How to Confront Others in Love and Truth

What does it look like to confront someone who's committing open sin and do it with truth and love? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, it's Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you, and our phone lines are open. We'll be taking calls for the next 25 minutes or so, so now's the time to call. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also leave a voicemail at that number anytime, 24 hours a day, and email us at questions at corechristianity.com. First up today, here's a voicemail from one of our listeners.

This is Dave. I was wondering, does God come to people in dreams nowadays to prophesy, to tell others in the church? Thank you for the answer to this question, and God bless you. Dave, I don't think that that's impossible, and I do think that the Lord can work in and through dreams even today, but ordinarily I don't believe that that's how God is speaking to us. And so, if somebody in your church comes and says, I had a dream, and here's the interpretation, or maybe you had a dream and it was kind of like, okay, what was that about? And, you know, somebody comes along and says, like Daniel, you know, I'm going to interpret your dream and tell you God's word for you.

I would be highly skeptical of that. Now, the reason I said I think that God still can and may work today in dreams is because you do hear stories about Muslims, for example, having a dream, and that being sort of the door that opens them up to the Gospel, and someone comes and preaches the Gospel to them, and they're converted. I mean, you're hearing about these kinds of stories in the Middle East, and so, right, we say God is free to work however He wants, but ordinarily He works through means.

That is, He communicates His will for us through the Word that's clear and right there in front of us. And one of the tragedies, I think, that you see in the church today is so many people are dissatisfied with the preached Word, with the Word of God that we have right here in our hands. You know, you can just open up the Bible, and they're looking for some sort of extraordinary, miraculous experience, and they're chasing after that, and they just don't get it, or they have to conjure something up, you know, in order to satisfy them.

It's just that there's a lot of danger there. And so, again, I would be highly skeptical of an individual who came to me and said, the Lord gave me a dream, and here's a prophecy for you, and so on and so forth. I think that there's a misunderstanding there about how God ordinarily works in the church today, as well as the nature and role of prophecy in Scripture. And so, by the way, you know, there are also so many abuses that, of course, the abuse of something doesn't necessarily mean that it's not legitimate in some sense, but I think far too often what we get is abuses where people are saying, oh, the Lord gave me a word or a prophecy for you. This is what God intends in this situation, and they can lead people astray or bind their conscience in some way that's not honoring to God, that's not right. And so we always want to encourage on this broadcast, you know, people to search the Scriptures, because God is truly speaking in and through His Word. He has something to say to you, if you'll listen, if you'll open up the Word and submit yourself to it. And so, Dave, thanks for reaching out to us, and I appreciate the question. You know, I had a really spicy burrito the other night, and I think the angel Gabriel appeared to me in a dream and said, do not ever eat one of those again. Yeah, well, probably not, Bill, but I'm glad you got to enjoy a good burrito.

Thank you so much. But good, good counsel, and certainly it can be abused, and I think we need to be very cautious when people make claims like that in our churches, especially when they claim to have some kind of prophetic knowledge, which often happens in churches as well. So this is CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life. The number is 1-833-843-2673.

833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Melissa calling in from Missouri. Melissa, what's your question for Adriel? So I have a friend who is a Christian, but she believes that you should still honor all the festivals from the Old Testament because nowhere that Jesus said that we should stop doing those, and I'm just wondering what you think about that and what the Bible says about that.

Great, great question. Well, the scripture does speak about these feasts that were held in the Old Testament. You could go to a place like Leviticus chapter 23. It talks about the Passover, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks. Even the Sabbath was this feast of worship that was kept by the people of God. Now, these times, these seasons that were prescribed for Israel under the old covenant were for them as a type of worship. It was associated with the ceremonial law, the worship law that was given to Israel, but those laws ceased to be binding upon believers under the new covenant because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of those great feasts.

