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, everyone, welcome back to the show. Thanks for listening, tuning in. If you want, as usual, to give me a call, the number. Always the same number. 877.

2072276. I want to hear from you. Today's date is July. Oh, July 30th. Wow, time's just flying by.

So I'll not be live on the radio tomorrow. I've got some stuff I've got to take care of. And just let you know, I'll be back, Lord Welling, on Monday. And so, if you want to call, you got a comment, you got a question now or today, this coming hour is the time you can do it. All right, now, also, if you want to email me, just send an email to info at carm.org, info at carm.org, info at carm.org.

You can do that and uh I think that's about it. Let's just jump on the phones. Get the guild from New York. Gil, welcome, Jonier. Welcome.

Thank you for being so so kind to me and I'm getting better from my sleeping problems now. They took me off some of the medications, which is a miracle. and um I'm I'm only taking two instead of the ones they gave me that was causing problems.

So I I slept from nine in the evening till uh uh seven o'clock in the morning a couple of days ago.

So I'm getting a little better. Yeah. To God be the glory. That's all I want to do, is to glorify Him for healing and You know, by his stripes we were healed. 1 Peter 2:24, I think it is.

And Isaiah. Um Steve, I I definitely am a Calvinist now. When I went to college years ago, I used to travel by myself. Um some of my professors were like four points and not you know, limited atonement and all of that other stuff.

Now I know that in um Ephesians 1.3 it says Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ who has blessed us With every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. In Christ And then it says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

Now, um, Are you all the way five-point Calvinist? I see people. Yes. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

I don't know if you ever heard of Steve Gregg. I don't know if you ever listen to it. Yeah, I know Steve. We've had discussions before, and uh I like to debate him. Oh, good.

But uh yes. Yeah, he's very nice to so what's your Calvinist? No, and I would d gladly debate him on it along with um uh lightened flowers. But uh anyway I would be glad it yeah be glad to yeah, I've known Ste uh Steve off and on yeah.

So what do you got? What's your question? Dump it. It it says in um Matthew one, uh twenty one, it says, She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Is there in any place that free will does come into play in Yeah.

Doctrine of Calvinism and all of that stuff. And then I have another question about John Calvin. We always have to define our terms, and so the critical issue here is what is meant by free will. That's the thing that we have to decide. And if we can't define it, then we can't argue about it, use it, or discuss it.

Just like people say men become women and you ask them what's a woman, they can't define it.

Well, the conversation at this point is useless.

So free will is of two main theological viewpoints, compatibilism and libertarianism. And compatibilism is the idea that human free will, and we'll get into what it means a little bit better. Human free will and God's sovereign providence are compatible. and libertarian free will Is the position that man's free will is not compatible. Hence, compatibilism.

and libertarianism. Or libertarian free will. Compatibilist free will is that human free will, ability, and choices are compatible with the sovereignty of God. That is the biblical position, and that's what all Christians should believe, and I can prove it from Scripture. Because Jesus himself had free will, and yet he could only do what he saw the Father do with nothing of the old initiatives.

That's John 5:19 and John 5:30. This necessitates compatibilism by the very example of who Christ is.

So libertarian free will has varying views within it as well, but long story short. It teaches that human free will is not completely restricted and incapacitated by sinful nature. And so that's, you know, what does it mean by incapacitated? What we know from Scripture is that the human being, the unbeliever, is a slave of sin, hater of God, doesn't seek for God, doesn't do anything good, has deadness, sins, by nature children of wrath, his heart's fully deceitful, wicked, etc. And if human free will is not completely restricted and incapacitated by a sinful nature, then what Jesus said in John 6:65 wouldn't make any sense.

And what he said there was, you cannot come to me unless it has been granted to you from the Father. Right.

So if human free will is such that it enables you to be able to just come to God, you need the right choice, the right information, the right this. then what Jesus said would not be there. He says, you cannot unless God the Father grants it to you.

