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:
I like that roll in. It says that they’re listening.

Chris:
What do you mean?

Jeff:
Well, that’s pretty great. I didn’t know if anybody actually listens, right? They play it.

Chris:
Oh, it says you’re listening to the Bible Guys.

Jeff:
Yeah, that’s right. Oh, I see. I know they play it because we get lots of people who click it and download it. Wait a minute. But I didn’t know if they would listen.

Chris:
If a tree falls in a forest, does it still make a noise?

Jeff:
Yeah, well, that’s the question, right?

Chris:
Right. I mean, would anybody really be listening had Connor not said it?

Jeff:
I don’t know. That’s what I’m saying. He made it happen. Hey, listen up.

Chris:
That’s going to be the new roll in. You have to listen to something if it’s being played, Jeff.

Jeff:
You don’t have to. Do you ever have your radio on and not actually hear anything that’s being said?

Chris:
My mind is twisted right now. I just think it’s wonderful. You ever see Brian Regan? He goes, Hey, so first of all, welcome to the Bible guys. And hopefully if you’re listening right now, then you are the ones Connor is talking about. That’s correct. Welcome.

Jeff:
Not your neighbor, wake him up.

Chris:
That’s right. We are going to start off with a segment that Desiree has called Social Media Minute. These are so nice. And this is not, this is not the segment where we try to guess where people are listening from. Right. This is the segment where we are actually taking feedback from people. And by the way, she only chooses the good feedback.

Jeff:
Well, we don’t get a lot of bad feedback.

Chris:
No, no, no. Remember that one that talked about you being ugly?

Jeff:
Yeah, well, there’s that one. And then, you know, somebody did say the guy that sits next to Chris, he’s constantly saying, uh-huh, uh-huh. And he hates that, too. Did they really say that? Yeah. No, they didn’t. Yeah, they know they did.

Chris:
Well, nobody said you were ugly. I just made something up.

Jeff:
Well, I believed it though, because you said something. You just hurt me. You said something hurtful. You just hurt me. I thought it was true, which by the way, I say, I say, aha, because I agree with you. No, no, it’s me. They were complaining about me sitting next to Chris and going, uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. They just said it drives them nuts.

Chris:
Oh, okay. All right. So you weren’t, you weren’t making fun of me. Yes. All right. Cause I, cause again, nobody said you were ugly.

Jeff:
I was gonna make another joke. Yeah, today. But I decided not to. You’re just mean.

Chris:
No, I was trying to think of something funny. Okay, let’s move on. Okay. So social media minute. And this is actually, there’s what? There’s three comments here. Here’s the first one. I find it amazing that you two are able to read a verse and state how it applies to our lives. Absolutely remarkable, says Cliff. That’s really nice. And that’s sweet. Which, by the way, again, I think I said this just a few days ago, but that’s the reason, one of the reasons why I was attracted and drawn to becoming a communicator, because I was absolutely blown away the first time I heard anybody take Scripture and make it relevant and applicable and understandable. And I thought that was, it’s amazing. It’s one of the most beneficial things you can do for a person, right?

Jeff:
I was just talking with a professor who teaches and works with training seminary students to be preachers. And we were laughing about the fact that how many seminary graduates then come out and sound like professors and not preachers. Right? And so we were talking about what is the point of preaching? And the point of preaching is to make the Bible as clear as possible, to take God’s words from heaven down to earth and then translate them So hopefully you’re educated enough to be able to understand it on a level that others who haven’t studied as long wouldn’t know, right? That you’d be a master of the content, but then be able to translate it so that the average person, everyday person who maybe hasn’t become a master yet could understand it easily. Because I believe you can read the pages, the words on the page and basically understand the Bible, right? If you understand the right questions to ask, but oftentimes, we get educated, pastors get educated, and then talk like professors rather than translating it and making it more approachable, right? And so I think that that’s been maybe one of the hardest things to do is to make it approachable. The other side of it is, and we did this for a while, right? Was it when we were doing the old podcast, H.C. Daly, when we did the Discovery Bible Study? Oh yeah. Remember? And we were just asking a few questions. So if you want to be able to do what we do, so we don’t prepare these things, we’re just reading on the page, and then we’ve read a lot of the Bible, lots of times, and so we’re able to kind of cross-reference. But we basically, every time I’m reading a passage like this, I’m asking, What does it say about God? What does it say about people or humanity? Is there a command to obey? Is there a promise to claim? Is there a sin to avoid? Is there an example to follow? That’s really, you ask those five or six questions, and you can pretty much read a page of the Bible and find a thing, right? You can find something like what we’re doing, because we’re doing this on a, this isn’t deep Bible study, this is a devotional kind of a thing. And so making it approachable is a big deal. That’s awesome. The reason why I talk long is the third one I already read before. So we really only have two to do. Okay, well go ahead. So the second one is, I love your podcast. This is from Anna. So thank you, Cliff, for your great comment. This is from Anna. Anna says, I love your podcast. It’s fascinating to hear all these things. Like because of Phillip’s name, he was able to reach the Greeks. I didn’t know that. Right. Yeah. So it’s the little things that she likes. So thank you, Anna.

