Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. I've decided I'm not going to watch the Olympics. And the reason is because I don't want to see politics in it.

And I'm just sick and tired of it. I don't watch sports. I never have.

I don't care about sports. I just don't. I've got more important things to do. For me. And I'm not going to, if you like it. Great.

That's okay. But it's not for me. And all the more reason I won't watch because people kneel because they do. I understand that people who do watch sports, they want to watch because they just want to watch. They want to escape. They just want to have a little bit of fun. They don't need all this political stuff.

They just want to have a good time. And no, you've got to face this political, this and America's racist white supremacy and all this idiocy. Ah, just go sick and tired of it.

So, but I will say this. I watched a few months ago. I watched a special on the Special Olympics.

I think they're called the Paralympics for people with special needs. And, uh, I'm telling you, I really enjoyed it and I would much rather seriously after seeing that stuff, I would much rather go watch that than, uh, in the regular Olympics. Uh, they just, you know, it just was more rewarding for me.

It was fun. Anyway, I'm just, I'm kind of rambling, but, uh, tomorrow night, Thursday night, I'll be teaching a Bible study here at the house, Lord willing on the theology of marriage. Now, what I do when I talk about marriage is, uh, I start with the doctrine of the Trinity and a lot of people are surprised by that. And when I do marriage counseling, I haven't done it for about a year, actually, uh, usually do two or three a year.

But, um, over, uh, let's see, I'd say about 36 couples that I have, uh, counseled. And when I do that, I'd get that phone or is that phone it's over there. Oh, well it doesn't have to die. Um, I don't know where it is.

It's in my office or someplace. Sorry about that. When I teach on the doctrine of the Trinity, uh, it's the foundation for marriage because of the nature of the inter Trinitarian communion. And so that is one of the things I do and people are really surprised by that. But anyways, as I was saying, 36 couples that I've, I've counseled, uh, 32 of them have been the problem. The problem, main problem has been the male, the guy.

Now why is that? Well, I have theories about that, but, uh, what I do is I set down the biblical foundation found in the Trinity that what God wants for us is revealed out of his character. He is a standard for everything, not us. Humanism is something that is creeping into the church. Humanism says, well, what I feel, what I like, what I want.

Um, you know, Jesus is the blonde hair, black Caucasian surfer dude, because I like that image. And, uh, you'll note that if you've been listening to me long enough on the radio here, you'll note that I say things that are, well, difficult for a lot of people. And I quote scriptures that a lot of people are not familiar with.

And that's a shame that people going to church for years don't hear the full counsel of God's word. But nevertheless, um, so what I'll be doing tomorrow night and we make it public, anybody can watch, uh, you just go to the KARM Facebook page. We usually start about 7 30.

People are supposed to get here at 7, but we start about 7 30 is kind of how it's evolved. And, um, I'll be going through that and the roles and the nature of covenant. And I'm going to be doing the male female relationships and what it means to love and what it means to respect. A lot of times people are very ignorant about both of those. Now I'm going to say this, mostly men and women can very easily list out what are the things a man's supposed to do to love his wife. However, I've discovered that very few women, if any, ever know what it means to respect their husband.

They don't know what it means. And I've learned this. I'm going to, this is, I'm just throwing this out to get you guys to think about this. What I've discovered is that women want to respect men the way they think men ought to be respected, not what the Bible says.

And meeting that need is a difficult thing for a lot of ladies. And so I've discovered that over the years and I'll be teaching on that. And I think it'll be interesting. I know a lot of you are going, what?

You know, so we'll see, we'll see. I've taught this before in Bible studies and people have expressed interest in it. They've expressed thanks in it. And a lot of times they're surprised at what the scriptures actually say about certain issues with marriage. And, you know, it's not like, you know, it's super weird or anything, you know, it's just a lot of times, you know, it's like, what? I didn't know that, you know, that kind of thing.

So anyway, if you're interested in that, you can tune it in. Now, if you want to give me a call, we have four open lines, 8772072276. All right, let's get to Tyler from Long Island. Hey, Tyler, welcome.

You are on the air. Good evening, brother. How are you? I'm doing all right.