Ultimately, I mean, Paul in 1 Corinthians talks about Jesus as our great Passover Lamb that has been sacrificed, and so we keep the feast not in the same way that they did through the tithes and shadows, but in the reality with the unleavened bread of holiness before the Lord. And so that's the issue is people will look at these Old Testament prescriptions related to the ceremonial worship and they'll think, well, that's still binding today, right? No, Jesus has fulfilled those, and so we don't keep them as they did.

That would be going back to the law in a way that's unhelpful and not pleasing to the Lord. This is one of the problems, for example, that Paul brings up in the book of Galatians. But another passage, Melissa, that you could share with your friend is what the apostle Paul says in Colossians chapter 2 verses 16 and following. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

The substance has come. Jesus Christ, our Passover lamb, he's here. We've received him by faith, and the way in which we obey the Lord now or partake of the Passover, we might say, it's not by the Old Testament, Old Covenant feast, it's in the Lord's Supper. And those are the ties that the apostle Paul makes, for example, in 1 Corinthians between the Passover and the Lord's Supper. Jesus is our bread of life, and so we feed upon him by faith.

And when people begin to go back to those Old Covenant principles and bind other believers on the basis of that, there's a real problem. And so appreciate your question. I hope that you can have some good conversations with your friend, Melissa, and may the Lord bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, you name it, we would love to hear from you. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 833-843-2673. Let's go to Reed in Minnesota. Reed, what's your question for Adriel? I was a big game hunter, and I was wondering if you have an animal that is a taxidermy hanging on a wall? Is that an idolatry?

Hey, Reed. Boy, that sounds pretty cool, a big game hunter, and I imagine you have all sorts of animals, and the question is, you know, if I hang that up on the wall, is that idolatry? No, I don't believe that that's idolatry at all.

Now, you know, if we were bowing down before those things and worshiping them, then that would be idolatry, but in terms of a hobby or a sport, something that you enjoy or enjoyed, there's, I think, nothing there for you to feel like, oh, you know, this is some sort of false worship, and so the answer is no. I don't think that you have to be concerned about that specifically, Reed. Now, if I could just go back to you, Reed, just because I'm curious, what kind of a big game did you hunt?

I just hunted it near, you know. All right. Well, well, God bless you, brother, and, you know, idolatry is something in scripture that we're warned against time and time and time again, and it's not just, you know, bowing down before a statue. Oftentimes in the Old Testament you see that, but Jesus talks about the worship of money, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount.

You can't worship God and money or possessions. You think of all the things that we can sort of turn into the objects of our adoration and hope and worship. It may not be that we're, you know, setting them up and burning incense to them or something like that, but those things that consume our minds and our worship such that we place them before the Lord, and so that's something that we can all watch out for to make sure that our devotion is wholehearted to the Lord, but with this in particular, brother, I don't think that you need to be concerned about idolatry there, and so God bless you, and thank you for reaching out to us, Reed. Hey, Reed, thanks so much for listening to Core Christianity.

We really do appreciate you. We'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, and, you know, the fact is at some point you're likely to have a conversation with somebody who doesn't believe in Christianity, and they might ask you some tough questions about your faith, so we want to help you be ready to respond with a great resource we have available to you. Yeah, the resource is called Tough Questions Answered, and it's a really helpful booklet where we dive into some of the most frequent questions that we receive related to faith and science, morality, you know, all sorts of things. The authority of Scripture, how we understand the Bible is the Word of God, so get a hold of this resource.

It's accessible. It's, you know, it's not too long to read, but I think it's going to equip you to have conversations about faith and Scripture with your friends and family members, and it'll also encourage you, so head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Once again, it's called Tough Questions Answered, and you can find that, as Adriel said, at corechristianity.com. While you're there, check out some of our other great free resources. We have core guides, we have core questions, and we have some awesome Bible studies. If you happen to be a small group leader or teach a Sunday school class looking for some good curriculum, this is a great place to find it.

Just check out the Bible studies at corechristianity.com. Well, I mentioned we do receive voicemails here at the core, and you can call us 24 hours a day. We've got a voicemail system. You can leave your message there, your question for Adriel.

