Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Jeff
Okay, Chris, it’s been a great morning already. It has. Man, we’ve had the opportunity to do a few podcasts today.

Chris
Yeah, well, we record five in a row every time we meet. Yeah. So just well, most every time.

Jeff
And so that’s fun. And we’ve been doing a lot lately because we have we have a special thing. We’re trying to get a little bit ahead so that we can start offering some courses. Right. Yeah. Yeah yeah.

Chris
You want to.

Jeff
Talk about that. No, I don’t want to talk about it. I was just mentioning that that’s why we’re getting ahead.

Chris
Just. You’re just little hints. Yeah. Dropping little hints.

Jeff
Yeah yeah yeah yeah. So people want to go a little further.

Chris
Yeah. Well if you, if you’re interested in what that means, just just stay tuned. Stay tuned. It’s going to take.

Jeff
A while okay. So hey, you know, we like to do these two truths and a lie things every once in a while. Yes. And so on. This one, Desiree asked Bonnie, my wife, who knows me better than anybody. She asked my wife to give two truths and a lie about me, and you have to figure out which one is the lie. Okay, so here are is.

Chris
There only just just three statements?

Jeff
There’s just three statements, two truths and a lie.

Chris
But only one round.

Jeff
Yes, just just one round.

Chris
That’s it. Okay.

Jeff
Give it to me. Try to guess. Give it. All right. I prefer Miracle Whip over mayonnaise. I love Cool Whip topping on desserts. I wore leg braces as a child.

Chris
What?

Chris
Okay. So. Wow. First of all, you have to love up on dessert. So that one’s a truth. Um, you prefer miracle whip over mayonnaise? Is that. Was that one?

Jeff
That’s what it says. Yeah.

Chris
Okay, first of all. Who cares? Because they taste almost the same. But I. I. Here’s what I’m going to say. I’m going to say, because the two are so frivolous. And then there’s one massive statement about leg braces. I have no knowledge. I’ve never heard you say leg braces. I’ve never once heard you talk about them ever, in the years that I’ve known you. But because those are so radical, that statement is so radically different than the other ones, I’m going to say that that’s true. And I’m going to say the Cool Whip is true. And I’m going to say. The statement that’s a lie is that you prefer miracle whip over mayonnaise.

Jeff
So you’re saying leg braces are true? Cool whip is true. Miracle whip is the lie.

Chris
Now, if I get it wrong, just do like the price is right and say like. Try again.

Jeff
Try again.

Chris
Dang it!

Chris
All right, well, then.

Chris
Fine. I’ll go with the. I’ll go with the obvious statement. Oh, wait a minute. No, I’m not going to go with the obvious statement. I’m still going to say leg braces are true. And I’m going to say Miracle Whip is true. And I’m going to say that the statement that’s false is that you like Cool Whip on your desserts.

Jeff
That is true. I hate Cool Whip.

Chris
Oh, wow.

Jeff
Hate it.

Chris
Yeah. Okay, so my instincts about the statement about the leg braces was on.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris
But my assumption of your love for dessert.

Jeff
Forrest Gump leg braces up to my hips. The big. The both sides of my leg. All the way down to my shoe.

Chris
Momma says they’re my magic shoes.

Chris
That’s.

Jeff
That’s the truth. Yeah. Run, Forrest. Run! Wow. But if I got. If I fell down, I couldn’t get back up by myself. And so kids would knock me down. Where? My mom and I lived. We were hiding at that time, you know, from violence. And so we lived in a trailer park. And I can remember multiple times, kids knocking me down just because I couldn’t get back up. So I’m like a turtle I can’t get back up on, you know, laughing at me now.

Chris
From what year? From ages. What to what?

Jeff
Oh, like 3 to 5. Okay. Yeah, it was a long time. Yeah. Sometimes I could just sleep in them, which was bad because you can’t really roll over. But yeah, I had to wear them.

Chris
Clink, clink clink.

Chris
You saw the movie Forrest Gump. Yeah.

Jeff
So just like that.

Chris
Just like it. So he sort of like he wasn’t able to really walk. Yeah. He had to sort of, like, shimmy along. Yeah. That was you.

Jeff
Yeah. Yeah, that was me.

