Ep 1036 | Jase Offends Millions of People & the First Fake News in History Shows up in the Bible
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I am unashamed. What about you?

The word on the street, Jace, is you have angered a whole segment of the population with your disrespect of the deer hunters. I just wanted to report back. I don't know who all's angry. I do know I have one friend that called me that was a little mutual. He's a mutual friend. That's not news to me. I told you they were going to be angry. I've already had these arguments with these people. Look.

I love deer. I love to watch them. I love to eat little ones. I get it. People deer hunt. Great. I'm all for it. I'm just saying when it comes to how hard the challenge, put it in context and I'll live with it. So whatever they're saying, guess what? It's called a guilty conscience, I think. Well, it was funny because they were actually texting me while they were sitting in a deer stand.

So they were like, hey, I was listening to Jace. I said, what are you doing right now? I'm deer hunting. I tried to call him. I said, I can't talk. I'm deer hunting. I said, are you sitting down? They're like, yeah. So, I mean, he did make a good point. You're doing your best, though. Who made a good point? You did. I think your point was, I actually agree with you. It's not rocket science here. It's the, I told you, the number one quality trait that is needed in deer hunting is

is time on your rear. Yeah. Now, there is a level of it, though. Which is why you said that Willie excels in this area. He specifically mentioned body types, too, if I remember correctly. I mean, just think about it. Deer are colorblind. I mean, they can't even see. You're wearing orange jumpsuits out in the woods. This is so anti what I'm doing.

But I will say the guys that hike up into the wilderness of Alaska or in the hills of Colorado, those guys where they quarter the deer out or they quarter the elk out and then they haul it back. That's a different story. Well, that is, but you're down to about 31 people on the planet. Yeah. So I'm friends with one who does that. I'm like, okay, now that was challenging. So great. Yeah.

But I call it like I see it. I mean, I'm all about men being men. And so I just said in the hunting world, I do believe one of the greatest challenges is a duck hunter. I mean, it's hard to be successful. So actually, I'm going to put my thoughts to action here. I got an event coming up I'm going to invite you to. You need to come to this. Okay. It's called Man Night.

We'll just make sure. Yeah, we'll just make sure everything's clicking for you. Where's it at? It's in Farmington, Arkansas, March the 8th. They have room for 3,000 men. That's why I'm talking about this. And look at this. They're giving away a bass boat.

Whoa. So forget whatever I'm going to say. Can you get me preferential treatment on the hand grab into the name and drawing? No. Zach's on that best. Here's what you do, Zach. You can go to brandnewchurch.com. Must be a brand new church.

I don't know, but that's where you go. Brandnewchurch.com. What a clever. What's interesting is, Jase, I may actually drop by because I'm thinking about going up to Arkansas for a retreat for the 6th to the 8th, a men's retreat. It ends on the 8th. I may drive over. Yeah, wear your orange hat and your corduroy and sit down close to the front because I could use you for a prop.

Oh, gosh. Yeah. Zach, you will be the foil for Jason's speech. I will be. If I show up, now that I know what my role is going to be. No, look, if you do that, if you come, I'm going to say, I need a volunteer for an audience, and I'm going to pick you.

And I'll do, I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'll do something. It'll be funny. We would tell the story on the podcast. I had a guy show up at church on Sunday from, I think, Indiana. And as I walk in, I was trying to introduce myself to people I don't know. Hey, I'm Zach. Welcome. Y'all from that area? No, we're from Indiana, but we watch the podcast. And

He said, man, I like to see your shoulders are so broad because of all that just whipping you take from Jace. He said, you can handle it though, can't you? I said, I can handle it. I think people are too sensitive to go back to you. I think they love it now. They're starting to understand our love language. I mean, I think at first they were like, wait, what is it? But I think as they sat in the conversation, they realized that this is the family dynamic. You know what I mean? Well, to me, it's a...

I mean, look, my apologies to everybody who thinks that Donald Trump introduced the idea of fake news going on in our world. But fake news has been going on basically since the Garden. Yeah, the Garden of Eden. That was the first fake news. Surely you won't die. That was the first fake news ever told. That was fake news. That was not the good news. And so, you know, I was just laying out the truth about –

deer hunting being a challenging venture. It's just, I'm all for it. I'm just saying, don't tell me it's more challenging than duck hunting. I was just saying that most of the times I go hunting and after we do the setup and all that, you can tell the deer hunters from the duck hunters because when we're ready to hunt, the true deer hunters, they're over there going, you know, they got their hand over their heart. You know what I mean? They're not used to this. Just the walk.

