Episode Transcript
Tim 00:00:00 Welcome back to the unveiling with your host aj, mark, and Tim. Oops. Wait a minute. No, mark tonight. Aj, it's just you and me. So while the cat's away, I think we'll play <laugh>.
Ajai 00:00:13 Hey, Tim. Yeah, we have to <laugh> cat is over too many times. <laugh>, right?
Tim 00:00:19 Well, I don't know how much we're gonna actually play, because I think we are gonna continue, in the series that we've started, last couple of weeks. And this will be episode number 44. It will be the third episode in the I Am Statements of Jesus that are found in the Book of John. Tonight we're gonna be focusing on John 10, seven, which says, therefore, Jesus said again, very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. if you skip one more verse, it goes, I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. Aj, one of the things that I'm looking at as I look at this verse, Jesus taught a lot in pictures. You know, the verbal pictures where he would paint these scenes. And I think that he used these words in this parable more or less, because it was very common for the Israelites at that time. Sheep were one of the main products for food and products that they had. Sheep were raised for meat, for milk, for hide, for wool. and these, you know, these were all, things that they could live on. So, these were prevalent all over, all over Israel. When the shepherds when take their flocks out in the fields and graze them, every night, they would bring these sheep back into a sheep fold or a pen. And this pen was usually made out of, you know, rocks that had been built up in a big, you know, big circle that could hold the number of sheep they had. And he'd drive the sheep in there every night. And then there was one small opening, which the sheep would come in and go out of. And, and once they were in, he would literally place himself in the threshold of that doorway, maybe even sleep there as a barrier between the sheep leaving and any predators or thieves coming in. He was their protection in, in the cities, of course, they had larger pens where shepherds would, you know, from various areas, would put their sheep. And what's interesting about that is in the morning when the shepherds came to get their sheep and take them out into the fields, the shepherd would only have to call, and his sheep out of the entire group or flock that was in there would come away and no other, because the sheep heard and knew him and heard his voice and followed him. That may be something we touch on it a little bit, but, so these pictures of the shepherd and how he protected his flock were very important. And this intaking in context was kind of a rebuke to the Pharisees and the lawmakers of the day who, who kind of put themselves up as shepherds, but didn't really fulfill the shepherd's job. They didn't, they didn't protect the shape, the, you know, the way a shepherd actually does and things like that. But anyway, that's kind of more of the roundabout, context and the imagery than why he invoked the, that which he did. So, ajm, I feel like I'm babbling already, and, I'm not sure which direction you're gonna go next, but I'll pass it over to you and let's see where we go.
Ajai 00:03:34 Yeah, Tim, you know, as we look at this, parable, and also, you know, Jesus saying that, you know, he's a gate for the sheep. You know, it's kind of interesting, you know, as I, I was, reading through this, you know, there are two things here. One is a shepherd, right? And there's also a gate. And Jesus identifies himself as both the shepherd and the gate. And it's kind of interesting, you know, in your illustration you said that, you know, actually the shepherd himself kind of, you know, sleeping across the, across the entrance as a gate. So it makes perfect sense. So one thing, you know, we see here right out of the gate, you know, no <laugh>, no pun intended, but is <laugh>, that I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. So here we see that Jesus is the gate, and in other places, he said in John 14, six, he says, I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father, but through me. So, you know, throughout the ages, you know, what's happening is, you know, regardless of who it is, if they try to approach God without going through the law, Jesus Christ, right? There are thieves and robbers. So it's kind of interesting, right? You know, we might think, oh my God, only these bad people are thieves and robbers or the Pharisees, you know, who absolutely, you know, hated Christ. They are the thieves and robbers. But if you closely look at it, anyone who bypasses the work of Christ and the person of Christ and try to approach God some other way is a thief and a robber. Then again, I think we have been talking about law and grace, you know, for, several days, and this is emphasis of our ministry. You know, we are very, emphatically, you know, we tell that law is not the way to God, but it is a grace for Lord Jesus Christ. So, you know, when we go back and see, right? In a average church, I've been listening to sermons also like in, you know, when I went to India and some of the churches that I hear on the tv, it's always about, you know, the focus is what you have to do. You have to live a holy life. You have to do this, you have to do that so that God can accept you. So basically, they are telling people to come to God through the law, not through the law, Jesus Christ, not through the finish work of a law, Jesus Christ. So they are also thieves and robbers because they are robbing from God's people, right? The way of grace, the real way of salvation. So they are doing a lot of disservice, both to unbelievers and believers by preaching the law as a way instead of Jesus as a way. And for the unbelievers, you know, they're telling you, Hey, you know, if you're drinking, you're smoking, you're doing this, and that unless you stop that, you know, you cannot be saved. And that's impossible. Right? Nobody, without the help of Lord Jesus Christ can stop all the, all the sinful habits if they could. They really don't need law Jesus Christed.
