Oct. 20, 2024

Bible Interpretation Errors Pt 2

Bible Interpretation Errors Pt 2

We continue our look at errors made in bible interpretation

Spreaker podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
PocketCasts podcast player badge
Amazon Music podcast player badge
Overcast podcast player badge
Audible podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
iHeartRadio podcast player badge
Castbox podcast player badge
Podchaser podcast player badge
TuneIn podcast player badge
Deezer podcast player badge
Pandora podcast player badge
RadioPublic podcast player badge
Podcast Addict podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
YouTube podcast player badge
Fountain podcast player badge
PlayerFM podcast player badge
Goodpods podcast player badge
Podverse podcast player badge
Podyssey podcast player badge
Breaker podcast player badge
Podurama podcast player badge
Audacy podcast player badge
JioSaavn podcast player badge
Spreaker podcast player icon Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon PocketCasts podcast player icon Amazon Music podcast player icon Overcast podcast player icon Audible podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon iHeartRadio podcast player icon Castbox podcast player icon Podchaser podcast player icon TuneIn podcast player icon Deezer podcast player icon Pandora podcast player icon RadioPublic podcast player icon Podcast Addict podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon YouTube podcast player icon Fountain podcast player icon PlayerFM podcast player icon Goodpods podcast player icon Podverse podcast player icon Podyssey podcast player icon Breaker podcast player icon Podurama podcast player icon Audacy podcast player icon JioSaavn podcast player icon

We continue our look at errors made in bible interpretation

WEBVTT

1
00:00:01.879 --> 00:00:10.560
This morning is the thirty eight year anniversary of well,

2
00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:14.320
not a good event. It was thirty eight years ago,

3
00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:21.039
almost at this exact time, just down the road Jimnet

4
00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:25.000
High School. Thirty eight years ago today. I was in

5
00:00:25.079 --> 00:00:29.000
the cafeteria. I got the page overhead that I needed

6
00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:31.839
to come to the principal's office, and from there I

7
00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.320
was told I needed to get to Hendrick's Hospital as

8
00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:39.799
soon as possible. And that's when my mom died, thirty

9
00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:44.520
eight years ago today. And it's weird because typically I'm

10
00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:47.439
not out here on this day, but it's weird to

11
00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:50.520
be standing so close to the very place where I

12
00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.200
was sitting, you know, when I got the announcement, and

13
00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:58.880
from that moment. Once I got that announcement, really nothing

14
00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:00.719
of my life was ever going to be the say

15
00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:04.519
you talk about a period of total, complete and utter chaos,

16
00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:11.000
because that was October the twentieth, nineteen eighty six. Okay, November,

17
00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:14.239
I don't remember the day in November. If we go this,

18
00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:19.079
if we drive this direction of good probably fifteen twenty

19
00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:22.079
minutes disdirection in the middle of nowhere, in about a

20
00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:25.280
three thousand acre ranch. That's where I took a gun

21
00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:28.400
and tried to kill myself and then spent eight weeks

22
00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:31.840
in a psychiatric hospital. So from everything that happened on

23
00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:38.599
October the twentieth, nineteen eighty six, had an absolutely profound impact. Really,

24
00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:41.439
I don't even know. I mean, to this day, it

25
00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:44.359
still impacts me to some level, but it had a

26
00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.560
profound impact on every area of my life. Right. So,

27
00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.400
on one hand, I just wanted to mention it because

28
00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:54.599
it's just weird standing here so close to where I

29
00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:57.280
was sitting. It's hard to believe it's been that many years,

30
00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:01.079
you know, and how my life is never be the same.

31
00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:03.280
But so in one way, I just want to mention

32
00:02:03.319 --> 00:02:05.120
it because I'm feeling it. But the other way, I'll

33
00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:09.560
try to utilize it and somewhat of an illustration. Everything

34
00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:13.560
turned into chaos. Everything was from that point it was

35
00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:16.080
hard for me to be able to judge anything, Like

36
00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:20.719
everything was so confusing. I saw everything through the lens

37
00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:25.080
of what had happened, emotions, feelings. You could say that

38
00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:29.960
everything became very subjective, chaotic. I probably made horribly bad

39
00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.599
decisions in light of everything that happened. I mean, I

40
00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:36.039
don't think I could be I mean, on one hand,

41
00:02:36.199 --> 00:02:38.400
I'm still to be blamed for any bad decisions. On

42
00:02:38.439 --> 00:02:40.159
the other hand, it was hard not to make bad

43
00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:42.719
decisions and light of everything that was going on, and

44
00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:45.759
then it was like, so that was October eighty six,

45
00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:49.800
less than one year later, less than one year later,

46
00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:54.159
my father had gotten remarried, and then of course then

47
00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:57.879
everything went downhill from there. Just it was total chaos,

48
00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:01.520
ladies and gentlemen, It was total chaos. And what you

49
00:03:01.639 --> 00:03:04.719
want to believe, at least at that point in time,

50
00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:11.960
I wanted to believe deeply that Christianity would offer something

51
00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:17.520
different than all of that chaos and subjectivity. It would

52
00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:23.280
give me something objective, something tangible, something I could grab

53
00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:27.080
on to. And in some ways Christianity does present that,

54
00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:33.240
But in other ways, Christianity is filled with as much subjectivity, chaos,

55
00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:37.319
and confusion as what I felt on this day, what

56
00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:41.240
thirty eight years ago. It is. It's crazy in some ways,

57
00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.960
that's what it feels. And it's fitting because this week

58
00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:48.240
has been a week where I have felt how just

59
00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:53.000
totally chaotic and crazy Christianity can be. So what we

60
00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:55.120
started in the first hour, I'm going to continue in

61
00:03:55.159 --> 00:03:57.879
the second hour. Here's what we've been talking this week.

62
00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:00.560
If you listen to the podcast. You know, some things

63
00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:04.360
went wacky crazy. I was reviewing sermons and I thought

64
00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:05.719
it was just going to be a fun, you know,

65
00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:09.039
sermon review. Well, we reviewed a sermon on Second King's

66
00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:12.759
chapter six, where you have the floating axe head, and

67
00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:15.000
we heard in the sermon that the ax said, really,

68
00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:17.600
we don't really focus on the axe head. It pictures

69
00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:21.360
all kinds of other things, and making the text then

70
00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:24.920
very subjective, right, because there was no textual basis saying

71
00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.839
that the axaid represents my fellowship with God, and the

72
00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:31.240
axaid represents my effectiveness for the work of God, and

73
00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:34.839
the axe head represents my passion for God. There's nothing

74
00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:37.680
in the text that says that they just inferred it.

75
00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:41.560
They just implied it. Then they went to Proverbs chapter thirty.

76
00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.360
Oh well, then another sermon, actually it was another sermon.

77
00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.959
Then I went to another sermon, Proverbs chapter thirty. And

78
00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.600
the next thing I find that I'm listening to a

79
00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:56.639
sermon on Proverbs chapter thirty and I start hearing discussion

80
00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:00.319
about how there's coming a time where people will eat

81
00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:05.839
poor people, how people will eat people, and I'm like,

82
00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:09.160
how in the world do you get there? And from

83
00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:12.399
Proverbs chapter thirty, and then it was just that all

84
00:05:12.439 --> 00:05:15.360
these cross references, and then it just turned into craziness.

85
00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:19.040
And then it got me discussing just the whole how

86
00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:24.399
subjective interpreting the Bible can actually be. So in the

87
00:05:24.439 --> 00:05:26.720
first hour, I'm going to go through this quickly. We

88
00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:31.560
basically discussed this. We discussed the reality and the history

89
00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:35.480
of Bible interpretation, and what we found is this, and

90
00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:37.720
I'll just summarize it. This is what we found. If

91
00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:40.519
you look at church history and you look at the reality,

92
00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:44.480
the Christianity has been filled for two thousand years with

93
00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:50.879
endless numbers of endless number of interpretations that contradict one another.

94
00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:55.079
Everyone thinks they're right and they think everyone else is wrong.

95
00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:58.279
And if you don't believe with what they believe, well

96
00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:01.199
then you're wrong and you're basically viewed a heritage. The

97
00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:06.360
number of interpretations are endless. It is subjective, and it

98
00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:09.959
is crazy, and there's lots of reasons for this, and

99
00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:13.839
every attempt to try to fight against it has failed miserably.

100
00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:16.920
So when it's all said and done, here's the reality.

101
00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:24.079
Here's the reality. Bible interpretation is subjective. It's not objective

102
00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:26.120
as much as we want to believe that it is.

103
00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:31.399
It has become completely subjective. The individual is the authority,

104
00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:38.000
not the text, and the interpretation trumps the actual objective

105
00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:41.040
meaning of the text. So the end of the the

106
00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:44.639
end of the day, that's just the reality. Bible interpretation

107
00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:50.319
is subjective. The person, the individual is the authority over

108
00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:52.879
the Bible. The Bible is not the authority over the

109
00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:58.160
over the person in practical terms. We can argue about

110
00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:01.480
it philologically, but in practical terms, and that the interpretation

111
00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:06.920
of the individual trumps the text. And when you reach

112
00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:09.800
to that level, that is a depressing place to be.

113
00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:14.720
That is a very depressing place to be. So what

114
00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:17.360
we're going to do in this hour is we're going

115
00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:21.600
to look at some of the problems with Bible interpretation

116
00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:24.240
and how we kind of got here. So this is

117
00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.399
what we're going to attempt to do. Interpreting the Bible

118
00:07:29.240 --> 00:07:32.920
can be complex, and there are a number of issues

119
00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:36.800
and common problems that people encounter when approaching Biblical interpretation.

120
00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:39.519
So we're going to look at the key challenges and

121
00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:44.680
the key problems people have when try to interpret the Bible. Right.

122
00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.920
Key problems that people have when try to interpret the Bible,

123
00:07:48.040 --> 00:07:53.439
and remember, everything really went haywire. Basically, we go back

124
00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:57.480
to the Protestant Reformation right October thirty. First, When we

125
00:07:57.560 --> 00:08:02.639
go back to October thirty first, what year fifteen seventeen,

126
00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:05.879
everything goes wrong, right, Because as much as we want

127
00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:09.959
to say that the Reformation was about indulgences, the Reformation

128
00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:13.199
was about justification. When it comes down to it, the

129
00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:18.759
Reformation was about who has the authority? And Luther said,

130
00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:20.959
even though he may not have used these direct words,

131
00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:24.439
he ultimately basically said, what, at least in practice the

132
00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:29.560
churches of the authority, I am the authority. Now he

133
00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:31.800
would not say he was the authority. He would say

134
00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:36.600
Scripture is the authority. But his interpretation made him say

135
00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:40.879
that the entire church was wrong. And then after him

136
00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:45.039
that people told that he was wrong, and then other

137
00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:47.840
people would tell them that they were wrong. And it's

138
00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:50.919
not stopped all the way to this point. And now

139
00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:54.639
every individual thinks that they are right and their interpretation

140
00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:56.759
is right, and they don't have to go to school,

141
00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:58.960
they don't have to have ever read a book on hermeneutics.

142
00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.559
They just opened them Bible, read it, and whatever they

143
00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:06.279
say they say is the correct thing so the Reformation

144
00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.399
really leads to this. So what we're gonna do is

145
00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:10.600
we're gonna look at some of the challenges, some of

146
00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:14.639
the problems that develop out of this absolute mess that

147
00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:19.120
has arisen within Christianity. Are you ready? So here we go.

148
00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:24.960
All right, here are some of the hermeneutical problems and difficulties.

149
00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:27.240
You're ready. Number one, what do you think? Number one?

150
00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:31.240
Is the first key challenge, key problem in hermonutics. Now

151
00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:35.679
this one is so everyone says this, and okay, well,

152
00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:37.440
I'm just gonna lose my mind before we're done with this,

153
00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:39.399
but just stay with me. Right here we go. Not

154
00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:42.120
what should be that? That's probably the best one. The

155
00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:48.519
first one is the failure to consider context. The failure

156
00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:53.799
to consider context. Now that sounds so good, ladies and gentlemen,

157
00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:58.480
that sounds so good. I think it's actually just meaningless.

158
00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:04.919
And here's the reason why everyone says that. Everyone says

159
00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:08.039
that if I talk to a charismatic and I say something,

160
00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:11.919
you're just failing to interpret it or look at the context.

161
00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:15.000
If I was to argue with a Presbyterian today over baptism,

162
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.919
what they would tell me, you're just not looking at

163
00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:21.799
it in its context. And a Baptist would tell a Presbyterian,

164
00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:24.399
you're just not looking at it in in his context.

