Ravi Zacharias at the Mormon Tabernacle 2004 (Entire Program)

ladies and gentlemen brothers and sisters friends we're grateful to welcome you if you could find your seats we will begin we're pleased to welcome you to this evening of friendship this event has been thought about plan for prayed over and orchestrated for well over two years it's co-sponsored by standing together and the richard l evans chair of religious understanding on the stand or many special guests both evangelical and latter-day saint who have contributed their own unique and special way to bring us together tonight as in a gathering of this sort seated on my left is elder Bruce Dee Porter a member of the first quorum of the seventy and a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints who's here representing the church at the request of the First Presidency we acknowledge the generosity and courtesy of the First Presidency for making available the facilities of this historic building an edifice in which literally tens of thousands of talks and sermons and hymns and anthems have been rendered since 1867 we offer special thanks to sister Fran Behnke the event coordinator of the tabernacle as well as the many many persons who have assisted with ticketing seating assuring lighting sound an audio and video recording one is always hesitant began naming names for fear of leaving someone out and so let me just say thank you to so many who have done so much to make tonight possible most important thank you to you the audience for being here and for showing the excitement and enthusiasm and the anticipation for this event that will make it even more memorable 7,000 plus tickets were distributed weeks ago and so we're grateful for that kind of excitement in that indicates of course your respect and admiration for dr. ravi zacharias who's with us as well as your desire to be instructed and taught and lifted up by one who's paid a significant price to come to know and defend the Christian faith I'd like now to turn the time the microphone as well over to my dear friend and colleague pastor Greg Johnson president of standing together Greg will make some important introductions and announced the remainder of the program tonight Greg we evangelicals here tonight have often heard of this roving pulpit this moving pulpit and I was going to test it because I knew Bob would be a little taller than me and did you see it just come down how impressive we're absolutely delighted that you could be here tonight this in many of our opinions is the night of great history for our community for Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front for all of Utah for all of us this is a wonderful evening for the latter-day Saint community for the evangelical community a time to come together listen to inspirational music and listen to inspirational teaching in a in a place that is historic and significant to so many I too as Bob is already I just want to express my gratitude to president Hinckley in the First Presidency so many people have asked over the last months how in the world was this arranged how was it that ravi zacharias was encouraged and invited to speak at the tabernacle and so I asked him on Friday morning when we were visiting in a special time president Hinckley so many have asked why you felt positive about this event and why you agreed to it and he said well it sounded like a good idea and we were glad to help he said so if you're wondering why this event is happening it sounded like a good idea and we think so Bob and I have been friends for a number of years and a few years ago when I had the privilege of inviting dr. Zacharias back to Utah he had come in 1990 for the invitation of northern Utah pastors where had spoken at the Ogden High School Auditorium and was privileged to also speak at Brigham Young University at the invitation of David Paulsen we thought it would be wonderful that 10 years had come and gone and that perhaps Ravi would be able to speak again in our community and his wife received our invitation Margie who's with us tonight and she thought it a good idea as well and said yes at that time we hadn't secured the locations of the speaking opportunities but last night at kingsbere hall we had a full house and a wonderful time together beginning this three-part lectureship in the pursuit of truth where ravi spoke on the essential and important nature of absolute truth wonderful questions were asked afterwards and then tonight in the middle part of this three-part lecture he will speak on who is the truth Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life and then tomorrow night at Weber State up in Ogden he'll conclude his series with the title dealing with the crumbling moral foundation or the loss of truth how appropriate that we would in this time speak about the importance of truth and its absolute nature that we would regard truth and its pursuit as a fundamental importance to all of us and so we thought it'd be wonderful he could come and we wondered about the use of this building I said in my letter of request to president Hinckley in the First Presidency that this is a gentleman who speaks like CS Lewis spoke and writes like CS Lewis wrote we're inviting him into our community and we'd love to share him with the larger community but we just don't have a big enough building you do would you let us use it and so that the letter came two weeks later from the secretary F Michael Watson and it was so delightful to hear that good word and also the reception of a personal visit with Ravi while he was here at this time we thought it very appropriate to begin our service in a word of Prayer and so we've asked the very special friend of ours who's sitting on the stand and I will introduce later others a man by the name of dr. Reverend Joseph Tkach who is the president of the Worldwide Church of God out of the Pasadena area and Joe is a good and dear friend and he has been invited and involved with Bob and I in our dialogue across the country and so we asked him and he agreed to open our evening and a word of Prayer Joe please join me in prayer our most merciful Father in Heaven we bow our heads and sovereignty to you you were indeed sovereign over all and we're grateful to worship your holiness and your perfection as we attend this evening this event we pray your manifest presence here your blessing upon all that is said and accomplished here most specifically we pray for your inspiration in the presentations but also father please grant an anointing on all the hearing we lift our hearts to you as we celebrate truth as we not only celebrate the objective truth but the person of truth our Savior and our King Jesus Christ so we commit this time to you and pray that at all it is all done to your glory in Jesus name Amen at this point I was I wanted to be able to invite two friends to speak to us briefly before Ravi comes and share a little bit about why they think this evening is so important but before I do allow me to take a few minutes just to make attention to those who are sitting to my right one of the BYU faculty members who are sitting on my left suggested that perhaps this was a statement that the evangelicals were on the right and the latter-day saints were on the left and I said it's all a matter of perspective from where you're viewing it it could be different but if I could just offer a word of introduction to my far right he will bless us later Michael card is here as a very very special guest to sing a number of musical selections that you will be very very blessed by and to his left are two pastors from this community representing additionally pastors who are sitting behind the the front stand pastors from this community whose church and whose leadership has been so vital to this experience on the back of your program you will note that there are literally over fifty churches and educational facilities or institutions rather that are supporting this event and have made it possible so that all the expenses could be paid and that the events could be completely free and open to the public and I want to introduce as two board members of standing together pastor Bill Young and pastor Jim Ayers it's always a delight as a person who has had the privilege of being taught by others to have an opportunity to honor them as you move on in life dr. Ronald n Roth to his to their left is my old professor of sociology at Westmont College he is a man who's taught me much about building relationships and engaging with people who think differently than we do and dr. n Roth represents Westmont College in Santa Barbara California hold your applause because I think we can introduce them all and allow you to honor them that way dr. Craig Hazen to his left also represents a very fine evangelical University at Biola University in La Mirada California Craig is a professor of apologetics there and is the director of the apologetics program Biola is very pleased right now because one of their graduates is the new senator from South Dakota to their left to his left is dr. Craig Blomberg also a great professor friend of mine from my days in seminary dr. Craig Blomberg represents Denver seminary here on the stand tonight and I'm going to take a pause here because he is going to be honored we'd hope to honor both he and dr. Steven Robinson but unfortunately Steven from Brigham Young University is ill tonight and could not be with us these two men are significant to this event happening tonight for indeed if they had not been courageous several years ago to write a book together perhaps this evening would not be taking place in 1997 after a five-year relationship dr. Steven Robinson of Bringham Young University and dr. Craig Blomberg wrote a historic and the words were written on the front of the book by dr. Ron n Roth a landmark book an evangelical and a Mormon in conversation tonight we continue that conversation but it started because two men were much willing to bear the brunt of some criticism and attempt not perfectly not completely not in a fine out in a final way but in a beginning way to begin a conversation between the two faith communities represented here tonight and I wish that Steve would be here could be here that we could properly honor him as well but dr. Craig Blomberg on behalf of all of us here tonight we express our deep gratitude for your courage several years ago in writing a book which has helped so many think through and dialogue with one another about important topics of truth and doctrine dr. Craig Blomberg and dr. Stephen Robinson to his left you already met Joseph Tkach the president the Worldwide Church of God and to his left dr. Richard Mau a true champion in the evangelical world he is the president of Fuller Theological Seminary and early on he became a very very interested party in a growing dialogue between the latter-day saint community and the evangelical community and over the last several years has hosted a small group of scholars who have been meeting in discussing and having a growing opportunity to build relationship in a minute dr. Mouw will come and bring some remarks as well our guest I'll save for a few minutes when I introduce he and in a little bit later in the program but also acknowledging that dr. that the elder Bruce Porter is on the stand it's a great delight to have him I've had the privilege of meeting him and knowing him over the last several years and as a general authority of the church we want to express our gratitude for your presence here tonight and the other members of the faculty at the Brigham Young University religion