Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. It's Matt Slick Live. Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at Carm.org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick Live for answers, taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick. Here goes to Matt Slick Live. If you want to give me a call, as usual, all you got to do is dial 8772072276. I got a new mic, new setup here, trying to make sure everything is working well, and we're just giving it a go.

So there you go. All right. Hey, the number, like I said, is 877-207-2276. You can also, if you want, you can email me, info at carm.org, info at carm.org, and put the subject line radio comment or radio question, and we can get to your question, your comment. We had a caller coming in, and let's see, let's see.

I think it's about it, actually.

So. Just checking out everything. All right, why don't we then just jump on the line? Let's get to John. From Indiana.

John, welcome. You are on the air. Yeah. John, are you still? My question is: does the law have a place in today's church?

Yes, it does. It the law is a guide.

So we're not obligated to keep the law in order to be saved or stay saved, but it is a guide that leads us. And so we know that the law is good because it says don't covet. And so we, you know, Roma I think it's Romans 7:7. And so it provides for us that guidance of moral behavior.

So we need that law. We need to understand that moral law. And we need to keep that. But keeping it does not save us. That's what's critical.

It doesn't save us.

Okay. I agree with what you said. There are some that I have heard repeatedly say that I sin every day in thought, word, and deed. To me The person that believes that they can do that and be a Christian have been greatly deceived.

Well, we all what they're saying, most probably what they're saying. What they're saying most probably is that they're just not perfect. In their hearts and their mind. We're not perfect. Jesus is a standard of perfection, not ourselves.

So I know I sin every day. I know that I make mistakes every day. But I. I seek to honor my Lord.

So let me ask you, do you do you believe you sin at all? Still? I on occasion, I believe I mess up. Of course, scripture talks about. intentional and unintentional sin.

Yes, would you say you go days or weeks or months without sinning? Um I would say that I do not. Then daily and thought, word, and deed, and what the what the folks had told me that. Um So, you're saying that you go every day so you can go a whole day? Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. What I'm saying to you is that there is a difference. into someone's heart Once that they have been Reborn In the spirit. Through Christ Jesus. That's that's what I'm saying.

In uh For one thing, what I'm saying is, you know, I used to Cuss like a sailor. And uh There was a lot of things that I was hooked on and did, and so on, and so forth.

Okay, well let's get back to the top of the levered. From back, go ahead. Good.

So, let me ask you, are you saying that you can go days without sinning? Is that what you're saying? I'm saying that it It is possible. No, I'm asking you, not is it possible, is it you, you, you, I'm asking about you. Are you saying that you go days without sinning?

I can go.

some time without sinning. Oh, I didn't ask that.

Well, what I'm trying to tell you is, I don't know. I don't mark down every day on the calendar the days I sin, the same days I don't sin.

So So I think you're trying to ask me a loaded question there. No, I'm not. I'm just asking. This is an interesting conversation here. Go ahead.

Yeah, there are people who say they don't sin anymore or that they don't sin for months at a time. They're called sales perfectionists. And so just curious if you believe I wouldn't go so far as to say that I never commit sin, but I don't keep that, I don't mark down on the calendar every time I mess up. I'll give you an example. Yeah, well my favorite.

You don't want to be able to do it. All right, we're moving along.

Okay, he's not answering the question. He's trying to tell me to hold on, and I keep asking him the same question. We're just going to move along. All right, so I hope he didn't sin by getting angry at me at that.

So, at any rate, it's a serious question. There are people who say that they don't sin anymore. There are people who say they can go months without sending, weeks without sending. And I always find their conversations to be interesting.

So, anyway, there you go. Let's get, let's see, next longest waiting is Jamal from North Carolina. Jamal, welcome, buddy. You're on the air. Hey Maslick, how's it going today, sir?

Oh, it's going, man. It's going. How are you doing? I'm doing all right. Let's see, I think it's been uh Let's see, about zero point zero five seconds since my last in.

Um, I mean, not that I'm writing anything down or anything like that. Uh you you're man, you're you're doing better than me.

So that's good. That's good. Yeah. Well I I don't doubt that, sir. I'm pretty sure you got me beat by a couple of milliseconds.

