WEBVTT 00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:04.870 Martin Luther King Jr. once said, darkness cannot 00:00:04.870 --> 00:00:08.789 drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Stay 00:00:08.789 --> 00:00:11.050 with me as we look at the ways that authentic 00:00:11.050 --> 00:00:14.750 followers of Jesus have opposed evil for centuries 00:00:14.750 --> 00:00:18.030 and the inspiration and courage it gives us to 00:00:18.030 --> 00:00:22.530 keep up that fight today. Don't go away. Welcome 00:00:22.530 --> 00:00:25.329 to this edition of Living on the Edge with Chip 00:00:25.329 --> 00:00:28.079 Ingram. We are a discipleship ministry devoted 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:30.640 to helping Christians worldwide live out their 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:33.159 faith for the glory of God and the benefit of 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:36.280 all people. And does today's Christianity genuinely 00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:39.320 embody the ideals and vision that Chip described? 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:42.359 Well, in just a minute, guest teacher John Dickerson 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:44.880 will unpack what we can learn from these world 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.719 -changing Christians from the past as we continue 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:50.979 our series, Dealing with Doubts. So with that, 00:00:50.979 --> 00:00:54.000 here's John with his talk, Jesus, You, and the 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.929 Fight for Human Rights. There are many lights 00:00:57.929 --> 00:01:01.950 in the world, but when it comes to the sun, there's 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:05.909 only one light of the world. There's only one 00:01:05.909 --> 00:01:08.290 light that when you see it breaking over the 00:01:08.290 --> 00:01:11.370 horizon, people in Chicago are seeing it and 00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:14.450 people in Miami are seeing it. There's only one 00:01:14.450 --> 00:01:19.030 light that brings the life and the warmth that 00:01:19.030 --> 00:01:22.599 the entire planet depends on. It's like, man, 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:25.799 without that light, not only would we be depressed, 00:01:26.140 --> 00:01:31.180 but we would not have life. There's light and 00:01:31.180 --> 00:01:34.040 there's darkness in our existence physically, 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:37.519 and there's light and darkness in our existence 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:41.640 morally. For example, in the small group that 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:44.400 I get to be part of, there's a guy in our group 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:47.579 named Chris. He's an x -ray radiologist at an 00:01:47.579 --> 00:01:50.590 emergency room. And it's really fun showing up 00:01:50.590 --> 00:01:52.530 at small group every week because we always get 00:01:52.530 --> 00:01:55.230 to hear another story from Chris of some person 00:01:55.230 --> 00:01:58.290 who came in, like how in the world did that happen 00:01:58.290 --> 00:02:01.569 to that person? But tragically, one of the things 00:02:01.569 --> 00:02:04.069 that Chris has shared with us is that lately 00:02:04.069 --> 00:02:07.310 there's at least one shooting at the hospital 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:09.169 where he works, where he's x -raying someone 00:02:09.169 --> 00:02:12.349 who has a bullet in their body, one every single 00:02:12.349 --> 00:02:15.669 night. And the reality is that is an expression 00:02:15.669 --> 00:02:20.409 of moral darkness. Darkness rather than light. 00:02:20.550 --> 00:02:22.569 There's physical darkness and light. There's 00:02:22.569 --> 00:02:25.789 moral darkness and light. There's spiritual darkness 00:02:25.789 --> 00:02:29.509 and light. I wonder for you right now, what evil 00:02:29.509 --> 00:02:33.870 in the world grieves you? What evil is it that 00:02:33.870 --> 00:02:37.169 is a moral darkness perhaps or a spiritual darkness 00:02:37.169 --> 00:02:40.090 that just grieves you? It could be something 00:02:40.090 --> 00:02:43.849 like violent crime for an entire city or maybe 00:02:43.849 --> 00:02:48.509 it's bullying for your child or grandchild. You 00:02:48.509 --> 00:02:51.569 know, kids can be so cruel. And I wonder today, 00:02:51.669 --> 00:02:54.710 what if there were a light, just like the sun 00:02:54.710 --> 00:02:58.969 can brighten the earth, that can brighten moral 00:02:58.969 --> 00:03:02.330 and spiritual darkness? What if there were a 00:03:02.330 --> 00:03:06.189 light that could brighten any evil? In fact, 00:03:06.189 --> 00:03:10.110 could extinguish evil? Would you want to experience 00:03:10.110 --> 00:03:13.020 that? I mean, in the same way that when you wake 00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:15.800 up and it's 20 degrees out and it's dark and 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:19.639 you see the sun rising and something inside you 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:23.620 says, I'm so glad the sun is finally awake. What 00:03:23.620 --> 00:03:26.500 if there was something equivalent to that for 00:03:26.500 --> 00:03:29.979 the moral darkness in our lives, for the spiritual 00:03:29.979 --> 00:03:33.159 darkness in our