The Canadian Problem

Father, we're going to look at a part of your word that most Christians don't read or think about.

And so we ask very much for your help, that the Holy Spirit would help us to understand

why such an odd passage of scripture is in the Bible, why you would put it there.

And Father, we ask that you would bring your word close to our heart.

Make us disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel, learning to live for your glory.

And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. You know, friends, it's a very interesting time, obviously, unprecedented.

These are all like cliches.

You know, one of the things that it's really, it'd be really interesting as we get to talk about this,

maybe when the pandemic's all over.

But as many of you know, there's sort of like a, there was almost a pandemic of loneliness

in much of Canadian society, even before this pandemic has, at least the way it's being dealt with right now,

calling for social isolation.

And I, you know, I think about it a little bit for people who already struggle with loneliness and isolation,

people who already are struggling with broken relationships and maybe being estranged from their family

or having no family at all.

To add on top of all of that, this call for social isolation, it must be very hard for many people,

including many of you who are listening to this, just on top of the normal stress that comes from this.

And on top of that, you know, many of us in Canada struggle with trust.

You know, we've been hurt in relationships with our parents or with bosses or institutions that were supposed to help us

or that we believed in at one point in time and they've let us down.

And so here we have a situation where a pandemic comes into us as a culture,

into people like you and me who already maybe struggle with isolation,

already maybe struggle with loneliness, already maybe struggle with being alienated from others

and already struggle in some cases with trust, trust of other people, trust of institutions.

We're going to look at it really, as you might have heard in the prayer,

we're looking at a very odd biblical text today.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Bible or maybe you're very young Christians

or maybe you're just curious about what Christians would say,

so you're listening in on this, sort of as almost like doing anthropological research

on some strange and exotic tribe.

This is a text that we're going to be looking at that Christians rarely read

and they rarely, you rarely have sermons on this.

The text we're looking at this week and the text we're looking at next week.

We're looking at it not because we are odd, although maybe many of us are,

but one of the things that we do at Church of the Messiah is we preach through books of the Bible.

The Bible, Judges, was written as a book and we study it as a book.

We begin at the beginning and go right through to the end.

And one of the good things about that is it forces us to look at things

that maybe we wouldn't otherwise look at and address topics

that maybe I wouldn't have the courage to address.

But that's why we're going to be looking at it.

So it's an odd story.

And one of the things which is especially odd about it is that...

Well, here, I'll back up a little bit.

The book of Judges, we're going to be looking at chapter 17 and 18.

And it takes place, it's written about this time period

after Moses has taken the people of Israel out of Egypt.

And because of their sin, they wander in the wilderness.

And now they've come to the edge of the promised land and Moses dies.

And Joshua is the one who gets them into the promised land.

And then Joshua dies.

And the book of Judges takes place...

It looks at what happens between the death of Joshua

and the Israelites entering the promised land.

And when you have...

Many of you would have heard of the first kings of Israel, Saul, but especially David.

And this time period, really, between the rise of Saul and then David,

the very first kings in Israel, and coming into the promised land,

that's what's being described here in the book of Judges.

And one of the problems about this text is that for Christians,

like there's nothing good that happens in this story.

Everything in this story is bad from a Christian point of view.

And to look at this text, there's an extra complication

because what the Bible is describing as bad

is what Canadians think of as good.

So that causes a problem as well for us.

And so I'm going to talk about all of those things,

see how we navigate.

But having said all of that,

remember I said I began by talking about relationships.

And once we sort of get through

why it is that Christians, the Bible describes these things as bad

that Canadian society describes as good,

it actually opens a door to talk about

the importance of personal relationships

and social isolation and trust.

And actually the story is a very, very profound

and wise insight into things like this.

So let's begin.

It's Judges chapter 17.

Judges 17 · chapter mention

And we're not going to be able to read all of it.

Some of it, I'll just tell you the story.

Some of it we'll read,

but we'll begin at Judges chapter 17, verse 1.

Judges 17:1

There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim,

whose name was Micah.

And he said to his mother,

the 1100 pieces of silver that were taken from you,

about which you uttered a curse,

and also spoke it in my ears.