Yeah. Yeah, you know, I was in a, I say this, I was in a car accident once in 1976. It was pretty bad. And I was in a severe concussion. It took two years to fully recover.

And I woke up in ICU. I still don't remember it. And I'm thinking, during that severe concussion time in ICU, maybe I didn't sin for a little bit in there while I'm unconscious. Even then, I don't know. You know, I mean, yeah.

Who knows what kind of sinful thoughts you were having while you were unconscious? I mean, I'm not trying to put anything on here or nothing like that. That's right. You just never know. I mean, I don't need any help from anybody to cynic.

I get enough problems on my own.

Well, anyway, we're having fun with it. But yeah, okay. Right, right, right.

Sorry, not to follow on the last caller, nothing like that. I just find it hard to resist a. You know, have a little fun with that. I wanted or would like to talk about Abraham's blessing, where they said if you curse Abraham, you'll be cursed. If you bless Abraham, you'll be blessed.

I've heard different arguments about that, how That's Probably is or is not tied to Israel. I wanted to get your thoughts, of course, sir. Right.

So My opinion, I'll just give my opinion about this, is that In Genesis 12, 1 through 3, it talks about blessing Abraham. Those who bless you, I'll bless. And he'll give the nation. And it is Israel proper that is being spoken of.

So we are to bless Israel. We are to understand that God is not done with Israel yet. I mean, go to Matthew 11, 25 through 26 for that, and I could show you that he said, When the time of the Gentiles is over, then God will turn his attention back to Israel and He'll He'll open their hearts and minds.

So He's not done covenantally with them. Um So, yeah, we should bless Israel, but it doesn't mean we have to support every single thing they do.

So, you know I support Israel. But there's some things it does sometimes. I'm not going to agree with it. But, you know. What are you gonna say?

Yeah, I mean, while you were speaking, I was thinking about how Israel is not perfect, but God's still blessing Israel and. One could say the same thing about anybody else. Nobody's perfect. Um but yeah, God still choose to love and places to forgive us.

So we could give up on people in general?

So, if we're to bless Israel, one could also say, of course, I'm just tying it for me. I could be wrong. But for the part of Israel Uh want to still say that we still bless People in general. What do you what do you think? Yep.

Yeah, I I'm with you. I agree with you. I think we need to be as cogently aware of the issues with the Lord and His covenant with Israel. And we bless them. Doesn't mean we bless everything Israel does, just like friends.

We love them. Doesn't mean we agree with everything they do. And we move forward that way.

So he who blesses Israel, God will bless.

Well, I bless praise God for Israel. I'm glad they're there, and I hope that they stand strong. I hope the Iranian. Oppressive terrorist organization in control topples. That's what I'm hoping.

Yeah. Okay. All right. And that uh scripture you quoted, or was that Matthew? I in Genesis twelve Okay, I'll give a list.

Genesis 12, uh It says, The Lord said to Abraham, Go forth in the country, in your relatives, your father's house. And it says in verse 3, I will bless those who bless you, and the ones who curse you, I will curse.

Okay. Okay. That sound sounds good and uh As usual, um Just want to ask for people to pray for Maslick and his family and his ministry. I do so as well, not to brag, but just to. say I'm doing that 'cause I'm asking others to do that as well.

I am a monthly supporter and I suggest you all to do that as well because we want to keep Maslick on the radio five dollars a month. That's a happy meal at some places, I think. Maslick is definitely worth a happy meal. Uh every month. Uh so uh take care and God bless uh message and uh to all Augustus.

Looking better. I love that. Compared to a happy meal, I like that. That's cool. Hey, thanks a lot, brother.

I really appreciate it, Jamal. I really do.

So, good stuff.

Okay. Bye. All right. Hey, I like that. That was good.

So, all right, now let's get to Jermaine from People's Republic of California. Jermaine, welcome. You're on the air. Yeah, I almost hung up. I w wanted to hear what the first sinless call was sounded like.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't think we had he and I were communicating very well. And then I always have an issue when people start telling me on the my radio show, No, you wait.

Well, hold on a sec. That's not going to work anymore.

So, you know, we just moved along. That's all. But All right, big man, what do you got, buddy?

