Ep 1021 | Uncle Si Gets Choked Up When His Two-Year Dream Finally Becomes Reality
56:44 Share

I am unashamed.

What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. We still got Uncle Si with us. It's always a pleasure, Si, to have you around the table. I always enjoy it, and I always learn. Yeah, and we always talk about the fact that it's good because on the duck call room, you guys are getting into all sorts of crazy stuff.

And here, we're a little more kind of Bible study centric, so we get to see the Bible side of science. A little birdie told me that on the Duck Call Room podcast, y'all just not only throw me under the bus, but run over me. Back up, do it again. Back up, do it again. Somebody told me that. We do. Not just you, Dave. Me too. Hey, we do. Yeah, we do. It's equal opportunity.

The bus running. It's with love, though, James. Because Martin, he said something to me. He said he heard that I threw him under the bus. And I said, and it was a big bus. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Because he's a big man. In fact, the way Jay's put it aside, he's the biggest of our men. He's a big man. So since it bothered him, then I found some new material the other day when he volunteered to hunt out of the blind. The day you were there, we were hunting. And I told the story about you shooting the crow. And you missed the pintail. But then you wanted to let everybody know.

You didn't miss the pintail because you couldn't shoot. No, my hat fell over my face. Oh, I didn't hear that. Oh, I told you. And I said, I raised up. Did I not say this, Zach? There would be another perspective when we heard this. You did say that. I raised up. Si, he threw you under the bus just so you know. I did. Jay threw you under the bus when you weren't here. Wait a minute, Si. Did you miss the pintail? That's all I said. Yeah, I shot in the air because my hat done this when I shot.

Yeah, it's hard to. Sal, you're pretty good at doing it blindfolded. Now, that's. What happened to that rule, though, about, you know, you only shoot things you see. So if you're hat. Well, hey, it was all there. But, hey, I've been told a story. This is get back at him. I'm going to throw him under the bus. All right, go ahead. Emma Stone went duck hunting and some crows started flying and they shot a box of shells trying to.

repeat what I had just done the day before. For those of you who don't know, a box is 25 shells. That's right. It took them 25 to kill a crow. 25 shells. You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. You're mostly right.

Because they were further, I guess. We were missing. It wasn't 25. I would say half a box. I'd say 12 shots, which is a lot. Now we're going with excuses. I would have had to admit it. You know what they say about excuses. I love it. But he cut that pen tail. No, we missed him. The only thing I thought is my heart wasn't into it.

It's like shooting skeet. I'm terrible. Oh, yeah. I'm not very good at it. I mean, because I can't eat a skeet. But I know why y'all miss. Y'all used to shoot and fly and, you know, fast fly and woody. Grow slow. Yeah, I was leading them too far. You was leading them way too far. But you just raised them and folded one. That's what I heard. Yeah. It was with a 20 gauge. I know, which is impressive. It was just, y'all. What do you taste like, son? Huh?

No, I didn't do it. I'm probably going to see that crow again with a plaque. Oh, they were going to mount him? The owner kept it. The owner kept it. So I'm probably going to see him again. They're going to mount a crow. It's going to mount and have a picture of Uncle Si on there. Because he told me, he said, you want them fully mounted or what? I said, hey. I think they might. They were nice guys. Out of everything that's mounted in all of our houses, I hadn't seen a crow. So that would be a good addition. I was, since we're speaking about mounting, it's interesting because

Jay, he manages our, especially the deer side of what we do here on the property. And he's proud of it, you know, because he's done a great job. Well, he has. He's a lot of deer and growing some good deer. So now, Jay is not as much him killing deer, but he likes it when Cy kills one. They pick out these certain ones. And then you got, now you got BK and then you got Sage. And so not only are they killing deer here, they'll go to Arkansas, they'll go to Texas. So he's got so many deer mounts. Yeah.

Now, the rule was when we bought a house together, Lisa was kind of the matriarch of our house, and she wouldn't let Jay put any mounts up in the house. She said, I don't want any dead animals in my house. Okay, that was her rule. You know what? I'm kind of with Lisa. Have you ever noticed my house? You know how many mounted animals are in my house? I've never seen one.

I've never mounted an animal. Right. And so that was Lisa. So we move into the little caretaker cottage out back and we turn the house over to Jay and Anna and he has turned it into a taxidermy shop. Yeah. There are deer heads, European mounts. I mean, when you walk in, it's like, whoa. Well, no, no. Cause like I just killed a deer this year.