Has almost put them into a medical emergency. Are you going to bring this up at your men's group when you speak? If you come, I'll bring it up. Okay. If you're there with your orange hat on, Zach, he'll bring it up. I seriously might roll over there, Jace. Well, Jace, I'm glad since you brought up about speaking.

Lisa and I have several events coming up in February through April as well. But on mine, just go to alandlisarobertson.com and we have all our stuff listed that you can find out. There's contact information to see if there's availability at our events we're doing. We love getting out and speaking to folks directly because we've just always done it. I mean,

We grew up doing that. Jason and I and Zach have all had the opportunity to speak in front of audiences. We do so at our own home churches on a fairly regular basis as well. So, I mean, we love that. We love the interaction. But we also love doing this. Yeah, well, there's always a danger. I spoke yesterday at our parents' church at WFR. Al, where you preach at, so...

And I did the visitor class, you know, for Bill's class. Which we call it the Unashamed Bible Study, yeah. Yeah, so they're doing it on the first Sunday of every month. They're having like a representative of the family for, you know, kind of passing the legacy with what. Because this used to be Dad's class, right? Yeah. Well, Phil was there, which was awesome. Yeah, I know. I heard that. I was excited to hear that. So every time I'd look over, he'd give me the Roman Bible.

gladiator, thumbs up, head nod. This is my son whom I'm well pleased. I thought it was interesting though since most people in there were people that got wind that I was speaking who know me. I mean, it's like my wife's parents were there. I was like, this is a visitor class. Yeah,

Yeah, it's aimed at our guests that come mostly from Unashamed Nation. But yeah, I think the word got out, Jase. So I did a little, because I didn't have any notes or anything. I mean, I shared Jesus. I talked about the good news. But I also did a little bit of this kingdom stuff we're doing, you know, and heaven and earth coming together. And boy, it was just crickets. So I was glad I did that, Zach. Yeah.

Yeah. That caused a lot of questions after the class from non-visitors, which was kind of funny. ♪

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Here's what you do. Use the code unashamed at fieldofgreens.com. That's promo code unashamed at fieldofgreens.com. Questions from non-votes. What were the questions? Well, I got asked about John 14. Well, I thought John 14 because I kind of made a little slant about John.

When I got to Revelation 21, I went from Genesis to Revelation and talked about the kingdom is here. Heaven has come down, and there's a plan that God instituted based on... I quoted the Ephesians 1 where it says, when the times would come, Jesus would bring all things under heaven and earth under one head. And I was like...

Look, there's a concept that people in the religious world have missed, and it is that the kingdom of heaven is actually here through spirit-filled people, and Jesus, king of kings, at the right hand of God. But I'm just saying there was a few people in the audience who had never contemplated that as a possibility. And what I brought up to John 14 is because a woman said, well,

I thought heaven was a house that we're going to with many rooms in John 14. I was like, well, you know, it was a hard thing to answer with a line and crowd of people and a bumper sticker statement. I just said, well, I think you'll notice that John 14, 15, and 16 is really talking about the Holy Spirit being alive

for humans. He said, I'm not going to leave you alone. And making his home. I mean, we mentioned that verse, where he says he's going to come and make his home in us. That's in John 14, right? Either John 14 or John 16. I'll look it up real quick. I think it's, well, what am I saying? I mean, I have my Bible right here. I will quickly, I know where it is on the page. That is John 14 and verse 23. Okay.

So that's why I went over the paracletus and all that. You know, yeah, there's this dynamic. And so, and I think, you know, N.T. Wright came up with that saying that, you know, there's life after death. Now, what does he say? There's life after life after death. Because he's talking about, well, when you die, yeah, your spirit goes to be with Jesus. I'm all for the rooms and that analogy and that context, whatever that is.

You know, when you die, where's your spirit or soul or essence go? I would say, okay, you're going to heaven to be in the presence of God in this form. However, there is a life that will happen next that when Jesus does come back, you will get a new body, a physical body like Jesus. Now, when I say physical body,

It has some bells and whistles on it because Jesus' body post-resurrection was a little more souped up than the bodies we have now. Yeah. Because he was defying gravity. He didn't get cold. He was going through walls. He's eating fish. He's changing his appearance. But he got a new body. And you read Romans 8. I mean, it's pretty clear that we're groaning, waiting for the redemption of our bodies, right?