Well, um, I wanted to ask you about the uh birth date of Jesus. I know a lot of times. As a kid growing up, I always just assumed thirty-three was the uh the date or the date I guess 33 was a year this uh Or the age of that, excuse me. Yeah, and a lot of people I've seen kind of dispute that.

Some within my own church, they they were wondering if I guess the birth date was actually off by a little bit. Like some said four BC, some said six BC and So would that make Christm likely a little older than thirty three, like maybe thirty six, thirty seven. No, just move everything back four years or add four years. That's all. So see, but.

But you gotta understand it's um Imagine a scale. From negative a thousand to a positive thousand, and in the middle is zero. And let's just say zero is Jesus' birth, and thirty-three is his crucifixion.

So we have this scale.

Now, behind this scale is uh Is archaeological discoveries where they go, wait a minute, the guy who developed the calendar was off by four years.

So let's just move the whole thing back. four years. But it's still zero. The zero is moved to the left four spaces. It's that kind of thing.

So then instead of, so it's like saying Jesus was born 4 BC before Christ. Before He's born, He was born.

So we just take the whole scale and just adjust it back four years. And it's still zero at that point. We move zero back, is all we're doing. That's all it, that makes sense? Yeah, I guess at the end of the day it doesn't really matter.

Just curious. It doesn't matter. That's right. It's all the same thing anyway. All right, brother, there's the music.

Gotta go. God bless, Germaine.

Okay. All right, God bless you. All right. Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages. Please give me a call.

It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, everybody, welcome back to the show. And let's see, we get that right there. There we go.

All right, if you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207-2276. Let's get to. Alberto from Georgia. Alberto, welcome. You're on the air.

Yes, good afternoon, Maslick. My question is, why didn't the church take opportunity to involve these immigrants and the MSR thirteen last one game? The churches went to witness to him until the windy post shows that my life died without Christ. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you making a lot of noise?

Are you making a lot of noise in b back while you're talking? No, that's that guy. He's moving the chairs.

Okay. Um Why are they witnessing? I don't know if people are or are not witnessing. to the immigrants to the illegals. You know what?

They wanted to do it while they stayed here. I mean, you're afraid to witness it again, man. I don't. No, no, no. You're saying what you're saying is, you're saying nobody's witnessing.

The church isn't. I can't say the church is or isn't.

Okay, you see what I'm saying?

Well so don't so they basically don't know if they went necessarily in Negro against recorded that decoded by Ice Northern. Oh, you don't know. I I don't know what the situation is. I mean, I don't know if in all situations everywhere there's no Christians witnessing to them. I I don't think that's the case.

So I just don't know what the what the status is on all of them. That's all. Yeah, can't tell you.

Okay, but I got okay, I can have a quick question. Then we said earlier. I'm not talking about Israel. He will bless Israel. God will bless them.

Is that referring to us as a nation? God will bless us or did it be? Yes. Yes, yes, he needs to bless us. He will bless those who bless Israel.

It doesn't mean if you say bless Israel, all of a sudden $10 drops by your feet out of the sky. God, his blessings are different forms, different ways at different times. But overall, we're to support Israel and the Jewish people. We're not to hate them. Yeah, no, no, no, no.

Persecute them.

Okay. Yeah, I know that my point pointed when it says blessed God will bless us as a nation, as a whole, or individually, God will bless me. And which way? J well, I All it says is those who bless Abraham, but it's talking also about the people from Abraham.

So generically, it's God's people, the chosen people, which is the Jews. All right. You know, you're not getting my question. I said when I went over, America blesses Israel. If we'll get blessed as a nation or individual, me will get blessed by president, me as a leaders, or those of the nation.

But I already answered uh I answered you.

Okay. And it's difficult for me to deal with your because it's the distraction of the sounds behind you is very dist distracting. And people when they're driving may hear weird sounds coming out of the radio, it may distract them on the road as well.

So Next time you'd be good to go. Quick flanking. When people say, well, you're not perfect, right?

Well, I'm. How do you balance this out? God sees me perfect to through the just for the righteousness of Christ in me. I'm not perfect as myself as a person, but God sees me perfect. That's right.