165
00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:26.840
A Lutheran would say, you're not looking at it in as

166
00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:32.919
everyone says that. So in reality, if everyone is saying

167
00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:35.840
that everyone else is failing to look at it in context,

168
00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:40.480
and everyone's coming to innumerable different interpretations and everyone disagrees, well,

169
00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:44.919
then obviously looking at a context does what absolutely nothing.

170
00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:49.080
But in reality that's what everyone says. It's a failure

171
00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:51.120
to look at context. So I do believe we need

172
00:10:51.159 --> 00:10:53.559
to look at context, but I don't think people actually

173
00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:57.240
didn't really understand what that means. All right, So, according

174
00:10:57.279 --> 00:10:59.559
to one source, one of the most frequent errors in

175
00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:03.320
biable interpretation is taking verses out of their immediate literary, historical,

176
00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:06.840
and cultural context. Now right there, though, that changes it

177
00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:09.559
a little bit. Right when we talk about context, we're

178
00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:13.600
talking about what context? Are you ready? Immediate context? What

179
00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:18.080
does that mean? Immediate context means where the verse is fair,

180
00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:22.519
what's immediately around it? What's immediately around it? Right? We

181
00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:26.679
sometimes would refer to that as what textual context? But

182
00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:30.840
all right, but the immediate context, literary context, what does

183
00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:38.159
that mean? The genre, the literary genre, the literary genre, right,

184
00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:42.440
because that's very important. Okay, all right? Next historical context

185
00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:45.000
what does that mean? Well, what's going on at the time,

186
00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:49.320
what's happening? Who? What where that kind of thing? Right? Next?

187
00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:52.799
Cultural context? What does that mean? Well, how did the

188
00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:56.200
culture at the time understand that phrase? Say? That's more

189
00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:58.679
than just oh, you got to read it in Everyone says,

190
00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:01.320
read it in context, and if you think about it,

191
00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:06.320
this is what's happened. Everyone says, you have to consider context,

192
00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.080
and what does that really mean? It's just a way

193
00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:13.519
of justifying your belief And if Bobby questions me, I

194
00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:16.759
can just disregard Bobby and say, what you just need

195
00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:20.759
to look at it in context. It's a meaningless phrase,

196
00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:24.799
if we really might. So when someone says, well, we

197
00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:26.720
got to look at it in context, what do they

198
00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:29.120
need to demonstrate? What were the things I just gave

199
00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:35.279
you the immedia, context, literary, historical, and cultural. If they

200
00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:38.840
cannot explain all of that, then guess what they've not done.

201
00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:42.200
They have not looked at it in context. When verses

202
00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:46.360
are isolated from their surrounding text, the meaning can be distorted.

203
00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:49.799
Let me give you an example. Right, everyone look at Philippians,

204
00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:54.039
Chapter four. Oh we know this verse right, Oh, man,

205
00:12:55.679 --> 00:13:03.799
we know this versus quoted all the time flipp Is

206
00:13:03.799 --> 00:13:08.519
four thirteen. What does it say, I can do all

207
00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:15.360
things through Christ, who strengtheneth me. That is quoted by everyone, right, boxers,

208
00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:21.519
people in UFC, basketball players, football players, baseball players. And

209
00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:23.639
when I was in the military and we'd be doing

210
00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.200
our morning run, my commander would all like, you can

211
00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.720
do all things through Christ who strengthen with me. Christ

212
00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:32.039
is not strengthening me to run this time? What are

213
00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:35.399
you talking about? It has nothing to do with that. Right.

214
00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:39.799
If Christ is a strengthening me to do all things,

215
00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:47.240
then what would be the logical conclusion? If Christs strengtheneth

216
00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:51.559
me to do all things, then I could do all things?

217
00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:56.279
So then who should be the best baseball player Christians? Right?

218
00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:59.559
Who should be the best basketball players? Christians? Who should

219
00:13:59.559 --> 00:14:03.440
always in all their fights? Christians? Do Christians do best

220
00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:07.159
in school? No? No, that is just inevitably not true.

221
00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:09.279
So when I say cristis strengthened to me to do

222
00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:11.759
all things, we know immediately. Look, we don't even need

223
00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:14.480
to know how to read. We can just say something

224
00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:17.960
is wrong with that conclusion. Right, So how do we

225
00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:21.240
understand it. Well, it's often applied broadly to personal achievements.

226
00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:24.559
But the context is Paul speaking about finding contentment and

227
00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:30.799
all circumstances, not about accomplishing any task. So it's about

228
00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:34.799
being content. That's more of the content. Right, that's more

229
00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:39.279
of the context. I should say so, But yet that's

230
00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:43.200
done all the time. Now that's an egregious example, right,

231
00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:46.679
I mean, any reasonable person should be like, that's ridiculous.

232
00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.200
But there's millions of those examples that happen every Sunday

233
00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:52.919
in churches all across the United States of America, over

234
00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:57.159
all kinds of issues. So always interpret scripture within the

235
00:14:57.159 --> 00:15:00.840
immediate context surrounding versus book context, the overall theme of

236
00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:04.200
the book and biblical context. We have to understand context,

237
00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:07.679
so that this is a number one problem and interpreting

238
00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:12.799
Bibles the failure to understand context. All right, so let's

239
00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:17.120
take this this entire week. Everything went wrong again with

240
00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:20.679
the two sermon reviews. One was on Second King six

241
00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.360
and the other one was on Proverbs thirty. So go

242
00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:29.600
to Second King's chapter six. Go to Second King's chapter six.

243
00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:38.600
I'm gonna try to apply some of this to all

244
00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:41.480
the craziness that we witness this week. All right, Second

245
00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:49.799
King's chapter six, I'm gonna try Second King's Chapter six.

246
00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:52.879
Verse one, and the sons of the prophets said, unto Elisha,

247
00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:55.679
behold now the place where we dwell with these two

248
00:15:55.759 --> 00:16:00.360
straight for us. That's pretty straightforward, right. They don't have

249
00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:03.639
enough room. They don't have enough room, right, So what

250
00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:05.799
do they say? In verse two? Let us go, we

251
00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.679
pray thee under Jordan and take this every man of beam,

252
00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.480
and let us make a place there where we may dwell.

253
00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:13.480
And he answered, go yee, So what do they want

254
00:16:13.480 --> 00:16:14.960
to do? They want to go make a place, And

255
00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:17.279
what are they gonna need to build a place. They're

256
00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:19.399
gonna need wood, right, They're gonna need it beams, they're

257
00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:24.039
gonna need lumber, right. So that what happens in verse three. Well,

258
00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:27.440
then they ask Elisha, hey be content, I pray thee

259
00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:29.320
and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will

260
00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:33.639
go pretty straightforward stuff, right. How would you interpret verse

261
00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:36.399
one and verse two and verse three? How would you

262
00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:40.519
interpret all of that pretty straightforward? In literal? Would you not?

263
00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:45.600
What happens in verse four? So he went with them,

264
00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:47.639
and when they came to Jordan. They cut down wood.

265
00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:53.360
Now guess what and the sermon all of a sudden, no, no, no,

266
00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:56.519
you know what this represents. This rest represents us as

267
00:16:56.600 --> 00:16:59.840
Christians living out our Christian life and the cutting down

268
00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:02.440
the wa wo is us working. We're doing that work

269
00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:04.759
for God. But you know what happens when we start

270
00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:08.599
doing our work for God? We get apathetic, we get complacent,

271
00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:12.119
we complacent get we lose our zeal and we stop

272
00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:15.799
really focusing and we start really stop really paying attention.

273
00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:19.119
And guess what happens when we become apathetic and complacent

274
00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:21.960
and we and we don't pay attention. What happens in

275
00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:32.200
the next verse, verse five, what happens He's cutting down

276
00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:35.359
a log and the axent fall into the water. This

277
00:17:35.480 --> 00:17:37.640
is what happens in your Christian life when you're out

278
00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:39.720
there working for God and all of a sudden, you

279
00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:42.240
just not pay You stop paying attention, You stop being

280
00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:46.640
village vigilant. Okay, you're not not a vigilante. You stop

281
00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:49.359
being vigilant, you start really paying attention, you lose your

282
00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:52.079
passion and the next thing you know, your axent falls

283
00:17:52.079 --> 00:18:00.160
into the water. Well, that's the way it's breached. This

284
00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:04.160
is the way it's pree you lose it. And so

285
00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:06.519
some of you today are sitting here in this church

286
00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:09.680
and you've lost your axe head, your passion is gone,

287
00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:13.079
your zill for God is gone. You've become complacent in

288
00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:18.240
your Christian life, and you need a revival. And everybody,

289
00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:23.200
everybody listen to that sermon, was doing what? Amen? Amen? Amen?

290
00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:26.400
What is't you talking about? What is it? What does

291
00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:28.440
that have to do with it? Where did you even

292
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:32.119
come to that conclusion? You know what that is, reading

293
00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:35.000
the Bible and making it up. That's the hermoneutic found

294
00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:40.079
in most churches. There's nothing to do with that. Where

295
00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:42.680
does it say? Where would you even go to find where?

296
00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:44.839
It means? Oh? You want to know how this was

297
00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:48.759
taught to me in one school that I attended. Okay,

298
00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:52.720
the taking the axe and chopping down the tree, That

299
00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:55.200
is you and I trying to keep the law of God.

300
00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:58.240
We try to keep the law of God, and the

301
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:00.559
more we try to keep the law of God, ultimately

302
00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:05.160
happens the axe head comes off because we cannot keep

303
00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:07.039
the law, and then we fall into the water. And

304
00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:09.880
the water represents the judgment of God because God used

305
00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:13.000
water in the arc right and he used the water

306
00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:16.640
to destroy the Egyptian army. Oh, I got even cross references, right,

307
00:19:16.759 --> 00:19:20.680
So then I submerge into God's judgment in God's rat

308
00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:22.880
But then the stick is put in the water. Is

309
00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.519
that what happens? And it makes it float. That's the

310
00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:28.160
cross of Jesus Christ, who died for me, who then

311
00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:32.000
resurrected me, and now I'm used by God. That's that's

312
00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:33.960
how I was taught in one of the schools I attended.

313
00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:37.680
Does that preach good? Yeah? Could would you sit there

314
00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:40.680
going wow? I never saw that this represented that? And

315
00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:44.240
that you know why you never saw that because it's

316
00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:50.839
not there? It sounds good Now any immediate context, would

317
00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:53.119
there be anything here to go? When we get to this,

318
00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:56.319
we start making this represent this and this represent this. Well,

319
00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:58.640
guess what. To be fair, people do this with these

320
00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:00.720
miracles and second kings all the time time, do they not?

321
00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:05.160
This represents this, This represents this, This represents that. But

322
00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:10.000
the context does not give that away, does it. There's

323
00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:12.880
nothing in the context that would be like hmm. Now,

324
00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:16.200
I can agree it seems like a strange story. I

325
00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:19.640
can agree. All the other miracles up to this point

326
00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:22.160
seem to be something of great seemed to be bigger,

327
00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:25.519
seemed to be more significant. This seems like pretty insignificant.

328
00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:29.440
The what makes it significant in this case? Well, now

329
00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:32.400
this is the cultural context. An axe head would be

330
00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:36.119
made of iron, most likely, and that was of great

331
00:20:36.519 --> 00:20:39.440
value at the time. Now look at the text. What

332
00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:46.359
is it about this axhead? Oh, it was borrowed. Now, yeah,

333
00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:49.359
if you borrowed someone's iron axe head and it just

334
00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:51.480
dropped to the bottom of the Jordan and you can't

335
00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:55.640
get it back, that's pretty significant. Now it seems insignificant

336
00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:58.039
and light of all these other miracles. But what does

337
00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:01.839
it demonstrate? It could our argue it demonstrates God's care

338
00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:06.000
even for the insignificant thing. Now, so there may be

339
00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:08.880
an application from that, but even there you gotta be careful.

340
00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:12.920
So okay, but that's the way you handle it. The context.

341
00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:16.359
Now go to Proverbs chapter thirty So we have a

342
00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:20.799
cultural context, we have historical context, right, and it immediately

343
00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:23.079
destroys a lot of what preachers do. This is the

344
00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:34.559
verse where everything went crazy this week. Proverbs thirty fourteen.

