Video Transcript: Understanding Them

So, why are we working so hard at convincing ourselves that God wants us just as we are - you as you? And why do we work so hard at having a strategy on how to get out there and make contact with people - intentional friendships, intentional relationships - to give the fitting testimony at the proper time, getting them involved? Jesus said we are to go into all the world and bring the Gospel. When he gave the Commission initially when he said, "And you will be my witnesses," then he said this, "in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and unto the outermost parts of the earth." 

What happened to that? In Acts 2:14, it says that the Gospel was preached in Jerusalem. That's taken care of. In Acts 8:1, it says that the Gospel was preached by those who were scattered into Judea and Samaria. That's the end of part two. That's taken care of. Then, he said, "to the outermost ends of the earth." And there's no verse in Acts at all that talks about that - that that has been done. 

Here's an interesting thought. 80% of the people in the word today live within the sound of the Christian Gospel. Get that. 80% live within the sound of the Christian Gospel. Think of what we could do in the name of Jesus if we will mention that name. Here's another statistic. It's 99 to 1. Jesus talked about a good shepherd, and he's the Good Shepherd. He said, "A good shepherd has 99 people in the church,"-- 99 sheep in the fold-- "and he goes out to look for one." Is that the percentages in our life? And when he talks about that, about leaving the 99 who are safe already to go after the one and risk his life and everything else, that teaches us something about his heart. What does it teach us about our heart? What are our percentages? Are we willing to go out to the ends of the earth, right next door? Let's pray.

Oh, Jesus, what a heart you have. We want that heart. We really do. You're convincing us week by week as we go through your material, not ours, that you want the whole world saved. And we're part of your plan. Dear Holy Spirit, you are alongside of us. You live within us. Jesus called you here and we thank you for being in us. Help us to have the heart of Jesus. Amen.

Well, we're talking now about understanding "them". And by "them", we mean the people around us who don't know about Jesus or love him. We're talking about people in false religions. We're talking about people who say there is no God. We're talking about people who are what the Bible calls "the world", about the followers of satan. That's what we mean by "them" - those who are not Christians. 

And if you were to go out with a product, the first thing you would do with some kind of something you're selling (something to eat or something to wear or something to use around the house), first you survey the market. You get to understand what people are like. You get to understand what they need. And then, you present your product. That's what we've been talking about here. Why doesn't that person you know want to accept Jesus? Why does that person you know keep on getting drunk? Why does that person that you see over there at work or in school behave that way? What's going on here? Do you understand them at all? And do you know what it's important? Because it's so easy to criticize, to be negative, to look at them and say, "Look at the way they live. That's a shame. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. They ought not to do that." And we become very critical and judgmental toward them. 

I want to give you just two things to understand about the people around you who don't love Jesus. There are a lot of reasons. There are social reasons. There are political reasons. There are psychological reasons. There are economic reasons. You can find that material in books and online. I just want to leave you two thoughts about why people are the way they are so that we can understand them. Because when we understand them, we're going to love them more, and we're going to bring them the Good News about Jesus.

The first thought is from a verse in Proverbs 27:7. "One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry, even what is bitter tastes sweet." We've got to think about that a little bit. Here's what I think it means. I know a woman who's sleeping with a man who is not her husband. She's married. And we talk about it. Because she has a guilty conscience. And she cries and says, "I'm so lonely. All I want to do is be happy." And we talk about it and she goes back and does it again. Do you know why? Because she's lonely. And all she wants to do is be happy. By God's grace, I didn't go through that. I was married for 40 years to a wonderful woman, and now, 13 years to another - women who were kind and faithful and giving and sharing and loving and caring about me. So, you could say my heart was full of love for them. But when you don't have that in your heart, you're hungry. And even if it's an affair, whatever is bitter tastes sweet. 

Think, for example, of the person who drinks himself drunk every night. What an awful thing. He wakes up feeling terrible, and he knows it's coming. But he still does it because he's so hungry that even what is bitter tastes sweet. Or a person on drugs, four or five or six or ten hours to feel better about yourself and then, comes that awful crash again. A person who has a family or a person who knows himself or a person who has a job or a person who owns a home or whatever it might be, a person who is in sports, he feels okay about himself. He's full. He's not hungry. But a person who has none of that, a person who is lonely and all the rest is hungry. So, even what hurts them feels good. Even what is bitter tastes sweet. 

This is true about our relationship with the one true God. God made every person there is, and I divide everybody in the world into two groups. You either know the true God or you want to know him. Because he made us, his stamp is on our hearts. Have you ever heard about the God-shaped vacuum? There is a French philosopher and mathematician by the name of Pascal, and I wrote down some of his words here. And he says, "A person tries in vain to be filled with everything around him, though nothing can help since this infinite hole can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object." In other words, only by God himself. There is a God-shaped vacuum. 

Have you heard about the round peg in a square hole? There are still those corners that aren't filled. And what he's saying is that that's true about our hearts. That God placed himself in our hearts. When we throw him out, we can put things in there. We can put philosophies in there. We can put religions in there. We can put family in there. We can put a sexual misconduct in there. But it's like a round peg in a square hole. There are always those empty spots and that's what people yearn for. That's why they're still hungry. The people around us, if they don't have Jesus, they have a God-shaped vacuum in their heart. 