He sees us with the righteousness of Christ. That's what I would say biblically. It doesn't say this perfect. I wouldn't say that because the Bible doesn't say it. But we have a righteousness that's not our own, and that's the righteousness that comes from God.

That's Philippians 3:9.

So we have that righteousness that's granted to us. God's not dumb. He's not blind. He doesn't play make-believe. He knows we're sinners still, but we have been.

Justified by faith.

So we are saved and justified sinners.

So he's still aware of our sin, but all our sin has been paid for.

So we are, in a sense, looked at as having already been justified, saved, gone to heaven, that kind of thing, because it's going to happen guaranteed unless you're in a false religion. That says you've got to earn your salvation or keep it by your goodness. Yeah. Okay. Okay, now can I claim myself to be perfect in a sense?

I'm perfectly sinful in that sense. I'm a perfectly sinful. That messed up my perfect. Wh you when you say perfectly sinful, then you're the adjective is is uh describing the the noun and it's confusing. You're perfectly sinful.

That seems to be contradiction of terms.

Okay. Because it's like people say, Well, I'm not perfect, Baba. If I say the contrary, I'm perfect. Perfect. Then four.

I was perfect sentence. How about this? How about this? Let's just not just try and find a couplet of words. to get around things.

I look, we're just justified. Don't say we're don't say perfect.

Okay. We are justified by the Lord Jesus Christ. All right? Just leave it at the biblical position. All right, brother.

Okay? Oh, thank you. All right, God bless. All right, now let's get to Jacob from Ohio. Jacob, welcome.

You are on the air, brother. Bam. I struggle with patience. I don't know how you do it. Trying to get better.

God, what?

Well, you know, yeah. I don't. I try. You know, it's all right. It's okay.

But God bless Alberto. God bless Alberto. I absolutely, you know, we all have our faults. I'm sure some of them got something to say about me, but At least I was good. Um I I called you the other day asking about your beliefs in baptism and like, you know, falling foundation and all that.

I want to ask an experience question. What is your opinion or witness or experience or whatever. in like laying of hands, uh deliver prayer. like deliverance prayers. like casting out Um just like, you know, people Initiating a deliverance prayer, and then they convulse.

See you and they say they're casting out.

Okay, so you're talking about deliverance ministries. Notoriously, they're very harmful. Every time I've encountered anybody who's encountered them, they are damaged. every time. And so deliverance ministry.

I'm sorry, what? Howard?

Okay. like spiritually or quality. Spiritually, emotionally, they're damaged. And because, for example, some deliverance ministries, this is kind of in the same area topic what you're asking, but some deliverance ministries will say that you, you know, you Christian, you're blah, blah, blah. Oh, you've got the demon of impatience, you're the demon of pride, the demon of apathy, whatever it is.

And then they say, we need to cast this demon out of you, and you're a Christian. And it's biblically, it's not sound. You can't be possessed or indwelt by demonic force if you're a Christian. And so, what they'll do is they have, normally, they'll have. Have the Christ.

Spirit of Christ.

Sorry, what? What? Yeah. Oh. Can you hear me now?

Right.

Matthew 12, 43 through 45 talks about this.

So, yeah, we are not to. Basically, I just say get away from the deliverance ministries. They're just too notorious to do that. Curious. Yeah.

Well, it's just like you know, the other day I was listening to a testimony. It was about a woman who was transitioning into a man. She was trying to give her life to Christ in chains and she met a guy that was gay and And, you know, he became straight. They got married, have kids. Beautiful story.

It was awesome. But at one point during the story, it's like She was at the hotel room and she was praying to Christ. that he would change her thoughts and desires. to be identified as Austin. out of the warm it And he came into the hotel.

Tell it. issued a deli a prayer of deliverance Saying, you know, get rid of this evil, get rid of the spirit. All of a sudden, hold on, hold on, we gotta, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, we gotta break. And let's talk about that a little bit afterwards, okay, because there's some stupid stuff there. Hey folks, be right back after these messages.

Please stay tuned. If you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207-227. right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Okay, everyone, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, bottom of the hour, 877-207-2276. Jacob, you still there? The verb. All right.

