Jesus In Psalm 50

What if the biggest reason the Old Testament feels “harsher” than the New Testament is the voice you hear in your head while you read it? We put that assumption on the table and then walk straight into Psalm 50, a passage that reads like a divine courtroom where God calls the whole earth to listen, exposes empty religion, and delivers a line that cuts through our projections: “You thought that I was altogether like you.” 

From there, we do a hands-on Bible study and start tracing how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament rather than replacing it. Psalm 50 starts linking to everything: Zion and glory, light dawning in Matthew, John the Baptist’s warnings about fire, the Father publicly declaring Jesus as His beloved Son, and the way Revelation shows Jesus correcting, calling to repentance, and setting things in order. Along the way we talk law and grace without turning it into a slogan, using simple pictures to explain why fulfillment is not the same as dragging old systems back into the life of the Spirit. 

We also get real about discipleship: why conviction matters, why even mature believers still wrestle, and how “knowledge puffs up” can turn spiritual insight into pride if we are not careful. The most practical takeaway might be the simplest: read the Sermon on the Mount until you hear Jesus’ voice clearly, then go back and read the Old Testament in that same voice and see what changes. 

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Transcript

A Satire On Withdrawal Faith

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, this is Henry the Cessationist, here to tell you that all those times that Jesus talked about kingdom, he was just kidding. He didn't mean for us to engage society, government, or business, oh no. He wanted us to hole up in a local congregation and wait for him to return. If you really want to impact the world for Christ, the best way to do it is to refuse to interact with it. Don't be concerned with supernatural manifestations that demonstrate the power and wisdom of God. No, no, no, no, no, no. When it's time for revival, well, there'll be the path to your door. And we know this is true because that's the way I learned it in seminary, and they ought to know. They've been dead longer than you've been alive. Who do you think you are anyway? Amen.

A Dream Connects Jesus And Torah

SPEAKER_01 1:06

We're just going to demonstrate some things, and I'm going to be quite honest. That I was reading this the other day, and it reminded me of this dream I had. Went to sleep right after reading the word. I had read some in Matthew and I'd read some in the Psalms. Am I saying this is a God dream? It might be. I've had some that were a lot more profound. But I was there and I was watching Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount, which is what I had read. You know, I was reading the passage in Matthew about the Sermon on the Mount, those two or three chapters. And uh had this dude standing right next to me. And Jesus would say, Well, blessed are this, because it, you know, he's doing this whole thing. And he goes, That's in the Old Testament. And it's going, that's in the Old Testament, too. That's in the Old Testament. And it brought to mind that Jesus said, I did not come to do away with the law, I've come to fulfill it. To demonstrate that, uh, we had a little project, and I probably should have done a little bit better homework, but I think we're going to do okay.

Reading Psalm 50 As A Courtroom

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Uh, Psalm 50. I remember reading Psalm 50 several days ago, and I just keep going. Jesus fulfilled this, he walked in it, he preached this.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

There is so much of Psalm 50 that Jesus Christ has fulfilled, or it is prophesied that he will fulfill in his second coming.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

So, without any further ado, I'll be reading out of the New King James. The little notes here say, God the righteous judge. A psalm of Asaph. Not all the psalms were written by David.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Verse 1.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

The mighty one, God the Lord, has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our God shall come and shall not keep silent, a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous around him. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. Let the heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Salat means pause, think about it, meditate on it. Verse 7. Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, your God. I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are continually before me. I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beast of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine in all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. But to the wicked, God says, What right have you to declare my statutes, or take my covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction, and cast my words behind you? When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother, you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I kept silent. You thought that I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke you and set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoever offers praise glorifies me, and to him who orders his conduct aright, I will show the salvation of God.