world? Would you want that for 00:03:33.159 --> 00:03:36.400 yourself? Would you want that for the people 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:41.750 around you? Well, Jesus claimed. To be exactly 00:03:41.750 --> 00:03:45.210 that light. He claimed to be not a light in the 00:03:45.210 --> 00:03:48.969 world, but the light of the world. And so far 00:03:48.969 --> 00:03:51.830 in this series, we've seen that Jesus of Nazareth 00:03:51.830 --> 00:03:54.710 is a historically documented person. He's not 00:03:54.710 --> 00:03:58.949 a myth. He's not a fable. He's more documented 00:03:58.949 --> 00:04:02.889 than Socrates or Plato or Aristotle or even Shakespeare, 00:04:03.069 --> 00:04:06.169 who's far more recent. Not only do we know for 00:04:06.169 --> 00:04:09.539 sure this guy existed. But we know that we have 00:04:09.539 --> 00:04:14.319 reliable documentation of what he said. We also 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:17.660 know that 2 ,000 years later, the people who 00:04:17.660 --> 00:04:20.480 follow him have become the largest movement in 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.899 all of human history. And that's according to 00:04:22.899 --> 00:04:25.560 non -Christian researchers at the Pew Research 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:28.339 Center. That one out of three people alive today 00:04:28.339 --> 00:04:31.579 says, I'm a Christian that is a follower of this 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:35.810 peasant prophet. who lived 2 ,000 years ago. 00:04:35.949 --> 00:04:39.509 And so that has led us to the conclusion, we 00:04:39.509 --> 00:04:43.170 should look at what this guy said. I mean, he's 00:04:43.170 --> 00:04:46.310 more influential than Steve Jobs or Elon Musk 00:04:46.310 --> 00:04:49.850 or Thomas Edison. He's more influential than 00:04:49.850 --> 00:04:52.430 Alexander the Great or Muhammad, the prophet 00:04:52.430 --> 00:04:56.930 of Islam. We should look at what he said. And 00:04:56.930 --> 00:04:59.269 what we've found within his words is that he 00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:02.560 doesn't just claim to be a helpful teacher. or 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:05.839 an inspirational life coach. He claims to be 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:10.339 Almighty God. And we have to do something with 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:13.639 that. Because that's either true, and if it is, 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:16.819 then everything he said we should take to heart, 00:05:16.860 --> 00:05:20.420 or it's not true. And so we've been looking at 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:25.319 the record of his impact on humanity. Today we 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:27.519 look at this quote where Jesus said in John chapter 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:32.769 8, I am the light of the world. Not a light in 00:05:32.769 --> 00:05:36.470 the world, but the light of the world. And then 00:05:36.470 --> 00:05:40.290 he says this, whoever follows me will essentially 00:05:40.290 --> 00:05:44.430 be freed from spiritual and moral darkness or 00:05:44.430 --> 00:05:48.930 from evil. They'll be freed from addiction, freed 00:05:48.930 --> 00:05:52.449 from lying, freed from cheating and stealing, 00:05:52.709 --> 00:05:56.490 freed from abusing others. Instead, they will 00:05:56.490 --> 00:06:02.209 have the light of life. Jesus claims to be the 00:06:02.209 --> 00:06:08.689 only light that can fully extinguish evil. I 00:06:08.689 --> 00:06:10.850 hope that gives you some hope today, wherever 00:06:10.850 --> 00:06:14.490 there's evil, maybe within yourself of some habit 00:06:14.490 --> 00:06:17.829 you can't break or evil in your family system 00:06:17.829 --> 00:06:21.910 of brokenness or evil in the world. Jesus claims 00:06:21.910 --> 00:06:25.730 to be the only light that can fully extinguish 00:06:25.730 --> 00:06:28.819 that. Now, in our series, we've been looking 00:06:28.819 --> 00:06:32.779 at the greatest breakthroughs in human existence. 00:06:33.379 --> 00:06:35.879 What I mean is, what are the things that took 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:38.939 us from the dark ages when life expectancy was 00:06:38.939 --> 00:06:42.019 45 years, when there was no hospital to go to 00:06:42.019 --> 00:06:44.560 if you were sick, people didn't know how to read 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.779 and write, slavery was a global norm, there was 00:06:47.779 --> 00:06:50.660 no antibiotic if your child got sick, and so 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:53.699 as a result, many children died before age 10. 