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One of the most famous sermons that has ever been preached, certainly in American history, has to be Jonathan Edwards famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. It was preached in 1741 in New England and was used powerfully by God in part to spark the first God Great Awakening, an undeniable time of revival in our country that had ripple effects that reached across the world. They talk about when he preached this sermon, people literally, like rolling on the ground in the aisles, like with their hands over their head, just so racked with pain from the conviction the Holy Spirit moving. And crazily enough, John Johnathan Edwards actual preaching style was just to stand and read in a monotone voice every word. And he had written in his manuscript. But people came under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, began coming to Christ in mass and repentance and salvation, just, just literally. And we say, come quickly, Lord Jesus, do it again. But fascinating to me, having read the manuscript for the sermon, is knowing that what has gone down in history as one of the most iconic or memorable parts of the message is something that isn't in the Bible at all. He talks at length about a spider being suspended over a flame by a single strand of web that all it would take is that one strand to sever for the spider to fall and to perish. Now, the sermon his text he preached out of was Deuteronomy chapter 32. And if you go and look at Deuteronomy 32, there is no itsy bitsy spider anywhere. So what are we to make of that of God using something that came out of Jonathan Edwards's imagination that he preached that isn't from Scripture. Welcome to Is that in the Bible? We're at Wonder Project's virtual production studio where the hit show House of David is brought to life through movie magic. When they're not on location, they're able to recreate an environment, dress the foreground. Unlike now, it's just raw ground. And then all of a sudden, boom, we are in Bethlehem, baby. And you even have the wind blowing through the trees. And so then you're able to be in any of the lands. Movie magic's able to, you know, bring shows like Mandalorian and different Marvel projects to life in this fashion. It's crazy how it's all done, how the sausage gets made. But we're so excited that they've welcomed us in to watch some of the clips from this incredible show. And then to ask the question, moving from screen to Scripture, is that in the Bible? We want to greet you Whether you're at one of our Fresh Life churches or joining us at a partner church, thank you for being with us. Or maybe you're watching this online. And like many of my friends who, when they started to watch the show, were hitting me up with questions, did this happen? Did that happen? Is that in the Bible? Is this what really. Is this really how Goliath, how tall he was? Is this how it went down? And I just kept being like, hey, by the way, you can read the Bible. And I would send them back Scriptures. And I love the way that that now can be something we're doing collectively, because I know the show's creator, John Irwin. He longs for people having watched the show to actually, to get into the Bible itself and to see what is God saying, to wrestle with some of the texts. And what we're going to be doing throughout this series is we're going to be addressing the elements that, like Jonathan Edwards, Spider, are fictitious, are facetious, they're allegories, they're. They're illustrations, they're useful. And to what end? We're going to ask that question. And so what we want to do is sort of develop some bins, right? Like, as a parent, you have your kid clean up the room. You want to put all the, you know, swords and, you know, Nerf guns into one bin. You want to put all the things with wheels, cars and trucks into another bin. And then maybe you want to take all the sporting equipment and put it into. To this bin here. So you want to sort stuff out. That's what we're going to do. We're going to watch some different scenes from the show. It's just a chance to watch TV in church. When are you going to do that? Right? And then we're going to try and grab what we're seeing throughout the episodes and put it into the right bins. Here's the three that we're going to use. Three categories. First is scriptural revelation. The second is creative imagination. And the third is extra biblical information. Okay, so those are our three bins. Let's expound on them just for a quick moment. Scriptural revelation, a lot of that is in the show. That's why I'm such a big fan. They take as much as they can. And of course, the Bible, there wasn't a camera back then, so we don't know all of this stuff. But as much as they can, they're pulling exact dialog and important phrases that came from the breath of God. The Bible is God's breath. On a page, okay? And so that's the first and certainly the most important and where we find that we're going to revere, we're to going. Going to tremble before God's word. We're believing that's going to aid us in discipleship, which is Wonder Project's hope with everything they create, that the church and the body of Christ would use it to disciple, to see it bring the dead to life. In evangelism, the second bin is creative imagination. This is speculation. This is, hey, there's a spider. Hey. Not in Deuteronomy, but hey, it's still helpful, right? And the storytelling and the drama and stuff that is just coming from a writing room, okay? We're going to address that where we see it. And then the third is extra biblical information. Okay? And this is actually something that impresses me and I respect a lot that when they can, the show's writers and producers and directors, they're going to pull from stuff that's not in the Bible, but it's not just written up. This third category is stuff that comes from extra biblical sources. Okay, so like rabbinical writings, like the Midrash or the Talmud. Right? This