Ravi Zacharias at Passion 2020

this last little journey we're gonna have before our dinner breaks gonna be pretty powerful I'd like you to welcome my friend smartest man in the world Ravi Zacharias [Music] [Applause] well good afternoon my all wired up can you hear me you can hear me okay I can't kill myself maybe that's a blessing but I hope you can and you know Louis I was when I was sitting up there I was thinking of a phrase used by the famed african-american preacher Evie Hill probably the greatest preacher of his time this time magazine said of all the preachers Evie Hill was probably the most eloquent he had a way with phrases and in 1987 when I had the privilege of speaking at the first international conference for itinerant evangelist in Amsterdam hosted by Billy Graham Evie Hill stood up with these words he said Billy there's a town in Mississippi called hit AI T hit he said when you're driving in there's a sign that says welcome to Mississippi this is it and he said Billy as I look at the congregation and the crowd around me I feel like saying no this is it and as I look at this I want to say to you Lois and your team that Aviva Hill were around and alive he would probably say this is the mother of all it's some marvelous gathering and truly my honor to be with you thank you for being here you know my life involves questions and I often tell the story I had just arrived in Newark New Jersey from Bangkok or somewhere just about a 14 or 15 hour flight and the only good thing about those long flights is that you look like a passport picture they know it's exactly who you are and I was going to my gate to look for the flight to Atlanta half-awakened timezone difference and I saw a marquis sign that said it was going to a different City so I tapped a lady on the shoulder at the end I said excuse me is this flight going to that city on the marquee or is it going to Atlanta she said no sir is going to Atlanta I said good cuz that's where I'm headed and as I was walking away from her I felt the patter of feet and a tap on my shoulder and she said excuse me are you Ravi Zacharias I said I'm afraid so I am Ravi Zacharias she said that is absolutely amazing I never thought you had questions as well the fact of the matter is my work is in Christian apologetics but people think that apologetics which comes from the Greek word apologia and literally means to give an answer or to give a reason that apologetics historically is restricted to giving answers not so it also involves clarifying truth claims to make the claims that you are asserting clear within the context of the listeners question this story comes out of India a guy was interviewing to get into an engineering institution and as he was being interviewed the interviewer looked at him and asked him this question if you are sitting in a retrain compartment that is speeding along and it is extremely hot in there what would you do the guy said I'd opened the window so the interviewer said good answer second question if the window is 1.5 meters and dimension one point square meters and the compartment is 12 cubic meters in dimension and the train is moving at 80 kilometers an hour and the wind is blowing at a certain speed in this direction how long would it take for you to be comfortable in your compartment I said I don't know the answer to that said then you don't qualify out guy left and as he was walking out the other students waiting said what was the question and he told him the question so the next guy comes in and the interviewer says to him if you're in a train compartment and it's speeding along and it's very hot what would you do he said I'd take my jacket off interviewers said but after you take your jacket off if it is still hot what are you going to do he said I'll take my shirt off he said but it's burning hot he said I'd take my trousers off so the interviewer says to him what if you're dying he said even if I'm dying I'm not going to open that window you see when you know what the questions are and he knew what was coming next the dimension of the window the dimensions of the compartment the speed of the wind the velocity of the train he didn't want to deal with that and I let me tell you something the naturalistic framework in our time and what do I mean by that the philosophy of naturalism which takes time plus matter plus chance has brought you and me into being there is no transcendent perspective there are no absolutes as points of reference by which and for which we must live they will give you all of this philosophy they are unable to answer one of the most fundamental questions that emerges from that philosophy and to you and me actually there are two basic questions that have to be answered if we are going to make coherent sense out of our lives out of your living and mine the first question is this who is God and of course subsumed in that question is the assumption that God actually exists so that's fine you've got both of those wrapped up in there but there is a second question that The Naturalist has to answer what does it mean to be human what does it mean to be human we talked of humanism we talked of humanistic philosophies as if it's a monolithic sense in which you can answer that humanism itself comes from about seven different philosophical perspectives but we use the word human being not human doing so we have to answer what does it mean to be human you can't go the existential route and only define yourself by what you do you have to go the essential route by defining who you are who you are ought to be the basis on which you behave the way you do what you do results from your very being David over 3,000 years ago writing as a poet a Sabbath and a shepherd boy and the king raised both of these two questions one he implicitly answers the second he explicitly questions and I'm going to read for you from Psalm chapter eight this is what he says in that some Oh Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth you have set your glory above the heavens from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies to silence the foe and the Avenger when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place what is man that you're mindful of him the Son of man that you care for him you made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor you made him rule over the works of your hands you put everything under his feet all flocks and herds and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea all that swim the paths of the Seas Oh Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth it is amazing how David begins and how he ends and what he puts into these handful of verses from the glory of the heavens and the planets to the tiny little splendor of a babe in arms all the way to the question what is there in man why do you really take even note of him when Louis asked me to speak here one of the things he said to me is Ravi are the most important things of our time questions of our time is the idea of truth how do we get to the truth how do we know what is ultimately true it was Winston Churchill who said truth is the most valuable thing in the world so valuable that oftentimes are discovered by a bodyguard of lies we protect the truth so much sometimes because where it takes us we don't really like where it leads one of the greatest scientists of our time is a man by the name of Roger Penrose incredible brain incredible mind he was dialoguing with one of my friends William Lane Craig one of the trying to finest Christian philosophers of our time bill Craig makes us home here in Atlanta I watched that dialogue and this is how it went Penrose admitted that there are three realities with we live wrestle solidity and forms so he looked at the table and said this is a form this is an object but he said the second thing is abstract realities equations the laws of logic they are abstract ideas but we know they are real that's how you I come to certain conclusions in scientific equations we know of solidity we know of equations so we know the forms we know the abstract ideas he said but there is a third reality listen to this now there's a third reality consciousness mind he said I don't know what to do with that I don't know where to go with it so the solidity he he can lead to some extrapolations so can he with abstract ideas but he doesn't want to know what to do with thinking and consciousness may I dare suggest to you it's because we don't like where it alternately leads when Pilate was dealing with a question of truth when Pilate was dealing with a question of truth he looked at Jesus in John chapter 18 and said what is truth and he walked away not even waiting for the answer imagine the irony of that having the very embodiment of truth asking the question what is truth and he walked away but listen to me carefully please he walked away had Jesus beaten the Bible says had him flogged brought him out with a crown of thorns and the purple robe and he uttered that famous phrase that has come down through history okay homo behold the man okay homo behold the man I am going to do my best within the limited time I have this afternoon to try to answer this question for you what does it mean to be human when we say ecce homo and of course we are using it in the sense generically of men and women because the humankind in which we both represent here what does it mean to be human the Christian is the only one who deals with this with the laws of logic and the conformity to truth in answering it what do I mean by that truth has two theories correspondence and coherence every statement if it is true will correspond to reality as it is and all of the statements put together in your answers must have coherence they must go here together when you go to a court of law the lawyer keep questioning you will look for these two areas do your answers conform to reality do all of your answers go here together may I suggest to you the judeo-christian worldview is the only one that will give you answers that correspond to reality and coherently answer this question what does it mean to be human there are four basic categories that I wish to bring to you number one is the category of creation we are not here by accident we are here by divine purpose and divine pattern we are here because of divine purpose and divine pattern there's a very well-known scientist in Cambridge is now retired John poking on one of the leading quantum physicists of his time in his book one world he taught had the privilege of taking a couple of lectures from him many many years ago talking about the whole notion of the universe and its coming into being and his book one world is actually a summary of those lectures that he gives but here it is he makes this comment he said do you know how exact this universe had to be in it's fine-tuning in order to bring about the reality of humankind the exactitude demanded he said is something like this it's like taking aim at a one square inch object at the other end of the known universe 20 billion light-years away and hitting it bull's eye the margin of error was so small he says it would be like taking aim at a one square inch object at the other end of the known universe 20 billion light-years away such exactitude dr. Chandra Wickramasinghe professor from Cardiff and Wales of Sri Lankan origin made the comment that the enzymatic makeup in your body and mind just the enzymes the possibility of those enzymes in bringing to bear gather what we have life is so remote he said it's like 1 in 10 to the 40,000 power and his colleague Frederick Hoyle said the chances of that are as slim as a tornado going through a junkyard and producing a jumbo 747 as a result fine-tuning inside your body and in this very universe itself this is the exactitude of what the created order is all about 3.1 billion bits of information in your human DNA 3.1 billion bits of information can you imagine a dictionary developing because