Is There Something Wrong with Commuting to Church?

Is there anything wrong with commuting to church? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adrielle Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question. Here's our phone number, 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833- 843-2673. And of course, you can always email us at questions at COREChristianity.com.

First up today, here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Sanders. I was wondering about once saved, always saved. Can you unsave yourself by going back to your old ways? Or it doesn't matter what you do once you become saved.

Sanders, my brother, God bless you, and thank you for that question. Two things. One, a person who is truly saved, born of the Holy Spirit. I don't think you can unsave yourself. But that also doesn't mean that what you do doesn't matter in the Christian life. What you do does matter in the Christian life, and we are called, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, to make our calling and election sure. This is what Peter says in 2 Peter 1. So I want to read some of that passage, but again, I just want to reiterate for you, and sometimes when people talk about once saved, always saved, it gets confused with this idea of easy believism, or that's what they mean. I said a prayer, and so I'm saved, and I can live however I want, and I'm still going to go to heaven.

I've got my fire insurance, I've got my ticket to heaven. That's a real confusion of the teaching of the Bible. That's not biblical Christianity. And so somebody who thinks that way, there are some serious problems, but for those who have trusted in Jesus Christ, truly turned from their sins and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, they're born again.

They're filled with the Holy Spirit. They're not going to unsave themselves, and yet the Spirit is going to work in them, causing them to persevere. God is going to preserve you in the faith. And so I mentioned 2 Peter 1. Just listen to what Peter says here, how he begins his epistle. This is verse 3. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. And then he says this, and this is getting at your question, you know, does it matter what we do?

Just sort of sit back and relax and who cares? No. Listen to what he says, verse 5. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall.

What an encouragement there. First, God has given you everything you need for life and godliness, even the faith that you have. This is a gift that God has given to you. Therefore, make every effort be diligent to supplement your faith with virtue, your virtue with knowledge, growing in the knowledge of the Lord, that knowledge with self-control, with endurance, with godliness, with brotherly love, love for the church, for the people of God, with agape love, that sacrificial love that God calls us to.

He's saying, look, grow in these things. Make every effort to grow in these things, not because you're saved by your righteousness. Man, none of us are righteous enough, but because God has given you everything you need. So don't just sit back and say, okay, you know, I said a prayer. I guess I can go live however I want.

No. Woe to you if you think that way. That's a confusion, as I already said, of the gospel. Having been justified by faith, now that we have peace with God, we pursue the Lord. We grow in grace.

We heed this call that Peter makes for us in 2 Peter 1. And so, may the Lord bless you. May he comfort you with the fact that he's going to keep you.

If you trust in him, he will never leave you or forsake you. But with that knowledge also, just the confidence to pursue the Lord and to pursue these things, if you do these things, Peter says, you will never fall. God bless. Good counsel.

Thanks for that, Adriel. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life.

Maybe you're confused about some point of doctrine or theology, or maybe you have a concern about something going on at your church. Feel free to give us a call right now. Our phone lines will be open for the next 20 minutes or so. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Sarah calling in from New York. Sarah, what's your question for Adriel?

Hello, my name is Sarah, obviously. My question for Adriel is, I am really trying to spread the word about the false church that is happening nowadays. Like things that are just really bad, like song, basketball, television, things like that. When I bring up music, a lot of people, and I use this on my social media, a lot of people get very angry with me, and angry where they can't even talk to me about it. I'm like really mad, like using harsh words, and I don't know how to come back at them in a loving Christian way. I usually just stop.

I don't know what to do. So if you have any advice, I would greatly appreciate how to lovingly explain this to someone, that these, they're not theologically sound, these songs. Sarah, thanks for reaching out to us and for listening to the broadcasts, and I want to commend you, sister, for wanting to stand up for the truth and pure worship, the purity of the worship of the Triune God. And there's a lot of bad stuff that has crept into the worship of the church, and one of the ways that it gets in is through music. Now that doesn't mean that all contemporary music is bad, but when we're thinking about the theology that undergirds the words that we're singing, we have to ask ourselves, okay, is this in line with what the Word of God teaches? This is, by the way, one of the reasons why I think it's so good for us to sing scriptural songs like the Psalms. God has given us in His Word an entire songbook. We should set it to music and sing those words, the Word of God, back to Him. But I'm not against hymns and even contemporary songs. We just have to be discerning. We have to look at the music, the theology behind the music, because—and this is what a lot of people don't understand, Sarah, and I think it's something that you clearly see.

This is why you're bringing it up. The way we worship God shapes us. The things we sing, the theology that's embedded in our music as we're singing, that begins to shape our beliefs, the way we think about God. And so if it's not biblical, then we're being shaped in the wrong way. We're being led astray.

And so how do you go about, I think, having those conversations? I think, one, it's helping people to see that first and foremost, that your worship shapes you. And if you're singing things or doing things in worship that are not in line with Scripture, you're being deformed spiritually, not formed more and more into the image of Christ. I think about what Paul says in Ephesians 5.