So that's kind of what he was referring to there. But to say that the kingdom is not here now, I mean, isn't that what Jesus said in Mark 1? I mean, that was one of my opening verses in my class. I mean, first words in Mark, he's like, the time has come. The time is here. The kingdom of God is at hand. When did he write that? When did he say that? 2,000 years ago. 2,000 years ago, yeah. Remember what he went on to say in Mark 9, 1?

Some of you who are standing here will not taste death before you see the kingdom of God come with power. Yeah. How can you make that statement? Well, it must have happened at some point in there, some version of wherever the king is reigning, if he's at the right hand of God, he pours out his spirit. We have his spirit. And so I went through that little...

the thing that we've been doing about there is a answer to Jesus' prayer when he prayed that his kingdom would come to earth as it is in heaven. Remember that? I pray that your kingdom come on earth. But it got a few crickets. I wanted my butt, because a couple times I asked a couple questions. It was just silence. So I was like, boy, it'd be nice to...

Well, the funny thing about that is the founding elder of that church taught us this. Bill Smith believed this. I mean, a lot of this was the teaching on the kingdom. I think a good thing to see it, because it is kind of like in the songs we sing and a lot of the...

Stuff that forms our imagination of heaven. Most of it is, I think it's directionally challenged. A lot of what we grew up singing, what I mean by that is that we kind of flip the direction. We think that it's us going there. And really, probably the more biblical picture is heaven coming here. You see that really even in what's happening here in this moment in John 1. Christ is here.

He did. He condescended. And if you look back at the scripture, it seems to be the other way around. Whenever it's like the Tower of Babel, that's man trying to go to God. It just doesn't work. That's not how the direction is always God coming to man. It's always heaven coming here. It's not the other way around. And I think that's what's being accomplished in this institution of Jesus's ministry. Because you got to think, I mean, he's been...

rolling around for, what, 30 years before he even starts the ministry. But this is the beginning of the ministry. But you see even the Spirit of God coming. You see heaven opening up. And that picture there, heaven, I think could mark the word as schizo, which it's the same word that's used when it's talking about the tearing of the veil.

you know, Jesus's resurrection or his death. And it's, it's, it's ripping open. So heaven's ripping open. The spirit of God is like, is coming down out of heaven onto the sun. And then the voice from heaven comes down onto the sun and says, this is my son whom I'm well pleased. So that, that direction, that,

Always seems to be from God to us, not from us to God. Well, and it goes back to, and I read this yesterday, Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Yeah. And they seemingly were together. Yeah. They're supposed to be interlocked. So I think we tend to think, oh, that's someplace way off where God was the whole time. And then he said, let me try this earth. And then it didn't work well.

So then he panicked and said, oh, I got to do something. I mean, now look, I'm exaggerating the case, but we came up with this concept of, oh no, God screwed up. So we need a ride off this place to go somewhere else because that just didn't work. And I think you're minimizing who God is. This was a plan all along to bring it back together.

And he did it through Jesus, which is getting back into the Ephesians 1, 10 passage. Yeah, you're delaying your calling as well, because you've been called for something to do while you're here on earth in the kingdom. Exactly. Why are we here, Al? Why didn't he just, when he died and buried and resurrected and said, okay, I'll accomplish that.

Now let's just end this. Next week we're all going to the –

worked in conjunction with humanity to accomplish and implement the will of God. It wasn't separate until the fall. And so what God's bringing back is the bringing back to heaven and earth the accomplishment of His will. Dallas Willard kind of points this out a lot in his work that when Jesus said, "'Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'" That's evidence that Christ at least saw these two things intertwined. It wasn't a separate thing.

We see this played out in 2025 in a thing called the secular-sacred divide, meaning that there's a sacred world and there's a secular world. But in God's economy, no, it's all sacred. It's all His. It's all His. And I think that that's what we have a hard time with. Probably you're teaching on this, Jace. It's hard to box in what you're saying, which makes me nervous. It makes us nervous because you can't—

If what we're teaching here is true, then you cannot contain the kingdom of God. You cannot contain God. It's what Solomon said in 1 Kings 8 after he built the temple.

for God to live in, he said, "Surely God's not going to live in a temple that I built. Surely my hands can't build something to contain God who created the cosmos." And the answer to Solomon would be like, "Yeah, you're right. You're not going to contain him." That to me is probably the hardest part for us to get emotionally and intellectually in every capacity, is that when we understand the kingdom is here now, it really prevents us from being able to contain it into some kind of structure that we can build.