So look. I used to be involved in the occult and demonic stuff before I became a Christian. I've seen things manifest, etc. It's real. And over the years, I've gained some information about some stuff.

And here's some basics. You don't pray to the devil. You don't pray to spirits. You don't talk to them. I've heard of Christians just talking to, you know, be talking to a Christian who might have an oppression.

Maybe they're feeling sad for no reason. And a Christian might then start praying to the devil: Devil, I come before you, blah, blah, blah. And don't do that. You always address your prayers to Christ. And not to the devil.

That's one mistake people do. The other thing is, however, you know, you can say there's a person that you're in the room with or wherever, and it seems evident that they might be suffering some demonic oppression.

Well, then what you can do is pray to the Lord and ask the Lord to bind any demonic activity or oppression that might have been occurring. And you can address the Lord to have him deal with these things. And so there's nothing wrong with that. And there are times when we can sense demonic presences and have, you know, have dealings with them. And what we do always is address Christ, not the demonic forces.

Yeah, bad energy is like a new age thing for me, a new age term, so I'm always ready to use it. But uh but I know what you mean. It's a sensation of something wrong, a dread, a fear. And this is uh often associated with demonic presence. Yep.

Uh Okay. Yeah, be careful about it. Bubble. Yeah, I just I was just wondering if you're experienced. I was just Yeah.

Yeah. So Yeah. What's the email that asked me? Yeah, we have a lot of uh Let's see, w we have a lot of emails that come in. We actually have a team in the market.

Literally, a team that answers emails. And in our info at carm.org, we are down to 66. And then I have uh matt at carm.org. And let's see how many's in there. 1,058.

And that's just one of them.

So I've. Veried. Yeah. Oh hey. Yeah, it it's it's bad, okay?

All right. I had like a one hanger up. Sure. Are the Jewish people still waiting on the Messiah, or what are they doing until then? Yes.

Those who did not accept the Messiah and have not accepted the true Messiah, because many Jews have over the centuries and even now, they're still waiting.

Some are waiting for the Some are still waiting for the Messiah, but some Jews don't believe in the coming Messiah. There's a uh a lot, okay?

Okay. Alright? Uh oh. I'll let someone else have a turn. All right, brother.

Well, God bless, man. God bless. Yeah. All right, that was Jacob from Ohio.

Now, let's get on the air with John from Indiana. Hey, John, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt, uh I was wondering if you could explain to me The meaning of first John three eight.

Well, it says the one who practices. It says, The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil.

So, uh. What parts? I'm trying to understand what aspect. What's the main question about it? Uh I I'm thinking that the writer, and I could be wrong, but I'm thinking that the writer.

is trying to make a distinction Between um intentional and unintentional sin. Ah, okay.

So, related to the practice of sin. All right, so. He doesn't say that. It doesn't say that. What it says, he who practices sin.

Now, the word practices is in the Greek poion. It means to do, to make, to work, well, basically to do. And in the Greek, it's a present active participle.

Now, what that means is a participle is an ing word, walking, talking. eating, sleeping. I N G word as a participle. And a present participle i is, you know, I am walking, I am sleeping. A past participle was I was eating.

You know, a future participle will be: I will be walking.

So, a present one is a present tense continuous action.

So the one who is presently continually practicing sin. is of the devil. That's what it's saying.

Okay. It's not talking about voluntary or involuntary sins or accidental or whatever. It's just saying who practices sin. The implication here is that they are doing it on purpose. They are because what because also in the Greek here, it's what's called active voice.

Yeah. So in Greek, there's active, passive, and middle voice. Active voice is make an You know, maybe not make too much noise in the background. Our active voice is: I hit the ball. That's I'm performing the action.

Passive voice, I'm hit by the ball. I didn't do anything. I received the action. Middle voice, I hit myself with the ball. Where you perform the action on yourself.

This is active voice. It means you are doing, you are actively seeking and practicing sin on purpose. Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.

Okay. That's what's going on. Do does doesn't John, uh 1 John 2. Verse 1 Is that related to what we were discussing? Discussing it says, My little children.