Okay. This year, Si, y'all been hunting that deer for five years. No, only two. Only two. See, that's the thing about managing deer. Okay. I hunted this deer for two years. This was toothpick, right? Yeah, toothpick. And I saw him like eight times.

Okay, and I finally, I'm serious. I saw him eight times. I killed him on the eighth time. How many times did you shot at this dude? Tell the truth. I shot at him, what, twice. Okay, yeah. And hey, look, the dear gods were protecting me because I shot at him, okay? Oh, I know. This story's hilarious. Hey, no, no.

He's in the chum pile. It was right at legal. Yeah, right at legal. It's legal. Okay, but anyway, so we talk it over. Yeah, he said, that's him. It's the one you want to shoot. Go ahead and shoot him. So Jay said something about a camera. He was getting a camera. He was getting a camera. It was broadside. He said, Si, there's a deer. Let me get the camera. Yeah, and he heard, he heard, baa! Yeah.

Well, I thought I'd got it. Okay. So, you know, we sit there for about 30 minutes. It gets dark, you know. And Jay said, well, all right, let me go down there and check for blood. So he goes down there. Now, Si, tell the truth. You said, oh, I got that deer. No, no. We said, I said, well, I got a bullet in it. We may not find it, but I got a bullet in it. Okay. So he comes back, and I had noticed that he was shining his phone light, which ain't very much. Yeah. So he shoots.

And then the next thing I knew. So you hear a shot. Yeah, I hear a shot. And he comes walking back. And I said, well, did you find blood or him? And he said, no. And he got this yearling by the ears. He holds up a yearling. Yeah, he says, hey, here's what you shot. And I says, don't. Get out of here. I said, you shot that. And my deer is laying down there for me to go look at, put my hands on. He said, nope.

So the deer got, you know, this is a downhill stand. Yeah. Well, hey, look. I'm going to have to interpret what happened. Hey, we figured it out the next day. To get into the theology of the deer guys. No, what? The next day, so I'll say it simple. What happened was the deer was standing there. Yeah. But the very moment that they got up there,

that Si pulled the trigger because they looked at where the blood was, where the big deer was standing. He missed the big deer. Oh, I didn't hit the big deer. Because a yearling stepped in front. Stepped in front. Or I think just darted in front. And he clipped the yearling. Hey, no greater love. No greater love. That's it. No, that's what happened. Hey, there you go. He saved his life. Si said, I can't kill this deer. Oh,

the whole deer world is giving up themselves to save it. Japan, they're committing. I actually got the yearling and ate it.

And then Si, weeks later, actually got another opportunity. At 235 yards, which is not an easy shot. It was 200 yards. And I watched the discussion, which we won't go into all of it here on None of Shame, but if you want to see the discussion of whether Si, where he shot the deer, then that's a whole other discussion. That did take Si's side. I think from where the deer was standing,

I think it was close enough to... Oh, it was a good shot. It was a good shot. Martin even said, a man of your age, he said the fact you hit him was pretty good. The deer only ran 70 yards and was just dead. I mean, so... And that deer...

was a bus. Yeah. With horns. Oh, yeah. I mean, huge. But he was a lot bigger last year. Just tell me, Si, is the mound of that deer going to wind up on the wall at my old house? No, that's going to go in my podcast room. Oh, okay. And

I got another one back from Texas that I need to put up. He's a 12-point. And none of these animals that we're discussing were injured or hurt, except the ones we killed and the few of the heads. Except the ones we've been eating. Me and Toothpick had a two-year... We dated for two years, for crying out loud. I stayed on stand at least 40 times.

He was a worthy adversary. Was his passing bittersweet for you? Well, it kind of shook me up. Did you shed a tear or something? Yeah, I'm serious. Because Martin said that when I walked up. He said, that's the first time I've seen you speak it.

Yeah. He said, you walked up there when we drugged the deal here. Him and a friend of his drug it out of the woods for me. Yeah. When I walked up there and looked at him, I just kind of said, well, now what do I do? It's been a quest. Well, that was, yeah. I've been on an adventure with this droskull. What would Ahab have done if he had killed the white whale? Big bucks have sons.

But it was fun. It was fun chasing it. I'm sure y'all will find another one for you to go after. Oh, no. We were already doing talking about that. His name is Big Red. Big Red. It's the legend of Big Red now. After Big Red, boy. Jace, Al, how many subscriptions do you think you have? Like Netflix, those kind of things. How many of those do you think you have? I have no idea.