Chris:
Well, the third one that you already read. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if people are just going to wonder what it is. Should I just read it real quick? Sure.

Jeff:
So this person’s… I read it, what, last week or two weeks ago?

Chris:
I think so, yeah, because Desiree didn’t realize that you had taken it from… I already read this one, yeah. You actually pulled out your phone and read it. That’s right. Right, from an actual, okay. I’m Justin Oki, who has been a faithful listener for a couple years now. Scripture can 100% change your life. Chris and Jeff do an outstanding job of communicating God’s Word in a fun and informative way. I cannot begin to describe the impact these men have had on me, which has trickled down to my family, friends, co-workers. Chris and Jeff, if you’re reading this, thank you from the bottom of my reborn heart. Thank you, says Alan R.

Jeff:
That’s so amazing.

Chris:
Which is why I can see now why you went out of your way to find it and read it.

Jeff:
That’s right. That’s amazing. Thank you, Alan. Yeah. And hey, even people from Oklahoma can listen. That’s right. And get something from it.

Chris:
Well, he doesn’t say he lives in Oklahoma. He just says he’s an Okie, which means he’s from Oklahoma.

Jeff:
He’s from Oklahoma. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don’t have to live there to be from there. Okay. You’re from where?

Chris:
Youngstown, Ohio.

Jeff:
Okay.

Chris:
So, which by the way is the, according to this famous sports podcast, the grit capital of the world.

Jeff:
The grit capital of the world is Youngstown. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Detroit’s got, got a corner on the grit market as well.

Chris:
I mean, it’s their slogan, right?

Jeff:
Yeah. Okay. Maybe you brought it here.

Chris:
I did. Hey, it’s grit because I’m here. You’re welcome.

Jeff:
Well, good. It’s really, really nice. Thank you guys for sharing the nice compliments. It feels weird to read them though, doesn’t it?

Chris:
Yeah.

Jeff:
Cause it’s super humbling. Well, to read them out loud, but to read them back to the people who wrote them feels weird.

Chris:
Well, you know, I I’m just you know, it’s same as you right it’s super humbling But at the same time it really is it’s a lot of work. So we recorded yesterday. Yeah, right It’s like four hours yesterday four hours today. Sure. That’s a big part of the week, right? Yeah, and and so those are the kind of comments that say hey man, we are making a difference worth it Yep, right.

Jeff:
It’s worth it to me. So I’m glad that you guys are part of that So we were talking about this Passover, Festival of Unleavened Bread, right? Kind of getting tangled up a little bit. We know these things and still have a hard time tracking with it. So by this point now, two days from the Passover, Passover would have been the Passover meal would have been Thursday night. Is that correct?

Chris:
Yeah, which they’re not there yet.

Jeff:
Right.

Chris:
So they’re probably right around Wednesday-ish.

Jeff:
Yeah, or Wednesday or Tuesday, because he said two days before. So he’s probably Tuesday evening is probably when he’s… Well, yesterday would have been Tuesday.

Chris:
Yeah, yeah. I think today could have been Wednesday. I mean, it doesn’t specifically say, right?

Jeff:
It’s tough. Right, right. We’re trying to piece it together.

Chris:
Yeah, because tradition holds that Jesus entered into Jerusalem at the beginning of the Feast And no, no, no, no, no, no. He was he was entering into Jerusalem on Sunday. And then there’s events that happen that we’ve unpacked. And then the actual Passover, which happens from Friday to Saturday. all these events are leading up to that, right? And by the way, they said, we dare not, yesterday, we said, they said, we dare not have him killed during Passover because the people will riot. But it turns out that they do kill him on Passover, right? On the actual Sabbath Passover.

Jeff:
So this is, what we’re trying to say is we’re within a couple of days of Jesus getting arrested. That’s right. That’s where we are in this last week. Now it’s lots of chapters still left in the Bible. Lots of verses are left in the gospels over this because the gospels spend a lot of time in this last week. So all of this time that we’ve, all this last teaching we’ve done over the last couple of weeks has been teaching in the last week of Jesus’ life before he is crucified. So let’s pick up Matthew chapter 26. No, no, no. Matthew chapter 26 verse 14 is where I’m at. It says, Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you? And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. In Mark chapter 14, 10 it says, So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. And then in Luke chapter 22 it says, Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, and he went to the leading priests and captains of the temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. And they were delighted and they promised to give him money. So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest him when the crowds weren’t around.