is people who wrote stuff down. So it is recorded, but it's not wholly writ. And there's a lot of this that you have maybe taken for granted that you don't even know. Isn't biblical, but isn't unbiblical. What do you mean? Let me ask you a question. How did Paul die, the Apostle Paul? You're like, wait a minute. Okay, I know this. I know this. Yeah. The book of Acts kind of tells us he got beheaded in Rome, right? Well, the book of Acts does tell us that he did die and he was imprisoned in Rome, but it comes from an extra biblical source. That little tidbit about him being beheaded. What about Peter? How did Peter die? Oh, I know this one. Peter died crucified. Yeah. John does tell us in his gospel that he would die with his arms spread out. That's a death by crucifixion, I guess. No, no, no, you go. But didn't Peter ask for his cross to be flipped like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air? Flipped. Turned upside down. Right? Yeah, yeah, I knew that. He died upside down. He didn't want to die like his Lord. He wasn't worthy. Oh, yeah, that's in the Bible, right? No, that's actually extra biblical. Extra information, you heretic. You've been believing unbiblical. Hold on a second. Something can be un. Not in the Bible, but not unbiblical, because a third party source in many cases, Tertullian, Eusebius, Origen. Right. People who wrote stuff down, they're telling us stuff that we can not look at like it's scripture, but also not dismiss as though it's just creative fancy. And this is stuff that we're going to say, oh, that's interesting. It could be that way. This is speculation and. And yet there is a source that to varying degrees could be credible. And I love that the show factors that in as much as possible. So we'll use those three designations as we can. We're going to start with a clip of the show that sort of describes. There's no other way to put it. Sort of an Israeli idol. Right, where someone's going to be selected out of a contest. This particular contest is we're going to select a new king. A new king for Israel. Now, of course, Israel was originally going to be a theocracy, no king but God. Yet God knew eventually there there would be a king, because he knew and factored in that they would clamor for one even though he didn't want them to have one. How crazy is that? God can have given pre instructions for how something should go, even if it's not his best will. And so that would be sort of an area of his permissive will. And the king that was chosen in the first place gets rejected. We'll talk about that later in the series. And so Samuel is risking his life by obeying God to select a new king. This comes from the first season of House of David. This is episode three. Let's check it out.
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Eliav, the oldest of my sons, Surely you are the one. The Lord demands, Eliab, the beginning of your father's might. Strongest in dignity and power, as unrestrained as the ocean's tide. And yet. Why are you so afraid, Sa? I told you, his mind is gone. I do not understand. Why have you disobeyed my command? Are there no other sons of Jesse? There is one more. The youngest of my sons, David. But he watches the sheep. Send for him. Ava, go get David. Hurry. Yes. Sit. Please break bread with us while we wait. No one will sit. No one will eat. We will stand until your other son is here. Now.
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Okay, let me say the show nails Samuel. He's like equal parts John the Baptist, Rafiki and Yoda. And it's incredible. You just got to love Samuel as his story plays out and how he's involved here. Now, like I said, this version of Israeli Idol takes place in 1st Samuel 16. Let's read starting in verse one. Now. Now. The Lord said to Samuel, you have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel. So fill your flask. Come on, touch three people and tell them, fill your flask. You gotta get ready for what God's gonna do. Fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king. But Samuel asked pretty good question, how can I do that? Right? God comes to Mary, you're going to have a baby. She says, how can I be the mom of your son, right? That's a pretty normal thing. Oftentimes God has these crazy ideas and we're like, what? That doesn't make any sense. Keep going, keep going. Samuel says, if Saul hears about it, he'll kill me. God's elegant solution is, well, then, take a heifer with you. God tends to work in agricultural ways, right? Especially the Old Testament. Abraham says, how can I know you'll keep my promises? God says, all right, bring me a heifer, right? So God says, take a heifer with you. Then you'll just tell people you've come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you which of his sons to anoint for me. So I Love this verse 4. Highlight it or select it in your YouVersion app and highlight it there, underline it. So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. Pro tip. When something God tells you to do doesn't make sense, what should you do? Do it anyway. Because God can do what you can't do, and he knows what you don't know. If God were small enough for your mind, he'd be too small for your problems. So do what God says you should do. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will pick you up. Obey anyway. Do it anyway. Mary was a virgin. I can't be a mom. And guess what? It was because she was a virgin. She was picked. And God's got a plan for why he chose you to do what he's called you to as well. So Samuel obeyed. Verse 6. If you jump down there. When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab. Eliab, I don't know which one, but you got both now. Took one look at Eliab and thought, surely this is the Lord's anointed. Whoo. Look at this beefcake. This is the one for sure. Verse 7. But the Lord said to Samuel, don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance. But the Lord looks at the heart and then jump down to verse 10 in the same way, all seven of Jesse's sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen any of these. And God, we're so grateful for your word, humbled to get to open it, to hear your speak to us. Thank you for every single person who's come into church. At every location, every church, every way through technology, people are getting to hear this message. We're so grateful for the chance to look at this powerful scene that is literally presented as it comes to pass in your word and then to ask the question, God, what are you trying to speak to us through it? Wow. In a world so focused on image, so, so vain, so oftentimes where pride gets us just so worried about how we look, how we appear, and the social media age of selfies and the toxicity of narcissism, Lord, we need you to recalibrate our soul. So we ask you to do so through your word, through your spirit. And we pray if anyone is here who doesn't know you, that you would draw them to yourself, that salvation would happen. In Jesus name, Amen. As an outline to our time, I want you to write down four deceptiveness, danger, duty, and delight. All of our comments as we apply this scripture to our hearts is going to be under those four words, deceptiveness, danger, duty, and delight. One of the things that you'll hear, real estate agents and those who flip houses and, you know, you look at properties on Zillow when you travel, ooh, maybe nice to have a place here, right? All of the conversations, conversation kind of centers around this idea of curb appeal, especially if you're getting ready to sell a house. We recently painted our home that we had built many, many years ago, and it badly needed a new coat of paint and we put a new front door on and, and someone said, oh, that really, that really judged up the place that has a better curb appeal, which is good and helpful. But can we agree together, not the most important thing, especially if you're trying to find a place to raise a family to make a home. Curb appeal. How it looks from the curb when you get out of the car is fine. It looks good when you're looking online at a listing, but it can't tell you if there's mold inside that's going to make your family sick. Can't tell you if there's an infestation of mice in the back patio, ask me how I know that can happen. Can't tell you if there's asbestos or radon or a bad foundation or rusty pipes or if it was built on an old burial ground. And now you're going to deal with all the ramifications of that. The point is, as God told Samuel, there is a deceptiveness to beauty. And at times we can be impressed by how something looks, having no idea what's really within. The Book of Proverbs has a lot to say on the subject. The Bible actually says in the Book of Proverbs that you can be impressed by someone. But it's just a gold snout in the nose of a pig, right? And that idea of a but, whoa, look at that nose ring. That's oftentimes what we're so impressed by. And Samuel's wowed by all the sons. And God's going, I hear him oinking. Listen to Proverbs 31, 30. Charm. It's deceitful and beauty is passing. But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. What is God saying? He's saying all that glitters isn't gold. All that glitters isn't gold. You can see something sparkly. Ooh, it's charmful. That's charming. That's beautiful. No, no, he's saying it might glitter, but it's actually not gold. And that's what the scripture tells us. And that's what we see on the scene. David didn't even get invited to the party. His father excluded, the only one God actually included, to sit on the throne and to rule and to reign. Why didn't Jesse invite him? Is it because he was his illegitimate son born out of wedlock as presented in the show? Well, I can say this to you, that is not in the Bible, clearly stated. Now, there are some things that cause there to be some. What's going on? Is there some Leah, Rachel, sister wives kind of action? Which, of course we know that many in the Bible indulged in, which God never said was to be his way. He always made it clear it should be one man, one woman for. For a lifetime. And we know every time someone turned or deviated from that, there was confusion, there was chaos, there was pain. And ask Joseph and his brothers how that turned out. Ask Isaac how it felt to have the half Ishmael situation because of Hagar. I mean, it never, ever goes better when we turn away from God's plan. And there are some things that kind of indicate perhaps something might have taken place along those lines. David in Psalm 51 does say, in sin my mother conceived me. So some have read between the lines. What sin is that? Original sin? Is that the sin of his father having maybe a side piece? There's some innuendo to that effect in rabbinical teachings, but the Bible does not say that clearly. That's just honestly good drama in the show. Reading between lines. So that could be a part of why he didn't invite him to come to the dinner that night. I think a more clear thing is that he was just more impressed by how tall the rest of the boys were and how short and little David was. And even Samuel almost got sucked in by that. He's like, ooh, look at this one, he's shiny. Look at this one. He's, he's so tall. Hello. Like Saul, Saul was tall. But that's about all. I mean, Saul, he was temperamental when you really got to know him because he had a serious temper and dude, the guy was mental, right? But, but when you looked at him like, wow, that guy, that guy's tall. He'll make a great king. He'd be impressive to follow. I did a lift on my Jeep where I got bigger tires. Put a lift kit on it and, and I did not do my math properly. And you know what I couldn't do after I lifted my Jeep? Fit it in my garage. Oh, it looked good going down the road. Look how big it is. But I couldn't get it in where I needed to go. That's how God saw David. He might be little, but he's going to fit into the place where I want him to be. He's not big and flashy and impressive. It's just the way I want it. And God looks at things