30,050
out.

1424
00:53:31,650 --> 00:53:33,450
Because first of all, we saw what?

1425
00:53:33,950 --> 00:53:35,290
You've got to know the truth.

1426
00:53:35,670 --> 00:53:37,510
You've got to know the truth, and you

1427
00:53:37,510 --> 00:53:39,430
have to surrender the truth, and have to

1428
00:53:39,430 --> 00:53:41,490
surrender your freedoms to the truth to get

1429
00:53:41,490 --> 00:53:42,450
the reach of your freedom.

1430
00:53:43,090 --> 00:53:44,950
In every area, and a lot of you

1431
00:53:44,950 --> 00:53:47,170
are saying, and here you're being, I understand,

1432
00:53:47,750 --> 00:53:49,830
you're saying, look, I have done that in

1433
00:53:49,830 --> 00:53:51,910
a couple of love relationships where I gave

1434
00:53:51,910 --> 00:53:52,750
up my independence.

1435
00:53:53,890 --> 00:53:55,110
I gave up my independence.

1436
00:53:55,330 --> 00:53:57,770
I started sacrificing, but the other person didn't,

1437
00:53:57,870 --> 00:53:59,610
and I felt dehumanized and exploited.

1438
00:54:00,610 --> 00:54:02,430
And I'm afraid of going back into those

1439
00:54:02,430 --> 00:54:04,110
kinds of relationships, and I'm certainly afraid of

1440
00:54:04,110 --> 00:54:05,270
what you're trying to get me to.

1441
00:54:05,270 --> 00:54:06,690
I know what you're doing.

1442
00:54:06,850 --> 00:54:07,370
You're a minister.

1443
00:54:07,550 --> 00:54:07,950
You're a preacher.

1444
00:54:08,090 --> 00:54:08,590
It's a church.

1445
00:54:08,730 --> 00:54:10,170
You're trying to get me to say, you

1446
00:54:10,170 --> 00:54:11,670
need to surrender to the truth of God.

1447
00:54:11,950 --> 00:54:12,650
I'm afraid.

1448
00:54:13,930 --> 00:54:15,190
I'm afraid of being exploited.

1449
00:54:15,770 --> 00:54:17,070
I'm afraid of being used.

1450
00:54:18,390 --> 00:54:19,090
Point three.

1451
00:54:20,190 --> 00:54:21,750
Jesus is more liberating than you thought.

1452
00:54:22,270 --> 00:54:22,910
There's a movie.

1453
00:54:23,270 --> 00:54:25,030
In the movie, I, Robot, it's only a

1454
00:54:25,030 --> 00:54:25,790
couple years old, right?

1455
00:54:26,010 --> 00:54:28,210
The movie, I, Robot, not the book, because

1456
00:54:28,210 --> 00:54:29,430
the movie has nothing to do with the

1457
00:54:29,430 --> 00:54:30,010
book at all.

1458
00:54:30,970 --> 00:54:33,290
But in the movie, the main character, I

1459
00:54:33,290 --> 00:54:36,370
think pretty much, is Sonny, who is a

1460
00:54:36,370 --> 00:54:36,730
robot.

1461
00:54:37,850 --> 00:54:39,670
And Sonny the robot has been created by

1462
00:54:39,670 --> 00:54:43,590
his maker to head off a robot rebellion.

1463
00:54:44,330 --> 00:54:45,390
And at the end of the movie, he's

1464
00:54:45,390 --> 00:54:46,050
already done that.

1465
00:54:46,150 --> 00:54:48,930
So he's fulfilled his design program.

1466
00:54:49,030 --> 00:54:50,170
But now he has nothing to do because

1467
00:54:50,170 --> 00:54:51,790
he wasn't made to do anything past that.

1468
00:54:52,110 --> 00:54:53,870
And he says to Detective Spooner, who's the

1469
00:54:53,870 --> 00:54:56,370
other main character, he says, now that I

1470
00:54:56,370 --> 00:54:58,190
have fulfilled my purpose, I don't know what

1471
00:54:58,190 --> 00:54:58,610
to do.