These things write I unto you, that ye sin not, and if any man sin, We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is our advocate. And then it also says Mm-hmm. It also says in John chapter 1, something to the effect, and I don't see it right before my eyes. Hold on, hold on, let's look at this.

Let's look at this. My little children, I'm writing these things to you that you may not sin.

So we talk about this something, and it says if anyone sins, and the subjunctive. And the subjunctive is a wish or desire, it's a hypothetical, if you're to do this, if anyone were to sin. Then we have an advocate. It's not talking about those who are practicing sin. He says, My little children, okay.

From Technia. And it means little ones, little children, loved ones. I'm writing these things so that you may not sin. He's trying to get people not to sin. But if anyone does sin, Okay, in a subjunctive sense, which is interesting.

Because Uh Subjunctive is wishing or desire and. Contrary to reality, sometimes. It's interesting, subjunctive. If we were to go. But we're not gonna go.

but if we were to go.

So it's a subjunctive of possibility.

So it's what he's talking about. If anyone sins, it's in the subjunctive. If anyone possibly sins, enters into that, does that. He's not saying they're going to. If anyone does this, he's being very polite in the Greek, very, very, um.

Very pastorally. The pastoral.

So, you know, I know you're going to sin, I'm going to sin. And if I'm counseling someone and I and they're trying to stop a certain sin, you know, I'd say that these you know, we're talking so that you won't do this anymore. But if you do If you were to, you have Jesus. It's a nice way of speaking, it's a comforting way of speaking.

Okay. Yes, I agree. I agree with that. There's The the scriptures, I think in First John Oh well my my eyes aren't lighting on it, right?

So says something to the fact that he who says he has no sin is a liar and the truth isn't in him, and it's here or someplace. I My you can help me. Yeah, that's for Sean 1. Yeah, just for some chapter one. Yeah, I have a couple of my vision.

1 John 1. 1 John 1:8. Trying to tell you where it is.

Okay. 1-1-8. He said, We have no sin. Yeah. Yeah.

And uh Do you have another question? You have another question?

Well, I I uh I do, but I think uh I can Then uh allow someone else to get in here.

Okay, sounds Good. All right, well Well, thanks a lot, brother. Appreciate it, okay? All right. Hey folks, we have wide open lines.

If you want to give me a call, 877. 207-2276. We have nobody waiting right now. Hey, let me just remind you before the break that we do stay on the air by your support. Please consider supporting us.

We do appreciate that. It's one of the pleasures we have as Christians to be able to support ministries that further the kingdom of God. It's one of the reasons we tithe. It's how many ministries survive and work. And we do reach millions of people on a yearly basis with the radio and the internet.

So if you want to support us, just go to carm.org, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G forward slash donate, and Vernega Needs right there. May the Lord bless you. I'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right, and welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, you can. 877-207-2276. Let's get to Chris from South Carolina. Chris, welcome.

You're on the air. How you doing, Matt? Oh, I'm doing all right. Hanging in there. More hanging than in there, but I'm hanging in there.

What do you got, buddy? Good.

The question is, is the devil the cause of all evil, or is he simply the punisher of the evil that we do? Neither.

So uh God is the punisher of evil. He's the righteous judge, and he is the one who will execute judgment upon all who have sinned. Those who are without Christ, the judgment of God will fall upon them. Those who are in Christ, the judgment of God fell upon Christ, and so they will evade that punishment. Satan is not the source of all evil.

When he fell, Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 38, when he fell, I think it was 28. Uh that's uh sin became a reality at that point. Um but we can sin out of our own hearts. We don't need Satan to sin, so he's not the originator of all evil, okay?

Okay. And um what exactly is like People ask what is hell because some people are debating that, you know, if we don't go to heaven, there isn't such thing as hell. Anywhere to the other. Yeah, there's definitely a hell. Jesus talks about it uh The disciples talk about it.

Hell is a place of torment. and agony. without end. Without the answer, you go to hell, you're there forever. forever.

Carriot. Forever. Correct. Yep. You continue to exist.

You'll continue to be conscious forever without end. Are you a Christian? Yes, sir.

Okay. Yeah, there are there are different people who have different views of things, but um Uh So let's just say that um Yeah. Unfortunately, it's a real place, it's a forever place because the sin against God that they commit is an infinite sin. Because it's not the sin you do, it's who it's against.