Hang in there, man. What do you got, buddy? Sure.

I got a quick question. So I had a friend recently who, you know, had me ask me to watch some videos of a pastor on YouTube and stuff and never really heard of the guy, but he had some pretty strange beliefs. One of them was regarding baptism. You know, like, it sounds to me it was like a Church of Christ kind of thing. Because I'm pretty sure that denomination has some pretty weird beliefs and stuff. They're a different animal depending on, you know, like which version they are kind of like dispensationalist.

They're all different. But this, particularly this person was saying something about baptism and how, you know, it's kind of like build the church out of the book of Acts kind of thing. You know, and they were just arguing that you shouldn't be baptizing in the name of the Trinity and in certain instances where you only baptize in the name of Jesus. But I could, you know, I would say just in that it's a cult.

It really does sound like one. Yeah, it's a cult. It's pretty well known that those who deny the Trinity baptismal formula will say you get baptized in the name of Jesus. Because what they'll say in the book of Acts, in the name of Jesus, is what is used constantly. You never see a single instance recorded in the Bible other than Matthew 28, 18-20 where you get baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So they'll say that it has to do with the name of Jesus because there is no Trinity and baptism is necessary for salvation. You can lose your salvation. You're going to be baptized in the name of Jesus. And the manifestation of the charismatic gifts through the work of the Holy Ghost. Not the Holy Spirit, but they often say, see if he said it this way, see if he said the Holy Ghost like that.

I don't know if he said that or not, but they do that a lot. Yep, you got it. That's it. Okay. Yeah, it's a oneness, Pentecostal, non-Christian cult.

Okay. Yeah, that's pretty familiar. Yeah, it's kind of like they say that God manifests himself right in the Father, Son, and Spirit, but they don't believe in the distinct persons of the Trinity and one as like the Nicene Creed. Right, it's a cult.

Yeah. I'm supposed to have a debate in September with the oneness guy and I've been lax here the past couple of three days. I've got to set up a, finish setting up a debate with another oneness person on Facebook.

You know, get a thing going, probably in a week or two. But, yeah, it's a non-Christian cult. And I'm saying that with emphasis and it's bad news.

So, yeah, oneness, Pentecostal, non-Christian. Good to me and good to know. Thank you very much. I do appreciate it. Thank you. All right, man. You're welcome, buddy. God bless.

All right. Hey, folks, if you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. I want to hear from you.

Don't make me come out there. All right, let's get on the phone with David from Charlotte, North Carolina. Dave, welcome. You're on the air. Hello, Mr. Schick. How are you? Doing all right, man. Hanging in there.

What have you got? My question is with predestination. How do you explain predestination to, say, someone who's not a believer and trying to win them over to Christ? Tell them the truth.

Tell them the truth. I say the truth to the believers as well as the unbelievers. Truth is not to be shaped or made or coddled to the hearer.

As far as adults go, I mean, children's a different thing. You can understand certain concepts. So I talk to adults who are Christians who deny predestination, and I say, well, that's what the Bible says. Here's what it says, predestination. Those of you who before knew, he also predestined Romans 829.

And the unbelievers, like even atheists still talk to me, you believe in predestination, huh? That's what it says, Romans 829, 130. I'll quote it to them. And I tell them the same thing.

If they don't like it, both groups, I say, that's your problem. That's what the Bible says. That's it. There's more to it, I could say, but that's what it says.

Yeah, yeah. I'll just ask him just because, you know, if, I mean, I guess, I don't know. I mean, you're just saying, talk to somebody, and they say, well, then how do I know if I am one of, you know, God's called or not? Would that be an unbeliever asking or a believer asking? Unbeliever. An unbeliever. Well, you know you're going to be predestined if you become a Christian. And then I'd say, do you want to become a Christian?

And they say, well, no, I don't. Do you reject the truth of who Christ is? Is God in flesh, died on the cross, rose from the dead three days later?

And he is the cleansing of our sins. Do you reject that? You know, and they'll say, well, you know, do you reject it? Yeah, you know, do you reject? Yes, I do. Well, then I don't know if you're going to be saved or not.