1472
00:55:00,390 --> 00:55:02,550
And Detective Spooner says, I guess you'll have

1473
00:55:02,550 --> 00:55:03,850
to find your way like the rest of

1474
00:55:03,850 --> 00:55:04,230
us, Sonny.

1475
00:55:04,310 --> 00:55:06,050
That's what it means to be free.

1476
00:55:07,510 --> 00:55:11,030
And the movie's script writer has perfectly enshrined

1477
00:55:11,030 --> 00:55:12,110
the modern understanding.

1478
00:55:13,930 --> 00:55:15,490
What it's saying is this.

1479
00:55:15,590 --> 00:55:17,470
If there is a design program, if there

1480
00:55:17,470 --> 00:55:19,450
is a set of divine directives from your

1481
00:55:19,450 --> 00:55:24,120
maker that you have to comply with, you're

1482
00:55:24,120 --> 00:55:24,740
just a robot.

1483
00:55:25,900 --> 00:55:26,820
You're dehumanized.

1484
00:55:27,460 --> 00:55:28,160
You're not free.

1485
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:32,080
You're only free if there's nothing you were

1486
00:55:32,080 --> 00:55:32,740
made for.

1487
00:55:33,820 --> 00:55:35,680
If there's no purpose that you have to

1488
00:55:35,680 --> 00:55:37,860
comply with, no design purpose that you've got

1489
00:55:37,860 --> 00:55:41,340
to submit to, then you're free because then

1490
00:55:41,340 --> 00:55:42,480
you can live any way you want.

1491
00:55:42,500 --> 00:55:44,120
And of course, it's disorienting to say, oh,

1492
00:55:44,160 --> 00:55:44,900
I'm not made for anything.

1493
00:55:44,980 --> 00:55:45,720
I have no purpose in life.

1494
00:55:45,740 --> 00:55:46,640
But at least you can create your own

1495
00:55:46,640 --> 00:55:47,340
purpose, then you're free.

1496
00:55:48,620 --> 00:55:52,640
But the gospel writer John, gospel writer John,

1497
00:55:53,180 --> 00:55:55,800
John chapter 1, verse 1, reads this.

1498
00:55:56,240 --> 00:55:57,960
In the beginning was the Word.

1499
00:55:58,800 --> 00:56:00,580
Now that doesn't grab you probably.

1500
00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:01,980
That's the English, what it says.

1501
00:56:02,220 --> 00:56:04,840
But in the Greek, and the original readers

1502
00:56:04,840 --> 00:56:05,900
read it and they were amazed.

1503
00:56:06,420 --> 00:56:08,020
It said in the beginning was the logos.

1504
00:56:09,660 --> 00:56:10,940
That's what it says in Greek.

1505
00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:16,960
And John deliberately used an absolutely loaded Greek

1506
00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:20,220
philosophical technical term when he said in the

1507
00:56:20,220 --> 00:56:20,960
beginning was the logos.

1508
00:56:21,620 --> 00:56:22,480
What is the logos?

1509
00:56:22,720 --> 00:56:24,460
Well, the logos, you can see the word.

1510
00:56:24,820 --> 00:56:27,060
The logos means it's related to our word

1511
00:56:27,060 --> 00:56:29,020
logic or reason.

1512
00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:33,000
But it's not talking about reason in general.

1513
00:56:33,160 --> 00:56:35,540
It's talking about the reason for life.

1514
00:56:35,680 --> 00:56:37,940
And the Greek philosophers were asking this question.

1515
00:56:38,460 --> 00:56:40,140
What is our reason for life?

1516
00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:41,960
What is our reason for existence?

1517
00:56:42,600 --> 00:56:43,980
What were we made for?

1518
00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:46,000
Look at the fish.

1519
00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:48,440
It's so obvious that the fish is designed

1520
00:56:48,440 --> 00:56:49,380
for the water.

1521
00:56:49,940 --> 00:56:51,300
And when you put the fish in the

1522
00:56:51,300 --> 00:56:52,760
water, it experiences freedom.

