WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.679 Good morning. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:07.759 Today's reading is from Mark, chapter one, verses nine to fifteen. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:14.480 It says, In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:28.239 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open, and the spirit descending on him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:40.000 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:50.399 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:52.640 Repent and believe in the gospel. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:54.240 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:55.520 Please be seated. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:57.520 Good morning. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:00:58.880 Thanks for coming to church this morning. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:00.159 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:02.719 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:12.239 This is one of those mornings and one of those weeks where I've been reminded of uh our our frailty and our helplessness. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:23.359 Um not in that dramatic of a way, but on Wednesday, I got my wisdom teeth taken out, my bottom two wisdom teeth, because I'm I just I I just turned 15. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:27.680 Um so I'm really excited about getting my learner's permit. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:36.480 The uh um and it's funny, uh on a simple operation like that, the recovery is still really not fun. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:38.959 And I just feel kind of loopy and distant. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:41.680 Um I'm only on an ibuprofen, so that's not why. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.879 I think it's just the the pain just kind of makes you loopy and distant. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.560 And we've just been reminded of how helpless we are and dependent on one another. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:53.280 The uh uh my wife has just been making me great soft foods. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:57.920 My dad took me to the dentist and picked me up after he checked me out of school. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:09.439 And uh uh the and this morning I uh had to borrow some keys from Zach and then I left them in my car. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:13.360 And then while we were singing, I was like, something's different. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:16.960 And I realized, oh, I I didn't do a mic check. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.039 I didn't put my mic on. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:29.360 And I looked up here, and Zach, uh, I think it was Zach or maybe Alan, Alan, had graciously put my mic on the stand up here. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:30.800 Uh it's just wonderful. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:38.319 Even before this, when after I had first gotten my surgery, one of our elders, Kyle, texted and was like, hey man, if you need me to preach this Sunday, I'll do it. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:43.280 Like he's got a full-time job, and on three days' notice, he's like, I'll preach this Sunday. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:54.719 It's just oh, I'm really grateful for uh the just simple support that God gives us in just simple acts of thoughtfulness. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:00.080 I'm kind of able to stumble in here and uh preach and then crawl home. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:05.840 Um so just wanted just wanted to share the uh thankfulness for that. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.800 A couple of announcements before we get started. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:13.919 Next week, uh immediately after the service, we have our first members meeting. 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:21.919 So if you'd like to become a member of Redemption, uh email info at redemptiondenver.com and we can schedule something within this week. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:26.000 Uh our members meeting will take place from right after the service. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:30.240 It'll be about 90 minutes long, so as long as any Disney movie. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:38.319 And we'll have uh some coffee and some like protein bars and stuff, just enough to get you through, not really a full lunch. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:45.919 Um uh and yeah, we'll be covering all sorts of things and really learning what membership is and what that means for our church. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.560 So if you're a member, it's kind of mandatory. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:50.960 If you're as mandatory as life can be. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:55.599 And if you're not a member uh and would like to be, please reach out to us. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:56.319 All right. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:59.360 So that's next Sunday, October 11th. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:03.120 Let's pray. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:11.599 Father, thank you for your love and kindness towards us, your care towards us, and your grace. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:14.639 You hold all things in your hands. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:17.360 This is your world, Lord. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:23.199 Would you open up our hearts to receive your grace? 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:25.360 We are dependent on it. 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:35.439 Lord, we pray that we would see the majesty of who you are in Christ this morning and the mystery of who you are, that our hearts might be captivated to that uh by that. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.759 Lord, would you would you open our hearts to see that? 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:39.199 In Jesus' name. 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:40.160 Amen. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:44.399 Okay, so here's my thesis for this morning. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:52.160 The quest to remove mystery from the world adds insanity. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:54.800 That's this morning's thesis. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:05:00.959 The quest to remove mystery only adds insanity. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:03.120 So here's our example. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:10.800 Uh it there's this uh school in uh uh philosophy called the British Empiricists. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:28.480 They're called empiricists because they uh uh an empiricist is someone who thinks the only things we can really know are things that we can observe or or gather from our sense experience, or things that are just rationally must be true. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:31.600 So all bachelors are single. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:34.959 That must be true by the nature of the words. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:36.079 So we can know that. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:40.240 But everything else that we claim to know, we must gather through our senses in some way. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:42.000 We have to be able to observe it. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:43.839 So that's why they're called empiricists. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:45.759 That's what that means, empirical knowledge. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:47.040 They're called British. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:48.720 I'm not quite sure why. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:58.480 Now, one of them, his name was David Hume, and he was born in 1711, and he died in 1776. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:08.160 And that means that uh the early part of his over the early part of his life overlapped with the end of the life of Isaac Newton. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:12.560 And Newton is like this celebrity thinker at the time. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:37.839 And so he was so influenced by Isaac Newton's new methodology, which was this scientific method, this ability to observe things in nature, and then on uh in the very same equations, calculate how a ball will fall and drop from your hand and calculate the movement of the planets based upon those observations. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.600 You know, it's a miracle of knowledge that takes place in the world. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.800 And Hume thinks, well, shouldn't everything be like that? 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.199 Shouldn't all of life be so clear? 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:55.360 And in fact, if there isn't, if there is knowledge that isn't that clear, then we should just get rid of it. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:58.480 And so that's what Hume set out to do. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:02.480 And he develops this really strict empiricism. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:09.439 And he says that the only things that we can know are things that we observe and things that we know rationally. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:18.480 But the strange thing is, is that he has trouble and he discovers that he's not able to make those two ideas connect. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:26.480 So he realizes, you know, I can drop a ball and observe that it falls to the ground over and over and over again. 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:35.680 But according to my way of understanding knowledge, I can never say there's a law of gravity that makes a ball drop. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:40.720 All I can ever say is, the last time I dropped a ball, it fell to the ground. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:50.879 And so his very way of thinking leads to this inability to enjoy his own inspiration, who is Isaac Newton. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:57.040 See, he has this attempt to eliminate all mystery from the world. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:10.319 And what it results in is this type of insanity where he's not even able to say something as simple as, you know, there's gravity, and when you drop a ball at, or let go of a ball, it drops to the ground. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:19.600 Now, likewise, he realizes he's certainly not able to make any moral claims. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:24.160 He can't claim something as simple as murder is wrong. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:36.399 Because all he's really saying, he realizes, when he says that is, well, uh, when I experience something like murder or I see something like murder, then I think it feels like that's bad to me. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:38.480 So what information do I gather? 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:39.600 What are my observations? 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:41.919 I can't say something like murder is wrong. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:44.960 All I can really say is boo, murder. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:46.799 Murder, boo. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:54.240 And so uh that becomes the level of moral claim that he can make. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:09:01.759 Now, Hume himself wasn't satisfied with the way that the place that his reasoning left him. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:24.639 He realized personally, he describes himself as after hours of reflecting upon these types of things, and in his book called An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, he describes himself as uh being in the most deplorable condition, as he realized that his own reason had driven him to a total skepticism. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:29.840 He couldn't trust his relationships, his own personhood, what he thought was right and wrong. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:34.480 Based on his own reason, he uh was in a most deplorable condition. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:38.639 He said he was in a philosophical melancholy. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:49.840 That's like uh the philosophical melancholy, that's one of the saddest things a British person can say. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:58.480 But ironically, he discovers a cure for this philosophical melancholy. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:01.039 I'll read you the quote. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:24.559 He says, I dine, I play a game of backgammon, I converse and merry with my friends, and when after three or four hours amusement, I would return to these speculations, they appear so cold and strained and ridiculous that I cannot find in my heart to enter into them any farther. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:27.279 Isn't that interesting? 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:34.320 He says, I I I think myself, but by trying, I I eliminate all this mystery in the world. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:35.279 And what do I find? 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:37.600 I'm just this melancholy. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:40.960 There's no answer, there's no meaning to anything. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.120 So how does he cure it? 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:45.200 He gets dinner with friends. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.600 How do you explain dinner with friends? 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:48.399 What is that? 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:50.159 Sharing a good meal. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:58.799 He plays a game with some rules and he enjoys the boundaries like backgammon. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:16.799 You know, after three or four hours of this social amusement, this normal life, inexplicable type of enjoyment, he returns to his previous philosophical uh breakdown of existence and knowledge, and he says, I I can't even bear to look at it. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:18.080 It looks so foolish. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:19.679 It looks so strange. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:22.879 Here's the point that we return to. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:29.679 When you try to eliminate mystery from the world, you create insanity. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:37.679 But the cure for that is you've got to inject mystery into the right places. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:42.559 You know, there's something mysterious about what gets shared over a meal with friends. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:46.480 What is that that we're enjoying, that we're making together? 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:50.559 There's something there's something you you can't explain. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:52.240 It's just a wonderful thing. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:57.919 And in that he discovers, you know, there's there's a deeper part of my humanity here. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:04.399 Put an explanation at the center, and the whole thing unravels. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:06.639 The center cannot hold. 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:13.360 Put mystery at the center, and you'll find that everything else seems to fall in place. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:19.039 You can make absurd claims like murder is wrong and mean it. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:29.919 The gospels and the apostles all place as the start of Jesus' ministry, his baptism. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:47.679 And at the start of Jesus' ministry, at his baptism, we have placed the greatest mystery in all of theology, the greatest mystery of our faith, the center of our faith, which is deeply, deeply mysterious. 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:54.399 And that's at Jesus' baptism, what we see revealed is the wonder of the Trinity. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:13:05.600 And then after Jesus' baptism, he moves into the wilderness for 40 days, and he's tempted by Satan, encountering his adversary. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:16.320 And then after that, he goes back into the city, back into Galilee, and he begins proclaiming his kingdom. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:18.559 Mark moves fast. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:21.120 So we're going to see all three of those today. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:26.320 We're going to see the baptism, the temptation, and the proclamation. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:29.519 That's the three things that we're going to look at today. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:45.919 When we look at these three, I think you might be surprised to discover that the Jesus in the Gospels, the narrative that's laid before us, is much less like Hume's philosophical melancholy. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:48.960 And it's much more like a romance. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.000 Let's look at Jesus' baptism. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:02.879 In Mark 1, verse 9, it says, In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:05.360 So we looked at this last week. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:11.200 John said that someone greater than him will come after him. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:17.039 And while John baptizes with water, this new one will baptize with the Holy Spirit. 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:24.159 Well, that one who's greater than John arrives, and he requests to be baptized by John. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.080 And at this baptism, something amazing happens. 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:30.799 Mark 1, 10 through 11. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:42.399 It says, And when he had come up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:50.080 And a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:52.080 Okay, let's break this down. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:54.879 There are several events that take place here. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:59.279 The heavens are torn open when Jesus comes out of the water. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:02.879 The Holy Spirit descends, and it descends like a dove. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:05.440 Doesn't mean it takes on the form of a dove. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:11.039 It means something more like if you were to have seen it, which you could have if you were there. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:14.639 The best analogy you could have come up with is it was like a dove. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:18.240 You know the way a dove descends, it's graceful and wonderful. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:22.960 That's what the Holy Spirit was like when he descended upon Jesus. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:36.080 And then if you were there, you could have heard the Father's voice proclaiming over the Son, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:39.600 This is my son, my beloved. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.240 I delight in him. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.279 It's another way that this could have been said. 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:50.320 So let's move through those three movements in this. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:54.960 Uh, first of all, when Jesus comes out of the water, the heavens are torn. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:00.320 That word torn is uh an interesting one because it's so rare. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:07.440 And it seems to only take place when God does something completely amazing, like, you know, tear the heavens. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:09.440 That would go in my amazing list. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:14.879 If I had I would journal about that tonight, if I uh uh if if I saw that happen. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:20.399 Uh though another instance in which that word torn is used is at the Exodus. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:31.360 Torn is what God does to the Red Sea when the waters are torn apart, so that the Israelites might walk through on dry land. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:39.360 Jesus is baptized in the water, just like the Israelites were baptized through the water in the Exodus. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:41.759 It was torn open. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:50.080 Here's the way that uh Moses is instructed by God to speak to Pharaoh in Exodus 4, 22. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:17:04.799 He says, Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:19.440 Israel, his firstborn son, baptized through the tearing of the water, here where God proclaims Jesus, his firstborn son, brought through the water, and the heavens tear open. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:27.759 Then through the torn heavens, the spirit descends upon Jesus just as a dove. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:39.279 Now this was said to this was said that this was going to happen to that suffering servant, that strange character that was prophesied throughout the book of Isaiah. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:42.319 Who is this person that God has promised to come? 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:43.920 Well, what will happen to him? 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:56.960 One way that we will recognize him is noted in Isaiah 42, verse 1, where it says, Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:59.519 I have put my spirit upon him. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.200 He will bring forth justice to the nations. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:04.799 Do you see that? 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:08.400 When when the spirit comes down, we are also being instructed. 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:10.720 Who is this person's identity? 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:22.960 Why, this one whom God declares as his son, who the heavens are torn open, this is the servant that was promised to God's people, who would go in our place. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:24.960 This is the one. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:39.200 And then that wonderful declaration from God to Jesus, where he says, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:55.599 It echoes that beginning of the Psalms in verse in Psalm two, verse seven, in that mysterious psalm speaking through David, where it said, The Lord said to me, You are my son. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:58.880 Today I have begotten you. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:06.559 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:11.200 The one who is the son of God is declared the son. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:19.119 You know, David was told this, he was promised this, but the ends of the earth did not become David's heritage. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:25.599 You know, the the kingdom under him is like, you know, like Delaware or something. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:30.559 Like that's hardly the ends of the nothing against Delaware. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:34.400 Um makes me think of Wayne's world. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:35.279 Delaware. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:36.960 We're in Delaware. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:44.079 Um, but the uh uh we're talking something that size, that's hardly the ends of the earth. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:57.279 That's because the Holy Spirit, thinking, speaking through David, is pointing towards Christ, the one who God will declare is his son, and all the nations will be given to this Christ. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:12.079 This mysterious servant who is prophesied, the Son of God, the true Israelite who is baptized through the water and then declared the true Son of God. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:15.440 That's who we see in Jesus at his baptism. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:24.880 What we see amidst all of this is the wonder of the Trinity on full display. 00:20:26.079 --> 00:21:03.279 The Son in perfect obedience to the Father goes to be baptized, the Holy Spirit sent by the Father onto the Son, so that the Son is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit of God, the Father delighting in the Son as He is filled with the Spirit, the Trinity together as this glorious unity in this event at Jesus' baptism, that all of the persons of God, the three persons of God, are united in this mission of salvation that Christ is on. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:05.759 They are all on it together. 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:11.279 The God who saves is one. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:16.559 Hero Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:21.200 The God who saves is three. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:24.880 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:30.240 He reveals himself to us with these names that he calls us to describe himself as. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:34.559 He reveals himself to us as three relations. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:42.400 The Father sending the Son, the Father and the Son together sending the Holy Spirit. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:54.079 This mutuality of love and submission and expressiveness of enjoyment towards one another, three relationships in one. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:56.880 Do you see the strangeness of this? 