In other words, he personally heard his mom utter a curse

on whoever stole her 1100 pieces of silver.

Behold, the silver is with me,

her son says.

I took it.

And his mother said,

blessed be my son by the Lord,

which is a very odd response.

So just sort of pause there

before we read the next little bit.

So if you're a bit unfamiliar with the Bible,

Jewish people, if you have Jewish friends,

they're not part of a tribe.

But originally, the Jewish people

all would have been able to say

which one of 12 tribes they were part of.

So Ephraim is one of those tribes.

So we're talking about a Jewish person here.

And what Micah does is he steals

1100 pieces of silver from his mom.

I don't know what that would be like in today's dollars.

That might be like stealing $20 million.

That's like a lot of money, $10 million.

It's a pile of money.

So Micah's rich.

His mom is rich.

He rips off his mom.

And I don't know what you think about curses.

And I'm not going to get into a little bit of a,

I'm not going to get into a discussion about curses.

But Micah believes in curses.

And what motivates him to give the money back

is that his mom has pronounced a curse

on whoever stole the money.

And Micah believes in curses.

He gets very, very worried.

And so this is what, how the story opens.

He says to his mom that he's, he's stolen the mom.

And that little bit about the Lord bless, et cetera, et cetera.

It's the mom revoking the curse and asking for a blessing

because it's her son.

And I guess she has the money back.

So what happens next?

Well, here's where things get interesting.

Verse three.

And he restored, that's Micah,

restored the 1100 pieces of silver to his mother.

And his mother said,

I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son

to make a carved image and a metal image.

Now, therefore, I will restore it to you.

So when he restored the money to his mother,

his mother took 200 pieces of silver

and gave it to the silversmith

who made it into a carved image and a metal image.

And it was in the house of Micah.

And the man Micah had a shrine

and he made an ephod and household gods

and ordained one of his sons who became his priest.

Now we'll just sort of pause there.

So what's going on right here?

I'll be right up front about it.

So what he's actually,

what the mom has done is the mom has said,

I want you to make some gods, idols, gods.

In a sense, they wouldn't have thought of them as idols.

They would have thought of them as gods.

And we think of them as idols,

but they would have thought of them as gods.

And even though she says that she worships the Lord,

the God of Israel, the God of Christians as well,

the fact of the matter is,

is that she might worship some version of that God,

but she has gods of her own,

which she finds far more meaningful.

And these gods of her own

that she finds far more meaningful

because she's a very spiritual person.

She wants to have them represented

and present, so to speak, in her life

in such a way that she can give herself

and get meaning in these gods of her own choosing.

Like in a sense,

you could say it's a curated spirituality.

It's a bespoke spirituality.

So here we begin to see actually part of the problem.

If you think about it for a second,

and for some of you listening,

you can see a little bit of a problem here.

In Canada, there's sort of two groups.

In Canada, there's one group that sort of says,

in fact, likes having a type of bespoke spirituality,

a type of curated spirituality,

where you take bits and pieces of things

which are meaningful,

and maybe it's something from Miles Davis,

something from Hinduism,

something from Buddhism,

something from Judaism,

something from the Kabbalah,

and you curate it,

you put it together in such a way

that is very, very meaningful to you,

and you would say that you're a very spiritual person.

And in Canada, there's many, many people

who would understand themselves in this particular way.

And then, of course, in Canada,

there's a large number of people

who think that that's just bunk,

that it's just ridiculous,

that you shouldn't bother with such things.

And by and large, in Canada,

both groups more or less get along.

They just let each other live their own life.

And so here's part of the problem.

The part of the problem is

that if you read this whole story

from the biblical point of view,

what the mom and the son are doing is wrong.

It's not just sort of like the way

a secular, more atheistic person

who hears about your love of crystals

might sort of roll their eyes

or something like that.

But, you know, then you're going to live and let live.

You just do what you do,

and I'll do what I'll do,

and we'll get along fine.

The Bible actually views that as wrong,

that it's like a very serious type of mistake.

And so it's actually describing as wrong

what a large number of Canadians think is good.

