Beyond Comprehension

Of course, my title you can see. Beyond comprehension. Have you ever been there before? Has your mind ever been there where you just really couldn't comprehend things?

If somebody said they needed a molecular engineer, you ready to jump out there?

How about a nuclear engineer? We used to have a saying in the South that someone that was too smart was educated above their intelligence. Well, I want to talk about someone in the Bible that people thought that way, and I want to bring out a point that maybe they were right.

And that one individual was Paul. Was he over-educated? I don't know. They say he spoke five different languages. Was well traveled. Learned at the feet of Gamile.

Peter even said that, didn't he?

As a matter of fact, I'd like to go there. I'll be reading from a New Living Translation.

Go to 2 Peter. 2 Peter 3 and verse 16. He said, Remember our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him, speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments, or words as others said, are hard to understand. And those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their own destruction.

Paul's writings have been argued for the last almost 2,000 years because people say he's saying one thing and he's saying another. I did a Bible study or have sermons on Romans because you cannot truly understand the book of Romans that he wrote unless you understand the background and what happened to 10 years before the book was written. And because it then explains a little bit about Paul, but I'm not here to do that today. I'm here to think about us. And if there are things in this book that are beyond our comprehension, is that what God has planned?

It's Einstein who said the only difference between the genius and insanity is that genius has its limits. And that is true to many extents, extensions.

Because here we just looked at Peter looking at Paul because Peter was not educated. Matter of fact, it's questioned by scholars if he could even read or write. And they believed he did not even write these that he had to have somebody write these for him because he grew up a fisherman. By the age of 10 or 12, he was helping his father.

And then he went into that profession. He didn't need to know anything except how to count fish and also what bait to use. And that was about it. Then Christ called him. But I'd like to look at a couple examples today before we jump into what we need to know, what we need to understand. And that is Paul's words, which were beyond comprehension to the leaders at his time.

I'm talking about kings and governors, where one actually looked at Paul and said, you're crazy. So if you will join me in the book of Acts, I'll be reading from New Living Translation, or just watch up here. I'll be reading more than I normally do because I want to set the tone for what we're going to be talking about. Excuse me.

Chapter 26 and verse 1. Paul is before King Agrippa. Then Agrippa said to Paul, You may speak in your defense. So Paul, gesturing with his hands, started his defense. I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense made today against all those accusations made by the Jewish leaders. For I know you are an expert on the Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently. A little smooth words there, you might say to the king. As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish testimony. I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people in Jerusalem.

And if they would admit it, they would know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion. Now I am on trial because of my hope in the fulfillment of God's promise made to our ancestors. In fact, that is why the twelve tribes of Israel zealousy worship God night and day, and they share the same hope that I have. Yet, Your Majesty, they accuse me of having this hope. Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead? I used to believe you have to remember the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection.

So there he divided a few people right there in his testimony. I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene. Indeed, I did that in Jerusalem. Authorized be the leading priest, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison and cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death.

You remember who? Stephen. Staffanos. Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities. One day I was on a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priest. About noon, Your Majesty, I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. We all fell down and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

It is useless for you to fight against my will. Who are you? Lord, I ask. And the Lord replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get to your feet, for I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant witness. Tell people what you have seen. Tell them what I will show you in the future and I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes so that they may turn from the darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.

Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me.

And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven. I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God and prove they have changed by their good things they do. Some Jews arrested me in the temple for preaching this and they tried to kill me. But God has protected me right up to this present time so that I can testify to everyone from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses would say would happen, that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead and in this way announce God's light to the Jews and to the Gentiles alike. Suddenly, Governor Festus shouted, Paul, you are insane! Too much study has made you crazy. As a matter of fact, in the new King James version, what does it say? Much learning has driven you mad. Where's driving you mad? They couldn't understand what he was trying to teach. Finally, in verse 25, Paul replied, I am not insane.

