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[0:00] ...wrap-up of the Sermon on the Mount within the next few weeks, and then we will engage in a completely different kind of material, looking at that which the Sermon on the Mount is contrasted with, namely the age of grace and the dispensation that the Apostle Paul was raised up to address, and it will prove to be a considerable contrast from what we have been reading in the Sermon on the Mount.

[0:33] But for now, we have some unfinished business there, and if you will turn for our Scripture reading to Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 7. We are in the last of the three chapters of the Sermon on the Mount, which is undoubtedly the most extensive and the most popular and the most well-known of all the discourses our Lord delivered.

[0:53] There is another that is very popular as well. It is not as extensive. It's referred to as the Olivet Discourse, and it's found in this same book. It's chapters 24 and 25, and it has to do with the future as our Lord addressed it there in Matthew.

[1:12] Also, I want to try and be on my best behavior this morning and not encroach upon your Q&A sign. So, Marie, you have permission to give me the sign, and I will anticipate you doing that so that you will have time, because sometimes I take all of the time that's available, and I should not do that.

[1:36] For our Scripture reading, I would ask you to look, if you will, at Matthew, Chapter 7, and we will begin reading with verse 6, and we will conclude at verse 12.

[1:50] If you will follow along, whatever translation you have, that would be helpful. Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

[2:10] Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds.

[2:25] And to him who knocks, it shall be opened. Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone?

[2:36] Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him?

[2:55] Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the law and the prophets. All throughout what is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus Christ is giving the true interpretation of the law of Moses.

[3:16] It had been left pretty much to the machinations and the opinions of rabbis who had gone on in the past as to what the law of Moses actually meant.

[3:30] They wrote commentaries on the law of Moses. Some of these are referred to in the Mishnah and the Gemara. These are collateral writings in Judaism. And in these writings, the sages and the rabbis of times past would go on to great length as to what they think the law of Moses meant.

[3:54] But in so many instances, they couldn't see the forest for the trees. And what they did was they came up with a lot of minutia, a lot of pettiness, a lot of slicing it and dicing it as thin as possible.

[4:08] And it was a far cry from what God had actually intended when he gave the law. Because in all of the word of God, whether you're talking about the Old Testament or the New Testament, God never gave it in order to befuddle anyone or puzzle anyone or cause great consternation because people can't figure out what it means.

[4:30] The word of God is intelligible. That means it is capable of being understood by ordinary people under ordinary circumstances.

[4:41] The Bible was never given for the intelligentsia, the intellectual elites. It was given, spoken in plain everyday language, the kind of language that was used then and understood then.

[4:54] It was given for the purpose of communicating so that people would get the message. And when you obfuscate the message by adding all kinds of minutia to it and refining and defining and slicing and dicing thinner and thinner and thinner, it loses its whole impact.

[5:12] And that is precisely what the religious establishment had done. And all the while, of course, they prided themselves on being the experts of the law. Thinking that the ordinary was just, they're too far below us.

[5:28] They just can't get it. So we will get it and we will dissect it and we will give it to you. And what they gave the people, most of it the people couldn't even understand. And most of it the people couldn't do.

[5:40] Couldn't perform. It inspired nobody. It just discouraged everyone. In fact, I think it was Peter who in one of his early addresses in the book of Acts said, Why do you lay these burdens upon people that neither we nor they are able to bear?

[6:02] And when they got finished with explaining what they said the law of Moses meant, it was just a major turnoff to everybody. It just filled them with questions, with worries, and with all kinds of misunderstandings.

[6:16] And Christ came along and cut through all of that nonsense. Got right down to the nitty gritty and delivered the truth in simple, understandable language.

[6:26] And the people were just amazed. And the text ends up, as the chapter concludes, From the time Jesus gave this sermon, The people are just in awe of what he said.

[6:42] Because it was so simple and so understandable. Why can't our religious leaders talk like that? Why can't they put these truths in ways that we can understand?

[6:57] And he would simplify them and give a parable and an illustration. And the wrap up of it is amazing. And this is a passage that I had read I don't know how many times, but I never picked up on its meaning.

[7:10] And the text at the conclusion of the sermon says, The common people were amazed because he spoke as one having authority and not as the scribes and Pharisees.

[7:29] And the distinction there is really considerable. Because what he said was from himself as the authority.