department so we thank you all for being here as well let's applaud them all as sitting on the stand I'm gonna let Bob do the honors on that side of the aisle at this time though I would like to introduce dr. Richard mouthful or theological seminary president of the seminary he is a man who has spent a lot of time talking about in writing about the importance of theological dialogue his contributions here tonight as they pertain particularly to the religion religious community of the latter-day Saint and the Evangel community I think will be most appropriate following his remarks dr. Robert Millett of bring'em Young University the Richard L Evans chair religious understanding will also make a contribution of thoughts as to why he thinks this evening is important I think you'll find both of their thoughts and and words very very helpful in in preparing ourselves for the rest of the evening dr. Mouw thank you it's difficult for me to find adequate words to express how thrilled I am to be here this evening here we are evangelical Protestants and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints gathered together in this Salt Lake Tabernacle for an event that's described as an evening of friendship I'm not being melodramatic when I say that this is surely an historic occasion to be sure there have long been friendships between some evangelicals and some LDS folks but they have not typically appeared on the public radar screen our public relations between our two communities have been to put it mildly decidedly unfriendly from the very beginning when Joseph Smith organized this church in 1830 my evangelical forebears hurled angry accusations and vehement denunciations against the Mormon community a practice that continues from some evangelical quarters even in this present day and I think it's fair to say that some Mormons have on occasion responded in kind friendship with each other has not come easily for our two communities but in recent times things have begun to change evangelicals have worked together on some important matters of public morality here in Utah the standing together ministry has been willing to take some considerable risks and countering the aggressive and often disruptive evangelical attacks against the LDS Church and pastor Johnson's well attended dialogues with Bob Millett have done much to encourage a new spirit of Frank but friendly exchanges about important matters of faith on a personal level over the past half a dozen years I've been a member of a small group of evangelical scholars who had been engaged in lengthy closed door discussions with a small group of our LDS counterparts we've not been afraid to argue strenuously with each other but our arguments have been conducted I think it's fair to say in a sincere desire genuinely to understand each other and in the process we have formed some deep bonds of friendship I know I've learned much from this continuing dialogue and I'm now convinced that we evangelicals have often seriously misrepresented the beliefs and practices of the Mormon community indeed let me state the case bluntly on this important occasion especially to you LDS folks who are here this evening we evangelicals have sinned against you the god of the Scriptures makes it clear that it is a terrible thing to bear false witness against our neighbors and we have been guilty of that sort of transgression and things that we've said about you we've told you what you believe without making a sincere effort first of all to ask you what you believe we made much of the need to provide you with a strong defense of traditional Christian convictions regularly quoting the Apostle Peters mandate that we present to people like you a reasoned account of the hope that lies within us but we have not been careful to follow the same Apostles counsel that immediately follows that mandate when he tells us that we must always make our case with gentleness and reverence toward those with whom we are speaking indeed we have even on occasion demonized you weaving conspiracy theories that about the what the LDS is is really trying to accomplish in the world and me and even at our best we have and this is true of both of our community we have talked past each other setting forth over simplified and distorted accounts of what the other group believes I formed some wonderful friendships with Mormons in the past few years these friends have helped me to see the ways in which I have often misunderstood Mormon thought to be sure as a result of these conversations I also remain convinced that there are very real issues of disagreement between us and that some of these issues are matters of eternal significance but we can now discuss these topics as friends and tonight many more of our friends have gathered in this place for a very large and public large-scale evening of friendship and I say God be praised in just a month and a half we will greet the year 2005 which marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith during this year there will be many occasions to space pay special attention to Joseph's life and teachings and I hope that many in the evangelical community will take part in those events but this evening we're not here to talk about Joseph Smith but about the one whose birth we will celebrate just before the bicentennial year of Joseph's birth makes its appearance this is the one about whose birth we sing in words that I should add that many of us love to hear some in recordings by that Greek choir that sings these words in this Tabernacle the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight what a wonderful thing it is that we can meet together tonight to talk about the Lord Jesus and about who he is and what he has done on our behalf there is much here to talk about I personally take great encouragement from the words that Joseph Smith uttered on the occasion of the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints in April of 8 of 1830 we know Joseph said I'm quoting him we know that all men must repent and believe on the name of Jesus Christ and worship the father in his name and endure in his name to the end or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God and then he added and we know that justification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true and we know also that sanctification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true to all those who love and serve God with all their might mind and strength well I greet you this evening in that spirit as one who wants more than anything else to love and serve God with all my might mind and strength and the power made available by the amazing grace that sent the Lord Jesus the Bethlehem into the Garden of Gethsemane and to the cross of Calvary where he shed his blood to pay the debt of our sin a debt that we could never pay on our own this is the spirit in which my brother Robby Zacharias is going to speak to us this evening that the spirit of devotion to the one whose name is above every name the one who alone is mighty to save the one before whom someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father may this wonderful evening of friendship point us all to that great day thank you and god bless you I love Richard Mao he is my friend Greg asked that I introduced the goats on the left hand side course of course from your perspective these are the Sheep to the left of elder Bruce Porter is Dean Andrew Skinner Dean of religious education at Brigham Young University who has been very influential in being extremely supportive of the work that we're doing in terms of outreach and building bridges and we're grateful to have Dean Skinner with us to his left is Professor Roger Keller a professor of church history and doctrine but also a Richard Elevens professor of religious understanding who who has basically the same assign that I do Roger spends a great deal of his time with world religions my friend professor richard Bennett is a professor of church history and doctrine one of the finest LDS historians in the church and we're just thrilled that he has become a part of our conversation and brings a great deal professor camille frank with her husband paul is here with us she's here to show that something good can come out of these experiences that is Camille brings a special gift of insight that the rest of us need she's a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University I considered it to be a genuine privilege to be asked to make a few remarks tonight this is an unusual gathering in at least a couple of ways it's unusual first of all since there have been very few times when have angelical Christians with the prominence and reputation of a Ravager eius have been invited to speak in the historic Mormon Tabernacle the LDS historical archives indicate that a young Dwight Lyman moody one of the most influential preachers in American history spoke here in the Tabernacle on June 4th 1871 now you see I'll never forget that date because my anniversary is June 4th 1971 moody returned to Salt Lake City almost 30 years later and spoke in the Tabernacle to a packed house on Sunday April 2nd 1899 the April 3rd report from what was then called The Daily Tribune indicates the following a congregation estimated at something like six thousand people attended the moody services in the Tabernacle the great evangelist was at his best the immense audience seemed an inspiration to him and he warmed to his subject and as he did so he caught the attention of his hearers and held it between smiles and tears throughout the course of his sermon our gathering tonight is unique too because as my friend rich mal just indicated it brings together two faith communities under one roof communities that have not always manifest trust and civility and kindness toward one another in the years that I've been involved in working with persons of other faiths I've learned a few things that have made a real difference in my life and I've that have opened new vistas of understanding and communication it is oh so easy to dismiss with a wave of the hand another person who sees things differently but extremely difficult yet rewarding to pay the price to understand what they really believe and what they really feel it is so easy to pigeonhole to categorize to marginalize or even to demonize as rich said someone you don't know very well unfortunately we tend to be down on things we're not up on on the other hand it's much more difficult to assume the worst about someone you have come to befriend to trust and to love I believe today more so than I ever have that God is our Father that he loves all of his children that he will do all within his power to bring greater light and truth into our lives and that he does indeed as we sing into him work in mysterious ways his wonders to perform I'm persuaded that God is working through his holy spirit to lead and empower individuals and groups to recognize and cherish light and knowledge wherever it is to be found particularly light knowledge concerning God and his plan for the salvation of the world I'm not talking about some kind of broad ekam Innoko movement in which treasure doctrines are compromised or sacred practices or jettisoned this merely results in a kind of shared impotence rather I have reference to what my friend rich Malik calls convicted civility being civil he wrote on one occasion isn't just trying to be respectful toward the people we know it is also to care about our common life further he said the quest for empathy can be helped along by a good dose of curiosity we ought to want to become familiar with