I don't know what the status is. God could grant you grace or grant that you believe. Philippians 1 29 later. But I don't know. But, you know, I'm just telling them what the truth is. That's why the Bible says it does not depend upon the man who runs or the man who wills, but upon God who has mercy. Well, you'll say to me, then, why does he still find fault? For who resists his will? Who are you, O man, who answers back to God to think molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this?

Will it? So this is Romans nine, I'm quoting. And this is what the Bible says. So I'm forced to tell people what the Bible says. And I take umbrage. I am personally offended, and I know that God is, when pastors won't preach the doctrine of predestination and election when the Bible clearly teaches it. That's offensive, because they are doctoring the word of God to tickle the ears and not offend the sensibilities of hurting people, maybe because they're denominationally inclined or whatever. You know, I think it's offensive to do something like that. I do. Yeah, I never really, oh, sorry.

Go ahead. I was like, yeah, I never really heard or learned about predestination until me and my wife just changed churches. We started going to Calvary Chapel near our house, because I have a friend that goes there, and they don't sugarcoat it. Really? And they're teaching predestination? Yeah. Well, good for them. That's unusual for a Calvary Chapel.

It is. Now, here you've got to make sure that you understand something. What some Calvary Chapels and some churches teach, they'll go to Romans 8.29 and they make an exegetical mistake. An exegete is to read the Scriptures for what it says. And I attend a Calvary Chapel, just so you know. And I was baptized by Chuck Smith, the founder of Calvary Chapel. So anyway, the Bible says in Romans 8.29, For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. And some people will say that the word foreknew means that God knows who will pick him under the right conditions, and so he predestines the ones who will pick him.

That's a false teaching. When we get back from the break, I'll tell you why, okay? Okay, thank you. All right, hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages, three open lines, 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick, everybody welcome back to the show, three open lines if you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. All right, Dave, you still there?

Yeah, I'm here. All right, now this is why, I'm going to tell you, it's a big error, it's a big mistake. And it's a false teaching, and that doesn't mean they're not Christians. But a lot of times, when people exegete Romans 8.29, it says, For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, and those who would be the firstborn of many brethren. And these whom he predestined, he also called, these he called, he also justified, those whom he justified, he also glorified. So they'll say, some say, well, God knows who will pick him under different circumstances, and he predestines them. And that's what it means to foreknow, he knows ahead of time. And people go, oh, okay.

Well, there's two problems with that. One is that James chapter 2, starting at verse 2, says, If a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who's wearing the fine clothes, and say, you sit here in a good place, and you say to the poor man, you stand over there, I sit down on my footstool, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? And it says, listen, God did not choose the poor of this world to be rich in the air. Now, what's going on here is that what James is pointing out is that the unrighteous people will look at a person's possessions or qualities and elevate them or de-elevate them based upon what they possess, what they are.

That's rejection of favoritism. That's what that is, and that's not what God does. If God looks into the future to see who would pick him, then he's predesting them based on a good thing in them, but there is no good thing in us. No one does good, Romans 3, 10, 11, and 12.

We are by nature children of wrath, Ephesians 2, 3. Furthermore, no one would pick God, period, of their own free will. Sorry, folks, but that's what the Bible says. That's why Jesus says in John 6, 65, You cannot come to me unless it's been granted to you from the Father. Now, if you just come to him of your own free will, then why is it necessary for God to grant that you come to Christ?

See, these are the questions I ask people, and they hem and haw, and they don't know how to answer them. So this idea of God foreknowing, who will do what, and he predestines those is a means of showing favoritism, and it also implies God learns something, and it means that God reacts to people's choices. So how is God sovereign at that place? And it violates the revelation of Scripture that we're not going to pick him under the circumstances, different circumstances, because they won't.

They're slaves of sin. Furthermore, finally, to foreknow is proginosko in the Greek, and God only knows ginosko. He only knows believers. He never knows unbelievers. He says of the wicked on the day of judgment, Matthew 7, 22 and 23, he says, Get away from me.