So, Zach, I guess Jace is consistent letting us know, me in particular, that maybe it's time to shed a few pounds has finally kicked in for me. You look better. I mean, Jace, you commented on that today on Al's looks. You said you look better. I just...

DLM Facts. I look better. Thank you, Jays, for that compliment. And I feel better because I finally decided to lose some weight. I tried last year, as you know, but the problem was I tried to do it on my own.

But I found some people that could help me. It was Dr. Ashley Lucas, the founder of PhD Weight Loss. And Zach, you and I had a conversation with Dr. Ashley. She's amazing. She's a registered dietitian with a PhD in sports nutrition and chronic diseases. And she has a passion for helping people. And it really came through in our conversation. Thousands of her clients have had so much success. And now I'm one of them as well. I'm about a month in.

I've already lost 20 pounds, which is incredible. What I love about it, no gimmicks, no pills, no injections, no side effects because I've tried a lot of different things to lose weight. That's typically what you run into. And I'm also not eating rabbit food. Uh,

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So I highly recommend this. Zach, you might want to think about getting on this yourself and not say anything. Just saying, you know, if you want to look better and feel better, join me on my weight loss journey. I know a lot of you out there in Unashamed Nation could probably lose some pounds. Schedule your one-on-one consultation today by calling 864-644-1900.

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Well, right. And I think that's why Jesus did what he did. I mean, we're in John 1, 14, the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We've seen his glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. I mean, God entered the earth as a human. Well, why? What did he bring with him?

That's why when you fast forward to the end and remember the discussion with Pilate, he's like, my kingdom is not from this place, but he's here now. I just read the Mark 1. He's like, time is here. The kingdom is at hand. I mean, what is he talking about? Why is he even here? I think the biggest problem for people to wrap their head around it is they look out in the world and say, well, it doesn't look like it. Yeah.

If God is in control of this, well, why is it so bad? And I think that's the whole understanding of the Bible and life. And that struggle is God moving in and redeeming the world in Christ. But it's interesting, Jase, because it's all about your viewpoint.

If from inside the body of Christ, it seems very clear to me that he's here. From outside the body of Christ, I'm sure you are saying, where is God? Well, exactly. It's all about the viewpoint. Hey, this thing is being renovated as we speak. Every time we declare Jesus, it is literally being recreated and renovated. Now, ultimately, just like I did the thing about the bodily resurrection, the whole thing's going to be made right. Right.

That's why you have those statements about, you know, in John 12 where he's like, when I die and I'm lifted up, I'll drive the prince of this world out. And you're like, well, how is that possible? Because look at all the tools and weapons that the evil one uses who actually fell from heaven. You know, remember when Jesus said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven? Yeah. So...

It goes back to say that there's an interesting, where's that at where Solomon is talking about

Even the heavens can't contain you. I think it's 1 Kings 8. I mean, read that 1 Kings 8 one time when you got about, it's a very long chapter. Let me look it up specifically. I hate when I bring up something and I'm not sure that's exactly where it is. You're talking about when he built the temple, the dedication? Yeah, but he prayed and he's like saying all these things that are,

It's like you're, even the heavens can't contain you? Well, most people think, well, I thought that's where God was. And my point is we're putting way too much emphasis on places instead of persons. God created the heavens and the earth. He's bigger than heaven. I'm just going ahead and throwing that out there. And he's bigger than the earth.

I think it's 1 Kings 8. I think that's helpful to understand that, that heaven was created. Oh, I... Like, we don't think about that a lot. We think heaven is just a place where God lives, but heaven was actually a creation. No, it is 1 Kings 8. Let me just read an excerpt of it. Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven...

Verse 27 says, Well, we're reading about it in John 1, 14. Watch. Yeah.