Tim 00:06:37 And I think a good point to make about this is there's, there's three kinds of messages, three kind of messages being taught. The one is the law, which is kind of where you were, is how you come to Jesus. Another is what we call the mixed gospel of grace and the law. And that is they may say, yeah, you can't do anything to save yourself. Jesus saves you, but after that you gotta straighten up and fly right. And do this, that, and the other. And then there's the full gospel of grace message, which says, you can't do any of these things. If you could, Jesus would be unnecessary and you could go forward. But we're saying is anything other than pure gospel of grace is robbing the Christian or the non-Christian, even of the benefits of Jesus himself.
Ajai 00:07:20 Right? Right. And yeah, that is so true. In fact, you know, yeah. The second one you mentioned, right, the mixed gospel, right? Even though somehow by God's grace, you know, people are saved by hearing the gospel, right? When they hear the gospel, since they're coming from a, life where they did not know, Christ, right? And they were kind of coming mostly from a sinful life, they realized that, oh my God, I can't do anything. Right? Probably the point of salvation, you know, they accept Jesus freely as a free gift, and the salvation is a free gift. But as soon as they enter any church, right, you know, the law is thrown at them right now that you are a believer, you better do this, this, and this. Right? They throw them right back under the law. So what's happening is, even though you're a saved and you are a child of God, you are still going back under the law, you know, and, basically living a life of bondage, then living the glorious liberty of, the children of God.
Tim 00:08:17 Yeah. Yep. Amen. I'm not sure if I'm gonna step on your toes with this next one, but you did mention that, it says in these verses that I am the gate, I am the only way to God, and you brought up John 14, six, and, that's another verse. And I can come up with, I don't know, 6, 8, 10 more verses that point to Jesus being the only way Yeah. To God in which kind of infers that he's the only way to, salvation and eternal life and things of that nature. So, boy, that sounds really exclusive. does it, you know, and I don't want get into a whole thing on theology of, of this, but, you know, and I think it's worth pointing out that, every religion to some extent is exclusive. It's either you believe us or your heretic, or you're prong or whatever. But Jesus is, is, no exception to the message, but he as an exception to He is actually the way to God himself. And, I mean, maybe we can talk about that in another podcast, and I, cuz I don't want to get too deep on that here when we're talking about this.
Ajai 00:09:29 Yeah, yeah. We don't want to go on a, sidetrack, but I think just to respond to what you said, right. You know, yes, Jesus is exclusive because there's no other way. Right. You know, if there's only one way to something, it is, by, definition, it becomes also exclusive. In fact, you, if there's any other way apart from law, Jesus Christ going to the cross to save us, I'm sure you know, Lord would've used it. Right. You know, instead putting his beloved son on the cross. But the thing is, there's no other way, because there's no other way it has become exclusive. Right. There's no other way that could, or there's no other name under which, you know, people can be saved.
Tim 00:10:11 Now it's exclusive in that you can't, like you said, there's no other way to be saved. But it is inclusive in that when Jesus died, he died knowingly, willingly and desiring that every person have the opportunity to come to him. Now, he knew he would be rejected by some, but yeah. He still, he went to the cross for every single person, past, present, and future. Yeah. To be saved, availability of Jesus is only restricted by being able to hear it, which is why so many people evangelize the word around the world.
Ajai 00:10:48 Yep. Yep. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. You know, the Bible says, you know, all have sinned and fallen shot of the glory of God. So there's nobody righteous. So just as everybody's sinned, right. You know, now after our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again, everybody has the opportunity to, be saved by simply believing in him. But I think again, you know, the, just as Jesus sees the way, the only way of salvation is through faith. It's not by works. It's not by doing this, and that it's not Jesus plus works, or it is Jesus, our works without Jesus. But it's through faith alone, right. In Christ alone and by grace alone. I think that's very important to understand. And this, by grace alone in cry through faith alone in Christ alone is I think we are again, you know, we say it several times that it is not only for salvation, you know, but also for Christian life. In other words, you know, some churches call it a sanctification. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, even for sanctification, it's through grace. Right. by grace through faith in Christ.