Finding Jesus Across Psalm 50

SPEAKER_01 5:36

So one of the things we were going to be talking about in this is New Testament fulfillment, how this lines up with the word, uh, and guess what? It's not just in the New Testament, but it there's also fulfillment in the prophetic books that are prophesying that get fulfilled in the New Testament. So let's go ahead and dig on in. And the thing that really is bones is the thing that you've said over and over, is kind of the thing that triggered this with me. Is you know, you you thought that I was going to keep silent. You thought that I was like you. And this whole thing is Jesus saying, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Right. So let's get in the word for ourselves, and let's start to dig into it and maybe look at some of these ways in which Jesus fulfills it and how he walks in it and maybe how he preaches it. The mighty one, God the Lord, verse one, has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion's perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our God shall come and not keep silent, a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around him.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Isaiah sixty Arise, shine, your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Also, Matthew four, verse sixteen, people who sat this is talking about Jesus. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region of shadow of death, light has dawned.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

So Jesus is coming out of Zion.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

You know, that this is resurrection time, but actually, when you get into verse three, this is this is what John the Baptist is prophesying. This is what the book of Revelation is prophesying. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our God shall come and not keep silent. A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around him. John said, His winning his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge the threshing floor, and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

So you're seeing these concepts. Verse 4.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. Let the heavens declare his righteousness, for God Himself is judge. Think of two things right here. He shall call to the heavens above. Him calling to the heavens above is uh so many records of this. Lord, glorify thy glorify thy son. You know, glorify the I I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The whole time he's in the garden, he's calling to the heavens above. Gather my saints together to me. What those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. What does he say? Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

So you have him calling.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

You have multiple times that that the heavens have declared his righteousness, you know, right after the river Jordan. No, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Uh when he says, Father, glory glorify thy son, glorify thy name, he said, I've glorified it, I will glorify it again. When you have the Mount of Transfiguration, you have Peter, James, and John are up there on the mount. He said, This is my beloved son, hear ye him.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

So this thing's just rich. Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Law Fulfilled Without Mixing Systems

SPEAKER_00 10:20

What's what's really sad is that most of the time when we talk about Jesus having come to fulfill the law, not to abolish the law, um, we use it to speak of doctrine. Um and we use it, I I think a lot of times we we speak of it wrongly. Um we use it as a we use it as a way to pull in the old testament commandments. And and that's not to say that the old testament commandments are not good, because they are. There's a lot of richness and fullness in the commands of the old testament. Um but when we look at Jesus being the fulfillment of the Old Testament, uh, and that it and that he did not uh abolish uh the law, that's not to say that we have the law and grace now, um, which a lot of people preach. Um what he's really saying is I am I'm the embodiment of the law. All that the law speaks of in the old testament, here I am, it is here right now, standing in front of you. Um I heard somebody explain it one time, and it to me it was a visual that I could really understand. Um, but he used the idea of a driver's license. Uh he said, you know, before you turn 21, you have a driver's license. And it says under 21 on it, and there's things that you can and can't do because you're under 21. Um in a lot of states, you're actually subject to a curfew. Um there's uh, especially if you're driving on a permit instead of a full driver's license, you have to have an adult in the car with you and things to, you know, things that and so forth. So, but when you get that full driver's license or you turn 21, you get a different driver's license. The information on the license is not different. It's still you, it's still the same person, same date of birth, it's all those same particulars. But new things have opened up to you now. And everything that was that pertained to you in the past has now been fulfilled. You're not bound by those things now. And to me, that was a good reference. That's something I could really grasp a hold of because I'm more visually minded. Um but uh too many times we want to to drag the law into grace with us, and really, and we're using here here we are using Psalm 50 to to really do this. Now I love love what you're doing here. Really, what we need to do is look, seek, and and and find where all the places where Jesus is in the law and in the old testament. Yeah, because that's really what it's about.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yeah. Paul Paul talked about the law being a schoolmaster. Yeah. To bring us into Christ Jesus. The uh I'll be the first to tell you, is there benefit in the law? In the Torah? There absolutely is.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Amen. And and and if you're not gonna be, if you're not gonna be led by the spirit, you you better obey the law.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yeah. Well, it was uh, you know, you you mentioned uh you mentioned vehicles. You know, firearms. Are firearms a wonderful thing? They absolutely are. Uh a firearm can change the course of history, a firearm can help defend your home, a firearm can be a good form of recreation, a firearm can help provide you with food on your table. A firearm can help you, especially hunting and stuff, can help you bond with your kids and make sure your kids are proficient. However, can a firearm be misused?