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:05.839 If you were to apply any Sort of reason to to this type of engagement, any sort of attempt at real understanding. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:12.079 And there have been so many attempts to resolve this paradox, you'll discover that you can't. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:13.920 What do we know? 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:26.480 You know, the uh Mark who's who's writing this, Peter who's instructing Mark what to say, Paul, who writes later in the gospel or in his letters explaining these very same things. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:28.559 If you were to go up to them, they didn't count. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:33.839 And they weren't like, all right, so we've got three, two, one. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:35.759 You know, that's not how they counted. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:39.759 They weren't like one, two, one again, because three is one. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:42.400 They knew the difference between three and one. 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:47.680 This is not uh, that's not something we learned post-Newton, right? 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:50.960 That's not something Einstein broke through in the 21st century. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:53.680 This isn't some archaic way of viewing the world. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:56.480 They knew, look, three isn't one. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:22:58.000 One isn't three. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:22:59.839 Those are different things. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:07.839 And yet, how does God reveal himself to us as completely one, simple, no parts or passions? 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:19.440 And then how does God reveal himself to us as this three, as these three distinct persons in complete and loving relationship with one another? 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:22.400 God is intrinsically relational. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:24.640 God is love. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:28.880 In himself, he is satisfied and loving. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:31.599 You see how mysterious this is? 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:34.319 You see how inexplicable it is? 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:39.680 Who would be insane enough to put something like this at the very center of their faith? 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.240 It's it can't be comprehended. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:45.839 It's beyond us. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:52.799 And yet, it seems to make the most sense, doesn't it? 00:23:54.480 --> 00:23:59.519 That at the center of existence, you know, there's this has been a problem forever. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:03.519 It's the problem of unity and diversity. 00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:05.279 What are we gonna be? 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:08.480 Are we gonna have unity or are we going to have diversity? 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:13.519 That they say this is the problem of the one and the many, the oldest philosophical question. 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:16.000 This is why we have where do we study at? 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:17.759 What are colleges called? 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:19.200 Universities. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:20.640 Why are they called that? 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:23.599 Because that's the question that we're seeking to discover. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.079 Can there be unity and diversity? 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:26.960 The university. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:28.559 It's the exploration of that. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:31.920 Our coins, what uh what do they say on them? 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:37.680 E plurbis unum, which means out of the many one. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:43.599 The United States is a question of can there be one and can there be many? 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:51.599 We're wrestling right now, even our racial reconciliation conversation is wrestling through these very dynamics. 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:54.799 How do we become united but not lose ourselves? 00:24:55.039 --> 00:25:01.279 How do we have separate cultures and celebrate them but not just become divided and separate from one another? 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:03.920 The question is so personal. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:07.839 It's like Forrest Gump is about this question. 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:12.960 Is there fate and are things determined, or are we all just a feather floating on the breeze? 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:18.160 That's the question of Forrest Gump, that great theological work. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:23.359 You know, the we're surrounded by this question, and you we wonder that question too. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:34.240 Is are is everything static and united, and so that the end is set from the beginning, or do we have free will and autonomy so that there's multiple ways that things could go? 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:40.160 How can we really live? 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:45.920 You know, what what view allows for our life to really work? 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:50.000 It's not a little bit of both. 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:52.640 It's all of both. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.279 You see what I'm saying? 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:59.440 It's not it's not that we to it's not that we find a happy middle ground. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:02.319 This is what Christianity was courageous enough to do. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:08.400 It didn't find a happy middle ground, but it said a complete yes to both. 00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:12.240 God knows the end from the beginning. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:16.240 Obey him because your decisions really matter. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:18.480 That can't be. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:20.319 It is. 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:25.119 And you know what seeing a life like that means? 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:33.839 It means you can make decisions and feel comfortable that God will protect you. 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:45.920 It means that you would seek counsel and that you would seek wisdom, and that you would try to become careful and crafting in the way that you understand the world. 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:53.039 And you would step out in courage, knowing that God has you amidst a bunch of things you don't know. 00:26:54.400 --> 00:27:01.519 See, you put a mystery in the middle, and all of a sudden the rest of your life falls together. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:04.240 We're small types of things. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:06.559 We're small types of creatures. 00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:09.920 To God, God's not like in my one or am I three? 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:11.519 Well, I gotta work this out today. 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:14.480 You know, he's not torn by this. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:20.799 He's experiencing no sense of paradox like we experience, but we're not the types of things like he is. 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:28.079 We're these little creatures that are born and then we die, we have starts and middles and endings. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:33.359 We can only be in one place at one time, we can only see about a hundred yards. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:49.200 But when we relate to him, in the midst of his mystery, we're able to find the fullness of our humanity. 00:27:52.319 --> 00:28:03.359 Finally, God says to him, This is my beloved, my son, in whom I am well pleased. 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:18.480 Is there a greater cry of the human heart than to hear those words from our Creator, than to consider that our God delights in us? 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:32.480 You see, the center of existence is much more like Hume's dinner party than it is like Hume's philosophical melancholy. 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:35.359 That's what Christianity says. 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:49.119 And the longing of your heart is to be called up into that eternal dinner party of enjoyment between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to hear the Father say, You should be here. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:53.680 Sit at our table, because I delight in you. 00:28:55.440 --> 00:29:09.279 We just had a daughter, uh, her name's Mabel, and we went out to dinner with and we have a three-year-old son, and he's just gushing over her right now. 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:14.400 And we went out to dinner the other night, we went to pho on 6th. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:18.559 This was before I turned 15 and got my teeth removed. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:26.559 And the uh uh we asked, we asked him, we said, James Todd, uh, how do you feel about your new sister? 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:29.039 And he said, Uh, I I love her. 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:30.720 We said, How do you like being a big brother? 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:32.319 He said, I love it. 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:37.359 And we said, uh, uh, what do you like to do with your sister? 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:38.559 And he said, Hug her. 00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:40.799 And I said, How do you feel when you hug her? 00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:45.359 And he paused and he said, delighted. 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:47.759 Can you handle that? 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:53.519 Megan and I looked at each other and we were like, is this the greatest moment of our lives? 00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:56.480 I didn't even know he knew that word. 00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:58.799 He said, delighted. 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:04.880 You know, that's the way the father feels about the son. 00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:14.720 When Christ offers his salvation to us, when Christ comes and he lays down his life for us, do you know what he says to his broken humanity? 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:19.759 He says, How do you feel about your broken humanity? 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:21.519 Delighted. 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:24.960 I feel delighted. 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:29.599 Put a mystery at the center. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:32.799 The rest of it seems to hold together. 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:36.640 Now don't be um mistaken by the dove. 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:38.319 Don't be fooled by the dove. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:48.559 Jesus, who is told by the Father, I delight in you, is then driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:52.160 He's sent on his mission immediately. 00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:56.319 This is what Mark says in Mark 1, 12 to 13. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:08.799 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. 00:31:11.119 --> 00:31:13.839 The Spirit drove Jesus. 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:16.400 Spirit says, Come on, we're going. 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:19.599 You're baptized, the mission starts now. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:31.599 And where does he take this promised son, the servant king, the one to whom all the nations will be given by the Father, the one who is promised forevermore? 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:34.240 Where does he drive him? 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:47.119 Not into the palace where a king should go, not into the temple where the God man would be, not even into the city on a press tour. 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:53.839 But he's driven into the wilderness to meet God's adversary. 00:31:54.559 --> 00:31:57.279 He is driven to meet Satan. 00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:08.720 Now, we see all of these parallels in Mark's account of Jesus in the wilderness. 