Tim 00:11:55 And I'd like to go ahead and let, people know we had a great episode about this on monism versus synergism. go look that up, and you'll get a really, you'll get a really clear picture of the, the argument that we can't do it ourselves. Jesus did Jesus and God did it all for us. And, yeah. I don't want to get too deep into that here, I guess, but, we had a great episode on that. Go look for it.
Ajai 00:12:21 Right, right. Yeah. So, Tim, if it's okay, I would like to kind of, go back to the passage Yes. And, you know, draw some more observations from it. so I think the passage that you, actually read, right. You know, he's talking about, you know, in the first few verses, you know, he talks about, you know, there is, anyone who does not enter the sheep and by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and the robber. Right. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep and the gatekeeper opens a gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own and the sheep by own sheep by name and leads them out. And, you know, and when he brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them and the sheep following because they know his voice.
Tim 00:13:08 It's a good thing that sheep imprinted on their shepherd and followed him because sheer above the dumbest animal in the entire world, I'm sorry, they look nice, they're serene, it's pretty. But, a sheep will come out of its, nightly pen, put its head down, and start grazing and start walking and never look up again. He won't see a predator. He won't, he won't see that he's about to walk off the edge of a cliff. If the first sheep in a group of sheep does that, the other ones don't notice and keep walking and will follow him right over the edge of the precipice. So, yep. That they, that they know the voice means they, they are interrupted long enough to look up and figure out where they're at and find their shepherd. So it's a good thing.
Ajai 00:13:49 Yep, yep, yep. So, yeah, just to move on a little bit, when he brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them and the sheep following because they know his voice, but they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they'll run away from him because they do not recognize stranger's voice. And then Jesus uses figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. So because
Tim 00:14:14 He was talking about them. Yeah.
Ajai 00:14:16 <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. So he, kind of told the story, but they did not understand. Then he says, you know, very, very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep and who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. They will go in and out and find pasture. And then he goes on to say, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, have come that you may have life and have it to the full,
Tim 00:14:49 You know, in modern Christianity, that that passage about the thief comes to kill steel and destroy has been attributed mostly to the enemy. Yeah. but what is, if you read this and study it a little bit, it's not just the enemy. It is anyone who isn't basically teaching. Jesus is there in some form or fashion to kill steel or destroy to interrupt that perfect relationship and to put something in the middle of
Ajai 00:15:16 It. Exactly. In fact, I was going to make the same exact point.
Tim 00:15:20 Sorry.
Ajai 00:15:21 So Yeah. Yeah. That is good. You made that. So typically people think right, you know, the thief comes only to kill steel and destroy. Now they think that it is a devil. But I think, as we just said, right, you know, the preachers of the law are the preachers of the mixed gospel. Right. They are also basically stealing the inheritance of the people of God. Right? They're not letting, the people enjoy the urban life that our largest Christ came to give us. I think so by implication, right? We can also say that if the devil is a thief, you know, the devil is behind this mixed gospel. Right? You know, if I may be bold enough to say that, ah, devil is behind the work works based gospel, right? You have to do this, this, and this, you know, you have to earn your own righteousness in order to win God's favor. So the devil is behind it because you know, that is not the way of salvation. No matter how hard you try, no matter how holy life you live, you will fall shot because the law requires not just living perfectly one day, not just keeping one or nine of the 10 commandments. You have to keep all 10 all days of your life from the day you're born till the day you die. Otherwise, you'll go under the curse knowing very well. Right? Nobody can do that. They somehow still, you know, hood bring people into buying that they can somehow keep the law to win, win God's favor. But it's an impossible. Right? They're all devil lies. In fact, the Bible says, you know, in Colossians, you see, we have, talked about it before, you know, the Bible says, you know, the law is the weapon of the devil. Right? The devil is called the accuser of the brethren. How does they accuse people through the law? So as long as people are preaching some form of the law or some form of mixed gospel, they are stealing from God's people.
Tim 00:17:27 Right? Now, I want to add a little caveat for those who might be, members of the clergy or, or a leadership in their church or whatnot. There are a lot of people that are teaching the law, but not as you have to keep the law, but you should try to better yourself by aligning yourself with the law and understanding that doing these things are good for you and blah, blah, blah. Now, they might hesitate and retrieve a little bit, say you don't know you, you won't get saved with it. But they're still teaching it, and they're doing it with the best of intentions in most cases. And some of them, I believe, are using it to help, modify the behavior or control their church.