345
00:21:34.599 --> 00:21:38.000
There is a generation whose teeth are as swords, and

346
00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:41.119
their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from

347
00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:44.599
off the earth and the needy from among men. So

348
00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:48.240
in the sermon, okay, and I'm gonna have to get

349
00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:51.119
somewhat graphic. I apologize to the kids, but I just

350
00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:52.759
have to get graphic here because this is how it

351
00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:57.119
happened in a sermon. That sermon. They read that verse

352
00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:59.680
and then guess what they said? There is coming a

353
00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:05.240
time where poor people are gonna be taken, their heads

354
00:22:05.240 --> 00:22:07.680
are gonna be removed, their blood is gonna be drinking,

355
00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:16.480
and people are gonna eat their flesh. And I was

356
00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:19.960
sitting there behind the microphone almost ready to just door

357
00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:23.200
dash me some alcohol, okay, because I'm like, what is

358
00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:26.480
happening right here? What is going on? Now? Just look

359
00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:29.400
at the context. Look at the immediate context. Do you

360
00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:34.079
see any key clues? And verse fourteen itself, what would

361
00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:36.240
be some key clues in verse fourteen that maybe this

362
00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:42.440
is not about literally eating people? Teeth? Are his swords?

363
00:22:43.319 --> 00:22:48.880
What else? Jaws? That's not? Now? What's the key phrase there? Sarah?

364
00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:52.480
You should know this? What's the key phrase there? As

365
00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:58.200
which indicates that it's using a literary device known as

366
00:22:58.200 --> 00:23:03.359
a metaphor. Correct, okay, right, orse simile, thank you? I

367
00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:05.359
was I was hoping someone would use the word simile, right,

368
00:23:05.640 --> 00:23:08.799
or in a similes if that's the clue. Not if

369
00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:10.799
you don't need to go to the perverse before it,

370
00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:13.640
go to the verse before, just right before it. What

371
00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:21.319
does it say the verse before? It? Is that a

372
00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:31.640
verse condemning a generation's eyes? No, the eyes represent why pride? Right,

373
00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:38.319
that's it's about pride. It's using what literary device? He

374
00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:45.920
would it be metaphorical language? Okay, it's so immediately you

375
00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:49.279
were like, whoa, well, wait, not only that, what's the context?

376
00:23:49.319 --> 00:23:54.000
What's the literary context? It's a proverb, which is a

377
00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:59.960
form of poetry, and poetry tends to use metaphorical language

378
00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:03.480
and simile, right, So just a little bit of context,

379
00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:05.680
and you would immediately go, wait a minute, I think

380
00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:07.880
maybe we're getting a little carried away here, right, I

381
00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:10.319
think maybe I don't know if we should be running around.

382
00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:12.039
And so then they go to the Book of Psalms,

383
00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:16.359
which is poetry, or then they go to the Minor Prophets,

384
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:21.079
which is prophetic. Guess what in all of those literary genres,

385
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:26.880
what is commonly used metaphor and similes and those types

386
00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:29.960
of things. So you would just looking at the context

387
00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:32.319
should have stopped it, but now it did not. Only

388
00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:36.759
did it not stop it, everybody in the church was like, amen, Amen,

389
00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:39.839
they're gonna take the poor and they're gonna eat them.

390
00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:43.119
And I'm like, what is happening? And this would be

391
00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:46.640
a conservative church that would argue, we believe in the historical,

392
00:24:46.680 --> 00:24:51.079
grammatical method of interpretation, while this just goes utterly completely chaotic.

393
00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:56.519
Just a little bit of context should do what should

394
00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:02.680
fix it, But it's never fixed. This never stops in Christianity, right,

395
00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:05.960
So what's the first major issue in hermeneutics. It seems

396
00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:08.279
to be a problem people fail to consider context. But

397
00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:10.559
when we say context, what kind of context are we

398
00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:18.319
referring to? Immediate, literary, historical, and cultural? And you take

399
00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.839
some of that information, I'm not is that gonna fix

400
00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:24.480
every problem? No, because listen, no matter how many problems

401
00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:28.119
we fix, let me state this and dogmatically, Bible interpretation

402
00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:32.519
is subjective. I don't care how much you do. It

403
00:25:32.599 --> 00:25:36.400
will always be subjective. It will always be. But we

404
00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:43.839
should be able to eliminate craziness. But no, and guess what.

405
00:25:44.039 --> 00:25:46.720
The churches where the craziness tend to always be the

406
00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:55.880
more successful churches. How about number two. The first problem

407
00:25:55.960 --> 00:25:58.599
is a failure to consider context. Number two is reading

408
00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:04.200
personal or modern ideas into the text. Is when we

409
00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:10.359
read personal or modern ideas into the text. There's two phrases,

410
00:26:10.440 --> 00:26:18.559
exegesis and is Jesus? What is isa Jesus? Exit Jesus.

411
00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:21.799
And this is not technical, so people are online, don't

412
00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:24.440
get all ticked off at me. I'm not giving technical definitions.

413
00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.720
Exit Jesus is. The idea of pulling from the text

414
00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:31.920
isid Jesus is where we put into the text. We

415
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:39.440
are not to put anything in the text anything, nothing.

416
00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:44.119
Pastors love to do this when they tell when they

417
00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.599
have these stories in the Old Testament, they'll start saying, well,

418
00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:49.640
they said this, or they said this or and they

419
00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:52.400
almost start acting it out and they just create their

420
00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:56.799
own story and it sounds good. Everyone's laughing because the

421
00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:00.039
pastor is being of a good communicator. It's basically the

422
00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:03.160
shows and TV show And you know how I despise

423
00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:05.640
that with every ounce of my being. Why because it

424
00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:09.559
creates complete, made up dialogue. It's not in the Bible.

425
00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:12.440
And once you create, when you when you start reading

426
00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:15.559
things into the text, what's the problem with that? You

427
00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:19.039
begin to destroy the text itself, so we cannot read

428
00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:22.839
anything into this. This occurs when an interpreter projects their

429
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:26.759
own ideas, their own biases, their own culture, their own

430
00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:32.160
values onto the Biblical text, rather than letting the text

431
00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:35.759
speak for itself. This leads to misinterpretation as the text

432
00:27:35.799 --> 00:27:40.119
is forced to align with a personal preference or contemporary viewpoints.

433
00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:43.839
We can't read what we wanted to the text. And

434
00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:47.000
we do that all the time. When Jesus says turn

435
00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:51.640
the other cheek, resist not evil, love your enemy, we're like, ah,

436
00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:55.400
I mean, come on, what about this. We can't tell

437
00:27:55.519 --> 00:28:00.359
Jesus what he means. Do we like that view of

438
00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:03.599
turning the other cheek, resisting not evil, loving your enemy?

439
00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:07.519
You're kind of like, that seems ridiculous. And anytime I

440
00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:09.720
ever preach on that section of the Summer Amount, almost

441
00:28:09.799 --> 00:28:13.000
inevitably someone walks up and goes, well, what about this?

442
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:14.880
And well, I don't think that's what it means. Well,

443
00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:16.880
of course you don't think that's what it means because

444
00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:20.759
you don't like it. Okay, of course I don't like it,

445
00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:26.920
but you can't read your preference into it. But this

446
00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:31.559
is very important. Here's a good example, many read their

447
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:37.680
modern political ideologies into scripture, such as to try to

448
00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:43.079
force the Bible to support a specific political system, either

449
00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:47.599
to support capitalism or to support socialism, or to resport

450
00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:51.720
support a republican idea or a democratic idea. Guess what

451
00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:54.599
you're trying to read that into an ancient text that

452
00:28:54.680 --> 00:28:58.200
doesn't give a care about the United States of America,

453
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:02.720
about capitalism, socialism, or Republicans or Democrats, because it doesn't

454
00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:04.720
care about any of that, because it doesn't speak to

455
00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:11.079
any of that. Correct, And guess what people did the

456
00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:17.079
exact same thing when we read in Romans thirteen. We

457
00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:32.519
all know this passage, right, Romans thirteen. Romans thirteen, verse one.

458
00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:36.160
We know what happened. We saw this happen in real time.

459
00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:39.200
All everyone in this church is old enough to remember

460
00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:42.039
what happened. Romans thirteen one. Let every soul be subject

461
00:29:42.119 --> 00:29:44.319
under the higher powers. For there is no power but

462
00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:46.480
of God, the powers that be our ordain of God.

463
00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:51.200
Whoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.

464
00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:54.480
And they that resist shall receive to themselves damn nation.

465
00:29:54.839 --> 00:29:58.119
That sounds pretty clear, does it not, Well? Guess what

466
00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:04.519
that was clear to everyone? And until when until COVID,

467
00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:08.960
and then all of a sudden we needed new interpretations.

468
00:30:10.279 --> 00:30:13.680
And so then it was well, this is it. You

469
00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:16.759
do this when the government is good. You do this

470
00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:19.079
when the government is godly, and you do this when

471
00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:22.279
the government gives you good rules. Now the historical context

472
00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:27.400
is Paul's writing when who's in charge? Niro the guy

473
00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:31.680
was a lunatic. They were like, well, he didn't mean that.

474
00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:34.440
And so then there was all these new interpretations. Why

475
00:30:34.599 --> 00:30:39.400
was there new interpretations because we were ticked off because

476
00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:42.839
there were rules about what churches should or shouldn't do. Now,

477
00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:45.720
whether we agreed with the rules or disagreed with the rules,

478
00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:48.319
what were we called to do? To do everything in

479
00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:55.000
our power to do? What to submit? And so I

480
00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:57.599
kept saying over and over there are countless ways you

481
00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.119
could work around it. In some cities and some d

482
00:31:00.440 --> 00:31:02.839
they just restricted the number of people that could be

483
00:31:02.920 --> 00:31:05.599
at any one service. So what did I tell churches

484
00:31:05.640 --> 00:31:12.519
to do? Have ten services? Problem solved? In fact, what

485
00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:14.799
did I tell all churches to do during the pandemic?

486
00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:18.000
If they allow you to have in person service and

487
00:31:18.039 --> 00:31:24.640
they just reduce the number, just have services when Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

488
00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:27.880
Increase the number of services. Just reduce the number of

489
00:31:27.880 --> 00:31:32.680
people who can attend. Problem solved. Oh but we can't

490
00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:37.119
do that because no one's gonna tell us what to do. Well,

491
00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:39.079
that has nothing to do with the Bible, does it.

492
00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:42.640
The Bible would say, hey, wait, let's work around it.

493
00:31:42.839 --> 00:31:46.079
Would are we necessarily in agreement with it? Whether it

494
00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:48.160
didn't matter if we're an agreement with this, the text say,

495
00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:52.079
whether you agree or disagree, this has to submit. So

496
00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:54.680
you submit, whether you like it or not. And then

497
00:31:54.680 --> 00:31:58.240
what we tell our kids, I make the rules. You

498
00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:01.599
do what I tell you. Oh, but parents love to

499
00:32:01.640 --> 00:32:03.559
tell the kids that. The parents just don't like to

500
00:32:03.559 --> 00:32:08.680
be told that. There were ways to work around it, right,

501
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:11.519
there were countless ways to work around it. But what

502
00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:18.079
were churches afraid of losing money? Okay, that's what I said.

503
00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:20.160
And I remember I always said that. There was that

504
00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:24.039
charismatic pastor in Louisiana who was on CNN to this day,

505
00:32:24.079 --> 00:32:26.599
I respect, I hate that man's theology with every ounce

506
00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:28.680
of his being, but I love the way he handled

507
00:32:28.680 --> 00:32:31.640
the interview. Hey we're going to be having services? Well? Why?

508
00:32:32.440 --> 00:32:34.720
And he said he pointed over towards the bibs and

509
00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:37.359
look at all that, Look at the buildings. That costs

510
00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:41.319
money to keep operating. If I close down, we go

511
00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:44.880
out of business. Now, he didn't make it out. He

512
00:32:45.559 --> 00:32:47.960
just straight up said, I have to do it for money.

513
00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:51.359
At least I admire that, right, I mean, I look,

514
00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:53.440
he was like, I'm going to break the rules, but

515
00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:56.119
I have to break the rules. And I can understand

516
00:32:56.119 --> 00:32:59.119
when it comes to financial issues. It was very difficult, right,

517
00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:02.079
how do you make could work? But I also knew that.

518
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:05.119
Guess what, I got so tired of churches whanting about it.

519
00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:07.519
They could have been broadcasting twenty four hours a day,

520
00:33:07.559 --> 00:33:11.559
seven days a week. So what did I do during

521
00:33:11.599 --> 00:33:15.240
the pandemic. I increased them hours of broadcasting dramatically, right

522
00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:18.720
that just during the time of just during the time

523
00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:22.160
of the pandemic, I think I produced close to like

524
00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:27.440
three thousand hours of content. All I did was just

525
00:33:27.480 --> 00:33:29.839
strive here to an empty building, turn on a microphone,

526
00:33:29.880 --> 00:33:32.359
and can talk about whatever. Every church could have been

527
00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:35.480
doing that, but no, we couldn't do that. We had

528
00:33:35.480 --> 00:33:39.240
to fight instead of doing what Instead of worrying about fighting,

529
00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:43.519
we could have been doing what ministring. I don't know

530
00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:46.000
people were dying. Maybe we should have been more worried

531
00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:50.119
about people dying than our own little kingdoms. But see,

532
00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:53.720
that's where we start reading what our preferences into the text.

