Is God’s Spirit in Us Greater than His Written Word?

If God's Spirit speaks to us, is that word more authoritative than the Bible? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel 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 for the next 25 minutes with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. We would love to hear from you. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Dawn in Topeka, Kansas. Dawn, welcome to the program. Good afternoon.

I enjoy your program. Matthew 24, 13. When I read this particular verse, it's a little scary, so I thought I'd call in and just find out what that verse means.

Hey, Dawn, thank you for giving us a call with that question, brother. Let me just read the verse for those who are not familiar with it. These are the words of our Lord Jesus, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. He's talking here to his disciples. The context is the persecution that they're going to experience for having followed him, for confessing faith in him.

You see similar language earlier in Matthew's Gospel in Matthew Chapter 10 where Jesus sends his disciples out to preach and to do miracles. Again, you have this language of enduring to the end. This is what some people have referred to as the perseverance of the saints. That is, all those who truly belong to the Lord, who are justified, who have faith in Jesus Christ, do indeed persevere to the very end. They don't abandon the faith. They don't turn away from the Lord or commit apostasy, that kind of thing. You read passages like this and you just think, boy, that is kind of scary.

Am I going to persevere to the end? We know that there are these repeated calls throughout scripture for believers to hold fast to their faith. You see this, Don, especially in the book of Hebrews over and over again in the book of Hebrews in Hebrews Chapter 3, in Hebrews Chapter 6, in Hebrews Chapter 10. There's this call to hold fast to the faith.

Let me just say this to you. When we're confronted with these passages and we're asking ourselves the question, am I going to persevere, what does perseverance look like? I think there's a really helpful discussion on this in the book of 1 John Chapter 5, verses 1 through 5.

Listen to what John said there. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

I get that again. Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? In other words, how do we overcome?

How are we overcomers? Well, it's through faith in Jesus Christ. It's faith. We're saved by faith. We're not saved, Don, by our perfect obedience or by the fact that we do this, that, and the other. Even our obedience to the law of God is not what saves us.

It's an evidence of the fact that we've been born again. That's what John says there in 1 John 5, 1 through 5. But if you believe in Jesus, if you've trusted in Him for your salvation, if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you've been sealed and you're going to persevere. Even more than that, you're going to be preserved. God Himself, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, the work of Jesus Christ in your life, He is going to preserve you. And that's a promise that we have as the children of God that He keeps us. Jesus talks about this in John 10. No one can snatch the children of God out of the Father's hand. And so when we come across those passages, the question is, do I belong to Jesus? Am I trusting in Him?

And if you do trust in Him, then you don't have to be afraid. Thank you for that question, Don. Some great verses of assurance, Adriel.

Thanks so much for that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, here's the number to call. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Christian in Los Angeles, California. Christian, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hi, how's it going? You know, with Easter kind of happening in the past week or so, my question was, to what extent did Satan know God's redemptive plan for humanity? And kind of to phrase it a little bit differently, when did Satan know that he was defeated?

Was it at the cross or when he resurrected? Yeah, that's a great question, Christian. The thing is, we know that Satan is not omniscient.

He is a creature created by God. The Lord Himself knows all things, but the evil one and his minions, they don't know everything. Now, they do have knowledge that we don't have, but they're not omniscient like the Lord. And the first passage of scripture that comes to my mind when I think about your question is what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter two. Beginning in verse six, he says, yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, what no eye has seen nor ear has heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.

In other words, this work, this redemptive work of God in his son, Jesus, was decreed from before the ages for our glory. Now, did Satan know that? Did he understand that? Well, he knew that promise that was made way back in Genesis chapter three, that the feet of the woman would cross the head of the serpent. I mean, that declaration was made to the serpent. So he knew that his fate was sealed.

How exactly that was going to happen, we're not sure entirely, you know, if he understood all of the ins and outs. Many of the church fathers talked about God at the cross tricking the evil one, sort of like, you know, the cross, the crucifixion was this bait where Satan thought that he had conquered the Lord, when in reality, he was being conquered. Jesus by death was trampling on death. And so we're not entirely sure to what extent Satan knew, but we do know that he had some sort of idea that he was going to be defeated by the Lord. And ultimately, I think that the cross was the ultimate revelation of that together with the resurrection of Jesus. I mean, Paul, he talks about in the book of Colossians, how at the cross, Jesus disarmed all principalities in power.