Ajai 00:18:06 Right? Right. In fact, you know, I think we can, go, deeper in some other, episode. But you know, as long as you are teaching people that you know by your behavior, right? By your improvement, by your trying hard, you can win God's favor. You're basically appealing to their flesh. Right? You know, the moment you say that you have to do something, the flesh is invoked, right? It's not resting in the finished work of Lord Jesus Christ, but you're actually appealing to their flesh, to, to basically straighten up and, and behave so that God will bless us. But the thing is, the Bible clearly says, you know, the mind of the flesh is en mi against God, and it neither, obeys the law of God. I'm paraphrasing, right? Or can it obey the law of God? So what you're basically saying is you're trying to appeal to this thing called flesh that is still in us to behave when we know full well that it cannot obey the law of God. So you're putting people in this place, right? You know, where they are on this hamster wheel like you and Mark say, they're going trying harder and harder and harder and just getting nowhere. And, that is a total ignorance on the part of some of the people who preached that. And devil is using that right, to basically, basically don't put people under their bodies.
Tim 00:19:32 Yeah. And then the hamster wheel thing is a really good illustration because no matter how hard you run, you get nowhere, number one. So what we're saying is, you know, the mixed gospel is bad because you're bringing in a law which has no power to save us, and it's not a part of our salvation anyway. But the second problem with it is it causes in people, some people pride because, oh, look, I'm keeping the law so much better than them. Yeah. But still not perfectly. And that's the only one that counts is perfectly. you know, and you know, each week as we come under a new teaching, you'd go, oh, yeah, I have that failing in my life. I need to, I need to work on that now. Well, for the last couple weeks, you've had several other teachings, which are now starting to fall by the wayside, so you can focus on the new teachings, and you never caught up with those. So now you've got guilt. All these things are negative impacts on your psyche and especially your spirituality and, and all definitely with your relationship with Jesus,
Ajai 00:20:33 Just like Hebrew says. Right? You know, the law in Hebrews chapter, chapter 10, I think, was starting at the beginning. I'm reading from chapter, verse one, the law is only a shadow of good things to come, not the realities themselves for this reason. It can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw here to worship. So here it's talking about the sacrifices offered under the law. You know, they could never, the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year could never make them perfect, right? I want to use the same analogy here, right? You know, I'm not talking about the sacrifices, but you know, these works that they tell us to do, you know, you go to church every time, it's a message on, hey, you need to do better, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's like endlessly they're saying the same thing and over and over and over, right? No matter how much you try, you can never be perfect. Right? Then what's the point of doing it if God requests perfection? And no matter how much you try, you can never be perfect, then what's the point, right? So it is the same thing here. The analogies, then it goes on to say, otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered for the worshipers, would've been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for this since? But in those sacrifices are an annual reminder of since it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take, since I think I'm using this as an analogy, because, you know, the Old Testament blood of bulls and goats could not take over sense. But again, I think this trying harder, right? No matter how much you try harder, you cannot become perfect. It's an endless cycle.
Tim 00:22:17 No matter how good you can, you can never be perfect because we're flush, and then flesh is sinful by its very nature. So your mind will think something and puts you out of perfection, or your eyes will see something that will take you out of perfection. There's, there's just no way you can win that game. Yeah. Yeah. And the endless cycle of trying and feeling guilty and, and failing and feeling guilty is just, it will eventually either burn you out, eat you up, or spit you out, because it's impossible. And that's where the message of grace comes in. It is rest to our souls.
Ajai 00:22:51 So again, going back to the passage, I think the verse 10, again, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that you may have life and have it to the full. And in other versions, it says that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Yep. So again, you know, we see the key here, right? In order to have this life that is full and abundant, right? You have to go through the gate and nothing else. So unless you go through Lord Jesus Christ and the finish work on the cross, right? And only the finish work and nothing else, you cannot have this abundant life. So if you, you cannot just say, you know, Jesus plus the law, or you can say, you know, you can totally bypass Jesus, okay? Now that I am saved, okay, Jesus is on the side. Now we know I'm going to try to obey. Now I'm going to use the 10 Commandments to, win God's favor. Right? You know, that's not going to happen. So I think the key to notice is in order to, there's no way you can have this abundant life in our Lord Jesus Christ, unless you, you, reject every other way apart from the gate, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tim 00:24:03 I would, go to church, you know, regularly and see people who were every week coming in, all dejected, depressed, feeling guilty, you know, down. And I, you know, what's going on? Well, I sinned this week and again, once again, I got mad at some people and shot my mouth off and did this and did that. They were defeated coming in, and they were, you know, I have to beg forgiveness from God again. And I wanted to shake these people and go, no, that can't be how it works. This was before I even knew the full message of grace. But I'd be like, God doesn't want us to live like this, and he doesn't turn his back on us and make you go through the motions. And that eventually evolved into, if, if any of your teachings say you have to do X for God to do y, you have to beg forgiveness to be forgiven, and you have to give more money to get more money, you have whatever those are, that is not a part of our religion anymore. It's not a part of our experience and our relationship with Jesus.