Probably a lot. I got my grandkids on my phone all the time. There's no telling what's on my phone. You need a meeting. Yeah, I need a major meeting. Well, when I heard about our next sponsor, I was a little bit skeptical until I downloaded and got into the app. It's called Rocket Money. You guys got to check this out. I downloaded it, set it up on my phone, and they actually go in, they identify all the subscriptions that you have. And I had like 20,

like 25 subscriptions. And some of them were like, I had three subscriptions for the same streaming service. I'm like, how, what? And this stuff's coming out of different credit cards, different accounts. And I just, I hadn't kept up with it. You can actually have them cancel them for you, which I've initiated that with several of the ones that were being duplicated. And it's going to save me probably about $1,000

eighteen hundred dollars a year what I've been able to identify it's called rocket money it's a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions it monitors your spending and helps you lower your bill so that you can grow your savings I've actually got Jill we're on a budget now too so this actually works for us in multiple ways rocket money has over five million users and has saved a total of five hundred million dollars in canceled subscriptions saving members up to seven hundred and forty dollars a year

when using all of the app's premium features. So if you want to cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money, go to rocketmoney.com slash unashamed today. That's rocketmoney.com slash unashamed. rocketmoney.com slash unashamed.

All right, so we want to get back into our discussion about the book of John because we had really left it off with some really good stuff. Well, I might have got too deep talking about this theme about being one. I don't think you did. I did leave off this part, which probably should have started with this. I mean, when you think of defining one, even in the Greek, it's the same concept of you have one.

So like when we say Jesus is the king of kings, we're like, there's one true king. His name is Jesus. Well, we're saying he's unique. Well, why is he unique? Why is he king of kings? Well, he's imperishable, indestructible, innocent. He's sinless. I mean, there's a lot of unique qualities that makes him one of a kind. Now, but then so, but he says me and the father are one.

Okay, that's a little bit of a mind blower, but it's deep is my point. But then you also have the idea of humans coming together. I mean, you have individuals, which I told you, most of the book of John uses that grammar as singular. It's like anyone who comes to me, which anyone who hears it. And he had an example, and I'll give you this little, I took a picture of this because I thought it was interesting.

So listen to this on the stats of this, because he puts major themes in John, and he has the one who, that phrase, the one who, 37 times. Yeah. That's a lot. Oh, yeah. Like for an example. In reference to God? No, I'm going to give you the example. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son dies.

will not see life, but must endure God's wrath. That's John 3.36. Here's another one. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself. That's 14.21. So that little phrase, I thought that was pretty incredible.

Do you not agree? 37 times in a singular fashion? What did you say about Ephesians, Al? How many times? Over 50. Over 50? So listen to this. 14 times it says, if anyone. And ours, when I looked at mine, it was like whoever. So here's two examples. If anyone keeps my word.

He will never see death. 851. Look, he's not making some doctrine out of this because he said there's also one instance where he's talking about the whole. But his point was, but the whole thing, especially when you get John 17, is about us becoming one because of the one God who Jesus is. So he's like, but it is a to his point.

This is mentioned a whole lot in the book of John because I started just reading them all. And I thought, you know, if something is mentioned this many times, it means something. The uniqueness and the unity.

That comes from that on who God is revealing himself in Jesus. Which made the whole baptism of Jesus. Listen to what John the Baptist said in 32, which we'll get to later. Then John gave this testimony. I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him except that the one...

Thank you. Who sent me to baptize with water, told me the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain on. He is the one who baptized with the Holy spirit. I have seen, and I testify that this is the one. Thank you. And only thank you for making my point. I think Zach's got smoke coming off his head. I see it. I can literally see it, but I'm look, he, he made a lot of points. That one just was the most fascinating to me.

as I read and thought about unity and the unity of God, even though it's complex for us to wrap our heads around, he kind of introduces that in the first chapter. Mackey's whole point was when you read the first chapter, it's kind of like all these clues that he then uses characters. And John's gospel is different from the other three gospels. He only picks about 12 characters.

conversations and happenings. And he does those on purpose because each time there's some Jewish representative, some feast of the tabernacles or the Passover. And he got all deep into that, which I thought was fascinating.

Because he's trying to show the Jewish world, hey, God became a man. His name is Jesus. Don't miss that. And they're one. And we need to be one as they're one. I mean, that was kind of where this was going. You see what I mean? Which is interesting, though, when you read, because I agree with you, but there's also the other side of it that God is more than one.

He's more than one person, but he's one being because he says in the very first verse of John 1, that in the beginning was the Word.