He encourages the church, verse 19, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord in your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So I think two things. One, it's being discerning. And even every hymnal, I think we have to look at the words and what we're singing. And sometimes even in really good hymnals, you'll find a song or two where it's like, okay, I think there's some theological issues with this here. But being discerning with regard to the music and then asking ourselves, okay, what are the beliefs of the people who wrote these songs?

Are they orthodox? Are they tethered to the Scriptures? And if they aren't, then we should be all the more discerning. That doesn't mean that they can't get a song right sometimes, but it does mean that we have to be really, really careful. And as you're having those conversations, again, you said, you know, people get upset, right?

And I've seen this too. They're attached to a particular song. I get emotional when I sing that song.

How could you say that that's a bad song or whatnot? But I think it's graciously, with love, appealing to brothers and sisters in Christ in saying what we believe about God and how we worship the Lord is so important. God cares about how He's worshiped.

And so this isn't a personal attack. It's a desire to see God glorified through worship. And so that just requires wisdom in those conversations that you're having with people, exhibiting the love of Christ, but also discernment. And may God grant you that wisdom as you have those conversations, and may He use you, Sarah, to help others come into a deeper understanding of who Christ is and how He should be worshiped. So thank you, and God bless you. Sarah, we appreciate you and your commitment to God's truth.

And Adriel, I just heard about a new development, which I found very encouraging. There's two contemporary musicians, Matt Mar and Matt Redman, who are very concerned about this same issue. And they've been training young worship leaders in good theology. They want them to apply good theology to every song that they write. In fact, they just had a big, I guess, conference at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. to bring these young worship leaders in and say, hey, let's make sure we get it right. I think that that's wonderful.

I mean, that needs to happen. We need to be, for worship leaders, you know, people who are up there singing to the Lord and leading the congregation in worship, that's a big deal. It's not just, again, our worship shapes us. And so I'm glad to hear that more and more people are recognizing that and saying, look, we need to get our theology straight if we're going to be doing this.

And so good news, Bill. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. Our phone lines are open right now. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can call us for the next 12 minutes or so at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can also leave a voicemail at that number anytime. Let's go to Deng, who's calling in from Minnesota. Deng, what's your question for Adrian?

Yes. My question for Pastor Adrian was when I was a kid, I got baptized and I know for sure the baptism doesn't save us. When I came to the United States, I explained it to the church. I got baptized when I was a kid and they accepted to baptize me again. And I put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I got baptized, the elders of the church, they put their hand in my head. And three days later, I was filled up with the Holy Spirit. And but in that time, I don't live the Christian life.

I'm still partying and doing everything like I used to be. And from there, 10 years later, one guy witnessed Christ to me and he told me about Jesus Christ and I accept Christ again. And from there, he wrote me a letter. He told me, Deng, read the letter of John.

It's three pages, chapter one to the end and read it again. And when I pick up the Bible, I was reading the letter of John and I get to the chapter one, verse five, and my body started to check and demons came out from my body. And my question, if I was safe in the beginning, how come I could be possessed with demons again?

That is my question for Adrian. John chapter one, verse five, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. It's interesting that you bring up this text. It sounds to me like the Lord has been at work in your life over many years, drawing you to himself, giving you a deeper understanding of his grace, calling you out of darkness and into light. And there's been seasons of not walking in that light for you as well, which I think does open us up to spiritual oppression and attack. But your question is, if I was truly saved and you believe that you were saved, and then I had this experience where I felt like a demon was coming out of me as I was reading scripture, how do you make sense of that?

Well, I can't explain everyone's experience. I can say what the Bible clearly teaches. And John, who you were reading there in the gospel, also says in his first epistle, in 1 John chapter five, we know, verse 18, that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. In other words, it is true that light and darkness cannot exist together, and if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, born again, the evil one has no authority or power over us. Yeah, he can attack us, he can oppress us, he can tempt us, but he cannot reside where God resides, where the Holy Spirit is.

He cannot touch us. And so, I don't believe that believers, those who have been born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, sealed with the Holy Spirit, can be possessed by the evil one. I think that we can have, you know, experiences of demonic attack, and maybe that's what that was. Maybe that's, you know, again, I can't tell you what your own experience was, but I'm just saying here's what the scripture teaches. Additionally, one other passage I think that's important to bring up is what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1. In him, this is verse 13, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. But when you hear the gospel, and you believe in Christ, you are sealed at that very moment with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption. Earlier on the broadcast, you know, someone was asking, can I unseal myself? Can I unsave myself?

I don't believe that's the case. I think that if you're sealed by the Holy Spirit, born again, that you are kept preserved, but that doesn't mean that you're not going to be in a real intense spiritual battle throughout your life, fighting against sin, fighting against temptation, fighting against the evil one. And that's what you've experienced, Dang. And my encouragement to you would be to continue to read and study the word of God, to be plugged into a solid Christian community, to fight against your sin, and to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to daily be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's one thing to be sealed by the Holy Spirit, which every believer is. It's another thing to walk by the Spirit and to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily through the word of Christ. And so I think that's what you're experiencing as the word of Christ is filling you more and more, growing in sanctification. And that's something that God calls each and every one of us to. And so may the Lord bless you and be with you and enable you in this new year, 2024, to increase more and more in a love for God and a love for the people around you. May the Lord bless you, Dang. Thank you again for reaching out to us. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, here's the phone number, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, at some point in your life, you are likely to have a conversation with a person who doesn't believe in Christianity and may ask you some tough questions about your faith. And we want to help you be ready to respond to those questions. Yeah, the resource is called Tough Questions Answered. And it's a wonderful little booklet that I think will encourage you in your walk with the Lord and also equip you to be able to talk about the Christian faith with others. Whether it's talking about science, world religions, the Bible and how we got the Bible, issues of morality and sexuality, this booklet gets into all of it. And so get a hold of this resource over at corechristianity.com.