Ajai 00:25:05 Exactly. Tim, you know, you actually reminded me, of, I think I just came up with a very simple analogy, right? I mean, no analogy is perfect, but let's say, you know, we send our kids to school, right? To college, and most of the parents, you know, they loan money because to the kids, and then they say, you know, at some point, you know, when they get your job, pay me back. Right? And then, you know, at some point, you know, the kid say, say, dad, you know, I cannot, pay you back. You know, I am, kind of totally broke, and, sorry, you know, I can't, I I did promise you to pay you back, but I did not. And then he has been in this mode of, you know, okay, guilt, oh, I am a failure, and I could not pay back my dad even though I wanted to, and all that kind of stuff. And one point you say, you know, don't worry, son, you know, I, I I paid off all your loans, and don't worry about it anymore. Right? Okay. It's okay. Then even after that, you know, son keeps on coming to you every day, dad, you know, I should have paid off my loan. You know, I'll slowly, slowly try to pay it off. And then he keeps on trying to pay off the loan that is already paid off. Right? You know, that's what is our church nowadays, you know, the, our sins are forgiven. Jesus paid in full. And he says, you know, you were sins and law did I remember no more. And even the flesh, right? The thing that we are struggling with that feels real in our life, the Bible says, you know, the flesh was crucified as far as God is concerned. The old man, the thing that we are struggling with is already crucified on the cross. And first of all, you know, we are doing two things in the church, right? First of all, all the sins are forgiven. And every day we go to God saying, God, I sin, please forgive me, right? I'll try better next time. And then the Lord is saying that the flesh is already dead as well. As far as I'm concerned, I took the flesh to the cross, and it is a dead man, right? And it's like, you know, you're bringing a corps to the Lord every day and says, oh, Lord, you know, this sculpt is not behaving. Can you please forgive me? Right? You know, it's, if you really think through this, right? It's all illogical. And the other side of things is right. You know, once we accept the forgiveness of sin, right? The total forgiveness of sins, and we start rejoicing in the freedom that we have, right? We will start entering into it, this abundant life that Lord Jesus Christ promised. You know, I came to give you life and life more abundantly, but the entrance into this abundant life is a new covenant. And the key clause of the new covenant is, I will remember you since no more. That is our, in the old covenant, the target is the forgiveness of sins, right? They were doing all the sacrifices, this and that, and all that. Keeping the rituals is the end goal is forgiveness of sins, which they never could get to. But in the new covenant, right? Forgiveness of sins is a starting push for us. It's not the end, but it's the beginning. We start with the forgiveness of sins. We understand all our sins are forgiven, and then we start walking with God. You know, that's when we start experiencing this abundant life.
Tim 00:28:16 You know, it's, that you said, you said earlier that, the law is the, weapon of the enemy, and what a devastatingly good weapon it is. And the reason being is we know ourselves. We know we're not perfect. We know we can't be perfect. And so we internalize that we may try and show the world, oh, no, no, our lives are perfect. We gotta, you know, middle little income family with a house, a white picket fence, 2.4 kids and a dog, and everything is great, but we know on the inside it's not. And because of that, we have guilt. We carry that guilt with us. Now, God says, I remember your sins no more, but we don't have that ability. And it seems, unless we can focus on the grace of Jesus and internalize and make our own, the, the words and statements of, of Jesus and God himself that say, I will remember your sins no more. Are you better than me? Maybe you shouldn't remember your sins anymore. Either it's time to move forward with your life. Focus on me, not your past, not your insides. Focus on me.