of an explosion in a printing press that is what you call specified complexity the created order what does that mean it means two things that I want to deduce from that when you talk about creation it means you have intrinsic worth you have essential worth not given by state not given by government but the essential value you have and there is a reflective splendor I want you to listen very carefully to this juxtaposing of two thoughts now and it is this when you think of what it is that Jesus said about what it means to be human you realize the exactitude was so extraordinary because a man comes to him and says to him is it alright to pay taxes to Caesar and what did Jesus say do you have a coin the man said yes he said give me the coin he picked up the coin and looked at the man and said give to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar but give to God that which belongs to God the man should have had a second question that question was what belongs to God he looked at the coin whose image Caesar give to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar give to God that which belongs to God the man should have said what belongs to God Jesus would have said whose image is on you that's the extraordinary reality that God gives value to you and to me but I also want to remind you while Moses gave 611 or 613 laws Jesus reduced them to - to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself because of the first the second necessarily follows without the first the second is with its feet firmly planted in midair you love your neighbor as yourself because of the vertical dimension of loving God but here's what I want to point out to you that's very critical you are not lost in a sea of humanity your value is both general and particular you have a particular value that is distinctively you in the year 2006 there was a terrible accident just very close to the setting of Taylor University several Taylor University students and staff were coming back from the end of a weekend and as that van was making its way back home a huge trailer truck crossed over the medium the man had fallen asleep of the wheel they say crashed into this van killing four students and one staff member and one of the families the van Rijn family was told that their daughter Laura had survived the crash but she looked terribly disfigured but they needed to come and the others were told their kids had been killed in the crash so the mandarins come and they are standing next to the bed of Laura and hub her face is so contorted and distorted by the accident he can't even recognize her so they keep waiting and waiting for this coma to come to an end matted hair disfigured face one week two weeks three weeks and gradually she starts talking but she was not making very much sense except not to respond to the name Laura and after four and a half to five weeks pass by she looks at them and says why do you call me Laura I'm not Laura my name is Whitney I'm Whitney Sarah and the parents are just staring into the face of this now recovered mind and they contact the offer the officials of the University and say was there Whitney serac and that then said yes but she was killed and she's been buried say you better come here you come and check it out so the van winds are brought into a conference room the serac family is brought into a conference room and then say we have some news to give both of you the young gal that you've been looking after is not your daughter your daughter Laura skilled in the car crash we just find out because no DNA test was actually taken they had similar features and the person who picked her up along with I don't know whether it was a wallet or a cellphone or what just carried it back and assumed this belonged to her and so the serac family who had already had the funeral of their daughter Whitney were told your daughter's not dead this is her and the van Rijn family was told your daughter's buried and the grave marker gives the name of Whitney serac were awfully sorry for what it is that has happened here the coroner lost his job over the whole thing you see there is a particular value to you your name is given by those who helped bringing you into being you can always replace a worker you will never ever replace a person persons are unique they are distinct don't anyone ever minimize who you are as a singular individual don't ever try to be somebody else don't fail at being somebody else you are a person with a DNA and gods images on you in a general sense God's unique gifting is in you in a particular sense when I was 17 years old I would never have dreamed that I'd be standing here at the mercedes-benz Stadium in Atlanta some years from now talking to over 60,000 youth live and many online because of the age of 17 I was on a bed of suicide having attempted to take my own life and God who sovereign over the whole universe tapped the shoulder of one man would come to India from Calgary Alberta and told him to send somebody into my hospital room with a Bible I'd never owned one I'd never opened one I didn't know if you told me what there were there were four different Gospels telling you the same story of Jesus and here the Bible is being read to me by my mother whose English was not that sharp and she's reading from the King James language and comes to the words of Jesus because I live you also shall live until this day now at the age of 73 56 years later I stand before and I say to you why on earth did a sovereign God care enough to speak to somebody to come into that hospital room and speak to me the day you wake up and it dawns on you that you matter to God as an individual that you never realize the dreams and the plans that he has for you and the fulfillment he can bring in and through you the majestic name that he holds is willing to indwell you think of this he's dying on the cross to bring Redemption to the whole world to the whole world to offer Redemption what is one of the last thing