I never knew you. And I can go through that a lot more, but it's proginosko, those whom he foreknew, those whom he knew in a saving way, because it says those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. They're the same group. It does not say those whom he foreknew, some of them he predestined. It says those whom he foreknew, he also predestined.

So what I'm teaching is biblical theology, and I teach it to Christians, and I will teach the same thing to the unbelievers as well, because that's the truth. Both need truth. That's what they need.

That ear tickling stuff. Wow, that's a very good explanation. That helps out a lot. I greatly appreciate you, sir. All right, man. Well, God bless, buddy. All right, take care. All right, you too. God bless.

All right, let's get to, oh my goodness, Justin from Kentucky. This is going to be good. So what do you got, man? Hey, how are you? I'm good.

So what do you got? Well, where I live, I'm sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. I'm waiting for you.

Sorry. Where I live at in the Appalachia region, I've dealt with probably for the past year a lot of Norse pagan Odinists that have come out. I work at a rehabilitation facility, and a lot of these gentlemen come out of the prison, and they have this Odinist belief system that they've just smothered themselves with and completely reject scripture.

Do you have any suggestions or scripture that I can use to help attack this belief? Well, generally, Norse paganism, I'm actually looking it up and scanning through some information on it. So it's polytheistic and Wiccan in similarities.

So that tells me a lot right there. Oh, it has Gardini. Oh, look at this, another branch of Norse Wicca. Norse Wicca is a synthetic religion based out of the Gardnerian Wiccan. So there's a pantheon of deities. Yeah, so pagan, okay, all right. So I got enough information to work with.

If I'm talking to someone in that kind of a lifestyle, a belief system, what I always want to do is ask them to give me the definition of the religion, what it is, and I say, I'm going to take notes. And I will. I will type out notes as they're talking. And I try and arrange them logically. I'm pretty good with the computer so I can do stuff pretty quickly.

I'll ask questions. Now, this is in a one-on-one conversation or in a room with them or whatever. It's different in different circumstances.

But this is the same principle. I want to know what they're talking about. If I'm standing out at a grocery store with someone talking, you can't take notes.

You've got to just mentally do the best you can. And you ask them what it is that they believe, and then you ask, why do you believe it? And they're going to give you varying reasons, and it always comes down to this. What is your ultimate standard of truth? Is your ultimate standard of truth your preferences, or is your ultimate standard of truth one of the many gods you follow?

How do you know which god is the right one if they're all essentially working together? How do you know that? Where do you get the information? And I just ask these questions, and they will tell me. And the more they do this, just think of they're handing you more rope. They're handing you more rope to hang them with. And this is what happens.

It happens all the time. I just get information. And the reason I do this is because if they're not based in scripture, there are going to be problems. There's going to be internal conflicts, logical inconsistencies, and unverifiable things, and they won't be able to provide the necessary preconditions for intelligibility, universality of transcendentals, which I won't get into all that stuff right now, or the laws of logic and how they can be authored out of multiple minds when they have a single issue. Then the monism, varying philosophical and logical issues that varying philosophies are strong at and weak at.

And so I'm able to do that kind of a thing. But the average Joe is not. So what I recommend you do is ask questions, see what they believe, and ask why they believe it and see if they can make sense out of justifying it. How do they justify it? So if my car is missing, and I say my neighbor next door stole it, I have to be able to justify the statement as being true. I can't just say it. It doesn't make it true. If I have film from three angles at the same time where you see him come out of the house, get the car, he breaks in, steals it, goes into his garage and it's next door. Well, there you go. I can justify it.

But if there's no evidence and I just say it, it doesn't mean it's true. And that's what you've got to work with this kind of a thing. You want to hold or you've got more? We've got a break. That's it, Matt. I appreciate it, man. That was great. All right, buddy. God bless. Appreciate it. God bless you.

All right. Hey, folks, four open lines, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back, please. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the show. We're at the bottom of the hour. I want you to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Gino from Virginia.

Gino, welcome here on the air. Hey, how are you doing today? Simple questions. So the Bible says that God created the earth, the earth in seven days and rest the seventh day.