How much less this temple I have built. I just think it's interesting insight when you read his take on that and his prayer. He was more focused of the God who created the heavens and the earth. And so when you start reading into the details and the weeds of this on what we're saying, even from Solomon's prayer here, I think it starts making more sense about what God's mission was

And sending Jesus and bringing a place where he would dwell together with humans. And that, I would say, is heaven and earth back together. Yeah. Yeah.

So check it out. I mean, it's worth a read that first. Which is why when Jesus made the statement, if you tear this temple down in three days, I'll raise it again. He was giving them the now what would be the third option for temples. And this one is going to be a doozy. It's not going to be one that you build with your hands. You know, as Paul mentioned in Acts 17, this is going to be one that God builds and the Holy Spirit will then be in every stone, which, oh, by the way, will be us.

Yeah, even in my Killett Preach style, I thought it was really good. Y'all are doing our study in Ephesians. Yeah. And I told him, I was like, that was a good job. But even in this verse he read, you know, when you read Genesis 1, okay, he created the heavens and earth. And what happened? God was dwelling with people.

It doesn't have to say that. He was walking around in the garden with them and they were dwelling and having conversations, right? Right. And then when you read Revelation 21 that we've read many times here, but when you read 21, 22, it says, "...I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple."

But before that, in verse 3, it says of 21, Revelation, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Now the dwelling of God is with men. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He'll wipe away every tear. There'll be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. So I just went from Genesis 1 to Revelation 21, the beginning to the end. It's like kind of...

What happened in between? Well, there was a fall. There was a plan from God that he became a human and he redeemed people. And so when you look at this, you're like, and then at the end, we're right back where we started, which was with God dwelling with people. Maybe the point of this whole thing is God dwelling with people forever.

So in between, Kellett read this verse yesterday. I just want to read it. He didn't make the point I'm making, but everything I just said, when you read Ephesians 2, 21, it says, Listen to this phrase.

to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. Well, now what is that referring to? Ephesians 2, 21. What is that building? It's your body. It's us. It's human bodies that are housing the Holy Spirit, also called the church. I mean, I'll read another one.

You know, 1 Corinthians 3 says, in verse 8, the man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. Well, what's our purpose? We go out and we introduce Jesus to other people. They surrender. They receive God's Spirit. But watch what it says. For we are God's fellow workers, fellow partners in this venture. You are God's field, God's building. Yeah. Oh, okay.

Wow. Why? So God can dwell with people, you know, now and then. And so that's the concept. I'll read you another one. 1 Peter 2, 4. As you come to him, the living stone...

rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I mean, there's another one. I feel like we're playing a poker game talking about the Bible and we keep calling and then raising. Yeah.

Because I have another one I want to raise. But go ahead, sir. Well, I was just going to say, as you guys were talking, I was thinking, what in the world does this have to do with John 1? And the answer is everything. Because when John says, I baptize you with water, but the one coming after me, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I mean, we've said it before. I'll say it again.

This is not talking about when people speak in tongues. That's not what this means. And I know that's going to probably rub some people the wrong way, but if you believe that, here's my challenge to you. You're thinking too small.

You're thinking way too small. This is bigger. This is about God coming to make his home in man. To be baptized with the Spirit, it's not like an outpouring of some kind of evidence. It's not even like a gift of the Holy Spirit. When you talk about Acts 2, the gift of the Holy Spirit, that's God making his home in humans now. That's what the whole thing means. Why is the temple, why is your body a temple according to Paul?

Why is your body the temple? Because it's where the Holy Spirit lives. So when you get through John, we'll get to John 14, but that's the whole thing Jesus is kind of getting up to when he gets to John 14. He's like, look, it's for your good that I go away. Now, we hold Christ up as high as we can possibly get him. Christ is as high as, I mean, he's exalted. And I mean, he is supreme. He's preeminent. But when Christ himself says, it is good that I go away, we probably need to pay attention to why.

Why is it good, Christ, that you would go and ascend to the Father and not be here walking around with us? Why is that good? It's good because he says, if I don't go, then he won't come. Well, who is he talking about? The Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes, he's going to live inside you.

That's John 14. He's going to make us home in you. He's going to guide you into all truth. It is the ultimate connection. It is the fulfillment. All this stuff that we're reading about in John 1, he's Elijah. There's all this new Exodus language or all this overlaying of the Old Testament. What does it all mean? It all means that God is going to accomplish his ultimate goal, which is he's going to dwell with his people. It's going to happen no matter what. He will win.