00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:14.640 In the other gospels, we see the particular temptations that Satan lays at Jesus' feet. 00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:16.720 Mark skips all of that. 00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:21.119 He just says, He's driven into the wilderness for 40 days. 00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:30.400 He is tempted by Satan with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to him. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:33.599 Here are the parallels. 00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:45.119 Right after the Exodus, Israel is driven into the wilderness, where they wander around for not 40 days, but 40 years. 00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:53.200 And in the wilderness, they are tempted by Satan, and they fall in all kinds of ways. 00:32:53.839 --> 00:33:00.319 Adam is created in the wilderness, and he's tempted by Satan in the garden. 00:33:00.960 --> 00:33:09.759 And Adam, this only other person who can say directly, I am the son of God, directly, who is my father, there is no other. 00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:14.559 Adam, tempted by Satan, falls. 00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:17.759 He succumbs to the temptation. 00:33:18.079 --> 00:33:20.559 He doubts the goodness of his father. 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:36.319 But Jesus, 40 days in the wilderness, just like Israel, he never falls, he never turns his back on God, and he denies over and over again the temptation of Satan. 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:38.319 And what is the temptation? 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:44.400 You can go through this process without having to suffer. 00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:49.039 You can be king and claim your people and make no sacrifice. 00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:51.839 That's what Satan offers to Jesus. 00:33:52.640 --> 00:34:06.720 But Jesus knows the only way to rescue his people is through his suffering, through his death, through his taking on of our sin. 00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:09.840 That is his path of rescue. 00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:13.119 And so Jesus sets his face. 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:20.880 Now, what is uh the deal with the wild animals? 00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:24.320 Only Mark mentions this, and it's kind of a strange bit. 00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:30.000 Um says, and he was with the wild animals. 00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:31.519 It's like, okay. 00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:38.159 Here's the the reference, why that's included in there. 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:44.000 The word for wild animals is beasts, which is tough to say when you can't feel your bottom lip at all. 00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:48.159 The word for wild animals is is beasts. 00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:53.360 This was written in the mid-60s and of the first century. 00:34:55.199 --> 00:34:58.400 And uh, not 1960s. 00:34:58.639 --> 00:35:01.679 Woo! This is written in the summer of love. 00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:04.400 I guess that's late 60s. 00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:09.280 Uh this was written in the in the mid-60s of the first century. 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:20.880 And at that time, Christians were under the fiercest persecution that has taken place in Christian history under the Emperor Nero in Rome. 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:24.559 Nero was referred to as the beast. 00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:36.000 And so the Christians that he's writing to, that Mark is writing to, describing the story of Jesus, is saying, look, you know how you face a beast now? 00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:39.199 Jesus did too. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:48.559 You don't have a high priest, you don't have a high king that sends you into suffering who has not experienced it himself. 00:35:49.119 --> 00:35:50.639 Jesus knows. 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:54.079 He was brought through it. 00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:57.360 You too will be brought through it. 00:35:57.679 --> 00:36:00.639 Can you imagine what a wonderful thing that is to hear? 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:02.719 To those contemporary readers. 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:15.920 Tacitus, who is a Roman historian, uh a second century Roman historian, so not like a contemporary one, he said this regarding Christians under Nero. 00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:21.760 They were covered with the hides of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs. 00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:28.079 That was typical of the neuronic persecution, the persecution under Nero. 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:39.440 So this reference to the wild beasts here that Jesus is facing is saying to those contemporaries, he's with you amid the suffering. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:51.519 Jesus didn't say no to the suffering, so that you might be brought through it, so that you can have a friend in the midst of it. 00:36:51.840 --> 00:36:53.360 Do you hear that for you? 00:36:55.280 --> 00:36:56.960 Are you in the wilderness? 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:02.400 You have a God who knows. 00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:11.280 God Himself, you can pray, say, Lord, it's like this, and he can say, I know what you mean. 00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:13.519 God can. 00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:17.199 What other faith can say that? 00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:23.039 And then when Jesus moves out of the wilderness, he goes to proclaim his kingdom. 00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:25.599 Mark 1, 14 through 15. 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:35.280 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:37.679 Repent and believe in the gospel. 00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:40.480 Notice when Jesus goes back into Galilee. 00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:43.280 You know, uh let's get the shape of Israel again. 00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:46.320 So Israel is baptized through the Exodus. 00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:56.960