Right. So then and I believe the Israelis were worshiped the Sabbath, which I think is Saturday. Where did Sunday come into worshiping it? And then the Third Testament also says the third commandment also says to worship on the Sabbath and not let people work on the Sabbath. When did the Sunday come into play?

Right there in the first century. Because what happened was the Bible teaches us that there's this thing called the Lord's day. And the Lord's day is the day of the resurrection.

That's what they called it, the Lord's day. And the Sabbath is just simply the Sabbath. And so when you have the Ten Commandments, you'll find that all of the Ten Commandments are re-instituted in the New Testament, except for one. You have five in Matthew 1918 where it talks about murder, adultery, stealing, false witness and honoring your parents.

In Romans 13, 9, it talks about coveting, worshipping God properly, the three commandments. But the one that is not re-instituted or reaffirmed is the Sabbath. And the reason is is because Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. That's Matthew 12, 8. But Jesus says, come to me, all who have related and I will give you rest. And that's Matthew 11, 28. So Jesus is the one who is our rest. Furthermore, the church would meet on the Lord's day. And you can go to Revelation 10 through 11. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day.

That's Sunday. The Lord, Jesus, his day, which is his day of resurrection. And I heard behind me, a loud voice like a son of a trumpet saying, write in the book what you see, send it to the seven churches, etc. And so in the Bible dictionary, I'm just reading some notes here. This is the first extant occurrence in the Christian literature in Revelation 110. And it says, the adjectival construction suggests that it was a formal designation of the church worship day. As such, it appears early in the second century, which means in the 100s. In the epistle by Ignatius to the Magnesians, volume 1 and 67.

And so that's that. But more importantly, the Bible says, Colossians 2, 16 through 17. Therefore, let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival. Now, festivals were yearly or a new moon that's monthly or a Sabbath day, which is weekly. So therefore, let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.

Things which were a mere shadow of what is to come. But the substance belongs to Christ. See, even the Sabbath is a shadow and Jesus is the manifestation, the truth.

And so our rest is in him. Now, in Acts 20, verse 7, it says that on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. Now, it doesn't say the church meeting, but it does say the first day of the week. They gathered together to break bread, and Paul taught of taking communion as often as you come together.

And he was talking to them and preaching to them. So it looks like that is the day that they were having a church meeting. In 1 Corinthians 16, 1-2, now concerning the collection for the saints, this is like tithing, tithes and offerings. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week, that's Sunday, let each of you put aside and save as you may prosper, let no collections be made when I come.

Now finally, I'm going to say one more thing here. Romans 14, 5 says this, one man regards every day, excuse me, let me try it again. One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind, and wait a minute. One man regards one day above another, Saturday. Another regards every day alike, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. Whoa, if we're supposed to worship on Saturday, as some people say, then why does the Bible say one man regards every day alike, let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. I've had people answer this by saying, well, it just didn't include the Sabbath. But it says every day is the Sabbath included in every day, and they won't answer the question because they're stuck. So that's why we worship on Sunday, okay? So any day could be the Sabbath. Any day could be the Sabbath. For a lot of pastors, Monday is their Sabbath because they work on Sunday, they preach, they teach, they often have meetings, they have Sunday school. Sometimes they'll speak at night, and a lot of churches do, and so he preaches in the morning and in the evening, and then Mondays are his days off.

And that's fun. Furthermore, what if you and I were on a plane, and we crash land in the ocean, and we're drifting in a raft for a few weeks. We have supplies, and we're able to make it, and we completely lose track of what day it is, and we wash up on an island. And we're both Christians, so we want to worship, right, on, let's say, Sunday. Well, what day is it?

You get a one of seven chance. Or what if it's on Saturday? If you have to worship on the true day, does it actually mean you have to worship on that particular day? Furthermore, the Jews used to worship on a calendar that was 360 days, and it changed around 702 BC to 365 days, 5 hours, 40 minutes, and 46 seconds. That's how long a year is.

Why did it change? That's an interesting theory behind that from some celestial events that some people postulate. But nevertheless, well, which day is the right day? If they're going to be legalistic and say it has to be Saturday, and if they say you must worship on Saturday, then what are they saying it for? That that's how you properly worship God? Well, then the deserted island people are in trouble.