SPEAKER_03 14:17

Can.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah. Do we hand three-year-old firearms? No. Every now and then you see some seven and eight-year-olds that that they're getting taught properly, and you know, you might start out with a red rider BB gun or something like that, but you learn the basics and the safety of it. And and, you know, but this is the same thing. One of the things that that as you were talking about not bringing the law into, uh, I think you know, not not trying to bring the law into grace, like like what they were talking about with the Galatians and some of the issues that Paul was going about with, they're trying to bring people that are already under grace totally under the law. Right. Well, I I believe that there's a balance there. But if Jesus fulfills the law and we're supposed to be imitators of God as dear children, and if we're supposed to be imitators of Jesus Christ, Paul said, imitate me as I imitate Christ. If we're imitating Jesus Christ, shouldn't we be fulfilling the law as well? And imitating that.

unknown 15:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

So therein is your walking in that fulfillment. Now, are we going to do it as perfect as Jesus? No. Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Therein lies the grace.

When We Assume God Sounds Like Us

SPEAKER_00 15:40

We were just having a conversation about that earlier today uh with some other believers, um, talking about you know, feeling bad sometimes because um because because we fall short, because we sin and stuff like that. And we had to kind of jump on that, had to kind of talk about that for a moment. And we had to talk about that it's it's okay. It's okay that we understand that we fall short of the glory. Uh matter of fact, it's that uh it's that conscience, it's that it's that Holy Spirit inside of us that is that's convicting us and letting us know um when we're falling short. And the fact that we have some guilt about it uh is a good sign for the believer. Um the whole Old Testament Um is a demonstration of how we cannot keep the law. It shows us that. And then we, of course, then we talked about Paul in Romans chapter 7. Now even Paul talked about uh the things that I don't want to do, I find myself doing. The things that I I want to do, I I can't do. Yeah. Um, and that wasn't that wasn't early convert Paul. That was Paul at the end of his this is Paul the aged. Yeah, that's Paul in his wisdom. That's old man Paul.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

He he's not he's not among the least of all the apostles. Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

And he and he's still dealing with things. Exactly. So we were able to find comfort in the fact that that yeah, we we we stumble. We we trip and we stumble, and the fact that uh we have some conviction about us is a good thing. That's how we know that the Holy Spirit is is alive and at work in us. Um but looking back through here in the old testament, we see Jesus in so many places if we're willing to look for him. Um and I like how we got to get into the New Testament, he's telling about your dream. Um Jesus uh given his sermon on the mount sounds a lot different sometimes than what we hear in the old testament. Um, but I think there's a key to that, because I I struggled with this a lot, you know, the God of the Old Testament sounded different than the God of the New Testament. Um, but here was my problem as you were reading through Psalm 50 a while ago. Um you thought I was altogether like you. Yeah, that was the problem. Um a lot of times we have a tendency to to think God is like us rather than us trying to aspire to be like God uh and and seek out sanctification and holiness. We try to think God is like us, and that so we end what we end up hearing in our in the back of our head as we're reading through the scriptures sometime is our own voice. Uh we hear our own voice of disgust, our own voice of you know, uh condemnation and stuff like that. And God's saying, No, man, that's not me. Uh I'm not like you, I don't judge like you, I don't, I don't uh do like you do. Um my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Exactly. God is so much more loving and compassionate and bestows grace upon grace. Uh Paul calls it Uber grace, you know, um this grace upon grace upon grace. And um now the time of his wrath is coming, but it's not today. Um but sometimes it's our own our uh our own pre preconceived notions or misperceptions that cause us to to hear the scripture wrongly. And uh and it's because we thought God was like us rather than thinking that uh God is God's God. That's who he is.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Let's get into verse seven here. Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God your God. Well, pretty much the ministry of Jesus, especially when the Pharisees and Sadducees and the scribes and the lawyers start coming, and they they want to pick at him. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

His his first his first speaking there in the synagogue. You know, as he uh as he read from Isaiah, you know, and today this is fulfilled in your hearing. Yeah, you know, he's he's proclaiming his deity there, he's proclaiming him being the messiah right there.

unknown 20:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

They go, I adjure you by the living God, are you the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God? He goes, I am, and you shall see the Son of Man as standing at the right hand of the Father coming in glory. Boom, fulfilled. Yep, yep. And and and there, you know, then the high priest rips his garments, which that's a whole nother study in in and of itself, because he ain't supposed to do that. And uh it's also a sign of a change of priesthood. Transfer. Yep, a change in the priesthood. Yep.