the experiences of people who are different from us simply out of a desire to understand the length and breadth of what it means to be human we cannot he said and I love this we cannot place artificial limits on how God may speak to us we should be open to the possibility that they will help us discern the truth more clearly being a civil Christian he said means being open to God's surprises that is not likely to come about through argument through debate or through browbeating one another with facts as John Stackhouse at Regent College points out God cares about people more than he cares about truth in the abstract Jesus didn't die on the cross to make a point he died on the cross to save people whom he loves we too he said must represent our Lord with love to God and our neighbor always foremost in our concerns interacting with men and women of other faiths and in a way that would manifest the love of Christ is not just a work of the head not just a matter of knowing some history or some theology or logic more than anything it is a work of the heart not of syrupy sentimentality but rather of coming to see others as the Lord does and coming to feel something of what he feels toward them if i esteem mankind to be in error Joseph Smith once said shall I bear them down no I will lift them up he said and in their own way - if I cannot persuade them my way is better and I will not seek to compel any man to believe as I do only by the force of reasoning for truth will cut its own way he continued do you believe in Jesus Christ and the gospel of salvation which he revealed so do i Christians should cease wrangling and contending with each other and cultivate the principles of Union and friendship and their midst the change of heart toward which many of our evangelical and LDS friends have been working is a change that I am convinced can come from God alone president Ezra Taft Benson in this tabernacle said in 1985 the Lord works from the inside out the world works from the outside in the world would take people out of the slums Christ takes the slums out of people and then they take themselves out of the slums the world would mould men by changing their environment Christ changes men who then changed their environment the world he concluded would shape human behavior but only Christ can change human nature several months ago Greg Johnson and I participated in one of our interfaith dialogues in another part of the country the man called upon to offer the benediction to the meeting was deeply moved by what he had seen and heard and felt and he wept as he prayed for a healing to take place within the hearts of people such that bitterness and animosity and suspicion would have no place in our lives we later learned that his prayer was not simply a general request but rather reflection of the pain and anguish he personally had felt as members of his own family had struggled and fought over religious differences in that spirit let me draw upon the words of President Gordon B King claim and apply them to the task at hand namely the task of building bridges and deepening relationships president Hinckley said I would that the healing power of Christ might spread over the earth and be diffused through our society and into our homes that it might cure men's hearts of the evil and adverse elements of greed and hate and conflict I believe it could happen I believe it must happen if the lamb is to lie down with the lion and peaced must overcome conflict healing must mend injury he continued Jesus of Nazareth heal the sick he moved his divine teachings his incomparable example his matchless life his all-encompassing sacrifice will bring healing to broken hearts reconciliation to those who argue and shout even peace to warring Nations if sought with humility and love finally President Hinckley said this upon a world afflicted with greed and contention upon families distressed by argument and selfishness upon individuals burdened with sin and troubles and sorrow I invoke the healing power of Christ giving my witness of its FSA efficacy and wonder I testify he said of him who is the great source of healing he is the son of God the Redeemer of the world the son of righteousness who came with healing in his wings and so we're met together tonight to put aside our differences for a little while to listen to and focus and rejoice in a message that will surely find application in the mind and heart of any professing christian' or for that matter anyone who may wonder about the relevance and divinity of Jesus Christ the deepest longing of my heart tonight and I feel confident that many of us feel the same is that each of us may be taught and edified and encouraged in our daily walk and strengthened in our trust and devotion to the Savior if that happens and I earnestly pray that it will then we can each proclaim as Peter did after his transcendent experience on the Mount of Transfiguration Lord it is good for us to have been here that prayer I offer in the name of the Prince of Peace even Jesus Christ amen there's really no need to adjust the microphone when the podium goes up and down is there I like the story that Robert Millard often tells about when he was on his way to his mission assignment as a young missionary I've heard it several times because we go around and speak together he said to his father as he was about to leave for his mission he said dad do we believe were saved by grace and these were his father's words no son we do not robert millet said we don't dad why don't we believe we're saved by grace and his father said wisely because the Baptist do my friends I think for a long time we have defined our theology by what the other one believes and taken the opposite view it's not a far-off concept because elder Robert Wood of the second quorum of seventy who desired to be here tonight but is traveling a marvelous new friend of mine after I shared with him of a unique experience between students from Brigham Young University and Biola University not long ago this year students have been meeting and interacting with one another over the last couple years and doing what Bob and I and others have been doing at their level they were meeting together and Provo Canyon they sang the song Amazing Grace together I asked Elderwood if that was a concern to him he said no it's a lovely thing to hear Amazing Grace it's a good song it's a wonderful hymn I said you know it's not founded in the Mormon hymnal and he said and I'll tell you why because we think of it as your song once again we define our theology by trying to understand what the other one believes and then taking the opposite perspective he said I'll have you know and Ronald Reagan had just passed away and the beautiful Irish tenor and the great Washington Cathedral had just sung amazingly an amazing rendition of Amazing Grace I looked at my wife and I said honey if I proceed you please have Amazing Grace sung at my funeral delightful thought life we'll thought well we will have not Amazing Grace on tonight to us but Michael card comes to us from the evangelical Christian music community as one of our most favorite and beloved singers he is truly a storyteller tonight he'll sing two songs to us and each of them I think will minister to all of us and allow me just to take the honors of introducing the speaker so that there will be no transition between the singing and the preaching of the word dr. Ravi Zacharias comes to us from Atlanta Georgia and his wife Margaret and his son Nathan are here with us tonight and we're so very very delighted that he could be here he spoke last night as I said and this is the second part of his lecture you'll note on your programs that should you have misled Schneider and won't be able to attend tomorrow evening you can make available at the audio and the DVD version of these presentations will be made available and you can check the information there as to how to get that but dr. Zacharias is a person who has communicated the truths of Christianity in all places around the globe he has been in the education community at very prestigious universities places like Harvard and Princeton Ohio State Iowa State all over the country defending the world view of Christianity in some places where that worldview is not highly regarded he's also Brett brought the message of the gospel to places of political influence places like the United Nations in the White House he's also had the opportunity to speak all across the globe in relationship to the theme of the arts and the media and how the importance of the arts and media how they are important to the growing community politics religion education the median arts and business spoken merit in many various business communities and opportunities tonight he will present a message that I think truly will lift up the name of Jesus Christ and what does the scripture say but if we would lift him up he will draw all people unto himself the task could be no greater the privilege couldn t be no higher and dr. Zacharias will proceed with with the remote with his remarks following the sharing of wonderful music by Michael Carr and listen now as he sings el shaddai el shaddai el el Jana I don't know age to age you're still the same by the [Music] well shaddai el shaddai Ericom karna I don't know we will praise and lift you high El Shaddai through your love and through the RAM you save the son of Abraham and by the power [Music] turn the sea into dry land into the outcast on her knees you were the God who really sees and by your light you set your children free sing if you know it should I should I tell you it's too late you're still the same [Music] well she died and she died come come [Music] we will praise and lift you el shaddai and through the years you made it clear that the time of Christ was near though the people failed to see what Messiah ought to be and though your word contain the plan they just could not understand your most awesome work was done through the frailty of your son once more [Music] [Applause] [Music] in acts 10 there's a story that I think that's appropriate for for all of us tonight I'm wanting to apply it to both sides of the aisle I think is what somebody said before in acts 10 Peter is staying at Cornelius house I mean it's Simon the Tanners house a person who is a Tanner and Judaism is unclean they're perpetually dealing with carcasses and blood and that sort of thing and and so I've always understood the fact that Peter is even staying there is really he's stretching as it as a kosher at Jew as a person who who still keeps himself kosher even though Jesus said in mark 7 that all foods were clean Peter is stretching to stay at the home of Simon the Tanners I mean imagine a person whose house smells sort of like roadkill all the time that Simon's it's lunchtime and Peter goes up on the roof which I suspect is a good place to have lunch at a place like Simon's and there he has what Luke refers to as an ecstasy an ecstatic vision and he sees a sale coming down from heaven and in that sale every sort of unclean animal that he spent a lifetime avoiding and of all things for God to say God tells Peter Peter get up kill and eat now Peter says apparently no three times to this vision you know I think Peter thought it was a test and I think Peter thought he passed the test as he's thinking about it the story doesn't end there someone knocks on the gate outside and it's Cornelius's people and someone else has been having a vision as well Cornelius has seen Peter preaching to his unclean Gentile family Peter goes and this is the focus of what I'd like to