So, this negates the idea of libertarian free will in the sense that. that the human free will is not incapacitated from choosing Christ. Because by Jesus says it is. That's John 6:65.

Now, what is free will?

Sometimes people say that free will is the ability to make a choice between good and bad. You can do either one, no one's forcing you, you just make a choice. and I say that's humanist philosophy. And people say, No, it's human free will. I said, No, it's humanism, because it excludes God.

You see, God is perfectly free, but he can only do good things and holy things. He cannot choose to sin. And so free will must be defined in context of who and what God is. as well as what we are. We're made in His image, not Him in our image.

And what I find a lot of Christians do is make God in their own image. That God will never let you be tempted by how much you can handle. That's just fine. And then they take it and they go too far and they'll say, God won't ask you to do anything you can't do. Or he knows my understanding, my sincerity.

So they make God in their own image, and this happens a lot in Christian churches. And this is what I preach and teach against.

Okay, now free will is the ability to make a choice consistent with your nature that's not forced on you. This includes God and man. Because a human being is a slave of sin, the unbeliever is. And where God is not a slave of any sin, but he's holy and he cannot lie, for Titus 1:2, for example.

So, free will has to be defined in such a way that God is the standard, not ourselves, because ourselves as the standard is by definition humanist philosophy.

So Our human free will, the ability to make a choice that's not forced on us, that's consistent with our nature. is something that God works. and he is able to work in and with and through. He's not surprised by anything. And so our freedom is included in the sovereignty of God.

Ephesians 1:11, He works all things after the counsel of His will. That includes all the choices we make.

Okay? Mm-hmm. Wow.

Alright. Steve, uh, I mean, um I I'll forget your name for a second. Um I I also want you to um Matt, pray pr pray for me 'cause I'm I got to even witness to my psychiatrist also, and he was amazed some of the things I told him. And I'm next week I'm gonna have him read one one of my papers of my testimony, how I didn't know Christ and how Christ saved me and the things he did for me and all of that.

So Like I said, he took me off most medications, which is a miracle, you know. And just asking you to pray for me next week when I meet with him. He came in my room, I didn't even know who he was. He was using a microphone when he was. asking me all this.

And one of the worst medications I took was Cogentin. That really gave me a lot of problems. Oh man. But so now I'm just taking Cyprexa and generally, yeah, on the air, you really shouldn't give too many details about meds and things like this. But.

because of people who might Hear stuff.

So, anyway, I got you. We have a prayer ministry and prayer at carm.org. And Joanne runs that. She does a great job. And people actually specifically were called to pray to that.

So, let them know, okay?

Well, you know, Jesus said in Matthew 5, 16, and like I said, I didn't know how to read well until I got into the Bible in 91, 92, I got saved. And I love Matthew 5, 16. I probably said it before on your program, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify who? Your Father which is in heaven.

So I want God to get all the glory for everything He's doing in my life, including teaching myself how to play the piano.

Well, I had a jam session, yes, it was fun. With uh three people, two people from my church. That sounds good. Yeah. Praise God.

Yeah. All right. Praise God. Thank you so much. You have a great and Godly day.

May God richly bless you. May you walk with the king and be a blessing.

Well, by God's grace. And praise God. Thanks for calling, brother. All right. Thank you.

Bye.

Okay, bye. All right, all right, all right. Actually, you want to say something before I get to the next caller from New Mexico.

So he just he just By quoting that verse, Matthew 5:16, just gave me a verse I can use against a Mormon heretic in a whole nother context. and good stuff.

So I wrote, I went, oh, that's right, I would work for this first.

So, the body of Christ works as a whole. Jordan from New Mexico, welcome. You're on the air. Hey Matt, how you doing? Doin' all right, hanging in there?

Hanging in there, man. What do you got, buddy? I'm glad.

Okay, uh, quick question. I had a couple of questions on. The Trinity. But Did you do you affirm like Or do you think it's heretical to believe And monarchical Trinitarianism. It all depends.