00:06:54.569 --> 00:06:59.029 What took us as a society, as a planet from that 00:06:59.029 --> 00:07:02.290 existence to an existence where every one of 00:07:02.290 --> 00:07:05.329 us has a hospital that we can drive to? Every 00:07:05.329 --> 00:07:07.310 one of us has been taught by someone else how 00:07:07.310 --> 00:07:08.910 to read, right? We didn't go to school because 00:07:08.910 --> 00:07:12.769 we wanted to. We live in a society that made 00:07:12.769 --> 00:07:16.089 us do it for our own good. How did the world 00:07:16.089 --> 00:07:21.129 change so dramatically when it was in those dark 00:07:21.129 --> 00:07:24.819 ages, if you will? For thousands of years, what 00:07:24.819 --> 00:07:28.040 changed it? And we saw that the top 10 hospitals 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.879 in the United States, which are also the top 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:33.300 hospitals in the world, we looked through the 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:36.100 history of them and we saw that not coincidentally, 00:07:36.139 --> 00:07:39.459 but one after another, they were founded by followers 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:42.759 of Jesus who said, we're doing this to care for 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:45.040 the poor. And if that seems like an unbelievable 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.680 claim to you, I'd encourage you to watch part 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:51.300 two of this series because it's documented. We're 00:07:51.300 --> 00:07:53.699 making these claims from things that people wrote 00:07:53.699 --> 00:07:57.199 down, not from opinions. Now, in the book Jesus 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.319 Skeptic, there's documentation of these other 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:01.879 breakthroughs as well. Medicine, universities, 00:08:02.259 --> 00:08:05.660 the scientific revolution, and education for 00:08:05.660 --> 00:08:07.879 all. If any of this is interesting to you, I'd 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:10.579 encourage you to get a copy of the Jesus Skeptic 00:08:10.579 --> 00:08:13.360 book. Now, today, we're going to dig into the 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:15.759 end of open and legalized slavery. And behind 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:18.980 me now, you see some of the well -known champions 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:21.269 of that. And we're going to look through each 00:08:21.269 --> 00:08:24.689 one of these in our time today. But first, before 00:08:24.689 --> 00:08:28.089 we do that, it's important that we set the context. 00:08:28.490 --> 00:08:30.810 Because when we talk about history, the last 00:08:30.810 --> 00:08:34.590 200 years is a very small time. And the reality 00:08:34.590 --> 00:08:38.850 is if we go back thousands of years, a sad reality 00:08:38.850 --> 00:08:44.149 about humans is that slavery has been a norm 00:08:44.149 --> 00:08:47.629 in every major civilization up until the last 00:08:47.629 --> 00:08:52.809 200 years. In fact, when Jesus lived, the world 00:08:52.809 --> 00:08:55.769 that he was born into was under the Roman Empire. 00:08:56.169 --> 00:08:59.809 We know the Romans had slaves. It's so well documented. 00:08:59.830 --> 00:09:02.610 In fact, just this week, researchers over in 00:09:02.610 --> 00:09:06.049 Pompeii, where a volcano kind of froze a whole 00:09:06.049 --> 00:09:09.169 civilization, they found these tiny little slave 00:09:09.169 --> 00:09:13.669 quarters for the slaves in Pompeii. About 40 00:09:13.669 --> 00:09:17.529 % of the population in the world that Jesus was 00:09:17.529 --> 00:09:21.720 born into were slaves. This was not an anomaly. 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:24.080 This would have also been the case in ancient 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:29.779 China, India, Egypt, Greece. In fact, in a historical 00:09:29.779 --> 00:09:33.639 guide to world slavery, researchers who spent 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:36.139 their entire lives studying slavery throughout 00:09:36.139 --> 00:09:38.659 human history said this. In the ancient Near 00:09:38.659 --> 00:09:45.240 East, as in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the pre 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:47.960 -conquest Americas, so before the Europeans showed 00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:51.320 up, Various forms of slavery and servitude almost 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:55.679 certainly emerged long before they were systematized 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:58.879 by laws or legal codes. So when we look at cave 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:02.200 drawings and ancient pottery and ancient records 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:05.000 for civilizations that have them, slavery shows 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.340 up all over the world. Here's how normal it was. 00:10:09.460 --> 00:10:11.980 Some of these quotes are going to make you cringe, 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:16.279 and that's good. Aristotle, who most of you would 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:18.480 be familiar with, you'll learn about him in your 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:22.259 philosophy class. Aristotle lived about 300 years 00:10:22.259 --> 00:10:26.299 before Jesus. Here's how normal slavery was. 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:28.000 And by the way, a lot of people say like, oh, 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:30.500 Aristotle, very sophisticated, wise person, right? 00:10:31.019 --> 00:10:34.899 He once said or wrote, he who is by nature, not 00:10:34.899 --> 00:10:39.799 his own, but another man's is by nature a slave. 