[7:42] That was remarkable. None of the religious establishment would ever make a claim like that. They all considered themselves not an authority.

[7:54] They just quoted the authorities. And the authorities they quoted were rabbis that had gone on before hundreds of years, some of them, and had written their commentaries on the books of Moses.

[8:05] And they would always cite them. Jesus never did that. He spoke as if he were the authority. Because he was the authority.

[8:19] And they couldn't quite get over it. It was an amazing thing to them. Time and again, all throughout this sermon, Jesus said, You have heard. Now, notice, and this is important.

[8:31] He didn't say, You have read. Referring to the scriptures. He wasn't referring to the scriptures. He was referring to their interpretation of the scriptures.

[8:43] You have heard. It has been said. But, completely contrasting that, But, I say unto you, And immediately, Some of those people were thinking, Who does this guy think he is, anyway?

[9:00] And as they listened, It made more and more sense. It connected more and more. And as he spoke, Things fell into place more and more. And they are aghast. They are looking at each other and saying, Did you ever hear anything like this?

[9:13] This is amazing. Where does he get this stuff? This is great. I can understand it. Yeah, you know, That's really simple. That's pretty straightforward.

[9:24] You know, The vast majority of the things that God wants us to know, Are the things that are set forth most clearly, And most plainly, Throughout the word of God.

[9:38] And the likelihood is, If you are struggling and working with a passage, Like I have done for the last 50 plus years, And you can't quite get a handle on it. And it may have some ambiguity about it, Where it could be this, Or it could be that.

[9:52] Invariably, It is related to a subject, That usually doesn't make that much difference anyway. It isn't connected to something important. But where God wants us to know, Something that he wants us to know, He says it most often, And he says it most plainly, And most clearly, So that misunderstanding it, Is almost impossible.

[10:10] In fact, One of the quotes of Mark Twain, Was, It isn't the things in the Bible, That I don't understand, That bother me.

[10:26] The things that bother me, Is what I do understand. Well put. Now I don't know, If he was coming from, A negative or a positive standpoint.

[10:38] Mark Twain, Was an incredible writer. He had a wonderful way with words, And you probably ought to read everything, You ever wrote. But I do not think, He was particularly thought of, As a spiritual man.

[10:50] He was probably anything but. So, When Christ came along, With his interpretation of the law, You see what they did, Is they, Reduced the law, To such pettiness, And triviality, Like, Well, The mint and the anise, And I've told you about that, And tithing those, And all that nonsense.

[11:13] What Christ did, Was he interpreted, The law of Moses, In accordance, With the spirit, And intent, That it conveyed.

[11:25] What did God mean, When he said this? He interpreted it, In the spirit of the law, Not just the letter of the law. The letter kills, The letter paralyzes, The letter confuses, Get to the truth of the matter.

[11:39] What does this say? How does it grab you? And that's, The approach that our Lord took, As a result, Everybody was just amazed. Never heard anything like this before. And this, Among other reasons, Coupled with his miracles, Is why the reputation, Of Jesus of Nazareth, Spread like wildfire, All throughout the land of Israel.

[11:59] Now we have some unfinished business, In this portion here, In Matthew chapter 7. We treated somewhat, Verse 6, And 7, And 8.

[12:12] We did not get to verse 9, And I'm not going to spend much time on it, But I want to at least, Give you, What I think is behind this, As much as I've been able to glean, From the custom, Culture that prevailed at the day.

[12:24] Jesus said, What man is there among you, When his son, Shall ask him for a loaf, Will give him a stone? Well, The first problem we have right there, Is the use of the word loaf, Because they did not serve bread, Or eat bread, As we do, We do it in loaves.

[12:45] Some of you, Probably nobody here, May be able to remember, When bread was sold by the loaf, Loaf, Unsliced, Unsliced, I can remember that, I can remember buying some that way, And, So, The loaf that is used here, Is not a good term, Because when you think, When you read this, About a loaf, You think of a loaf, About 12 inches long, And about 5 or 6 inches high, And 4 or 5 inches wide, You think of it as a loaf, A loaf of bread, Okay?