Now, it all depends what you mean. Monarchical Trinitarianism, generally, from what I understand, is the teaching that the Father is the source. and the generation of the other two members of the Godhead.

Okay. Right.

Right.

Right.

Now That is worth uh discussing. because what is meant by the source of. And if we want if we say that the Father's the source that began the Spirit and the Word, then that would be heresy.

Okay? If you say, in a sense of logical necessity, that the father is the archetype. A generating of them, but yet they are eternal without beginning. then it's less of a heretical issue. And then we get into differences, what's called logical and Um temporal priority.

So So it's within orthodoxy. And I'm hesitant. to go that way that far.

Okay. I'm not saying it's bad. Yeah. Uh And the reason is because I understand, you know, the son says he proceeds from the father. I get it.

But here's the thing. I've said this, in fact, we had this conversation, this very conversation, earlier this week or last week on the on some chat room anyway. And I told the guys, I said, Look, I can only go down the road of theology and apologetics and the Trinity so far before I stop Uh I don't go any further because I don't want to potentially risk the idea of saying something about God that's not. Not true. because this risks also something called subordinationism.

And subordinationism Implies a derived existence from the Son upon the Father as the sole source. And then it implies ontological subordination. And then that would be heretical. You see, that this whole thing is not easy to to get around and and just to easily do it. If you that makes sense.

Oh hold on, we're gonna break, okay, hold on, brother. We're going to break, so hold on. We'll get back. Hey, folks, if you want to give me a call, we have three open lines: 877-2072276. We'll be right back.

It's Matt Slick Live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, please dial 877-207-2276. Let's get back to Jordan from New Mexico.

Jordan. You're on the air, brother. Very easy.

Okay. Yeah. 'Cause I've been dabbling in and understanding the stuff and where my questions are coming from just because In monarchical Trinitarianism, it's hard for me to understand a doctrine of instant verbal operation. With any the monarchical view But Also, while I'm understanding why would I understand why that would be a problem in monarchical Trinitarianism, as long as within that view, the solutions or the explanations are stripped of temporal necessity, and if they're reduced to ontological ordering and logical priority, then there's no problem.

Now, inseparable operation simply says that even the human nature of Christ. Is paracritically, you know, paracoresis in mutual indwelling, for those who don't know, paracritically related in the Trinitarian by divine simplicity.

So if monarchical Trinitarianism is true, it still necessitates that the Trinity is one eternal being and three simultaneous co-eternal persons, and inseparable operations wouldn't be affected at all. Uh unless I'm missing something.

Okay, so. Yeah, no, I I completely understand. Yeah, the thing is I'm trying it's hard for me to understand How all of that is working. You know what I mean? And so I get it.

I get what you're saying. It's just, I'm trying to grasp that. Does that make sense? Absolutely. And uh Once I got close.

To understanding it, and then I blacked out for three days and lost 50 IQ points.

So, uh It's okay not to be able to figure this out, okay? Yeah. Because we're talking about a single being. Who? exists as a Trinity eternally, and yet there's a procession And yet In divine simplicity, the totality is one essence.

And yet there's distinction of the persons we discover analogically in our world, in our time reference, by their relation to one another. And then we have the incarnation, where the human and divine nature of the Word, second person, are in union in the one person. And so, even in that, how does that work? I don't know. And then, how is the divine nature of Christ still, as necessarily part of the divine Trinity, work in all of that?

Particularly when Jesus says, I can only do what I see the Father doing. Which all this stuff is irritating because I want my brain to understand it so I can explain it to everybody, and I can't get it. And so it's not contradictory, it's paradoxical and that's okay. Yeah, okay. exactly where I'm getting frustrated with sometimes.

Um I wanted uh I would think that inseparable operations would be supported even in monarchical Trinitarianism, which is basically fine as long as the divine simplicity ontologically is eternally one thing. and not an alteration in any sense, then I don't see any problem. Yeah, okay. I see that. You were talking about the human nature and the divine nature, and I was.