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:43.980 Aristotle wasn't the only one. Socrates and Plato 00:10:43.980 --> 00:10:48.460 also argued that slavery is the natural order 00:10:48.460 --> 00:10:51.840 of human existence. And if you read their writings, 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:54.059 you'll see that they base this argument off of 00:10:54.059 --> 00:10:56.779 their observation. They say we've traveled around 00:10:56.779 --> 00:11:00.179 and every great society has slaves. Therefore, 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:03.879 slavery must just be part of the natural order. 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:08.080 This is the world that Jesus came into. And it's 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:11.350 not just slavery. Human rights as we know them 00:11:11.350 --> 00:11:14.090 today, we're born into a society where we think 00:11:14.090 --> 00:11:16.529 this is normal. But so many of our human rights, 00:11:16.750 --> 00:11:19.990 the rights for kids to not have to work, the 00:11:19.990 --> 00:11:22.330 rights for women, were not the norm throughout 00:11:22.330 --> 00:11:25.269 history. Here's another thing Aristotle said, 00:11:25.389 --> 00:11:27.610 and I hesitate to even read it out loud because 00:11:27.610 --> 00:11:30.049 I'm like, someone's going to pull a video of 00:11:30.049 --> 00:11:31.889 that off the internet and just clip me quoting 00:11:31.889 --> 00:11:35.789 Aristotle on this. He said, a proper wife should 00:11:35.789 --> 00:11:38.950 be as obedient as a slave. The female is a female 00:11:38.950 --> 00:11:41.409 by virtue of certain lack of qualities and natural 00:11:41.409 --> 00:11:43.990 defectiveness. I mean, that's outright evil. 00:11:44.990 --> 00:11:47.789 It's outright evil, but this was the philosophy 00:11:47.789 --> 00:11:53.490 for slavery, for gender equality. Back to the 00:11:53.490 --> 00:11:56.210 evil of slavery. Here's how one researcher, Catherine 00:11:56.210 --> 00:11:59.610 Cameron, who spent her life studying this, the 00:11:59.610 --> 00:12:02.629 Oxford Research Encyclopedia summarizes her work 00:12:02.629 --> 00:12:05.629 and says this. In her cross -cultural, so she 00:12:05.629 --> 00:12:07.169 looked at all the cultures around the world. 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:10.220 historical research, all the data she could find 00:12:10.220 --> 00:12:14.340 on comparative captivity. How did different cultures 00:12:14.340 --> 00:12:18.059 do slavery? There's lots of variation. She found 00:12:18.059 --> 00:12:20.679 that bonds people, that is slaves, those who 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:23.419 are physically enchained to be property of another 00:12:23.419 --> 00:12:29.700 person, composed 10 to 70 % of the population 00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:32.440 of most societies. So one to seven out of every 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:37.019 10 people in the global average. was born a slave, 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:39.860 and never had any hope or opportunity of that 00:12:39.860 --> 00:12:43.580 changing. This lends credence to another researcher, 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:47.340 Seymour Drescher, who has asserted that freedom, 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:52.679 not slavery, was the peculiar institution. What 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:55.740 does that mean? It's more rare to live in a society 00:12:55.740 --> 00:12:58.960 that doesn't have slaves than a society that 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:02.620 does throughout human history. And we know this 00:13:02.620 --> 00:13:06.440 because even in the last 100 years, did you know 00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:08.799 that India, the country, did not outlaw slavery 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:14.139 until 1976? Saudi Arabia did not outlaw slavery 00:13:14.139 --> 00:13:18.039 until the 1960s. Slavery was outlawed in Peru 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:22.200 in the 1930s. China, if you went to China in 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:24.340 the 1930s and 40s, you would still see slaves. 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:27.570 It was still a normal part. of that society up 00:13:27.570 --> 00:13:30.009 until the end of World War II when the Western 00:13:30.009 --> 00:13:33.610 nations went in is when that changed for China. 00:13:34.909 --> 00:13:38.690 Worldwide, this has been a plague on human existence, 00:13:38.769 --> 00:13:43.070 a spiritual and moral darkness all through human 00:13:43.070 --> 00:13:47.090 history. You're listening to Living on the Edge, 00:13:47.269 --> 00:13:50.049 and we'll return you to guest teacher John Dickerson's 00:13:50.049 --> 00:13:52.379 message in just a minute. But let me quickly 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:55.059 share with you, God has called us to do incredible 00:13:55.059 --> 00:13:58.039 ministry work all around the world. And when 00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.379 you regularly give to Living on the Edge, you're 00:14:00.379 --> 00:14:02.980 a part of what we do. So consider becoming a 00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:06.120 monthly partner today. Then visit livingontheedge 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:10.779 .org. We appreciate your generous support. Well, 00:14:10.820 --> 00:14:13.919 with that, here's John. I want to skip forward 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.159 to Luke 4, verse 16, because it was in such a 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:21.500 world. A world where the majority of people couldn't 00:14:21.500 --> 00:14:24.840 read, where women were often sold as property 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:28.820 into marriage, where slavery was the norm, where 00:14:28.820 --> 00:14:32.179 there were not hospitals or antibiotics or immunology. 