Chris:
You know, it doesn’t really give us a lot of insight behind Judas’ mentality. I mean, we do know earlier that it said he didn’t care. Remember when the woman broke the alabaster box? And he said, why wasn’t this money sold for the poor? And then it gave us insight there because it said not that he cared for the poor, because he often dipped into the treasury and stole money from time to time for himself. So it’s telling us he’s a pretty cold hearted person who loves money and was stealing from the ministry. And even as he was saying you know, something to this woman, uh, he literally could care less. So we don’t, we know that about him. Right. But, but we don’t really know, uh, like, uh, you know, so, you know, was he, was he a person who originally started following Jesus with the intent to betray or, or was it the intent to like, just get rich? Like, Ooh, I’m gonna get rich here. Right. Or, or was it more like, uh, Matthew, where he had this conflicting thing happening with his whole life, you know, Matthew obviously loved wealth so much that he betrayed his own people, but then when Jesus, you know, redeemed Matthew, Matthew abandoned that life and was so thankful for the opportunity to be loved and redeemed and forgiven. So did Jesus have, or did Judas have a struggle with that? And he originally joined with good intent, but then got caught up with being the treasurer of the whole ordeal with money coming in? You know, like, what was it? It doesn’t really say, but it, you know, but, but it does say that Judas was one who initiated it.

Jeff:
Right. Yeah. Judas started it, not the, not the priests.

Chris:
Right. Which, which by the way, that’s, that could be a piece of new information.

Jeff:
In my mind, I can envision Judas being an enthusiastic follower of Jesus in wonderment early on and then becoming disillusioned and frustrated because we all join Jesus with our own agendas too. And if we don’t eventually learn to surrender our agenda to Jesus, we’re going to be frustrated with Jesus too. And so I can see how there’s kind of a moment where he finally goes, forget it. It’s never going to turn out the way I want it and give up on the idea of what he thought Jesus was. And then at that point, because he is greedy, because he is kind of the money obsessed guy, he goes and says, I wonder how much I could get out of this. If it’s all going to fall apart. And clearly he could see, he knew, he probably heard the priests whispering and talking. There’s a chance maybe. Yeah, and he heard Jesus squaring off with him, and he heard Jesus say, they’re going to kill me. And almost everything Jesus said, everything Jesus said had happened. Everything he said he was going to do, he did. Right? So somehow Jesus pulls off the stuff he’s talking about, and now it looks like Jesus is a little suicidal. So if you’ve decided you don’t think he’s really the Messiah, the Messiah you thought, your disillusion. Then Jesus just sounds suicidal. So you’re watching the priests whisper over there. You see Jesus threatening them. And then you see Jesus say, and they’re going to kill me. And then, you know, man, there’s a crowd, you know, that Pilate often winds up doing some pretty, you know, killing people or whatever. And, and so you just kind of, maybe he could see the writing on the wall and he was, he was the first guy to bail, right? He was jumping ship in this moment. And he’s thinking, okay, how can I ingratiate myself to them to protect myself? and make a little cash on the side, right? I can totally envision that whole thing. I was, I had a person that was important in my life that I worked with for a long time that for the first significant two thirds, three quarters of our time together was incredible, incredible. And then I just started sensing his heart was leaving me and I couldn’t figure out why. Right? Finally he determined I was a false teacher and that my ministry strategy was wrong and all these things. But it blew up one day where I was like, what happened? And it was like, he just flipped a switch and going, I’m done. And decided to burn the whole thing down, burn the relationship down, right? All that kind of stuff. And I remember going, what in the world? And so I can see where some people would say, he never was with you. I would say he was. We were together. We were, the difference was his desire and direction. What he thought the final outcome was going to be was different than what I thought the final outcome was going to be. Right. And so I was deeply hurt by it. I was surprised by it, but I don’t doubt his original intentions. I think we’re good. Right. And then got disillusioned that he wasn’t going to get what he wanted and then decided to destroy it. I wonder if that’s not what happened with Judas. I can see how it could have happened that way. Yeah. And then now he’s just trying to cover his own hide and make a little money on the side.