Most excellent, Festus. What I am saying is the sober truth. And King Agrippa knows these things. I speak boldly for I am sure these events are all familiar to him for they are not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do. Agrippa interrupted him. Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly? Paul replied, rather quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am except for these chains. So did the powers of be understand what Paul was teaching them, what he was really offering them? No, no. One thing they couldn't understand, Sadducees, because there wasn't supposed to be a resurrection. And they were the leading authorities in Jerusalem at the time. So that's they were the main ones wanting to find Paul put on trial because it was beyond their comprehension that there's something they didn't know.

Because we all think we're a little smarter than we are. It's only times in our lives that happen that we find out we're not quite as smart as we think we are. And that is also humbling, but it's when we begin to learn things too. I find that out. So here to King Agrippa and to Governor Festus, who took over from Governor Felix, they couldn't understand these teachings of Paul. For one thing they're saying, wait a minute, God spoke to you. God really spoke to you, and he struck you down. And the light was greater than the sun. You must be crazy.

And that you're standing here with us today.

Now, before we reflect on that, I'd like you to go one other place with me in the Book of Acts. Book of Acts in 17 still had to do with Paul.

Interesting place here, because Paul decides to preach to the Greeks in Athens. Anybody here been to Athens? I don't know this one. Wait a minute. One, two, three, four, five, six. Wow. You are a world. You do get around.

So, of course, Paul went there to this very Greek society where they were entrenched in their polytheism and their many gods. So let's go to verse 16 of chapter 17 in Acts. He said while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles. And he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there. He also had a debate with some of the Epicureans and Stoics. Who were the Epicureans? What did they believe? Anybody? What? Yes, eat, drink, be merry. Let's go have some fun. It's party time 24-7, and that's the best you can hope out of life is just enjoy yourself. Who's with me?

Then there were the Stoics. What did the Stoics think? Whoa! Deny yourself everything! The very opposite of the Epicurean. So you can imagine how those two had conversations and how they talked each other and talked down to each other. So let's go see what happened. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said to him, what's this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas that he's picked up? See, he just made them up. That's what they're saying, because most of what they believe was made up too, wasn't it?

Epicureans were following what was his name? Epicurus! Very good! Yes! They were following his teachings. After he looked around and said everybody's just, they're too wild. You need to control yourself. Be stern. Others said he seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.

Then they took him to the high council of the city, which happens to be where? Mars Hill. Anybody been on Mars Hill? There you go. She's been on Mars Hill. There you go. You've been on Mars Hill. It's this hill that overlooks. Well, it doesn't look this. That's where that is. Mars Hill is just over to the side over here. It's still there. You can walk up there.

Anybody preach from Mars Hill like Paul? No? Okay. You had a Bible study up there. Who was your preacher? Paul? Oh, you don't remember. Okay. But it wasn't Phil. No. Okay.

Oh, well, I guess it better not been Phil then. All right. Verse 19. Let's finish this up. Then they took him to the high council of the city. Come and tell us about this new teaching. They said you are saying some rather strange things behind their comprehension, right? And we want to know what it's all about. It should be explained that all the Athenians, as well as the foreigners in Athens, seem to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas. You are very smart people. So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them and saying, men of Athens, I notice you are all very religious in every way. For as I was walking along, I saw your many shrines. One of your altars had this description, to an unknown God, this God whom you worship without knowing is the one I'm telling you about. Then drop down to 32. After he's explaining that, when they heard Paul speaking about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed and content. You idiot! Resurrection of the dead. Now, crazy. That's what they thought. It was beyond their comprehension. He was saying that a God had died and was resurrected. It was so foreign to them.

But others said, we want to hear more about this later. That ended Paul's discussion with them. So, the elites of that day had something beyond their comprehension. That is God's truth. The very words, the very spirit that drives these words in this Bible. So, we've looked at Peter, who thought there were some things he couldn't understand. There were things the king of Grippa and the elite of their day couldn't understand. And then there was the intellectuals of the day in the place of Socrates.

Who are the other guys? Plato, Aristotle. All these great minds were there, so they figured, since they came from there, everybody had a great mind, except for this babbler who brought stuff in. So, finally, I want to finish my message today.