Ajai 00:29:21 Exactly like you said. You know, unless we hear the word and we believe God for right. You know, we'll constantly keep falling back into this work's mentality because you know, the guilt is a real thing, right? You know, unless we come to, a place where we completely rushed in the finish work, you know, we, we have to convince ourselves that the blood is enough, right? The blood has the power, like we talked before also, right? The only thing in entire eternity and an entire universe that has the power to erase since is the blood of Jesus. And without that blood, there's no way, no matter how much you try, you cannot wipe out her sins. And that's why you know, a lot of people, you know, I, I heard that, you know, most people in mental asylums are basically there because of the guilt. They did something, and that guilt is eating them up. And they did not know the way of forgiveness. But for us as a children of God, and as a believers, you know, who have the knowledge of blood of Jesus Christ, and who have the knowledge that, you know, our sins are wiped away, right? You know, as a cloud, he said, you know, I have a, he erased, right? You know, as a cloud, you know, I erased your sins. Right? You know, as a cloud just goes away, right? That's how our sins are erased. And the Bible also says, you know, I've taken our sin and cast them the depth of the sea, and I have removed your sin as far as from east, east, the west, right? So far I have remove your sin. So all this, kind of, you know, pictures, right? Are to show that, you know, God has removed our sins, and he will remember them no more. But the unfortunate thing is, in an average church, you know, it's always reminder of sins. It's no different from the Old Testament. We saw, just saw in Hebrew 10 that, those sacrifices were, you know, not only they were just covering, they could never take over the sins of the world, but they're actual reminder, right? You know, every time you go, they're reminding you, oh, why are you here? Because of my sins, and then I have to come next year again, next year. Again, it's an annual reminder of sins. You know, that's what the, the churches are doing nowadays.
Tim 00:31:31 Heck, they seem to be doing that with communion. Let's let us stop and reflect on our sins bef, you know, and ask forgiveness before we take the cup and the bread. And it's like, man, no. Why don't we reflect on how wonderful Jesus is and how we don't have any of that anymore. It's just we've returned some of these things on their head.
Ajai 00:31:50 Yeah. Yeah. And it does seem like a holy thing, right? If you go and tell this to an out church goer, even people in my family, right? If I tell them, Hey, you know, you don't how to do this anymore, right? You don't have to go through the cycle of guilt and trying harder, and this whole sin focus mentality, you don't have to have it anymore. They, they will not agree, right? They think, you know, oh my God, this guy is saying something really bad. It's, almost blasphemous, but they really don't think through the ramifications as a, as a Marx is always.
Tim 00:32:22 Yeah.
Ajai 00:32:23 Well, yeah. So I think, Tim, looks like, you know, we are almost getting close to our time, but, you know, I want to kind of, again, just touch on this passage. I think, in terms of Christian maturity, right? You know, we just talked about, you know, forgiveness of sins, understanding that our sins are completely forgiven is a starting push. That is where, you know, unless you settle in your heart and mind that our, sins are totally forgiven, and God doesn't remember our sins anymore, we really cannot grow in Christian maturity. And the same John who wrote the book of John that we are reading, he also wrote, you know, first letter of John, right? So he beautifully captures this progression. This is something, you know, I've been thinking the other day in one John chapter two, verse 12, writing to you dear children, right? This is baby Christians, because you were, since I've been forgiven on account of his name, right? He doesn't say that, you know, you since I've been forgiven because of your confession, you were since I've been forgiven because of your repentance. You were since I've been forgiven because of your restitution. No, you were, since I've been forgiven on account of his name. So this is a baby Christian, right? And then he goes on to say, I am writing to your fathers because you know him, who is from the beginning. And then I am writing to young men because you overcome the evil one again. You know, how do you overcome the evil one by overcoming the accusations of the enemy, right? By overcoming the, or by realizing that, you know, the enemy is de weaponized. He doesn't have the law as a weapon anymore because we are dead to the law. So if you, if you go through this progression, right? The starting point is dear children as baby believers, right? As small little children in God. The first thing we understand is that our sins have been forgiven. And for the young men, he's saying, you know, you overcome the evil run by knowing that you are not under the accusation of the enemy, and you are not under the law anymore. And the devil cannot wield this weapon of the law against us anymore. And then comes a maturity, right? I'm writing to your fathers because you know him, who is from the beginning. So in other words, right? In order to know God, truly these two things have to happen. First is we need to understand that our sins are completely forgiven, past, present, and