So if you sin against your neighbor, okay, he can forgive you, but you sin against God. That's an infinite offence because he's infinite in value. And so the consequence is infinite. And you will pay for that offence to him forever. It's just logically consistent with punishment.

And the way to get out of it is by the infinitely valuable sacrifice of Jesus. It's just how it works. Yeah, because I was asked the question: does the devil make a sin? And I was assuming that he. Technically, the devil, you know, because like Adam and Eve, the serpent went up to Eve and had her.

eat eat the fruit from the tree. Yeah. So I'm assuming you had the Well, he certainly does. The question was: does all sin come from him? No, but some do.

So not all sin comes from him. All right. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you.

Okay. No problem. All right. You know, I say to people, we don't, oh, by the way, we don't have everybody waiting. If you want to give me a call, you can, 877-207-2276.

I tell people, I don't need the devil to send. I'm perfectly capable of that on my own. I don't want to sin. But I do. And it's unfortunate, but this is the way we are.

We are by nature children of wrath. And sin moves out from the hearts. Out of the bunch of the heart, the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34.

So we. As Christians, we war with our sin. Hopefully, we war with our sin.

Now, what I'm saying by that is sometimes we Christians get comfortable with habitual sins. We work with some and we try and improve in some areas, and others we just don't work with that much and kind of deal with it and just let it go, which is never a wise thing to do. But this is the Christian way because nobody can work on every sin all the time. It's overwhelming. But nevertheless, we should not excuse ourselves and say it's okay that we don't deal with this or deal with that right now.

We always want to ask God to deal with our sin in us. I remember years, many years ago, 30 years ago or so, I asked God to reveal my sin to me. And I it was a prayer, and I asked him to reveal it so that I could deal with some issues. and deal with what he wanted me to deal with. And let's just say that he did.

And it went on for six months. And I can. I mentioned this before, that I was in Escondido, California, getting ready to turn north. Off of Del Norte. Street.

and it was an Arco station. On the front left, you know, the northeast corner. I remember all of it where I was in the car when I said, Lord, can I take that prayer back? Lord, it's just too much for me to bear. It's too much.

And I was trying to be humble about it and not be whiny, but Lord, thank you for showing me my sin, but it's too much. Can you please, and I asked him, could you please tone it down? Just let me deal with one or two things at a time. And that's where I was. And this is like 30.

25, 30 years ago. I don't know. But I remember it. I remember it well. Uh because Man.

When you ask God to show you the truth about yourself, get ready, buckle up. Because I could just see God slapping his hands and in front of his head.

Okay, that's what I've been waiting for. Here we go. Turn the heat up. And all of a sudden, you're going, whoa, Nelly, back the truck up. And so it can be pretty profound.

And. If you Humbled clay says, Matt has a slick humility. Wow. I want to say I'm humble. I said to my friend Bill McKeever, maybe he's listening in the Salt Lake City area.

He once told me, I said he was a humble guy. He goes, Yeah, I'm proud of my humility.

So, but at any rate, I remember where I was that day when I asked God to please, please, I just. Just take that prayer back. Just show me a little at a time, please. I still remember it. And then I had relief.

Because he showed it to me. He showed it to me. And every now and then, um You know, he'll still show me. You know, have you ever done this? I have.

I don't know about you, but I have. But you, after a while, you go, you know, I'm doing pretty well. Man, I. I I breathe. Pretty sanctified in a lot of areas.

I think I'm doing okay. And then God gets wind of that statement. He goes, Oh, really? Here, let me show you some stuff about yourself. And I've had that happen many times where I've said this.

And now, if I ever catch myself doing, I'm doing pretty. Keep quiet, man. Shut up. Just don't say anything. Because God's here, he's listening.

And he has a habit of, I don't know about you guys, but he has a habit of putting me in my place.

So he just showed me where I belong and goes, well, let's just show you what you're really made of. And I never like what I see. I never like what I see. I'm glad that God has me in a slow simmer instead of a hot barbecue, as far as the conviction level goes. I can handle that, man.