The Great Commission is extremely clear to go make disciples in the nations, and that's really why I love our partner, the Damara Clubs. These guys are amazing. Al, thank you.

You were led to Christ a lot by my mother who took you to camps when you were a young child, correct? Yeah, exactly. I mean, from a very early age, your mom made sure that the Word of God was instilled into me and introduced me to people to help that as well. So I can't speak highly enough about groups that are trying to make sure the Word of God gets into young minds and young hearts.

Which is why I love our partnership with the Tomorrow Clubs. I want to tell you about what's going on in Delphi, Africa. This is a community that's really struggling under the weight of extreme violence, poverty. There's a lot of gang warfare there, prostitution. A lot of the young people at an early age, a lot of the young boys are going into gangs. A lot of the young girls are going into prostitution. It is a very dark area, but the gospel is breaking through with our partnership with the Tomorrow Clubs.

They've connected with a young man there named Muhammad, who was a former gang member, went to prison, came to know Christ, and he's working with them directly in one of the churches there. Muhammad's church and home have become really a safe haven in the community where safety is rare. So parents will call Muhammad quite often and say, hey, can you help us track down our children?

And we want to come alongside him and support the work that he's already doing, but also expand it in the area and other areas as well. Tomorrow Clubs are providing the gospel in the most hard-to-reach places, the gospel of transformation. And we believe that we need to partner with these guys and be a part of the solution. So if you want to be a part of this with us, then go visit tomorrowclubs.org.

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So where do we leave off in John? All right. It's John 119. And I was going to read this section because you got into it just a bit, Jason. We went back and looked in Luke one. It's right after that prologue that we spent a lot of time talking about in John 119.

John, the author, says, now this was John's testimony. He's talking about John the Baptist. When the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites, James, that's what took you on the rabbit hole, to ask him who he was. Now, I want to just make a little commentary here before I read on. It's interesting that, did you notice that, and you see this happen today in the religious world, when something's going on, you can't explain, you send people to make sure it fits in with what you've already established. Right.

It's not that you want to be open to maybe God's moving and doing something. I love that the idea here is they had to go check this out to make sure it fit what they were doing, which is interesting. He says, then it says in verse 20, he did not fail to confess, but confess freely. This is John the Baptist. I am not the Christ. So that which also the word there is Messiah. So they asked him, well, then who are you? Are you Elijah? Yeah.

And I think they meant literally like the Elijah. Are you reincarnated Elijah? Well, and I think that comes back to the Malachi 4. Right. That was this. Exactly. They were looking for this figure. Yeah. On some level. And so he says, I am not. Because he wasn't Elijah. He was John the Baptist. But we do know he came in the spirit of Elijah. And then he answered no. No, they said, yeah, I'm not. Are you the prophet? He answered no. No.

Well, finally they said, well, who are you? Give us an answer. If you're any of these guys, what's your credentials, man? Why are we here? Well, that was the best question. Because it's a good one today. Who are you? That's right. But here's the reason, Jace. It wasn't so they could find out more and maybe change their life. Here was their reason why they asked. Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. So it's like, we've got to report something here.

What do you say about yourself? And John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet. And Jace, you read this whole section, which is so good. I am the voice of one calling in the desert. Make straight the way for the Lord. That's Isaiah 40. And man, hopefully when we did it a few podcasts ago, you wouldn't read that whole text. It's so good. Verse 24. Now some Pharisees, uh-oh.

who had been sent, now that's in addition to these priests, now they're going to step in and question him. Well, why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet? So here we go. Because remember, Zach has made this point before, the only baptizing that ever happened was for the official religious leadership and elite to allow Gentiles, very rarely by the way, into the Jewish faith.

So now we've gotten into an authority question. Like, wait a minute. Well, what are you doing out here baptizing? You're not supposed to be baptizing people. And then he says something credible, which you referred to earlier, Zach, because it said twice in this text. I baptize with or in water. John replied, but among you stands one you do not know.

