0:00:00 - 0:00:21 All right. So we're continuing in quotes from and there was light by Jacques Lucy. Um So this one, I don't know if I'm gonna actually read the quote because it's kind of long. But what he's discussing is when he's arrested by the gestapo. So he's in France, he's French. Um And he's part of, he, he, he's 0:00:21 - 0:00:46 a founding member of the resistance uh at the time, I believe he was 19 years old. So he had been doing this for quite a while. Um a few years I believe at this point. Um But his reflections on what it feels like to go from a free person to um being arrested, but being arrested by Draconian thugs who 0:00:46 - 0:01:16 have the full power and likelihood of torturing you and taking your life. And um I maybe I'll just skim through this. Um So he says one of the things he says, he says, I felt as though I were breathing in gas. So, so poison gas, my nerve center stopped functioning and then he goes through this uh catharsis 0:01:16 - 0:01:37 where he set free. He says from that fear and it's instrumental, it turns out it's really critical because during the interrogation, he could have said a lot of things that incriminated people he cared a lot about. He wasn't sure at this point if they were already captured and what the Nazis knew. Um 0:01:37 - 0:02:01 So, um, but he says this was only a bright interval and uh they go on with their games of good cop, bad cop. Um Here's a bunch of food or we're gonna uh withhold these things from you. He says the most distressing th thing in such circumstances is that one keeps on thinking in spite of oneself and not 0:02:01 - 0:02:22 thinking straight. I've been over the subject with hundreds of men of every character from every social class and of every age on this point, they all agree, thought runs away from you like a car abandoned by its brakes in the middle of a hill. Uh It no longer bothers about you. You can stay in it or 0:02:22 - 0:02:44 jump out. It's a machine and doesn't care at all. So, um, he, well, he, and then he says this and I put this question to those who still doubt it. Have you ever spent the night all along all alone before being interrogated by political police? Your thoughts slip through your fingers, you reflect in a 0:02:44 - 0:03:03 vacuum. Meanwhile, your body goes off in another direction by itself. It's nothing but a miserable shell with slackened muscles and when the muscles stiffen, it is no better for, then they quiver something hurts all the time. He, he just keeps going on. He says at all costs don't try saying to yourself 0:03:02 - 0:03:29 , I'm a man of character. It can't happen to me. It happens to everybody. So um then he, then he says, it is not a question of character. It's a question of reality. If you try to be strong, you will be weak. If you try to understand, you will go crazy. So there's more he says here. But I think the point 0:03:28 - 0:03:54 I want to emphasize is that there are so many experiences in life that demonstrate to us the necessity of finding and living principles that transcend everything bad that can happen here. And I think when we read, you know, stories about a guy who got thrown into a concentration camp, we say, well, that 0:03:54 - 0:04:13 will never happen to me. If these could be scriptural stories, we read the story of job. I don't think I've ever met another person who read the story of job. And the takeaway from that was this could totally happen to me. I better prepare my heart and my mind and learn to trust God enough. So that if 0:04:12 - 0:04:36 I'm ever in this situation, I can at least replicate job's faithfulness, but hopefully exceed it. I've yet to meet someone who says that was their takeaway from job. But you have to ask yourself, why does God populate the world with these sorts of situations? If not to teach us the the full domain of 0:04:36 - 0:04:58 the things that we need to prepare for. One of the biggest pitfalls in life is to assume that what you experience is all there is to experience. And this obviously hurts you in terms of satisfying you with far less than what's available. But, but maybe even more by enticing you to live a, a life of numbness 0:04:57 - 0:05:20 where you're, you're, you're, um, well, you're satisfied with far less than what is in terms of the tools you need to overcome the obstacles that we know exist in this life. And we see everything the same way. People see cancer and they say, well, yeah, I know someone who that happened to but, and that 0:05:19 - 0:05:37 really stinks but it'll never happen to me. So I'm just gonna keep cruising in my life like tomorrow is gonna be the same as today only far better. That's a, a quote from Isaiah. It's a, it's a tendency of human nature. It's abundantly foolish. And so here's a person who was studying philosophy for crying 0:05:37 - 0:05:55 out loud, um, and actively involved in a rebellion for which he knew the penalty was death and they thought of it often and they really thought they were prepared for this. We don't have the account of his companions who were also arrested and faced a similar fate because he didn't interact with them 0:05:55 - 0:06:19 until later. But, um, in his, in his story, his, his account is very clear that he wasn't prepared at all. For these things that's not a fault. Um But what I'm saying is that even people who try to, to prepare for this, there's so much more that they can do. But as someone who has gone through similar 0:06:18 - 0:06:47 things, and I'll just leave it at that, I can tell you that this description is spot on. And so, uh well, let me, let me switch to that for a minute. One of the greatest surprises I've ever had in terms of what God has taught me. And there have been many such surprises is just how much he can cause you 0:06:47 - 0:07:10 to experience without any outward evidence that would be visible to other people. And I asked him as he was going through teaching me this and this happened over a space of a time. I said, um if what you're saying is true, why