I don't know if any of you have had that problem, but man, I have. And that's why I like to say that, you know, my my four by four that God uses to discipline me, mine's round. He's corrected me off whack.

Okay, so Mike, you know, I got a pile of them over there. They're all rounded off. I get a pile of rounded off four by fours. God's used to discipline me and to shape me. Man, I got so much fun.

Further to go.

Okay, having said that, let's get to Xavier from Georgia. Xavier, welcome. You're on the air. Okay. How you doing today, Matt?

All hanging in there, except for my sinful pride and stupidity and stubbornness. Other than that, I'm doing okay.

Well, listen, man.

Well, we're glad you're being honest with us, brother. I appreciate that. If I was honest, oh man, they take me off the air. They'd call this guy a rat. Yeah.

Yeah, they were. Listen, Ben, had a I know we're closing up, but I wanted to chat briefly about the rapture. Um Yeah, so I had an interesting discussion with a non-believer this past weekend.

Okay. And you brought up some good points as related to Barbie. Speaking about the rapture and sort of where some of that conversation. came from based on old theologians, right? Um what's our understanding?

Um What's your basic understanding of the rapture? And what's a good way to kind of talk through that? with nonbelievers. I try not to, but in the event you run into these type of situations, what sort of your thoughts?

Well, I just say, look, God exists and God is capable of creating the universe and knowing where every electron is in the universe at any time. He's certainly capable of transforming us into a glorified state by coming in the clouds and receiving us up into the clouds. He can do that. And that's what 1 Thessalonians 4 teaches, 16 through chapter 5, verse 2. No problem.

Okay. All right. Are you there? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. H his argument was is that before Darby, there wasn't much mention in uh theological works prior to uh Darby about The um About the term, and I think he's more hung up with the term rapture.

than he was anything else.

Okay. Um Well, the word rapture is Latin for rapturus, caught up. And it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, then we who are alive and remained will be caught up together with them in the clouds. And so I just say, Well, that's what it says.

Okay. That's where the doctrine comes from, right there. Yeah. And I say whether or not people focused on it very much before or after Darby is irrelevant to whether or not the Bible teaches it or not.

Okay. Right.

Right.

That makes sense. That makes sense. That makes perfect sense. And it's perfect. That's what I say.

Awesome.

So do you believe in the rapture? Absolute absolutely. Absolutely. If it's written. Good.

If it's written, I'm there, man. That's what it's written. I'm there.

Well, here's a question. Are you uh Do you believe the rapture is before the tribulation or after the tribulation? What do you say? I believe before.

Okay, see I believe after.

So there you go. But it's okay to have differences of opinion on those. Yeah. I hope people were right. I hope you will.

I don't want to be right. Me too. Me too, brother. Me too. What's sort of your thinking with in returning to scripture?

So it would make you believe that it would be after Oh, because there's lots of reasons. I could do a big study on it, and whenever I've done a study on it, I've shown people stuff and they go, wow, I've never seen this stuff before. But one of the things is Matthew 24, where Jesus says, you know, the return of his, the sign of his return at the end of the age. This is a thing most people don't know.

Okay, but quickly look at 30 seconds or so. There's two ages: this age, the age to come. That's the model that Jesus and Paul the Apostle taught. And they said in Matthew 24:3, what'll be the time of the end of the age and your return?

So the return is at the end of the age. And. And you should call back tomorrow. We'll talk about this because two men in the field, one is taken, one is left. That's the wicked.

And I can prove it from scripture. It's really interesting. But he says, after the tribulation of those days, He says, after the tribulation in Matthew 24, he will send forth his angels and he'll gather the elect. From the four winds.

So Jesus himself says in Matthew 24, 29 through 31, it's after the tribulation. That's one of the reasons I believe it. Anyway, but let's argue about it tomorrow. Let's just have a different, a polite difference of opinion, okay? That'd be fun.

Well, we always do, brother. I'll call you tomorrow.

Okay. All right, but plus. All right. Okay. You too.

Hey, see, I'm gonna enjoy this if he calls back. It'll be fun. Hey, I hope you have a great week. Great Thursday night. God bless everybody.

Talk to you tomorrow. Another program powered by the Truth Network.