he says he looks at a young man and tells him to take care of his mother I have a little grandson Jude who's eight years old when he was about five his mother Naomi was a wee little tyke they say in India the hottest peppers are the smallest peppers my little girl she's really a packet of dynamite and she was looking around before her car keys and couldn't find it and she slaps her forehead and says I must be losing my mind and young five-year-old Jude stands in front of her and says mommy whatever you do don't ever lose your heart because I am in there I sometimes think about the cross and shut my eyes and try to see the cruel nails the crown of thorns and Jesus crucified for me but even could I see him die I would but see a little part of that great love which like a fire is always burning in his heart you are valuable to God don't ever minimize your individuality the very word individual means you cannot be divided up you are unique and a composite fashion in the image of God for a particular purpose creation but you move from creation an intrinsic worth and reflective splendor you moved to the Incarnation that Jesus is that a que homo he reflects for you and me what it actually meant to be human you will never see another life so pristine so pure I wrote a book called the Lotus on the cross an imaginary conversation between Jesus and Buddha and I interviewed Buddhist monks and priests from many parts of the world and I forget how many times I asked the question who do you think is that quintessential expression of what life is intended to be like is live many of the Buddhist philosophers and priests themselves would say Jesus Christ that's why even Matt McGann D who was a devout Hindu made the comment once he said my problem with Christianity is that I like their Christ but I don't like their Christian because of all that he'd seen wrong young people nobody can shine the light brighter in our times and people like you and when we talk about the Incarnation pour your mind into the scriptures to study the person of Jesus so that you will reflect that splendor two things about the Incarnation the absoluteness of the moral law and the supremacy of love the absoluteness of the moral law and the supremacy of love what does that mean the moral law has boundaries there is no such thing as free love free love is a contradiction in two words love was never intended to be free so we see the supremacy the absoluteness of the moral law and the supremacy of love a few days ago I was speaking in Los Angeles officiating at a wedding of a young man I've known from when he was a little boy you know it's very hard to stand in front of a young couple making those vows he's very hard to look at a beautiful bride and not have the tears fill your eyes because some dad is trusting his precious daughter into the hands of a man who in many ways is still a strain and so I said to them do you know what your vows actually mean do you know what those vows mean and I looked at the young groom and I said joy she is paying you the highest compliment in taking you at your word she's paying you the highest compliment of taking you at your word cuz there's and there's a binding of the law and there's a supremacy of love the Bible uses four words for love agape storge falero eros agape God's love storge protective love falero friendship love eros romantic love do you know that in Christian consummate marriages it is only a Christian marriage there in every way that brings the four of these together in consummate expression God's love friendship love protective love and the love of arrows in the consummate cleaving of one body to another representing the one soul blending with the other mathematics may say one plus one is two marriage says one plus one is either a million or just one you found your love and it's worth a million but in reality you do not die to your distinctiveness but you do die to your selfishness and so to you young men and women I want to say this to you the world has lost the meaning of what it really intend for the word love to communicate we think it boils down to songs we think it boils down to phrases and romantic terminology let me say something to you some months ago I was speaking at a conference and I was talking in some other context and I said marriage is really commitment you know and a woman about my vintage came to me and said I disagree with you I don't believe it's merely commitment I said what do you mean she said had it's heart it is not mere commitment it is sacrifice I have to say to you I was rattled a bit I even discussed it with her I said well you know commitment involves walking in one will and so on she says no Ravi what I mean is what I'm saying to you it is sacrifice and so I say to you when we are talking about the supremacy of love we are talking about the Incarnation what language shall I borrow to thank you dearest friend for this tie-dying sorrow that pity without end or make me thine forever and should I fainting be Lord let me never never outlive my love for thee on one occasion speaking to the United Nations Prayer Breakfast they asked me to speak on absolutes a tough subject with many cultures in front of you 18 minutes or so in which to do it and offend nobody so I said what are absolutes we're looking for boundaries points of reference I said there are four absolutes we look for evil justice love and forgiveness defining evil defining justice defining love and knowing when we blown it to be forgiving I said think ahead there sitting listening very carefully what's this got to do with the gospel evil justice love and forgiveness I just want to be kind to everybody five minutes left I said I want to ask you a question where on earth did four of these converge at one moment in history and they were just staring at me I said may I take you to a hill called Calvary but the evil and the heart of man was shown where the love of God was displayed where God honors his own law in