Chris:
Yeah, so there’s a little thing in the Life Application Study Bible about Judas Iscariot. It says it’s easy to overlook the fact that Jesus chose Judas to be his disciple. With the other disciples, Judas shared a persistent understanding of Jesus’ mission. They all accepted Jesus to make the right political moves. When he was talking about dying, they all felt varying degrees of anger, fear, and disappointment. The exact motivation behind Judas’ betrayal is unknown. He accepted payment. It just goes on about Judas, I guess. But again, I guess that wasn’t very insightful other than the fact that… It’s unknown. It’s just unknown, yeah.

Jeff:
Yeah, but you can imagine how it could get to that point. Yeah. Right. Imagine it. It’s been a long time. Nothing really turned out the way you wanted it to.

Chris:
Yeah. And, you know, he doesn’t even realize at this point, most likely, that for agreeing to sell Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver, that actually he is fulfilling prophecy. Right? There’s an actual prophecy that talks about this. And so Judas is fulfilling this prophecy. And by the way, Luke is the only one out of the Matthew passage, the Mark passage, and the Luke passage. It’s the only one that starts with, then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot. So that’s the definition of the devil made me do it.

Jeff:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would say that Satan’s part in the betrayal doesn’t absolve Judas, right? Judas was clearly the one. Satan didn’t enter into John. Satan didn’t enter into Bartholomew or Thomas. So Satan uses us because the Bible says that we sin because of our own desires. So Satan took advantage of his circumstances, his desire at that point, and then used him. Because I don’t think Satan understood what was going to happen. I think Satan genuinely believed if he could kill Jesus it ended the situation.

Chris:
Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, think of the 40 days being tempted in the wilderness. Right. He was wanting Jesus to blow his mission from the beginning. Right. Thinking, hey, my goal is to, you know, to stop or trip up or, you know, thwart the mission of why Jesus was here. And I’m not sure if Satan understood why.

Jeff:
Yeah. I don’t think that Satan had a concept that the death and resurrection at Passover. Right. Was the plan all along. Yeah. Right. So I think Satan thinks he’s winning here. and has no idea. Because if Satan knew that all Jesus had to do was die and rise again at Passover, and that would make it possible for our sins to be forgiven, he would not have entered into Judas. So it lets you know the limitations of our enemy. So he is very smart, he is very violent and aggressive towards us, but the reality is he’s also very limited. Right. God had a plan that was so far above Satan’s plan. It was like it was Satan was playing checkers and God was playing chess. Yeah.

Chris:
Right. Well, you remember the old, you know, we’re 50. So we remember Carmen, the champion.

Jeff:
Yeah. Yeah.

Chris:
Yeah. So, so it talks about the battle of Jesus and Satan being like a boxing match. Yep. Yep. And by the way, if you want to be amused, Google this right now, okay? When you get done listening to the podcast, because it’s actually a pretty dramatic song, you know? And then it says, Satan throws the final blow and Jesus goes down for the count. He says, and then God the Father, you know? And this is a real dramatic scene. He says he begins to count, and you know what he does? He counts starting at 10. He says, 10. And he goes, wait. And he imitates Satan. You’re counting the wrong way. Nine. Wait, what are you doing, God? Eight. That’s hilarious. That’s really funny. So, you know, there’s not too much else to unpack, I don’t think, in this scripture other than just talking about the motives of Judas, you know, the fulfillment of scripture, that’s one, and then other than, you know, let’s be weary about you know, Satan taking advantage of our desires. In other words, like, just remember, we’re teaching on it next series, right? That our weapons aren’t, our enemy’s not flesh and blood, right? It’s the spiritual forces in the world. We believe that there are active spiritual forces that work against us and that there’s a battle raging in the unseen world for our very souls. And we believe that that is very real. And Jesus talked about it and there’s evidence of it. And so that’s something we can grab from this passage.

Jeff:
Every once in a while you’ll have somebody say, man, if I could just see Jesus do a miracle, I would believe. I don’t know, I think that’s true. Judas saw all the miracles, he didn’t believe. So it still requires a certain amount of faith.

Chris:
Well, Jesus even said himself, he said, even if Abraham and the prophets, what did he say? He said, they still wouldn’t believe. Right, right. They still wouldn’t believe. Because you’ve seen everything I can do and you still didn’t believe.

Jeff:
Right. So, you know, sometimes we get in close around Jesus, but we don’t actually have a saving relationship with Jesus. We’ve never repented of our sins. turned to Christ. And so as a result, we got close, but we never did actually have him change our lives. And I think that’s what you have with Judas here. He was close, but he never embraced Christ.

Chris:
Missing heaven by 18 inches. Yep. Distance between your brain and your heart.

Jeff:
That’s right.

Chris:
So, well, hey, that is our time. So we will see you tomorrow on The Bible Guys.