[13:21] But they never had bread like that, And they never served it like that, Their bread, Was more along the line, Of what we would call, A pancake, It was flat, And round, And probably anywhere, From 6 to 9 inches, In diameter, And very often, The dough, Once it was kneaded, And worked up, The dough would be rounded out, And slapped on the side, Of the stove, On the inside, And the, The heat would, Would bake that, And, And then, And then it would, Peel off, And you could turn it around, And bake it on the other side, For just a few minutes, Dependent on how hot the oven was, And every, Virtually every home, Had an oven like this, And then, Of course, It would be served, And, And very often, If it was a meal, Rather than breakfast, And breakfast was usually, A very simple meal, Maybe some eggs, And a piece of bread, And a little bit of fruit, Or something, But if it was for a meal, Later in the day,

[14:21] And a bigger meal, They would make, What we would call, Like a stew, Maybe like a vegetable stew, With some chunks of meat in it, Like you would, With a beef vegetable stew, And they would cook that, Silverware was unknown, They never used knives, Forks and spoons, They would take that, Piece of bread, Shaped like a hot cake, And bend it, In half, It was pliable, Just bend it in half, And you would make a scoop, Like a spoon with it, And you would scoop that, Into the stew, And get the stew, In the, In the piece of bread, That was folded over, And eat it that way, And, I'm sure that they weren't, Concerned about sanitary things, Like we were, After having bitten off a piece, They would use the same bread, Stoop it back in again, And take another bite, Everybody did that, Around the table, And the table was usually, About 16 inches, Off the floor, So everybody would recline, At table,

[15:22] And use large pillows, Placed around, That was customary, In that day, We of course have, Tables, With chairs at them, And you've all seen pictures, Of the last supper, Where Jesus is there, With the twelve apostles, And there's a large banquet table, And everybody's seated, All around, That's all wrong, The picture is all wrong, They never sat that way, The picture was painted, In the middle ages, And that was the common way, Of dining then, But as so many people do, They take whatever, Is common to them, And they read it back, Into the scriptures, And assume that that's the way, It was back there, It wasn't that way at all, So they reclined, For lunch, Remember, When Jesus, On the night that he was betrayed, Was at the last supper, And the disciples were all around, And, And he said, One of you will betray me, And they were all, Concerned about that, They couldn't imagine, What he was talking about, And eventually, One of them said,

[16:23] Who is it? And Jesus said, It is he, To whom I shall, Give the sop, When I have dipped it, And he would take that piece of bread, And fold it over, And dip it, Scoop it, Into the meat, And the gravy, And put it to the mouth, Of Judas, And Judas would take the bite, And eat it, That was called, The sop, Have you ever heard of, Sopping up gravy, That's exactly what they did, And utensils, As we call knives, And forks, And spoons, Were unheard of, They probably used spoons for serving, But that was the way it was, So, Keeping in mind, That it's that kind of bread, One of the items that they had, And that they used on a regular basis, Were stones, Because, If you know anything about Israel, It is a wash in stones, The land is absolutely inundated,

[17:23] With limestone, Everywhere, Of every shape, Size, Description, And color, And very often, They would take a piece of limestone, That was flat, And, It was easy to work, Just about anyone, Even a child, Could work on a thin piece of limestone, And shape it, And they would shape, A limestone, A piece of limestone, A slab of limestone, Maybe it was a half an inch thick, And make it round, And make it about the size, Of a piece of bread, That would be near the oven, And those stones would get warm, And would hold the heat, And sometimes, When the mother, Who was baking the bread, And by the way, They bake bread every day, It was a daily occurrence, When she would bake bread, In the morning, She would stack it there, And the family would be stirring around, Be getting ready for the breakfast, And she would take off, One of those round pieces, Pancake like piece of bread, And lay it down on the table,

[18:24] And then, She might take one of those, Round, Thin, Limestone, Stones, And lay it right on top, Of the bread, And what would that do?