When I was studying about this, I came across a beautiful song online by a Christian artist by the name of Plum. And listen to the song that she wrote. "Every point of view has another angle, and every angle has its merit. But it all comes down to faith. That's the way I see it. You can say that love is not divine, and you can say that life is not eternal, all we have is now. But I don't believe it." And listen to the chorus. "There's a God-shaped hole in all of us, and the restless soul is searching. There's a God-shaped hole in all of us, and it's a void only he can fill. Does the world seem gray with empty longing, wearing every shade of sinful? Do you ever feel that there is something missing? There's a God-shaped hole in all of us, and the restless soul is searching. Only he can fill it. Only he can fill it."

When I heard that song, I about had tears in my eyes. I thought how that describes so many people around you. They're walking around with a hole in their heart, and only God can fill it. We must know that in order to understand them. Then, we're not going to condemn. Then, we're not going to shun them. Then, we're not going to blame them. Then, we're not going to think we're better than they are. But we're going to reach out and give them that verbal testimony about Jesus. 

Well, there are a couple of verses that give us the other understanding about people around us. One is from Romans 8:7. "The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law nor can it do so." 

And the other verse is from 1 Corinthians 2:14. "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them, because they are discerned only through the Spirit."

I want you to look at something in both of these verses. Look at this one. What is true about the mind that is not saved? That's the person who's hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law nor can it do so. And what is true about the person without the Spirit? What does it say? "They do not accept the things that come from God, and they cannot understand them."  

I want to go through those once again. "The mind that doesn't belong to Jesus does not submit to God's law nor can it submit to God's law. And the mind that doesn't have the Holy Spirit does not accept the things from God and cannot accept the things from God." I'm making a strong point here. Do you hear what I'm saying? Do you hear what it said in that verse? Did you notice about it? It says does not and cannot; does not and cannot. Those are two different things. You look at the people around you in your life and you say, "Look at him. He doesn't even go to church." "Look at her. She doesn't even stay faithful to her husband." "Look at them. They don't even rear their children in the Lord's way." All sorts of things. "Look at the way he spends his weekends." "Look at what she does with her money." And we look at them, and we say, "Look what they don't do." 

"Look at this. I presented the Gospel to them just like we said we were going to. "They didn't believe it. I offered to help them, to find them a job, to help them quit drinking. They don't accept it." So, we talk to other Christians, to our families, to people who have it together, and we say, "Isn't that something? Look at the people around us. They don't even do it. They don't want to do it. What's wrong with them?" 

Do you know what's wrong with them? What does the verse say? They do not because they cannot. Is it that they don't or that they can't? That's what we're talking about - that they don't or that they can't. 

So, here's that person you look at. How are you looking at them now? What is he like? He's a good friend or he's a person you hardly knew. He's someone you've known for a while or a person you're intentionally making friends with. Jesus has given me part of his heart, and I love the people who don't love him just the way he does. And I have so many people in my life. 

I have a man who's killing himself by drinking too much. I have woman who's smoking herself to death. I have a person who's just running around with any man who will take her. I have a man who is a compulsive gambler. They gamble on anything. And we're tempted to look at them and say, "Do you know what? Look at that. They don't even change." But what I'm learning to do is to love them and to be with them and to spend time with them. And my heart breaks for them because they can't. Would you slap a baby around because it can't walk across the room? Would you be harsh with your five-year-old because he couldn't wash your car or he couldn't clean up the yard? Would you reject someone in high school because he can't get the studies? Or do we say, "He just won't do it"? 

Why do we do that then with people around us? Christians, many times, can have a reputation of being harsh, of being judgmental. We believe in the Truth. We know the Truth. But what about the people who don't do the Truth because they can't do the Truth. So, what does that say about our approach to them? 

Remember when we talked about the Holy Spirit and about how Jesus gives his Holy Spirit into this world? And the one verse in John 16, it says, "And he will give his Spirit to show the world about sin and righteousness and judgement." Is that our job or is that the job of the Holy Spirit? Is it our job to take a person who isn't following Jesus because he can't follow Jesus? I'll get back to that. 

Do you know why he can't follow Jesus? We've seen it before in this class. Because he's born dead in trespasses and sins. Because he can't hear the Word of God. What can a dead person do? So, how do we approach that person? It's the work of the Holy Spirit to convince of sin. Do we have to tell them how bad they are, what they're doing wrong? Or could we come with the Good News? "Do you know what? Here's what Jesus did in my life. I'm just the same as you are. We're all broken. Jesus came into my life, and I want him to come into your life too." We present the righteousness. The Holy Spirit works through us. If we do talk about judgement, it's the Holy Spirit who has to do it. Jesus said, "I will give my Spirit." He will convince them. He will convince those around you. He will convince the world of sin, of righteousness and judgement. What is our role and what was his role? 

The worse thing they could say about Jesus is, "He's a friend of sinners." Oh, he was. He loved them, and he came to give his life for them. And what are our orders from Jesus? Is it to go out and condemn people? No. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. He said, "Love those who hate you. Do good to those who are your enemies. Bless those who curse you. And pray for those who do evil to you." Friend of sinners, you're talking to dead people around you, and Jesus said, "My Holy Spirit will convict them. You be the friend of sinners." 

We said we had to get to know two things about the people around us. Here they are. One, they're hungry. And in that hunger, they're searching for stuff that won't satisfy. They're spending their money on foolishness. And number two, they don't obey God because they can't. And you and I have the power of the Holy Spirit to bring them home to him by our vocal testimony. In Jesus' name. Amen.