share when when Peter enters Cornelius's house which I'm convinced is the first Gentile home he's ever seen the inside of the first thing Peter says is you know I'm not supposed to be here I thought maybe that would be appropriate in terms of how a lot of some a lot of us might be feeling tonight you'll you'll go home and you'll say people will say where were you at the the evening of friendship and you should probably be respond why you ask you know the world says we're not supposed to be here correct we're not supposed to be here but see if this song makes any sense after that it was his final as we want beside the sea you will be led where you don't want to go I knew that he would test my faith and all that I but just how far then I could never know and he would send the vision then once more beside the scene to a rooftop where my ecstasy was seen to ask what was on a scalpel three times the vision came and demanded what was unclean I'm not supposed to be here to cross the line no one has crossed before to simply be one of the fools that you call to break the rule and go someplace I'm not supposed to be my stumbling faith responded to what my mind said wasn't right so I left that place and followed in a dream to find out familiar strangers who were hungry for the light and then I realized that no one is untrained [Music] was poor to be not to serve some fallen conquered king who took up the cross and fled when he broke himself for bread in a place where he was not supposed to be [Music] [Applause] and you know I'm not supposed to be here to cross the line no one has crossed before to simply be a one of the foods that you called to break the rules and to go someplace I'm not supposed to be and to go someplace I'm not supposed to be and to go someplace I'm not supposed to be [Music] thank you Michael he's come a long way to minister us for those few minutes but it'll last a long while in our hearts thanks so much Mike for joining me we were together a few months ago and I had the opportunity the privilege of the invitation extended to come here I phoned Michael and asked him if he would just somehow cut into his busy schedule and make it possible he didn't even take a minute to say I'll do it and just honored that you've come and ministered to us and he will once again to before the evening is over I can't help but think of a story of a gathering in an English club where there was a Japanese gentleman sitting at a table looking rather nervous and the Englishman walked in and seeing him figured he might want to instruct him on English etiquette before the meal began so the man sat there nervously and the Englishman picked up the knife and said this be knifey and they picked up the fork and said and this be for key and this be spooning and this be platy and the japanese gentleman just kept nodding very courteously after the preliminaries were over much to the shock of the English gentleman the Japanese was the keynote speaker and he got up and delivered his stock in flawless English and he went and sat down and looked at the Englishmen and said you likee speechy at least one half of that story is true I really don't know what I'm doing up here and somebody far more adept at doing the honors for the evening could have been selected but Here I am the Lord always choosing the most unqualified for some of the most important moments and before I begin therefore I just want to say this how honored I am to have been invited and Bob and Greg came to our offices in Atlanta and spoke to me and extended that invitation I was almost in a daze for a little while not quite sure what to make of it and what this all meant and we were in the middle of some heavy travel from overseas and so on and this was that only Day weekend possible and as we accepted the invitation so wonderfully affirmed and further endorsed by the First Presidency that this building would be made available for it I just want to say to you thank you all the more because as has already been said I'm very aware that there are differences in our belief systems and some of them are pretty deep but you know we find the common ground on which to meet and talk because conviction that is not undergirded by love makes the possessor of that conviction obnoxious and the dogma possessed becomes repulsive and so whatever our differences may be it is wonderful that in a world torn by strife and so on that we can come together especially on a subject so vast that at the end of it we are bound to walk away and say we know almost nothing of this because we are dealing with the loftiest of all personages our very own Lord Jesus Christ whom we follow and before whom one day every knee shall bow so thank you for the owner I take it with very great sober mindedness and I trust this stock will be a blessing to you I want to particularly thank the Brigham Young faculty for being here I've been on their campus before and had a terrific lunch with them just stay before yesterday they were so courteous and gracious and my wife and I were honored to be there and enjoy that time together we're dealing with the subject of truth but much more than in the abstract we are dealing with it in its embodiment indeed in the very person life death resurrection and awaiting the coming back of our Blessed Lord I want to read for you a few scattered verses of Scripture as we look at this theme on the uniqueness of Jesus Christ that I've really subtitled the exclusivity and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ it's a mouthful of a statement because truth by definition is exclusive whenever you make a certain affirmation or an assertion you are excluding the opposite and when you make a statement absolutely if you start qualifying it it ends up dying the death of a thousand qualifications and sub qualifications but jesus said I am the way the truth and the life he didn't say except in and follow it with a few other ideas and then he looked at the same disciple and said because I live you also shall live the author and giver of life a few verses that I think are important as I begin my message the first is taken from mark chapter 14 and here it says this again the high priest asked him are you the Christ the Son of the Blessed one I am said Jesus and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven the high priest tore his clothes why do we need any more witnesses he asked you have heard the blasphemy what do you think and then that incredible conversation of little will later with pilot pilot looks at him and he says this he comes back inside the palace summoned Jesus and asked him are you the King of the Jews is that your own idea Jesus asked or did others talk to you about me am I a Jew pilot replied it was your people in your chief priests who handed you over to me what is it you have done jesus said My Kingdom is not of this world if it were My servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews but now my kingdom is from another place ah you are a king then said Pilate jesus answered you are right in saying I'm a king in fact for this very reason I was born and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth everyone on the side of truth listens to me what is truth Pilate asked and with this he went out you know I find it so fascinating because our Lord invariably questioned his questioner so that the questioner would be forced to open up within his or her own assumptions good master what shall I do to attain eternal life why do you call me good there's none good but God how can a man enter his mother's womb and be born again are you a teacher of Israel and you don't know these things now if the pilot looks at him and said are you the King of the Jews and he says are you asking this on your own or as somebody else set you up to us this question Jesus reminds us that intent is prior to content because to give truth to him who loves it not is to only give him more multiplied reasons for misinterpretation so said George MacDonald here we see him talking to the high priest who wants to shed his clothes because he's heard what he considers a blasphemous statement that he is the son of the Blessed one then he comes before this Roman representative who asks him if he is a king and he replies and he says my kingdom is not of this world then goes on to make an astounding statement those that are on the side of truth listen to me he places the prerequisite of the recognizability of who he is within the honesty of your own heart and mind and pilot walks out and says what is truth he is not sure he really expects an answer and then in that simple little conversation with a woman who had lived a life of brokenness brokenness many times over he finally unmasks her one bit at a time and finally she says to him you know when Messiah comes he will explain all these things to us and in his most gentle persuasion he says I who speak to you a.m. he and she runs as fast as her feet could carry her and says come and see one who told me everything about me maybe this is the Christ here is a high priest who did not recognize him a politician who did not recognize him an ordinary broken woman who thought she was on the verge of the most monumental self-disclosure ever it is the great historian a skeptic himself Irish historian WH Leckie in his book a history of European morals from Augustus to Charlemagne who says this the character of Jesus has not only been the highest pattern of virtue but the strongest incentive in its practice and has exerted so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the dispositions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists the famed scholar f of bruce responding to Luckys statement says this that is a non-christian or at least not distinctively Christian judgment over one sense in which Jesus is not only a historical figure but also our eternal contemporary his influence Lee zhan the famed scholar of New Testament from Edinburgh James Stewart describing the startling coalescence of contrariety Xan Our Blessed Lord says this he was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men yet he spoke of coming under clouds of heaven with the glory of God he was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming yet he was so genial and winsome and approachable that the little ones loved to play with him and nestled in his arms his presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine no one was half so kind of compassionate to sinner's yet no one spoke such red-hot scorching words about sin a bruised reed he would not break his old life was loved yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they were expected to escape the damnation of hell he was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions yet for sheer stock realism he has all of our cell style realists soundly beaten he was the servant of all washing the disciples feet yet masterfully he strode into the temple and the hucksters and money changers fell over one another in their mad rush to get away from the fire they saw blazing in his eyes in the end he saved others but at last himself he did not save there is nothing in history like the union of contrast that confronts us in the Gospels the mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality that's James Stewart and so by his own words from the utterance of a simple woman with a broken life to the words of historians and scholars we come into contact with this personage in history because of whom we have our calendar and because of whom we may have a new birth what made him so unique I want to take you through six descriptions of him