And the word was with God. So that's meaning, how is he with God? They're the same person. So are me and my wife. Yeah, that's his point. So are me and you. Yeah. But what happens is, and this has happened throughout the history of the church, is the heresies that have emerged have either been to say that God is only one.

or God is three separate beings. And both of those are actually considered heresies in the church. That's the church police coming out in you. It's the same people who read up. It matters. What I'm saying, though, is if you read what he says, he's right. It does keep coming up. Now, if somebody wants to take that and go down, it's like Jesus changed the water into wine.

And so you have this big debate on whether it was wine because Jesus wouldn't have done that if it was fermented. Right. Now, have you had people come to you and make that say? Many times. I'm like, okay, let me just take a time out because whatever it's talking about, that's not it.

Now, we can talk about it when we have literally nothing else to do. But I'm saying they're missing the bigger picture. And I think John is explaining something that to them and to people today is crazy. God became a man and they're one. That's why I read the John 10. It says, we are one. They don't get it.

Okay. That's why I'm talking about one of these words again. Okay. He's the creator. You missed that. Yeah. And that's crucial. But here's the thing. Okay. That's why baptism. Once you have heard the story about Jesus, you believe it and you reenact his death, burial and resurrection. When you come out of the water and this is God talking, the creator, Jesus,

You have just been made a new creation. I agree 100%. And to your point, Jesus is also the creator. And Zach, one of those heresies you talked about was that somehow this text...

people have surmised that Jesus wasn't the creator. He was created. Yeah. And therefore then he, that's what the idea of the first one. I agree with what. So you got to remember, he is the creator because he's, I'm trying to take up for the guy. He wasn't making a doctrinal position about anything. He just said, you're going to see some clues in John one that are going to, you're going to go further down the rabbit hole and,

as you go through John, with these theme lines. Now, life, love, and light are a little easier to manage, but he was like, this oneness is a little harder to manage because a lot of people, like Zach just said, take that to where it means something else. What he was trying to say is that God is love, and love is, I don't know the word he used.

But it must be expressed. It's like, if there was just one aspect of God, well, how could he love? Well, the way you would say it would be, if God is only one person, then he can't be love. It's impossible. That doesn't even make sense. If God's one person, what does he love? In order for love to exist, there has to be a lover first.

And there has to be a beloved. No, that's good. That's a good way to say that. And so that fact is what's so powerful about what humans need from God, which is why he sent Jesus in love.

who saved the world. It's also why he said in the garden, it's not good for man to be alone. Exactly. We need that. You got to have it because it reflects who God is. Listen to how John says it in 1 John. It says, Beloved, I love this. I mean, how many times does he say the word love? Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God. Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. So

So he John defines God as love twice, by the way, in first John chapter four, he defines him as love. And so he talks about that Christ became the propitiation for our sins. He's linking that to the very concept of love. And also he links it to the very concept of what life is. So when we think about love and who God is, that's that is the primary thing.

attribute of God that exists before creation. A lot of these other attributes, and this makes people uncomfortable, but I haven't found a way around it, but a lot of these other attributes like wrath and mercy and sovereignty, those are attributes that happen after creation. Because if you say, who is God pouring his wrath out on?

Before he creates and all that exists is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Well, the answer is nobody because there's no sin to pour wrath out on. Great point. Who's he giving his mercy out on? Because it's actually an expression of love because love does not delight in evil.

And you know what's funny? There's a guy that I read a lot. I mentioned this in the Not Yet Now podcast, but I think it's relevant for this discussion. There's a guy that I listen to a lot who's gone on to be with the Lord. But anytime I get into a discussion on eschatology, I'll read what he has to say on it because I think I agree with him in this. Eschatology, which is what happens later.

Like the end time stuff. What he was talking about in one of his sermons, he says he was diminishing the love of God. He said, you know, everyone talks about God being love. The Bible doesn't say God is love, love, love. It says he's holy, holy, holy. As if these two things are like opposed to one another. And I'm sitting there listening to saying, what kind of theology is this? Well, that's why I went through the love. And it's actually, if you go John 17 and go backwards, it's,

every time love is mentioned, it's actually you'll have a light bulb moment because that's kind of what I did. It's like, oh. And I think John did that on purpose. That's why I said you are introduced to Jesus in a way that's very well written. Well, the uniqueness of the Bible.

Over 40 authors, okay? That's to give you, you got to think about that. Thousands of years. Thousands of years, okay, 40 different authors, and these are men. Carried on by the Holy Spirit. They're guided by the Holy Spirit, but they're men, and that's why I like Mark, Luke, and Matthew, all that.