So it was there essentially that they were exposed, that they were conquered, that they were bound by the work of Jesus. And so appreciate your question, brother, and thank you for giving us a call. Thanks so much, Christian.

Interesting question. We appreciate you being one of our regular listeners. By the way, here at Core Christianity, we aren't supported by a particular church or denomination. We count on people just like you to make donations to keep us on the air. And if you find this program helpful, we would ask you to prayerfully consider making a gift of any amount. You can do that on our website at corechristianity.com.

Just click donate at the top of the page. Let's go to Val in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Val, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hello, Pastor Adriel. Regardless of my denomination, what does it actually take?

What's required to wash all of my sins away and be certain that I will make it to heaven? Hey, Val, I like that you said, regardless of my denomination, because it's not being a part of a particular denomination that saves us. And I think that, you know, sadly, there are people out in the world today who think, oh, I'm a part of this church, this particular church.

And so that must mean that God really likes me because, you know, this church, we get everything right and that kind of a thing. But we're not saved by joining a particular church per se. That's not what justifies you before God. And you can't, I can't, we can't wash away our sins.

That's not something that we have the ability to do. What's required from us is faith. And what is faith? Faith is resting in and receiving the work of Jesus for us.

Faith is like an empty hand. It's like an empty hand, Val, that we extend to God laying hold of the promise of the gospel, which he's given to us so clearly in his son. It's there that we receive the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ.

So it's not something that we do, right? You can't assure yourself of your salvation by, you know, jumping through these certain hoops, that kind of a thing. This is one of the things that makes Christianity distinct among the religions of the world. It's not a list of things that you have to do so that God will accept you into heaven. It's how God has reached down to sinners who didn't deserve his grace, who didn't deserve his salvation and has through his son accomplished salvation, accomplished redemption so that we might lay hold of it and receive it as a free gift.

And so what do you have to do? Believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That's what the apostle Paul said to the Philippian jailer in the book of Acts when the jailer asked, what must I do to be saved? The response was believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by faith that we're saved and our sins are washed away.

Don't let anyone ever tell you that if you want to be forgiven, yeah, believe in Jesus but make sure you do this, that and the other as well. That is adding to the gospel. That's not good news.

It's just not good news. If you want to be saved, you need to do all of these things, right? The fact of the matter is that's the weight of the law. If you want to be saved, believe in Jesus Christ and when you believe in Jesus Christ, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. He takes up residence in you and begins to renew you day by day so that you love God and follow the Lord. And so that's what I would say to you, brother.

Thank you for that question and I appreciate again that you recognize it's not about the denomination that you're in, it's about whether or not you are in Christ by faith. Yeah, let's not go adding things to Christ's death on the cross that somehow we need those to get us saved, right? Yeah, and the reality is, brothers and sisters, that's our natural inclination, our temptation. We live in a world where if you do good, then you'll be rewarded typically, and if you don't do good, you won't be rewarded, that kind of a thing. We sort of think that that's how it is with God. If I really do good, then God will love me, then he'll allow me into heaven. If I fail, well, I don't know if God loves me as much as he did yesterday because I'm struggling today, that kind of a thing. God demonstrated his love for you in that while you were still a sinner, Paul said, Romans 5, Christ died for you.

God's love for you is sure. You are called, we are called, to lay hold of it by faith, to embrace it, and then to rejoice in the salvation that we are freely given. And as those who are freely saved by the blood of Jesus, boy, we turn around, we say, Lord, I want to serve you. I want to follow you. I want to obey you. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We have a free booklet we would love to send you. It's something that Adriel actually wrote himself. It's called Seeing Jesus. Yes. I'm talking again about who Jesus is. It's so important for us to understand, brothers and sisters, the identity of Christ and not as we imagine him ourselves, to sort of make up in our own minds who we think Jesus is or who we want him to be, oftentimes creating him in our own image. Now, let Jesus introduce himself to us through Holy Scripture. And that's one of the things that Seeing Jesus aims to do.