[18:36] Well, It was a warming plate, It would keep the bread warm, And then there would be, A couple of more pieces of bread, Put on top of that, And then, She would put on, Another stone, And these stones, Were very common, They are, I think, The kind of stones, That Jesus was, That Jesus was confronted with, When he was in the wilderness, And Satan said, If you be the son of God, Command that these stones, Be made bread, I think they were probably, Those stones, Shapen like pieces of bread, And he was challenged, To turn them into bread, And here in this, In this sermon on the mount, Jesus is saying, Is there a father, Here, Who if his son, Asks for bread, Will give him a stone, You know, The funny thing, About those stones, Is after they had warmed the bread, A number of times, They would take on the color, Of the bread, And from a distance, They would look, Just like a piece of bread, But you couldn't eat it, Of course, And this is the analogy,

[19:38] That Jesus, I think, Is using here, If a son, Asks the father, For bread, Is he going to give him, A warming stone, Looks like bread, But it isn't bread, And that's, Likely what is involved here, As well as, The next verse, That talks about, A fish, If he shall ask for a fish, He will not give him a snake, Will he?

[20:02] Well, These are radically different, Are they not? Yes, They are, One is considered edible, And one is considered, Not edible, The snake, That he is referring to here, As best as I am able to understand, In this ancient culture, Was a kind of fish, I guess you would not call it an eel, But it was still, A snake like fish, That was not considered edible, And in order for, In order for fish to be edible, In the Jewish kosher diet, It had to be a fish, That had scales on it, So for instance, Catfish, That you have to skin, Rather than scale, Would not be considered acceptable, A Jew cannot eat catfish, Because it is a bottom feeder, And it's not one of the clean animals, But there were, A certain variety, Of fish, Or a certain variety, That looked more like an eel, Or like a snake, But it was not considered edible,

[21:03] At all, And if they caught them, They'd just either throw them back, Or destroy them, And I think that's what's referred to here, When he is asking for a fish, He will not give him a snake, Will he?

[21:15] They looked remarkably alike, But one was edible, And one was not edible, The way they had, In fact, The only way they had, Of preserving fish, Was by salting them, And you remember the story, Jesus feeding the five thousand, And the little boy, That had the five loaves, And two fish, The kind of fish, That he had no doubt, In this little bag, That he was carrying, Would have been salted fish, It was an entire industry, In and around Galilee, And several people engaged in, Fishing, And salting the fish, Because, If you know anything, About fresh fish, If you don't eat them, Very soon, They're not fresh very long, And they just have, No shelf life at all, But if you salted the fish, You could get a lot of mileage, Out of it, And it would be good, For a long time, So you could salt the fish, Or buy salted fish, And then you could take them, On a journey, And it would be,

[22:15] Your sustenance on the way, So this was a very common, Kind of thing, In fact, James and John, Who were a couple of the first, Apostles that our Lord selected, Were fishermen by trade, In fact, Most of the apostles, Were fishermen by trade, And James and John, Were in business, With their father, Zebedee, I can just see the sign now, Zebedee and sons, Find fish, Seafood, Etc., You know, And they would, Make a, Make a, A real business out of this, And of course, They weren't the only ones, Because fish was just about, The most common kind, Of protein, That you could get, When it came to animal flesh, Of course, They had their lambs, And sheep, And goats, And things like that, But they were not nearly, As popular as the fish, And, They would salt these fish, Make a, Make a business of it, And they were engaged in that, They had their own boat, Had their own nets, And everything, And it was from that calling, That our Lord called them,

[23:17] To follow him, So, I think in verse 10, When he's saying, If he shall ask for a fish, He will not give him, That variety, That's not even edible, Will he? The answer of course is, No.

[23:29] If you then, Being evil, Know how to give good gifts, And this evil, Is not to be understood, As being, You know, That, All that nefarious, He simply means, If you are, It's another way of saying human, Because all humans are, We have this, Old sin nature to us, That is contrary, To the nature and character of God, And that's what he's referring to, He's not talking about, Somebody being especially evil, As we might use the term, But if you, Being lesser than God, Know how to give good gifts, To your children, And you do, How much more, Shall your father, Who is in heaven, Give what is good, To those who ask him, And one thing to keep in mind, It doesn't make any difference, What dispensation you're in, One of the things, That prompts God, To give and to do, Is to be asked, And one of the reasons for that, Is because, When we ask, When we come before God, We are automatically,

[24:32] Admitting, Acknowledging, A deficiency, Within ourselves, A weakness, An inability, Do you know what that does to you, Or what it should do to you, It should humble you, It should, It should remind you, That you are, But dust and ashes, It should remind you, That you are not capable, Of meeting, And fulfilling, All your needs, So when you go to God, It is an admission, Of weakness, It's an acknowledgement, Of weakness, God loves, For us, To acknowledge, Our weakness, And one of the reasons, He does, Is because it gives us, A perspective, As to our placement, We are but dust, It enhances, And increases, Our gratitude, To him, For doing for us, What we cannot do,