Chris
Really? Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. Because when I was born, I walked one foot right on top of the other so I could run, but I couldn’t walk. Yeah. So I ran everywhere as a little kid, so then they had to straighten my leg if I.

Chris
Was going anywhere, I was running.

Chris
That’s exactly right. Wow.

Jeff
And then I really do prefer Miracle Whip over mayonnaise. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah, yeah.

Chris
Wow.

Chris
Well, I got to tell you, I did not know that about you. And I’m sure that a lot of our listeners did not know. I know.

Jeff
So people are thrilled. It’s riveting, wasn’t it? So those were good ones. Bonnie. Good job.

Chris
Wow. Yeah.

Jeff
How cool is.

Chris
That? Yeah.

Chris
And I can’t believe you don’t like Cool Whip.

Jeff
Oh, I hate Cool Whip.

Chris
Have you ever seen, um. He talked about staying cool. Anyway, it didn’t matter, but it was cool whip. Whip. He says. Why are you saying it that way, Cool Whip? And he goes, what do you mean it’s cool? Cool Whip? And he said, yeah, that’s what I said, Cool whip, stop saying it that way.

Chris
Well it’s.

Jeff
Okay w h yeah.

Chris
Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
So anyways, the, uh, the passage today is John chapter seven.

Chris
It is.

Jeff
And this is one of these they’re trying to arrest Jesus moments. Yeah. Which they keep trying to do. They tried to arrest him yesterday. They couldn’t get him then either. But so they’re.

Chris
And by the way, yesterday it said because it was not his time. It’s not.

Jeff
His time.

Chris
It was like a supernatural forbidden. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Well, you got to remember. So this feast that Jesus sneaks down to, he told his brother he wasn’t going to go because he can draw too much attention. Then he goes, and then he goes and preaches in the temple. So that kind of draws some attention a little bit. And then they try to arrest him and they can’t. And it’s because it’s six months before he’s supposed to to die. Right? So that’s it. Here we go. Because Jesus had an appointment with Passover. He was. That’s why he was heading there anyways. John chapter seven, verse 32 says, When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things, you know that, hey, he seems like a good guy. Or maybe, maybe they maybe they know that he is the Messiah. Remember that. How come they’re not arresting him? Remember, that’s what they’re asking. So when the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things, they and the leading priests sent temple guards to arrest Jesus. But Jesus told them, I’ll be with you only a little longer, and then I’ll return to the one who sent me. You will search for me, but not find me, and you cannot go where I am going. The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. Was he planning to go? They asked, is he thinking of leaving the country and going to the Jews in other lands? Maybe he’ll even teach the Greeks. What does he mean when he says, you’ll search for me but not find me? And you cannot go where I’m going. On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, anyone who is thirsty may come to me. Anyone who believes in me may come and drink. Jeff
For the scriptures declare rivers of living water will flow from his heart. When he said living water, he was speaking of the spirit who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory. When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, surely this man is the prophet we’ve been expecting. Others said, he is the Messiah. Still others said, but he can’t be. Will the Messiah come from Galilee? For the scriptures clearly state that the Messiah would be born of the royal line of David in Bethlehem. The village where King David was born. So the crowd was divided about him. Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him. When the temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, why didn’t you bring him in? We’ve never heard anyone speak like this. The guards responded, have you been led astray to the Pharisees mocked? Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them. Then Nicodemus, the leader who’d met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. Is it legal to convict a man before he’s given a hearing? He asked. They replied, are you from Galilee to search the scriptures and see for yourself? No prophet ever comes from Galilee. Then the meeting broke up and everybody went home.

Chris
So Nicodemus tries to speak up on his behalf, and they basically shut him up and sit him down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you are you from Galilee, too? Go ahead. Say the words. Right. You want to be lumped in with him? Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, there’s, there’s a massive sort of a tone in the, in, you know, by the way, not only is Nicodemus move, but the guards are moved. Right, right, right. And they said, why didn’t you bring him in. The guards are like, because he’s amazing right? He’s amazing.

Chris
Yeah, yeah.

Chris
And they’re like, they’re like, we’re the ones that know the law, right? Right, right. So in other words, the thousands of people, they’re all ignorant, right? Like they’re pawns, right? They’re like cattle, right? We’re the ones in authority. We’re the ones that know the scriptures in God’s curses on them because they’re all ignorant.