Mercy Over Sacrifice And Real Salvation

SPEAKER_01 20:56

So Jesus fulfills this. I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are continually before me. I will not take a bull from your house nor a goat out of your folds, for every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine. A couple things here. I will not rebuke you for your sacrifice, your bone burnt offerings which are continually before me. I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. He says this, he quotes this verse, Hosea 6 6. He quotes this twice in the Gospel of Matthew. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Matthew 9 13, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Then he says it again in Matthew twelve, seven. But if you know me This means I desire mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the guiltless. And then to top all that off, when you go down here for every beast of the field, verse 10, ever for for every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine. When he's talking about take no thought, consider the lilies of the field. He talks about the sparrows that not one of them falls without your father knowing. Fear not, little flock, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

These are all things that should trigger a Jewish mind. Understanding that the Jewish people, the Hebrew, they would have um they would have had existential knowledge of the Psalms, the Torah, the prophets. They were very well known for having to recite um large amounts of scripture and commit to memory. So hearing Jesus say these things uh should have it should have triggered in the minds of a lot of uh Jewish men, especially.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Verse 12. If I were hungry, I would not tell you. For the world is mine in all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving and pay your vows to the most high. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I would deliver you, and you shall glorify me. If I were hungry, I would not tell you. The world is mine in all its fullness, while I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats. Offer to God thanksgiving and pay your vows to the most high. When I see these three verses right here, what immediately comes to mind, and there's probably more than one reference, but is the temptation in the wilderness. Yep. If I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you. Yeah, oh, I'll offer you the whole world, all the kingdoms of the world if you bow down. The world is mine in all its fullness.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

He's also saying that I have no need to take from you. You know, I I I will I won't I won't take anything from you. I have no need to deprive you of anything. You don't have to support me or anything. This is for everything's mine already. So you know, you won't have to worry about me being a burden to you.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

I had a note in there as I was reading through that. I had a note to Hebrews Hebrew 13 15.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

See what it says. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name, and do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Amen. I can't I couldn't tell you how many years ago that note was put in there.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, you shall glorify me. This reminds me actually, it's been fulfilled, but the one who's bringing it out is actually Paul. If you go over into Romans chapter 10, verse 8, what what saith it? Getting into old King James here. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For what the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same is Lord over all, and is rich to all unto call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Pretty all right right there.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Uh-huh. I make fun of them people that it's a Romans Road. I only make fun of them because they don't know what the Romans Road is. It works. But you gotta know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

I was watching a reel the other day, just kind of scrolling. Yeah, just mind-numbing scrolling. And uh man, I forget this black dude's name. I see him in my reels all the time. But he uh he's a comedian, the Christian comedian, and uh he's pretty fun to listen to, and he's got a really good message too. But I think it was I think it was Kenneth Copeland that was talking to him, kind of getting his testimony, you know, said, Well, how how was it for you? How how was it for you? How'd you how did you get saved? He goes, Oh, well, it's the same for us colored folks too, you know. To me, that was just it was so hilarious because he's because he's a comedian and he just kind of you know throws it out there like that. Um, but he he was really asking his for his his his testimony and his salvation story, yes. But it uh but that's what that scripture there is as you just quoted says. For there's neither Jew nor Greek nor free nor slave, we're all the same. Uh salvation is the same for everybody. Um, you know, what a what a wonderful statement that uh the same Savior died for me, died for you, died for everyone else. Because we're going to get into the wicked here in just a moment.