He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am unworthy to untie. Which is what a statement. He's like, no, there's something way bigger. And it's here, which is interesting that he even knew that. He says, stands among you. And then it says, this all happened at Bethany. And Jace, you made the point that there's Bethabara here.

which is actually a better translation of that word because it gets confused with the Bethany and John 11. On the other side of the Jordan where John was baptized. So that was the point where we left off. And this place was this idea. It was called the House of the Ford. Jason, you talked about it. It was kind of this low point on the easternmost Jordan River where John's baptized. And this is in the wilderness. This is the desert region, right?

they were talking about. You read about it in Matthew 3, Mark 1, and also Luke 3. Which is kind of like a field of dreams, plant the corn field, they will come. Yeah. Kind of scenario. And they did. I mean, they're looking for the Messiah. Unfortunately,

I think their narrative was when the Messiah would come, it would still all be about the nation of Israel taking over the Roman oppressor, which is, I think, why God chose this moment to do this, is to show what really his character was like, that it was not going to be some kind of physical tanks and weaponry. And I'm using tanks as just an exaggeration, but it wasn't going to be a...

physical earthly campaign where we take over the world and put ourselves up on a pedestal as a nation in a physical sense. No, you're right. And so this whole section, I think, was here to just show you that I think all of the people of the first century knew something was happening. They weren't sure what it was.

John the Baptist had a pretty clear vision of what he was supposed to be doing, although he wasn't really sure either.

exactly how this was going to play out. And it's interesting before we get to verse 29, which is kind of an explanation of everything, is that John, the author, doesn't actually list what happens. You can read about it in Matthew 3, 13, Mark 1, 9, and Luke 3, of the actual baptism of Jesus. He just tells about it happening in

In John 1, which is interesting that John would go about it that way. In other words, he just gives his witness of it and his testimony about it after this section, which I don't know if there's any relevance to that other than John's just got a little different way of approaching. Yeah, I think that goes in with him making the case. It was more from a here's the claims. Here's the case. I mean, he goes on to say that what in verse 32 says,

Yeah. Then John gave this testimony. I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And there's that phrase again. He saw the Spirit, what? Come down from heaven.

I would not have known him except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, the man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.

He's here. Which was kind of to the point I was saying earlier. And I remember when Bill used to teach this, and I had never thought about it this way, but he was kind of reenacting John baptizing these people for baptism and repentance. And it's almost like every time he looked up, it's like, is this the one? Did he baptize it? Is this the one? And then at some point, it was the one.

And when you go back and read the actual story of how it happened, you remember John came. I mean, Jesus came to John and said, you need to baptize me. And instantly, the one thing we know that John the Baptist knew about old cousin Jesus was that he was a pretty good dude because he says, well, you need to be baptized in me.

Which is a very interesting, you know, response to Jesus saying this. And then Jesus says, no, we're doing this to fulfill all prophecy. So in other words, this has to go down the way it is. And so you wonder right then if maybe something sparked in John's heart to think, well, maybe this is the one.

And then he baptized him. Of course, the Holy Spirit comes down like a dove. And then the voice from heaven said, this is my son, the new and well-placed. What you're seeing in my translation says it's a necessity for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Yeah. And so when you think about all, which I equate that to more than just like

our own atonement. It is that. But it's also more than that. I think that there's a whole lot in here in the Old Testament about when you get to Malachi. If you just read Genesis to Malachi and you have no concept of Jesus whatsoever, and then

we were to do like a book report on it, we probably would say this thing's not going to work out really well, guys, because not on the part of God. He seems to always be faithful in the covenant. But the problem that they have in this Genesis through Malachi narrative is that the people seem to always break the covenant with this very benevolent God.

I don't know how this is going to ever work. And so whenever Jesus gets this baptism, because you're 400 years after that realization, there's nothing, nobody's talking anymore. All of a sudden, we have a prophet, not a prophet according to him, but a prophet-like figure in John the Baptist on the scene saying,

interacts with Jesus and Jesus says, I think what he's saying there when he says this is a necessity for us to do this to fulfill our righteousness. I think what he's saying there is like, I'm about to fulfill this covenant, but it's going to have nothing to do with your ability to

to basically be good enough. And I'm going to do that by becoming the temple myself. I'm going to become a cornerstone of a new temple. And then all you people that would come in and receive me, you're going to be living stones that will be built upon me, the cornerstone of that temple. I think that righteousness means

making it all right, getting it all together. I think Jesus is like, this is the beginning of that. We have to do this in order for this whole plan to unfold. Alan Jace here is the Upside Update.

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This dynamic shift was everything. And you know, it's interesting, Jace, I was glad you read 32 through 34 first, because that's him giving the testimony. But when you look back at verse 29, before he tells what happened, why he said this, here was his reaction when he saw Jesus after the baptism. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him.