This is a different point of view from a different man. He had a different outlook on life. He had a different job, all this stuff. That's the uniqueness of the Bible. No, I agree. Okay, and that's why I used the term, you need to connect the dots. Yeah. That Bible is a giant puzzle laid out, and you need to take everything in it

And it all fits like a glove, a tailor-made glove. For those of you listening, that tapping noise, that tapping noise was Sam making. That's right, putting the puzzle together. Connecting the dots. Connecting the dots on this table.

I was going to make a point because you just made a really good point I hadn't thought about, that the idea about love being central and John's perspective on writing this gospel, and it has a different bent than the others. Isn't it interesting that when John is described as,

both in John, but other books as well. It's the one that Jesus loved. Yeah. What was he known for? Exactly right. So in other words, they were the, there was no doubt. I mean, Jesus loved all his disciples, but he had a unique special relationship with John from all the others. And it is interesting that John's perspective on his telling of the story deepens our faith in a way that,

That the others don't quite touch on. I mean, it is funny that love bore out this. Jesus said what about, hey, they'll know you're my disciples by what? They love for one another. Yeah, I mean, it's hard for me to not read that and not think he had a humorous. Because they always thought. Well, because everybody always says, it's like my mom has told every son that

Every grandkid, every great grandkid, you know you're my favorite.

She just told me that this morning. So just so you know, one hour ago, I was told that because I said, 60 years ago, you brought me into this world. She said, that's why you're my favorite. 25 hours ago, I brought her and Phil two pork chops. And I had been hunting. I was sweating because it was 75 degrees. But I brought them two pork chops. And you know what she said?

That's why you're my favorite. And so I've told everybody that I'm the one that mom loves. Oh, boy. You know what? As y'all were talking about that, I was thinking about the big – I've heard it said like this, Si, that the Bible's a mosaic.

And it's these little pieces that all look random to you. Step back and look at the whole thing. You're like, oh, it's like it makes perfect sense. And one of those big themes in the scripture is the inclusion of the Gentiles. I was going to read just a few verses because I think what John's getting at with this idea of oneness is.

This idea of us being grafted into the oneness of God to participate in this. The language I was thinking of was partaker. And Ephesians 3, 6 says that the mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Jesus Christ.

Peter says that we are partakers in the glory that is to be revealed. That's when he exhorts the elders. He says, I exhort you, the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. And in 2 Peter, he says that we become partakers of the dominion.

the divine nature. So when you get to, what does that mean? When you get to John 17, he, he says, he, he explains this. It's what it all kind of comes to, which Jason was hitting at earlier when he says that, um, Jesus says, I have glorified you on, on earth. This is verse four, um, and have accomplished the work that you gave me to do. So clearly, um,

There's two different persons in the conversation here. This is not a guy talking to himself. Jesus is talking to the Father, saying, I did what you told me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. And the reason why he's asking for that glory is so that he goes on to say that I may then glorify you. And not just that, read verse 22 of chapter 17.

That the glory you have given me, Jesus says, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one. So if you look at the picture here, it's almost a picture of creation now becomes not that God was a narcissist.

and insecure and needed us to worship him. That's not why God created us. He wasn't like, man, I'm lacking. I need some worshipers to be God. Let me create some worshipers to feed my ego. That's not the picture of what we're seeing in the gospel of John. The picture is that we were created as an abundance and an overflow of God's love to then be participating in his love. And so Christ actually shares that.

the glory that he received from the father with the creation that's the call like it's it's such a beautiful picture and it elevates the holiness to me going back to what i said earlier about that holy holy holy that elevates the holiness of god to strip god's love from his holiness

is to render his holiness impotent, and it's to make it meaninglessness. Like, no, we cannot strip this. Like, this essence of who God is is his love, and he shares that love with us, and that's power. No, no, because I always think of this. At Jesus' finest moment, when he had fulfilled what the plan was, his father could not look at him.

I've always looked at that and just because there was a time that they were separated. Yeah. They wasn't one. When Jesus had the sins of the world on his shoulders, they wasn't one. When he said, why do you forsake me? Yeah. And I've always looked at that. That is, you know, good grief. That's where the love is.

Okay, because, hey, here's the thing I always look at. The Father sent the Son. The Son fulfilled what the Father had sent him for. Okay, and then when the Son left and went back to heaven and they're back to unity, he said, hey, don't leave. I'm sending you somebody. He sent the Holy Spirit.