and I will keep some of them longer because they may demand more focus but in proportion to that which is made longer I shall shorten the other ones a little bit like this pulpit out here I've come to a conclusion that to determine the length of a sermon you can make a moveable pulpit because the higher it goes you can completely block out the speaker when you feel his time is up Jesus let us listen to him first is his description of the human condition which conforms to reality as we know it his description of the human condition which conforms to reality as we know it he tells us again and again that the heart of man is desperately wicked even in those early stages in John chapter 2 when he had just finished performing his miracle and the people were in a hurry to follow him the Bible says he did not entrust himself to them because she knew what was inside the heart of man it makes it so clear and then in matthew chapter 15 he says for out of the heart are the issues of life from there come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual immorality theft false testimony slander these are what make a person unclean you know you can look at the major religions of the world I won't name them but nowhere is the doctrine of sin so clearly enunciated as in the Christian faith very clear with a heart pinned to the heart accuracy no while some world views may say we made a slip in the garden and some how can correct it and other world views believe you can buy your own moral bootstraps pull yourself up to engineer a better life in the next world Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter and says out of your heart and mine are the issues of life from this's whence come evil thoughts adulteries prevarications sensuality and all that we see in our world today no one catalogues this move then the one who described himself as the chief of sinners when he traces this devolution of humankind for although they knew God they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened although they claimed to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal men and birds and animals and reptiles therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised amen and then he goes on further to say furthermore since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God he gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done they have become filled with every kind of wickedness evil greed and depravity they are full of envy murder strife deceit and malice they are gossips slanderers God haters insolent arrogant and boastful they invent ways of doing evil they disobey their parents they are senseless faithless heartless ruthless although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them is there any more graphical portrayal of your heart and mind you were described in there I was described in there and he who taught himself having all the benefits of training and learning he who said he had the finest credentials to be a teacher when he came into the part of our risen Lord he confessed that of sinners he was chief that's the description of the human heart no one describes it with such specificity as our Lord and it's accuracy is seen in our time now and has always been so I remember walking through the halls of Auschwitz years ago in the 80s when the cold war was still raining so strong I was lecturing in Warsaw and taken in that cold wintry day behind these walls I was not expecting to see what I saw I had been to concentration camps before to visit but never to a death camp looking behind glass I saw 14,000 pounds of women's hair as women were scalped before they sent into the gas they were sent into the gas ovens I saw pictures of little boys who'd been castrated at the behest of Josef Mengele to do his experimentation I saw the words of Adolf Hitler writ large there we want to pray raise a generation of young people devoid of a conscience relentless imperious and cruel they were obliterating them at Auschwitz at the rate of 12,000 every day this has happened in our century and at that time by the most educated nation in the world I remember flying out of one city in Him Asia that I shall leave unnamed just but four or five years ago the plane was leaving that city on its way to Hanoi and the Dutch woman was sitting next to me and we were sort of very tentative tentative in disclosing who we were because the quickest way to kill a conversation is to tell them you're either a Christian philosopher or a Christian preacher preacher and they don't want to talk to you after that and then I found out she worked in rescuing children from being sexually abused found out she was a believer in Christ we started to talk I said you came here for that purpose she said yes sir I said were you successful she said mr. Zacharias last night I saw the most hellish thing I had ever seen she said in this city that we have just left there's a part of the town called snake alley where men come at the end of the day and they do all of their heinous acts had their requests and they pay for it they come and drink a concoction of hard liquor and snakes blood that ravages the mind till they have lost any sense of reason and she said I literally had to tear away from the arms of one man a little 18 month-old baby girl that he was sexually devastating and destroying 18 month old baby girl you tell me there's no such thing as evil you want to call it deviance aberrant a slip Jesus looked at it and called it for what it was the heinous Ness of sin you know even psychologists now are coming to the realization that in taking away that word from their vocabulary they have taken away that which was possibly systemically needed to ultimately identify what is real years ago Hobart Mauer who committed suicide himself at the age of 75 the president of the American Psychological Association one time president of John Hopkins one time president I'm professor at Yale and at Harvard wrote an article entitled whatever became of sin and here's what he said for several decades we psychologists have looked upon the whole matter of sin and moral accountability as a great Incubus and ever claimed our liberation as epoch-making but at length we have discovered that to be free from sin is now to have the excuse of being sick rather than being sinful and now to court the danger of becoming completely lost this danger as I believe betokened by the widespread interest in existentialism which we are presently witnessing in becoming a moral ethically neutral and free we have cut the very roots of our being lost our deeper sense of selfhood and identity and with neurotics themselves now find ourselves asking who am i what is my deepest destiny what does living really mean what he's saying is this in eradicating that word from our vocabulary we found out that we've actually lost a sense of identity we don't even know what living really means and here's the Lord of glory of whom it was said that he was born of the flesh as it were and incarnate in this way for he shall save their peace people from their sins have you seen your own heart have you seen your own heart you know this story may be familiar I remember sharing it at Amsterdam 1986 at the invitation of Billy Graham's speaking there that large conference of over 10,000 and I remember as many languages as were represented there there was not a single person who wasn't bent over and laughter at the end of this story every language got to the point pardon me of the story's familiar to you it's the story of these two brothers who were really debauched in their lifestyles did every dirty rotten stinking thing you could think of but one is one of them all of a sudden died and so the surviving brother went to the local pastor and said would you mind preaching at my brother's funeral we don't know anybody in a church would you preach at his funeral a lot of people are gonna come the pastor out of pity said alright well I don't know but you guys were he said look I'll pay you an awful lot of money and he named the big sum of money said I just have one request for you when you're pronouncing my brother's eulogy would you please call him so it doesn't matter whatever you say just refer to him as a saint the pastor thought over very quickly and said all right I think I can do that and the day of the funeral came and the BOA man was lying in the coffin and the place packed with the who's who's and the pastor in the middle of his sermon started to wax eloquent and said this the man you see in the coffin was a Rotter he did every dirty nasty horrible vicious debauched thing you can ever think of doing he was a true Rotter to the bone but compared to his brother he was a saint [Applause] every language group laughed because every language group understood the reality of that you will be a saint compared to whom the Bible says we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God have you seen your own heart before Jesus Christ you know when Jacob was wrestling with God God could have asked him many questions and Jacob said I'm not gonna let you go until you bless me and God asked him the most extraordinary question what is your name there's an omniscient God not know my name he said my name is Jacob why do you think he asked him that because years before when he stole the blessing from his blind father he pretended to be Esau now he's kneeling before an all-seeing father and God says who are you he says you've got me I'm Jacob because he admitted who he was God said I'd make something great out of him ladies and gentlemen God can never make something great out of you until you first realize how sinful your heart is before him and it is the Lord Jesus who described the human condition but the next thing he does is that he provides he provides so uniquely for my malady not only is he accurate in his description of the human condition but what he provides for my malady is so unique there is no other provision such as this you know the city of Calcutta boasts a goddess the goddess of Kali she is the goddess of destruction it is one of only two temples in India that still offers animal sacrifice I have seen it many times with my own eyes the first time I saw it a few years ago I walked up to the front of that temple where the altar was outside and you could see blood stains all over the floor and the mob gathered to see it and the family is bringing this terrified looking kid goat tied to a rope dragging this goat into that center area of that platform and the goat is of course soul it terrified less as the crowd is just so unruly and the man is dressed in spotless white his wife and his little child they're coming possibly to make a vow asking for something to be given to them that they presently don't have and this goat is brought and dragged then there is a slat of wood right in front that's curved in the middle just to cradle the neck of that little animal and they put that neck over there and the priest chants some mantras and all kinds of incantations a rather burly looking character there and as the people are watching he lifts that huge blade and you almost close your eyes for the moment and that blade comes and drops down over the neck of that animal and it is a gory sight I didn't even want to see the rest of it until I noticed something happening there's a pushing and shoving in the man who brings a sacrifice comes and then kneels over and puts his own head in that spot bends down and takes that fresh blood spilled marks it on a spotless white shirt and marks are there and walks away I looked at the Hindoo philosopher standing next to me and said