is it that every example we have in the scriptures is something that you would 0:07:10 - 0:07:36 see externally? And he said, well, first off, it's not that way. And he gave me some examples. But he said, the reason that that uh it seems that way and the reason that most of them are is that we have this interface. I I hope it's obvious this is not a direct quote. We have this interface where we 0:07:36 - 0:08:01 understand other humans experiences through common experiences that we share. And so the carnal man can't know the things of the spiritual man. And the Bible is not written to the spiritual man, believe it or not, the scriptures are written so that as much as possible, they can be understandable to people 0:08:01 - 0:08:19 who aren't there yet. If it were written to people who were already there, it'd be much shorter and much richer and, and you know, a lot of people hear that and say blasphemy. How could the scriptures be richer than they are? How could they be shorter than they are? But whatever, you don't have to agree 0:08:19 - 0:08:38 with me on that for the, for this, for the sake of this conversation, feel free to ignore what I said or disagree. But my point is um when you see something like this, like being arrested by Nazis for something, you know, you've done and they're going to get you and there's nothing you can do about it 0:08:38 - 0:08:57 . And you say, well, yeah, that'd be really hard but I'll never have to face something like this. Don't be so sure. And I'm gonna tell you this for at least two reasons. One because he can do very many, he can cause very many things to happen that will be so internal, so invisible from the outside that 0:08:57 - 0:09:19 no one will even know they're happening. And what I mean by that, which might not be obvious is you do not have to have any specific outward situation for him to cause these things to occur. That's a huge point, but I'll just leave it there the second point is don't be so sure that you will not face 0:09:19 - 0:09:47 the same exact situations in your lifetime. Maybe not with Nazis, but I promise you, I promise you for living generations, you will see a day when the United States is invaded and completely occupied and many people will be captured and they will face situations at least as bad as this. That is one reason 0:09:47 - 0:10:08 why I'm taking the time to share these quotes with you because I know this is going to happen. So the good news is, there's a lot of good news with the gospel. One piece of this good news is that if you take this seriously and you do what you can to prepare for these sorts of things and, and that's an 0:10:08 - 0:10:28 internal process. It has to do with how you interact with the world. Um, but it's an internal thing. If you grow in those ways, you're gonna be way better off no matter what happens or doesn't happen. Isn't that wonderful? Right. So, it's, it's a game you can't lose. If you play, you'll win, you'll win 0:00:00 - 0:00:21 All right. So we're continuing in quotes from and there was light by Jacques Lucy. Um So this one, I don't know if I'm gonna actually read the quote because it's kind of long. But what he's discussing is when he's arrested by the gestapo. So he's in France, he's French. Um And he's part of, he, he, he's 0:00:21 - 0:00:46 a founding member of the resistance uh at the time, I believe he was 19 years old. So he had been doing this for quite a while. Um a few years I believe at this point. Um But his reflections on what it feels like to go from a free person to um being arrested, but being arrested by Draconian thugs who 0:00:46 - 0:01:16 have the full power and likelihood of torturing you and taking your life. And um I maybe I'll just skim through this. Um So he says one of the things he says, he says, I felt as though I were breathing in gas. So, so poison gas, my nerve center stopped functioning and then he goes through this uh catharsis 0:01:16 - 0:01:37 where he set free. He says from that fear and it's instrumental, it turns out it's really critical because during the interrogation, he could have said a lot of things that incriminated people he cared a lot about. He wasn't sure at this point if they were already captured and what the Nazis knew. Um 0:01:37 - 0:02:01 So, um, but he says this was only a bright interval and uh they go on with their games of good cop, bad cop. Um Here's a bunch of food or we're gonna uh withhold these things from you. He says the most distressing th thing in such circumstances is that one keeps on thinking in spite of oneself and not 0:02:01 - 0:02:22 thinking straight. I've been over the subject with hundreds of men of every character from every social class and of every age on this point, they all agree, thought runs away from you like a car abandoned by its brakes in the middle of a hill. Uh It no longer bothers about you. You can stay in it or 0:02:22 - 0:02:44 jump out. It's a machine and doesn't care at all. So, um, he, well, he, and then he says this and I put this question to those who still doubt it. Have you ever spent the night all along all alone before being interrogated by political police? Your thoughts slip through your fingers, you reflect in a 0:02:44 - 0:03:03 vacuum. Meanwhile, your body goes off in another direction by itself. It's nothing but a miserable shell with slackened muscles and when the muscles stiffen, it is no better for, then they quiver something hurts all the time. He, he just keeps going on. He says at all costs don't try saying to yourself 0:03:02 - 0:03:29 , I'm a man of character. It can't happen to me. It happens to everybody. So um then he, then he says, it is not a question of character. It's a question of reality. If you try to be strong, you will be weak. If you try to understand, you will go crazy. So there's more he says here. But I think the point 0:03:28 - 0:03:54 I want to emphasize is that there are so many experiences in life that demonstrate to us the necessity of finding and living principles that