And how do you know what day it is since the calendars have changed? But see, they're legalistic. So, okay? Thank you, sir. Okay. All right.

Okay, if you've got more information than you need, but there you go. All right. All right. Thanks for that. Okay.

God bless. Hey, folks. If you want to give me a call, four open lines, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Nathan from Virginia. Nathan, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt.

Hey. I am speaking with what, I don't want to step on toes, but what I would call a cult Catholic. They believe official Catholic doctrine, and they keep going and they are giving me verses to say you can lose your salvation. And I keep hammering them on John 6, 37 through 39, which they really don't want to deal with. But I've been responding to these verses by reading them in the context. And the one that I don't have a really good place to really describe the context is Romans 11, 22. I mean, I guess the, which is talking about the Gentiles being grafted in starting verse 11, and he's saying that in 22 that if you don't continue in this kindness, he'll break you off.

And I guess my question is, what's the best way to explain the context of that verse? Sure. Sure. Now, I'm hearing noises and stuff in the background. Is that an issue?

I've moved to another room and the baby's followed me. Ah, okay. I see. So, you are absolutely correct. Context is everything.

Now, there's a general principle, we'll get to it here, but there's also a general principle. If something in the scriptures is clear and another area of scripture is not as clear but they cover the similar topics, then you have to interpret the not so clear verses in light of the clear verses. And so what Roman Catholics will do, those who are dedicated to the error and the false teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, they are so convinced that you can lose your salvation because you keep it by your own goodness. This is ingrained in them. As paragraph 2068 says in the Catholic Catechism, you obtain salvation through faith, baptism and the observance of the commandments. So they are completely based in their own works and they say it's with grace but it's not. Go to Galatians 5 about that, but at any rate, so when we look at where it says the branches are broken off so that you might be grafted in, it doesn't say that the ones who are grafted in are regenerated and have eternal life.

The image, we'll get to it after the break here, but the imagery has to do with some Old Testament stuff about Israel being divine. We'll get to that. So hold on, okay, we'll be right back after these messages. Folks, we've got four open lines, give me a call, we'll be right back after these messages. 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276, here's Matt Slick. Looking back everybody, we've got four open lines, give me a call, Nathan from Virginia is waiting, and the number is 877-207-2276. All right, are you still there? That I am. All right, I'm going to make a note here, before I go, I like to do notes and stuff like that.

Okay, good, good, good, okay, good. All right, so what's happening here in Romans 11 is when you say then the branches are broken, broken off so that I may be grafted in, you've got to understand something, that Israel was called the vine by God. This is out of Psalm 80, verse 8. You removed a vine from Egypt, you drove out the nations and planted it. And let's see, in verse 15 of Psalm 80, even the shoot which your right hand has planted and the sun whom you have strengthened. So there's a kind of a reference to the Old Testament nature of Israel as being that vine out of which many things were supposed to grow, because it was God's chosen people, his nation. Remember, Jesus was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Not just to individual Jews, but the nation of Israel corporately with the people who were under the covenant headship and covenant umbrella.

And so in light of that, you will then say, well, branches are broken off so I might be grafted in. So the Jews who were not keeping their covenant requirement, doesn't mean they were saved, but they were not obeying covenant necessities and things like that, were broken off. In other words, God made room for the Gentiles because the Jews weren't doing their job. Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief. But you stand by your faith, do not be conceited.

But fear. Now he's talking, he's saying, look, to the Romans, these are kind of pagans, you know, this is Rome. Don't be conceited, you Gentiles. So remember, he's speaking generically, not to individuals, but generically to a body of people, because he doesn't know which individual is saved or which individual is not saved, which is why he would say things like, another epistle he says, examine yourself to make sure you're in.