what was dead all about he said nothing nothing let's just leave nothing an awful lot of gore for nothing humankind has tried desperately to find a mediator to find some kind of sufficient sacrifice and I tell you the more I look at the gospel narrative the more I understand what our Lord Jesus is talking about in the cross the more I know we have the most precious truth in the world let me remind you that mark and John and their Gospels do not mention the narrative of his birth that mark and John do not mention the Sermon on the Mount the greatest sermon of preached but mark and John tell us something very unique when you see what it is they devoted their space to because John's Gospel half of it is given over to the passion of our Lord Matthew and Mark one-third of it to the passion of our Lord Luke one-fourth of it to the passion of our Lord and when you understand how significant this is you begin to come closer and closer to understand the what and the why if you have not read John our Stuber W starts book which deals with this called the cross of Jesus Christ I urge you to pick it up it is one of the greatest pieces of work ever written on the suffering and the death of our Lord in that book he talks about the wat and he says this crucifixion was invented by the barbarians on the edge of the known world and taken over by the Greeks and Romans it is probably the most cruel method of execution ever practiced delayed death is intensified until maximum torture had been inflicted Roman citizens were accepted except in case of extreme cases of treason Cicero writing about it says to bind a Roman citizen is a crime to flog aim is an abomination to kill him is almost an act of murder to crucify him is what to crucify him is what the by name is cruel to flog him is cruel to crucify him defies language no wonder trifle writing to Justin Martyr says I am still incredulous over this whole truce eviction issue that's why Peter in Matthew chapter 16 engaging our Lord in one of those defining conversations ever had because Jesus looked at him and said who do men say that I am Peter said something you're John the Baptist something you're Elijah and on and on and he says who do you say that I am he says you are the Christ the Son of the Blessed Lord and he looks at Peter and so Jesus says Simon blessed are you because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven and the Scriptures tell us this from that moment on he began to tell them what manner of death they should die and Peter looks at Jesus and says never never and then he says to him Simon get thee behind me Satan you're not minding the things of God but the things of men the word excruciating comes from the Latin excruciating out of the cross the very word for agony is borrowed from the metaphor of the Cross which was not a metaphor it was a reality and I say to you why why I had the honor of speaking to the United Nations ambassadors on their opening day of prayer this year in September and they asked me to speak on navigating with absolutes in a relativistic world it's a tough subject especially at seven o'clock in the morning how do you deal with so many religions and so many cultures that are asking you to do it and be careful that you don't mention Christ much in this talk it's true so I took off for realities that we all think about justice love forgiveness and evil I said you're a buddy that one's justice in the world you're a body that wants to deal with evil which of you has not longed for forgiveness when you're wrong which of you will deny the reality of love that you hungered for from your parents or your spouse or whatever I said ladies and gentlemen love justice evil forgiveness there's only one place where they all converge and that's on the cross of Jesus Christ you know there were ambassadors lined up at the end of that talk one of them particularly in tears who said I needed to come all the way here to the UN to try and understand this what and why john stott says he died for us to bring us to God and for our sins and he died our death so there are two things I want to point out number one the Christian faith is uniquely the faith that offers forgiveness you don't find that in a world view of reincarnation you pay you pay you pay you pay you pay but Christ offers you forgiveness I think of the poem little Bible written by that elementary school teacher he came to my desk with a quivering lip the lesson was done have you a new sheet for medium teacher I've spoiled this one I took his sheet all sold and blotted gave him a new one all unspotted and into his tired heart I cried it do better now my child I went to the throne with a trembling heart that day was done have you a new day for me dear master I've spoiled this one he took my day all soiled and blotted gave me a new one all unspotted and into my tired heart he cried do better now my child forgiveness what a glorious thing it is a few weeks ago I was in this land of my birth in India and for the first time since the age of 17 I walked into a hospital that was the hospital where I had tried to take my own life as a teenager when somebody brought a Bible into that room and I trusted in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior never looked back for those four decades now since I found him there and I could relive that very moment of knowing what it was to hear my Lord in his words say neither do i condemn they go and sin no more how he calls us in that forgiving voice in the month of March I guess it was this year I think I have the month right I was in Jerusalem as part of a peace mission with various Christian leaders to meet with their Israeli leaders with the Palestinian leaders and all of them and the last day we were meeting with one of the founders of hamas sheikh talal he had been imprisoned for 18 years because of his militancy my colleague who's here with me tonight in the audience Nate and Nathan died we were together in this dining room and as we sat there i said sheikh talal i have a question for you before we go what do you think of suicide bombers and suicide bombing he started off by saying I'm a guy I'm against all innocence being killed and on and on and on and then he said but every person has a right to defend himself or herself and by the time he finished his answer what he'd given with one hand he'd taken back with the other I said sheikh talal i want to say something to you as kindly sir as i can you are a Muslim I'm a Christian we have a different completely different faith but there's one story we both read in the Old Testament that we have accepted how Abraham took his son up a mountain to offer as a sacrifice do you remember that he said yes I said you believed it was Ishmael we believe it was Isaac it doesn't matter at this point he took his son to the top of the mountain and the son wanted to know from his father where this sacrifice was and the father said God himself is going to provide and he took his son and bound him and as that blade is ready to fall God stops that hand and her tells him to hold it because he himself was going to provide and sheikh talal nodded his head I said shake not far away from here that happened he nodded I said not far away from here there are suicide bombers and men and women being killed I want to say something to you sir until we receive the son that God has provided we will be offering our own sons and the battlefields of this land and others I said can I tell you why because when they wronged you you want to wronged them boomerang earrings be be wrong say Iran's be be wrong say it goes on and on I said I want to tell you something about the cross of Jesus Christ when insolence was hold on him and indifference was hold on him and if reverence was the world on him when he grew ignorant was hold on him sin didn't bounce back sin stopped as he said Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing that's why the songwriter says I sometimes think about the cross and close my eyes and try to see the cruel nails and 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 was always burning in his heart ladies and gentlemen if you have seen your own heart I'm asking you today have you seen what the Cross has provided for you for there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved and if we reject the cross we crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins number one his description of reality number two his provision mine for my malady number three his engagement in history think of the philosophies of history that we've gone through from the Marxist to the traditionalist to the existentialist whichever way you look at the history or AFER's they've got all of their philosophies of history floating around and when you look at the world now reeling at this moment in history we wonder which direction it is going in for some it is cyclical for some it is linear for some it is just repetitive one thing after another we do not understand what history is all about even though we read it and read it and read it for the traditionalist it is the past that is important for the existentialist it is the moment that is important for the utopianist it is the future that is important for the traditionalist the past if you see the play Fiddler on the Roof how do we eat out our existence tradition tradition tradition the existentialist now utopianist spy in the sky by and by when I die it is the future the future of the future the Lord Jesus took a piece of bread and then a cup and he made the most profound statement on time as often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup now you proclaim the Lord's death in the past until he come in the future for Jesus was reminding us that all of history is fused with meaning it is the past the present and the future and how precious with those words when he said I will not drink of this cup again until I drink it with you in my kingdom are you not waiting for that day what a beautiful Lord what a magnificent Savior who reminds us time and again of his engagement in history fourthly his disclosure of reality the greatest search in philosophy across centuries has been this question how do you find unity in diversity how do you find unity in diversity our language our economics our academies keep reminding us of this philosophical search our language what is the word quintessence it literally means 5th essence and it responds to the old Greek belief that there were four four unities that brought about the diversity for diversity's that brought about the unity earth air water fire till one young student says wait a minute we are looking for unity in diversity you have given me for what is the fifth essence of these four what is the quintessence of life we see it in our economies you pick out a coin and you look at it a pluribus unum out of diversity unity out of the many one you pick up your books and get into the university what are you going there for to find unity in diversity that's what university means so whether it's the Academy or whether it's our coinage or whether it's our language the greatest searches for unity in diversity are diverse cultures are a diverse genders are diverse languages all of this the philosopher said if we can only find that unity and diversity scientists now looking for the unifying theory the theory that will dissolve every other theory and stand on its own the heart hungers for this unity in diversity we long for it even within because we are diverse within wanting to honor your marital commitment yet tempted by lust to be dishonorable wanting not to be greedy attempted by