And he says, he looks up and you imagine, you know, there's a crowd of people around because anywhere John is, there's a crowd of people. He says, look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Now, you talk about a reaction. You talk about a guy that put it together overnight from what he saw in this Holy Spirit coming down in this voice from heaven, the voice of the father. He immediately let back to the Lamb of God, which is all the way back to the Passover picture in Exodus. This is the ultimate sacrifice for all. I mean, he went right there.

I mean, the next day, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I mean, and he didn't say the sin of the Jews. He said the sin of the world. And the problem with how we view that statement too often is we only view it through the lens of...

He paid for the sin, which he did. But he's also doing something when he takes away the sin of the world because of the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer. What the Bible teaches is that you will be progressively released from the power of sin in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit over time. And so he's not just removing the guilt of it.

He's also removing the power of it. Like literally he's taking the sin out of your life. Like meaning like, like as you grow in your faith, you, you should, you should like quit sending as much because you should be, you should be conformed to know his image. And so the things that used to have grip over me or power over me as I walk in the spirit, that, that grip is, is,

greatly reduced. And at some point in the future, it's going to be completely eradicated at our glorification. So you see the vision there is not just to release from the guilt of sin. It is that. But it's also to be released from the power of sin. And one day it's going to be released from the presence of sin. So he's taking away the sins of the world. It's more than just our justification.

It's our sanctification and our glorification. And it's that word you read about in, was it 1 Thessalonians 5? It says the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. And you see that progress. I've heard people tell me, well, you know, people can't change.

And of course, instinctively, I think, man, that's not true because I've seen a lot of changed lives. But in some sense, you're right. But the Holy Spirit can sure bring about change in a person's life. And, you know, that happens every single day. I've been a Christian for however long. I've been there for 20 something years. If I ask the question,

Does the same sin have a grip on you when you were 18? Have you had victory? Do you desire the same sinful things you desired at 18, or have you changed quite a bit? Yeah.

Yeah, it's a whole other, it's another sphere. I mean, it literally brings, yeah, exactly right. And can change patterns. Yeah. It can change habits. It can change all the things that by an earthly, you know, attempt cannot get it done. The Holy Spirit can do it, which is the power of it, I think. 100%.

Well, it also brings up this idea what really the whole book of Hebrews is about. You know, when you say the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, because then you get into their system in the temple where they're going through these sacrifices, because the presence of God, to keep this theme about God dwelling with humans alive,

was there through the wilderness tabernacle and they have this system and the sacrifices come up, but then you, you know, the escape goat member comes up, they would put their sins and send the goat out into the, you know, outside the camp or whatever. And that's why when you get into Hebrews, um,

When you start reading things like, see the last couple of verses of Hebrews 6 kind of brings this up where it says we have, this is verse 19, we have this hope as an anchor for the soul. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever. You know, you remember that. And then in chapter 7 of Hebrews where it says,

This is 23. Now there have been many of those priests since death preventing them from continuing in office, but because Jesus lives forever, he is a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede. And then it gets into these sacrifices. Such a high priest meets our need one day.

It's talking about Jesus.

For the law appoints as high priest men who are weak, but the oath which came after the law appointed the son who has become made priest forever. And I'll just read one more. It's chapter 9, verse 24. Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy. He entered heaven itself now to appear for us in God's presence forever.

Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people.

and he will appear a second time not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. I know those were long reads, but when John the Baptist said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world says,

Well, he got into that kind of mindset of the old temple, the tabernacles, the sacrifices, and this now being the ultimate fulfillment of God taking away the sins of the world by sacrificing himself once and for all for us. It's a very powerful statement. And what happened to go back to the Passover? Freedom.

Not only freedom from sin, freedom from the power, like Zach said, but freedom from the evil one. Yeah, and I think as we wrap up here, just to kind of tie off to John the Baptist until we pick him up again in chapter 3 and 4, but I think it's interesting that all this came from his father,

As you first read, Jason, Luke one, Zachariah, who was in the temple performing these acts would then father a son by the power of God. They would say, we're not going to need that anymore because we're introducing something that's going to have that in us, which is very, very powerful. So it's an interesting thing. All right. So we'll we'll pick it up. The first disciples later in John chapter won't pick that up next time in our study.

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