differently than how we do. David's humility actually distinct from his brothers unlocked power. So we need to know that there's a danger and a deceptiveness to only looking at outward appearances. It's our duty to dig deeper. If we come back to our analogy from a moment ago about buying a house and not being tricked by the curb appeal. Oh, that looks so good. Right? Let's say your realtor brought you by to check the house out for the first time Monday at 9am Right? And then maybe you did a second visit Tuesday and it was 11:00am this time. Hey, you might want to come back Friday night at 11pm and ask the question, can I find a parking space? Right? I know. On Monday morning. Yeah, everything's pretty Quiet, no one's parking. Like you might not have a parking space within a three mile radius. And hey, what's the neighbor situation? Are they like just turning into a full club and there's so much music, so much noise. You got to look at it in different situations, right? So it is when you're looking for someone to do business with, someone to get into sort of a partnership with, like marriage. Let's talk about marriage. For example, when you're choosing to select a spouse, you need to think like someone wise who's trying to buy a house to look for character. Not just chemistry, faithfulness, not just at their finances, loyalty, and not just at their looks. Reality is there's a lot of people out there with beautiful faces and ugly hearts that are not going to be great to do life with long term. When things are worse and not just better, when it's for poorer and not just richer, when it's sickness and not just health. It also needs to inform how we determine our own value. Our duty is to go deeper. Let's think about the aging process. All of us are in the process of aging, of getting older. 2 Corinthians 4 puts it this way. Outwardly we are wasting away. Thanks, Paul.
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Right.
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It's just the reality of getting older on this broken planet. But he says spiritually we can do our duty and dig deeper by knowing that the other half of that is yet inwardly in Christ. He's saying we are being renewed day by day. So someone reverse ages as they walk with Jesus. More grace, hopefully more glory, more humility. If we make the right choice. If all we marry is someone who has money or looks good on Instagram or you know, we swiped on, on, on a, on a dating app, because wow, look at that, right? They might only have the things they can't hang on to, but have nothing. But in the columns that matter the most, God delights deeper down on foundation. What is this life being built on? Is it sand or is it solid bedrock? So all that glitters isn't gold, but all that's gold doesn't glitter. When you first saw David, it was easy to despise him. Goliath did. Ooh, just a youth. How'd that turn out for Goliath? The truth is, then and now there are diamonds in the rough. They might not dazzle you when you see them at first, but man, they light up God's Richter scale in heaven like the widow's two mites. What's that? God's like, did you see what she gave? But the rich people who are making it rain, tides, God's like, eh, it doesn't cost them and their heart's in the wrong place. I think about how, you know, if you would have met Paul, you might not have been impressed by him at all. In fact, on Nicephorus, this is extra biblical tradition documented about what Paul looked like. Do you ever wonder what the apostle Paul looked like? He was a man, small of stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a pretty good state of body. But his eyebrows met in the Middle east and his nose was large and hooked. Interesting. Paul himself said in 2nd Corinthians 10:10 that people made fun of him, saying his letters are weighty and forceful, but in person unimpressive. So here's the thing. If you would have met Paul, you wouldn't go, wow, what a man of God. What an amazing person who wrote half the New Testament and shaped the course of Christianity in the world. You might go, eh, not that good looking. But the truth is, what an absolute man of God. So it was with Jesus. According to Isaiah, chapter 53, verse 2. When you saw Jesus, what did you see? He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. If a casting agent was looking for someone to cast in the role of the Messiah, would they have even selected Jesus? You look at him and not impressive. Totally forgettable. And yet Jesus the fairest among 10,000. The Lily of the valley, the rose of Sharon, the bright and morning star, incarnation. God and humanity mixed together. The Savior of the world. I mean, it's kind of the message from that great theological film, the Beauty and the Beast, right? Where we shouldn't be fooled by how something looks. This poor old lady, she was actually this angel sent, right? And it's a total biblical theme. Hebrews 13:2 says that some people showing kindness to strangers have entertained angels unaware. What a wild thought that sometimes God tests us, like in that movie, with the opportunity to show great kindness to, to a stranger and have no idea what's really going on. Things seldom are how they appear. And we have to assume that with God everything's a test. He weighs the spirits. He's. He's what's really going on. Are you just showing kindness because this person can do something for you in this quid pro quo? You scratch my back, I scratch yours. World of. I'm only going to do this, right? I mean, how do you treat the waitress? How do you treat the person who parks your car, right? The real measure of a person is with respect to integrity and characters, how you treat someone who can't do anything for you at all. Okay, continuing on, what happens when Samuel eventually does meet David? Well, 1st Samuel 16 tells us Jesse finally got him. And so now here's David and Samuel, the seer, the prophet is finally going to get to have a chance to see him. Let's watch this next clip.