The Warning To The Wicked

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

But to the wicked, God says, this is verse 16, to the wicked, God says, What right have you to declare my statutes or take my covenant in your mouth? Seeing you hate instruction and cast my words behind you. When you saw a thief, you consented with him and have been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother, you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I kept silent. You thought that I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke you and set them in order before your eyes. So, right off the bat, what right have you to declare my statutes? This is the same thing that happens with John the Baptist. Right. This is the same thing. Jesus, oh, you brood of vipers, who's warned you of the wrath to come?

SPEAKER_04 29:25

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

Yeah. And it's always, well, most of the time, it's it's unbelievers, the unsaved, the unrepentant, the unregenerate, who, when nothing else is working, is gonna throw God back in your face.

SPEAKER_05 29:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

And and God's saying, hey, it's good to look back at this because God's saying, hey, those people don't even have the right to do that. So in some ways, God's saying, don't worry about those folks. Um, I said a while ago that that God is a loving God, full of mercy, and everything, and and the wrath is coming, but it's not today. Well, it is today if you're the wicked. Um, because if you die today in an un in an unsaved state, um then all of that falls on you at that point in time. But God's saying, man, you don't even have the right to to speak my name and and throw my laws out there uh because you don't even believe in me.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Well when he says now is the day of salvation if you're born again. If you're born again. Uh that same day that is salvation for the person who steps into eternity, that same day can be the day of damnation. Right. If you step into eternity without the one that can deliver you. Yes. And it's not just deliver you from hell, but it's deliver you unto the Father.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

Yeah, we're we're all gonna live forever. We're all gonna live in eternity. Uh, whether you're saved or unsaved, it's gonna depend on where you're gonna spend that eternity, in God's presence or without God's presence. And that's man, that's just not a good place to think about. Um so a lot of people have this misconception that uh that eternity doesn't begin until you get saved, until you're born again. A lot of Christians believe that actually. Um that's not necessarily the case. Eternity for the believer is is even for the non-believer has already begun. It's just a matter of where you're gonna spend it.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Yeah, we're we're we're just doing a stint of eternity here. Yep. This is the finite side of it. This is your testing phase. Verse 17, continuing on with that. Seeing you hate instruction and cast my words behind you when he's talking about what right do you have? Take my covenant. Well, what does he call the Pharisees? Blind guides leading the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both are going to fall into a ditch.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

So, man, the this psalm has has a lot of what Jesus is preaching. When you saw a thief, you consented with him and been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil and your tongue frames deceit. Think about the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry. What does he do? You saw a thief, you consented with him, you've been a partaker with adulterers. He's he calls it, you said, it's been said when he's over when he's overturning the money changer's tables in the temple. It has been declared that my house should be a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a robber's den. Right. Oh, wicked and adulterous generation. You know, it's a wicked show. No, you're a wicked and adulterous generation because you seek a sign. You can read the signs of the weather, but you can't read this. No, no, you you're evil.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

They brought the woman caught in the act of adultery. Well, how'd they know that woman? Where'd they know she was at? How'd they know all these things? How'd they know so much about her?

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Well, it it takes two witnesses. Yeah. It has to be at least two or three witnesses. So you had to have two or three witnesses, knew exactly what she was doing, and just waited. She probably been I guarantee you this ain't the first time she was doing that. But based on the way it's it, you know, probably not. She probably might have been might have might might have been looking in. She probably had an eye for it.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

She probably had biblical knowledge of most of the people in that crowd.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Would not be surprised. The thought has occurred to me from time to time. And you throw in your lot with adulterers.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Anyway. Verse 19. You give your mouth to evil and your tongue frames deceit. What does it say that they did unto him during the trial? So they brought in all these false witnesses, but their accounts did not agree. Their testimonies did not agree with each other.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

Verse 20.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

You sit and speak against your brother, you slander your own mother's son.