533
00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:57.839
You cannot do that? Does that make sense? So what

534
00:33:57.920 --> 00:34:00.680
should we do instead of reading it into the text.

535
00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:05.039
We should practice exegesis, which means drawing the meaning out

536
00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:10.400
of the text based on what original context, not on

537
00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:12.559
what we read into the text. So those are two

538
00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:16.159
common problems in hermoneutics. Failure to consider context and number

539
00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:21.360
two reading things into the text. And you know why

540
00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:24.400
we want to read into the text because we don't

541
00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:27.679
like what the text says. Look, I want to change

542
00:34:27.719 --> 00:34:30.000
the text all the time. Do you want do you

543
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:33.159
want to change it? I want to change it. Right,

544
00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:34.679
wouldn't it be great if we could just make it

545
00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:38.599
say what we wanted to say? Right, it would be great.

546
00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:42.280
But well we do this Number three? Here we go

547
00:34:44.840 --> 00:34:53.039
over allegorizing historical narratives. This is where we over spiritualize,

548
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:56.960
over turn into a historical narrative, basically into an allegory.

549
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:01.719
All right, now, this happens all the time. Let me

550
00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:09.000
give you an example. All right, go to Matthew chapter eight. Oh,

551
00:35:09.039 --> 00:35:11.360
well they know that, but I'll just use some other examples.

552
00:35:11.599 --> 00:35:14.159
Just let me use it. Yeah, clearly the second kings

553
00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:15.880
all of a sudden, an ax head's not an axt

554
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:20.079
and it becomes this. They're over allegorizing a historical text.

555
00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:22.840
But look at Matthew chapter eight. Everybody knows Matthew chapter eight,

556
00:35:23.159 --> 00:35:26.079
verses twenty three through twenty seven. Everybody look at it.

557
00:35:26.199 --> 00:35:36.000
Matthew chapter eight, twenty three through twenty seven. What do

558
00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:38.000
you see when you get to Matthew eight twenty three

559
00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:47.880
through twenty seven, tell me what you find? All right?

560
00:35:47.960 --> 00:35:50.480
Jesus is going to quiet the storm. Where is Jesus

561
00:35:50.519 --> 00:35:53.280
in this text? He's on the boat? Is he is

562
00:35:53.320 --> 00:35:58.159
this the text where he's asleep? Yeah, he's asleep, right,

563
00:35:58.519 --> 00:36:02.360
and they wake him up because they're all going to die,

564
00:36:02.920 --> 00:36:09.079
and he does what he quiets the storm. Now, inevitably,

565
00:36:09.119 --> 00:36:11.360
if you go to a church, guess what's gonna happen

566
00:36:11.400 --> 00:36:17.360
when they preach this text. The ocean is our life,

567
00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:22.800
and we're selling across the ocean. The boat represents us, right,

568
00:36:23.320 --> 00:36:28.719
and the storms represent what the trials and troubles and

569
00:36:28.840 --> 00:36:33.760
difficulties in our lives, and sometimes we will forget that

570
00:36:33.880 --> 00:36:37.000
Jesus is in the boat with us because we see

571
00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:41.559
the storm. We see the storm more than we see Jesus. Oh,

572
00:36:41.599 --> 00:36:44.039
this preach is good, right, And if we'll just put

573
00:36:44.039 --> 00:36:48.239
our eyes on Jesus, Jesus will do what he'll say,

574
00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:51.760
Peace to all our problems and all our difficulties. And

575
00:36:51.800 --> 00:36:56.000
we can have a sail across the ocean on smooth

576
00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:58.639
seas if we will just put our eyes on Jesus

577
00:36:58.639 --> 00:37:00.840
and not on the storm. Same thing when they talk

578
00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:03.599
about Peter see, Oh, and guess what they're doing with

579
00:37:03.639 --> 00:37:07.559
all of those texts. That's just completely alglorizing it. That's

580
00:37:07.599 --> 00:37:10.679
all that's They do the same thing with David and Goliath.

581
00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:17.239
What does Goliath represent our our temptation or fear or challenges?

582
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:21.079
And then David, he grabbed those those small rocks, right,

583
00:37:21.199 --> 00:37:24.480
and each rock represents what it can represent scripture, it

584
00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:26.840
can represent prayer. And then we take what God has

585
00:37:26.840 --> 00:37:29.119
given us and we can bring down the giants in

586
00:37:29.159 --> 00:37:31.960
our life that has literally nothing to do with it

587
00:37:32.920 --> 00:37:36.599
has nothing to do with anything. And then and then

588
00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:39.880
Joshua and the walls of Jericho. The walls of Jericho

589
00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:42.079
represent all the things that stand in our way and

590
00:37:42.119 --> 00:37:44.280
living out our Christian life. But if we'll just follow

591
00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:47.800
God's instructions, it'll bring the wall down. Every story just

592
00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:53.639
turns into what this big allegorized mess, and it's ridiculous.

593
00:37:53.639 --> 00:37:58.920
And this happens in churches everywhere. This is the common

594
00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:05.360
way these things are preached. We cannot We have to

595
00:38:05.400 --> 00:38:09.119
stand against that and not allow that to happen. All right,

596
00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:12.079
So this happens when historical events in the Bible are

597
00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:15.280
interpreted as purely symbolic or allegorical, even when there is

598
00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:17.719
no indication that the text should be understood this way.

599
00:38:18.119 --> 00:38:22.199
This approach can lead to speculative or subjective interpretations that

600
00:38:22.599 --> 00:38:27.079
deviate from the plain meaning of the text. For example,

601
00:38:27.239 --> 00:38:29.880
some interpreters may treat the story of David and Goliath

602
00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:34.239
as an entirely allegorical, with every element the stones Goliath

603
00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:37.280
representing something in the Christian life, rather than seeing it

604
00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:41.599
as a historical account with philological and moral lessons. We

605
00:38:41.719 --> 00:38:46.039
have to distinguish between historical narrative, which is primarily descriptive

606
00:38:46.199 --> 00:38:51.280
of real events, and allegory, which is intentionally symbolic. In

607
00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:55.239
interpret narratives in a way that honors their historical setting,

608
00:38:55.599 --> 00:39:00.440
unless the text explicitly calls for an allegorical reading, unless

609
00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:04.679
there's something in the text that's like, hmm, this is weird,

610
00:39:05.239 --> 00:39:08.239
then we try to figure out why, but we still

611
00:39:08.280 --> 00:39:13.440
maintain what the historical aspect of it. Pastors just run,

612
00:39:13.599 --> 00:39:18.039
they go crazy, this represents this this, And I was

613
00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:21.760
taught to preach that way. That was a common way

614
00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:26.360
for me to preach, right, And there was at least

615
00:39:26.360 --> 00:39:28.800
a little bit of it early on here in the church.

616
00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:32.320
Probably I moved away from it relatively quick, but because

617
00:39:32.639 --> 00:39:34.639
the more I learned about Hermoneutics, the more I'm like,

618
00:39:34.679 --> 00:39:37.119
what am I doing? But I mean, considering one of

619
00:39:37.159 --> 00:39:39.239
the schools I went to, I definitely was taught. You know,

620
00:39:39.719 --> 00:39:43.519
Harold Camping taught me there. Well, it's the same method

621
00:39:43.559 --> 00:39:47.239
taught in the Roman Catholic Catechism that there's multiple layers

622
00:39:47.599 --> 00:39:51.159
or multiple levels of meaning to scripture. Right, you have

623
00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:54.239
the historical meaning, you have this moral meaning, and you

624
00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:56.920
have the spiritual meaning. Well, the spiritual meaning. You can

625
00:39:56.920 --> 00:39:59.880
take any text and say, okay, well there's the historical,

626
00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:04.440
there's the moral, but now here's the spiritual meaning. And

627
00:40:04.519 --> 00:40:07.639
so this can represent this and this can represent this. Well,

628
00:40:07.639 --> 00:40:10.519
guess that sounds so good. But guess who gets to

629
00:40:10.559 --> 00:40:15.960
determine what represents what? The preacher or the person in

630
00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:21.360
the view. Well, that just turns Bible interpretations what completely

631
00:40:21.400 --> 00:40:25.760
subjective that we cannot do that to the text. So

632
00:40:25.960 --> 00:40:29.599
what is problem? Number one? Failure to consider context. When

633
00:40:29.639 --> 00:40:32.320
we talk about context, we're talking about a lot of

634
00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:34.199
different things, are we not we talked about all of

635
00:40:34.199 --> 00:40:39.079
the different context historical literary okay, uh, we read things

636
00:40:39.159 --> 00:40:42.119
into the text that's is of Jesus. That's a major problem.

637
00:40:42.199 --> 00:40:45.840
Number three over allegorizing historical narratives. And I will say

638
00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:50.840
the over allegorizing historical narratives is literally what preaching is.

639
00:40:52.480 --> 00:40:54.880
And why why do we have to do that so

640
00:40:54.960 --> 00:41:01.159
much in our preaching? Because people when it comes to preaching,

641
00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:03.880
what do people want? I say it all the time.

642
00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:07.960
They want a sermon. They don't want to actually study

643
00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:11.119
the text. There is a difference between a sermon and

644
00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:16.199
studying the text. A sermon has to follow basic like

645
00:41:16.599 --> 00:41:19.199
I'm doing a presentation, right, I need a good intro,

646
00:41:19.639 --> 00:41:22.079
I need a good body, I need a good conclusion.

647
00:41:22.360 --> 00:41:24.079
I got to have a hook. I got to make

648
00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:26.000
sure I can pull the people in. I got to

649
00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:28.360
make it interesting, I got to make it applicable. And

650
00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:31.039
so what does that lead to? It leads to fantas

651
00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:35.360
basically fantasy day. You know, it's fairy tale time where

652
00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:37.000
I'm going to tell a story. I'm just gonna go

653
00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:38.519
to the Bible. I'm like, well, this is this and this,

654
00:41:39.039 --> 00:41:41.360
and everybody's like, ooh, I never saw that. Of course

655
00:41:41.360 --> 00:41:44.199
you never saw it because it's never been there, right,

656
00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:49.119
it's never been there. Preaching is not supposed to be storytelling.

657
00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:55.239
Preaching is supposed to be equipping and doing what getting

658
00:41:55.320 --> 00:41:58.280
us to confront the text, having us come face to

659
00:41:58.320 --> 00:42:01.920
face with the text and all of its complexity and

660
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:07.360
all of its difficulty. Is that fun? No? Is that

661
00:42:07.599 --> 00:42:12.280
always interesting? No? But I mean I would hope it's interesting.

662
00:42:12.320 --> 00:42:14.239
I mean, it's the preacher's job to make it interesting.

663
00:42:14.320 --> 00:42:17.199
But it's not always. Sometimes it's just not all right?

664
00:42:17.199 --> 00:42:20.559
What's number four? So what's number one? Again? Failure to

665
00:42:20.559 --> 00:42:23.440
consider context number two, reading into the text number three,

666
00:42:23.960 --> 00:42:30.360
over allegorizing number four, ignoring the genre. Different books of

667
00:42:30.400 --> 00:42:33.360
the Bible belong to different genres, such as what are

668
00:42:33.400 --> 00:42:39.320
some of the major genres in the Bible poetry, prophecy,

669
00:42:40.679 --> 00:42:45.280
historical narrative. We can say epistle with a letter, each

670
00:42:45.320 --> 00:42:48.360
of which requires a different approach to interpretation. Ignoring the

671
00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:51.360
genre can lead to misunderstanding whether a text is meant

672
00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:54.559
to be taken literally or figuratively. Psalms use what kind

673
00:42:54.599 --> 00:42:59.920
of language poetry, So interpreting phrases like the mountain skipped

674
00:43:00.159 --> 00:43:04.679
like rams probably would be a good idea to do.

675
00:43:04.760 --> 00:43:08.360
What not read that literally? Because the mountains were not

676
00:43:08.360 --> 00:43:13.960
skipping like rams? Can we that probably makes sense? Okay? Right? Right?