That Paul told something to Timothy. They only have two verses left. But I want to know if we truly understand it, or if these two verses are beyond our comprehension. Because they should not be. We need to understand and put it in a way that anyone could understand it. So, I'd like you to go with me, because I will change from the New Living Translation. It's because most of you do have the New King James Version. And I'll jump back, since I'm not doing just reading, but just reading two verses here. I'd like to go to 2 Timothy 1, verses 8 and 9. We're going to go there. It's just really two verses. But I'd like to break down those two verses. Francis R., you've read them many times. But I'd like to break that down in the time we have left, because I think it's very important. It's very important to you, because this is where some of us, we have a little interaction going here. If you feel like it, if you don't feel like it, then Mary knows I can talk all day and all night. But you will be done by 4. I am a time guy. I believe in time. So join me, if you will. You have it up here, or you can read it in your own Bible. And it says in verse 8, Therefore, this is what he's telling Timothy, and he's also telling that to us today. This is real verses for real people in a real church today. So let's look at it. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Stop. What's the testimony of Jesus? If somebody asks you, what's the testimony of Jesus Christ? Because this Greek that this is translated in, it's court wordage.

In the Greek, this testimony is relative to what you would have in a trial. A witness, a testimony, evidence. Okay, so I'm going to ask you, can you really explain what is, as he says here, do not be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ of our Lord? What is the testimony? So I want to ask you, what is the testimony? Your testimony. Anybody? Raise your hand in the back. I think the testimony of Christ is his first-hand accounting of his realization of who he was, where he came from, and what he came for. Okay, very good, but you know what?

There's not one answer. That's one answer. There are many. The truth, the Torah, the Gospel, the promise of eternal life. The promise of eternal life? That's testimony of who he was? Was he your Savior?

Was he the Messiah?

And you know that. How? Because of his death, this resurrection.

Yes, and didn't he say his words are truth? Right? We know it for one reason. In my opinion, my understanding, we know it for one reason and one reason only. It's through the whole experience. That's how we understand it. Do we have the testimony? Are we prepared to give? I mean, many of you have probably been, well, hopefully not all of you, been in a trial, had to give a testimony of what you might have seen, what might have went on somewhere. You don't have any problems saying that because that comes from what? You. Am I right?

Okay, so this is about you. What is your testimony about Jesus Christ? How can you help people? The Bible. We get our words from there. We believe he is still alive, don't we? Because of what?

It's resurrected. That's what Paul was saying earlier. Right? We believe in that resurrection. If we did not believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected, it's not about the three days and three nights. It was about the resurrection that he was brought back to life. Otherwise, we might just go to live any way we want to live. Let's all be Epicureans. Let's, you know, let's all go to Diane's place tonight and have a party. Because it doesn't matter. But we know there is something here for us, and it's a testimony of Jesus Christ. It is. It is the truth.

We also understand he's in. He's our intercessor. Right? He's our high priest. It is a loaded question about testimony. There are so many things he does for us. He has done for us and what he will do for us. That is the beauty of this part of this one verse. But let's go on. Let's go on to the next part. Because he said, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me. His prisoner.

Okay, because Timothy was like a son to Paul.

And Paul's in prison.

Nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the suffering of the gospel, according to the power of God. Oh, oh, oh, oh, you see that.

Are we ready for that? Are we ready to share in the suffering that like Paul went through? Uh-uh. I'm not. I'm not today. Oh, I dragged me out and just beat me.

Beat me 39 times.

No, are you? We can all say, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I don't, you know, somebody walked in and said, okay, somebody's got to be beaten 39 times. I don't see people going, pick me, pick me. No.

What happened to him first? He was blinded. You ever been blind for three days?

Think about it.

What else? What else happened to Paul? What is suffering? So he's saying that we're ready to jump in the suffering. Whatever. He describes what happened to him. What happened to him? You guys know the Scripture. What happened to him? Shipwrecked.