greed on the other side the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh the pride of life all of these diverse proclivities how do we find unity in diversity in our existence there is no other place in the world unless you find unity and diversity in the first cause because that will reveal to us what it means to have unity and diversity in the effect and there's nowhere else that you'll find unity and diversity in the first cause except when you find it in the unity and the diversity and the community of the Trinity here's the point here's the point God from the beginning is a being in relationship do you understand that God from the beginning is a being in relationship and your heart and my heart hunger for relationships ladies and gentlemen all other relationships are secondary until you find the primary relationship with Jesus Christ himself that is the greatest definer of all other relationships you can know him you can know him by inviting him into your life as your Lord and your Redeemer God at his most empirical establishes that relationship with you what a marvelous proclamation we have that this god of history this God who defines the condition of the human heart this God who shows you and me what it is that we need in forgiveness you see ladies and gentlemen it is important for you and me to know that God is really not giving us a more ethical way by which to live but he is giving us a life that we could never manufacture on our own by changing our hearts and changing our hungers so we see him in the description of the condition in the provision for my malady his engagement in history his disclosure of reality and fifthly in his embodiment of the ideal Jesus Christ embodies the ideal like no one else I have read or known and no one else that you may read or know of this whole bizarre book called The Da Vinci Code is one gasp of human skepticism trying to do away with the singular distinctive that they so clearly see from all others who would want to claim equality with him you can see the names of all kinds of deities writ large in other worldviews and world systems none will come low close to the purity of our Lord Jesus Christ he looked at his accusers and said which of you convinces me of sin Pilate walked away and said I find no fault in this man the thief on the cross says this man has done nothing amiss who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a seven he read on and on and on and you see the spotless Lamb of God do you know what is the most marvelous passage you will read as you're coming towards the close of the New Testament a corpus there in the book of Revelation in chapter five when no one is there fit to open the scroll and the witness starts to weep because nobody is pure enough to open that scroll but all of a sudden an angel comes and says wipe away those tears there is one and the writer says I see a lion on that throne and moments later when he lifts his eyes he changes the description from the lion to the lamb he alone brings both of these together the lion in his power over everything the lamb and his humility and his offering and that spotless lamb that he was the only one who could open this scroll when we see this offered and given to us time and time again we see the embodiment of this blessed son of God just like philosophers tried to argue against causality by hitting against a cosmological argument they tried to argue against design by hitting against the teleological argument and all the other philosophical arguments existentially we are unable to shake off the moral argument for the existence of God so what better way to writers who write this popular books pandering themselves as if they are offering something true what better way to try and put a nail into the coffin of pressing them than to attack the very purity of Christ and that stuff gets read by millions such fabrications such fabrications you know the Apostle Paul knew what it was to be a hypocrite and he was communicating to a multiplicity of cultures and he understood the worldviews he knew what it was that the Hebrews symbolized as an ideal it was light for the Hebrews the idea was in light the Lord is my light and my salvation this is the light that lighteth every man that comes into the world the people that sat and Gratton darkness have seen a great light for the Greeks it was knowledge the knowledge of the Academy that it could impart epistemic to know Guiness code to know they had a pursuit of knowledge to the Romans it was glory the glory of the Roman Empire the glory of the city that wasn't built in a day the glory of the city to which all roads led here was a man who was a Hebrew by birth who'd studied in a Greek city and it was a citizen of Rome he understood their metaphors light knowledge glory and he's writing to the most sensual of their cultures at that time in Corinth and he says this God who caused the light to shine out of darkness has caused his light to shine in our hearts to give to us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus our Lord what convergence of the abstract into embodiment the word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth his engagement in history his disclosure of reality his embodiment of the ideal and lastly his triumph over the grave when you see in John chapter 11 how these two sisters are shaken up by the death of their brother and they are waiting for their Lord to come and they both said the same thing if you had only been here this would not have happened if you had only been here this would not have happened and finally he says to Martha I am the resurrection and the life he who believeth in me will live even though he dies and whoever ligh lives and believes in Me will never die and then he says this Martha do you believe this Martha do you believe this you know a few months ago for the first time it hit me and I was preparing a talk for another occasion that in John chapter 20 Mary is despondent because her Lord has been crucified and she goes and she looks for his body and incredibly there a couple of angels in there and as the angels are asking her why she is crying she's distracted because she sees another figure behind her and the interesting thing to me is she turns away from the angelic messengers and looks at this person that she thinks is the gardener and she says to him will you tell me where they have laid him away only the Lord of his straigh and the Lord of glory would have responded the way he did with one word Mary think of it he who came from eternity and returned to his father knows you by name and affirms for you your individuality which is indivisible and he says to her but she can't even touch him at this point but to go and tell the others what this is all about Billy Graham sitting around a table once was telling us that the most moving moment for him came in the early days of his ministry when he was rather daunted by a very high-powered man Konrad Adenauer of the Chancellor Germany and he was sitting in the Chancellor's chambers and Billy a young evangelist and looking over the ruins of the city he looked at Billy and he said Mr Graham tell me something do you really believe Jesus Christ rose again from the dead Billy Graham rather startled said Chancellor if I didn't believe Jesus Christ really rose again from the dead I would no have no gospel left to preach and he said Adenauer got up walked towards the window looked over the ruins of his city and he said Mr Graham I want to say something to you outside of the resurrection of Jesus Christ I know of no other hope for mankind he is absolutely right he is absolutely right I had the privilege three weeks ago of being in Doha Qatar speaking to our troops where 6,000 troops are stationed and they were lined up to shake hands at the end of it every one of them wanting to be prayed for wanting to be prayed for wanting to be prayed for because they were facing death and to share the message of hope some of those powerfully-built men wrapping their arms around you with tears and saying thanks men thanks for coming thanks for coming I remember when I buried my mother I was in my 20s and it was a shock my dad who had never hugged me before that but his arms around me and said son I want you to preach at mom's funeral I said dad I don't know if I can I keep thinking of one word gone gone gone he said why don't you get on your knees and ask God to help you complete the thought gone where if you knew my dad and the kind of man he was before he came to know Christ you'd have been as stunned as I was we're on my knees and God on my knees and said god help me and as I just wept by my bed I sensed him saying to me your mom's not just gone she's gone home she's gone home to be with her Heavenly Father what a hope that is for you and for me I'm an itinerant for the last 32 years I've spent half of my years away from home my wife will tell you there are times I've come back and got on on my knees in the kitchen and kissed the floor it's good to be home how much more the home that our Heavenly Father has prepared for you and for me and the Lord Jesus said he was heading there to prepare that place for you and for me what hope what hope that fills the soul as I bring this to a close I just want to tie two or three things together it is this please give me your undivided attention now Apostle Paul and the providing to the Colossians in chapter 1 gives a glowing description of Christ who he is the image of the invisible God it is one of the most fabulous passages and Holy Writ of who Christ is and then he moves on to chapter 2 and in a simple little statement says this you are complete in him you are complete in him when he makes that statement he is telling me that this exclusive claim to the way the truth and the life where all of his words correspond to reality as the word became flesh and dwelt among us he makes us complete in him what a marvelous truth that I lack nothing when I know him he interprets all of reality to me and I want to close first with an illustration and then with a quotation but let me summarize we see his description of the human condition we see his provision for that malady we see his engagement in history his disclosure of reality his embodiment of the ideal and his triumph over the grave two years ago I'd had the privilege for the first time speaking to the same UN ambassadors and that's why they asked me if I'd come back this time and they gave me a tougher subject but the first time I went there I had spoken to them about the hearts hunger for meaning and I talked about the full components that meaning has and then I knew I only had about two minutes in which to mention Christ I couldn't be overbearing so in a 25-minute talk it's about five minutes that I can bring the gospel in and so I told them this story by this point they were listening very attentively so I said I have a parable to tell you and we in India loved parables and all of the Middle Easterners and Easterners leaned forward because they all loved parables nothing happened in my life of which my mother didn't have a parable or a proverb we learned it that way I said I have a parable to tell you I said it's the story of a rich man who had a huge art gallery and he had a terrific son and the son would go into the streets and one day he befriended a beggar and he started to see this beggar regularly and he described his father's big home and the paintings and all that his father did in business and his family and the beggar really liked this young man but one day the young man stopped coming two days three days and the beggar