SPEAKER_02 34:34

If you go to Matthew 5, verse 21 through 23.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

You have heard it said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders should be in danger of judgment. I say that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause should be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Rakah, or thou that's basically lazy good for nothing, shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, You fool, that's slandering your mother's son, shall be in danger of hellfire. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember your that your brother has something against you, go back and make a right. Then offer up your gift. Man, got all these Jesus sayings in this little 23 verse Psalm.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Oh yeah. That was very much, man, very much like my first time through the New Testament reading it and just having that voice of the Holy Spirit saying it's right here in the Old

Seeing Connections Without Growing Proud

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Testament. That's there in the Old Testament. That's right there. And just thinking, wow. I was just, of course, I was flabbergasted that that that was that was happening. I mean, I'd never really had any interaction with God or the Holy Spirit or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

You know, I I had read, tried to read the Bible. I could get it through about two books of it, you know, Old or New Testament, and then I'm just lost. It's just a blur. And then when I got baptized in the Holy Spirit, and all of a sudden it makes sense, you know, it like it's like you said, well, this is Old Testament. Oh, this was over here, this is over there, this is over here, this is over there. And I'm just like, holy cow, this is uh it's all interconnected. However, I will say this one of the things that as the Lord does that, you start to walk in that, it's going to show you that um there's a temptation to be avoided. Because I know I I got in this and I know you got into it because we done talked about it. The thing is, when the Lord starts showing you this, here's going to be the temptation. He's not showing up, or other people aren't seeing it. Especially a lot of your denominational, they're they're doing it the way they were taught. They're not bad people. But there is a high threshold there. There's a high probability that if you don't keep your ego and your carnality in check and your pride, you're going to think you're better than they are.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Yeah. Because Paul said knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And there's a real danger of when when this starts to happen, and this is one of the tests you got to pass. And if you if you fail it, guess what? Lord's gracious enough, because we failed it, that that you get to take it over. I mean, I just thought I just thought everybody. Yeah. And that that that that was kind of my thing. And then I I got a little bit well, I became somewhat of a jackass toward those that didn't. Why don't you know?

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Yeah, I I thought that this was this was like everybody must must have this. Everybody must go through this. This is the way it is when you're safe. Until I started talking to people and realized that that wasn't the case. This this was somewhat of an anomaly. And then that's when I think um I started looking at people and going, well, then what's your problem? Why aren't you getting it? Why isn't this happening to you? You must not be, you must not be doing this. I mean, you must not be doing that.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

That's that is the problem. And especially when it comes to application, because you you've mentioned this before, so I ain't trying to steal your thunder, but I we I was doing the same thing. Hey, uh the Bible says says uh this in the old testament, says a new testament. Paul said don't do it, Peter says don't do it. Uh, why are we doing it in the church this way?

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Yeah. Um and man, I'll tell you what, I would I would ask questions like that and just get blank stares.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Yeah, it's like you urinated in Nant Thelman's roses.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

And I would come to learn, I would come to learn that, well, it's most of it was because that 501c3. Um they had to operate in a certain way. Um but God brought us through that, brought us to a point where we realize that that uh the Holy Spirit operates in ways with people. I'm gonna I'm gonna guess in a way that they'll yield to him. And we we're not any better than anybody else. But man, if you're willing to yield, if you're willing to just learn and understand and just understand that there's some there's some things that you got wrong in the first place, yeah, you'll be okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

And a big part of our learning experience was realizing that we were called, yes, but we weren't called into that environment. Right. That isn't where our our principal use has been, especially in the last five or six years now. That that's just not where the Lord's been using us. So have at it. I ain't gonna agree with it, but but we weren't even called to be in leadership or take part in that. We we learned some, we were called to learn some lessons. But but here's the thing are are are we trying to set them in order? Nope. Have at it.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

We were we were still trying to fit a great big God in into that little box um yeah that we that we were railing against. That doesn't even make any sense. Yeah, um, we were trying to get God out of the box and at the same time um stuff him back in there according to our own understanding. Um just we were talking about that today a little bit too with some of the believers I was working with, um, and how it's so easy to um it's so easy to have this this view and this perception. And and God God doesn't often use nice, easy things to teach you a lesson.