1523
00:56:54,280 --> 00:56:58,220
What were we made for so that if

1524
00:56:58,220 --> 00:57:01,520
we give ourselves and surrender to it, we'll

1525
00:57:01,520 --> 00:57:02,360
experience freedom?

1526
00:57:03,460 --> 00:57:04,680
What is our logos?

1527
00:57:05,300 --> 00:57:08,840
What is the absolute truth, the absolute reality

1528
00:57:09,500 --> 00:57:11,580
that we were made for, that we put

1529
00:57:11,580 --> 00:57:12,500
ourselves into that?

1530
00:57:12,900 --> 00:57:14,520
That's the environment that we experience freedom.

1531
00:57:14,600 --> 00:57:15,020
What is it?

1532
00:57:15,240 --> 00:57:17,660
And they had debated for years, centuries actually.

1533
00:57:18,800 --> 00:57:20,080
And some of the Greek philosophers had said,

1534
00:57:20,220 --> 00:57:20,760
it's this.

1535
00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:22,420
This is the logos.

1536
00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:23,840
This is the absolute truth that we were

1537
00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:24,200
made for.

1538
00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:25,560
And some said, no, this is the absolute

1539
00:57:25,560 --> 00:57:25,780
truth.

1540
00:57:25,840 --> 00:57:26,920
This is the logos we were made for.

1541
00:57:27,260 --> 00:57:29,900
By the time of Jesus in the New

1542
00:57:29,900 --> 00:57:32,320
Testament, a lot of Greek philosophers had gone

1543
00:57:32,320 --> 00:57:33,560
the way of Detective Spooner.

1544
00:57:34,940 --> 00:57:36,400
A lot of them had come up and

1545
00:57:36,400 --> 00:57:38,280
started to say, maybe there isn't any absolute

1546
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:40,620
truth that we're made for, and that's the

1547
00:57:40,620 --> 00:57:41,260
best we can do.

1548
00:57:41,300 --> 00:57:42,840
We just have the freedom of knowing that

1549
00:57:42,840 --> 00:57:44,000
we're not made for anything.

1550
00:57:44,700 --> 00:57:46,520
There is no design purpose that we're made

1551
00:57:46,520 --> 00:57:46,820
for.

1552
00:57:47,540 --> 00:57:50,080
But along comes John, and in John chapter

1553
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:52,260
1, first of all he says to the

1554
00:57:52,260 --> 00:57:54,160
skeptics, he says, no.

1555
00:57:55,260 --> 00:57:57,200
A, there is a logos.

1556
00:57:57,200 --> 00:57:58,940
There is an absolute truth.

1557
00:57:59,560 --> 00:58:01,840
In the beginning was the absolute truth.

1558
00:58:02,340 --> 00:58:06,220
But he then says to the traditionalists, it's

1559
00:58:06,220 --> 00:58:08,280
not an abstract absolute truth.

1560
00:58:09,140 --> 00:58:11,160
It's not a set of divine directives that

1561
00:58:11,160 --> 00:58:13,500
comes down from God and that I have

1562
00:58:13,500 --> 00:58:16,500
to comply with or else be destroyed.

1563
00:58:17,360 --> 00:58:20,240
He says, there is an absolute truth, but

1564
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:21,760
it's not an abstract absolute truth.

1565
00:58:21,840 --> 00:58:23,220
He says, in the beginning was the Word,

1566
00:58:23,320 --> 00:58:24,920
and the Word was with God, and we

1567
00:58:24,920 --> 00:58:27,240
beheld His glory.

1568
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:31,360
And John says, there's an absolute truth, but

1569
00:58:31,360 --> 00:58:32,200
it's not an abstraction.

1570
00:58:32,580 --> 00:58:33,320
It's a person.

1571
00:58:34,140 --> 00:58:36,420
The absolute truth has become a person, a

1572
00:58:36,420 --> 00:58:40,160
personal absolute, an absolute person, not an absolute

1573
00:58:40,160 --> 00:58:42,080
principle, an absolute person.

