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. All right, and welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick, and you're listening to Matt Slick Live. As usual, if you want to give me a call, all I have to do is dial 8772072276. You can give me a call if you want, and also you can email me info at carm.org info at carm.org.

I want to hear from him to give me a call and we can blab. About, you know, what are you gonna blab about? And uh, let's see.

So we had some interesting callers yesterday. I'm hoping one of the callers calls back. uh to m from uh stuff we're talking about The idea of reading the Bible from the pulpit like a pastor, I mean, like a newspaper. And it just stuck with me. That phrase stuck with me because it was so descriptively accurate, I think, of so many things that I see.

in here and stuff and uh going to uh Just going to churches, and there's no excitement, you know. And now, this is all subjective. It's all subjective, of course. But. I always thought, you know, maybe it's something boring.

I don't know. And so if that guy calls back, we can talk about that. Is your church boring? Is your church exciting? What do you think?

You give me calls. What do you like to see from preaching? I think that'd be an interesting discussion to have. What would you like to see? in in preaching or here in preaching I'm curious.

I think a lot of people would be interested to know what it is that you think would be good. I have my opinions, but my opinions really don't matter. much, but uh I I'm just curious.

Alright, alright, alright. Yeah.

So, if you want to give me a call, you can 877-207-2276. I sent the newsletter out yesterday. And um So it's a third one I've set out this year and third one this month.

So I'm trying to do this regularly. I'm probably going to do it every other week. Uh just probably will. And how will set that up? If you're interested in the newsletter, you can go to carm.org.

and the top of the page you'll see the word newsletter. It's easy. And you can just check it out there and uh sign up if you want. We don't sell the information, we don't do anything with it other than use it for newsletter.

So there you go, and it's easy to do. It's really easy to do, and you can opt out when you want.

So there you go. And let's get to Scott from Washington. Scott. Welcome, you're on the air. Hey, good afternoon.

I just had a quick question for you.

So, I heard a comment earlier, and it sort of made me think of a question in my head that, you know, in the Old Testament, What we would consider almost like church to us would be synagogue or the temple. And You know, in the New Testament, in the new era, so to speak, you know, we call it the church or ecclesia. Um And I just wanted to know When did I guess the common Word for that, for a gathering, if you will, became church over a synagogue or over a temple. I think it happened within the first century. The Jews would meet on Saturday, and Christians would from what I've heard is they would often meet on Sunday, but I think a lot of Jews wouldn't allow their Christians to do that in their synagogues or defile it.

So generally speaking, they started meeting in churches. And after 70 AD, when Israel was destroyed by Rome, it was probably the case that a lot of these buildings were still in place and that Christians would start using them. When I was in Israel, we went into a synagogue. A reconstruction of a synagogue. That was authentic.

It was authentic reconstruction. And so imagine going into, at least the one we went into, imagine going into a room where the stones are, you know, two feet thick. foot and a half thick, a foot thick, things like that. And as you go in, to the left and right are steps. But the steps are what you sit on.

And they're j there's no cushion. It was just uh these steps two feet high and two feet deep, two feet high, two feet deep, and went back. And then the whole thing might be twenty feet wide, twenty-five and then thirty forty feet deep. And so these things are made of stone, and they're hard to knock down. And Uh it's probably the case that the Jews uh You know, they were scattered a bit and the Christians were able to meet in some of those.

And then as they went around different areas of the Mediterranean, I believe that they started meeting in homes and then larger gatherings occurred. And so they would meet either outside or in other buildings or rent buildings or rooms to be able to have meetings in.

So it has gradually developed, gradually changed over the years. Right. And you know, I thought about that too, about meeting in homes. I know that was a big thing. But also, you know, the more I thought about Even a synagogue being used as a meeting place or a church.

I don't suppose it would comport very well. You know, the outer court, inner court, all that Gentile Jew. I mean, I don't see that working out very well. I feel like it almost had to change based on the norms of men. Um yeah, I would say at least in my mind.

Yeah, it'd be easy to talk to somebody who knows about this and could say, oh, yeah, this is what happened. And how it went because to me, it's not that interesting. I mean, I'm not trying to complain or anything, it's like. It's like, you know, to me, it's apologetics, doctrine, debating. But the research issue there, I think, you know, I think it's interesting, the idea.