677
00:43:14.840 --> 00:43:18.440
Always consider the genre of the book and passages you're interpreting,

678
00:43:18.639 --> 00:43:21.920
recognizing that poetic books often use figurative language, while historical

679
00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:25.199
narratives should generally be taken more literally. So in our

680
00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:29.719
example of this crazy week of everything that happened, the

681
00:43:29.760 --> 00:43:33.599
Proverbs text is in Proverbs, which is poetry. The Psalm

682
00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:37.679
fourteen is in Psalms, which is poetry. The Mica three

683
00:43:38.119 --> 00:43:40.960
is in a prophetic section. All of those are very

684
00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:44.400
wide typically are going to be seen as using metaphor

685
00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:49.000
figurative language, spiritual language. It makes sense. What was so

686
00:43:49.239 --> 00:43:52.480
bizarre to me is the pastor went on and on

687
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:55.800
and on about the proverbs being literal, people eating flesh,

688
00:43:56.039 --> 00:43:57.519
you know, people are going to be eating and all

689
00:43:57.559 --> 00:44:00.079
this stuff. He went crazy then made all kinds of

690
00:44:00.119 --> 00:44:03.239
lies about Satanism and just it was just like an insanity.

691
00:44:03.480 --> 00:44:05.360
But then guess what he did when he got to

692
00:44:05.440 --> 00:44:09.320
John six fifty three, where Jesus said, unless you eat

693
00:44:09.320 --> 00:44:11.960
my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part

694
00:44:11.960 --> 00:44:14.760
of me. All of a sudden he said that was figurative.

695
00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:17.079
If we were going to use a hermoneutical argument, which

696
00:44:17.079 --> 00:44:19.360
one would be more likely the one we should take literally?

697
00:44:21.800 --> 00:44:28.679
The one in John. Why, it's a it's a historical biography,

698
00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:32.079
it's a historical narrative, right, And so just think about

699
00:44:32.159 --> 00:44:34.440
John in the beginning, was the word, the word was

700
00:44:34.480 --> 00:44:36.159
with God, and the word was God. Do we believe

701
00:44:36.159 --> 00:44:39.840
that to be literal? The word became flesh and drought

702
00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:42.840
among us? Do we believe that to be literal? And

703
00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:47.960
we start going through John, we would be like literal, literal, literal.

704
00:44:49.079 --> 00:44:51.199
So then all of a sudden we get to John six.

705
00:44:51.239 --> 00:44:54.519
What happens now if we go to John six, go

706
00:44:54.559 --> 00:45:00.760
ahead and look there. John six fifty three is where

707
00:45:00.800 --> 00:45:04.599
the famous verse happens, Right where Jesus says you have

708
00:45:04.639 --> 00:45:08.400
to eat my flesh and drink my blood. Everybody knows that, right,

709
00:45:08.400 --> 00:45:12.360
that's in verse fifty three, correct, All right? Now, remember

710
00:45:12.559 --> 00:45:14.599
the rules that we've been given so far in this

711
00:45:14.880 --> 00:45:18.679
What do we have to do? We have to consider context.

712
00:45:19.199 --> 00:45:22.519
What can we not do? Read into it? Right, and

713
00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:27.199
we got to consider we don't want to over alglorize,

714
00:45:27.239 --> 00:45:29.920
and we do not and we want to consider genre, right,

715
00:45:30.039 --> 00:45:33.119
all right, So y'all just start skimming John six and

716
00:45:33.159 --> 00:45:35.280
tell me what clues you would have and how we

717
00:45:35.320 --> 00:45:38.920
should handle verse fifty three. Just skim it and see

718
00:45:38.960 --> 00:45:41.559
if what clues you would have to go Maybe wait

719
00:45:41.599 --> 00:45:43.880
a minute, wait a minute, there's something here that could

720
00:45:43.920 --> 00:45:46.480
possibly tell me I need to handle this a little differently.

721
00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:49.440
What would you find in John six that may give

722
00:45:49.440 --> 00:45:52.159
you a clue? Remember we found the clue in Proverbs

723
00:45:52.199 --> 00:45:54.320
thirty verse fourteen, within the very verse and the verse

724
00:45:54.360 --> 00:45:57.039
right before it. This may take a little bit more work.

725
00:46:00.119 --> 00:46:03.719
Oh well, verse ooh thirty five. We're not far from

726
00:46:03.760 --> 00:46:07.480
fifty three. We're not far from fifty three. In fact,

727
00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:11.679
it's part of the same discussion, right, I think it's

728
00:46:11.719 --> 00:46:14.519
part of the same narrative, right, and what does Jesus say,

729
00:46:14.719 --> 00:46:18.679
I am the bread now? The minute he says he's bred, immediately,

730
00:46:18.679 --> 00:46:21.599
what is any good Bible student? Or just forget being no,

731
00:46:21.880 --> 00:46:24.440
I take that bag. Bible students are the worst people

732
00:46:24.480 --> 00:46:28.639
to talk to, right, people who actually read books. Any

733
00:46:28.679 --> 00:46:32.840
person who reads books would immediately go, I think this

734
00:46:32.920 --> 00:46:38.079
is figurative. How would we know it's figurative? Jesus wasn't

735
00:46:38.079 --> 00:46:41.039
a loaf of bread, So immediately, now I'm on to something,

736
00:46:41.119 --> 00:46:43.920
right now, I'm on to something. And he's going to

737
00:46:43.960 --> 00:46:46.000
try to draw a contrast in the text. What does

738
00:46:46.039 --> 00:46:49.960
he draw a contrast between the actual bread that the

739
00:46:50.119 --> 00:46:53.719
israel ate in the wilderness, the manna. Now they ain't

740
00:46:53.800 --> 00:46:56.400
that bread. It was awesome, it was great. But what

741
00:46:56.519 --> 00:47:02.960
happened after they all ate that bread? They die? Jesus

742
00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:05.360
wants him to understand that by party taking of him,

743
00:47:05.559 --> 00:47:09.360
you'll never hunger, you'll never thirst, and you will have

744
00:47:09.480 --> 00:47:14.559
eternal life, meaning that then this bread is somehow different

745
00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:18.079
than that bread. That bread was physical. Jesus is obviously

746
00:47:18.119 --> 00:47:21.239
pointing to a different kind of bread. And so now

747
00:47:21.360 --> 00:47:24.320
how do we consume this bread by faith? Right? If

748
00:47:24.360 --> 00:47:26.639
you look at the text, So then how can we

749
00:47:26.679 --> 00:47:30.760
eat understand the eating and the drinking. We have to

750
00:47:30.840 --> 00:47:35.000
understand it. That is a very graphic way of saying

751
00:47:35.039 --> 00:47:39.360
we must believe in Christ. So then we can see

752
00:47:39.440 --> 00:47:41.760
where we could possibly then take it that way. It

753
00:47:41.800 --> 00:47:45.039
requires a little bit of work, does it not. Now

754
00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:50.960
would Catholics agree with us on that? Absolutely not? But

755
00:47:51.039 --> 00:47:53.360
you see where we can't ignore now in this case,

756
00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:56.559
the genre here doesn't help us, right, The genre here

757
00:47:56.599 --> 00:48:00.320
would actually argue for what a more literal interest. That's

758
00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:02.480
where you have to be careful, because even if you're

759
00:48:02.480 --> 00:48:04.880
in a certain genre, what do you also have to

760
00:48:04.920 --> 00:48:08.840
look for the little language and the clues leading up

761
00:48:08.840 --> 00:48:11.559
to it. I think here the text gives us the clue,

762
00:48:11.599 --> 00:48:14.519
does it not? When sin as Jesus says I am bred,

763
00:48:14.719 --> 00:48:17.639
we know he's not bred. We know something has happened here.

764
00:48:17.920 --> 00:48:22.960
He's now utilizing a literary device. He's using what he's

765
00:48:22.960 --> 00:48:27.519
trying to contrast himself with physical bread, and he's trying

766
00:48:27.519 --> 00:48:30.159
to draw a correlation. Right. I think we should be

767
00:48:30.159 --> 00:48:33.920
able to figure that out. Now. Guess what, though we

768
00:48:34.079 --> 00:48:37.840
have philological incentive to read it that way. Let's be fair.

769
00:48:39.039 --> 00:48:41.599
If I'm a Catholic, I would have a philological incentive

770
00:48:41.639 --> 00:48:45.639
to read it a literal. So you see where that

771
00:48:45.880 --> 00:48:50.199
where a Bible interpretation can become very subjective. Right, So

772
00:48:50.239 --> 00:48:53.199
we have to understand this, right, We always have to

773
00:48:53.199 --> 00:48:55.880
consider the genre of the book and the passage we

774
00:48:55.920 --> 00:48:59.639
are interpreting, recognizing the poetic books use figurative language, while

775
00:48:59.679 --> 00:49:03.880
historic narratives should generally be taking more literally. All right,

776
00:49:04.239 --> 00:49:10.119
So what's number one? A failure to consider context? Number two?

777
00:49:10.159 --> 00:49:13.920
And that context involves more than one thing, does it not? Okay?

778
00:49:14.360 --> 00:49:19.840
I want, ever want to remember all the things that involves, right, immediate, literary, historical,

779
00:49:19.880 --> 00:49:24.880
and cultural right. Number two, don't read into it. That's

780
00:49:24.920 --> 00:49:29.320
is of Jesus. Don't do that. Number three over allegorizing

781
00:49:29.360 --> 00:49:33.239
a narrative. Don't do that number four ignoring the genre.

782
00:49:33.800 --> 00:49:41.519
How about number five neglecting historical and cultural context. We

783
00:49:41.559 --> 00:49:45.440
cannot neglect historical and cultural context. The Bible was written

784
00:49:45.480 --> 00:49:48.400
in ancient Near Eastern and Greco Roman contexts, which are

785
00:49:48.480 --> 00:49:51.559
very different from modern Western cultures. Failing to take the

786
00:49:51.719 --> 00:49:55.280
historical and cultural context into account can lead to misunderstanding

787
00:49:55.280 --> 00:49:59.679
of customs, laws, and social practices described in scripture. The

788
00:49:59.679 --> 00:50:04.039
practice a foot washing in John thirteen. In ancient Jewish culture,

789
00:50:04.320 --> 00:50:07.679
this was a customary act of hospitality, but modern readers

790
00:50:07.679 --> 00:50:09.920
may miss the significance if they do not understand the

791
00:50:09.960 --> 00:50:13.960
cultural context. We have to study the historical background and

792
00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:17.079
cultural setting of the text using any resource that we

793
00:50:17.119 --> 00:50:22.679
can possibly find. Right, We have to do that. We

794
00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:25.599
have to know the context. Right? Does that? Is that

795
00:50:25.639 --> 00:50:29.679
going to fix every problem? No? But it's a why

796
00:50:29.760 --> 00:50:32.119
does it? Why does it sometimes not fix the problem

797
00:50:33.800 --> 00:50:38.360
because sometimes people don't agree on what the historical context

798
00:50:38.519 --> 00:50:42.840
or the cultural context, which is maddening. Right, But we

799
00:50:42.840 --> 00:50:45.880
should at least attempt to. Here's what we should be

800
00:50:45.880 --> 00:50:47.920
able to do. We should be able to always ask

801
00:50:47.960 --> 00:50:51.320
ourself what is the historical and cultural context? And then

802
00:50:51.639 --> 00:50:55.440
try to determine how how many different perspectives there are

803
00:50:55.480 --> 00:50:58.239
on the context, because if there's three or four different

804
00:50:58.239 --> 00:51:02.280
contexts are perspective that at least limits our options? Does

805
00:51:02.320 --> 00:51:05.800
it not? That limits our options? So that should make

806
00:51:05.880 --> 00:51:08.480
things at least somewhat better for us? All right, everybody

807
00:51:08.519 --> 00:51:17.199
got that? Okay, So what's number one? Failure to consider context? Right?

808
00:51:17.280 --> 00:51:21.239
Number two? Don't read into it. Number three, don't over

809
00:51:21.360 --> 00:51:26.159
allegorize it, don't turn it into a story. Just let

810
00:51:26.159 --> 00:51:28.559
the story be the story. Don't make it say something

811
00:51:28.599 --> 00:51:33.800
it doesn't right. Number four ignoring the genre. You got

812
00:51:33.800 --> 00:51:36.159
to be able to know if it's poetry, if it's history.

813
00:51:36.719 --> 00:51:39.719
Got to know the literary type. Number five, do not

814
00:51:39.800 --> 00:51:43.480
neglect the historical and cultural context. Do not neglect the

815
00:51:43.559 --> 00:51:54.480
historical and cultural context. Number six an over emphasis on

816
00:51:54.760 --> 00:52:02.320
application without proper interpretation, and over emphasis on applying the

817
00:52:02.360 --> 00:52:08.000
text without interpreting the text. Application, application, application. What is

818
00:52:08.039 --> 00:52:14.400
most preaching application preaching is This is why I hate

819
00:52:14.440 --> 00:52:18.199
the sermon, the concept of a sermon, because sermons almost

820
00:52:18.239 --> 00:52:24.079
emphasize application, application, application, application, application, because just to interpret it.