Uh and I want to see what you think. with NIFISITERS and do you think Uh the distinction between neophysicism and biophysicism are just terms, or do you think like there's a real distinction? Between The two doctrines.

Now we've got to define our terms. And uh So it's been a while since I've gone through them because me, if it, we'll just do this.

So, um Let's go through them. And uh So we're going to go through meophysitism. Man. which is uh My physicism, I got my notes here. Vicetism.

And what was the other one you were going to?

Okay. I'm sorry? Me a physiquism and what else? And uh diaphragm. Oh, okay.

Okay. Uh, it's been a while since I had to go through these, so let me see if I can refresh my memory and go through them again because I've written on them on the different views, but it's so rarely dealt with that it's just not the top of my head, so I'm just telling you that. But um I'm familiar with Nestorianism, um m um Uh eutichinism, uh let's see what uh monophysitism. Yeah. And so When we get into these issues here, and for people who don't know what this is talking about, we're talking about the relationship between the divine and the human nature and how this all works.

And there's lots of questions throughout history that have been asked.

Some say that Jesus Christ, his Paulinarianism, that the, for example, that the divine nature overshadows the human, so there's no real human presence, and some say there's different ones.

So. I'm just not sure what to say, but I'd have to re re review them. Because diaphysitism holds two complete distinct natures, and that's fine. You need it without confusion. Myophysetism Okay, yeah, okay, now I remember.

Yeah, okay, now I remember.

Okay, my aphasitism is heresy. It came back to me. And the reason is because instead of a divine nature and a human nature, diaphysitism, di meaning two, like hypostatic union, that we have a divine nature and a human nature which retain distinction. That's proper, that's diaphysetism. But a meophysetism says that they become one in one combined new nature.

And in that case, it's neither divine nor human. It's a third new concept, new category, the divine-human thing. It's like Greek mythology. And so that would be false, okay?

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That that makes sense.

That was reading. like zero logs access. And or Alexandra. And it just seems, when I'm reading it, it just seems like We're just disagreeing on terms. Terms are critically important.

Yeah, this is why you ask definitions.

Someone comes on the radio, and I've had this discussion so many times off air and on the chat rooms.

Someone might bring up monophysitism, and I'll say, Well, what is that? What do you think it means? It's because, well, they might think something I'm thinking differently. And then they might mean my physetism where I'm not. And I'm saying, well, hypostatic union, and then they want to bring up nuances in diphysitism.

And then we get into Eutychian stuff. And it gets complicated. And so that's why I have to ask. individuals, what do you mean by these things? And they go, Don't you know?

I I think I do. Maybe I got it wrong.

Well, let's get make sure we have a common ground so that we can discuss these things. But the true correct doctrine is the hypostatic union, two distinct natures. And they are not blended. And as Eutychianism might say, they're not formed into a new third nature, meophysetism.

Okay, we don't want that. And monophysitism would be only one of the nature, the divine or the human, is the equivalent to the person. And that's false. We have to have the hypothetic union combined with the communicatio idiomatum. If you know what that is, right?

Yeah, okay. So those with with that With uh Hypostatic union and communicatio edomatum. If we understand those, then you can answer most any question dealing with the natures and work of Christ and stuff, and understand how the person is the divine essence, etc., as well as human essence and stuff like that.

So that's the way to go. Oh man, good stuff. You want to hold? We got a break. You want to hold or are you done?

We got nobody waiting for the deal.

Okay. Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your call at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone, welcome back to the show. Let's get back on with Jordan from New Mexico. Brother, you still there? Yes, sir.

All right. I went through and got some of my notes on this stuff, which I did a table, Christological Errors. Man, there's a lot. You know? There it is.

I know. I was reading through e-picking as I mean it and I'm there's just so much and it's hard to keep track of sometimes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it is. Um is regarding define simplicity.