justice and brings grace to forgive you and me on the hill of Calvary the four absolutes absolutely came together and may I say to you there was a lineup of those ambassadors to shake hands one man from an atheistic country that I won't name shift my hand and said mr. Zacharias I don't like being here I come from an atheistic country and my family is not here with me I'm a very lonely man every day I asked myself the question why am I here why am I here he said today I found the answer I came here to find God I came here to find God you may not know why you're here this afternoon or this weekend you may be here with a friend you may be here out of curiosity you may be here and you really like some particular presenter or speaker or whatever do you know you possibly are here to make an appointment with God he has an appointment with you and so we have creation incarnation thirdly and quickly transformation God offers to change your heart and allow you to be the full measure of who you really were meant to be the Bible says who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself for no reputation took upon himself the form of a servant being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore God also has exalted him and given to him a name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father akhi homo ik a homo see the man who's willing to transform you i just wrote an article called hindsight eyesight and insight coming into 20/20 I give an illustration of a twelve-year-old boy a few days ago who was born colorblind couldn't see colors one day in the classroom recently they had a surprise for him they had a device and a pair of glasses that he could put on his eyes so that he could see colors for the first time and the riot of colors was placed in front of him he's got these glasses on his little kid and he's looking and looking and looking and he covers his eyes and bursts into tears for the first time he'd seen the world of color the hymn writer says heaven above his softer blue but around his sweeter green something lives in every hue priceless eyes have never seen birds with gladder songs or flow stars with deeper Beauty shine since I know as now I know I am his and he is mine my brother is a serious diabetic he's a surgeon in Toronto two weeks ago they did a surgery on him and he wrote to the family I cannot tell you what it means to see colors again I cannot tell you what it means to see colors again so brilliant surgeon had to give it up because of his failing eyesight and went into pain management because the emotional toll of pain site is back the colours are back he's driving again he said I cannot tell you what it means to have sight of colours again transformation the Bible calls it new birth and the clock is ticking away so I'll have to end here creation incarnation transformation and consummation what is consummation mean worship you are consumed in the worship of the Living God let me just put it to you in these words as I close you see universities try to answer a question what does it mean to find unity in diversity that's why universities were created to find unity in diversity but they don't have unity in diversity you know why because you will never find unity and diversity on the outside until you have unity in diversity on the inside and that comes from worship which Archbishop William temple says is the submission of all of our nature to God it's the quickening of conscience by His Holiness nourishment of mind by his truth purifying of imagination by his beauty opening of the heart to his love and submission of will to his purpose all this gathered up together is the greatest expression of which you are capable God brings you that total consummate fulfillment by bringing together all of your proclivities and binding it together in the sacredness of your expression to God that's why we sing that's why we celebrate that's why we listen to the word that's why we give that's why we speak that's why we are hear from so many different nations all here for the same message okay hum Oh behold the man the word becoming flesh and dwelling among us full of grace and truth what does it mean to be human you go from creation to the Incarnation to transformation to consummation is there any other worldview that gives you this kind of an answer except in the word becoming flesh and dwelling amongst us full of grace and truth his name is Jesus he brings to you the real meaning of what it means to be human may I please close any prayer Heavenly Father how beautiful the sight of the must be I endless wisdom boundless love and awesome purity one day we will stand before you and Lord I have absolutely no doubt we'll be silent because everything about you will transcend anything we could say thank you for this wonderful gathering of people thank you that they are here for they are the real heroes of this gathering not those of us who are speaking we're here because we've been given this privileged position they are here Lord because they want to hear from you bless them if anyone is running in the opposite direction stop with your loving hands and turn them around I thank you for the team and passion that has worked so hard to bring this about and now as we enter this new year maybe not just look behind but maybe look ahead and made these young men and women help change the world it is a dark dark place but yours is a bright bright light let them understand what it means to be human why you're mindful of us why you visited us why you will return for us and why you transform us with your power let your presence go with us as we leave and maybe no you are side by side deep within walking ahead and picking us up if we should ever stumble that your benediction rests upon these men and women who are here to hear from you in Jesus name [Applause] [Music]

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Length: 43min 50sec (2630 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 04 2020