[25:32] For ourselves, I don't know, Of any time, When a believer, Is more, Fully facing reality, Than when he goes, To God, In prayer, You don't do that, Unless you have, A sense of need, And we do, Have a sense of need, You know, People have an entirely, Different opinion, Of this, Of praying, And, In fact, In many quarters, In many quarters, It would even be, Looked upon, As, Incompetence, On the part of man, I can imagine, What the media, Would do, If we had, A really, Seriously, Praying, President, I mean, A president, Who would say, To his secretary, Of state, We'd better go, Before the Lord, Regarding this, Would you kneel, With me right here, In the oval office, And let's address, The almighty, Can you imagine, In the heyday,

[26:32] The media, Would have with that, Ooh, Has it come to that, We are in great jeopardy, I mean, Their philosophy is, Praying, Acknowledging your weakness, Proves, You're not fit for office, You're supposed, To have all the answers, You're supposed, To know what to do, What, What is this business, Praying, What, What is, Why, They would, They would be unmerciful, Would they not, Well then again, Maybe it all depends, On the politics, Of the president, As to how they would, Handle that, So, Your father, Who is in heaven, Will give what is good, To those, Who ask him, Therefore, And here is a conclusion, Or at least, A mini conclusion, Therefore, However, However, You want people, To treat you, So treat them, For this, Is the law,

[27:34] And the prophets, You know, That is nothing more, Than another way, Of saying, What Jesus says, In another place, When he was asked, What is the greatest commandment, And he said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, With all your heart, Mind and soul, And love your neighbor, As yourself, And then he made, This monumental statement, He said, On these, Two commandments, Hang, All the law, And the prophets, It's another way, Of saying, You know what, Everything, The law, And the prophets, Said, Boils down, To this, Love the Lord your God, And love your neighbor, As yourself, That's it, That's the whole nine yards, That's it, That's the irreducible minimum, Comes right down to that, Do you realize,

[28:35] What would happen, If people did that, Well, No, I can't imagine, I can't imagine, What it would be like, It would be so foreign, If we, Loved the Lord, And loved our neighbor, As ourself, Think of that, Just think of the implications of that, And those two, Those two, Are reduced, To one, Here, And it is, Whatsoever you would have, Men, Do unto you, You do unto them, If you wouldn't want, Somebody to do thus and so to you, Don't you do that to them, If we, Were able to implement that, And by the way, Shouldn't we be able, To implement that, If what we are, So often told by others, That, People are basically honest, If we just had,

[29:37] The basically honest people, Doing that, Wouldn't that make, A tremendous difference, Where are all these, Basically honest people, If, If we, If we were able, If, If humankind, Was able to implement this, Golden rule, Don't do to someone else, What you wouldn't want them to do, Do you realize, I would never, Misplace my car keys, Again, I wouldn't need, Car keys, I wouldn't even need, To lock my car, I wouldn't need, To lock my house, I wouldn't need, A safe deposit box, The bank wouldn't need, One of those monstrous vaults, Because, People are basically honest, Just forget all those locks, And keys and things, You don't need those, People are basically honest, Something's flawed about that, Isn't it?

[30:37] Uh huh, This golden rule, You know the modern version of it, Them that has the gold, Makes the rule, That's the way it's interpreted today, But, As our Lord gave, And you know, This is very simple, This is very simple, Are you thinking about, Saying or doing, Anything, To somebody, And before you say it, Or do it, Ask yourself, Would I want them, To do that, To me?