Okay. Would you believe like in a complete divine simplicity, that's like God's attributes are completely created? Or how would you say that? Yes, generally they say that his attributes are equal to his nature. What we mean or each will essence, what to mean by this is what's the d call the difference between um essential properties and accidental properties.

So for example, a a square Essential properties of a square is four 90-degree angles in a normal two-dimensional set. A square has four 90-degree angles of equidistant sides.

So, what we would say in this sense that the four ninety degree angles and the equidistant sides. or legs Are all equal to the essence. that they cannot be separated from it because they are essential to the nature.

So in this context we're talking about God being essentially omnipresent. Yeah. So we would say his omnipresence is equal to his nature. We don't say that's all he is. What it means is that it's an essential part, a necessary attribute of what he is, and to remove that, you no longer have the true God.

And then there's several of these kinds of of that.

So that's what we mean by, and in that sense, yeah, no problem. There's Okay. Would you um Do you think? That is like that's a necessity for something like inseparable operations or Yeah. Inseparable operations deals with the issue of the relation of, let's just say, in this sense, the Word, incarnate Word, in His divine essence.

working in through and still being uh Ontologically identical with the necessary attributes or the essential attributes of the divine nature. and say yes, in that sense, absolutely yes. Because we cannot say that the human nature of Christ was of any lesser properties, essential properties. And this is critical. And if we go back to the square analogy, and if we say, That normally four ninety-degree angles are necessary for a square.

If we're to say no, we can have three ninety degree angles. And that's all that's necessary, then we violated the essential characteristic of what it is.

So we can't violate those things, and inseparable operations necessarily mean that the divine nature of Christ still obtains. And when people, when we say this, obtains, we don't mean didn't have it and he got it. It's a different means always possesses or its nature to it or it inheres.

So his. His divine characteristics are still necessarily inhering in the divine essence. uh that uh Jesus possesses. And so that's why inseparable operations perfectly works and it's good.

Okay. Okay, yeah, okay. That makes yeah, that makes a lot of sense to those things. Uh that's eight. kinda go hand in hand together and I don't know you've seen that or something.

Yeah, so I'm curious. How come you're studying this? This is advanced level. It is advanced level.

So, how come you're studying those? I'm just curious. It's good. Um Well, I have a lot of friends. And there is these questions that pop up and stuff and Uh I love my friends and I don't remember.

want them to get deceived in any way, and so I don't know this stuff and so I wanna learn this stuff so that if they have passions they'll help that pay. Good.

Well, very good. What I would suggest you do is develop an outline, and you define the doctrine of the Trinity in point one. And just define it the best you can. Then I would go through and do a section on Trinitarian errors. And then I would also do, you know, because there's motivism.

Sibelianism, you know, and Unitarianism is not Trinitarian, of course, but these are errors. And then I would define them and then I would If I were you, I'd write out exactly why they're wrong. And this will help you modify the initial definition of the Trinity. You're also going to have to do divine simplicity. Then there's absolute divine simplicity.

Some people like to differentiate. And you've got to talk about that. Then you've got to get into the Christological errors. And then you've got to start relating how they work in the Trinitarian initial paragraph that you're working on. And this is how you're going to become very knowledgeable on it.

But you're going to also have to include the asseete. of God. and his non-contingency. Because these are necessary properties, and then you're going to have to get into the issue of necessary properties of God as a Trinitarian being. And what I've done is I've written a 500-word definition of what the Trinity is on Carm.

It's a the Trinitarian, the Trinity examined in depth, I think it is.

So you could check that out.

Alright, and see what you think.

Well definitely. I I really appreciate it that Okay, no problem. No problem. All right, good stuff. Man, I rarely meet anybody who talks like this.

And knows this stuff.

So, good for you. It's good for me to practice and polish too, because I get rusty on them. Because there's so many errors, but it's just not very often I get to them.