So this idea of the mom with her different gods

and her bespoke spirituality,

her curated spirituality,

from the biblical point of view,

this is wrong.

Now, that's a bit of a problem,

and I'm going to address it in a moment,

but it gets even worse in the next bit,

because at least with this bit,

it might sound as if the Bible is taking the side

of those more secular friends of ours in Canada

who sort of will roll their eyes at this.

But in fact, the very next thing that the Bible says

shows that there's a problem

not just between the Bible and the Christian faith

and people who like their curated spirituality,

but also for the people who roll their eyes

and are secular,

because here's what the very next bit says.

And this is, by the way,

how you understand that the Bible is actually,

this whole story is describing

something that the Bible thinks is wrong.

In fact, in terms of the book of Judges,

what's happening right here is this.

The way the book of Judges is structured

is you have sort of two introductions.

It sort of gives you a 10,000 feet in the air,

biblical slash Christian understanding

of what you're about to read

in the rest of the book.

And then from chapter three on to last week,

we have the story of 12 different judges who,

judges is a good word,

but it really means a type of deliverer

that God raises up to deliver people

when they get into trouble.

And what we're gonna see in this story and next story

is it's as if we have two case studies

of what life was like in Israel

that they needed to be delivered from.

They needed to be saved from.

So here you can very well imagine

some of you who like bespoke,

curated spiritualities,

I've now been a bit offensive to you.

So I just ask that you grant me a little bit of mercy

as we just talk about this a little bit more

to at least try to maybe,

yeah, just give me a little bit of mercy,

a little bit of time.

But this next bit in terms of describing

what's wrong with what just happened

and wrong in general,

well, listen to it.

It's chapter 17, verse 6.

In those days, there was no king in Israel.

That's not a big deal for most of us.

Most Canadians aren't monarchists.

But here's the thing.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Now, here's another big problem.

You see, for Canadians,

that's a good thing.

Like whether you believe in a type of bespoke,

curated spirituality,

or whether you believe that you're going to follow

one of the more historic other faiths

of Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam,

or whether you think the whole thing is bunk,

for most Canadians,

other than probably those people who follow Islam,

for most Canadians,

this idea that everyone did what was right

in their own eyes,

that's actually like a good thing.

Whether you, you know,

are spiritual,

or whether you're just like Jack Daniels

in NFL football,

like,

doing right in your own eyes

is what makes Canada great.

And Canada,

the world needs more of Canada.

I mean,

that's one of the things

that they used to say on the buses

and other types of slogans.

And here,

the Bible is using it as a short form

to describe what's wrong.

Now,

I'm going to just highlight

what happens next.

What happens next

is just the mom

at the personal level

and the,

and Micah

at the personal level

just acting out

what it means

to have a bespoke,

curated spirituality.

And they,

they set up their shrine

and they set up their gods.

And then they,

after they,

they find that there's a better person

to sort of act

as their spiritual advisor,

their guru,

their priest.

And they hire him on

just as people hire on coaches

or hire on,

you know,

relationships with spirits,

get financial relationships

with spiritual masters.

And that's what happens

in the rest of the story.

And then what happens

in chapter 18

is that this whole thing

is described,

it sort of moves up a level

beyond the individual

to the corporate level.

And that's what happens

in chapter 18

in terms of

there's a whole tribe now,

which also wants to have

a type of bespoke spirituality,

a curated spirituality.

And at the same time,

they're trying to sort of

just make a way

for themselves,

make themselves prosperous,

all very,

very Canadian,

all sounds very,

very good.

And they're looking

for a land to settle in.

And the parts of the story

which aren't very good,

which we'll talk about

a little bit more

in a moment,

are as part of that,

they,

and this happens,

right,

they steal

the shrine

and the gods

of Micah

and they steal

the priest

and they bring him along

so that he can be

the priest

and these can be the gods

for an entire tribe.

And then there's some land

that they really like

and there's an area

that they really like

and they ask the advice

of their gods

through this curated priest,

the priest that they've chosen

for themselves,

their spiritual father,

their guru,

their spiritual master

and he gives them

an ambiguous answer

that basically says

they should go ahead

and do this

and they go ahead

and do it

and they steal the priests,

they steal the gods,

they steal the spirituality,

they make it their own,

it's all still bespoke,

isn't it?