found out he had very suddenly died so he went and got himself some paper and some crayons and he drew a portrait of that young man and he went to that home of the rich man and gave it to the watchman outside and said would you please give it to the man because his son was very good to me and I've drawn his portrait because I hear he has an art gallery in that house the watchman looked at it rather bemused by it and said okay okay and send him away but he thought this was quite a gesture so he waited for the right moment when the rich man was driving out in his car one day said to him you know a beggar came here and gave this because he painted this as a portrait of your son the rich man took it nothing was hurt some years go by and the beggar finds out the rich man had passed away and that they were going to auction his art gallery she decided to get some nice-looking clothes to see if he could squeeze in he did and he walked through the hall to see if the boy's portrait was hanging with all the grandmasters and sure enough it was there and the auctioneer came and all these aficionados with their wonderful little lenses and all studying all of this stuff and then the gavel was pounded and the auctioneer said we are going to begin and everybody a good good he said except there was a condition left in the will the rich man said this portrait of his son is the first one to be auctioned and there was a moan and a groan nobody bid on it the beggar put his hand into his pocket got a few coins and bid what he had no what no counteroffer gavel pounded sold he goes to pick it up and as he's walking away gavel pounds again and the auctioneer says there was a second condition in the will it said whoever bids on the portrait of the son gets the whole art gallery so I said to them ladies and gentlemen when you get the Sun you get all of the components of meaning in life they threw their head back an absolute surprise it was a wonderful thing to see they were lined up one of the Middle East and ambassadors whom here I shall leave unnamed came and grabbed my hand and he said dr. Ravi when I get to heaven I am going to ask Lord Jesus if you and I can be roommates [Applause] my wife did not like that suggestion I said to him sir when you get to heaven and you see the Lord Jesus Christ you won't want anyone else for a roommate he kissed the back of my hand and said you're right and he walked away when you get the Sun you get the way the truth and the life you get all that you need to understand about reality within and without and that is why in a world right now skidding out of control in a world where the sounds of weapons are in many parts deafening to the ears of its people in a world where sexuality is becoming D sakra lized where homes are being attacked where we searched and longed for something someone that would provide for us the answers the Lord Jesus stands tall once again and says to you and to me come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest for I've I be lifted up will draw all men unto me he that has the son hath life he that has not the son has not life and shall come into condemnation that's why one of the most sensuous of all men who died in 1991 I believe Malcolm Muggeridge lived so sensually for so long indulgent reprobate derelict in his own ways said he got so much fun by being a peddler with words I had the opportunity of spending some hours with him before he died a man who then came to found find Christ in his latter years he said this we look back upon history and what do we see empires rising and falling revolutions and counter-revolutions wealth accumulated and wealth disbursed Shakespeare has spoken of the rise and fall of great ones that have been flow with the moon I look back upon my own fellow countrymen in England once upon a time dominating a quarter of the world most of them convinced in the words of what is still a popular song that the God who made the mighty shall make them mightier yet I've heard a crazed cracked Austrian announced to the world the establishment of a Reich that would last a thousand years I've seen an Italian clown saying he was going to stop and restart the calendar with his own ascension to power I have seen America wealthier and in terms of military weaponry more powerful than the rest of the world put together so that had the American people so desired they could have outdone a Caesar or an Alexander in the range and scale of their conquest all in one lifetime all in one lifetime all gone Gone with the Wind England part of a tiny island of the coast of Europe threatened with dismemberment and even bankruptcy Hitler and Mussolini dead remembered only in infamy Stalin a forbidden name in the regime he helped found and dominate for some three decades America hunted by fears of running out of those precious fluids that keeps a motorway roaring and smog settling with disastrous memories of a disastrous campaign in Vietnam as the media charged the windmills of Watergate all in one lifetime all in one lifetime all gone he says behind the debris of these solemn Superman and self-styled imperial diplomatists there stands the gigantic figure of one person because of whom by whom in whom and through whom alone mankind may still have peace the person of Jesus Christ that's the Lord I present you tonight may you know him and he will set you free thank you and god bless you let's pray together and before I do that ladies Janelle them thank you very much again for honoring us and giving me the honor of standing here and ministering to you let's pray together please how beautiful how beautiful the sight of thee must be the endless wisdom boundless love an awesome purity prostrate before thy throne to lie and gaze and gaze on thee Father forgive us if we repeat your sacred name a thousand times a day father we set our banners aside tonight set aside our tags we come to you the author of life and recognize the beauty of your son Lord Jesus receive our prayer and our thanks father may this world see your son for who he is I pray for our nation I pray for our homes and I pray for ourselves as individuals we need you we need you help us to let our light so shine before men and women that they will see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven even so come Lord Jesus without you we have no hope I thank you Father for the privilege I've had today of speaking here and if there's somebody who doesn't know you may they reach out to you tonight and for those who do maybe live for you with a zeal and steadfastness that would exceed anything in the past in the precious name of your Blessed son Oh Lord Jesus amen the sign shall be given a virgin will conceive a human baby bearing undiminished deity the glory of the nations a light for all to see and hope for all who will embrace his warm reality [Music] you our God is with us and if God is with us we could stand against us our God is with us [Music] for those who live in the shine of death the Korea smite [Music] for those who stumble [Music] goodness behold your light has come sing with me amen Oh [Music] good standard [Music] [Applause] so what will be your answer Oh will you hear the call a pin his son but gave him for us honor there is no power there is no all right that [Music] from the love of God in Christ singing to the Lord [Music] [Applause] I would have to say that I agree and believe that President Hinckley was right this was a good idea tonight we have enjoyed the music of Michael card and the preaching of Ravi Zacharias but for our community here as they move on to other ministry assignments I pray that we will push forward with the work ahead I pray that we as evangelicals and you as latter-day saints will engage around the water cooler tomorrow morning and talk of this evening I trust that across the backyard fence you might visit with your neighbor you might ask him about this night might wonder what they think what's going on in Utah what's going on on on in our community would you like to come over for dinner I'd like to know more about you and perhaps I could share a little bit about myself we would need not to have awkwardness in our communities our children would not know the loneliness perhaps they know sometimes because of differences we would learn and we would share with one another so we've been given a gift today I pray that our community would use it do not leave it wrapped beneath the tree but open it up and share it with one another the benediction tonight will be given in music once more by Michael card and then in prayer dr. Craig Hazen from Biola University when I say in closing my remarks shall we not wait another hundred years to do this all again keep on loving each other's brothers and sisters do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners and those who are mistreated is this you yourselves were suffering marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said never will I leave you never will I forsake you and so we say with confidence the Lord is my helper I'll not be afraid what can man do to me remember your leaders who spoke the Word of God to you consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever made a God of peace who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep equip you with everything good for doing his will and may he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever [Music] remember to love [Music] and do what is pleasing to him be strengthened by grace and worship in reverence and awe the God of peace is your part increase me with you and may the great the between you with good things for do [Music] in great pain [Music] forget not the suffering of Jesus a disgrace that he bore confessing his name for christ is the same yesterday today and forever grace be with me and grace me with you and she big with you we did things for do [Applause] baby [Music] and grace pain [Music] [Applause] I really don't want this to end but then I've been sitting in a padded seat you're sitting in Pioneer benches and they didn't have chiropractors in those days but you'll survive it I really don't want this to end in fact I'd like to make this an annual event in fact don't y'all have a bigger place right across the street [Music] would you all kindly stand with me as we close in prayer let us pray our Heavenly Father our great king our sovereign creator and merciful judge Solomon asked for wisdom and you gave in abundance your servant James taught us that God will give wisdom generously to all who ask him for this precious gift the Mormon scriptures tell us that Joseph Smith Jr likewise sought wisdom at a crucial time in his life no one in this room should ever fear asking you Oh gracious father for wisdom so in a common voice we ask you to give us divine wisdom wisdom from above and the truth about you about your son about your Holy Word and about the path to salvation you have promised to answer such heartfelt prayers and I ask that you would not let a single person leave this Great Hall tonight without the light of truth being kindled in his or her soul in the name of the Blessed one in the name of the risen one in the name of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ our Lord amen go in the Peace of Christ [Applause] you

Channel: Standing Together

Views: 313,652

Rating: 4.7717214 out of 5

Keywords: Ravi Zacharias, Mormon Tabernacle, Standing Together, Greg Johnson, A Night of Friendship, Evangelical/Mormon Dialouge, Michael Card, In the Pursuit of Truth, Who is the Truth?

Id: Amun1RBONPw

Length: 132min 2sec (7922 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 06 2019