Jeff
And you can see here some of the elitism of the Pharisees, because they just can’t stand anybody from Galilee. Right, right. So the the day before it was talking about how he clearly was uneducated, how do they know he was uneducated? He’s a 32, 33 year old man. Yep. Right. They they didn’t say, hey, can we see your can we see your degree? Do you have a diploma? Anything. It was just it was his accent. Right. So the Galileans had a unique accent. We know that because later on, Peter the.

Chris
Accent can go.

Jeff
Yeah, we we know you’re from Galilee because your your accent. So they kind of see Jesus in his followers, a bunch of hillbillies. That’s how they’re looking at him, right? Right. And, and I can make fun of hillbillies because they are one as redneck as it gets. But the the that’s how they view it is that he’s just a hillbilly. And so when they turn to Nicodemus, you know, these are the the Harvard grads, these are all the geniuses in town. And they look at him and go, really, really. Are you also a hillbilly? That’s what they’re doing there, right? They just they just are so gross in how prejudiced they are against just a population based on their accent and the fact that they’re not as educated or whatever. And but I think the interesting thing is, again, they’re saying, are you from Galilee to search the scriptures and see for yourself? No prophet ever comes from Galilee. Well, the interesting thing is the Bible doesn’t say no prophet ever comes from Galilee. The Bible just doesn’t say a prophet does come from Galilee, right? Right. Except. If you skip the next story. Which is the woman caught in adultery. That’s what we’re talking about tomorrow. And you go to the next phrase. He’s still in this context, and he does quote Isaiah and mentions where they’re coming from because Isaiah is talking about Galilee. So, so the very next sentence he preaches to them is him quoting Isaiah, talking about Galilee. Well, right, right. So interesting. Now the quote isn’t doesn’t say anything about Galilee, but the passage he quotes from does. Right, right. So he’s letting them know I’m the fulfillment of Isaiah, which really causes trouble, you know? Anyways, that’s a whole other thing, which.

Chris
By the way, it says so they know the Scripture and they say, Isn’t the Messiah supposed to come from Bethlehem? Yeah.

Chris
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris
So so he actually says for the scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of a royal line of David in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born. So and they’re like, but he’s not from there. He’s from the North side, right, right. We know, we know, we know. He grew up in, in in Galilee. Yeah. But what’s so interesting is that we know in Luke chapter two that that David was from Bethlehem and Joseph was from Bethlehem. And because Caesar Augustus issued a tax, a consensus that the world should be taxed, right, that they traveled all the way down to Bethlehem. And then Mary gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. And then they spent time in Egypt, and they came back to.

Chris
And we know from.

Jeff
Those long lineages at the beginning of Matthew and in the beginning of Luke, that that both Mary and Joseph were from the royal line of King.

Chris
David.

Jeff
Yes, they would have been probably heirs.

Chris
Yes. Right.

Chris
And so so my question is this. I bring all that up to say this. How come they didn’t ask him where he was born? Well, for.

Jeff
The same reason that they didn’t ask him for his degree. They just said he was uneducated. Right?

Chris
That assumption, they.

Jeff
Liked his tricks. They liked that he was doing all these miracles. And they said really intriguing things. They just had no interest. Interest in him as a man. Right? I think it’s the same. I think we can do the same thing. Sometimes we get obsessed with asking God to answer our prayers, and we’re chasing the gifts and not the gift giver. Right. And that’s what they’re doing. They don’t want to know him. They just want him to do stuff for him. For them, right? That’s it. And I think sometimes as Christians, we can get sucked into that where we just want God to do stuff for us, but we don’t take the time to really get to know him. And that’s why having a daily devotional like this is so important, right? As we spend time in His Word, we get to know him more. You spend time with Jesus, you start liking him.

Chris
Yeah.