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Who are you? I am Samuel, prophet of the most High. Look at me, son of Jesse, Huh?
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And you've.
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I came expecting a great warrior. And yet God does not see what man sees. Man sees the outward appearance. God looks into the heart. David, son of Jesse, simple shepherd. When this day is true, you will be something entirely new. Oh, God. It's funny,
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I love how that comes across that Samuel touches David and can almost feel and hear the lion of the tribe of Judah roaring in his bones coming through in the genes. I love how Pete Scazzero said that Jesus may be in your heart if you're a Christian, but grandpa is in your bones. God's a generational God, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, of course, as Jesus walked on the earth, both from his adopted lineage through Joseph, why do we get genealogies in the Christmas accounts of Matthew and Luke? Because through Joseph, he was related legally as his adopted father to David, but also through Mary, through his blood, his mom was descended, did descend from David. So there in David's DNA are the genes that would bring about when the incarnation happened, the King of Kings, Jesus Christ himself, roaring. And so to have Samuel sort of aware of that supernaturally, spiritually, and to see the Hail, Hail, lion of Judah moment coming out, it was almost like he got to have his hand on his Messiah to see that leap to life. Dang. Tim Keller said that sin is effectively a disordered imagination that's inflamed. So what we're seeing in this picture that brings to life what is in scripture can reorder our disordered imaginations and see things correctly and help us avoid making the mistake of judging things based on their external appearance. We didn't see it. But what happens Next in verse 13 of 1st Samuel 16 is that as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. And it's an incredible chastisement of how superficial even as Jesus people we can become. The lesson I want you to leave with is don't be fooled by the outward appearance. Don't judge the contents of a life based on the curb appeal. You will never see when you look in a mirror or take a selfie, the version of yourself that you are meant to become or someone else is capable of being just based on what they look like, how much money they have, how slick they are. And so let's look for more. And let's also not neglect soul maintenance as we close. First Peter, chapter three says, our beauty shouldn't come just from outward adornment. Your hairstyles, gold, jewelry, fine clothes. It should come from your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.
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Ooh.
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It's of great worth in God's sight. I would never come to a meeting with you at a coffee shop without brushing my teeth, looking at my hair at least. I mean, I kind of am doing the bedhead thing at the moment. But it took a lot of work to look like this, right? We think about our clothes because we care. We care about deodorant and how we come across, right? But do I take the time before I head out to sit and to read through my reading plan? I'm going through in God's Word to pray. That's how you take care of your spirit. I wouldn't want you to be subjected to my bad breath, but what about the bad breath of my soul? Let's focus, let's care. Let's do the maintenance it takes to come across to a world desperately in need of God's love as people who have that inner beauty, the quiet spirit that can only come from time spent with Jesus. Your body, it's going into the ground, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. But your spirit's taken by the angels to be with God. What a crazy thing, to live your whole life only taking care of the temple and neglecting the spirit of God that lives inside of that temple and what you need when it comes to your relationship. I'm going to pray a prayer. I want the church to pray with me. No one praying alone. All of us praying together. And if you're. If you're realizing, man, I need to get saved. I don't want to be in the hands of an angry God. I don't want to go to hell. I want to be saved and set free, which is what Jesus wants. Say this prayer to God. Mean it in your heart. He will hear you. Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner. I can't fix myself. But thank you for sending Jesus to die for me. Rise from the dead. Today I give my heart to you. Thank you for new life. I give you mine in Jesus name.