821
00:52:24.119 --> 00:52:25.880
How do the people sitting in the pew feel about

822
00:52:25.880 --> 00:52:34.039
the interpretive part? Give me something practical. Well, when you

823
00:52:34.119 --> 00:52:37.000
want something practical, then the pastor has to emphasize what

824
00:52:38.159 --> 00:52:42.559
application over interpretation. And once you begin to emphasize application

825
00:52:42.599 --> 00:52:46.159
over interpretation, inevitably what's going to happen. You're going to

826
00:52:46.239 --> 00:52:50.360
ultimately destroy the actual meaning of the text. It almost

827
00:52:50.400 --> 00:52:55.320
always happens, all right. Some interpreters move too quickly to

828
00:52:55.400 --> 00:52:58.119
an application without first doing the hard work of proper

829
00:52:58.159 --> 00:53:01.920
exegesus interpreting the original meaning of the text. This can

830
00:53:02.000 --> 00:53:04.639
lead to applying the text and ways it was never

831
00:53:04.719 --> 00:53:09.199
intended to be applied. This problem often results in misapplication

832
00:53:09.599 --> 00:53:12.920
or misuse of scripture. And what's the most famous example

833
00:53:13.159 --> 00:53:21.239
of all time for this, Jeremiah twenty nine eleven. What

834
00:53:21.280 --> 00:53:24.159
does Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven say, I know the

835
00:53:24.199 --> 00:53:27.920
plans I have for you, I know these plans to

836
00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:31.760
bless you, to prosper you. What is the problem with

837
00:53:32.079 --> 00:53:36.480
applying that to us? It applies to people coming out

838
00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:41.800
of Babylonian captivity, not people graduating from high school, okay,

839
00:53:42.199 --> 00:53:47.840
has nothing at all to do with that. In fact,

840
00:53:48.119 --> 00:53:50.960
when I had to go to the which child it

841
00:53:51.199 --> 00:53:53.400
of yours? It was Lydia. When I had to go

842
00:53:53.400 --> 00:53:56.280
to Lydia's graduation for this nonsense and they read that,

843
00:53:56.440 --> 00:53:58.000
I just wanted to raise my hand and say, no

844
00:53:58.039 --> 00:54:00.360
one in the school should be able to graduate knowing,

845
00:54:00.920 --> 00:54:06.719
because that means you can't read. Because if you could read,

846
00:54:06.960 --> 00:54:10.039
what conclusion would you come to? This has nothing to

847
00:54:10.079 --> 00:54:13.360
do with these high school graduates. It has zero to

848
00:54:13.519 --> 00:54:19.559
do with them, none, zero. And if you can't read that,

849
00:54:19.719 --> 00:54:22.159
you shouldn't be graduating from high school. You shouldn't be

850
00:54:22.199 --> 00:54:25.440
graduating from kindergarten. Okay, you should be going back learning

851
00:54:25.480 --> 00:54:29.199
basic reading comprehension skills. And wait, the person according that

852
00:54:29.320 --> 00:54:32.320
wasn't at the val Victorian I think it was during

853
00:54:32.360 --> 00:54:36.960
the Valvictorian speech. Right, that's even worse. All right, removed,

854
00:54:36.960 --> 00:54:39.639
they should not be male Victorian. They should be going

855
00:54:39.679 --> 00:54:44.119
back to remedial reading. And that's not trying to be mean.

856
00:54:44.199 --> 00:54:47.440
I mean, that's just the fact. Jeremiah twenty nine is

857
00:54:47.480 --> 00:54:50.840
not about people in Ablene, Texas graduating from a public

858
00:54:50.840 --> 00:54:53.719
school or private school or whatever school it was. Right,

859
00:54:54.079 --> 00:55:02.039
Can everyone agree with that? Everyone knows that. Okay. This

860
00:55:02.119 --> 00:55:04.000
is typically applied to some kind of a promise for

861
00:55:04.119 --> 00:55:07.239
Christians without recognizing that it was initially addressed to the

862
00:55:07.280 --> 00:55:11.880
exiled Israelites in a specific historical context. The promise in

863
00:55:11.960 --> 00:55:14.679
Jeremiah is about God's plan to restore the people of

864
00:55:14.719 --> 00:55:24.760
Israel after their exile. Where after their exile where Babylon? Right?

865
00:55:25.199 --> 00:55:29.840
Not from high school? All right, this is not where

866
00:55:29.840 --> 00:55:33.639
a kid can go. I'm being set free. Look, this

867
00:55:33.840 --> 00:55:37.039
was now, this is how messed up? This is all right?

868
00:55:37.280 --> 00:55:41.079
The American history, man, American history is messed up. Okay,

869
00:55:41.280 --> 00:55:45.239
so America there was and I can't tell you how

870
00:55:45.280 --> 00:55:48.960
widespread this is, but this is a historical fact. Many

871
00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:53.519
of the slave owners wanted their slaves to know about

872
00:55:53.559 --> 00:56:01.639
the Bible for what reason? Because there's passages in the

873
00:56:01.639 --> 00:56:07.280
Bible about slaves doing what, serving their master and obeying right.

874
00:56:07.679 --> 00:56:10.119
So they wanted them to know the Bible because it

875
00:56:10.320 --> 00:56:13.079
served them well, just like a man may want their

876
00:56:13.079 --> 00:56:15.280
wife to study the Bible because it will tell her

877
00:56:15.320 --> 00:56:20.119
to submit. Right. Okay, so you can say there's always

878
00:56:20.239 --> 00:56:24.199
what personal and involvement, But what happened when many of

879
00:56:24.239 --> 00:56:28.079
the slaves started learning the Bible stories? What story did

880
00:56:28.119 --> 00:56:33.360
they kind of find themselves drawn to? What stories? Do

881
00:56:33.400 --> 00:56:39.400
you think the slaves may have been really drawn to exodus? Right,

882
00:56:41.320 --> 00:56:46.320
because this was about what being set free from bondage.

883
00:56:46.360 --> 00:56:50.159
So many of the spirituals that they would sing sometimes

884
00:56:50.239 --> 00:56:54.599
while working in the field would be referencing what being

885
00:56:54.639 --> 00:56:58.559
set free from slavery. And the slave owners were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

886
00:56:58.760 --> 00:57:01.239
You don't need to be reading them part of the Bible. Okay,

887
00:57:01.400 --> 00:57:04.159
we don't need no exodus going on here. I need

888
00:57:04.199 --> 00:57:06.360
someone to work my fields, and well, I don't have

889
00:57:06.440 --> 00:57:11.360
to pay. That's kind of messed up, is it not? Okay,

890
00:57:11.400 --> 00:57:13.199
let's let's not kind of mess up. Let's say what

891
00:57:13.239 --> 00:57:19.239
it was that is horrible? That's horrible? Is it not?

892
00:57:20.079 --> 00:57:25.039
This absolutely horrible? So guess what, So we we when

893
00:57:25.079 --> 00:57:29.400
we overemphasize application, we will just simply apply it to what, well,

894
00:57:29.440 --> 00:57:32.960
whatever context that may work for us. Correct. If you

895
00:57:33.000 --> 00:57:35.199
are a slave, which content which one? Which part do

896
00:57:35.239 --> 00:57:37.320
you want to apply? You want to apply exodus to

897
00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:41.719
whom you okay? Right? And if you're a slave owner,

898
00:57:41.920 --> 00:57:46.480
you want to apply the submission part to whom them Okay, right,

899
00:57:46.599 --> 00:57:48.960
And that's the way it works. If you're a parent,

900
00:57:49.199 --> 00:57:51.800
you want to apply the whole idea of obeying your

901
00:57:51.840 --> 00:57:56.840
parents to whom your kids okay, And the kids want

902
00:57:56.880 --> 00:57:59.159
to apply the text about not provoke your children to

903
00:57:59.280 --> 00:58:04.800
reth to apply that to home their parents. Okay. Everyone

904
00:58:04.920 --> 00:58:09.360
loves application when we are applying it to whose benefit us?

905
00:58:09.559 --> 00:58:12.760
But over when we we when we focus on application,

906
00:58:13.159 --> 00:58:18.000
that's what immediately happens, right, That's immediately happens. So how

907
00:58:18.000 --> 00:58:22.440
do we stop the overemphasizing application? How do we how

908
00:58:22.480 --> 00:58:25.480
do we stop the overemphasizing of application? You know what.

909
00:58:26.039 --> 00:58:27.679
Yet I can tell you we need to get rid

910
00:58:27.719 --> 00:58:34.599
of sermons. The whole sermons structure is guilty of this.

911
00:58:35.119 --> 00:58:38.679
We need people not preaching sermons, but actually trying to

912
00:58:38.719 --> 00:58:42.119
teach the text. And that's got and what's been the

913
00:58:42.159 --> 00:58:45.840
criticism in this church from day one? It's too much

914
00:58:45.920 --> 00:58:49.639
like a seminary. It feels like a university classroom. Doesn't

915
00:58:49.639 --> 00:58:53.840
feel like change, You feel like change. Okay, what do

916
00:58:53.840 --> 00:58:55.440
they want? They want three points and they want to

917
00:58:55.440 --> 00:58:57.760
be up by noon. They don't want to be challenged.

918
00:58:57.760 --> 00:59:00.440
They don't want to that's always been the criticism. Well

919
00:59:00.440 --> 00:59:03.599
in some ways. Look, I understand the criticism. You walk

920
00:59:03.639 --> 00:59:09.559
into this place. It does not feel like what any

921
00:59:09.599 --> 00:59:11.400
other place, right, I mean, come on, let's be honest.

922
00:59:11.440 --> 00:59:15.079
We do things completely different. Nobody. How many churches are

923
00:59:15.079 --> 00:59:20.800
having a lesson on hermeneutics today? None? Okay, Right, So

924
00:59:21.000 --> 00:59:23.679
we got to destroy the sermon. And I guess is

925
00:59:23.679 --> 00:59:26.239
that ever going to happen? No, because if it was

926
00:59:26.280 --> 00:59:28.639
to happen, it would be a full blown revolt and

927
00:59:28.679 --> 00:59:30.719
everybody would leave the church and go find a pastor

928
00:59:30.719 --> 00:59:33.920
who'll give them the sermon. Even though people say they

929
00:59:33.920 --> 00:59:37.280
want in depth teaching They don't really want in depth teaching.

930
00:59:37.639 --> 00:59:39.360
They want a sermon. They want it to feel like

931
00:59:39.679 --> 00:59:42.639
what they think church is supposed to feel like, because

932
00:59:42.679 --> 00:59:44.760
they have an idea of what church is, and you

933
00:59:44.880 --> 00:59:47.800
will follow their idea or they will go somewhere else.

934
00:59:47.840 --> 00:59:50.800
I mean, I've watched it the entire time, and I

935
00:59:50.880 --> 00:59:54.800
understand that. Look, I look, I don't, I don't. I

936
00:59:54.800 --> 00:59:58.920
don't blame anyone. I mean to want this is completely

937
00:59:59.039 --> 01:00:02.440
radical compared to what most people want. Now. My thing is, though,

938
01:00:02.639 --> 01:00:04.760
when you go to the other place, you're going to

939
01:00:04.800 --> 01:00:09.320
overemphasize application over interpretation, and well then then the Bible

940
01:00:09.400 --> 01:00:11.519
just becomes subjective and meaningless, and you're going to over

941
01:00:11.599 --> 01:00:14.119
allegorize it in all these other things. So the first

942
01:00:14.360 --> 01:00:17.239
solution is we got to destroy the sermon. That's never

943
01:00:17.280 --> 01:00:21.320
going to happen. What's the second solution. We have to

944
01:00:21.559 --> 01:00:32.400
emphasize observation over everything else. Observation trumps everything else. Bible

945
01:00:32.480 --> 01:00:40.760
study is what observation observation Observation that means simply doing

946
01:00:40.800 --> 01:00:45.480
what observing what the text says. You don't try to

947
01:00:45.480 --> 01:00:47.360
figure out what it means. You just try to figure

948
01:00:47.360 --> 01:00:50.760
out what it says. Can you observe it. Can you

949
01:00:51.039 --> 01:00:54.360
understand what's going on? The who, the what, the where,

950
01:00:54.519 --> 01:00:57.239
the when the hell? Not even trying to figure out

951
01:00:57.239 --> 01:01:01.880
what it means? Bible study. All the Bible study methods

952
01:01:01.920 --> 01:01:08.239
I've taught over and over and over are all about observation, observation, observation, observation, observation, observation.