Of exactly, not exactly, because I already know, but how it developed that we started meeting in churches. In buildings and stuff.

Now, I didn't, when I was in, I think, where was it? I think it was in Italy. Trying to remember. We went to catacombs. And what was interesting in the catacombs, you'd walk down.

And you'd see these varying rooms, and some of them were quite large. Enough to have 30, 40, 50, 60 people in a meeting area in catacombs underground.

So people did literally go underground to escape persecution, and they would have meetings there. And uh It probably just developed that way and As it became more legal, they started building buildings and things. In fact, in Nicaea, The Second Council of Nicaea, I've been in that very building that was in Turkey. And that building is now a mosque, unfortunately. But it was, I'm going to say, 100 feet deep and 75 feet wide, kind of thing, maybe 150 feet deep.

But uh there were these buildings that were happening by the Uh 400s. for meetings uh in churches. Because it was originally was it was a church. But yeah, it's interesting. Whenever anybody knows about that, they could call in and let me know.

Okay, yeah. Yeah, because especially the fact that the New Testament uses Ecclesia. From the get you know, from the beginning all the way to the end, except in Revelation when he refers to the synagogue of Satan. Of course, the context is talking about false Jews. which even then, that's a whole other conundrum I don't understand too much about.

But but anyway, it just sort of popped into my head today, so I figured I'd call and ask. But I appreciate your your dialogue and your answer. Sure, man. No problem at all, buddy.

Okay, Scott, good stuff, man. Good stuff.

Okay, talk to you soon. All right, God bless.

Now, I got a yawn coming on, and I'm trying to fight it back, but my body says, no, we need to yawn, so hopefully, I won't do that until the break. But man, I feel like yawning. If you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 877-2072276. You can also. Email me info at carm.org info at CARM.org.

Now I've got a confession to make. For the past week and a half, I've not done much on Carm. I purposely have kind of just not done as much. And usually I go into my office first thing in the morning. I didn't even come into my office today until I do the radio.

So I'm just taking a bit of a break.

So there's not as many things happening and articles being released and stuff, but that's okay. I rarely, rarely take vacations or time off.

So I probably have six months, nine months of time after 20 years of doing harm full-time. I haven't taken any, basically hardly ever taken any time off, except when I go to Europe and people say that's a vacation. I don't consider that to be a vacation. Because you got to get up at 0 dark 30, get down here, hurry up, have breakfast, hurry up, get your stuff, pack it. If you got to go to another hotel, get on the bus, get on, go here, get off here, go there.

And that's, to me, is not restful. It's certainly enjoyable. You know, the people are great and seeing all these things. It's awesome. It really is.

But sometimes when you get back, you go, okay, I got you a break from everything. And it takes a few days to get your sleep schedule back on. I remember last time I got back, I kept waking up like five o'clock in the morning, four o'clock in the morning. Like, what am I wake now for? But that's just what happened.

So there you go. Anyway, all right. Hey, why don't you give me a call? 877-2072276. I think I'm going to get to some of the questions that we've got.

And uh since nobody's calling right now. Um What is a difference between a Roman Catholic and Christian fellowship faith? I don't know what that is, a Christian fellowship faith. Is that uh Is it a specific group? See, when people need to give you a little bit more information generally on things like that, is a church.

I don't know. I don't know what it is. What is it? Maybe there's a different churches call it Christian fellowship faith. Uh or maybe s I don't know.

Well, without that, I can't uh I can't answer the question.

So need more information.

Okay. All right, let's get to another one. Um I have an audio cassette by Kenth Copeland and he made these comments.

Now the seed of God reproduced reproduce the life of God? Yeah, this is the heresy from that false teacher, Kenneth Goldman. Fear is faith in what Satan did in Adam. What a moron. I'm sorry, but Kenneth Copeland he's a he's a jerk.

You see? Gosh, he doesn't know what he's doing, doesn't know theology, doesn't know. He doesn't he couldn't he doesn't know. See, this first thing, to see is God reproduced the life of God? Because in that positive confession, idiocy that he and others have taught, the idea of of becoming gods and becoming like God is something that's kind of prevalent.

And to say fear is faith in what Satan did in Adam. Oh, geez. Anyway, faith in God is faith in what God did in Jesus, and what God did in Jesus is far greater than Satan did in Adam. Yeah.