It's an excellent resource that we think will equip you to have those difficult conversations, maybe with an agnostic or an atheist that you know, somebody in your life, maybe a friend or relative work associate who challenges you on issues of faith. Again, it's called Tough Questions Answered, and you can find that at corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Well, our phone lines are still open. We're taking calls for the next few minutes or so.

Let's go to Julia in St. Louis. Julia, what's your question for Adriel? Hey, I was just calling about a previous caller, and honestly this is not like argumentative. I just want to know from my knowledge in learning, she mentioned like two different groups, like Hillsong and Elevation Worship, and that they're not theologically sound. And I was just wondering what in their music is not, what am I missing that is not theologically sound?

Hey Julia, thanks for following up. And so a couple of things. I think with all music, contemporary music, even the older stuff that you listen to, you just have to be discerning. So I think some of the issue there with, for example, Bethel music, I think she mentioned that. You too have a theology, a belief system that is held by some of these groups that does run contrary to what Scripture teaches. So for example, Bethel specifically, not just the charismatic movement, but really there was a whole sort of push there with finds and wonders in this idea that God always wants you to be healthy and strong, and that you're always supposed to be healed of any disease that you have sort of in line with the prosperity gospel.

You saw a lot of this early on in Bethel, and it continues to be an issue. And so there are theological errors there. And so I think that that's probably what was being suggested, is just like with some of this music, we have to be extra discerning because of the beliefs of those who are putting this music out there.

And I think that that's important. I think even for Christians who have orthodox views of the Bible, good views of Scripture, and have a high view of Scripture, even in those circles, right, we still want to be discerning, thinking about how it is that we're worshiping God. And so I would just encourage you, Julia, think about what it is that you're singing and ask yourself, okay, does this line up with the teaching of Scripture? And sometimes it could very well be the case, okay, there's actually nothing here that I'm saying that's, I mean, this is just basically from the Psalms, or praising God for His goodness in creation and for redeeming me through Christ.

I think you have to feel like, okay, I can't sing that. But just an encouragement to you and to everyone else to say, hey, let's take worship seriously and let's realize that it's not just how we feel. We're not just trying to conjure up feelings in the context of worship, but there's actually content to this music that we're singing, and we want to be sure that we're singing that which is true back to God and glorifying Him accordingly. And so that discernment, that's something that we're all called to have as Christians, especially in worship.

God bless. You know, I was thinking about a great exercise that I've used on this issue, is you actually just look at the words, look at the lyrics, pull up a lyric sheet, you can do that through Google, and just see exactly what the lyrics are saying, and then you put that side by side with Scripture and good theology, good doctrine, and see if they match up. A lot of times you get carried away by the emotion of the song.

Let's look at what the song is actually saying. I think that that's a great practice. I think that's an important practice. I think that leadership of the church should be doing that as well, just sort of vetting what's being sung and taught and whatnot.

But it should also enable us to sing with confidence, knowing that what we're singing is in fact true as we praise the Lord. And so, good idea, Bill. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Billy in Missouri. Billy, we've just got about a minute left.

What's your question for Adriel? Yes, I heard it preached, and I know the Jews had different things they call people. They had a meaning for it.

Like Hagar said, the one who sees me. Noah and his sons, he named them Shem, Ham, and Japheth. What this preacher preached was one was a black man, one was a brown man, one was a white man, and they repopulated the earth. I just never heard it preached that way, and I just wondered if that was true.

No, I don't think that that's true. You do have the descendants of these. Usually when we're thinking about Japheth, for example, those would be the Gentile nations. When you think about the Gentile nations, non-Jewish nations, you have white, black, brown, you have everything.

So to differentiate them on those lines is not really helpful. And the reason I would say Japheth, for example, you have the Gentile nations later in chapter 10, verse 5, we read, coming from Japheth, from these, the coast land peoples, the Goim, the Gentiles, this is where they came from, spread in their lands, each with his own language by their clans and their nations. Similarly with Shem, you have the Semitic peoples in chapter 10, excuse me, in chapter 11, verses 10 and following. You see this in the people of Abraham. And so, no, this pastor, what he was saying, there's nothing to indicate that in the text. Rather, it seems like from these, all the nations of the world spread out, and that would be a diverse group of people, all different colors, and all called to Christ, to worship Him. And that's the promise that we see in scripture, the coast lands being brought in to the very promises of God through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we, brothers and sisters, are the recipients of those promises. God bless. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, go to corechristianity.com forward slash radio, or you can call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, let us know how we can be praying for you. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.