Okay. Who applies it to us. I mean, yeah. And that goes with, okay, now you're protectors. Yeah. I've heard it said like this, that the father plans it.

that the son accomplishes it and that the spirit applies it to speaking of salvation, which is a pretty good or empowers it, which would work as well. Yeah. And I think that's really becomes the key is, is that when you see those words, like I was saying about Colossians one, which we just finished a Colossians study, um,

He is the image of the invisible God who was talked about the imaging, the firstborn over all creation, which Zach, to your point earlier, that's where a lot of people run afoul. But remember, it's not the firstborn among God and in eternity, he's the firstborn to come here.

That's what makes it special for us. He decided. He's not created. He's not created. Yeah, but he is the creator. It does not mean that he was created. He was first born here because it says in the next verse, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth. So you can't. I mean, yeah, because you think about the bigger motif of scripture is that God has a desire for the nations to come to him, for everybody, even before there were nations. I mean, think about when the nations come into play.

They came to play in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel. And then God confuses because they got arrogant and thought, we're going to build ourselves and make a name for ourselves and build a tower to heaven. God confuses their language. And then that's when nations were created. God chooses his own portion out of that group, which is Israel. And then you know how that whole thing flowed out. Then Jesus shows up.

And then he does, he dies, was buried, raised from the dead. Then the day of Pentecost comes, the Holy Spirit comes, rectifies what happened at the Tower of Babel. It's a restoration of that, bringing the nations back together. But Jesus does that by becoming a man. He had to become a man.

He had to become he had to come in flesh to your point on the last podcast when you mentioned that Hebrews passage. He had to become like us in every single way. He was tempted in every way that we were tempted. And he had to because that was the way that he was going to be the prototype of how God was going to redeem humanity.

which is what he said later in Colossians 1, because he described all the ways that he is a creator, sustainer of everything. Then it says in verse 21, once you, us, everybody, were alienated from God, separated,

But you know what matters? You know what matters real quick? Here's what matters going back to John 17, 3.

is because the gospel of Christ is not a gospel of death. Like, we have to remember that. It includes death, but that's not the central part of it. And the central part of the gospel, it is the gospel of life, and primarily eternal life. And that being defined in John 17, 3,

as not something that's out there that we're going to get one day, but a reality that's offered right now that we can participate in because he says eternal life is this, to know the one true God and Jesus Christ, his son who he sent. So the reason why this matters is because if God never became flesh,

Well, there's no way you're going to know him. He's too far. He's other than. God came near. I mean, that is the point of the whole New Testament. God came near and dwelt among men. And he came to make us heart and to live and take up his resident, John 14, in us. God lives in human beings now. And so that's the reason why it matters that God came in the flesh and that the word became flesh because the word is with God. The word was God.

Well, that's what I was going to say. So when you go back to how John started in the beginning, all of his audience immediately went back to Genesis 1 because it says, in the beginning, God. Well, then what was kind of the climax of that story when God created humans? Remember when he said, all right, this is good, this is good, this is good. He created humans. This is very good. Well, now...

He starts off, I mean, just think of the boldness here. In the beginning was the Word. And what is the climax of what he's saying? The whole point here is verse 14. The Word became flesh. So back to Genesis 1, the climax was he made humans and God would dwell with them. And he did for a short period of time. And now you have God becoming a human being

I mean, that's what he was putting out there. Yeah. And it was not well received. But I think one of the reasons he does make that claim that, you know, I'm the one that Jesus loved is because about four times that I could find, he's telling a story and then all of a sudden he pauses, unlike the other gospel writers, and say, no, this is what he meant.

This is what was going to happen later. And I wanted to give you an example of that. So in John 2, you remember after Jesus clears the temple and you get down to about verse 18, it says, then the Jews demanded him, what miraculous sign can you show us to prove you have authority to do this? Because he just cleaned out the temple. Now we all know.

That they, under the former regime before Jesus, they put all their hopes, dreams, politics, economy, religion, worship, culture, family in what happens in that temple because that is where God's presence is being revealed. To Zach's point earlier, it's the only place God came near.

Exactly. And so Jesus goes in there and get out of here, turning over tables. You've turned my father's house into, you know, a market. Yeah. Den of thieves and all that. So then Jesus answered them in 219, destroy this temple.

Because they said, what sign? And I'll raise it again in three days. Yeah, and I'll raise it again in three days. The Jews replied, it has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you're going to raise it in three days? Now, all of a sudden, even though you don't see it in your Bible, John calls a timeout. So he's going through the story. And then in verse 21, he says, but the temple he had spoken of was his body.

After he was raised from the dead, he's going all the way to the end. We're a long way from that. We're in John chapter 2. What kind of writer does this? One who writes his own commentary. I like that. This is what was happening, which I'm so glad because this is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Because he's showing you the preview of why he would become king of kings. He's going to die. He's going to be buried. And he's going to raise...