1574
00:58:43,100 --> 00:58:45,560
And here's what you were made for, Him,

1575
00:58:45,760 --> 00:58:51,020
to love Him, to know Him, to serve

1576
00:58:51,020 --> 00:58:52,580
Him, to enjoy Him.

1577
00:58:54,200 --> 00:58:57,400
This is the bombshell in the history of

1578
00:58:57,400 --> 00:59:00,080
philosophy when John said, we're not relativists.

1579
00:59:00,280 --> 00:59:01,680
There is an absolute truth, but the absolute

1580
00:59:01,680 --> 00:59:04,020
truth has become a person to know, a

1581
00:59:04,020 --> 00:59:06,800
person to hug, a person to love.

1582
00:59:07,920 --> 00:59:09,180
And you say, well, what's the big difference

1583
00:59:09,180 --> 00:59:11,880
between there being an absolute truth that's an

1584
00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:14,040
abstraction versus a person?

1585
00:59:14,140 --> 00:59:16,100
All the difference in the world, friends, because

1586
00:59:16,100 --> 00:59:17,900
if the absolute truth is an abstraction, it

1587
00:59:17,900 --> 00:59:21,200
is dehumanizing, but if it's a person, it's

1588
00:59:21,200 --> 00:59:21,680
liberating.

1589
00:59:22,960 --> 00:59:24,460
Let me show you what I mean.

1590
00:59:24,960 --> 00:59:26,240
Go back to the love thing.

1591
00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:29,420
We said, and we already hinted at this,

1592
00:59:30,080 --> 00:59:32,320
that if you enter into a love relationship,

1593
00:59:32,420 --> 00:59:34,040
you have to surrender your independence.

1594
00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:37,840
But two people have to do it together.

1595
00:59:38,620 --> 00:59:39,740
You both have to do it.

1596
00:59:40,660 --> 00:59:42,300
Each of you has to surrender.

1597
00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:44,620
And if each one of you says to

1598
00:59:44,620 --> 00:59:46,360
the other, I will give up my independence

1599
00:59:46,360 --> 00:59:49,740
for you, I will adjust to you, I

1600
00:59:49,740 --> 00:59:52,180
will sacrifice my needs for you, and the

1601
00:59:52,180 --> 00:59:53,660
other one does it too, it's heaven.

1602
00:59:54,180 --> 00:59:56,180
But if one of you does the surrender

1603
00:59:56,180 --> 00:59:57,800
and the other one does not, you hold

1604
00:59:57,800 --> 00:59:59,440
on to your own life, then you're exploited,

1605
00:59:59,580 --> 01:00:01,520
then you're dehumanized, and it's almost worse than

1606
01:00:01,520 --> 01:00:03,780
having, it's certainly worse than having no relationship

1607
01:00:03,780 --> 01:00:04,260
at all.

1608
01:00:05,400 --> 01:00:08,220
And that's the reason why for Nietzsche and

1609
01:00:08,220 --> 01:00:12,420
Foucault and maybe Detective Spooner, all relationships with

1610
01:00:12,420 --> 01:00:15,380
God have to be dehumanizing because they're one

1611
01:00:15,380 --> 01:00:16,520
way, right?

1612
01:00:17,040 --> 01:00:18,840
There's God up in heaven, and He says,

1613
01:00:19,260 --> 01:00:21,240
here's the Ten Commandments, here's this, here's that,

1614
01:00:21,460 --> 01:00:23,340
thou shalt not, thou must, thou shalt not.

1615
01:00:23,520 --> 01:00:24,480
And if you have a relationship with a

1616
01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:25,720
God like that, it's only one way.

1617
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:27,180
You do all the shifting.

1618
01:00:27,760 --> 01:00:29,380
You give up your independence, now you have

1619
01:00:29,380 --> 01:00:30,560
to live according to His rules.

1620
01:00:30,840 --> 01:00:32,500
You give up, you do the adjustment, you

1621
01:00:32,500 --> 01:00:34,140
do all the sacrificing, it's one way, so

1622
01:00:34,140 --> 01:00:36,400
it's exploitative and it's dehumanizing.