Okay, let's go on. All of this material love was not made out of something else that was material, but Material love was not made out of what was material. That's not a well-constructed sentence. It had to be made out of something that was far more powerful than matter, or it wouldn't. would have never created anything.

Yet. It did not come from nothing. I've heard people say that, well, you know, God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing. No, He didn't. He created.

them out of faith. In this statement, Colton was a friendly, but Yeah, this is uh This is when I say that amateur theologians should shut up. When they don't know what they're talking about, don't know biblical theology, couldn't argue their way out of a wet paper bag if it was on a NASA centrifuge pointing out they couldn't get out of it. They just don't know. And this kind of stupidity.

this kind of idiocy that comes from uh From teachers like this. And I got to say it like it is. Jesus called people whitewashed sepulchres. You know, you're father the devil, and dead men's tombs, and things like this. and these false teachers like Kenneth Copeland and Joyce Meyer.

Need to be called out, and the Christian church needs to point fingers and name names. It was done in the New Testament. Paul the Apostle named specific individuals as heretics. He called them out of the carpet. And we need to do this kind of thing.

Joyce Meyer taught absolute heresy, so did Kenneth Goplin. I don't know if they've either one have repented. And corrected their heresies and just flat out said, What I was teaching was heresy before. Here's a correction. I've not heard of anything like this in all the years.

Oth I don't know. I don't know. And um Yeah, it's just so bad. It's so bad. Let's get to Joe from North Carolina.

Joe, welcome you on the air. Oh man, there's a break. Hey, how are you doing? I do okay, except for my timing. Pretty bad.

Hey, hold on, brother. We had a break coming up right now.

Sorry about that. I'll give you right back. Hey, folks, if you want to give me a call, we have three open lines: 877-207. 2276. Be right back.

It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, all you got to do. Is dial eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six?

Joe from North Carolina.

Okay, brother, now we're back on the air. All right. Yeah, I just had a question about so I'm doing a I've been doing a lot of research and I've always been kind of raised in a Baptist church. Uh and um you know I keep going back and forth on things as far as the book of Revelation and. I guess I didn't know this until I just now looked it up, but the view that praetorism, I guess, is what it's called.

It seems to make a lot of sense to me, but I to be honest with you, I There's a lot of things that make a lot of sense, but it's false. Praetorism is false. There's full praetorism. And then there's partial praetorism. Partial praetorism is acceptable, full praetorism is not.

Full praetorism says that Jesus returned in 70 AD in the armies of of Rome to destroy Jerusalem and and punish the Israelites.

Okay, have you heard of that? Yes, that's exactly what I've what I've listened to.

Now, that is a false teaching. Whenever I meet a full preterist, I go to Acts 1:9 to 11, and I just irritate the bejeebras out of them with it. I just keep saying the same thing. What is it, Acts 1? Acts 1, 9 through 11.

I'm going to read it to you, okay? Acts 1, 9 through 11. And after he, as Jesus, had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received them out of their sight. He ascended into heaven. into the sky where the clouds were.

Right? Verse 10. And as they were gazing intently into the sky, while he was beholding, two men in white clothing stood beside them. He said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up to you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched him.

Go into heaven. Mm-hmm. The angels prophesied Jesus is going to return. This saying what he went into heaven. By descending from the clouds.

Onto the earth, okay? That's what it is. Preterism says No, he returned in the armies of Jerusalem. I had to say to the Puerto Rists, Let's go over Acts 1:9:11, 9-11 again. No, you understand the cloud is like the cloud of witnesses.

That's not what it says, it says cloud in the sky. It's not a cloud of witnesses in the sky. They always want to reinterpret everything. Say, no, it's cloud. And then I take them over to 1 Thessalonians 4, 16.

I start reading. Mm-hmm. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, And with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together to meet them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And totally be with them.

When Jesus comes back. It's going to be as he ascended in reverse. He's coming back. We're going to meet him in the air, in the clouds. That's what it says.

That's what Acts 1:9 through 11 says. Hey, why are you looking up at the sky where the clouds are? He's coming back the same way. Preterism is refuted right there.

