Matthew 26:67-27:10 (#99.2024.06.09)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website at beholdingbibletruth.com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:49

So, it was probably 6 years ago. Jack and I were chatting, and we, it started with if you could ask and answer 4 questions for your great grandkids, kids that you write the generations that never met you, what would they be? We sat down and we came up with 4 questions, and we answered them. And we did them in a teaching series. And then I said we should probably take that and turn that into a written version, and that was probably 6 years ago. Maybe so. We were gonna do that that year. And does it already was 2 or 3. I think it was definitely pre COVID, so it was it was a long time ago.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:32

Anyway, business kept getting in the way. And in December, I did an exercise that I put some other people through, and I really looked at quadrants in my life. And one quadrant was regrets. What things are in that quadrant that you would regret if life ended? Right? And if you have any, get out of them. That would be it. And I had 2. 1 was to get the teaching put into podcast, which we did, and that's rolling. And the other was to get this project done, which we did.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:03

It's now available. It was just published. So we did reach where I said, we'll never get through the 4 bore. So let's just do 2 questions at a time. So these are the first two questions. Jack asks his and answers, and I do the same. But you're gonna get a copy at the end of class. We'll be happy to pass them out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:22

If you would, do us a favor, because it's on Amazon now Amazon. In order to be able to highlight the book, pays attention to reviews. There is a Kindle version of this book. The the dark copy, sells for 9.95, the Kindle version for 99¢. If you wouldn't mind, if you would go on Amazon, buy the Kindle version for a buck or less than a buck. 99¢. And then give it a review, honest review. I don't know.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:51

You can tell us whatever you say, but the reviews help Amazon see people reading you know, buying a book and reading the book and will help us as we push this out. That make sense? So anything that you can do to help us with that, we'd appreciate. Can you tell us the title we can't see online? Yeah. Title. Yeah. It's called, answers to life big big quest life's big questions about god part 1. So, yeah, there you go. Thanks, Mary.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:25

Do autograph I'd be happy to if that made if that makes any difference. We could break some down. We would be happy to. Cool beans. So if you have a regret, get at it. You never know. It just never does. Okay.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:02

In 1994, I embarked on a a 2 year course. Be able to learn how to do charitable estate tax planning, which was an in-depth course studying tax law and studying the application of that tax law. And they would talk in there about c e m's, c e m's, c e m, like, beating that into our head. Career ending mistakes. Not to freak you out or totally make you not wanna do any of this work. But, by the way, there are career ending mistakes, which may be asked the question from our standpoint as a Christian. Are there career ending sins? Are there career ending sins? Well, we're gonna encounter one which certainly could be. And, so stand with me as we read from the book of Matthew Matthew 26.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:57

Now Peter was was sitting outside in the courtyard, and the 3rd girl phoned him and said, you who were with g the galavane. But he denied it before them all saying, I do not know what you're talking about. When he'd gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, this man who was with Jesus of Nazareth, And again, he denied it with an oath. I do not know the bank. A little later, the bystanders came up and says to Peter, surely you 2 are one of them. For even the way you talk gives you a way. Then he began to curse his way. Do not know the bank.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:40

And immediately, there was the crow. Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said. Before he should crows, you will deny me 3 times. And he went out and wept bitterly. The word of the lord. Thanks be to God. Well, I thought about that. Is there different consequences for sin? What's the reality of sin? And what's it look like.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:09

And so we see a picture here of Peter, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, doing what all of us probably have done in some format, and that is denying Jesus Christ. And what we're gonna see here is different different sin with different consequences, if you will. First, it says sin with repentance Sin with repentance. And you can see there is Peter. Jesus is condemned in the midst of going to his death. And what's Peter gonna feel? What would you feel? Yeah. Because why? What would you feel? You would be afraid. You would be afraid.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:56

If you don't condemn the death, you would be afraid, wouldn't you? I wouldn't be afraid. Physically afraid. Right? And I tried to think about when I've been when I've been physically afraid with the idea of connecting, being in connection with the lord Jesus. Not many where my my life might be on the line. Still remember when I was in Russia in 1994, I got lost from the group on a on the train, and I can remember feeling afraid Afraid. And I got there was one point where, another point, I got lost in the group board. I'm a guy that that is no good with directions. And, Russian army came by, and I had a a backpack full of gospel of John and More Than A Carpenter by Josh McDowell.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:46