1623
01:00:36,940 --> 01:00:38,860
And Nietzsche would say, relationship with God is

1624
01:00:38,860 --> 01:00:41,880
dehumanizing by definition, but not with this God.

1625
01:00:43,580 --> 01:00:44,620
Not with this God.

1626
01:00:45,220 --> 01:00:47,000
Look, there's a lot of gods put out

1627
01:00:47,000 --> 01:00:49,300
there by these various religions and philosophies, but

1628
01:00:49,300 --> 01:00:53,440
the only one, Christianity, there's only one Christianity

1629
01:00:53,440 --> 01:00:58,820
that says, God, the absolute truth, became a

1630
01:00:58,820 --> 01:01:01,960
person and went to the cross.

1631
01:01:03,180 --> 01:01:08,120
And on that cross, Jesus Christ, God, said,

1632
01:01:08,640 --> 01:01:10,100
I will lose my independence for you.

1633
01:01:10,460 --> 01:01:11,880
I will adjust to you.

1634
01:01:12,260 --> 01:01:13,800
I will sacrifice for you.

1635
01:01:13,940 --> 01:01:14,640
And guess what?

1636
01:01:15,600 --> 01:01:16,960
He was exploited.

1637
01:01:18,100 --> 01:01:19,900
See, Jesus comes to you and says, I

1638
01:01:19,900 --> 01:01:22,560
already did the surrender part to the human

1639
01:01:22,560 --> 01:01:25,000
race, and I was killed for it.

1640
01:01:27,020 --> 01:01:28,580
My arms are open to you.

1641
01:01:29,200 --> 01:01:30,660
I've already done the surrender.

1642
01:01:31,080 --> 01:01:32,340
Now I'm just asking you to surrender to

1643
01:01:32,340 --> 01:01:32,500
me.

1644
01:01:32,940 --> 01:01:34,900
How could you possibly ask anything more from

1645
01:01:34,900 --> 01:01:35,680
a God than that?

1646
01:01:36,460 --> 01:01:37,580
How can I trust God?

1647
01:01:38,200 --> 01:01:40,000
Here's a God who's lost His freedom for

1648
01:01:40,000 --> 01:01:40,300
you.

1649
01:01:40,920 --> 01:01:43,980
Philippians 2 says, Jesus Christ did not hold

1650
01:01:43,980 --> 01:01:47,840
on to His Godhood, but rather His equality

1651
01:01:47,840 --> 01:01:49,420
with God, but He emptied Himself and became

1652
01:01:49,420 --> 01:01:52,520
a slave and was obedient even under the

1653
01:01:52,520 --> 01:01:53,320
death of a cross.

1654
01:01:54,220 --> 01:01:55,880
Here is a God who was the ultimate

1655
01:01:55,880 --> 01:01:58,700
free being, and He was bound, and He

1656
01:01:58,700 --> 01:02:01,140
was nailed, and He lost His freedom, and

1657
01:02:01,140 --> 01:02:03,760
He opened Himself, and He adjusted, and He

1658
01:02:03,760 --> 01:02:04,700
surrendered His freedom.

1659
01:02:05,140 --> 01:02:08,340
God surrendered His freedom so that you could

1660
01:02:08,340 --> 01:02:10,640
know you can trust Him.

1661
01:02:12,020 --> 01:02:13,720
And this is liberation.

1662
01:02:14,680 --> 01:02:15,080
Think.

1663
01:02:15,540 --> 01:02:17,720
If God just gives us an abstract truth,

1664
01:02:18,460 --> 01:02:20,200
a set of rules, and says, Now obey

1665
01:02:20,200 --> 01:02:21,820
it, and you will go to heaven.

1666
01:02:22,660 --> 01:02:23,820
I'm obeying it.

1667
01:02:24,160 --> 01:02:24,560
Why?

1668
01:02:24,980 --> 01:02:25,740
Out of fear.

1669
01:02:26,360 --> 01:02:27,360
I'm driven by fear.