I wrote this book. It's a brief devotional resource for you to see Jesus through the pages of scripture and to understand who he was and what he came to do. So get a hold of this resource. All you have to do is go to our website, which is corechristianity.com forward slash Jesus, to get that. Or you can call us for that resource or any one of our resources. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, you can also leave a voicemail at that number 24 hours a day. You can also record your question on our website at corechristianity.com.

Just look for the little microphone icon there and click on that. Here's a message we received from one of our international listeners. Hi, I'm Edder from the Philippines. I always listen to your program almost every day, and I am very blessed as it answers a lot of my questions and encourages me to pursue the Lord. Recently in the Philippines, we have now a heated discussion in social media regarding the authority of the Bible. Can you provide a clear explanation regarding the infallibility and authority of the Bible?

And is it right to say that the Bible is the word of God? Thank you. Edder, thank you so much for giving us a call, and I am so encouraged to hear that you are encouraged by this broadcast, that it's helping you to grow in your understanding of the Word of God. That's our desire. That's what we do here at CORE Christianity. And so may the Lord continue to bless you and build you up in your faith through the Word. And the Word of God is indeed the Word of God. It's right to say that the Bible is the Word of God. And throughout scripture, it's referred to as the Word of God. Oftentimes in the New Testament, when the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it just quotes it as the Word of God. Peter referred to Paul's writings as the Word of God. You think especially of that passage in 2 Timothy chapter 3, where it talks about scripture being breathed out by God. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. But this is how we have to receive the Word of God and the Gospel, not as the Word of man, but as the Word of God himself to us. That's what gives us confidence and assurance that when we hold fast to it, that what we've been promised, we will actually receive, because it's God himself who has promised us these things, and God cannot lie.

He makes that absolutely clear in his Word. Now, there are some people today who will say, well, you know, the Bible isn't the Word of God, but it contains the Word of God, that kind of a thing. You sort of have to sift through and determine what's the Word of God and what isn't. But that makes me a judge of the Word of God, as opposed to letting the Word of God stand over me and determine what's right and wrong, what God calls me to. And that's a really dangerous place to be. God forbid that any of us should try to place ourselves above the Word of God to determine whether or not it should be followed or not.

As I said, that's a real dangerous place. There are some people who will sort of make this distinction between the external Word, something like the Bible, where God has revealed himself so clearly, and what they might call the internal Word, you know, these feelings that I have inside of me. Others have gone to places like 2 Corinthians 3 to make this distinction, where Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 4, such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. There are some people who misinterpret that verse and say, look, the letter, the Bible, you know, the words on the page, that's not where the power is, it's in the Spirit, in my being personally guided by the Spirit who lives in me, that kind of a thing. Well let me just say this to you, brothers and sisters, if you think that way, if you're a Christian, the Spirit of God inspired the Word of God. If the Spirit in you contradicts what the Word of God says, well then there's a problem. The Spirit in you is not the Spirit of God who inspired the Word of God. The Spirit for us today, what he does is he illuminates the Word of God, so as we're reading it, this is God's Word, we're able to grasp it and receive it as we were meant to. So I always encourage people, look, when you open up the Bible, pray, pray that the Spirit would grant you illumination, pray that you would be able to lay hold of the truth of God for you as God's very Word for you, because that's what it is, and that's what we ought to embrace, and so we hold fast to the authority of the Scriptures, knowing that it's there that God speaks to us, and we let the Scriptures do their work in us and through us, because we know that that's where the power of God is. The Word of God does the work of God.

Thank you for your question. Along those lines, Adriel, how do we respond if we have a fellow Christian, someone let's say from our church, who says, well the Holy Spirit told me this, and yet it appears that it's contrary to what God would say in his Word. Yeah, that is just a really concerning thing, and I think that when we encounter that, when somebody comes to you and says, well, God told me, I think we should go to them and say, especially if we know it's clear that it's not in line with what the Word of God says, we can honestly say very clearly there, no, God has not told you that, because this is what God's Word says, and God has spoken definitively in his Word.