Here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Susie. I was calling because the church I attend with my husband, and he prefers that church. There is people that are same-sex married in my church, and I don't hear sin preached very much, and I know that it's Holy Spirit's job, and we're to love and pray that their eyes are open so they can have an abundant life by following scripture. But I mean, my question is, what is a pastor supposed to do? Because sometimes you do have to point out things, and there's no way my husband's gonna leave that church, but sometimes I'm not sure.

I did feel Holy Spirit there, so I just don't know, but it's a Baptist church. I'm just gonna leave it in God's hands. I know that. I know we're supposed to love, but show them the right way. Anyway, thank you.

Okay. Susie, thank you for that question. This is one of the areas where I think churches more and more are going to be faced with the temptation to compromise what the Bible teaches, ethics with regard to sin and sexuality in particular, and it sounds to me like the way you've shared the situation is that at this church there are gay couples who are married and they're participating in the life of the church. They're members of the church, let's say, and maybe they're partaking of the Lord's Supper. I think that's a real issue, and if the leadership of the church is unwilling to confront sin, then you need to find a new church. Now, I recognize, obviously, it sounds to me like there's some tension here, because your husband really likes this church, and so this is where I think it's so important to go to the Word of God and to think about what is the job of the church, what is the church. The church is the place where the Word of God is faithfully preached, where the ordinances, the sacraments are carried out, done in order as Christ commanded in His Word, and where there's discipline and care for the members, and part of that care looks like addressing matters of sin, and when the church doesn't do that, that's a huge red flag. I think of what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife, and you are arrogant.

Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. That is to say, if there's someone, a so-called brother in the church, someone who's saying, I'm a Christian, but they're living in open sin, in rebellion to the Word of God, whether it's an illicit heterosexual relationship, or there this is kind of like this incestuous relationship, or a homosexual relationship, and you're just sort of letting it go by the wayside, and nobody's really willing to say anything.

That's a real problem. He's going to go on to explain why. He says, a little leaven, leavens the whole love. I mean, the sin is going to spread like wildfire in the church if you don't address it, and if you're just saying, everything's fine, you know, this is just how we're loving people, we just accept everyone, well then you're not being faithful to the Word of God. It's one thing to welcome people and to allow people of all different walks of life to hear the preached Word. It's another thing to say, oh God doesn't confront you in your sin, and if the Word of God is being faithfully preached, then all of us are going to be confronted in our sin and called to repentance, and if we're unwilling to repent, if we're hard-hearted and we're saying, I'm just going to do my own thing, well then we shouldn't be, you know, partaking of the Lord's Supper. We shouldn't be welcomed into the sacramental life of the church if we have no interest in following the Word of God or Christ himself. You know, Paul is going to go on to say in the very next chapter of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, do you not know, this is verse 9, that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, do not be deceived, don't be duped, don't be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, Paul says to the Corinthians, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Churches that don't tell sinners, you need to be washed, you need to be justified, are doing them a disservice. And I mean, I get it, it's well, we don't want to upset people, we don't want to push them away. But the reality is, is you're never really bringing them in, not if you're allowing people to live in their sin and not calling them to repentance.

And so I think, Susie, that this is a really important topic. And one, you know, like I said, I mean, my prayer would be, one, that the church would ultimately, I mean, would repent and would preach the word of God faithfully, but that if they didn't, that you and your husband would both see this as a really important issue. And one of those things that I think determines, well, is this a church that we should be going to?

If they're not going to take the word of God seriously, and if they're not going to call people to live as Christ calls us to live, then it's actually, this is not a safe place for us to be, because it's not faithfully preaching the truth of God's word. We need that word faithfully preached week in and week out. We need the law to be proclaimed, and we need the grace of the gospel.

And if we're not telling sinners that they need that, then we're not doing our job as churches. And so may the Lord be with you. I hope that you are able to hear this, that your husband hears this, and feel free to call back if you want more clarification or if there are more details maybe that I missed. But may God give you wisdom and discernment and guide you guys to a faithful church.