Chris
And then here’s another. Here’s another. It’s not a very fun conversation, but here’s an example of religious leaders who start to think that they’re high and mightier than they, than they should be right, than they should. And and yet, Jesus here in this story is, is worth worshiping. And and so it’s just again, it’s another little mini sermon that tells us there’s a lot of listeners out there. They’ve had bad experiences in churches. Right. And they didn’t have a necessarily a bad experience with Jesus. They just had a bad experience with the religious leaders. And so if you if you’re out there and you are listening and you have had a bad experience with either a pastor or a priest or or maybe, you know, some some people who are, you know, have influence within the church and there’s some kind of political garbage that’s happening, or maybe, maybe even some corruption. Just know that, you know, that the church is run by imperfect people, and sometimes people lose their way. And so here’s here’s the Pharisees at their heart. I believe the Pharisees were good people. I believe that they thought.

Chris
They wanted to be good people. They wanted to be good people.

Chris
They wanted to serve God. They thought for years they were serving God, but they sort of crept into this. They created this culture that wasn’t healthy for anybody or anything.

Chris
Well, it’s possibly.

Jeff
It’s possible to be really good at the wrong things.

Chris
Yeah. So they.

Jeff
Were really good at religion and missed out the missed missed out on the relationship with.

Chris
God. Right, right.

Chris
Yeah. And then and then there’s, you know, massive examples here of, of the Pharisees being oppressive. And they probably didn’t think that they were being they thought but this is for the people’s benefit, right? Jesus is like, no, it’s oppressive. And they’re like, what do you mean, right?

Jeff
And they thought it was their job to be the thought police, right? Oh, you have wrong thoughts. We have to crush that.

Chris
Right?

Chris
Right, right. Well, in this case, it’s very obvious. Like pretty much from here to the end of the Gospels, we see the worst of the Pharisees. Yeah, right. So, so, so all of a sudden now it’s somebody threatening my power, somebody threatening, you know, we’re the ones in charge, not this other person. And there’s a tipping point in the crowd, and it gets to the place to where we’re going to have to put a halt to this. Because if we let this thing go on any further, then, then, then our existence becomes threatened. And unfortunately, we do see that at times in in leadership, at churches. And when people start to think of themselves higher than they should or selfishly or, you know, just even even like I said, with corruption, I think that it’s important for our listeners to understand Jesus is still here in the story. Yeah. And Jesus is still worth worshiping. And it’s not it’s not the it’s not Jesus who were offended by. So don’t run away from God. Don’t turn your back on faith. Don’t turn your back on on your belief in Jesus. Just find a better church.

Chris
Yeah.

Jeff
I also think I’m confused a little bit by. So what was the danger that Jesus brought to these guys? Right. They had a stranglehold on the entire Jewish population and they couldn’t give a rip. They they were like, what’s he going to go start teaching Greeks to? They hated the Samaritans. So they they didn’t care about anybody else except the Jews. And they had a stranglehold on the Jewish people. So a few people followed Jesus. Man, there were millions that were that were, you know, making sacrifices at the temple and listening to the Pharisees. And and you don’t ever really find any real threat from Jesus. And I’m always wondering about this. People who want to police thought and to police language, there are some there’s some language that’s acceptable. Some language is not. There’s some thoughts that are acceptable, some that are not. And we must crush all language and all thoughts that don’t conform with our belief system or what we believe. So in the arena of free thought and in the arena of free words. If my words are that strong, why do I have to be worried about your words? If my belief is that strong, why do I have to be worried about your belief? You state yours. I’ll state mine in the free market. Says people will go. Boy, I think Jeffs is more reasonable than Chris is, right. If I’m just that comfortable.

Chris
Or that Chris or Chris is.

Chris
Reasonable than Jeffs, but.

Jeff
Then that would mean that yours is superior to mine. Right, right. But what I should desire is to learn. I should desire for truth. Right. But whenever you find people policing thought and policing words, they’re not interested in truth. They’re interested in their power and their narrative. That’s it, that’s it. Yeah. Right. And so I’ve had conversations before with religious leaders around the world that were not of the Christian faith, that lead in nations where the majority is one religion, and they tend to hold back or crush all the other religions. And so working for peace in those countries and working for religious freedoms and the idea of freedom of conscience, right. Not just freedom of religion to practice your religious ceremonies inside of a building somewhere with a steeple on it, but rather freedom of conscience to live your life as according to your faith. And so we talk a lot about that. And I’ll often ask, so what is the threat of Christianity to your belief system? Is your belief system so so is your belief system true? Yes, absolutely. 100% true. Christianity is completely false. Okay. So if it’s so true, is God behind your religion? Yes. Okay, then what’s the threat? Just allow the two of them to stand in the same arena freely. It seems like people will be able to sort that out, wouldn’t it? Right. And then we need to defend our faith. But what they did, they didn’t. They weren’t defending their faith. They were looking to control people’s thoughts. And they were willing to kill their opposition. That’s very different than just saying, I’m going to learn how to explain my faith from a defensive position, to be able to explain why it’s true and why it’s right. Jeff
Right. And and so I think we should always be skeptical of anybody who’s trying to crush dissent, anybody who’s trying to crush free words or free thought or freedom of conscience.