Yeah. I'd gone over with Josh McDowell. And I remember they're they were coming here, and I wanted to get closer to them and hand out like, hold a book. And I was so afraid. I was just so afraid. So I I pulled a book out of my backpack, and I just held it like this. And the I mean, this army is just marching by, marching by. And all of a sudden, a soldier, he's marching.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:10

Right? And he grabs the book and sticks it in his uniform. Open buttons as you know, and sticks it in. Gone. And I have no idea what happened to that guy. I'm I'm hoping that when I get to heaven, he'll say, I got that book and I read it. You know? But no idea. But I remember just being freaked out in that moment. But I have not had to put my life on the line for Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:35

But I would certainly be afraid in that moment. Certainly be afraid. And you could see he's not only afraid, he's increasingly afraid. First of all, he denies Jesus, and they interesting the way scripture works is he shows us that a servant girl can put fear into Peter who said, I'll go with you to your oh, to my death. You know? Great male bravado. Right? Testosterone driven bravado of a man. I will go with you to your death. The little server girl comes up, and he said, no.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:12

I don't know. And then it's not just once he goes again, and then he denies with an oath. He doesn't just say, I deny Jesus. He said, I swear that I don't know him. And then lastly, they say, well, you sound like him, like one of them. And so what's he do then? Why did he do that? Yes. He wanted to sound like he wasn't a Christian. So he starts to curse and swear, right, to say, look.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:43

I'm like one of you. Did you ever do what the world does just to fit in? I don't wanna look different. I don't wanna look like I'm not part of the crowd. Remember we first come to Christ, and you've got lots of circles of unbelievers. They're just challenging moments. You know, what do you do with the dirty jokes? What do you do when they, you know, start to talk about somebody? What do you do that's all of that? Do I wanna fit in? Do I not wanna fit in? Right? Kinda all that stuff. So here he is. So he he denies 3 times, and he remembers what Jesus said, which is you will deny me 3 times, and he wept bitterly.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:24

Ever cried to the point where you heave? That's the picture here. Heaving. Right? That he wept bitterly because he felt that he had fallen short, let the lord down. Ever feel like that? Like, you're falling short? Oh, I should've stood up. Should've stood for him. What do you mean that I feel that I could make a list of those? And and I thought about so what happens in between this? Well, in Luke 2261, something happens in the midst of this, and that is in between. It says the lord turned and looked at Peter, a look from the savior, a look from the savior. I would expect, like I did when I've fallen, that that look is a a look of shame on you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:18

What's wrong with you? Why didn't you stand up? Right? The thing, just the the same that I would lay upon myself. Was that the look of the lord Jesus? Let me say. But his demeanor throughout and his nature says he is the lord compassionate and gracious. So my sense, it was a look of compassion. And I thought of Romans 2 4, do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness, the riches, the depth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the kindness of god, what's it do, leads you to repentance. The kindness, the mercy, the grace of almighty god, the kindness, the forbearance, the patience. I am so glad that I'm not god. Although, at times, I want to be, and at times, I try to be.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:16

But when I stop and think about it, I'm deeply grateful that I'm not, and you should be grateful that I'm not either. Because my fair forbearance runs short. The lord is long suffering. Right? And he's compassionate. And he says there are riches in his kindness, forbearance, and patience. And so we see this picture of Peter, a sin with repentance, a deep brokenness. The repentance is the picture of him heaving in his soul, heartbroken that he has not stood up for the Lord. Heartbroken that he's not stood up.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:54

And not just once, 3 times. 3 times. Is that good news? No. It's great news. It's great news. It's great news. It's just unbelievable news. What we're gonna see, another picture.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:12