Now I know their arguments, I know what they'll say, And like I said, they what they do, they symbolize everything. They they symbolize it. I say, Well, it's not what it says. I said Was it a symbol when he ascended into heaven, and a cloud was that received him? Was that a symbol?

And they don't want to answer the question because they know as soon as I say, yes, I got them, but they're not going to answer. Yeah.

And so Yeah, full praetorism is bad. I've fallen away like I've fallen away from the I guess I guess it's called dispensationalism. Good. And I'm trying to like look for a new like, uh I I guess like I have this you know, idea in my mind where I have like, you know, a a a paradoxical kind of box in my mind that I'm trying to build my faith on. I'm trying to I'm going to all these different beliefs trying to figure out which one's right and, you know, I'm ju for myself, you know, I'm just trying to do as much as I can to to find the right one.

Okay. Wow. Boy, could I make suggestions. Um Okay, so let me just kind of interview you a little bit, okay? Do you believe in the Trinity?

What the Trinity is, right? Yeah.

Okay. So it's one God in three distinct Simultaneous co-eternal persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, right? Yes, correct.

Okay. I'm just laying this out because I build on stuff, okay? And Jesus has two natures: He has a divine and a human nature, He's both God and man, right? Correct.

Okay, and he's a man right now. in heaven. An exalted man, but he still has two natures: a divine nature and a human nature. He's a man right now. A lot of people don't know that, but that is biblically correct.

Okay, you with me so far? Yeah, I can agree with that. You should agree, because that's 1 Timothy 2:5, John 2:19-21, 1 Corinthians 15, 35-45. I can go through it.

Okay, so. And he was baptized in order to enter into the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, according to the Old Testament law. That's another topic.

Now, salvation, we're going to move along here a little bit, but salvation is by grace alone and faith alone in what Christ has done alone, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

All right, now.

So because of this We got some ramifications to this.

So let me just kind of lay some stuff out to you. I'll slow down a little bit.

So would you agree with me that God knows everything that could possibly occur before the universe ever existed? He had all knowledge of all possible events. Would you agree?

Okay. Uh yes.

Okay, good.

Now, in the Trinitarian communion, there was no necessity or need or lack. in the people. I mean, in God, excuse me. I was reading something on text. And so he created because he was loving and He created this for his glory.

Isaiah 43, 7. All right, now.

If God knows everything, would you also agree He's sovereign and in control of everything? Good, and so if evil occurs, it's because God permits it to occur. Right? We permit it. Right.

Right? Okay. See ya.

Alright, now if God knows everything from eternity past, And nothing can occur unless he either directly wills it and controls it or just permits it to occur. then every event by God ultimately has to be planned. Right? Right. Good.

This means, then, from eternity past, the plan of God. is also eternal because God has all knowledge all the time. Right? Right. The plan of God is that Christ would come and redeem people.

We know that.

Alright. Ephesians 1.4 and 5 says He chose us in Him. He the Father, us, the chosen ones. He chose us in Him, in Jesus. before the foundation of the world.

that we would be holy and blameless. In love he pretested us To to adoption. No. He predestined us in love, he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son. You with me?

So, what I'm trying to do here is lay a foundation that you can build on. God's the sovereign. We are not. There is a God. You are not him.

He's had all knowledge from all eternity. Nothing occurs without his direct will or his permission, which means everything's planned. We get from the break, I'll show you some more stuff, okay? Build on this.

So hold on folks, be right back out for these messages. We'll get a Joe from North Carolina. right back please stay tuned It's Matt Slick Live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, buddy, let's get back on the air with Joy from North Carolina.

You still there, Joe? Yeah, I'm here. All right. So you you follow me so far? Yeah.

Alright, now I'm laying a foundation down. Because I want you to make sense of things to go, ah And then you'll know hopefully, what better theology to pursue. What direction to the data?

So let's focus a little bit on God's choosing.

Now a lot of people reject this. But the fact is, it says God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us. Uh to adoption as sons of Jesus Christ to himself. according to the kind intention of his will.

So he chose us. to be predestined According to his will, right? Right. But most people, what they'll teach is it's up to you and your wisdom and your free will and your ability to be able to choose God. It's up to you.

That's what you're going to hear, right? Yeah.

I've heard this same argument, yep.

Okay, but John 6, 65. If it's the case, that it's just up to you and your free will. You just need just the right information. Then why does Jesus say in John 6, 65, For this reason I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father? See, that right there destroys that whole theological perspective.