Although they stole it

and they then go

and they attack a land

and they kill people

and they steal the land

and they make it their own

and that's what

chapter 17 and 18

is all about.

So how do we sort of

talk about it

and how do we

understand

what's just happened?

So just to put it

very bluntly

for those of you

who are listening in

and trying to think

how on earth is,

what is George

going to ever possibly say

about such an outrageous story

is the first problem

is this,

is many Canadians

would say

how dare God,

at least you George,

tell people

how to worship?

Like how dare you?

Like what gives you

the right

to say something

like that to people?

And then the second thing

which is even more important

because

you know

even the secular people

who roll their eyes

when somebody talks

about their crystals

or their tarot cards

or their yoga

and the secular person

rolls their eyes

but even they

probably would be

a bit bothered

that I'm actually

telling them

how to worship.

And then the second thing

is how dare

God,

the Bible,

tell us how to live?

Like how dare God

do that?

Here's what Christians

would say

what's going on

in the stories.

There used to be

somebody in my

immediate circle

of friends

family

who had a daughter

who had an imaginary

friend.

Very true.

I can't remember now

if it was a year or two

that lasted.

They were quite young

but they were quite

old enough to speak

and they were

a very,

very articulate child

and I'm not going to

tell what the imaginary

friend's name was

or anything like that

but this was somebody

very, very well known

to me and to our family

and they had an imaginary

friend which lasted

for several years.

This person would tell us

about the things they did

with their imaginary

friend and where the

imaginary friend lived

and where they went to

school and what they

studied together.

Now this would be

pretty sad.

It was sort of odd,

endearing and odd

and they were just young

and everybody who knew

and loved this young

child,

this child,

hoped that they would

grow out of it

and they did

and she's a spectacular

young woman today.

Just as sane

as any of you

or just as sane

as me

and she'd probably say

she's more sane

than me but that's

a whole other story

but she grew out of it

but it would have been

pretty sad

if it continued on.

Like if she continued

to talk and act

as if she had

an imaginary friend

and everybody wouldn't

think it was endearing.

They'd think there was

something seriously

wrong with this person

and it would endanger

this person

from having real

relationships

with real people.

So just to be

completely and utterly

clear,

at the very heart

of this text

and the very heart

of this Christian claim,

the very heart

of my belief

as a Christian,

as a follower

of Jesus,

is that there is

a God that does exist

who's real.

In fact,

he's in a sense

the most real thing

in existence

compared,

I only have,

I'm real,

you're real

but whatever reality

you have

and I have

only comes

because this,

in a sense,

more deeply real,

eternally real God

has created you and me

and sustains you and me.

Our reality,

in a sense,

comes from him,

is derived from him

but he has real reality.

This God has,

he's real

and so that's

what's behind this text

and so if you think

about it to,

in a sense,

if you understand that

then what you can understand

is to,

for those Canadians,

those of us

who understand

and value

a bespoke,

curated type

of spirituality,

well it would be

a little bit like this.

My wife is real,

she's not on camera,

some of you know my wife

but she's real

and you can't just say

anything you want

about my wife.

Like because she's real,

some things are true

about her

and some things are false.

Some things are,

you might think of them

as a compliment

but they're actually offensive.

Some of you

have heard the story,

if I ever write a book

on marriage,

it'll be,

it'll be something

to the effect,

the subtitle will be

all of the dumb wrong things

that I've ever said

that I want to share with you

so you don't say them

or something like that.

I remember once

I said to my wife

that she was aging beautifully.

I'm really dumb.

I actually meant it

as a compliment

and I was actually

taken aback

when she didn't,

she wasn't happy

with that particular compliment

but you get what

I'm talking about,

don't you?