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:36.820 It was into that brutal world that Jesus said, 00:14:36.899 --> 00:14:39.759 I'm the light of the world. And those who follow 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:42.960 me are just going to be a beacon of light in 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:45.899 the darkness. He said this multiple times. Here's 00:14:45.899 --> 00:14:49.580 another example. Luke 4, 16. Jesus went to Nazareth, 00:14:49.779 --> 00:14:52.960 which is where he'd been brought up. And on the 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.019 Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue, as was 00:14:56.019 --> 00:14:59.960 his custom. He stood up to read. And the scroll 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:04.659 of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And 00:15:04.659 --> 00:15:07.580 unrolling it, he found the place. So he searches 00:15:07.580 --> 00:15:10.740 through Isaiah for this passage that describes 00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:16.090 the Messiah. God on earth to extinguish evil 00:15:16.090 --> 00:15:19.009 from humanity. And Jesus reads it and he says, 00:15:19.049 --> 00:15:22.389 the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has 00:15:22.389 --> 00:15:27.990 anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. 00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:36.110 He has sent me to proclaim freedom to those unjustly 00:15:36.110 --> 00:15:40.830 imprisoned and recovery of sight for the blind. 00:15:41.740 --> 00:15:47.639 To set the oppressed. That is the captives. That 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:51.159 is Jesus whole audience knew the slave class. 00:15:52.019 --> 00:15:56.679 To set them free. Messiah will free those wrongly 00:15:56.679 --> 00:16:00.220 imprisoned. Messiah will give physical sight 00:16:00.220 --> 00:16:03.559 to those who've been blind. Messiah will set 00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:08.500 the slaves free. What a expansive, impossible, 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:13.019 outrageous. prediction. And then Jesus looks 00:16:13.019 --> 00:16:16.720 out at his friends, people he grew up with, and 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:19.559 he makes this impossible claim. Verse 21, he 00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:25.759 says, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:29.279 hearing. In other words, I am the Messiah. I 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:31.679 am the one who will set the captives free. I 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:34.299 am the one who will break the bonds of the oppressed. 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:36.679 Now, if you're a follower of Jesus and you've 00:16:36.679 --> 00:16:38.679 been in church for a while, perhaps you've heard 00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:42.059 this passage taught. In a spiritual metaphoric 00:16:42.059 --> 00:16:45.259 sense that we're slaves to addictions and to 00:16:45.259 --> 00:16:49.000 dishonesty and to all sorts of dangerous lusts 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:51.360 and passions. And then when we believe in Jesus, 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:53.960 he breaks those spiritual bonds and we can now 00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:56.759 say no to those things and yes to good things. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:00.320 And that's true. But what I want to talk about 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:05.440 today is the literal fulfillment of Jesus prediction. 00:17:06.539 --> 00:17:10.059 about what his movement would do across the entire 00:17:10.059 --> 00:17:12.700 planet. You see, if you were to fast forward 00:17:12.700 --> 00:17:18.619 1 ,830 years from the time Jesus said that, and 00:17:18.619 --> 00:17:20.460 if you were to be here in the United States, 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:23.539 you'd be in a nation where half the country thinks 00:17:23.539 --> 00:17:26.240 slavery is evil and half still thinks it's okay, 00:17:26.380 --> 00:17:29.180 and there's great unrest and a war is about to 00:17:29.180 --> 00:17:32.640 begin, a civil war. And within that time, it 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:36.920 was a great battle of ideas or ideologies. And 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:39.519 we know the specific people who led the charge 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:41.880 through their writings and their posters and 00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:45.059 their books to convince the entire nation that 00:17:45.059 --> 00:17:49.019 slavery is an evil because we live under a God 00:17:49.019 --> 00:17:52.599 who is just, who has made all people equal. And 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:55.000 that was the basis of their argument. And we 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:57.279 know this because of their documentation. For 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:00.000 example, this publication called The Liberator. 