Chris
Yeah.

Chris
And so and so you sort of said a few minutes ago, you sort of started with the question like, what was the real threat here to them? Right. And I believe it’s one of. It’s probably three things. Number one, the Pharisees probably thought they’re the ones that are going to endorse the Messiah. They’re the ones that are going to recognize him. Right? The people don’t get to tell them who the Messiah is, right? They’re the ones that have to say who the Messiah is. Number two, I believe that it’s honestly most of it. I think most of it is the idea that they enjoyed the power and the control, and with Jesus, it seems like they were losing power and control. It was like, you know, they were kings. And all of a sudden they weren’t the kings anymore. Here comes another king, right? So to speak. And then the third thing I think is I think that in a lot of ways, they understood that once the Messiah came, that their role wasn’t as important because the Messiah sort of does away with a lot of those things. Right? So in other.

Chris
Words, yeah, but I don’t know.

Jeff
That they perceived that he would do away with the law. No, no.

Chris
No, I’m just saying not not Jesus himself, but the Messiah. Yeah. Because because up until the Messiah comes, you come through us for your forgiveness, right? Right. You come through us for all things. Yeah. Right. For for all things. And once the Messiah comes, he’s going to sort of do away with a lot of that stuff.

Chris
Well, I.

Jeff
Don’t they didn’t have a sense that he was going to change their religion at all. They only had a sense that he was going to be a political leader that was going to deliver them from Rome at this point. These guys did. Yeah. Yeah. And so they would have been the right hand man to the Messiah. Right. So that part of it is not that wasn’t the issue. It’s just that they decided Jesus wasn’t the guy.

Chris
So you don’t think they perceived the Messiah as someone that would dethrone their system? No, no.

Jeff
I think they were looking forward to the Messiah. They just decided he wasn’t. It certainly not some hillbilly from Galilee.

Chris
That’s interesting.

Jeff
Right? Right. So. So because they’re not they’re not saying they don’t want a messiah. They’re just saying he can’t be from Galilee. Right. And so, yeah, but I would agree with the other two. It’s a power issue. They’re afraid that the people’s opinions are, are going to be so deeply believed that it’s going to dethrone them with power. Certainly. But again, that’s why I’m asking. And this is at the root of it, whenever, whenever I’m working with government leaders or whatever around the world, asking that question is because if you really want truth, you’re not afraid of an exchange of ideas, right? If you want power and it’s a self serving power. So if you want truth for your people and you’re a servant leader for your people, then let’s test all ideas and all thoughts, and the best thoughts and ideas will rise to the top. Let’s go ahead and debate. Let’s exchange. Let’s let’s love each other even while we work through these things. And we disagree. Right? You can do that. But if you’re a self serving leader afraid of losing power and your power structure is in your religious system, then you can’t have any challenge to it, right? And then, hey, let’s just be honest what kind of leader you are. You’re a self serving leader who’s afraid of losing power. That’s it. Right. And I think we see it today. We see it on social media. We see it in our country. We see it around the world. There are a lot of people who are willing to go ahead and crush the best ideas, or even any other idea, because it’s dissenting against what they’ve decided is the narrative that’s acceptable. Yeah, that’s and that’s just that’s what got Jesus killed eventually.

Chris
Yeah.

Chris
Well, that is.

Chris
That’s what those kind.

Jeff
Of people do.

Chris
Right?

Chris
There’s a lot in there.

Chris
Yes.

Chris
Because that’s a mouthful right there. So that’s our time. So we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.