Now that doesn't mean we need to be rude or harsh. I think that we go to them in love and say, look, you maybe are confused here, maybe you're just going with your feelings or what you really want, but at the end of the day, God has spoken so clearly in his Word, and so this in his Word is what you are called to. Oftentimes, I think, when we want to pursue sin or something that we know God hasn't called us to, you know, we'll try to justify it by saying, well, I think the Lord is leading me in this direction, I think God said this is okay.

No, we have to trust what God has definitively said in his Word, not our feelings, because our feelings oftentimes can be deceptive, and sometimes we really are just sort of trying to justify something that we know is wrong, but we're not willing to admit it, and so I think, lovingly, we go to that person, we say, no, God has spoken clearly in his Word, and here's what the Word of God says, and we come alongside of that individual. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. So nice to have some of our international listeners checking in today from both India and the United Kingdom who are watching us on YouTube.

Thanks so much for making us part of your day. Let's go to Jerry in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with a question. Jerry, what would you like to ask Pastor Adriel? Yeah, I'd like to ask, on 1 John 5, it says something about all sin is bad, but some leads to death and some don't. Can you explain to me that?

Yeah. Yeah, let's read that passage, Jerry. 1 John 5, beginning in verse 13, John said, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin and not leading to death, he shall ask and God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death.

I do not say that he should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who has been born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him.

Now first, let me just say this. A lot of people, Jerry, read this section of scripture and they're terrified. They think, okay, what is the sin unto death? I believe in Jesus, but I'm afraid that maybe I can or have committed that sin. I'm terrified that did I lose my salvation or will I one day in the future lose my salvation if I do this?

What is that landmine, that sin unto death that I just want to avoid at all costs? So this passage of scripture, it really causes a lot of concern for believers, believers with a sensitive conscience who want to honor the Lord and don't want to sin against God. But the reality is 1 John 5 is meant to give us confidence in our standing in Christ. Note that the discussion about the sin unto death is sandwiched between these two encouragements. The first one in verse 13, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. So he begins with this assurance for those who are reading this. If you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life. And then the other assurance he gives is in verse 18. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God, and I take that as a reference to Jesus there, the eternal Son of the Father, you know, eternally begotten of the Father, he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him. In other words, Jerry, if you believe in Jesus, if you trust in him for your salvation, you have eternal life. And not only do you have eternal life, but you know who protects you from the evil one? Jesus himself.

He is the great guardian of the sheep. That is what gives us confidence that one day we will stand in the presence of God without fear of condemnation. It's because of Christ.

Our confidence isn't in ourselves, in our performance, in our own faithfulness. It's in the faithfulness of Jesus, what he accomplished perfectly for us. And so John, he gives us that here in 1 John chapter 5. Well, then what is this sin unto death?

I think in the context of 1 John, John is referring to those who do not have faith, those who were a part of the church earlier, essentially, and what happened in 1 John is there were people who were in the church who had basically rejected the gospel eventually, turned away from Christ, didn't have faith and walked away. That's the sin unto death. The sin unto death is not believing in Jesus Christ, rejecting the gospel.

If somebody does that, well, then they're lost. But for believers who struggle day by day with sin, fighting against the lusts of the flesh, you know, you feel weak, you feel like, man, I'm not measuring up like I would like to. Well, there's hope for you because ultimately it's faith in Jesus that saves. And even when your faith feels weak, a weak faith, we often say, lays hold of a strong savior. John said in 1 John chapter 2 verse 19 of those who turned away from the church, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that it might be complained that they all are not of us. I think that's this sin unto death, this apostasy, which demonstrated that these people who were in the church never truly laid hold of the gospel by faith.

And that's a question for all of us. Look, you can be in the church, you can hear the message of the gospel, but have you laid hold of it by faith for yourself? Have you embraced Jesus and his blood for you?

If you have, you can rest. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-The-Core. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.