This temple from the ground, the temple he was talking about was his actual body, which is just incredible that somebody is talking about a human like this. I mean, we all take it for granted because we've read all this. But if you started making these claims, you went up to a church building and said, hey, all y'all get out of here. And they're like, who do you think you are?

And he's like, hey, you destroy this temple and I'll raise it up. They're looking around at the building. He's like, well, then you have this voice. The actual temple that he's talking about is his body. And he's going to bring that back from the dead. Well, then he kind of gets into the emotional aspect of the disciples. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Well, he was one of the disciples.

So I don't know if he was including himself in that. I guess he is. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. And then it goes back to the story. Now, while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, well, what's the significance of the Passover feast? Well, now you go back to John 2. Remember with John the Baptist, first thing he said? Look, the Lamb of God. What does that have to do? Where's all these Passover things?

Feast, where's that even coming from? It's involving lambs. Well, why is the forerunner calling Jesus the Lamb of God? Why was Jesus crucified? And the blood of the lamb on the doorpost. On the day they were crucifying all the lambs at the temple. Right. Well, I mean, the more you start looking at this, the more you think,

Who can make this up? Right. What's happening here? Is it possible that he actually came back from the dead and died as a sacrifice for all human beings on the planet? And the beauty of it is it's always been there for us to see. I thought about this earlier. This is another mind blower right in line with what you're talking about, Jase. Moses, who wrote the Torah.

Genesis through Deuteronomy. So the hero of anybody that Jesus would have been talking to was Moses, right? He gave the narrative, the history, all of it. He also wrote one psalm.

Only one that's recorded, Psalm 90. And the reason I'm so familiar with it is it's my go-to at a funeral. And here's why. He starts out by saying, Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations before the mountains were born, or you brought forth the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. So just like John did, he establishes the forever nature of God. This is the same guy who wrote the Torah, who wrote Genesis account.

Then he talks about it, and I don't read the whole psalm, but in the psalm he talks about our humanity. And this is the text where he says, you get 70 years, 80 if you have the strength, which is amazing because he wrote this like 4,000 years ago. That's about how long we live to this day. How do they know that? How they know that. And so it's about our humanity somehow...

presented against the backdrop of God's eternal nature. And then he says, here's how he closes it. May the favor of the Lord, our God rest upon us, establish the work of our hands for us, establish the work of our hands.

Really interesting that this Moses, who all those years ago wrote all that history and how it all began, also understood that the whole mystery was making mortal men into immortality. And there was only one way to do that, and that would be the story of Jesus, an

And he doesn't mention that in this text, but I'm saying he knew something was going on even way back then that was going to happen that would be mind-blowing. And he only wrote one song and injected it. Abraham, when he was gone. Yeah. He reasoned in his mind that God could raise dead men. So it's been there all along is my point. Zach, I interrupted you. What were you going to say?

I can't remember now. All right, well, good. I blew his mind at such a level. Well, I want to piggyback on something Zach said earlier that on the last podcast I brought up Proverbs 8, but I wish I'd have read it. But I want to read it now because something Zach said is in Proverbs 8. And so earlier when he was talking about life and death, which is what we're talking about here, even Jesus saying, look, you destroy this temple.

I'm going to bring it back, which is what is so appealing about this because we're all dying. Exactly. I mean, go find something. A resurrection is looming large. Find something in the law that's going to keep you alive, which is fine. They're like, well, we may be gaseous spirits floating around.

whatever, which is some of the same things we do today. But I want to read this Proverbs 8. So in the middle of this lady wisdom analogy, in verse 27, you kind of see this looking like Jesus because it says, I was there when he set the heavens in place. He's talking about wisdom, but

We know all the verses in Colossians. Christ is our wisdom. He's the wisdom of God. As a human, you want to know what God's wisdom is like. Well, he became a man so we can understand what the wisdom of God is like. And if we have him inside of us, we become real wise on how to navigate life and how to help people. So then he goes on to say before the foundations, but he gets down to the end in the last two verses. I mean, Zach literally quoted this a while ago without

Given the reference, it says, for whoever finds me, and this is Proverbs 8, 35. Whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself. All who hate me love death.