Yes, stone. They thought he was actually dead, didn't they? They laid him there because otherwise they would have kept on stone in him.

Right? He was betrayed. Betrayed? He was in perils of what? Perils of the deep, perils of robbers. He said all this stuff. He's saying to him, okay, be a part of that.

That's not easy, is it? Oh, well, you could just have a heroic moment and go, yeah, I'll do that. But this was his way of life. This is what happened for decades to him. And he's telling us, is this doing this for decades? Is that beyond your comprehension? It is mine. You know, give me a beating. Let me go home for a year and lick my wounds. Okay. Let me be in perils of robbers. But all the time, for the last 20 years of his life, this is what he had to suffer. He suffered. And he's saying, share with me in this suffering. Now, you can say, well, he just wants you to feel sorry for him. No! He's saying, wants you to be in there with this because he's handing this job off to Timothy and the Titus. He's trained him. Okay, he's worked with him. He knows he's about to die.

Now they're going to have to go through the same thing. And as we know, most of them actually did what? Martyrd. Most of them actually were martyred. Let's go on. And it says, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works. Does that, is that beyond your comprehension?

Ask you that. Saved us and called us with a holy call. Saved us from what?

The second death? Yes. Saved us from death? What else did he save us from? Ourselves. Yeah, if I can use the word. Saved us from screwed up lives. Right? He's trying to give us a way. This is a way. Walk you in. Saved us from probably a lot of problems and a lot of trials. That's what he's trying to. That man gets into it.

Saved us from sin and a penalty of sin. We don't have to have the penalty of sins been taken away from us.

And given Jesus Christ and he died for us died for the entire world. Doesn't mean we can just oh boy, then let's just okay. We love that Epicurean world. Let's go do that. No. No. We have to repent of our sins. So he gets hey, as I said this morning, hey, we get a spiritual shower. We have a spiritual shower every day or multiple times a day. We just it purges us and cleanses us.

From sin. We no longer have it. We're clean. We're clean spiritually. Did we go goof up again? But look, but look, I said who saved us and called us with a holy calling. Do you consider your walk, your way of life, how you walk, what you say, what you do, and what you say.

Is it holy?

Because that's what he's called us to do.

So it's like, well, I don't know if I tell the truth. I'll hurt somebody's feelings. Really?

Is that holy? No, sometimes you're going to have to speak the truth. It's going to hurt somebody's feelings. Okay. Now, there's good ways to put it. Mary goes, how's this dress look? I don't have to say it looks like trash. I think you look better in something else, but it isn't for, oh, it looks great, dear. You know, no, we have this life, this holy calling, and every aspect of our life needs to be that way. Will we come up short? Oh, absolutely. Every day, but it doesn't mean, okay, I quit. No, we've been given this, saved us, and called us as a holy calling. Not according to, what's the words up there? Our works. We can't look and go, well, it looks, you know, that looks righteous to me.

Oh, well, I don't consider that sin. Well, God doesn't care what you consider sin. He defines sin, right? And he goes, no, this is it. This is what you need to be doing according to his word, according to his scripture, his inspired holy scriptures. That's how we live. Well, I think this thing about people should be able to marry whoever they want to. Doesn't matter what sex they are.

I think we need to just understand people and have love. Love, love. Don't, wouldn't we love? Matter of fact, God is love. So God just says, just love.

Is that what this says? No, no, he's given it. Do we need to go beat people overhead and stand outside and say, oh, no, get out of here? No, no, it's not our job. Our job is to live holy lives, not stand on the street corner and going, you're all going to hell, but me, you know, that's not how it works. It's not what we're there for. Let's wrap this up. I've only got six minutes. So where did I get to? Oh, it works. Okay. But according to his own purpose and grace, what's your purpose? Is your purpose that God has for you beyond comprehension?

What is your destiny? Is that beyond your comprehension? Is it?

Generally speaking. Sounds like a politician in the back. Well, generally speaking, let's discuss this.

Darkly? Yes.