Is that,

in a sense,

if there really is

a real God,

then if you have

a bespoke spirituality

or a curated spirituality

and you say things

about this God,

they're either just

wildly wrong

or just wildly wrong

in a way

which is offensive

to some person

who's real,

you'll see that

there's going to be,

then this text

can be talking about

how these different ways,

because what goes on

in the rest of the story

is you can't just set up

anybody that you want

to be your priest

because God

has determined a way,

has revealed a way

to have priests

and you can't just say

whatever you want to do

is how you worship him

because God

has revealed who he is

and what his character

and nature is like

and how that fits

with our character

and our nature

and in a sense

then how we can

worship him

in a way which fits

at a very deep level

with who an individual

was made to be,

is made to be

and what God is like

and so you just can't

on one hand

be spiritual

and just say

whatever you want

if there actually

is a real God.

And to our secular friends,

it's this,

if one of the things

which,

and she's completely right,

if sometime,

if I'm at a church thing

with a lot of church things

or people that I know

or, you know,

another congregation

or something

and Louise is with me

and people say hi to me

and talk to me

and ignore her,

well,

that bothers her

and when I tell you that,

every single one of you

would agree

that it's right

for her to be bothered

because she's right there

and she's being ignored

and so in a sense

to our secular Canadian friends

we say there really is a God

who really does exist

and to act as if

he doesn't exist

is to ignore him

and is to in fact

have a type of very,

very fatal type of mistake.

But,

and that's sort of then how

we'd say

that this text

for Christians

is a warning

about how

you just can't sort of

take bits and pieces

of the Bible

because the Bible

is the way

Christians believe

that God has revealed

truth about what it means

to be human

and truth about himself.

You can't just pick and choose

or go in other directions

because of the reality of God

and our need to learn from him

how he is.

And it's the same then

with the morality.

I talked about this more

a couple of weeks ago.

I just want to give you

a different type of analogy.

One of the problems

with the right and wrong

is this,

that

in the story

what happens

with the

self-made gods,

the curated spirituality,

is

because

we've chosen

this type of spirituality,

they've chosen

this spirituality

for themselves,

it ends up,

well,

it ends up just sort of

never checking

the selfishness

of people

and it never

pushes back

it doesn't,

it ends up just in the story.

If you go back

and you read chapter 18,

it just,

in a sense,

the spirituality

ends up enabling evil.

And I'm not saying

that every Canadian

who has a bespoke spirituality

enables evil,

but we can all sort of

understand a little bit

that if you choose

a type of spiritual path

yourself,

the great danger

could be

that it

feeds into

selfishness

and self-centeredness

and won't act

as a check

on some of the things

that any individual

will do

that's wrong.

And I'll give you

a bit of an illustration

once again

thinking about my wife.

If you knew my wife,

you'd know that

there's many things

about her

that are good

and beautiful.

And that means

that if you want

to get into

a relationship

with my wife

as a friend,

there's certain types

of things

that fit,

that work,

that fit

with knowing

the parts of her

that are good

and beautiful.

They just fit.

There's ways of talking,

there's ways of behaving

that fit.

And this is then

just amplified,

you see,

because from the Christian

point of view,

not only is there

a real God

that really exists,

but this real God

that really exists

is also the one

who's created all things.

It's not that he's

self-centered or peevish.

A couple of years ago,

I was in a coffee shop

and there was a chapters

connected to the coffee shop

or an indigo books,

whatever it is

that they called it back then.

I can't remember.

It wasn't that long ago.

And there was a very hairy,

distracted mom,

obviously just hoping

that if she gave her kid

a cookie and a juice box

and she could have a coffee

and you could just see

when she sat down

and you'd go,

she's just really looking forward

to having this coffee.

And she was really hoping

that she,

with the juice box

or the hot chocolate

and the coffee,

that her child

would be quiet

for a couple of minutes

just so she could

sort of, you know,

focus and have

some adult time.

Many of us

who've had kids,

we all know

what that's like.

But the kid

very quickly

got restless

and the mom

happened to be sitting

right very close

to where the books

and the cards were

and the kid kept getting up

and grabbing a card

and grabbing this

and grabbing that

and the mom,

mom would get upset with her

and this is what the mom

every time said to her.

She didn't say,

don't touch that,

it's not yours,

don't touch that,

it's wrong.

She said,

don't do that,

you're making me unhappy.

Now that's a terrible

moral lesson.