future, and God remembers or since no more. And second is you also need to understand that, you know, we are dead to the law. Law is not the way of abundant life. And then finally, you know, we actually come to know the Father, truly. And if you go down to next verse, you know, he kind of repeats the same thing I write to your dear, dear children, because you know, the Father I write to your fathers because you know him from the beginning. And I react to young men because you're strong and the word of God lives in you, and you work on the evil one. He's kind of repeating the same thing. But I thought the progression is really, interesting, right? You go from knowing that you, you know, all your sins are forgiven, then knowing that you're not under the law anymore. And then finally, you come to know the Father as he's, and in fact, in Hebrews chapter in the new covenant also, right? I think I'll just say this, and Tim, I'm going to stop, but I think I'll just say this. Hebrews chapter eight, where, you know, the new covenant is mentioned the first time, right? It says, this is a covenant. I the days are coming to close the Lord, when I'll make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It'll not be the covenant Ill I made with the ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant. And I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is a covenant I'll establish with the people of Israel after that time declares the Lord. Look at this one. I'll put my loss in their minds, and I'll write them on their hearts. I'll be their God, and they'll be my people. No longer, they will teach their neighbor or say to another, know the Lord, because they all will know me from the least to the greatest. You know why? Because for I will forgive their ness. And I will remember this since no more. So unless we settle, you know, the knowing of God came after knowing that he remembers ours sin no more. So we have to settle our hearts that, you know, God is not looking at our sins, right? That is behind us. And now, let us, you know, with that behind us, let us now walk with our Lord Christ. Let us now walk in intimacy with God our Father.
Tim 00:37:13 Amen. Excellent point, Saja. I appreciate that. And you are right as always looking at the clock on the wall. We're coming up pretty close to the end. I don't know if I wanna turn the mic over to you again right away, but I'm going to, do you have, do you wanna summarize in any way, shape, or form
Ajai 00:37:29 <laugh>? Well, I'm going to keep it short and let you take longer for the summarization, but, <laugh>, I will say, you know, you know, don't second guess the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He came as a human. You know, he went to this cross. He bore all our sins, and he rose again. So the resurrection is a proof that what Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross is enough. If God thinks what Jesus did is enough, we should also believe that what Jesus did is enough. Amen. Let us not try to add to what Lord Jesus did. Let us not try to get the forgiveness that's already ours. Let us not try to become more holy, because Lord Jesus, Christed already made us holy with that one offering. So all we need to do is believe and rested in the finished work of Jesus Christ and looking at our Lord Jesus Christ. We live this life.
Tim 00:38:24 Excellent points, excellent points. so yeah, I'm gonna take my, I'm gonna take my swing at this for a second. And, I am gonna say that the weapon of the enemy is the, the law. He's called the accuser of the brethren. And if, and your quote, job is just to believe in wrestling what the Lord tells you, the Bible is full of telling you things like I do. I no longer hold you accountable for your sins. I don't hold your sins against you anymore. I'd forget your, I choose to forget your sin. I know it. Nomar, I've thrown it as far as Jesus is from the West. Those, those are what you should think. Jesus says, I am the shepherd, and my sheep know me and they hear my voice. Well, people ask me all the time, how do I know it's God talking to me? Well, let me give you at least one or two small clues. If the voice in your head says, oh, you failed at this, or you need to do, you need to work harder at that, that sounds like accusation. And it sounds like putting you down, it sounds like giving you guilt. That's not Jesus. If it starts and ends with, I love you, that's Jesus. And he's not gonna tell you. And you know, I'll just bless you a little bit more if you go do this or go do that. He's, I love you. I gave you everything at the cross. You have all your blessings. Just keep receiving me. And all of this comes with it.
Ajai 00:39:46 Yep. Amen. Amen.
Tim 00:39:48 That's the best litmus test I have now for deciding is that Jesus are talking, or me or the enemy. And it really comes down to he loves me. I'm not under the law. Well, aj, that looks like it's it for us tonight. We did pretty good without Mark, huh
Ajai 00:40:04 <laugh>. Amen. Amen.
Tim 00:40:06 Maybe we should send him on vacation all the all the time. Amen.
Ajai 00:40:10 <laugh>. No, I really love what he just said, Tim, just keep receiving me. That's all. That's all is Christian life. Yeah. Amen. Seeing more and more of our Lord Jesus Christed and rushed in him.
Tim 00:40:20 All right. Well, that's gonna do us for tonight. Mark. We're looking forward to you coming back no matter what I just said. <laugh>, thanks for listening, everybody, and as always, we'll talk to you again the next time.