1670
01:02:27,880 --> 01:02:28,900
I'm a slave to fear.

1671
01:02:29,180 --> 01:02:29,840
I better do this.

1672
01:02:29,880 --> 01:02:31,380
I better do that, or else God's not

1673
01:02:31,380 --> 01:02:31,560
going to...

1674
01:02:31,560 --> 01:02:32,200
He's going to get me.

1675
01:02:32,340 --> 01:02:33,100
He's going to punish me.

1676
01:02:33,260 --> 01:02:33,940
He'll send me to hell.

1677
01:02:34,160 --> 01:02:35,060
He won't answer my prayers.

1678
01:02:35,260 --> 01:02:36,060
It's all out of fear.

1679
01:02:37,300 --> 01:02:37,580
See?

1680
01:02:38,020 --> 01:02:39,120
I'm a slave.

1681
01:02:40,200 --> 01:02:42,420
But if, instead of God giving me an

1682
01:02:42,420 --> 01:02:44,720
abstract truth that I have to obey in

1683
01:02:44,720 --> 01:02:46,760
order to save myself, I have a personal

1684
01:02:46,760 --> 01:02:48,140
truth that comes down and lives the life

1685
01:02:48,140 --> 01:02:49,860
I should have lived, and dies the death

1686
01:02:49,860 --> 01:02:51,280
I should have died on the cross, and

1687
01:02:51,280 --> 01:02:53,900
saves me by sheer grace, that's liberating.

1688
01:02:55,620 --> 01:02:58,300
And only if the absolute truth is a

1689
01:02:58,300 --> 01:03:00,840
person who's done that am I liberated.

1690
01:03:02,200 --> 01:03:03,660
That's the reason why here at the very

1691
01:03:03,660 --> 01:03:06,040
end, Paul can look at Peter and go

1692
01:03:06,040 --> 01:03:07,240
after him about his racism.

1693
01:03:07,420 --> 01:03:09,060
Do you see that interesting case study?

1694
01:03:09,660 --> 01:03:11,840
At the very end of the passage, we

1695
01:03:11,840 --> 01:03:15,320
see that Peter, though in principle, he agreed

1696
01:03:15,320 --> 01:03:18,140
that the Gentiles are acceptable in Christ.

1697
01:03:18,760 --> 01:03:19,580
He agrees in principle.

1698
01:03:20,160 --> 01:03:21,860
But first of all, did you notice there,

1699
01:03:22,240 --> 01:03:24,200
out of fear of the circumcision party, a

1700
01:03:24,200 --> 01:03:27,100
certain group of people, and out of probably

1701
01:03:27,100 --> 01:03:28,680
just the habit of being told all of

1702
01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:30,600
his life that Gentiles are unclean, unclean, unclean,

1703
01:03:30,680 --> 01:03:32,300
he stopped eating with the Gentiles.

1704
01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:35,180
Which, of course, in that culture was major

1705
01:03:35,180 --> 01:03:35,980
social rejection.

1706
01:03:36,120 --> 01:03:38,020
So he was falling back into racist habits.

1707
01:03:38,740 --> 01:03:40,460
But you don't see Paul going to him

1708
01:03:40,460 --> 01:03:43,900
and saying, Peter, you're breaking rule number 18

1709
01:03:43,900 --> 01:03:45,960
in the Bible against racism.

1710
01:03:46,540 --> 01:03:48,120
He could have, because there's lots in the

1711
01:03:48,120 --> 01:03:49,740
Bible against racism, but he doesn't go that

1712
01:03:49,740 --> 01:03:51,440
way because he doesn't treat truth that way.

1713
01:03:52,140 --> 01:03:52,700
What does he say?

1714
01:03:52,760 --> 01:03:53,360
Verse 14.

1715
01:03:53,400 --> 01:03:54,380
I love verse 14.

1716
01:03:54,440 --> 01:03:55,660
It's changed my life, by the way.

1717
01:03:56,480 --> 01:03:58,700
In verse 14, Paul says, Peter, you're not

1718
01:03:58,700 --> 01:04:00,260
walking in line with the truth of the

1719
01:04:00,260 --> 01:04:00,640
gospel.