I mean, what a statement. And that's why when you hear the case for Jesus, as John lays out, these are the theme lines that you have to start pondering. You're like, well, if I'm not in the light, I'm in darkness. If I don't have life, all I'm left with is death. If I don't have love, no wonder I'm so grumpy. And the truth of that, if you doubt that,

Look at what just happened. Turn on your TV. Turn on your TV. Oh, exactly. Look what just happened in your audience if you doubt that. That's right. Hey, wake up. Every death cult that's out there, whatever it is, it's death. If you don't have Jesus, okay, and with Jesus is life and life.

If you don't have him, guess what you got? Darkness and death. Yeah, that's why Jesus' resurrection is so important, because every other power tries to use death as their means of power display. That's right.

That's what they say. Oh, look how powerful. No, no. Do you know why that is? I can give you a good answer for why that is. Because no one. That's the truth. Except for God alone has the power. No one alone has the power to give life except for God. You could go kill somebody, but you can't give anybody life. Nobody can do that. What was it that Oppenheimer says? I am the bringer of death.

The destroyer of worlds. Yeah. That's a creepy quote. It's a very creepy quote. And they were talking about, you know, the nuclear bomb. But it's the same idea. Human beings without any semblance of God, then Proverbs 8 is so true. They bring about death. You also got to keep in mind that John 17, 3 passage is so key to all this because Proverbs

It's not when we say life and that life is in God, life is in Christ and come to him, you'll have life, abundant life, all the promises of life that Jesus gave his flesh for the life of the world. John 6, the word life has to be defined through the lens of John 17, 3. It can't simply mean a quantity of existence. That's not that's not only what it means.

It also means a quality of existence. What is the quality of existence? And the quality is a relationship in him. But I like quantity also. I want both. Yeah, I want both. But there's a description for a quantity of existence outside the presence of God.

And the word for that is hell. I don't want that. And so there is an existence that you could exist forever outside of his presence. Well, that's why I think he said Proverbs 8. He's like, whoever does not come to me.

arms himself. I think that whenever the New Testament first century Jewish person would read John 1.1

And they would see that word in the beginning. The word became flesh. The word was with God. The word was God. All that. It mentions the word. I think that they would have immediately thought of what they had been taught. All of those verses in the Old Testament that talk about Yahweh that were retranslated to the word of Yahweh. I think they would have thought about, oh, that guy.

That guy that we've been reading about, that we know so well from the Old Testament scriptures, I think the first people to come to Jesus in the first century would have heard that, and they would have connected the dots by the power of the Holy Spirit. They would have connected those dots and been like, oh, that's who Jesus is? And it would have been a shocking, shocking revelation. Well, I think when he made the reference in John 2 that I read, when he said, then they believed, after he was raised from the dead,

2.22. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scriptures. Well, what are scriptures? Words. And so that's why later he would say in John 5,

You think you're going to have eternal life because you know the scriptures. Well, you know the words. Who is Jesus doing the most arguing with? People who are experts in the law, which is a lot of words with rules attached, and those who know all these kind of words. We do the same thing today. We'll read a scripture and we'll break down the word.

Five different ways, you know, and we deem people more smarter or more close to God with however many words they know. That's why I'm always making fun of Zach for all the words he knows. And I think that's why he started this off. If you want to know what God says, I'm going to take that and become a person. Yeah. I mean, it's fascinating. And even the one, not just those who didn't know anything, even the followers, they're

John the Baptist, Nathaniel, Peter, Martha, Thomas, John the disciple that wrote the book, all of them had a point in there where they believed the word, and they were with him. Well, exactly. Do you think it's an accident that the last verse in John is he makes this bizarre thing that says, I've chosen these few things.

So that, you know, you can believe. He says that in the previous chapter. But then he says, but, you know, Jesus did a lot of other things. Yeah. And. There's not enough books in the world. If all of them are written down, there's not enough books. Well, what are in books? Words. Words. He started off saying in the beginning is the word.

I never made this connection until last night. Then he makes this weird illustration that if we tried to write down everything he did, there would not be enough books or not enough room to hold all the books, all the words to describe and all the thoughts based on...

What he did, who he is, what he's going to do, however you want to. Which is powerful. All right, we're out of time. You hadn't heard anything in the last five minutes, have you? No.

We had technical difficulties, and I knew what happened. When you got all fired up a minute ago, you unplugged your cord. You haven't heard anything. But I love it because you're still with us, Si. That's the beauty of it. We still hear you. Well, no, no, because I enjoyed it. You're welcome back anytime. Si, there's someone in my head, and it's not me.

But when I received the Holy Spirit, I actually thought, ooh, I have a different version of that song. Si's good even when he can't hear us. That's the good thing about it. All right, Si, you're always welcome back on Unashamed. We'll dive back into John next time. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube. And be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.