00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:03.319 Any secular historian, you don't have to be a 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:06.430 Christian to look at the facts. would say that 00:18:06.430 --> 00:18:10.250 the Liberator was, if not the most, one of the 00:18:10.250 --> 00:18:14.569 most influential publications in turning people's 00:18:14.569 --> 00:18:17.109 opinions. See, there were people in the North 00:18:17.109 --> 00:18:19.930 who hadn't personally seen slavery. And they're 00:18:19.930 --> 00:18:21.890 like, well, I don't have a slave. I'm against 00:18:21.890 --> 00:18:23.670 it, but what does it have to do with me? And 00:18:23.670 --> 00:18:26.609 they needed to be educated about what life was 00:18:26.609 --> 00:18:30.279 actually like in the South and for slaves. And 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:32.740 publications like the Liberator are what did 00:18:32.740 --> 00:18:36.259 that. And in time turned the conscience of an 00:18:36.259 --> 00:18:39.839 entire nation. Now within the Liberator, you 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:42.059 can see in the middle that Jesus is standing 00:18:42.059 --> 00:18:45.960 there. That there's a cross behind him. And that 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:48.180 there's a slave kneeling and praying for freedom. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:51.259 And there's a Caucasian man sort of repenting 00:18:51.259 --> 00:18:53.019 on the other side. And that they're on equal 00:18:53.019 --> 00:18:57.380 footing before God. Now if you were to study. 00:18:58.250 --> 00:19:00.650 The banners and the words here, I've highlighted 00:19:00.650 --> 00:19:03.630 a couple of them. You'd see that the words around 00:19:03.630 --> 00:19:08.049 or on the top there above Jesus say, I come to 00:19:08.049 --> 00:19:12.869 break the bonds of the oppressed. It's the verse 00:19:12.869 --> 00:19:16.309 we read in Luke 4. It's Jesus saying, me and 00:19:16.309 --> 00:19:19.210 my followers, we will set the captives free. 00:19:20.369 --> 00:19:23.789 In the ribbon beneath, you see some other words 00:19:23.789 --> 00:19:27.380 of Jesus. It's in the King James, an older translation, 00:19:27.420 --> 00:19:30.380 but they're quoting Jesus who said in Matthew 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:35.640 22, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 00:19:36.500 --> 00:19:38.640 Now, the reality is that this time in history, 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:42.599 people in the United States and Europe and Western 00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:45.980 Europe were the first societies in all of history 00:19:45.980 --> 00:19:49.259 where most people could now read. And this had 00:19:49.259 --> 00:19:51.119 come about because the Protestant Christians 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:54.509 wanted people to read the Bible. And all of that 00:19:54.509 --> 00:19:57.190 is documented. And as a result, this King James 00:19:57.190 --> 00:20:01.690 Bible was an almost universal textbook. So when 00:20:01.690 --> 00:20:04.049 the abolitionists, those are the people who fought 00:20:04.049 --> 00:20:07.690 to abolish slavery, when they tied their argument 00:20:07.690 --> 00:20:10.569 to the word of God, you have for the first time 00:20:10.569 --> 00:20:12.809 in history, an entire nation where most people 00:20:12.809 --> 00:20:15.170 have read the Bible for themselves. It was a 00:20:15.170 --> 00:20:18.990 unique window of time. And they say, it's according 00:20:18.990 --> 00:20:22.559 to the Bible. that we have to overthrow this, 00:20:22.619 --> 00:20:25.079 even if we're not part of it, even if it's out 00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:29.059 of sight. We have to give our lives to follow 00:20:29.059 --> 00:20:33.700 Jesus. And if you imagine a barn full of kindling 00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:37.380 and a match, the kindling was a nation that knew 00:20:37.380 --> 00:20:39.480 how to read the Bible for themselves. The match 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:42.279 were the abolitionists who, like a spark in the 00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:45.380 darkness, said, we will give our lives to end 00:20:45.380 --> 00:20:50.119 this evil and injustice of slavery. It took them 00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:53.200 hundreds of years. In fact, it started in 1688. 00:20:54.099 --> 00:20:57.299 Here's a document well known by historians from 00:20:57.299 --> 00:21:01.400 the Quaker Christians in Germantown. So 1688, 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:04.900 the United States does not exist yet. This is 00:21:04.900 --> 00:21:07.180 a colony. This is a new land. It's pioneers. 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.180 They're cutting down trees with axes. They're 00:21:09.180 --> 00:21:12.640 dying of cholera and stuff. And these Quaker 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:14.900 Christians who are reading the Bible for themselves. 