And so then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, he felt remorse felt remorse. So this is sin with remorse sin with remorse. See, is that different than sin with repentance. It says, what did he do? He felt remorse. He returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest and elders saying I sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said, what does that tell us? See to that yourself. He threw the piece of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed, he went away and hanged himself. Chief priest took the piece of silver and said, it's not lawful to put them in the temple treasury since it is the price of blood, and they conferred together with the money bought the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:01

So it says, Judas recognized the sin. He said, I've sinned. Right? So he has remorse as remorse when he saw the outcome, right, of of, his actions, which was Christ condemnation. It says he regretted is is a better picture. He regretted that he did it. He regretted. And so the Bible says that the sorrow in second Corinthians 710, that is according to the will of god, what does it produce? Repentance. Repentance without Regret.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:36

Regret. Repentance without regret. Leading to salvation, the sorrow of the world produces death. This is worldly remorse. Yeah. Regret. I regret doing it. It's a bad decision.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:50

It's a bad decision. Oh, and, oh, by the way, it will result in the death of the one who I was with for 3 years. So it's worldly sorrow, worldly remorse. And so he returns the money. So to me to me, this is a picture of returning the money to pay for his guilt. Right? To pay for his guilt. I'm gonna return the money. I'm gonna send it back.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:19

Consequences of this are in play. There's no way to turn them back, but I'm gonna return the money as if you can pay for your own sin. The other thing I thought and, also, by the way, we throws it into the sanctuary as the way you're saying right? The same thing that Adam said. What did Adam say in the garden? It wasn't me, Lord. It's a big option. I just listened to the woman. Right? What what me, Lord? I I just was listening to the woman. And isn't that the nature of our sin? It wasn't me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:52

Oh, it wasn't it wasn't me, Lord. It was those priests. It was the priest who paid me. The priest who paid me. So he wanted to he wanted to share the guilt. He wanted to pass it around. Not my not my fault. I'll give the money back and sin with remorse.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:09

But the end, he was not willing to come to Jesus. Not willing to come to Jesus. If you're not willing to come to Jesus, what's the end result? Despair. And for him, recognizing it's suicide, and he kills himself. At the end of the day the end of the day, suicide. And I thought about he Jesus said, you search the scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life. In what? In your ability to search the scriptures. So he's saying that's what you're trusting in.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:43

You search the scriptures, but you're unwilling to come to me that you may have life. The scriptures point to Christ. Scriptures aren't the salvation. The gospel aren't isn't the words. The gospel is Jesus. The gospel is Jesus the Christ. It's Jesus the Christ who hung on the cross. It was Christ crucified.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:09

To Jews, a stumbling block. To Greeks, foolishness. It was the the gospel is Christ crucified him in action. So they they they're unwilling to come to him. Right? He's unwilling, Judas. And then we have sin without remorse or repentance. Who is that displayed by? Yeah. The priest? You think about this.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:33

He throws the money into the temple and departs. He went away and hanged himself. So the chief priest take the money, and they say, well, let's see. It's not lawful to put this money back into the treasury because it's blood money. You're worried about whether it's lawful to put the money back into the treasury, the money that just bought the death of the innocent bond. Isn't that funny? Yes. Isn't it funny? It is when everyone does what is right in their own eyes. When justice in god says justice is not found.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:14

So what did they do? Injustice and cover up. Injustice and cover up. You don't see much of that today, do you? As you watch our injustice system being just right out in the open anymore. It used to be hide hit it. They they did it in hiding, but here it's just right out in the open. So sin without remorse and repentance. And wrapped, of course, in the midst of this, here are the disciples. Here is Judas.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:45

Here are the priests. Who's at the center of this? The innocent one. Jesus. The innocent one. The innocent one surrounded by sinners, the innocent one. And you know that he is appeared. Word became flesh. And he's appeared in order to take away sins.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:07

And in him, there is no sin. He's the innocent one. Isn't that interesting? Here he is, Jesus, the innocent one. Right? And three responses to him. Three kinds of responses. You see this today? Right? He opens the eyes of some. Right? And you have repentance. Right? Brokenness about sin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:27