It's up to you and your free will.

Now remember, in Ephesians 1.4, he, that's the Father, chose us, that's the elect, in Christ, Jesus, before the foundation of the world. He chose us. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says, He chose us from the beginning for salvation. Brethren, you've been chosen from the beginning for salvation. That's what the Bible says, Acts 13:48.

As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. That's Acts 13:48. People will say, well, John 3:16, I'm doing this on purpose, okay? Know where I'm going with this, okay? People go to John 3:16, God loved the world, gave His only begotten Son, that whoever would believe.

See, whoever means, it's up to your free will choice. That's not what it says. They'll say that, but I'd say to them: when it says whoever, what does it mean that? Where does it say that it's up to their free will choice? Where does it say that?

It doesn't, because they're reading humanist philosophy into the text. Philippians 1.29 says, To you it has been granted to believe. Jesus says, this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. I'm trying to show you. The Trinity is true.

God knows all things. He's in control of everything. He elects. He predestines. This is biblical theology.

A lot of the stuff you get from churches nowadays is not. It's up to you and your wisdom to pick God because all you need is the right information, because you're good enough in your own nature. You're good enough in white, so that's you just gotta pick. Is this like a Calvinist view? This is Calvinism, what I'm teaching you, but This is biblical.

I'm reading the scriptures to you. What Calvinists do is they go, Well, you believe what it says? We believe what it says, Election Predestina. We believe it, because that's what it says. And people up they get upset with it.

Well but that's what it says. You know, people say, well, you got to, you know, it's up to your free will.

Well, then, why does Jesus say, you can't come to me unless God grants it to you? It refutes it. And I'll say to people, I'll say, let me ask you a question. Does God know what it would take to save anybody any time, under any condition, without violating their free will? And the answer, of course, is well, yeah, he knows everything.

Yes. Then why doesn't he do it? This gets him to think. They're not used to thinking biblically and theologically.

Now, there's more that I want to share with you, but here's something I want you to understand. In the Trinity, before the creation of the world, We have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have the Word.

Now what did God do? He said, Let there be light, and there was light. The word became flesh. there's something about the speech of God. the declarative work of God in his speech.

So a covenant is a pact or an agreement between two or more parties.

So my wife, she's passed away, but we had a covenant. We both agreed, had limitations in what we would do with others and with each other, you know, things like this, until death to your part.

Now the covenant is fulfilled and it's ended and now she's with the Lord. And this is how God works covenantally because it's based on his word. It's based on his word. The inter-Trinitarian communion is the foundation of all truth and knowledge. Because God is the one who reveals truth.

That's why Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Dispensationalism is man's attempt to try and make sense of how God works in the world by saying He works differently in different times. But he doesn't. He works the same way through all time. Covenantally, because it's based on his word, not our ideas of what he does in time as we try and make things into the age of innocence, the age of works of law, things like this.

If you were to look at God as the supreme king who knows all things and decrees everything that shall come to pass, Ephesians 1:11, God works all things after the counsel of his will. All things have the counsel of his will. You cannot come to me unless you grant it from the Father. God grants that you have faith. Jesus said, This is the work of God that you believe in whom he has sent.

or John 1, 12 and 13. I'm going to show you why I'm doing this. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to be called or become the children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who are born not of the blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. What I'm teaching you. Is 15, 20 years of you studying and learning this finally after going to churches that teach Bambi, Bambi, crud.

I'm giving you a head start. Giving you a leg up, okay? Because what a lot of people are teaching now, I call hammock theology. Coochie coochie coo. Here's let me let me let me comfort you and l let me just introduce you to Jesus, 'cause he's the blond haired, blue eyed Caucasian surfer dude.

And he's dressed in a woman's nightgown and he's standing at the door of your heart asking permission for you and your wisdom to let him in.

Okay. The style of the mm-hmm. My only my yeah, my whole thing going into all this was Dispensational ozone was You know, when the whole Israel war started, I started looking at that and saying, well, these don't look like God's people to me. And I started like you know, kind of Taking a step back, and you know, I see stuff all the time online, YouTube, you know, all these kinds of.