No, but he said we can see it. First Corinthians 2.9. We may even know the deep things of God. If we do what? Follow this book. Read this book. He's the one that has to reveal it to us. If we're going to be able to do that. To his. According to his own purpose, not our purpose. Well, I want to be a billionaire. Well, sorry. He said, no, Clive.

He said, not today. Okay.

He didn't say never because he's promised riches beyond billionaires to you. And to those who follow him. That's it. You're nothing. Say, no, I don't want a billion. I want a zillion. If that's even, you know. So this is this is our purpose is to fulfill.

Our destiny. He's laid out that destiny is to be children of God. Is to live forever. That's part of his purpose. Because if we do the other do the stuff right according to his will, we're going to live forever.

He can't lie. Yes.

Because his purpose is because of his grace. As it says right here, look how powerful just these two verses are. And I could see why people don't really understand. Because they can blow our minds. But you know what? They're there to blow our minds till we turn to God and say, show me. Teach me.

Maybe need a little Missouri in us, huh? Show me state. Show me God. Show me. I need to know this. I've got to be able to explain this. It's my purpose.

Finally, which was given to us in Christ before time began. If that isn't speaking directly of God's plan, God's sovereignty, I don't know what else could be. Yeah. How old is planet earth? Well, according to the latest science, according to AI, who's talking about AI?

4.543 billion years old, to be exact.

That's how old they say this this this this planet is.

But isn't that beautiful? Well, because it is until what?

Before time began, does it say that that he knew you before time began? No, it doesn't.

He knew Jeremiah, right?

He knew what he was going to do. He also knew who he was going to call. But you're not set to be in his kingdom.

You have the choice to say, No, you make the choice. He wants you there.

You can be. It's like football team. He drafted you. You want to go in and show up to camp 30, 40 pounds overweight? Well, guess what? You're probably not going to make the team and you may not make his if you don't care how you live. As the Epicureans didn't. But isn't that amazing? When went okay before because what what does he say here before time began? When did time begin?

But when he if he created the earth, think about God. Oh, wait a minute. When did he begin?

He didn't. He's eternal. When does he die? He doesn't easy turn. So before.

Before man was here, when did he what did he say?

About the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for not man for the Sabbath. Isn't that interesting? Well, and you go back to Genesis one, verse 12, verse 14 about putting the the lights in the places and the time and seasons.

Yes. Is that where time began? Because before that, what did God keep up with?

Well, they had nobody from America had an inventor watches yet. So he had no way of keeping time. He didn't need to keep time because he always existed. He will always exist. He made time for us humans.

Yes, he said it in its time. He set all this stuff, right? Wow.

Think about it. There were no seconds.

Does God keep up with seconds?

Huh. But he does keep up with the before and after. Yes. In eternity, there are things happening before and after. So that is implying some sort of a sequencing. Yes.

How many seconds are in a minute?

Okay. How many nanoseconds are in a second?

Did we? Does God know? Yes, he knew. We just found out about it, didn't we? Okay. That's one second broken into billions. One billion.

How is it? One billionth of a second is a nanosecond.

Is that beyond comprehension? It's not for computers. Matter of fact, they're making computers now. That's making nanoseconds. They're looking at creating one that has quadrillion, zillions. I mean, they can't even know how fast it can do things in a nanosecond.

And we're just amazed. I mean, that's beyond our comprehension. You know what? God's known that for a trillion years.

Because he lives outside of time. And he says, guess what? You guys, my family, you're going to live outside of time, too. You're going to live in another dimension. A dimension so great, so grand, that you're going to go, now I know. Now I know just how great God is.

Slain before the foundations of the world. Revelation 13, verse 8 said, so if they're talking earth, because I don't know what it's talking about. I don't know what it's talking about earth. If it is, that's 4.5 billion years ago. The plan was that humans would be here, and the plan was that they would need a savior. And so that plan has existed for over 4 billion years. Just so he could have children.

Now that may not be in beyond your comprehension, but was beyond mine, as he said, I want you, Chuck Smith.

Wow. Beyond comprehension.