1720
01:04:01,800 --> 01:04:04,180
You're not thinking out the implications of the

1721
01:04:04,180 --> 01:04:04,520
gospel.

1722
01:04:04,900 --> 01:04:06,140
You're saved by grace.

1723
01:04:06,140 --> 01:04:07,800
You're not saved by your pedigree.

1724
01:04:08,200 --> 01:04:09,460
You're a sinner saved by grace.

1725
01:04:09,540 --> 01:04:11,060
How can you feel superior to anybody else?

1726
01:04:11,160 --> 01:04:12,720
But here's what he's really saying is, Peter,

1727
01:04:12,880 --> 01:04:13,720
you're a slave.

1728
01:04:14,940 --> 01:04:16,860
You're afraid of what those people think, the

1729
01:04:16,860 --> 01:04:17,560
circumcision group.

1730
01:04:17,800 --> 01:04:19,120
You're afraid of what this person thinks.

1731
01:04:19,300 --> 01:04:19,780
You're anxious.

1732
01:04:20,180 --> 01:04:21,020
Peter, think.

1733
01:04:22,660 --> 01:04:25,080
In Jesus Christ, you're an absolute beauty in

1734
01:04:25,080 --> 01:04:27,060
the eyes of God, the only person whose

1735
01:04:27,060 --> 01:04:27,760
eyes matter.

1736
01:04:28,960 --> 01:04:29,400
Think.

1737
01:04:29,900 --> 01:04:31,180
You're absolutely loved.

1738
01:04:31,260 --> 01:04:34,440
You're absolutely valued by the creator of the

1739
01:04:34,440 --> 01:04:34,940
universe.

1740
01:04:36,240 --> 01:04:38,280
You should be, if you really understood the

1741
01:04:38,280 --> 01:04:41,580
gospel, if you really understood the gospel, you

1742
01:04:41,580 --> 01:04:42,700
shouldn't be afraid of anything.

1743
01:04:43,560 --> 01:04:45,040
You wouldn't be a slave to anything.

1744
01:04:45,180 --> 01:04:47,340
You're not a slave to anxiety, a slave

1745
01:04:47,340 --> 01:04:48,820
to being afraid of criticism.

1746
01:04:48,940 --> 01:04:49,880
You wouldn't be a slave to anything.

1747
01:04:49,940 --> 01:04:51,140
You should be absolutely free, Peter.

1748
01:04:51,560 --> 01:04:53,280
If you're a racist, it's because you're not

1749
01:04:53,280 --> 01:04:55,260
thinking out the freedom and experiencing the freedom

1750
01:04:55,260 --> 01:04:56,560
that you've got in the gospel.

1751
01:04:57,420 --> 01:04:59,580
Think, Peter, until there's enough joy in your

1752
01:04:59,580 --> 01:04:59,760
heart.

1753
01:05:00,040 --> 01:05:01,980
Think, Peter, until you have enough fullness as

1754
01:05:01,980 --> 01:05:03,080
to what Jesus has done for you.

1755
01:05:03,160 --> 01:05:05,380
Think, Peter, until the racism is squeezed out

1756
01:05:05,380 --> 01:05:07,720
by the joy and then you'll be free.

1757
01:05:08,700 --> 01:05:10,660
If you understand the truth of the gospel,

1758
01:05:11,420 --> 01:05:12,860
it frees you from everything.

1759
01:05:13,500 --> 01:05:14,020
How about you?

1760
01:05:14,100 --> 01:05:14,760
Has it freed you?

1761
01:05:15,520 --> 01:05:16,160
Has it freed you?

1762
01:05:16,800 --> 01:05:19,140
Do you know, in 2 Corinthians 5, 21,

1763
01:05:19,480 --> 01:05:23,040
I think it's 1 Corinthians 5, someplace, where

1764
01:05:23,040 --> 01:05:28,030
Paul says, the love of Christ constrains us,

1765
01:05:29,650 --> 01:05:30,470
constrains us.