These are the kinds of things you would write to a group of people generically to get them to a focus and to examine themselves and to be worried about certain things because they might be committing some errors. It doesn't mean, and you never find a place where it says people lose their salvation, it never occurs in scripture, if anything to the contrary. But anyway, in light of that, for if God did not spare natural branches, he won't spare you either. Now the natural branches does not mean they're saved, it means they're in covenant with God because Israel was covenantally related to God. A covenant is a pattern agreement between two or more parties, and you could be in the covenant and still break the covenant, and yet you're covenantally in. So there were Israelites who were under the generic covenant of God who were not walking as you're supposed to be walking according to the covenant requirements, yet when the high priest would go in on Yom Kippur to offer the blood sacrifice and the Holy of Holies on the mercy seat, even those who were not walking with God were under that covenant and were propitiated temporarily because it was a yearly thing.

That's just how it was. That's why babies who were circumcised were entered into the covenant, even though they probably, most probably, were not aware of what that entailed. This is what covenant theology is, and so what Paul is doing is hinting towards the idea of covenant theology here and saying there are boundaries, there are things you do generically is what people are. If you want to say that you're in, the Jews blew it, you've got to be careful.

Don't be so conceited. If God didn't spare them, he's not going to spare you either, Gentiles. If you think you're so special, behold then the kindness and the severity of God to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness to those who fell, the Jews who knew better, and they fell. There's going to be severity to them because they should have known better because they're their covenant obligation, and to you, Gentiles, who didn't know that, God showed kindness.

If you continue in his kindness, otherwise you'll be cut off too. He's not saying, you know, you're going to lose your salvation. It never says that any place in scripture. Even though people will say you can lose your salvation, it never says it. What Jesus said in John 3, 16, John 10, 27 and 28, he relates eternal life to not perishing. He says the eternal life will never perish. He says it.

He repeats it. This is how he relates the specificity of what salvation is. So what Romans 11 is talking about is covenant Israel in verse 23, and they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Now notice what it says, that he will be able to graft them in again. Now this is why I'm going through this with you, because if the Roman Catholic or anybody is saying, this means you can lose your salvation, then what I'm going to do is I'll say, okay, so you teach you can lose your salvation, right?

They'll say, yeah, that's right, okay. Then God can draft them in again, right? So they can regain their salvation, right?

Yes. Let's go to Hebrews 6, verses 4 through 6, okay? And what it says there, for in the case of those who've once been enlightened, now this has to be speaking of the Jews, you'll see why. But once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have made partakers of the Holy Spirit, doesn't say they're saved, and have tasted the good word of the Lord of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.

Now wait a minute. If it's impossible to renew them again to repentance there, and if, because they will, the Catholic says that Hebrews 6, 4 through 6 means they can lose salvation, and they're going to say Romans 11, 22 means you can lose salvation, then why does 11, 22 and Romans say they can be grafted in again if the grafting in means they're saved? When Hebrews 6, 4 through 6 says it's impossible to renew them again to repentance.

So I'll ask them, which one is it? Because what they have here is a problem. They don't understand that both Hebrews and this context of Romans is dealing with covenantal aspect of those who knew better, but rejected the covenantal promises. And this is why Paul says in Romans 11, Jews, they're stricter judgment, but you don't be so conceited.

You don't understand what's going on. He can graft you Gentiles out of here, but he will keep the natural branch in. It doesn't say they're losing their salvation. It can't be any more than Hebrews 6, 4 through 6 says they're losing salvation because Judas, who was an unbeliever from the beginning, John 6, 63 through 67, roughly, for the case of Hebrews, he was enlightened, he tasted the heavenly gift, he's made partaker of the Holy Spirit, doesn't say he dwelt and saved. So you see, this is how stuff goes. When they use these verses, you've got to be a little bit more precise, a little bit more informational about theological perspectives, and this is how you get through that. Make sense?

I hope. Yes, thank you, you've given me a lot of ammo. Thank you. Okay.

Here's something to work with. If you're talking to Roman Catholics, you've got to understand they are into works righteousness, they have a false gospel. I say it without hesitation, I'm not angry at Catholics, I was never molested by a priest, I wasn't beat up by a bunch of Catholic gangs on motorcycles, no, it's strictly theological. The Roman Catholic gospel is not the gospel of the Bible, and anyone who believes official Roman Catholic theology and they die will go to hell, because it's antichrist.