Others, yeah, I regret it. See if I can fix it. Only God and others don't even acknowledge don't even acknowledge. So then I said, okay. It's easier to talk about their sin. How about our sin? How about our sin? Well, god's truth said we sin. Right? We must not sin. And when we sin, we are the scripture says.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:57

We sin. We must not sin. And when we sin, we are not lost. Is that good news? No. That's great news. If we say that we have no sin, we're deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:22

My little children, I'm writing these sins to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins. The propitiation for our sin. What does that mean? Propitiation. We don't use that often. I mean, they're not hanging out. Hey. They're propitiation.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:47

Well, our propitiation is god's provision god's provision god's provision for our sin. Is Jesus Christ. Propitiation and allure means atoning, atoning sacrifice, atoning to expiate, to reconcile, to appease, to turn away anger, to render propitious or favorable, right, to take from where you were in brokenness and disconnection. Right? There's there's wrath, and there is righteous anger that has to be propitiated for. Right? In order to turn away the wrath, to appease god's wrath. Remember, wrath equals and it's it's often a word that's misunderstood because it was it sounds Right. Wrath equals justice. It's got justice in action.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:41

Right? But it has it has a a sense of feeling with it that God, who is a jealous God, is is angry in that sense of righteous anger, not angry like we think, mad. No. More in in the sense of righteousness being offended. The holiness of god being offended. We need a propitiation. We have 1, Jesus Christ. We have 1, Jesus Christ. We have 1, Jesus Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:13

Bless the lord, oh my soul. He forgives all our iniquity. Is that even possible that something could atone for all my iniquity. When Yahweh shows up for Moses, he says the lord, the lord god, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness, keeping loving kindness for 1,000, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Why did he use 3 words? Iniquity, transgression, and sin. Everything from voluntary to involuntary to absolute rebellion. That's what he did. He did the breath of all our sin, that which we do consciously, that that which we do unconsciously, and that's when we're just putting our feet in the ground saying, I'm not doing what you tell me to do.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:13

Why? Because I got them all. I got them all. Forgiving. How does he do that? Well, the consequence for for injustice to the holy one, The most glorious one, right, is eternal wrath, eternal justice. Why? Because the justice is equal to the offense. And if the offense is to the eternal one, the most glorious one, the eternal one, then the offense is eternal. Everybody get it? Because he is eternal. The offense is eternal.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:48

Therefore, justice is eternal. The only way we could comprehend how could eternal justice because, generally, we think, well, I'm not that bad. I mean, I'm no mother Teresa, but I'm not that bad. Right? That's what we generally think. Well, Jesus said, if you call your brother a moron or a fool or an idiot, You're guilty enough to go into hell. You've looked on a woman to lust for you committed adultery already in your heart. He says, you don't you have no way to comprehend. So eternal glory requires eternal justice.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:21

So the the wrath of god, the righteous justice of god is eternal. Who can endure? Who could absorb eternal wrath? Only one who is eternal, the eternal son. Absorb the eternal wrath of the father and not be consumed or obliterated. The eternal one. He is the propitiation for our sin. So he is for our sin, for all our sin, for all our sin. Because we wanna do watch this. We wanna do what Judas did.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:54

Oh, I'll just pay for it. I'll just fix it myself. It's not that bad. Or I'll blame it on someone else. But we do it. Right? I'll just fix it myself. Yeah. It's not so bad.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:03

Or I'll blame it on someone else. But when you get it, you realize there's no way to recognize and understand the riches of his mercy till you understand the depth of his wrath because that's what we've been freed up from. And as a result of it, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Is there some? Is it possible? There is therefore now no condemnation. Years ago, I talked about the doctrine of double jeopardy. What does double jeopardy mean? Legally, you can't be charged twice for the same crime. Can't they can't bring it back up. Where did the that concept come from? It's god's nature.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:54

You can't be charged twice for the same crime. Jesus Christ was charged for your crime. He took it. He paid for it. You can't be charged twice. Where'd they get that? They got that from the nature of God. And he says, so we have a provision for our sin, Jesus Christ. We also have a provision when we sin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:16