[31:10] And if the answer is, No, Then don't do it, Don't do it, That's pretty simple, Nothing complicated about that, That's one of the things, I like about what Jesus teaches, Is simplicity, Personified, It's not hard to understand that, It is really hard, To do it, It is really hard, Not hard to understand it, It's really hard, To do it, Whatsoever you would, That men do unto you, Do ye also unto them, For this, Is the law, And the prophets, This is what it all boils down to, Very basic, Very simple, The only flaw is, The only flaw is, In our inability, To do that, And you know, This is the great, This, This is the great element, That escapes, So many people, In leadership positions,

[32:13] And it's tragedy, It's a tragedy in the making, Because, Those in leadership positions, Make the most important decisions, And they have the greatest amount, Of influence, On others, And when they, In their position, When they, Misunderstand, Don't appreciate, Or even worse, Deny, The basic, Proven, Nature, Of humanity, And everybody, Under them, Is hurting, Because of that, Our forefathers, Bless their heart, And I tell you, I'm, I would not be surprised, There's no way, That we'll ever have, Of proving this, But I would not be surprised, Whether this nation, Would not have ceased, To exist long ago, A nation as we know it, If it had not been, For the insight,

[33:15] And understanding, That our founding fathers had, As regards, The nature, Of the human being, They fully understood, They fully understood, They fully understood, Appreciated, And allowed for, The fallenness of humanity, When they drafted, Our guiding documents, Including the declaration, And the constitution, They knew, Man was not, To be trusted, With power, They knew that, They understood that, They had suffered, Under, The reign, And the unrighteous demands, Of King George the third, For, Probably 20 years, Before the revolution, Broke out, And they full well understood, What happens, When, One, Particular, Person, Possesses, All the power, You get, Tyranny, You get, Injustice, You get, Taxation, Without representation,

[34:15] Which was, One of the, Big items, That brought on, The revolutionary war, And they had the wisdom, And the foresight, To know, We have got to make sure, When we establish a government, In these colonies, That it will be, A government, That recognizes, The foibles, Of humanity, That recognizes, That man is essentially, Self-centered, And self-serving, We've got to do something, To take that into consideration, We've got to find some way, To build that into the government, So somebody, Can't take all the power, And run away with it, And then you end up, With an oppressive, Intrusive, Regime, So what are we going to do, And they came up with, As I've mentioned before, These three branches, Of government, And each one of them, Is to serve, To be, A caution, On the other two,

[35:16] Each one, Is to be imbued, With equal power, So that all three of them, Are to, Hopefully, Work together, Now we know, That because of, The nature of politics, And the multiple parties, That are involved, You get people, Who are, In agreement with things, And disagreement with things, And they oppose, And all the rest of it, And that just goes, With the territory, There is no way, Of avoiding that, If you're going to have, A representative, Democracy government, Like we've got, You just have to deal with it, But what it does do, Is it makes, It tends to make, The creation, Of legislation, And laws that are passed, It tends to make them, Come into being, Through a lengthy, Arduous, Highly examined process, So that by the time, It comes down to the people, It has been, At least theoretically,

[36:18] It has been, Bested, And examined, And debated, And weighed, And evaluated, And tweaked, And tweaked some more, And then when it actually, Becomes law, It has gone through, A refining process, That clarifies, And sharpens it, And equalizes it, So that it's fair for everybody, At least, That's the intent, That's the way it's supposed to work, We know it doesn't always work that way, Because, Because, Our imperfect government, Is made up, Of, Imperfect people, Who are just like the people, That they represent, And we are all part of that imperfection, And as has often been said before, We have, We have, A government, That has, It has its problems, It is, I think it was, Winston Churchill, Who said that, That democracy, Is the, Worst kind of government,

[37:20] You can have, Except, For all the others, And, And, It is a flawed government, Because it's, Administered by flawed people, So, Power, Is the name of the game, And, How we can equalize it, So that, So that the supreme court, Doesn't have all the power, And you know, If the supreme court gets carried away, There is provisional, There is provisions made, In the constitution, To revamp the court, Because, The establishment of the court, Is at the discretion, Of the legislature, And yet, The court, Can override, Legislation that is produced, And call it unconstitutional, And then there's the presidential veto, And the possibility of overriding that, So all of these things are in place, Primarily,

[38:21] To assure, A government, That really will be, Of the people, By the people, And for the people, And I'm satisfied, That if our founding fathers, Did not have in mind, And in place, The basic nature of humanity, When they drafted those documents, We as a nation, Would be further down the tubes, Than what we are now, We might not even be in existence, It has been pointed out, Repeatedly, Through the years of history, That the lifespan, Of just about every democracy, That has arisen, Has been a maximum, Of 200 years, We are on borrowed time, Our democratic, Our democratic form of government, Of representative government, Has already, Outlived, The normal lifespan, Of other democracies,