00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:19.160 wrote the document behind me, which most historians 00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:24.500 say is the first ever universal declaration of 00:21:24.500 --> 00:21:28.319 equal human rights. That all people should be 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:31.880 treated equally, regardless of their gender or 00:21:31.880 --> 00:21:35.119 their race or what class they were born into 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:37.839 or even their religion, that all people should 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:42.319 be treated equally because of Jesus and him saying 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:44.559 over and over again, you can read this document 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:47.819 for yourself. And it quotes about eight times 00:21:47.819 --> 00:21:52.400 Luke 6, 31. Jesus saying, as ye would that men 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.299 should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:00.579 That was the Quakers mantra. We call it the golden 00:22:00.579 --> 00:22:03.559 rule today. And in modern English, it sounds 00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:05.720 more like this. Do unto others as you would have 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:09.839 them do to you. Or at an elementary level, treat 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:13.119 others the way you want to be treated. That was 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:19.210 their whole thesis. This is Living on the Edge 00:22:19.210 --> 00:22:21.490 with Chip Ingram. And you've been listening to 00:22:21.490 --> 00:22:23.890 the first part of our guest teacher, John Dickerson's 00:22:23.890 --> 00:22:26.670 message, Jesus, You, and the Fight for Human 00:22:26.670 --> 00:22:29.470 Rights, from our series, Dealing with Doubts. 00:22:29.809 --> 00:22:32.329 John and Chip will join us shortly to share some 00:22:32.329 --> 00:22:35.470 additional thoughts on what we've heard. If someone 00:22:35.470 --> 00:22:37.910 were to ask you, how do you know Jesus actually 00:22:37.910 --> 00:22:41.230 lived? Or can we really trust the Bible? What 00:22:41.230 --> 00:22:43.890 would you say? Join pastor and award -winning 00:22:43.890 --> 00:22:46.710 journalist John Dickerson as he explores these 00:22:46.710 --> 00:22:49.809 complex topics. Drawing on evidence from various 00:22:49.809 --> 00:22:52.490 credible sources and the impact Christians have 00:22:52.490 --> 00:22:54.769 had throughout history, John builds a credible 00:22:54.769 --> 00:22:57.750 case for believing in Jesus. Our hope is that 00:22:57.750 --> 00:22:59.809 as you listen, you'll be able to confidently 00:22:59.809 --> 00:23:03.650 say, Jesus is real, the Bible is true, and I 00:23:03.650 --> 00:23:06.329 can prove it. In fact, we have some valuable 00:23:06.329 --> 00:23:09.829 tools to back you up. Anytime John or Chip mention 00:23:09.829 --> 00:23:13.069 a book, podcast, or article in this series, you 00:23:13.069 --> 00:23:16.849 can easily find it on our resources page at livingontheedge 00:23:16.849 --> 00:23:20.630 .org. We want to equip you with practical Bible 00:23:20.630 --> 00:23:23.309 -centered materials to use personally or share 00:23:23.309 --> 00:23:25.990 with others. So check out the resources page 00:23:25.990 --> 00:23:31.250 at livingontheedge .org today. Well, Chip's joined 00:23:31.250 --> 00:23:33.430 me in studio now to share a brief word before 00:23:33.430 --> 00:23:37.069 we go. Chip? Thanks so much, Dave. Hey, I wanna 00:23:37.069 --> 00:23:39.490 take just a minute to ask you something really 00:23:39.490 --> 00:23:42.349 important. If you've been impacted by this ministry, 00:23:42.569 --> 00:23:45.150 would you please pray about partnering with Living 00:23:45.150 --> 00:23:48.849 on the Edge in a new way right now. Nearly everything 00:23:48.849 --> 00:23:51.970 we do is dependent on contributions from partners 00:23:51.970 --> 00:23:54.789 like you. Our ability to reach people through 00:23:54.789 --> 00:23:58.650 radio, online or our app, sharing and developing 00:23:58.650 --> 00:24:01.869 small group resources, providing broadcasts that 00:24:01.869 --> 00:24:03.950 are international in Asia and the Middle East 00:24:03.950 --> 00:24:07.490 and literally dark places around the globe. Please 00:24:07.490 --> 00:24:09.470 pray how you might be able to come alongside 00:24:09.470 --> 00:24:12.940 and be a partner to Living on the Edge. to help 00:24:12.940 --> 00:24:15.599 us reach people with the truth of God's Word. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:18.460 Thank you in advance for whatever God leads you 00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:21.460 to do. Thanks, Chip. As you've heard, God has 00:24:21.460 --> 00:24:23.619 called this ministry to help Christians live 00:24:23.619 --> 00:24:26.640 like Christians, both here in the U .S. and internationally. 00:24:27.259 --> 00:24:29.519 So if you'd like to help us fulfill that mission, 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:31.960 we'd love to have you join the team by becoming 00:24:31.960 --> 00:24:35.299 a monthly partner. Set up a regular monthly gift 00:24:35.299 --> 00:24:38.759 by visiting livingontheedge .org or by calling 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:48.250 888 - Again, that's 888 -333 -6003 or go to livingontheedge 00:24:48.250 --> 00:24:52.490 .org. App listeners, tap Donate. Now, with a 00:24:52.490 --> 00:24:54.809 few final thoughts before we wrap up, here are 00:24:54.809 --> 00:24:58.329 Chip and John. Thanks, Dave. John, it's good 00:24:58.329 --> 00:25:00.470 having you here again. And I just can't tell 00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:02.910 you how much I appreciate