So we have a provision for our sin, and we have a provision when we sin. What's that called? Confession. If we confess our sins, We confess our sins. Do that with another, but, primarily, it's you confessing to the lord. And the word literally means to say the same thing. I have to say the same thing as God. Right? If we say the same thing, or say word, yes, say the same thing. We have to be in agreement with god.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:49

Yes. It's sin. Yes. It's sin. Where David says, Lord, I have sinned against you and you alone. Wait a minute. You killed Uriah. You got Bathsheba pregnant, and you're saying, did did he sin against them? Yes.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:06

But, fundamentally, he's saying my sin is between the lord and me. Right? So when we say the same thing, we confess our sins, confession. I think that the the the quality of your intimacy with the Lord is tied to how often you're confessing your sin. Because if you come into his presence and you don't see his holiness, breathe it in, and recognize your fallenness, you don't appreciate because that that's literally breathing the gospel every day. How do we breathe the gospel every day? We come into his presence. We see his holiness. We recognize our brokenness if we confess our sins. Remember, we did a Bible study, and one lady said, yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:52

I I just don't know that I've sinned much. So Gorky, who we've been meeting with, right, said to, his son, yeah, I I just don't know that I sinned much. And his son said, you would be wrong. That's exactly right. So it's the the depth of our convention. For a righteous man falls 7 times over and over and over again. And I love this. I love this.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:15

Is it just me? Is it just you? No. Saint John. Well, there's there's a confusion that somehow saint means a saint without sin. You would be wrong because he says he doesn't say he doesn't say if you say. He said if we say, if we confess, we have our sins. That is plural. That is plural. I love that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:48

And he says, we have an advocate. We have an advocate. Jesus Christ, the righteous. One who comes alongside. Same word that's used to the holy spirit. We have an advocate. And Jesus Christ is pleading his righteousness on our behalf. Is that good? He is our advocate.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:08

So I think about in the days, weeks, months, even years ahead, was Peter haunted by his denial? You have a sin in your life, a failure in your life that haunts you? Where you wonder, could can God use me? I remember I did that. Oh my. And my second, right, shelf could put me into the the farm league. You're not gonna use me now. So if you could fill down the blank, and I'm assuming something pops up, you should write in there propitiation. Jesus Christ. He's the answer to that sin. He's the answer to that crushing sin and failure.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:49

He's the answer to that. So I put there there's life with purpose after sin. There's life with purpose after sin. That would be the question if I repeat it, wouldn't it? Holy smokes. Failed him. I shot my mouth out. Right? I boasted the fact that and then I then I publicly, not once, not twice, but 3 times, I would stood up by a servant girl. You're not gonna use me now.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:17

Right? And I love this. In between here, I wonder if he remembered Simon Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. It's before this, but I have prayed for you. I have prayed for you. Yeah. Good to know Jesus is praying for you, And he's also mediating Satan's desire to take you down, to sift you how's wheat sifted murderously, if you will, vigorously. That's what he wants to do to you. Fortunately, he's gas gas permission.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:57

He says he he wants your faith to fail. He wants your faith to fail. Wants your faith to fail. Right? And he uses he does all that stuff. He uses deception, accusations, and temptations. He does all that stuff. And he says, once Jesus says, once you've turned again, what do you need to do? Strengthen your brothers. Why? There's some who come behold behind you who will not sin in the same way, but feel like, will the lord ever use me again? And the lord never use me again.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:30

You ever wonder that? I mean, wonder that. I did. Will the lord ever use me again after that? And then, of course, the enemy is gonna say, the lord ever gonna use you again? Are you a Christian? Christians don't do that. Of course, great scene in John. He says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? The English, of course, doesn't do justice. He says, do you love me with that unconditional covenant love? And he says to him, yes, lord. You know that I like you as a friend. I mean, I'm friendly and warm.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:07

Yeah. Friendly and warm with you. That's how he answers it. Lord says, do you love me covenant with covenant love? Then he says, tend my lambs. He says to him again, 2nd night, Simon, son of John, do you have unconditional covenant love for me? He says to him, yes, lord. You know that I phileo you, which is friend friend love. Right? Like, you would have your friend. Yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:34