Relationship That Produces Obedience

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Um and it's very easy to think that when we get saved, things are gonna get easier for us, things are gonna get nice for us, and all that. But it's very much just the opposite, that uh we oftentimes we find the struggle is even harder. The further we get down the Christian path, the harder the struggles get. And it's not because we're unrighteous or we're unsanctified or anything else, but the battles get hard because the enemy recognizes that we're we're greater, we're a greater warrior than what we were. Uh the attacks come faster and harder and and and whatnot. Um, but we also find that we, you know, because of our experience and because we recognize Jesus in our life, we're also able to understand that uh that we can get through those battles. We're in the in the past we would have asked to be delivered from them. Now we can ask that we be delivered through them. So but now we get being saved doesn't necessarily mean life's gonna get easier, not at all. No.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

Matter of fact, verse 21. These things you have done, and I kept silent. You thought that I was altogether like you, but but I will rebuke you and set them in order before your eyes. Well, this is this is the crucifixion. Because Jesus, Jesus called people out until it's time to go to Jerusalem and offer up himself as a sacrifice. And they said, like a lamb to a slaughter, he opened not his mouth. Right. After he's resurrected, though, he said, I will rebuke you, I will set them in order before your eyes. Think about how many times it says in the account of his resurrection and the and the deeds done by Jesus before he ascends, but during that period of time when he's on earth as resurrected Jesus, he's interacting with all these disciples, he's interacting with these people, and he'll mention something, and then he starts to open up the scriptures. Here's and now they're getting it. Right. And then the Spirit's given, and now they're getting so he's rebuking even his followers to an extent, but he's also setting things in order. He's setting things in divine order. You could also say that this is you know pre-crucified Jesus and or or gospel Jesus as well as Book of Revelation Jesus. Well, what does it start with him doing? It starts with him correcting, admonishing, encouraging, calling to repentance, and giving the consequences uh Both negative and positive. If you do this, this is going to happen. If you do this, this good thing's going to happen. So he's setting it all in order right before their eyes. Verse 22 and 23. Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoever offers praise glorifies me. And to him who orders his conduct right, I will show the salvation of God. Again, you can see this right in the book of Revelation here. He's saying, Some of y'all are going to get your candle removed. Some of y'all are going to be delivered up. This is going to happen if you don't repent. But then he's also offering that way to order your conduct aright, as it says here in verse 23, and to offer praise.

SPEAKER_02 44:57

And he said, if you do that, you see salvation.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

We were talking today also about how we're talking about obedience and how obedience plays out in a believer and how easy it can be to think that we have to be we have to be obedient. We have to do these things and yada and so on and so forth. But we came to an agreement by the time we were done the conversation that if we love Jesus and we are engaged in that relationship with him, we'll love him more, we'll seek him out more. And then obedience doesn't necessarily become something that's required of us. It becomes something that is produced from the relationship. And to me, that has always been that has been a game changer for me. Understanding that I don't have to be this person that walks in perfect obedience. All I have to do is be a person that is engaged in the relationship. Then everything else is going to fall into place. It's going to fall into place better some days than in others, but it falls into place uh just the same. Um because our perfection is found in Christ, not in anything that we do. It's found in Him. We have that perfection because we're saved, because we put our faith in Him. Um so man, I tell you what, if we can just grasp the fact that it's the relationship and that love that that works in us and through us and around us, then everything else is fulfilled. It just falls into place. Some days easier than others, and then, you know, but if we if we get back into that place where we're reading scripture as a check the box list on the refrigerator door, then I mean I'll tell you what, the relationship's gonna suffer for sure.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

There ain't a lot to add to that, but one of the things I would is I think you and I both had the had the similar experience that being obedient in the little things in the relationship, like you said, it's not that big of a deal because if you've been obedient in the little things, it's just automatic that you were obedient in the bigger things. And to be quite honest with me, um, a lot of times I didn't recognize they were the bigger things.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

You just being obedient, and and as you uh I know this is gonna sound not very graceful, but as you become disciplined in your obedience, taint no thing.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

My wife asked me the other day, it's one of those little Facebook questions, questionnaires for couples. And uh she was going through the the questions, asking me these these silly little things. One of the questions was um, what is what's what's a little thing that I do for you that that you like?

SPEAKER_02 48:25

And I sat there for a second and I was like, There's nothing.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

She said, You don't do little things for me. And she was and she's like, What? I do little things for you all the time. I said, No, honey, you didn't hear me. Nothing you do for me is little. It's all big things for me. It's all big things to me.