you sharing with the 00:25:02.910 --> 00:25:05.269 Living on the Edge family. You know, the first 00:25:05.269 --> 00:25:08.009 half of your message focused on one of the biggest 00:25:08.009 --> 00:25:11.430 blights in world history, slavery. And honestly, 00:25:11.609 --> 00:25:13.750 we're still dealing with the fallout of that 00:25:13.750 --> 00:25:16.569 evil today. Yet in the face of this darkness, 00:25:16.789 --> 00:25:19.509 you repeated Jesus' challenge for us to be the 00:25:19.509 --> 00:25:21.789 light. Could you take a few minutes and share 00:25:21.789 --> 00:25:25.190 some real practical ways that we can be the light 00:25:25.190 --> 00:25:28.400 for Jesus in these dark days? Yeah, thanks, Chip. 00:25:28.460 --> 00:25:31.160 That is a hard question and such an important 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:35.200 question. I mean, how do we today be the light 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:38.440 of Christ? And one of the things that saddened 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:41.579 me, one of the realities of this research about 00:25:41.579 --> 00:25:45.039 the history of slavery in the world is that there 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:47.660 were some so -called Christians who were on the 00:25:47.660 --> 00:25:49.839 wrong side of slavery. And some of them went 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:52.240 to church on Sundays and carried Bibles, but 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:55.880 they didn't actually read those Bibles. and do 00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:58.579 what the Bible said. It was the Christians, those 00:25:58.579 --> 00:26:01.019 Quakers that we learned about, and many others 00:26:01.019 --> 00:26:05.039 who took the word of God literally and said, 00:26:05.079 --> 00:26:07.500 if Jesus came to set the captives free, that's 00:26:07.500 --> 00:26:10.099 what we're going to do. And so we have no hope 00:26:10.099 --> 00:26:13.430 of shining the light of Christ. unless we're 00:26:13.430 --> 00:26:17.329 actually obeying what he said to do. And it's 00:26:17.329 --> 00:26:19.730 so important for every one of us who would call 00:26:19.730 --> 00:26:22.869 ourselves a follower of Jesus to make sure, am 00:26:22.869 --> 00:26:25.970 I truly reading the words of Jesus in the gospels? 00:26:25.990 --> 00:26:29.049 And am I allowing the spirit of God to convict 00:26:29.049 --> 00:26:32.980 me, to prompt me? to really be doing what Jesus 00:26:32.980 --> 00:26:36.160 said. And then the second thing I would say, 00:26:36.259 --> 00:26:39.960 how do we be the light is that we, as Jesus once 00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:42.700 said, not hide it under a bushel, not hide it 00:26:42.700 --> 00:26:46.440 under a basket, let our light so shine. And what 00:26:46.440 --> 00:26:49.619 did Jesus say? That men would see your good deeds. 00:26:50.190 --> 00:26:52.990 and glorify your Father in heaven. So we need 00:26:52.990 --> 00:26:55.750 to be living among people who aren't yet believers 00:26:55.750 --> 00:26:59.690 in a way that they see, notice, our actions in 00:26:59.690 --> 00:27:03.329 a way that points them to God. And the way we 00:27:03.329 --> 00:27:06.970 do that is by never forgetting that the solution 00:27:06.970 --> 00:27:11.140 to the world's problems is Jesus. We live in 00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:14.740 an age where things get labeled and get stereotyped 00:27:14.740 --> 00:27:17.759 and get prejudged. And sometimes as followers 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:21.279 of Jesus, we're labeled and prejudged. And we 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:24.160 can easily fall into trying to defend ourselves 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:27.380 with words and getting into debates and arguments 00:27:27.380 --> 00:27:30.559 about this label or that term or I'm for this 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:33.619 group or against that group. Instead, we shine 00:27:33.619 --> 00:27:37.299 the light through our actions and by letting 00:27:37.299 --> 00:27:40.490 both our actions and words profess that Jesus 00:27:40.490 --> 00:27:43.390 is the light of the world, that he's the solution 00:27:43.390 --> 00:27:46.890 to the world's problems. He absolutely is, John. 00:27:47.069 --> 00:27:49.769 Great word. And we want you to better know this 00:27:49.769 --> 00:27:51.789 light and be prepared to share the good news 00:27:51.789 --> 00:27:54.430 of Jesus with others. And that's why during this 00:27:54.430 --> 00:27:57.150 series, we've bundled Chip's Why I Believe book 00:27:57.150 --> 00:28:00.569 together with John's book, Jesus Skeptic. We 00:28:00.569 --> 00:28:03.089 hope that through these resources, you'll encounter 00:28:03.089 --> 00:28:06.049 Jesus the God -man and understand why we can 00:28:06.049 --> 00:28:08.630 fully trust and follow the teachings of the Bible. 00:28:08.950 --> 00:28:11.309 For complete details about this two -book bundle, 00:28:11.410 --> 00:28:16.890 call 888 -333 -6003 or go to livingontheedge 00:28:16.890 --> 00:28:21.410 .org. App listeners tap special offers. Join 00:28:21.410 --> 00:28:23.710 us next time as our guest teacher, John Dickerson, 00:28:23.809 --> 00:28:26.410 picks up in our series, Dealing with Doubts. 00:28:26.549 --> 00:28:28.750 Until then, I'm Dave Drewy, thanking you for 00:28:28.750 --> 00:28:31.490 listening to this edition of Living on the Edge.