1766
01:05:31,310 --> 01:05:34,050
The only thing that constrains you in a

1767
01:05:34,050 --> 01:05:35,750
way that doesn't feel oppressive, the only thing

1768
01:05:35,750 --> 01:05:37,750
that moves you to do the things you

1769
01:05:37,750 --> 01:05:40,190
should be doing, and yet it feels like,

1770
01:05:40,190 --> 01:05:43,210
it feels like heaven, is the love of

1771
01:05:43,210 --> 01:05:43,610
Christ.

1772
01:05:44,430 --> 01:05:46,370
The love of Christ, what He's done, the

1773
01:05:46,370 --> 01:05:48,150
loss of freedom so we could have freedom,

1774
01:05:49,350 --> 01:05:50,170
constrains us.

1775
01:05:50,710 --> 01:05:52,930
And John Newton puts it in his hymn,

1776
01:05:53,530 --> 01:05:56,830
Our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before,

1777
01:05:57,370 --> 01:05:59,550
since we have seen His beauty, are joined

1778
01:05:59,550 --> 01:06:00,590
apart no more.

1779
01:06:01,370 --> 01:06:04,930
To see the law by Christ fulfilled, and

1780
01:06:04,930 --> 01:06:08,630
hear His pardoning voice, transforms a slave into

1781
01:06:08,630 --> 01:06:11,370
a child, and duty into choice.

1782
01:06:11,930 --> 01:06:12,830
Let's pray.

1783
01:06:14,010 --> 01:06:18,230
Father, it is true that claiming to have

1784
01:06:18,230 --> 01:06:20,730
the truth can be a terrific way to

1785
01:06:20,730 --> 01:06:23,930
destroy freedom, and yet, there is a truth

1786
01:06:24,830 --> 01:06:26,710
that we've got to have to be free.

1787
01:06:27,550 --> 01:06:28,970
It's the truth of the gospel.

1788
01:06:28,970 --> 01:06:32,470
It's the truth of Jesus Christ, the ultimate

1789
01:06:32,470 --> 01:06:36,370
free being, losing His freedom for us, surrendering

1790
01:06:36,370 --> 01:06:39,630
to us, adjusting for us.

1791
01:06:40,890 --> 01:06:42,570
And if we take that into the center

1792
01:06:42,570 --> 01:06:44,590
of our being, that makes us so free

1793
01:06:44,590 --> 01:06:45,370
from fear.

1794
01:06:46,530 --> 01:06:47,670
We're not afraid of death.

1795
01:06:48,090 --> 01:06:50,310
We're not afraid of people's disapproval.

1796
01:06:50,610 --> 01:06:51,550
We're not afraid of anything.

1797
01:06:52,370 --> 01:06:54,810
We want to live that kind of life.

1798
01:06:55,410 --> 01:06:57,310
And we ask, therefore, that You would show

1799
01:06:57,310 --> 01:07:00,250
us how to bring into the center of

1800
01:07:00,250 --> 01:07:03,330
our hearts Your gospel truth so that we

1801
01:07:03,330 --> 01:07:04,110
would be set free.

1802
01:07:04,330 --> 01:07:05,190
In Jesus' name we pray.

1803
01:07:05,330 --> 01:07:05,650
Amen.

1804
01:07:07,950 --> 01:07:10,130
You've been listening to the From the Pulpit

1805
01:07:10,130 --> 01:07:11,450
in Classic Sermons series.

1806
01:07:12,090 --> 01:07:14,010
This week you heard Tim Keller with his

1807
01:07:14,010 --> 01:07:15,610
message, Absolutism.

1808
01:07:16,070 --> 01:07:17,790
Don't we have to find the truth for

1809
01:07:17,790 --> 01:07:18,350
ourselves?

1810
01:07:19,910 --> 01:07:22,110
Tune in next week to hear Chuck Smith

1811
01:07:22,110 --> 01:07:25,630
talk about Beware of Ambition on the From

1812
01:07:25,630 --> 01:07:27,610
the Pulpit in Classic Sermons.