[39:23] In history, And someone has said, That democracy will work, Only until, The people learn, That they can legislate, Their own benefits, We have learned that, We are doing that, And maybe we are on the short end, Of that stick, So, However you want people, To treat you, So treat them, For this is the law, And the prophets, Do you suppose that thought, Ever went through the mind, Of a, Of a Gestapo, SS officer, Who was inflicting, Excruciating, Bodily, Torture, Upon another, Human being, Deliberately,

[40:24] Inflicting pain, That you can't even imagine, Do you suppose something like this, Ever went through his mind, Boy, I sure wish, Somebody would do this, To me someday, Can you imagine, Having, No, Probably not, I don't know how, Exposed they were, To the, And you know something, When we talk about, We talk about, SS, And Gestapo, And Nazis, We are talking about, The great nation, Of Germany, These are not, Uncivilized, Uneducated people, These were very, Intelligent people, As world intelligence goes, They were near the top of the stack, Intellectually, Look at how many, Look at how many, Brilliant, Inventions, And, Progressive things, That have come out of Germany, Enormous contribution,

[41:25] To society, And look at what they fell into, Under Hitler, All that is, Is this, Extreme that we're talking about, And, And we've got the same thing today, The same kind of extreme, Under, Radical Islam, Same, Same principle, It is rooted, In the nature, And character, Of people, And when Christ, Made this statement, He made it, Full well, Understanding what the nature, Of humanity was, But, To whom did he make it?

[42:03] He made it, To the nation of Israel, A people who were, A covenanted, Chosen people, Who were called to live, By a different standard, You shall be my people, And I shall be your God, And you shall keep my commandments, Etc, And they were different, From all the other peoples, Of the world, So what he was giving to them, Was something that was, Within their ability, To comply, They had, Information the rest of the world, Did not have, So they had an accountability there, Well I'm not finished, But I'm quitting, Because you won't have, Any time at all, If I don't, So who has a comment, Or question?

[42:43] Anybody? Okay, Nick Jordan here, When you was talking about, How the, Our forefathers, They were angled over this, How, How they were going to do it, But then they, Prayed about it too, And that's, That was, I think, Very important, In how, How we came to our, Absolutely, Our independence, In our constitution, And they even had, They even had some clergymen, In on those meetings, And, And they prayed frequently, And the reason they did, Was very simple, They knew, That, They knew, That they were deficient, Of the kind of wisdom, That was needed, To really, Draft the kind of documents, That were needed, They recognized that, They acknowledged that, These were men of humility, They weren't men, Who were caught up, In their own pride,

[43:44] They, Had a reliance, And a dependence, Upon God, And they weren't ashamed, To acknowledge it, In fact, It probably wouldn't, It would have been, The opposite of the way around then, Probably would have been, A shame, If they hadn't acknowledged it, Because the people knew that, And they expected that, Today, Why, It's entirely different, Anyone else, With a comment or question, Up here, Roger, And then Loretta, Up here, I wish we had more people, Like the judges, At the Nuremberg trials, That told the defendants, That you, You should have used, Your conscience more so, Than following orders, And what they did, Very sad, Yeah, Excellent, Excellent point, The defense, The common defense, That was given, By all of those, Who were charged, With war crimes, At the Nuremberg war trials, In 1946, Was, It wasn't our fault, We were not responsible, We were just, Carrying out orders, We were just, Obeying orders, And the ruling,

[44:46] Of the court was, There is a higher order, Than that, Which was given, By your superiors, That's the one, You should have followed, And that was implicit, Of course, In the law, The law of God, Higher authority, Yeah, Yeah, Loretta had a comment, Up here, Yes, It is, A comment, You were talking about, The people, Slashing and dicing, Even the, Law, Of, God, And, Even, And yet today, We see the same thing, Happening, Happening with our, Christian, Values, They're slicing, And dicing, And, Yeah, It's no different, It just, Evolves, So, They did that, To the law, Now they're doing it, To the Christian, Yeah, Values, And you know,

[45:46] Thank you, And very often, This, The slicing and dicing, Is to, Avoid, The weightier elements, Of the law, Like, In other words, When the law says something, And you really don't, Want to obey it, What do you do?