But that's not

what God is like.

It's not as if God,

the God,

the real God

who really does exist,

if there really is a God

that really does exist

that's at all

described by the Bible,

it's not as if he just

has this peevishness

that you're doing things

that make me unhappy.

It's in fact that

the God who does exist,

and by the way,

the God who does exist

is good

and he's made things

out of his goodness

and out of his love

and there's in a sense

a type of a fittedness

to many things,

not for everything,

but for some very important

and significant things.

And so it is

that if to know

somebody like Louise,

the good and beautiful parts

and the wise parts

of Louise,

if there's certain ways

of talking,

behaving,

and being

that just fit

with that,

to know her

in a good way,

to have her know you

in a good way

as friend

or as child

or as son-in-law

or daughter-in-law

or grandchild

or whatever,

or in my case

as husband,

then how much more

it is with God,

you see,

that there's a fittedness

to things,

a rightness

to things

that's not connected

to God being peevish

or just saying,

you're making me unhappy.

And so that's why

it is that

in this particular text,

these two things

that the Bible says

that people have

to be saved from

all foundationally

go around this idea

that there really

is a God

who does exist,

who's real.

And that if,

if somebody like me

is real

or my wife is real

and there's things

you could say about me

that would be just untrue

and that would be unkind

and would be,

I would be right

to be mad

if anybody's heard

you say certain things

about me,

they'd all say,

no, George is right

to be mad.

Then if God has that

even greater reality

and an even greater,

in a sense,

is-ness,

identity,

edges,

then,

well then this,

this biblical text

actually starts to make

an awful lot of sense.

Now,

here's the thing

about the God

that's described

in the Bible

and this is,

by the way,

once again,

getting back

to the personal relationships

which we're going

to end up with

because I'm starting

to move towards

wrapping this all up.

But what Christians believe

and we only believe this

because God has told us

and he has told us this

not because we have

some private knowledge

but because God has

made it known publicly

through his word

and I'm going to get to

in a moment

why we would believe

anything at all

in his word

but the God

who's revealed

that actually exists

is God in Trinity.

It's the Father

from all eternity.

Before there was

anything created

that there was

the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit,

three persons,

one God

and from all eternity

the Father loved the Son.

From all eternity

the Father revealed himself

to the Son

and from all eternity

the Son loved the Father

and revealed himself

and the Father

was in a sense

good towards the Son

and the Son

was good towards the Father

and the Holy Spirit

is both in a sense

that movement

between the Father

and the Son

and is himself a person

that is himself revealing

and is good

and is loving

and so that God

didn't need to create

because he was lonely.

God didn't have to

sort of create

so when he actually

created something

he could be good.

God isn't self-centered.

God in his very nature

the triune God

is a fullness of love

a fullness of goodness

and is a person

and reveals himself

and so he made human beings

to communicate

to be together.

He made us social.

He made us to know others

and to be known by others

just as he created us

to know God

and to be known by God.

And so some of you might say

well George okay

like how do you know that?

Well here's the thing.

Christianity I think

is unique amongst all

the bespoke spiritualities

of the world

and amongst all the religions

and spiritualities

of the world.

Only the Christian faith

lays down the gauntlet

and it's put in a very succinct way

in 1 Corinthians chapter 15

1 Corinthians 15:19

verses 19 and 20.

The whole chapter

of 1 Corinthians 15

would be very good to read

and here's what Paul says

and Paul is writing

Paul is a convert

to the Christian faith.

He's seen the risen Jesus.

He's writing to a group

of people about 17 years

18 years after

the death and resurrection

of Jesus

or 20 years after

the death and resurrection

of Jesus

and they've become Christians

and he says this

in verse 19 and 20.

If in Christ

we have hope

in this life only

we of all people

are most to be pitied.

Earlier he says

in verse 17

if Christ has not been raised

your faith is futile

and you are still

in your sins.

And in verse 20

but in fact Christ

has been raised

from the dead

the first fruits

of those

who have fallen asleep.

And then it goes on

and talks about

the great benefits

we have

from knowing

who Jesus is.