953
01:01:08.440 --> 01:01:10.039
What do I've taught y'all about the reason we do

954
01:01:10.119 --> 01:01:11.880
out Why do you do outlines? Why do I tell

955
01:01:11.880 --> 01:01:14.960
you to do outlines? Because what is the number one

956
01:01:15.039 --> 01:01:22.000
observational tool you have in your toolkit? Outlines? Because outlines

957
01:01:22.039 --> 01:01:26.119
are supposed to be observational, they're not supposed to be interpretive.

958
01:01:26.480 --> 01:01:29.119
Because what are you doing with an outline? You're taking

959
01:01:29.159 --> 01:01:32.480
what's on the page and you're doing what You're bringing

960
01:01:32.519 --> 01:01:35.239
it to paper, and it's making you read through it

961
01:01:35.320 --> 01:01:37.199
over and over and over, going Okay, this will be

962
01:01:37.320 --> 01:01:40.519
number one, Okay, then this will be ABC, or however

963
01:01:40.519 --> 01:01:42.280
you're going to break your outline down. I don't even

964
01:01:42.320 --> 01:01:43.960
care if it's done properly. I don't care if it

965
01:01:44.000 --> 01:01:46.199
passes at a school. It's just you need it on

966
01:01:46.280 --> 01:01:48.760
paper because it's making you go through the text over

967
01:01:48.800 --> 01:01:51.960
and over, not to interpret it simply to observe it.

968
01:01:51.960 --> 01:01:54.599
And that's why your outlines should never have any phrases

969
01:01:54.599 --> 01:01:58.400
that are interpretive. They should only have phrases that are observational.

970
01:01:59.159 --> 01:02:01.280
And the more you do that, then guess what if

971
01:02:01.320 --> 01:02:03.599
someone comes and says something about the text, What can

972
01:02:03.639 --> 01:02:06.719
you say? Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa wooh, that's not there.

973
01:02:07.360 --> 01:02:09.639
How do you know, Well, I've read it fifteen times

974
01:02:09.639 --> 01:02:12.760
that I've outlined it, so you can take your nonsense

975
01:02:12.760 --> 01:02:14.719
and get out of my face. Now, guess what if

976
01:02:14.760 --> 01:02:19.880
you do that, you'll ruin most sermons because most sermons

977
01:02:19.920 --> 01:02:24.039
are saying things that are not there. They're not actually there.

978
01:02:24.320 --> 01:02:26.039
So we got to get rid of the sermon. We

979
01:02:26.079 --> 01:02:29.519
have to focus on observation. Then we focus on interpretation.

980
01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:32.440
This is where we engage in exe Jesus to determine

981
01:02:32.440 --> 01:02:35.320
the original meaning, and we use the tools such as

982
01:02:35.400 --> 01:02:40.719
Bible commentaries, dictionaries and understanding the historical culture and literary context.

983
01:02:40.960 --> 01:02:43.159
So we have to get rid of sermons because sermons

984
01:02:43.159 --> 01:02:47.280
almost immediately obliterate the text. That whole thing destroys it.

985
01:02:47.760 --> 01:02:51.719
Then we get to what observation observation observation, Then we

986
01:02:51.760 --> 01:02:58.559
get to interpretation. Interpretation always comes after observation, and I

987
01:02:58.599 --> 01:03:00.800
started taking people off in the true because what would

988
01:03:00.800 --> 01:03:04.199
I say, Hey, before you argue with me, you've got

989
01:03:04.199 --> 01:03:07.199
to demonstrate that you've done what you've actually done an

990
01:03:07.199 --> 01:03:09.719
observational study on the text. Would people come to me

991
01:03:09.800 --> 01:03:12.360
with their observational study? No, would they still tell me

992
01:03:12.400 --> 01:03:17.440
I'm wrong? Yes? Well, then there's no point. Then when

993
01:03:17.480 --> 01:03:22.159
do you get to application after that? And how when

994
01:03:22.239 --> 01:03:27.559
it comes to application, guess what? The application must align

995
01:03:27.719 --> 01:03:33.400
with the original context and meaning. The application must align

996
01:03:33.840 --> 01:03:37.800
with the original context and meaning. It has to be

997
01:03:38.000 --> 01:03:41.679
somewhat in accordance with it. So, for example, what would

998
01:03:41.760 --> 01:03:45.639
be an application to Jesus coming the storm? What would

999
01:03:45.679 --> 01:03:49.199
be a reasonable application to that story? What would be

1000
01:03:49.239 --> 01:03:55.400
a reasonable application to Jesus coming the storm? Someone give

1001
01:03:55.400 --> 01:04:04.440
me a reasonable application? Well, the main application of that

1002
01:04:04.559 --> 01:04:06.880
story is that Jesus was more than just a man.

1003
01:04:07.199 --> 01:04:10.760
He was God because he had power over creation. It's

1004
01:04:10.760 --> 01:04:16.159
a story about proving the deity of Christ. Right, That's

1005
01:04:16.199 --> 01:04:18.960
what is more about. Because I can't necessarily trust that

1006
01:04:19.519 --> 01:04:22.039
take from the story that I can trust Christ to

1007
01:04:22.039 --> 01:04:23.960
calm the storms in my life, because it's not about

1008
01:04:23.960 --> 01:04:26.199
the storms in my life, and Jesus may never even

1009
01:04:26.199 --> 01:04:29.000
bother to calm any storm in my life. He doesn't

1010
01:04:29.039 --> 01:04:34.440
even come physical storms, right, So you got to be

1011
01:04:34.519 --> 01:04:37.639
very careful in doing that. What's the story from David

1012
01:04:37.719 --> 01:04:47.400
and Goliath? What would be an application from that? What

1013
01:04:47.440 --> 01:04:53.639
would be an application from David and Goliath? Well, it's

1014
01:04:53.679 --> 01:04:57.960
a story that demonstrates God's faithfulness right to David. I mean,

1015
01:04:58.360 --> 01:05:00.960
he makes serious promises to David. He uses David right,

1016
01:05:01.280 --> 01:05:04.360
so he maintained his promises. There, what else is it?

1017
01:05:04.360 --> 01:05:09.039
It demonstrates God's faithfulness to whom Israel. Oh wait, remember

1018
01:05:09.039 --> 01:05:11.400
whenever we get to the Old Testament, many of those stories,

1019
01:05:11.480 --> 01:05:13.920
the reason things are happening is because of the covenant

1020
01:05:13.920 --> 01:05:16.199
made with Israel. So God does his things for Israel.

1021
01:05:16.280 --> 01:05:18.400
I can't say that God's gonna knock out giants in

1022
01:05:18.400 --> 01:05:20.320
my life because it doesn't, and then I would have

1023
01:05:20.320 --> 01:05:22.960
to then make giants something else. So there, it was

1024
01:05:23.000 --> 01:05:28.920
more about God utilizing David right, which he promised him

1025
01:05:28.960 --> 01:05:31.000
that he was going to utilize and do these things

1026
01:05:31.039 --> 01:05:33.559
with him and through him. That would be more the application.

1027
01:05:33.719 --> 01:05:36.559
I know, that's not very exciting. That's hard to preach, right,

1028
01:05:36.920 --> 01:05:39.440
because I've got to somehow make it about us and

1029
01:05:39.559 --> 01:05:41.760
what God's gonna do for me. But I can't take

1030
01:05:41.760 --> 01:05:44.920
from that that God's gonna do that for me. Right,

1031
01:05:46.920 --> 01:05:49.800
Is God's gonna make me an expert in using a slingshot?

1032
01:05:49.880 --> 01:05:53.920
Like that's no, has nothing to do with that. Does

1033
01:05:53.960 --> 01:05:59.400
that make sense? So the application has to remain somewhat consistent.

1034
01:05:59.599 --> 01:06:01.880
And that's that's the hard part from a preacher. Let

1035
01:06:01.880 --> 01:06:04.840
me make it very clear. That's hard for me because

1036
01:06:05.039 --> 01:06:06.719
I can sit there and if I'm going through the

1037
01:06:06.760 --> 01:06:09.880
interpret the observation and the interpretation, and I get ready

1038
01:06:09.880 --> 01:06:11.960
to go to the application, you can tell by that

1039
01:06:12.000 --> 01:06:14.280
point you've probably already lost fifty percent of the people.

1040
01:06:15.599 --> 01:06:17.800
So you got to get the people back, right, So

1041
01:06:17.880 --> 01:06:20.639
what's a good way to get them back? Hit them

1042
01:06:20.639 --> 01:06:23.880
with a good application that will be very speak directly

1043
01:06:23.920 --> 01:06:25.840
to them, and then everyone will say what when they

1044
01:06:25.920 --> 01:06:30.400
leave good sermon? Pastor? It was a good sermon because

1045
01:06:30.440 --> 01:06:33.000
I made everything up. So yeah, you like this stuff

1046
01:06:33.000 --> 01:06:35.239
when I make it up. But if I just kind

1047
01:06:35.239 --> 01:06:38.000
of say, well, I don't know how we really apply this,

1048
01:06:38.800 --> 01:06:40.960
that's people gonna be like, no, I got you got

1049
01:06:40.960 --> 01:06:50.280
to give me something better. Than that, right, right? So

1050
01:06:50.559 --> 01:06:52.239
what was number one? I'm just gonna review and we'll

1051
01:06:52.239 --> 01:06:58.119
stop here. A failure to consider context. Number two, don't

1052
01:06:58.159 --> 01:07:04.039
read into the text. Number three, don't overalgorize the historical narrative.

1053
01:07:04.079 --> 01:07:10.960
Number four, don't ignore the genre. Okay, Number five, don't

1054
01:07:10.960 --> 01:07:19.519
neglect historical and cultural context. Number six, don't overemphasize application

1055
01:07:19.679 --> 01:07:24.519
without proper interpretation. And number is that. That's it. We

1056
01:07:24.559 --> 01:07:26.559
want to get to number seven, and we don't kin

1057
01:07:26.599 --> 01:07:30.559
how old are you? That's a twelve year old repeating

1058
01:07:30.599 --> 01:07:33.800
all of those hermeneutical principles, the one who was doing

1059
01:07:33.800 --> 01:07:35.679
it for those listening alone, as a twelve year old

1060
01:07:35.920 --> 01:07:40.280
repeating that, meaning that adults can learn these principles, and

1061
01:07:40.320 --> 01:07:43.679
so can a twelve year old because those principles would

1062
01:07:43.719 --> 01:07:47.599
be applied and basically just basic reading comprehension, those principles

1063
01:07:47.599 --> 01:07:52.599
would apply to some level correct. Learning to read the

1064
01:07:52.679 --> 01:07:55.400
Bible is all of just about learning to read. Now

1065
01:07:55.480 --> 01:07:57.159
here's the side, and well, we didn't get through all

1066
01:07:57.239 --> 01:07:59.000
of the things I wanted to get through, But here's

1067
01:07:59.039 --> 01:08:01.280
what I wanted to demonstrate. Here's what we want to demonstrate.

1068
01:08:01.320 --> 01:08:06.039
Here's the reality Church history shows us. What that Bible

1069
01:08:06.079 --> 01:08:09.880
interpretation has been subjective and it will always be subjective

1070
01:08:09.920 --> 01:08:13.320
to some level. Church history has proven, especially within the

1071
01:08:13.320 --> 01:08:17.840
Protestant world, that who is the ultimate authority, the individual,

1072
01:08:18.039 --> 01:08:21.680
not the text, and that the interpretation trumps the text.

1073
01:08:21.840 --> 01:08:24.000
People don't like that. I'm like, okay, well you don't

1074
01:08:24.039 --> 01:08:25.840
like that, then we've got to try to fight against it.

1075
01:08:26.039 --> 01:08:27.840
So how do we fight against it? I try to

1076
01:08:27.840 --> 01:08:30.279
give you principles to try to fight against it. Do

1077
01:08:30.279 --> 01:08:33.039
you think those principles are ever going to work? No?

1078
01:08:34.119 --> 01:08:38.359
Why are they never going to work? People won't use them,

1079
01:08:38.720 --> 01:08:43.119
Churches won't teach them, and churches won't use them themselves.

1080
01:08:43.199 --> 01:08:46.600
Pastors won't use them because we've created a system where

1081
01:08:46.760 --> 01:08:50.079
a good portion of preaching is more about, I hate

1082
01:08:50.079 --> 01:08:54.079
to say it, entertainment than it is actually digging into

1083
01:08:54.079 --> 01:08:58.640
the text. People want to be entertained. People get mad

1084
01:08:58.680 --> 01:09:01.000
at their kids. All my kids is to be entertained. Well,

1085
01:09:01.039 --> 01:09:02.680
when you go to church, you want the same thing.