So, good stuff. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm gonna Yeah, I I read your stuff and so Good. You're the first person I ever used communicate or video monitoring and I What's the trash? It's an essential doctrine when you're adequately studying the person of Christ and his atonement. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah, one last question. Sure. One last question. We uh divine simplicity as God's properties are or you know, completely united to God.

Right.

We gain like Would righteousness, would righteousness be a part of God's property? And if we gain righteousness from Christ, would we? disqualify a creator-creature distinction by any chance or no?

Okay, so I'm not sure I understood your question because I was thinking about something you said in the first part of it.

So is God righteous?

Well, that's like saying is God good?

Well, we have to define good, but we can't define good apart from God, so it becomes autologists and become it's a problem.

So is God righteous?

We could say God is holy, because righteousness is a subcategory of God's holiness. and righteousness as far as his Conformity to his nature as a revealed word of the law, because the law reflects the nature of what God is. He cannot lie, cannot steal.

So, um So there's that part.

So, could you re-ask the question again? Yeah. Yeah, so my question was like If you're asked.

Well, you made a a better distinction, which I I appreciate. Um God's righteousness. It would be would it be of him in the state? In union with divine simplicity, would God's righteousness be a part of that aspect? Divine simplicity is Jesus' righteousness.

Yeah. Okay, so divine simplicity simply means that God is one being, one essence, one thing.

So when I teach this, I say, imagine a glass sphere. And you can just imagine it. Can we know what that is? And say that is a simple. Uh structure.

It's a sphere that is pure glass. And it's one thing, glass. And I say, think of God like that, one thing. Not glass, of course, but Trinity. where the Trinity is equal to the One Essence.

The Trinity is equal to the essence. And we perceive the distinction of the persons in their relation to each other as they manifest themselves to us as God's Word.

So in Ephesians 1:4, He chose us in Him. The Father chose us, the object of the choosing in Him, and that is the means of our redemptive work, in Him being Christ.

So we see relation there.

So, righteousness deals with the relation of us to the law, because the law reflects the character of God. And so Matthew 12:34, someone speaks out of the abundance of his heart.

So when God says, don't lie, it comes out of his nature.

So God isn't righteous, he's just what I would say holy. And he is righteous in the sense all we could say in another sense in the sense that all that he does is always right and always good.

So he's righteous in that sense because he is his own standard of perfection and holiness, and he keeps that righteousness all the time. the imputation of righteousness to us Is different than that righteousness if we're to use it of God's nature in that sense. Which is a self-revelatory form of what righteousness is in the Trinitarian essence. But the righteousness that we have is in conformity to the law by the imputed work of Christ to us, where we receive Christ, and by faith we're then justified. Which is declared legally righteous, and this is by imputation, which means to declare to another's account or transfer to another's account.

So we are imputed with the righteousness of Christ, or some call the act of obedience. Where Christ fulfilled the law, and then that's granted to us by faith. It's a lot here, okay?

So, there you go, brother. All right. Thank you, I appreciate it. All right, brother. God bless you.

Be right back, folks. After these messages, please stay tuned. Be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right, and welcome back to the show. If you want to, you can give me a call. eight seven seven two zero seven two two Seven six. Let's get on with Kevin from Texas. Kevin, welcome.

You're on the air. Hey, Mac. Matt, how are you doing? Doing all right. Hanging in there, man.

Alright, what do you got, buddy?

So my question is This guy Love the reprobate at all. It's okay. First things first, we've got to define our terms, what reprobation is. And generally reprobation, that which is reprobate, is that which is rejected and that which is corrupted.

So There are slightly different views, but we won't get into anything. But it basically means those who are purposely eternally rejected for salvation by God. And so Mm-hmm. If we give that definition, then does God love them? and we would say in one sense no.

We'd say, no, he doesn't love them in the sense of salvific love. for one thing. People say that's ridiculous. No, it's not ridiculous. