WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.599 So today we're wrapping up a series that we started three weeks ago, and it's called So Much Blood. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:07.919 That's the title of the series that we're in. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.480 So Much Blood. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:15.759 And if you're here for the first time, I know this could seem a little odd, seem a little weird. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:17.039 Um, this is not a cult. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:18.399 We don't want any of your blood. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:21.280 I would like all of your blood to stay with you, so you're good. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:21.920 All right. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:26.320 What we're doing is this entire year we're we're going through something we've called the whole story. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:30.160 We're exploring the entire story of the Bible. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:48.880 And obviously, in a year, we can't cover every single verse, we can't cover every single chapter, or really even every single book in the Bible, but what we're doing is looking at the overarching story, the main moments, the main themes, so that you have the ability, at any point in time after this, to open up scripture and to understand the big picture. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:53.200 And we've made sure that every Sunday stands on its own, at least it should. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:55.200 So if you're here for the first time, you're like, oh, I'm way behind. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:00.640 No, no, every every Sunday will stand on its own, every series will stand on its own, because that's the way scripture works. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:02.799 You could be someone who's never opened up a Bible. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:10.719 You can open it up to any random page, and you will almost always find something meaningful, powerful, and go, wow, that's I needed that. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:12.480 And that's just random. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:14.480 That's how powerful scripture is. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:26.640 But if you understand the big picture, if you do understand all the things that have happened and why they happened and what they're setting up and what it all leads to, you see Jesus more clearly than you've ever seen him before. 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:29.519 It just changes what scripture can be for you. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:42.000 And so we're going through the whole story, and we happen to be in this section of the Bible right now that is very often defined by a lot of violence, a lot of war, and a lot of bloodshed. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:46.239 And so we've called this series So Much Blood. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:55.840 I've really enjoyed the last few weeks, and by enjoying it, what I mean is I've actually had a terrible time uh preparing each of these because they're difficult conversations. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:03.040 Like, this is this is not the stuff that you just wake up in the morning, man, oh, I'm so excited to teach on these stories. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:03.920 These are my favorite. 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:05.760 I love it when all those people died. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:06.719 That was a great story. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:08.639 That's my favorite part of the Bible, the death. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:13.039 You know, no one, no one's sane, I don't think at least says that. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:18.639 But these stories are a really important part of the story of our faith. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:29.360 And as we kind of said last week, they're not blemishes on God's resume, they're they're not these moments in God's past that we kind of got to like, ugh, those are kind of ugly moments, but just skip them. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:35.520 They actually have a lot to teach us about the world, about ourselves, and about God. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:43.439 And even though we're a church that loves to have fun, right, we we laugh together, we don't take ourselves too seriously, we also don't skip the hard stuff. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:47.520 And so some of these stories happen to be some of the hardest stories we have in Scripture. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:53.120 But we've got to understand this because it's setting up Jesus in an unbelievable way. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:01.120 And the better you understand these stories, the better you understand why Jesus had to come and what exactly Jesus accomplished for us. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:02.800 And so we've looked at a few words. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:05.199 The very first week we looked at the word consecration. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:07.919 And the word consecration, it means to make holy. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:11.199 If you consecrate something, you make it holy. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:15.919 And there was another word we looked at connected to that called atonement, and atonement's connected to that. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:20.080 It's it's paying the price for sin, covering sin. 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:25.599 Sin just being anything we do that is selfish and apart from what God would have us do. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.319 And we all we all do that kind of stuff all the time. 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:35.120 And in the ancient culture of the Jewish people, blood was seen as sacred because it was life. 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.680 And so the way you would consecrate something is with blood. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:43.039 And so their worship involved animal sacrifices. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.120 So many goats died, guys. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:50.400 So you to this day, goats still talk about the absolute horrific nature. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:52.560 Like at least we weren't born back then. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:56.400 Like it was intense because their main method of worship was animal sacrifice. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:02.159 And that wasn't just some barbaric, morbid thing, even though, yeah, in some ways it was, because that was a long, long time ago. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:07.840 But actually, it was constantly reminding them that, hey, sin is serious. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:10.960 We live in a world that likes to minimize sin. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.639 And I'll be honest, I like to minimize sin, at least my I like to minimize my own sin. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:16.560 I like to maximize the sins of other people. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:19.680 I like to minimize my own sin because it always makes me feel better about myself. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:21.040 You know, that's a nice thing to do. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:33.279 No, in all honesty, we live in a culture that minimizes sin, and God reminds his people, and it's just a constant reminder with all these sacrifices, sin is serious, and a price must be paid. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:37.920 But obviously, we know that that's setting up Jesus. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:50.639 And just like this little meal that we took, he became the sacrifice, he paid the price, gave up his life, died in our place, and now he has consecrated us, he has made us holy with his blood. 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:54.240 Last week we looked at another word, conquest, conquering. 00:04:54.399 --> 00:05:07.120 There's a lot of stories in this section of the Bible, specifically toward the end of Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Numbers, and then you get into Joshua judges when the people of Israel, not only have they escaped Egypt, now they're actually conquering the promised land. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:12.720 And in order to conquer the promised land, they've got to defeat a lot of tribes and nation states that occupy that land. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:19.920 And if you study history, you can learn that these are some of the most horrific, oppressive, evil cultures that have ever existed. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:21.120 They were powerful. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:30.800 It wasn't like the Israelites were powerful and these were the little guys, it was the other way around, and the Israelites have to go in there and they have to conquer the promised land, and it is bloody, and there is war. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:35.120 And that's a hard thing to wrestle with sometimes. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:38.079 I read a quote that summed it up pretty well. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:46.720 It said this many cannot reconcile the problem of innocent people suffering violent deaths by the Israelites acting under God's orders. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:51.120 That sort of sums up a lot of people's objections to these stories in the Bible. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:55.600 Now, we could have a long conversation about the nature of what the word innocent means. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:00.959 If you know much about these cultures, innocent is an interesting word to use there. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:02.560 But I get the idea. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:03.680 I get the idea. 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:07.600 Like God tells his people, go and conquer and fight them. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:11.279 That's a difficult thing to wrestle with. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:14.639 We looked at a quote last week, and I think this puts it beautifully. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:24.399 As we studied all the nuances associated with those stories, it says most readers imagine that God commissioned his nation to vengefully wipe out an entire nation of Canaanite men, women, and children. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:33.519 However, a deeper reading reveals that the reasons for the conquest were more complex, the scope of the destruction was smaller, and God's mercy was present throughout. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:35.120 We went through a lot of that last week. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:40.560 I'm not going to rehash all of it, but our basic takeaway last week was that evil is real. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:46.319 And evil cannot be appeased, evil must be opposed. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:48.879 And occasionally we do see things in our world today. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:07:03.680 A classic example we used this last week would be like Nazi Germany, where something has become so evil, so obviously, obviously evil, that you can't just sit by, stand by, and let it grow and let it solidify. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:09.680 It must be opposed, attacked, and that is a violent, bloody thing, unfortunately. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:11.439 But we understand that. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:15.759 And much of what was going on in this period of time has to do with those ideas. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:17.920 But today we're going to look at a third word. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:23.040 And it's connected to this idea of why is there so much blood in this section of the Bible? 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:25.040 And the word is cleansing. 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:26.720 Cleansing. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:32.000 Because conquest is what you do when there's evil out there. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.000 There's evil out there, and we've got to go conquer it. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:41.360 Cleansing has to do with how you reconcile the evil in your midst. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:45.680 Because sometimes the evil is really close at hand. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:48.160 And that's what we're going to explore today. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:52.000 And I do want to say, after this week, oh my gosh, I'm so excited. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:54.319 Way less blood in the weeks to come. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:56.959 Next week, we actually start a series called Messi Majesty. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:02.160 We're going to really speed up the pace of the story of the Bible because that's what happens when you get to the kings. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:08.079 We're going to cover hundreds of years of history, and every single week is going to be about as practical as you can possibly imagine. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:15.439 In fact, next week, just as a teaser, is all about how you can overcome the need to care deeply what other people think about you. 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:16.959 Really interesting stuff. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:18.480 But today we got more blood. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:19.279 All right. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:21.519 Cleansing. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:29.279 Some of the most challenging stories in the Bible have to do with not just the violence that happens to the people out there. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:31.040 It's easier to reconcile that. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:32.320 I think, well, yeah, they're bad. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:34.480 And so the good guys go and they fight the bad guys. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:38.240 But there are these stories where the good guys mess up. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:44.480 And their consequences, from our perspective, seem unnecessarily harsh. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:46.559 And these are really tough ones. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:51.440 And so if you've never read these stories, I'm just praying you don't have a crisis of faith while you're here today. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:54.080 But I think you'll be okay because I trust you guys. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:56.320 And more than that, I trust the Lord. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:08:58.559 Joshua chapter 7. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:00.320 Here's the setup for this. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:02.480 The Israelites have entered the promised land. 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:10.639 And the very first thing they have to do is they have to conquer Jericho, which was this large military fortress, and miraculously it crumbles. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:14.320 And they win and they utterly defeat Jericho. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:20.720 And God tells them, hey, when you defeat Jericho, don't take any of their wealth, don't take any of it as spoils. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:26.639 Not one person is to take anything of value and keep it for themselves. 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:31.360 God doesn't want them to bring in stuff from that culture. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:33.600 Like that stuff is tainted. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:34.720 Like, no, no, no. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:36.399 Let it go, leave it. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.399 None of that is to be taken by you. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:40.720 But there's this man named Achan. 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:42.480 And Achan can't help himself. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:47.039 He's part of the army, he sees some stuff, and he he wants it for himself. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:50.080 And because of that, God knows that. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:52.879 Achan's kept it secret, but you can't keep anything secret from God. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:57.600 The Israelites go into a battle with a much less powerful group of people than Jericho, and they lose. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.360 And Joshua, who's the leader of Israel, is like, something has happened. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:04.320 Like, how could we have lost to them after we defeated Jericho? 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:05.360 What is going on? 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:09.279 Has someone in our midst broken God's command? 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:13.039 And he he comes to discern that it's been this man, Achan. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.759 And in verse 19, we find out what happens. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:23.279 Joshua said to Achan, My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, by telling the truth. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:25.919 Make your confession and tell me what you've done. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:26.720 Don't hide it from me. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:30.480 And Achan replied, It's true, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:38.159 Among the plunder I saw a beautiful robe from Babylon, two hundred silver coins, and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:44.799 I wanted them so much that I took them, they are hidden in the ground beneath my tent, with my silver buried deeper than the rest. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:46.960 So Joshua sent some men to make a search. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:52.799 They ran to the tent and found the stolen goods hidden there, just as Achan had said, with the silver buried beneath the rest. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:59.759 They took the things from the tent, and they brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, then they laid them on the ground in the presence of the Lord. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:11.200 Then Joshua and all the Israelites took Achan, the silver of the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, cattles, donkeys, sheep, goats, his tent, everything he had, and they brought them to the valley of Acre. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:14.240 And then Joshua said to Achan, Why have you brought trouble on us? 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:16.240 The Lord will now bring trouble on you. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:20.080 And all the Israelites stoned Achan and his family and burned their bodies. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:23.440 They piled a great heap of stones over Achan, which remains to this day. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:26.639 That is why the place has been called the Valley of Trouble ever since. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:28.879 So the Lord was no longer angry. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:34.639 No? 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:37.440 It's a tough one. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:39.919 It's a tough one. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:43.759 Let's go back and look at another story involving Joshua. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:45.840 Joshua was Moses' protege. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:56.720 And prior to this happening, there's this moment where Joshua gets to accompany Moses up a mountain, where God's presence is there, and they meet with God, and God gives them what we would call the Ten Commandments. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:06.159 And they come back down the mountain to find that while they were gone getting the Ten Commandments from God, the people have decided to worship an idol, to create an idol, a false God. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:07.200 They make it out of gold. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:10.080 It's in the shape of a calf, a young cow. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:18.720 And Joshua and Moses come down the mountain to find the people worshiping this false God after they've been rescued from their oppression by the one true God. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:20.320 It's a crazy scene. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:23.440 Exodus chapter 32, verse 17. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:29.759 When Joshua heard the boisterous noise of the people shouting below them, he explained to Moses, It sounds like war in the camp. 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:33.840 But Moses replied, No, it's it's not a shout of victory nor the wailing of defeat. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:36.080 I hear the sound of a celebration. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:41.360 When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf in the dancing, and he burned with anger. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:45.360 He threw the stone tablets on the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:47.919 He took the calf they had made, and he burned it. 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:53.360 And then he ground it into powder, threw it into the water, and forced the people to drink it. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:13:00.240 Finally he turned to Aaron and demanded, What did these people do to make you bring such terrible sin upon them? 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.480 Don't get so upset, my lord, Aaron replied. 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:04.080 You yourself know how evil these people are. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:06.320 They said to me, Make us gods who will lead us. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:10.080 We don't know what happened to this fellow Moses who brought us here from the land of Egypt. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:12.639 So I told them, Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off. 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:16.799 When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire and out came this calf. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:18.960 Which I don't think is actually what happened. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:20.240 It's like, wasn't me. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:22.159 Aaron's the one that fashioned it. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:24.559 It's like a kid being caught. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.960 You know, it's like we've all heard stories like this of your parents, but it gets it gets crazy. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:35.039 Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:40.639 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, All of you who are on the Lord's side, come here and join me. 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.120 And all the Levites gathered around him. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:52.399 Moses told them, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other, kill everyone, even your brothers, friends, and neighbors. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:56.480 The Levites obeyed Moses' command, and about three thousand people died that day. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:05.360 Then the Lord told the Levites, Today you have ordained yourself yourselves for the service of the Lord, for you obeyed him, even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:07.840 Today you have earned a blessing. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:13.919 So, and again, anyone's favorite stories? 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:15.360 No. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:16.159 I'm glad. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.399 I would be so concerned if there was like smiles on your faces right now. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:28.320 And look, I gotta say this again, I am so grateful to be part of a church like this that can wrestle with these types of things. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:30.559 Because I want us to have a mature faith. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:32.879 I want you to have a mature faith. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:53.039 So many people struggle to really experience the blessings that God has for them because their faith never matures, because they never grapple with some of the more intense and difficult concepts with God, and because of that, they they just have a faith that doesn't solidify like it could. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:15:03.679 In fact, there's a story in the Bible of these young guys, and they make fun of this prophet named Elisha who was bald, right? 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:10.720 They make fun of him, they call him Baldy, and then a couple bears come out of the woods and and maul 42 of them to death. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:23.840 And I at the time that I was the youth pastor here years ago, one of the students who happens to be here today, he's an amazing man, very mature in his faith, but he was young, he had just become a Christian, and he read that story and he panicked because he's like, I don't like this story. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:27.360 He's like, Justin, what what do I do with this story? 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:28.960 Like, what's the takeaway here? 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:30.480 And I'm like, it's clear. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:32.000 Don't make fun of all people. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:36.480 Like it's just, I don't know how more clear, especially if they're prophets. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:38.399 Prophets are very particular about their hair. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:41.679 Like, you gotta, you know, no, I those are tough stories, right? 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:42.799 And we've all had those moments. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:46.960 Maybe you haven't, but most of us have where, you know, we're we're passionate about Jesus. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:48.480 We've experienced something in church. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:53.600 We've experienced the love of God, and then yet there's these stories, there's these moments, and we go, I don't like that. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:16:07.840 Whether it's stories like this or it's time, times where God says, hey, I don't believe this is good, I call this sin, and it's it's not to be dealt with, not to be touched, and yet it's something that maybe we're drawn to or that our world celebrates, and we go, ooh, I just I don't like this stuff. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:13.759 Well, dealing with this stuff, wrestling with this stuff is how you get a mature, strong faith. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:15.120 It's like exercising. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:18.720 If you skip the hard parts, you never get to where you could be. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:21.279 And I can say that from experience. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:26.159 But if you want a strong faith, a mature faith, you gotta wrestle with this stuff. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:31.279 Because we find some really important truths here that we need to know. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:39.200 Now, if I wanted to like be God's PR team and try to soften the blow of some of these stories a little bit, there's things I could say. 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:48.639 Like, for example, when the people of Israel are going through the promised land, like it is hard for us to fathom the amount of trouble that they are in. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:55.120 They have no way in and of themselves to be victorious, to even survive being in the promised land. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:00.720 They are surrounded by powerful, oppressive, warmongering nations who want them dead. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:01.679 They are in danger. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:04.480 Their only hope is to do exactly what the Lord says. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:17.920 Imagine if you saw a parent walking a child through a very dangerous place, and you got to hear what that parent said to the child before they they took that walk, before they tried to get from point A to point B, and they've got to cross a really dangerous place to get there. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:27.599 And you heard that parent say, Listen, you hold my hand, you do not let it go, you do not speak, you do not move away from me, you do not run. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:33.039 If you get more than three feet away from me, I swear when we get where we're going, you are in so much trouble. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:39.039 If you didn't know the context, if you didn't realize that they were about to go through something really dangerous, you would be like, That parent is nuts. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:40.559 Like that parent's crazy. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:42.480 What a horrible, harsh, mean parent. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:56.079 But if you understood that the child was about to go through something more dangerous than you could possibly fathom, and that their only hope for survival was to stay close to their parent and do everything their parents said, that that was the only way they were going to make it, you would actually look at that parent differently. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:59.519 Well, understand that that's what the people of Israel are going through in the promised land. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:04.960 They are outnumbered, they are outmatched in every way you can imagine. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:10.400 Their only hope of survival is to do exactly what God says. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.039 Because God is the one fighting their battles. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.680 They don't have any hope on their own. 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:21.519 And maybe that understanding in that context softens some of the intensity a bit, but probably not that much. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:26.400 I could say things to you like, okay, well, maybe Joshua overreacted with Achan. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:32.400 Because, you know, actually God didn't tell Joshua, kill Achan and all of his family. 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:36.799 We don't have anything in that story where God says, you know, do that. 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:50.480 In fact, you could argue that Joshua actually went against Jewish law to do that because Deuteronomy chapter 24, verse 16, says that parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:53.759 Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:55.200 And so that's not what happens there. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:59.119 You can say, hey, Joshua, you know, he went a little overboard. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:00.880 And maybe that softens it a little bit. 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:10.799 But then you have the story of the people of Israel and the calf, and then, you know, Moses says, This is what God says, and whew, kill everyone. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:13.440 And I could soften that by like with numbers. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.599 I could say, hey, look, 3,000 people died. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:25.519 And we know from the biblical account that there were over 603,000 Israelites, so it was only less than half a percent that died, which is better. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:26.400 Right? 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:27.599 Nah. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:46.960 If I was trying to soften the blow and to try to make this a little bit more palatable, there's a lot of things I could say, and some of them have validity, but I don't believe it's my job to make excuses for God. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:52.640 I don't believe any of us have to apologize for God. 00:19:54.480 --> 00:20:00.640 Because I think what we have to understand is that, and this is tough, it just is what it is. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:02.720 I don't know another way to say it. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:10.960 God's perspective is right and it is just and it is good. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:21.920 Scripture talks about God sitting on his throne, and it says that his throne is both righteousness and mercy. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:24.720 We tend to favor one or the other. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:29.359 Like some of us are wired to be more merciful, so we're big on like, oh, just let him go, just come on. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:34.960 Like what maybe you're if you're a parent, you have kids, like one of you is more mercy, the other is more justice, righteousness, you know? 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:37.839 So like your kids play that all the time. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:39.680 They use that against you. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:42.559 And so my kids might come to me and say, Hey dad, can we stay up? 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:49.119 And I don't know, I don't realize in a moment that they've already asked mom, and mom has said no, you're going to bed on time, and I'm like, of course. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:49.920 You know? 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:51.599 Yeah, you guys have been great today. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:52.960 And she looks at me and I'm like, I didn't know. 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:55.039 I didn't know they they outsmarted me. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:21:01.839 Like, we tend to either be more about justice and righteousness or mercy, but God is both. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:07.359 And that's why when you read scripture, it blows your mind sometimes because you're like, God, why did you kill that person? 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:09.519 That wasn't that big of a deal. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:12.720 And then in other times you're like, God, why didn't you kill that person? 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:14.000 They should have died. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:15.119 Like, come on. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:18.799 And it's like, oh, God, God sees things differently. 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:20.720 He's over everything. 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:28.480 He's the one who has the say over life and death, and he has this perspective that, unlike us, is not one-sided. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:30.880 God sees things clearly. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:35.599 And so I want to go back to this idea, I don't want to soften the blow at all. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:46.640 I think the reason that there's stories like this that are so harsh and so intense is because evil is so harsh, and evil is so intense. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:57.599 And so when you read stories of God coming into contact face to face with real evil, those stories tend to be pretty intense. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.839 A couple weeks ago. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:08.559 We we talked about the seriousness of sin and how we have a tendency as people typically to underestimate the seriousness of sin. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:10.240 We just do. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:15.039 We look at a lot of things that God has said is wrong, and we go, is that really that big of a deal? 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:18.160 Like, come on, is it is it really that big of a deal? 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:28.960 And we don't often stop and consider the fact that maybe maybe God isn't overreacting to evil and to sin. 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:34.480 Maybe maybe we underestimate it so much because we don't understand it at all. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:35.920 At all. 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:40.480 Like imagine if someone didn't understand cancer for a moment. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:48.480 I've known so many people who have gone through battles with cancer, and I've seen what that's like at every stage. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:49.759 And it's really difficult. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.160 But imagine if someone didn't understand cancer. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:23:00.720 Sometimes you can have a cancer that's so aggressive that a surgeon will need to amputate just to stop the cancer from spreading. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:03.759 If you didn't understand cancer, you would see that surgeon as a butcher. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:04.880 Right? 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:09.039 If they said, hey, we we have to remove this limb to stop the cancer from spreading. 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:10.799 That's how serious this cancer is. 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:14.000 If you didn't understand cancer, you'd be like, what is wrong with you? 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:15.759 Like, you're a doctor. 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:18.640 You're supposed to help them, you're supposed to heal them, and look what you've done. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:19.599 This is destructive. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:25.119 But if you understood cancer and the aggressiveness of it, you might go, yeah, right, let's do it fast. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:27.440 Because we understand that. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:30.880 Guys, cancer has nothing on sin. 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:35.119 Cancer has killed far fewer people than sin. 00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:38.720 Cancer is far less deadly than sin. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:42.720 We just have this tendency to underestimate it. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.279 Like sin is serious, evil is real, and God opposes it. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:55.440 And sometimes when God opposes it, ooh, he opposes it from our perspective harshly, but maybe it's not God overreacting, maybe we just underestimate the power of sin. 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:01.119 It's interesting. 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:05.759 We talked to about this day called the Day of Atonement a few weeks ago. 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:11.839 And it was a day in the Jewish calendar when they would celebrate and commemorate God's forgiveness. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:17.680 And there were there were two really important animals that would always be part of the Day of Atonement. 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:20.480 There was the sacrificial lamb that we learned a couple weeks ago. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:26.559 Really, Jesus becomes that for us, this spotless, pure, perfect lamb. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:31.200 And that lamb died as an innocent sacrifice to pay the price for the guilty. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:37.839 But there was also another creature, a goat, that would become known as the scapegoat. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:39.920 That's where that phrase comes from, if you're familiar. 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:49.279 Leviticus 16 says, When Aaron has finished purifying the most holy place and the tabernacle and the altar, he must present the live goat. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:56.640 He will lay both of his hands on the goat's head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people of Israel. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:00.319 In this way, he will transfer the people's sins to the head of the goat. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:04.480 And then a man specially chosen for the task will drive the goat out into the wilderness. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:11.119 And as the goat goes into the wilderness, it will carry the people's sins upon itself into a desolate land. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:20.880 So on the Day of Atonement, not only did you have a sacrifice where a pure, spotless, blameless lamb would die to cover the sins of the guilty, right? 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:22.400 The innocent dying for the guilty. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:23.279 We see Jesus in that. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:34.799 But you also had this other goat, and it was like the sins of the people symbolically were placed onto this goat, and then it was driven out as this symbol to the people that, hey, sin is serious and it's gotta go. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:36.160 We've got to get this out. 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:41.839 Have you ever had something in your life that you recognized was so dangerous that it just had to go? 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:45.599 Like you had to get it gone, no matter what the cost. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:50.319 That's the lesson that God's trying to teach the people with this, that it's gotta go. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:57.759 I know for me, um, years ago, like 10, 12 years ago, I opened my back door, and we've moved since then. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:25:59.599 We don't live in the same neighborhood as we did back then. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:03.359 So that this house, thankfully, I don't have this neighbor anymore, um, as you'll see in the story. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:11.759 So I open my back door and I step out, and for some reason, I'll just give God all the credit for it, for some reason, before my foot hit the ground, I just looked down. 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:17.039 And right beneath my foot, like this far, is a copperhead snake. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:19.359 And I'm this close to stepping on it. 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:22.079 Now, you might say, how do you know it was a copperhead? 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:24.799 Well, I happen to be an expert on snakes. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:25.440 No, I don't know. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:31.200 Um, it's actually kind of funny because, and mom, if you're watching, I love you and I'm not making fun of you, and please just it's fine. 00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:33.680 Um, my mom hates snakes. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:41.359 Like, anyone hates snakes like they are the absolute embodiment of evil, and if someone tells you, well, some snakes are actually kind of good, you're like, no, all snakes are evil, all snakes must die. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:43.200 Like, anyone have that view at all? 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:43.839 A couple of you? 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:46.640 A couple of you people who are sane, and the rest of you are nuts? 00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:47.759 Have you seen snakes? 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:49.200 You see, no, I'm cheesing. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:51.839 So my mom growing up hates snakes. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:56.079 And we used to tease in our family that that every snake my mom saw was a copperhead. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:27:04.240 We lived in southern Missouri, copperhead snakes are the most common poisonous snakes in that part of the country, and so every time my mom would see a snake, she'd be like, it's a copperhead. 00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:08.160 And we'd be like, Mom, that was not a copperhead, that's just a that was it was green. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:09.599 Copperheads aren't green. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:12.079 Like that was, she just thought every snake was a copperhead. 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:13.440 That was the joke in our family. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:19.759 But because of that, I learned what copperheads look like, so that I could convince my mom that, look, mom, that's not a copperhead. 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:21.359 Because look at it, this is not that. 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:26.160 And so I did become sort of an expert on what a copperhead looks like, so I could convince my mom that every snake wasn't a copperhead. 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:27.759 Well, this snake was a copperhead. 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:31.119 Because I spent a lot of time looking at pictures of those, and I'm this far away from it. 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:36.079 I step on it and I'm like, I shut the door, I back off, and I'm like, Megan, go outside and kill it. 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:37.119 I didn't tell my wife to go kill that. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:37.920 I'm just joking. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:39.039 Wanna be funny? 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:42.079 I'm like, ah, baby, you gotta kill a snake. 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:43.759 No, I'm like, what do I do? 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:46.640 Like, what do you what guys, what do you do when you what do you do? 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:48.880 You gotta kill it, right? 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:50.720 Like that thing, it has to go. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:51.920 It's a poisonous snake. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:53.359 I have a two-year-old son at the time. 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:55.599 And so I'm like, well, how do you how do you kill the snake? 00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:57.359 I've never killed a copperhead before. 00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:01.680 And so I got a shovel and I got a chair. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:03.279 This was my strategy. 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:09.039 I I slowly, it was a sliding glass door, I put the chair out slowly, copperhead didn't move. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:13.279 I then step onto the chair, so I've got a real, like, I gotta, I'm from a high point. 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:13.920 You know what I mean? 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:14.799 Like, I'm strategic here. 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:15.440 I'm not stupid. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:17.039 I'm not getting on the snakes level. 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:18.000 Come on. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:23.680 And then I took the shovel and I just like waited and I waited for my moment. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:26.720 Remember that children's story, Ricky Tiki-Tavi, back in the day. 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:28.079 Anyone remember Ricky Tiki-Tavi? 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:30.160 If you don't, it's a deep cut reference, okay? 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:37.119 Like, I'd watch that, like, you gotta wait for the right moment to strike, like that little mongoose in that story, and so I wait and I feel the moment, guys. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:38.240 I just felt it. 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:45.200 It was like, it was like instinct from the hunter-gatherer men of my ancestry. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:46.319 It was like now. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:53.119 And I just pounced and missed, totally missed, completely missed the snake. 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:58.799 But now I'm on the same level, and I like jump and it slithers into my neighbor's yard right under the fence. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:03.200 So I'm like, it is one of those neighbors that you'd ever talk to. 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:04.559