[46:08] Find a loophole, Find a way around it, And we have, People coming out, Of the woodwork, Who do this for a living, They just look for loopholes, Ways around the law, Around the letter, And intent of the law, The law, The law says that, You were on the Sabbath day, You were not to travel more, Than the Sabbath day's journey, From your home, All right, Now what's, What's the letter of the law, What's the spirit of the law, The spirit of the law, Is the Sabbath, Now this is for the Jewish community, The Sabbath is to be a day of rest, It's to be a day of physical rest, You are to cease from your labors, And you are to give your animals, Your working animals, A day off, Everybody needs a rest, You need to rejuvenate your body, So on the Sabbath day, If it's necessary for you to travel, You can only travel, A Sabbath day's journey, I don't remember exactly what it was, But it was so many, So many furlongs, It was far enough to go visit grandma, Or whatever, You know, On the Sabbath day, From your home,

[47:09] Now that's, The spirit of the law, It's straightforward, It's understandable, It's not complicated, You just don't travel, Any further, Than what it is, From A to Z, On the Sabbath day, That's not hard to understand, But doggone it, I want to go further than that, So what does the law say, The law says, You are not to travel, Any further from your home, Than from your, Home, Hmm, From your home, Hmm, Hmm, So he gets a few sticks, And he gets an animal skin, And he puts them on his pack, And he travels the extent, Of the Sabbath day, And because he can't go any further, From his home on the Sabbath day, He stops there, He puts the sticks in the ground, He stretches the tent over the sticks, He sits down in the shade, And says, This is my home, He gets up from his home,

[48:13] He's got another Sabbath day's journey to go, That's a loophole, Did he actually obey, The letter of the law, Yes, He just declared this other place, As his home, But did he obey, The spirit of the law, No, And that came up constantly, And they would keep finding ways around this, Well, The law says, That you are to honor your father, And your mother, To honor them, Means that you care for them, And when they have needs, You see to it, That their needs are met, Not only as you're growing up, But when you're an adult, And the roles get reversed, You know what happens, When you enter old age, The parent becomes the child, The child becomes the parent, And you are to care for them, In their old age, Well, That's going to cost money,

[49:16] I don't want to spend my money, On my parents care, So, What can I do? So you visit the local Sharpie lawyer, And he says, No problem, Just sign this form here, That says you officially give everything to God, And you don't have anything left, So, When your mother and father are in need, You say, Sorry folks, I can't help you, Because all my assets, Are dedicated to God, Is it legal?

[49:56] Yep, You've got a scribe and a lawyer, It'll sign off on it, It's legal, Of course you're going to, Pay them handsomely for that, But it won't cost nearly as much as it would, Contributing to the care of your parents, So you've got an out, That's called a loophole, And, Phariseeism, Was loaded with this kind of stuff, And Christ condemned it, Soundly, And that's one of the reasons, That they hated him so much, He exposed all of that nonsense, It made them, Very uncomfortable, And it put, Bullseyes on their back, And the people, Didn't have respect for them to start with, Because they already, Saw through a lot of that, But what Christ did, Was he put it out there in bold relief, And it made their injustices, And their loopholes, Even more ridiculous, So, Anything else before we dismiss, Anyone?

[50:52] Would you stand with me please? Father, We are truly grateful, For the simplicity, That is in the scriptures, And for those who come to the word, With a heart and a mind, To be obedient to it, Meaning is, Almost always crystal clear, But if we're looking for a way around it, We can find it, We can find a way to dodge it, Find a way, Oh it doesn't mean that, We can find some way, To escape from the responsibility, And we don't want to do that, We want to honor the word, As you intended it to be obeyed, And we want to, Hold one another accountable, For doing that, We are expected, To be accountable, Not only to you, But to one another as well, We are so grateful, For this passage, And others like it, That really highlight the truth, And that show us,

[51:54] Sometimes the evil machinations, Of the human heart, How grateful, How grateful we are, For a savior, Who came, In a person, Of purity, And honesty, And truthfulness, And showed up, All of the sham, And unrighteousness, For what it really was, He provided for us, A real, Moral, North star, And we are so grateful, Thank you for this passage, Thank you for, All that you have incorporated, Into your word, We pray for a facility, Of better understanding, And appreciating, Christ's name, Amen.