SPEAKER_04 48:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

Um and I I think that's kind of where we get with uh with in our relationship with Jesus, too, is that we just do them. We just do the things. We know if you can stop looking at things as little or big, great and small, you know, and just simply do because you feel led to do them, then it changes things. Um now to satisfy her question, my answer was she leaves, she she le uh she sets out my vitamins every morning. Little gummy sets them out, you know. I can get my own vitamins, but it's that that little thing right there is is a big deal to me. Um so and and I when I apply that to this analogy, I'm saying, man, I wonder, does Jesus does he this, does he see the same things sometimes? And and and I gotta think he does. Um he because we see from the scriptures that he he cherishes sacrifice uh and and and and obedience as well. So yeah, if we can if we can stop looking at stuff as big and small, we look great, I think we'd be uh a lot better served.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Yep. That that reminds me of um it reminds me of uh who I had an aunt uh several days ago, um, was Paul Bearer, great, great lady. Uh her husband was a Baptist pastor um over Tallapoosa, Missouri, there from Portageville. And um anyway, um when you were talking about that, it reminded me of something another aunt had said who's also gone on to be with the Lord. When her husband passed, he he had had some health issues, but it was still unexpected. And I remember my grandma talking about it. She had she had called grandma and said, I never realized it.

SPEAKER_02 50:41

She said, you know, we had the funeral, and I got up and I I pumped my own gas, and I realized that I haven't pumped my own gas in 30 years.

unknown 50:55

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

Isn't that is is it that big of a thing? No, but it might again, it's not that big of a thing, but it is.

SPEAKER_00 51:04

Yep. I I I do the same thing. Um my wife doesn't drive usually, but when she does drive, I make sure the tank is full. Um little things like that. And that's those are things that I that I learned, you know, from my father, from my dad. Yeah. Um, you keep the tank full, uh, fix a cup of coffee. If you're going to get a cup of coffee on Saturday morning and come into the living room with it, you better have another one in your other hand. Yeah. Uh, you know, just simple things like that. Um, those little things go a long way. Yeah. Um, and the little things, if we can call them little, the little things that we do here in the kingdom go a long way. Um, we don't have to be saved and jump straight to the big stuff. Yeah. Um, if we can just be found faithful in the little things, the big stuff will come. Yeah. And they'll be fulfilled as well.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

Amen.

Study Tools And Reading With Jesus’ Voice

SPEAKER_01 52:02

Well, folks, that's going to wrap it up, but just do want to recap and encourage you all. You know, we we did an exercise in this program. Uh, and this is something that you can do on your own. Again, I'm a big fan of a strong concordance.

unknown 52:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

You know, you there are several online resources you can use. You can actually find it quicker. I'm just of the opinion, which might not be a right one, but it's still my opinion, that if you use an actual book like a strong's, maybe a vines, and you start looking at all the ways that that these verses are hyperlinked and how interconnected, even though we have all these different earthly authors uh of this Bible that we read, that is still the same Holy Spirit that is inspired. And if you are willing to get quiet and invest some time and just have a heart to be obedient and a heart that's willing to learn, you're gonna find out that this scripture, this word of God, is a lot more interconnected. And I'll even say this just to mess with the dispensationalist, it's a lot more timeless and consistent than a lot of people will ever realize. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

I would encourage you to read the New Testament, such as the Sermon on the Mount. It's a nice place, nice little passage there. Because I guarantee you, you've probably got Jesus' voice in your head. And it's probably soft and gentle and whatnot. Then go into the Old Testament and find those places that Jesus, that you can find Jesus in and read them in the same voice, and the new the old testament will become new again. It'll be different. It'll be different because I guarantee you, probably 90% of us as Christians have read the Old Testament in the voice of a thunderous God waiting to smite us. Um and then we get into the New Testament and we hear soft-spoken Jesus. But Jesus said, if you've seen me, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. So go back and read the Old Testament in the voice of Jesus and see what happens then. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 54:28

Everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you, causes you to study, and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at woefo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or all the boy, even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you're going to grow, you got a woefoo. Get in the word for yourself.