Social media sites and stuff. And I just keep getting one thing after another of like all these different types of theologies. And so that's why I myself, I've just been like, well, Um That doesn't make sense anymore. Dispensationalism doesn't make any more sense.

So, where do I go from here?

So, that's why I'm at where I'm at. And I even thought about. Maybe Catholicism is right. No, no, no, no. Catholicism.

Catholicism is damnable. It's bad. It's damnable bad. It's false doctrine. It's a religion where the Antichrist is working through.

Spirit of Antichrist.

Okay, so you see, you see where, like, you can see the path that I'm on, though, here. Like, I'm, you know, I was in a Baptist church and then I was a dispensationalist, then I'm in a Southeastern Baptist.

Now I'm like, okay, which one's the right one here? And now I'm kind of like running around like a chicken with my head cut off because I love God and I, you know. That this is the most important thing to me in my life, and so I just wanna Make the right choices. But from what you're saying is, you can't make the right choice. He makes the choice for you.

Well, you can make the right choice because you have been regenerate. There's more to this. Once you're regenerated, now you're no longer a slave to sin.

Now you can go look at God's Word to understand it. Because the Bible says the unbeliever cannot receive the things of God. They're foolishness to him. 1 Corinthians 2:14. But you're not like that.

Now you have the Spirit of God upon you. And so now you can look and follow Jesus, pray to Jesus, and trust that God is faithful at his word. That phrase is critical. And it's People don't understand how important it is. He's faithful at his word.

That is so important. What do you mean by it's so important? Because God speaks and it occurs. He decrees, which is a form of the speech, and it occurs. Testamentum in Latin is the word for covenant.

Old Testament, New Testament. Old covenant, new covenant. A covenant is based on one's word. Yeah.

Look at God as the one who speaks and the word that became flesh. look at Him and trust Him for what He says, and interpret Scripture, History, everything through God's decrees and God's Word of what He has said. That's the key. When you do that, and also you had to realize you're a much bigger sinner than you realize. You're a bigger side of the business.

Okay. I found that out three years ago.

Okay. Well good. Yeah, you know, and people call me arrogant and stupid and foolish. I go, Yeah, I'll claim all those titles. Yeah.

Prideful? Absolutely. You know, because that's the nature of a fallen person.

Now, hold on, man. We got a little bit more to go through, okay?

So hold on, all right, brother? All right. All right. Hey, folks, you're right back after these messages if you want. You can give me a call, 877-207-2276.

We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All Robbie, welcome back to the show. Let's just get right back on with Joe from New York and kind of wrap it up a little bit.

Joe, you still with me? Yeah, I'm here. Alright, now I've given you a short, quick, and slick view of something, but there's a reason.

Well you see True biblical theology elevates God. bad theology elevates man. It comes down to that. I wanted you to understand the Trinity is eternal, all-knowledgeable. has that isn't surprised by anything, decrees whatsoever shall come to pass, he works all things after the counsel of his will.

We are created for His glory, Isaiah forty three, seven. He even saves whom He chooses to save, which is Ephesians one four. But biblical theology is not the same as what's being taught in a lot of pulpits. Where you in your wisdom need to come to Jesus, it's completely up to you. That's not taught in the Bible.

It's refuted by scripture. It comes down to this. You want to look at a theological perspective, whatever you find. As long as it exalts God, glorifies God, and puts us in our proper place. Sinners saved by grace and kept by grace.

When that's the case, you're going to be a lot better off. And so you can have a method, so to speak, of looking at things. Is this exalting God or is it exalting man?

So, you go to a church and it says, God wants you to be healthy and wealthy. Because you deserve it. Right? Because you're a child of God.

Well, we know that's an exaltation of man.

Now, it might be the case that God wants a particular individual to be wealthy and healthy. That's fine. But you can't say that to all the people in the congregation. God just wants you to have all kinds of money. This is carnal.

If you go to another church and they say, on the other side of the coin, they say God's the sovereign king. We're here for his glory. And he listens to us in our prayers because. They're filtered through the sacrifice of Christ. and our goal is to serve our Lord, to honour our King.

And to live for him. And this is why you should do this, because of what he did on the cross.

Now that's different, isn't it? Yeah.