Doesn't mean everything that Catholic Church teaches is false, but what they teach here and in the nature of Mary is also idolatrous and damnable. But you've got to understand that the Bible speaks covenantally. If you're a dispensationalist, this will be more problematic, but if you're a covenantalist, it becomes far more easy. God works covenantally. The word in Latin for covenant is testamentum, and so hence, Old Testament, New Testament, Old Covenant, New Covenant, and in Hebrews 8, 13, and Hebrews 9, 15 through 16, it says that the covenant is ratified with the death of the testator, that's Jesus. So when the New Covenant comes in, it's because the blood of Christ has been shed. So the Old Covenant is done away with, and the New Covenant's there. So you've got to understand that when a lot of the theology of the New Testament is spoken of in a covenantal sense, this is why Jesus says in Matthew 11, 25, oh, man, I've quoted it so many times, oh, my goodness, Matthew 11, oh, my goodness. I've said it like 500 times, wow, 11, 24, it's not 11, 24, oh, I can't believe I can't remember it. Anyway, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

I have quoted that versus maybe 100 times, 500 times, and that just, anyway, happens in your brain when you get older. Matthew 11, Luke 11, I can't remember it. So at any rate, he says, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The house of Israel deals with the covenantal aspect of God to his people. The house of Israel. It's covenantal language.

That's what's going on. That's how God speaks to us. And covenant is necessary because covenant is based upon the word of God. In fact, in Hebrews 13, 20, it talks about the blood of the eternal covenant. What's an eternal covenant? The intertrinitarian covenant relationship. God works covenantally because it's based on his word, let there be light.

He speaks and it occurs. He binds himself by his word. The Ten Commandments also were a covenant document.

I don't want to be waiting, so I'm going to keep going here. A covenant document in the ancient suzerain vassal treaty pattern of the third millennium BC said that you had a covenant which said, this is what I've done. This is the stipulations, rewards, and punishments. If you read the Ten Commandments, you'll see I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

This is what I've done. And the rewards and the stipulations, honor your mother and your father. To live long. This is the covenant pattern. And there were two tablets because each party got a covenant document. Full ten and ten, not five and five or four and six.

Ten and ten. And then each party had a copy of the covenant. That's how it works. And both the documents were put in the Ark of the Covenant, which is in the Holy of Holies, which is in the possession of the Jews, but also the footstool of God.

They both parties had this. God works covenantally. So if you were to understand covenant, I suggest you go to Carm and study it. If you understand covenant, then things like Romans 11 will fall into place. You go, oh, the grafting in of the Gentiles is because the Jewish nation covenantally rejected the Messiah. And so the Gentiles are grafted in. But don't be arrogant, you Romans, because God can ungraft you Gentiles in too.

You can ungraft you and get them back in. And that's what's going on there. It's not about individual salvation. Okay? Okay, and so when it says that he grafted the Gentiles in, we're talking the whole of the Gentiles.

Now, here's the thing. Jesus says, I cannot believe, I can't remember that verse, I can't believe that, anyway, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He was not sent to the whole world. But the house of Israel is a phrase designating the nation of Israel, the house of Israel. So he's the propitiation only for our sins, but the sins of the whole world. Not just the nation of Israel, but all the nation groups. People because they don't know covenant theology, they miss all kinds of stuff. They miss all kinds of stuff. They don't understand what the Bible's teaching in a lot of these things.

Okay? And it's Matthew 15, 24. My brain glitched. I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's covenant language. The Messiah was to come for Israel, Israel rejected the Messiah, the Gentile nations are then grafted in, and individuals become saved because God grants that they believe.

Matthew 15 is 129, he's appointed to eternal life, Acts 13, 48. That's what's going on. Okay? Thank you, Chuck. Thank you so much, Matt. You're welcome, buddy. God bless. Thank you. All right. Hey, folks, there's a little theology lesson.

Covenant theology is awesome. May the Lord bless you, and by His grace, we'll be back on here tomorrow, and we'll talk to you then. Have a great evening, folks. Talk to you later. God bless. Bye. See you next time.