1086
01:09:04.279 --> 01:09:06.039
You want it to be interesting. You want to be exciting,

1087
01:09:06.079 --> 01:09:07.600
you want to be quick, you want it to be funny,

1088
01:09:07.680 --> 01:09:10.840
you want to be moved, you want to feel something.

1089
01:09:11.239 --> 01:09:13.680
Because if you just break a text down guess where

1090
01:09:13.720 --> 01:09:16.760
you sometimes lead with I don't know how to apply that.

1091
01:09:17.159 --> 01:09:19.359
I don't really know what to do with it. Now.

1092
01:09:19.359 --> 01:09:20.800
I should be able to take the story of David

1093
01:09:20.800 --> 01:09:22.520
and Goliath and make it fun and make it exciting

1094
01:09:22.520 --> 01:09:24.720
and make it dramatic, right, I should be able to

1095
01:09:24.760 --> 01:09:27.960
Any good preacher worth his pay should be able to

1096
01:09:27.960 --> 01:09:30.720
do something great with that text. The only problem is

1097
01:09:30.760 --> 01:09:32.840
everything they're doing with that text is probably taking you

1098
01:09:32.880 --> 01:09:38.279
further and further away from the actual text. So many

1099
01:09:38.319 --> 01:09:40.760
of those miracles we want to make all we want

1100
01:09:40.760 --> 01:09:43.800
to make everything about us, and so much of it

1101
01:09:44.159 --> 01:09:47.640
we've talked about it. Many of those miracles and those

1102
01:09:47.640 --> 01:09:50.239
things had everything to do with God making promises to

1103
01:09:50.319 --> 01:09:53.800
Israel and then fulfilling those very promises. I can't run

1104
01:09:53.840 --> 01:09:56.159
in and say, well, since God did that, he's gonna

1105
01:09:56.239 --> 01:09:58.399
do this for me. Because any of us who've lived

1106
01:09:58.399 --> 01:10:02.520
life long enough, what do we realize God doesn't step

1107
01:10:02.520 --> 01:10:05.880
in and do all of that stuff? Does he? If

1108
01:10:05.920 --> 01:10:10.000
he did, wouldn't it be an amazing If God was

1109
01:10:10.079 --> 01:10:12.359
just feeding people like he fed Israel, there would be

1110
01:10:12.840 --> 01:10:15.399
over what five thousand about five thousand people die a

1111
01:10:15.439 --> 01:10:17.920
day from starvation. There wouldn't be any of that. Wouldn't

1112
01:10:17.920 --> 01:10:21.960
that be great? That'd be awesome, wouldn't it right, wouldn't

1113
01:10:21.960 --> 01:10:24.079
it be great? If God was doing all of these

1114
01:10:24.279 --> 01:10:27.239
wonderful miracles, it would be wonderful because then our lives

1115
01:10:27.239 --> 01:10:29.359
would be radically different. But he didn't even do all

1116
01:10:29.359 --> 01:10:36.439
those miracles for people in the Bible, which sometimes is disturbing. Right,

1117
01:10:37.880 --> 01:10:41.279
other people messed up and He just forgave them. Someone

1118
01:10:41.319 --> 01:10:45.079
reached out and touched the ark and he killed them.

1119
01:10:45.279 --> 01:10:49.840
And anisis a fire lied once and died, Abraham lied

1120
01:10:50.039 --> 01:10:54.319
multiple times, David lied. Don't even forget all the things

1121
01:10:54.359 --> 01:10:58.319
Solomon did. Sometimes it doesn't even make sense from a

1122
01:10:58.600 --> 01:11:03.119
historically the bib Bible itself. Right, So, but we can't

1123
01:11:03.159 --> 01:11:05.439
then go and then somehow try to tell people when

1124
01:11:05.439 --> 01:11:09.399
they leave church this morning, Hey, you just remember Jesus

1125
01:11:09.479 --> 01:11:11.319
is in your boat. He's gonna calm all of your storms.

1126
01:11:11.319 --> 01:11:14.439
He just remember those walls of oppression that's keeping you

1127
01:11:14.520 --> 01:11:17.119
from God's purpose in your life. You just march around

1128
01:11:17.159 --> 01:11:19.359
it and the walls will come down. All the way

1129
01:11:19.399 --> 01:11:22.000
people preach all of this stuff. It sounds so good.

1130
01:11:22.159 --> 01:11:24.399
The people in the pew feel better, But it's just

1131
01:11:24.479 --> 01:11:28.560
an illusionary fairy tale, because the reality is it doesn't

1132
01:11:28.600 --> 01:11:32.279
work that way, does it. Do we deny the historical

1133
01:11:32.319 --> 01:11:34.199
reality of what we read in the Bible? No, we

1134
01:11:34.239 --> 01:11:38.239
believe those stories actually occurred, but we cannot extrapolate from

1135
01:11:38.279 --> 01:11:41.239
that that God's going to do ABC and D for us,

1136
01:11:41.800 --> 01:11:44.399
because if he was doing that for us, well, it

1137
01:11:44.399 --> 01:11:48.239
would be all over the news, wouldn't it. But it

1138
01:11:48.239 --> 01:11:50.399
doesn't work that way. So then we have to try

1139
01:11:50.399 --> 01:11:54.319
to spiritualize it. We have to take the literal miracle

1140
01:11:54.319 --> 01:11:57.439
and then spiritualize the literal miracle into a spirit We

1141
01:11:57.600 --> 01:12:01.439
just it's so illogical and broken, and I wish there

1142
01:12:01.520 --> 01:12:03.039
was a way to fix this, but I know this.

1143
01:12:03.720 --> 01:12:06.359
If we don't get it fixed, we're just going to continue.

1144
01:12:06.399 --> 01:12:08.359
I mean, obviously it's never going to be fixed, but

1145
01:12:08.399 --> 01:12:10.359
you're still going to have people take a Bible, go

1146
01:12:10.439 --> 01:12:13.079
to Proverbs thirty and then tell me that that's a

1147
01:12:13.119 --> 01:12:15.119
prophetic passage about what's going to happen in the future

1148
01:12:15.199 --> 01:12:17.640
when people eat poor people. How do you get that

1149
01:12:17.680 --> 01:12:20.960
from Proverbs thirty? I will never know that's insane or

1150
01:12:21.000 --> 01:12:24.159
that an actset actually represents my fellowship with God. That

1151
01:12:24.279 --> 01:12:27.319
I guess I borrowed. I don't know who I borrowed

1152
01:12:27.359 --> 01:12:30.159
it from. I guess I borrowed my fellowship. That doesn't

1153
01:12:30.159 --> 01:12:34.640
even fit with the text itself, right, So that's going

1154
01:12:34.680 --> 01:12:37.920
to continue to happen, and the more sermons you listen to,

1155
01:12:38.039 --> 01:12:39.800
the more you will hear it, and the more it

1156
01:12:39.840 --> 01:12:42.119
should bother us. There's no way to get back. And

1157
01:12:42.159 --> 01:12:46.520
it's just it's kind of sad that thirty eight years ago,

1158
01:12:47.479 --> 01:12:51.439
at this very moment, I probably was pretty close to

1159
01:12:51.479 --> 01:12:53.800
already at the hospital or getting ready to walk into

1160
01:12:53.840 --> 01:12:56.319
the room. My whole life was going to turn into chaos.

1161
01:12:56.600 --> 01:13:00.520
And it's kind of sad that Bible interpretation is about

1162
01:13:00.560 --> 01:13:03.720
as chaotic as that, and it should be much more

1163
01:13:03.800 --> 01:13:08.039
stable and sure. But we have taken this Bible, which

1164
01:13:08.039 --> 01:13:09.920
is the Word of God, and we have literally just

1165
01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:14.760
destroyed any objective meaning, and we've made it about us,

1166
01:13:15.199 --> 01:13:19.920
and we now are in charge. And until we acknowledge that,

1167
01:13:20.119 --> 01:13:24.079
there's no hope we are the authority of the text.

1168
01:13:24.119 --> 01:13:28.159
Isn't the authority the interpretation trumps the text. That's the

1169
01:13:28.199 --> 01:13:32.159
reality of Christianity. And I don't know how do we

1170
01:13:32.239 --> 01:13:34.840
fix it other than acknowledging it and to acknowledge it,

1171
01:13:34.840 --> 01:13:37.479
we'll get you in trouble. And if I was to

1172
01:13:37.520 --> 01:13:40.119
acknowledge this in most churches, where would I be on Monday?

1173
01:13:41.479 --> 01:13:45.680
Probably unemployed or everybody would be calling me telling me

1174
01:13:45.680 --> 01:13:47.520
they're going to leave the church because they're ticked off.

1175
01:13:47.880 --> 01:13:50.720
But you can be ticked off at me. I've got

1176
01:13:50.720 --> 01:13:52.960
two thousand years of church history to back up my claim.

1177
01:13:53.640 --> 01:13:57.159
Bible interpretation is as subjective as subjective can be, and

1178
01:13:57.239 --> 01:14:01.560
there's no end to how many interpretations there are out there.

1179
01:14:01.680 --> 01:14:04.720
There is no end to it, So we all should

1180
01:14:04.720 --> 01:14:07.319
be a little bit more humble. We still have to

1181
01:14:07.319 --> 01:14:09.800
try to fight for what we believe the Bible teaches right.

1182
01:14:09.840 --> 01:14:12.279
We still have to, but we also have to always

1183
01:14:12.279 --> 01:14:15.960
be humble and ready to admit that what we could

1184
01:14:16.000 --> 01:14:20.680
be very wrong. And we're constantly growing and changing and challenging.

1185
01:14:20.880 --> 01:14:23.760
And that's why I've always been changing in things that

1186
01:14:23.800 --> 01:14:26.239
I may believe, because I'm always trying to figure it out.

1187
01:14:26.479 --> 01:14:28.840
So I wish I could lead it on a much

1188
01:14:28.880 --> 01:14:31.880
more positive note. Just know that there are real principles

1189
01:14:31.920 --> 01:14:35.119
out there. There are real principles of hermonuitics out there.

1190
01:14:35.920 --> 01:14:39.680
They're there. How to convince Christianity to care about them.

1191
01:14:39.720 --> 01:14:45.000
I don't know, I don't know. And even just remember,

1192
01:14:45.039 --> 01:14:46.880
and even if we get all of ourselves to be

1193
01:14:47.000 --> 01:14:49.199
on the right page of interpreting it, it doesn't make

1194
01:14:49.279 --> 01:14:52.600
us better, just make it. Does that make us more spiritual?

1195
01:14:53.199 --> 01:14:56.119
Does that make us more godly? No? It just makes

1196
01:14:56.159 --> 01:14:59.560
us more hopefully aware of what the Bible actually teaches.

1197
01:15:00.079 --> 01:15:02.199
That's the best we can hope for. Don't think it's

1198
01:15:02.199 --> 01:15:05.760
going to make us better. Good interpretation does not make

1199
01:15:05.800 --> 01:15:11.640
you better. Good interpretation just makes you more knowledgeable. Now,

1200
01:15:11.720 --> 01:15:14.439
we would hope knowledge would always lead to better a lot,

1201
01:15:14.520 --> 01:15:17.159
but it doesn't always lead to that. It doesn't. Sometimes

1202
01:15:17.159 --> 01:15:20.199
it actually leads to the opposite. Knowledge could actually lead

1203
01:15:20.239 --> 01:15:26.319
to pride, so it can actually backfire. But we are

1204
01:15:26.319 --> 01:15:28.520
supposed to know it, so all we can do is

1205
01:15:28.560 --> 01:15:30.119
try to know it better. All right, let's pray the

1206
01:15:30.119 --> 01:15:32.560
Lord got we come before you this afternoon. Lord. It's

1207
01:15:32.600 --> 01:15:36.039
a it's a sad state of affairs when it comes

1208
01:15:36.119 --> 01:15:38.680
to how to interpret your word. Everyone in this room,

1209
01:15:38.720 --> 01:15:41.199
we've all made mistakes in doing it. We've all done

1210
01:15:41.199 --> 01:15:45.199
it incorrectly. We've probably taught other people incorrectly. Forgive us

1211
01:15:45.199 --> 01:15:48.159
all for our failure. We will not worry about anyone

1212
01:15:48.159 --> 01:15:51.680
else's failure. And help us find a way to understand

1213
01:15:51.720 --> 01:15:56.079
your word so that we can find stability, find objective

1214
01:15:56.119 --> 01:16:01.399
truth and not subjective chaos. Thank you for all that

1215
01:16:01.439 --> 01:16:04.800
you've done, forgiving us your word, and hopefully we will

1216
01:16:04.840 --> 01:16:06.439
become better stewards of it. And we asked us in

1217
01:16:06.520 --> 01:16:09.359
Jesus name, and God's people said