So This is the basics of biblical theology, and I could expand on this for another hour. Because I've done it hundreds and hundreds of times, given this kind of blessing to people on social media, explaining the sovereignty and the greatness of God. When I was in seminary, it was the fifth most difficult graduate school in the country at the time. Number five in the entire country. a Christian seminary.

It was so difficult we didn't even have to do a master's thesis. They said, don't even bother. You survive here, your average GPA, just go any place else, add a whole point to it. That's what your GPA would be elsewhere. Man, it was tough.

We had the guys there who were teaching had more degrees than a thermometer, right? And one guy. One professor got up and he said men, because we're all men, the class. is one class he says i'm going to teach you one of the most important things you're ever going to learn in seminary I still remember the moment when you said that. I've got my notebook, got my 0.5 millimeter drafting pencil.

And I I was ready. And he said he wrote two things on the s on the board. I'll never forget it. There is a God. You are not him.

And he put it down. He said, now let's talk about this. And I thought about that over the years so many times. It's true. See what church exalts God or exalts man.

And one last bit You might get hear a preacher give a sermon. You need to be good because being good is good, because good honors God, because good is nice, it's helpful, God wants you to be good. And he gives these stories about how he helped this little old lady and changed attire. It really helped. It was good.

And this little boy, and he grew to be a better man. Your eyes are all misty because it's such a good story. And this is what's is taught as scripture a lot of times. But that's not a good story, it's not a good sermon. Because the reason we help that little old lady or help that young boy, whatever it is.

is because it glorifies Jesus Christ. We have been bought with the blood of God. on the cross. And the reason we do what we do and repent of what we repent is because we have been purchased with God's blood. And that is the most significant and important event in all of the history of the universe.

That Deaf. of Christ were God for our sin. That's why We are to be better. That's why we're to be repentant. That's why we're to honor.

That's why we're to serve, etc. Because it glorifies Him through it Christ did in the cross. This is what I've learned over 46 years of teaching Bible. and answering questions 46 years. This is it.

I just gave it to you.

Okay. Normally I charge charge $9.95. Yeah, you know what? But uh but this one's for for free, okay? There you go, brother.

Okay, man. Thank you very much. 'Kay. I'm serious. Take what I said at heart.

All right. Oh, I do. I do. And, you know, I've really been digging deep and trying to figure out what. where I should be.

Honestly, I was Thinking about I've already left one church because of some of the things that are in church. And then I told my wife the other day, I said, well, you know. It's like, you know, we're at a Baptist church now, and you know, it's not a bad church or anything, but. I don't know what I'm like searching for. I keep telling my wife, like, I don't know if there is a right thing out there that I need to be searching for.

Maybe God's just. Slowly just bringing me into a space where he can basically define everything for me. When I first. I guess I had my eyes opened, and I call it being saved, but I guess people always tell me you've always been saved, you just didn't know it. Uh but when I'm when my eyes were actually opened and I realized Uh that I was in this like pit of death, uh, honestly, three years ago.

Um I just, I realized all the things in my life that I needed to change. And so, anyways, I. I I'm just trying to find this You know, this right doctrine. I don't even know if that's what I should be doing. I mean, it is.

It's okay. You want to learn doctrine? You absolutely do. Good doctrine is Jesus is God in flesh. He died on the cross, rose from the dead for three days.

The Trinity is one God in three distinct, simultaneous persons. Justification is the imputation of righteousness by faith alone. This is all good doctrine. And we're getting answered. Yeah, and you know the thing is too, I go back.

I go back to the past, and that's why I thought about Catholicism because I was like, well, maybe it's Catholicism, you know, and maybe. Maybe Ignatius has the answers, or maybe you know I just At the end of the day, I just kind of was telling my wife, I was like, you know, maybe it's not the church that I'm looking for. Maybe I'm looking for, I'm just literally searching God, you know, trying to. Find his truth, you know, so. You have to remember this.

Jesus says come to me. It's not a church. It's not church fathers. If they are truly of God, they'll bear witness of Jesus Christ over themselves, over their churches, over their church fathers, over their traditions. The Spirit of God bears witness of Christ.

That's John 14, 26, John 15, 26. That's it. You want to search Jesus. You want to find a relationship with Him. 1 Corinthians 1:9.

God is faithful through whom you're called into fellowship with His Son, Christ Jesus. You spend time in prayer and you read and you study, but what I've told you. Seriously, the sovereignty of God, the majesty of God, the calling of God, the work of God. This is right out of scripture. I quoted you the references, it's right there.

Believe what it says, and it will give you peace in your heart. to know he's a sovereign king who Even though he knows everything about you, for some strange reason, still loves you. Yeah, amen. That's right.

Okay, brother? All right. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. All right, Lynn, yeah.

Uh God bless buddy. I mean Joe. God bless.

Okay. Thank you, sir. Bye. But All right.

Now let's get to Clinton from Virginia. Clinton, man, you're supposed to call earlier. What happened, buddy? Oh man, I got tied up before I knew it. I said, uh-oh, when I got on there, this guy got on there, and I said, Well, okay, I'm on the end again.

But hey, I got something for you. You want a headache? That's oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Okay. Okay. Then you need to become a pastor. Lee have your church. And I'll be the first one there.

Coincidentally. Coincidentally, someone has recently asked me to do that very thing. Yeah.

No, go ahead. No, because I love it when somebody comes up and you know the scriptures, you've been doing it for 46 years. And you know it. And that that's what we're talking about yesterday about. I thought you fell out of the chair when I told you, said.

Matt, it's like reading the newspaper, and you almost fell out of the chair when I said that. It's true, but. It is. But like I say, this young guy's going like, I've been to this church and that church. And, like you said, like Julis Myers and all of them, I mean, you got Cruff Low Dahl and you got.

How many of them are not rawly speaking? The true word. That's right.

And you, like you said yesterday, the sin. You went. I didn't realize how big Sin was. That's right.

And it is. I mean it's Yeah, because like a young kid was saying, you know, going this way, that way, that way. I mean,. The sin is just unbelievable. I fight that all the time.

And my biggest problem is. Like yesterday you were talking about the drinking and so forth and that. I know her, Brian. But When I was younger, it was every drug you could think of.

So Yeah, and now that I'm gotten over and I'm turning myself over to the Lord, the biggest problem I have is my mouth. I mean, the mouth causes wars, it causes divorces and everything. I told the Lord, I know, Lord, Lord, take me in the back of it. Get the Holy Spirit to take out my vocal cords. I don't like doing that.

But at one time, it's all I did. You know, when you're young, you thought you were big and grown up. But yeah, we're going to try to get you hooked up as a pastor. I mean, I'll be the first one now. I was a pastor and it was interesting, but I don't know if that's what God's calling me to do, but you never know.

Yeah, I know. I know. Because, you know, I would be a pastor if we could find people who would do all the work and I could just preach and teach and do that. Yeah, but yeah, 'cause I think that you would be an awesome pastor. Because like we were talking about well no, yeah, come on.

like we were talking about yesterday, the Passens get up there and they just just fumble through it, you know, like Going through the one as. You know, they don't have any they don't have any dust on surface. They don't have any dust on this. They don't have any power. There's no drive behind there's no drive behind the force.

I know. That's why I like it. That's why I like black churches. I like black churches. Because they got it.

They're not just reading the paper, they're reading the word of God. They're speaking the word of God. They're excited about the word of God. That's what I want. The first one I went to was Carolina.

My aunt says, We're going to go to church. I said, Okay, so let me go. Holy rolls. And they're in there dancing in the aisle, and they've got their hands up. Lord, praise the Lord.

Amen. Amen. Yes, Father. I'm going. Wait a minute, this is in the church and avenues too.

But you're right. I mean, they got conviction, buddy. They don't play around raising that Bible up and the pastor's dancing. I'm going. This is something like the Blues Brothers, something.

Yeah, there's been much, but yeah. John, John, the other one. But anyways, yeah, it's always a pleasure listening to you talk. I wish my wife said that. Yeah, but Wilson like that.

The wife probably says you talk too much anyway, right? She did a lot of staring at me and rubbing her forehead a lot. I remember that. Hey, there's the music. We gotta go.

Okay, brother. We gotta go.

I'm sorry, brother. Call back tomorrow. Call back.

Okay. Get back early, okay? All right, sounds good. Thanks, man. Thank you later.

Okay. And. Sherry from Utah, please call me back tomorrow. I'm going to talk about that. Sherry from Utah.

All right. God bless God bless, Sherry. Call me tomorrow, Sherry. Another program powered by the Truth Network.