transcend everything bad that can happen here. And I think when we read, you know, stories about a guy who got thrown into a concentration camp, we say, well, that 0:03:54 - 0:04:13 will never happen to me. If these could be scriptural stories, we read the story of job. I don't think I've ever met another person who read the story of job. And the takeaway from that was this could totally happen to me. I better prepare my heart and my mind and learn to trust God enough. So that if 0:04:12 - 0:04:36 I'm ever in this situation, I can at least replicate job's faithfulness, but hopefully exceed it. I've yet to meet someone who says that was their takeaway from job. But you have to ask yourself, why does God populate the world with these sorts of situations? If not to teach us the the full domain of 0:04:36 - 0:04:58 the things that we need to prepare for. One of the biggest pitfalls in life is to assume that what you experience is all there is to experience. And this obviously hurts you in terms of satisfying you with far less than what's available. But, but maybe even more by enticing you to live a, a life of numbness 0:04:57 - 0:05:20 where you're, you're, you're, um, well, you're satisfied with far less than what is in terms of the tools you need to overcome the obstacles that we know exist in this life. And we see everything the same way. People see cancer and they say, well, yeah, I know someone who that happened to but, and that 0:05:19 - 0:05:37 really stinks but it'll never happen to me. So I'm just gonna keep cruising in my life like tomorrow is gonna be the same as today only far better. That's a, a quote from Isaiah. It's a, it's a tendency of human nature. It's abundantly foolish. And so here's a person who was studying philosophy for crying 0:05:37 - 0:05:55 out loud, um, and actively involved in a rebellion for which he knew the penalty was death and they thought of it often and they really thought they were prepared for this. We don't have the account of his companions who were also arrested and faced a similar fate because he didn't interact with them 0:05:55 - 0:06:19 until later. But, um, in his, in his story, his, his account is very clear that he wasn't prepared at all. For these things that's not a fault. Um But what I'm saying is that even people who try to, to prepare for this, there's so much more that they can do. But as someone who has gone through similar 0:06:18 - 0:06:47 things, and I'll just leave it at that, I can tell you that this description is spot on. And so, uh well, let me, let me switch to that for a minute. One of the greatest surprises I've ever had in terms of what God has taught me. And there have been many such surprises is just how much he can cause you 0:06:47 - 0:07:10 to experience without any outward evidence that would be visible to other people. And I asked him as he was going through teaching me this and this happened over a space of a time. I said, um if what you're saying is true, why is it that every example we have in the scriptures is something that you would 0:07:10 - 0:07:36 see externally? And he said, well, first off, it's not that way. And he gave me some examples. But he said, the reason that that uh it seems that way and the reason that most of them are is that we have this interface. I I hope it's obvious this is not a direct quote. We have this interface where we 0:07:36 - 0:08:01 understand other humans experiences through common experiences that we share. And so the carnal man can't know the things of the spiritual man. And the Bible is not written to the spiritual man, believe it or not, the scriptures are written so that as much as possible, they can be understandable to people 0:08:01 - 0:08:19 who aren't there yet. If it were written to people who were already there, it'd be much shorter and much richer and, and you know, a lot of people hear that and say blasphemy. How could the scriptures be richer than they are? How could they be shorter than they are? But whatever, you don't have to agree 0:08:19 - 0:08:38 with me on that for the, for this, for the sake of this conversation, feel free to ignore what I said or disagree. But my point is um when you see something like this, like being arrested by Nazis for something, you know, you've done and they're going to get you and there's nothing you can do about it 0:08:38 - 0:08:57 . And you say, well, yeah, that'd be really hard but I'll never have to face something like this. Don't be so sure. And I'm gonna tell you this for at least two reasons. One because he can do very many, he can cause very many things to happen that will be so internal, so invisible from the outside that 0:08:57 - 0:09:19 no one will even know they're happening. And what I mean by that, which might not be obvious is you do not have to have any specific outward situation for him to cause these things to occur. That's a huge point, but I'll just leave it there the second point is don't be so sure that you will not face 0:09:19 - 0:09:47 the same exact situations in your lifetime. Maybe not with Nazis, but I promise you, I promise you for living generations, you will see a day when the United States is invaded and completely occupied and many people will be captured and they will face situations at least as bad as this. That is one reason 0:09:47 - 0:10:08 why I'm taking the time to share these quotes with you because I know this is going to happen. So the good news is, there's a lot of good news with the gospel. One piece of this good news is that if you take this seriously and you do what you can to prepare for these sorts of things and, and that's an 0:10:08 - 0:10:28 internal process. It has to do with how you interact with the world. Um, but it's an internal thing. If you grow in those ways, you're gonna be way better off no matter what happens or doesn't happen. Isn't that wonderful? Right. So, it's, it's a game you can't lose. If you play, you'll win, you'll win 0:10:27 - 0:10:31 more than you're winning right now. So we'll leave it at that.