I love you. Right? Said to to to to to Bob, my unbelieving friend. Right? I love you. That's that phileo. Right? I love him. Not unconditional love, but that love. Yes, lord. You know that I phileo you, and he says, shepherd my sheep, says to him the 3rd time, son of John, do you phileo me? Jesus switches the word there.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:58

So do you? And Peter was grieved because he said to him, do you love me a third time? And he says to, lord and this is a good news. You know all things. Scripture said even before I answer, he knows. So Jesus didn't ask did Jesus isn't asking us. When god god you hear god prompting you, he's not asking for the answer as if he needs to know. He's asking for us to to reveal to ourselves. Right? Reveal to ourselves. Lord, you know all things.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:27

You know that I fully owe you. Jesus said to him, do the work that I've called you to do. Bend my sheep. And, of course, it's a great picture because he he fails three times, and Jesus reminds him three times. Right? It's as if he's restoration. So I put on there restoration for purpose. He restores Peter for purpose. Can the Lord use me after my crushing sin and failure and defeat? Good news is, yes.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:57

Yes. Yes. Paul would say, it's a trustworthy statement discovering full acceptance that Christ came into this world to save sinners among whom you are the utmost, did he say? You've sinned the most. What did he say? Paul. I am. I am foremost of all. What's that mean? They can use the foremost sinner. They can use me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:22

Paul's the foremost sinner. Some folks I talked to had sinned before Christ and think, oh, in light of what happened even did you know that? No. But, you know, does it cover does it cover? Yeah. He said, I listen. It's on the least of all apostles not fit to be called impostor because I persecuted the church of God before Christ. Right? Did he pay for before? Did he pay for the before? Did he, Right? Did he atone for the sin before Christ? Did he atone for the sin after Christ? Does he atone for all your sin? Yes. Iniquity, transgression, sin. The enemy is gonna tell you, you can't use you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:12

You can't use you. Remember what you did? Remember what you did? Restoration for purpose. So the picture, of course, is I was thinking standing for Jesus, but, you know, the good news is you don't stand for Jesus. You stand with Jesus. You don't stand for Jesus. You stand with Jesus. You don't stand alone. You don't stand alone.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:36

You'll never stand alone. The greatest promise, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. So I thought, so okay. So what what are the three things that we could take from this? You can't stand with him in your own strength. You can't stand in your own strength. How many have tried? I've tried. I've tried.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:59

I'll probably try again. I think I forget. Paul says, my grace right? The lord said to him, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in your weakness. I don't like to be weak, lord. He says, I'll boast about my weakness. I don't like to be weak. I wanna be strong. Right? We love strength.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:25

We love strong. He says, no. I'm gonna boast about my weaknesses. Power acquired Christ may dwell in me. Alright. I don't have to do it with my own strength. You can't stand with Jesus and have the world applaud. You can't stand with Jesus and have the world applaud.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:47

How many read the Gulag app? ArcaPalego. Right? Isn't that how it is? ArcaPalego. How many have you read that? It's hard to say. Yeah. It's hard. Yeah. It's hard it's hard to roll through it. It was also hard to write it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:03

Yeah. For sure. So he was an avowed Marxist, and he wrote against Stalin Lenin. What would it be? Whatever. 1 of them. And they threw in in the labor camp, 8 years. Through that, process, he came to Christ and wrote about it. Right? And he was under immense physical and mental torture and just unbelievable stuff.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:31

So we wanted to know about Peace Prize, great dissident and writer. And so we spoke at Harvard in 1978. What's today? June. That was yesterday. I spoke 1978. Right? I was a Christian then. Just graduated college. Didn't know about him.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:51

Didn't care about him. Didn't care about the Lord. They spoke there at Harvard. So think about that. Harvard would have thought, oh, this Nobel Prize winner, let's get him in here. And he says communism is not the problem. The decline of morality in the west is the problem. You should fear that more than you fear Marxism.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:15

He says that, the west has lost their civil courage. He said 4 tragic realities. Think about this. The worship of unbridled freedom. The worship of unbridled freedom. Is that the case? The decadence of art. The way the enemy destroys morality is he starts with art because you can you can destroy morality in art because you get to massage, you get to make up your own rules in art. You can't do that in reality.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:44