Really good counsel on a very sticky issue. Thank you for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. You can email us anytime if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, doctrine, theology, or something going on at your church, just like Suzy did. Here's the email address.

It's questionsatcorechristianity.com. Let's go to Terri in Millington, Tennessee. Terri, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, I have a question. In the book of Genesis, chapter 32, verse 27 and 28, the Lord changed Jacob's name to Israel. Okay, that's in chapter 32.

In chapter 37, it says, well, his name's already been changed. It says, Jacob is in the land where his father had stayed. And then it says, you know, Joseph tended whatever. And then it says, Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons. My point is, why is he referred to as Jacob, and then gone back and referred to as Israel, and then he's gone back and referred to as Jacob, and back and forth?

I wonder why it wasn't consistent. Terri, what an excellent question, and I love that you're a careful reader of the Word of God. Going back to Genesis 32, I think the first thing to note is that there is this significant change in Jacob's life. In Genesis 32, that's where he's wrestling with God.

He crosses through the waters. He has this dramatic experience, really, where he experiences the presence of the Lord. I mean, he probably thinks at first that it's his brother Esau, who he's terrified of.

You know, they're about to meet. This is a real, real tense scene in the book of Genesis, but what ends up happening is Jacob receives a blessing. And then we read in verse 27, you know, he said to him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. Then he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.

Israel. So there's the change in name, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. So there's this sort of shift in identity.

Some people might see this as kind of the baptism point of Jacob, if you will, crossing through the waters, having this dramatic encounter with God and coming out with a new identity. Really, there's evidence, even just in the text, of there's this change. You get this change in Jacob, who was really well known for being a deceiver and kind of a rascal in the previous chapters.

There's this shift here. But then, in the later chapters of Genesis, there's this sort of back and forth. Sometimes he's referred to as Jacob. Sometimes he's referred to as Israel. Now, some people will suggest, well, maybe it's trying to indicate Jacob living in light of the old man who he was before. That's why it sometimes refers to him as Jacob. And then when it refers to him as Israel, it's referring to him as walking rightly in that new identity.

So that's one direction that some people will go. I don't know, however, if we should make too much of it. That is to say, I don't know that we should read too much into it. I think that Moses, who wrote the Pentateuch, who wrote the book of Genesis, could just be going back and forth between Jacob and Israel, and that it's not necessarily something that we're supposed to draw significant conclusions from. I do think that there is a significant shift in his life there in Genesis 32, and that sticks with him.

That new identity that he has stays with him in the following chapters. And so my take is not that we should think, well, it's him living in light of the old man and then living in light of the new man. I just think that that's not really clear in the text. So it's best not to speculate, at least on those terms. But I do think that this is a great question and would say maybe something not to read too much into Terry.

And so that's my view. But thank you for reaching out and asking. Hey, Terry, thanks for calling and for listening to CORE Christianity. Let's go to Ella in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ella, we've just got about a minute left.

What's your question for Adriel? We were at first talking about the end times and the artificial intelligence and the chip they put in the woman's arm to build and charge stuff. And I'm just wondering if there's anything about either of them in the end times. I don't remember reading any of it, but it's very scary to all of us here.

Oh, thank you for that question. So it sounds like, you know, when we're talking about microchips and AI technology, is this described in scripture in relation to the end time? Sometimes people, Ella, will draw lines between the mark of the beast described in Revelation chapter 13 and a microchip. They think, well, maybe that's what the mark of the beast is going to be, a microchip that they place inside of you. I think that's not really the right way to read Revelation chapter 13.

I think the number there, the number of man, 666, speaks more to a kind of false and idolatrous worship that people adopt in their hearts and minds turning away from the Lord. So I don't know that it's right to say, well, that's the microchip or AI. But these kinds of things, it's not to say that these kinds of things aren't things that are concerning.

I know there are a lot of concerns that are being raised right now about AI and how it's used and the implications of AI. And so I do think that there's certainly room for concern, but not room for fear and despair because Jesus has won the victory and promises us victory in him through faith in his name. So don't be afraid, sister. 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.