And you see

what the Bible says

what

not the Bible says

what

the great proof

of the Christian faith

is that Jesus

really lived

that's

nobody

doubts that nowadays

no serious scholar

doubts that Jesus lived

and that Jesus really died

that he died

by crucifixion.

Even the most skeptical scholars

accept that Jesus died

by crucifixion.

And even the most skeptical scholars

acknowledge

that they've never found the body

and that the grave was empty

and even the most skeptical scholars

will acknowledge

that many many people will die

because of ideological reasons

that many many people will die

because they believe in Marxism

and they'll give their life

for Marxism

or for some other type

of secular philosophy

or ideology

but the thing which is so amazing

about the Christian faith

is that people

died

because they made

the claim

that something was true

that it happened

that Jesus

had risen

from the dead.

That's why the grave

was empty

and that's why

the Christian faith

exploded

in Jerusalem

because he prophesied

that he would die

he said that his death

and resurrection

would vindicate who he is

and what his message is

and it is because of Jesus

Jesus believed the Bible

so I believe the Bible

Jesus revealed what God is like

and that's why I believe it

but it so fits

and it's so true

I challenge you

if you want to know more about it

you can look up

Mike Lacona

and Gary Habermas

and their case

for the resurrection

there's many books

that outline why it is

that it's very likely true

that God

that Jesus

is God

the Son of God

that he rose from the dead

and it's really

really spectacular

here's the wonderful

good news

is that God

the same thing

that God does

to authenticate

that he's real

the same evidence

that he provides

to indicate

that he is real

and he wants to know you

and be known by you

is the same thing

that God does

to deliver us

and to make us right

with him

the same

it's not as if

you have to go to one thing

to sort of understand

why God exists

and another thing

to understand

how it is

that he wants to have

a relationship with you

and will make you right

with him

the same thing

that will make you right

with God

because I can't make myself

right with God

by myself

I'm alienated from God

as are you

I need a savior

just as you do

and the same thing

that saves us

is the same thing

that reveals

the reality

of the true

and living God

and so it is

that we get out of

that what we can get

out of this

is that God

isn't just sort of

an absent God

who's all love

and doesn't care

about the mess

that you're in

doesn't care

about the sense

of shame

or the sense

of lostness

or alienation

that you might have

he's come to save you

he's come to save you

because he desires

to be known

by ordinary people

like you and me

and the God

who is the source

of love

the source of goodness

the source of relationship

the source of beauty

the source of goodness

the source of mercy

is the same God

that's created you

and wants to know you

and has redeemed you

and he held nothing back

in redeeming you

in the death

the life and death

and resurrection

of his son

and so he calls you

into relationship

with himself

and he is completely

and utterly trustworthy

and as he moves

more deeply

into your life

as the gospel

grips you

you can start

to learn

to trust him more

and here's the other

wonderful thing

just as I wrap

the sermon up

is he doesn't call you

just to walk

by yourself

but he calls you

to walk with him

with others

that he calls us

to be together

as his people

in a sense

not only does he

restore us

to relationship

with himself

he begins to restore us

with me

to a proper relationship

with myself

he begins to restore me

to a proper relationship

with each other

as he calls us

to know Jesus

to follow Jesus

and we never walk

with Jesus alone

we walk with Jesus

in the company

of other people

hopefully a good

local church

and so I just want

to encourage you

to consider Jesus

and I want to encourage you

if you're a Christian

and you're not connected

to a good local church

to pray and ask the Lord

to direct you

to a good local church

where the Bible

is preached

and the gospel

is proclaimed

where you will know

that Jesus loves you

that everything

that needed to be done

to make you right

with him

was dealt with

by him

and all you need to do

is receive it

by faith

and as the gospel

grips you

it will grip you

to a new relationship

with God

a new relationship

with yourself

and a new relationship

with others

and a new relationship

with society

and culture

to seek to not only

share Jesus

but to act in such a way

that the city is blessed

let's bow our heads

in prayer

Father we ask

that you draw us

to Jesus

to help us

to be gripped

by the gospel

and if there are any here

who have not yet known

Jesus as Savior and Lord

that they will come

to a saving faith

in Jesus

in Jesus name

Amen