Right? The decadence of art, a corrosive pop culture, and the lack of great statesman leadership in your country. Boy, did he ever write on or what? He wrote his words. Write on. And now it's so funny. I thought people are now surrendering their unbridled freedom in for the sake of safety, and they are leading themselves into slavery. Right? Leading us up into slavery. And they booed him at Harvard, which has now become a Marxist University. Isn't that interesting? They're now heralding Marxism and communism.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:22

The university that was set up to train young men in the gospel is now a Marxist university. And, yeah, it's just not so well, the world's not gonna applaud. The world is not waiting for you to be a Christian. The world is not gonna applaud you when you stand up for Christ. In fact, today, it's gonna do the opposite. Right? And we're on a path where the consequences of that will be increasing, increasing, increasing, increasing. Right? So he says if the world hates you, you know that it has hated me. Well, thanks, Scott.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:00

That's a great message. But sometimes I think, what do you do with it? I mean, the world is going down the toilet seemingly, except it's god's toilet. He is still sovereign over. Right? It's it's it's his it's his design as he does that. Right? So we need to understand the world is not going to be for us. It's not gonna be better no matter what election or what time or who gets in or any of that stuff. It's just not. That's part of his sovereign plan to bring about, right, the end of time where he will sum up all things into Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:34

So as he is summing up all things into his son. Right? And we need to surrender that. So rather than looking for the world's applause, we need to keep our eyes on the audience of 1. It's great to remember and that the audience of 1. Not easy to do, is it? Because of this last thing, and that is you can't stand for him and succumb to fear succumb to fear. Every idol gives the false promise that you can avoid pain and discomfort. Right? And so idols abound, did they not? Idols abound. So this is Beth's favorite verse, Isaiah 4110, where he says, do not fear.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:20

And what I want you to think about, this is not a do not fear. This is the lord Jesus looking at you and saying, do not fear. Do not fear. Look at me. Do not fear. Look at me. Look me in the eye. Do not fear.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:33

Look at me. Just like you looked at Peter. Do not fear. Just like he looked at Peter and said, I knew you were gonna fall. I prayed for you. I knew you're gonna fall. And I'm gonna I'm you're gonna come out of it, and you're gonna be used in a mighty way. You just can't see the after.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:48

I know the after. I only see the after. I am the after. Forget that? He is the after. He's the author and perfector of your faith. He's writing your story. So he's looking at you. He said, do you want beer? And then he said, do not anxiously look about you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:04

If you look about, how what are you gonna feel like? Anxious. Fearful. Look around the world. Turn off the stuff. Turn off the media. Stop doing this. Anxiously looking about I don't even have to go around. Oh, I can look I can anxiously scroll about.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:22

He says there's a reason for I am your god. What will I do? Strengthen, help, uphold. That's what I will do. I will strengthen, I will help, and I will uphold you. Why will I need upholding? Because my knees will be weak, and I wanna fall. Sometimes I will fall. He says I'm on hold again. It says in Daniel that the people who know their god, the people who know their god will display strength and take action.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:54

And he reminds us that he's not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and discipline. So reminds us, we stand with Jesus. We don't stand for him. We stand with him. We don't need to stand in our own strength. We don't need the world to applaud because it's not going to. And we don't need to fear. So we need to fear or anxiously look about you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:24

Where am I looking? Where am I looking day to day? Just say, where am I look what are my eyes on? Am I seeing? What am I meditating on? What am I thinking on? Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And there he is, having sat down because he paid for your sins fully, completely, once for all. And he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, and he propitiates. Right? He did that once, and now he advocates for you. He ever lives to make intercession. Lord Jesus, pray for me. Pray for me. Pray for me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:13

Alright. Write down your insight from today. Amen. Amen. May the god who redeemed you in and through his son, may he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance and grant you his shalom deep in your soul.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:31

May the grace of the lord Jesus Christ, the love of god the father, and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you now, this day, and all days. May he bless you and keep you alive. Amen?

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:45

Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you.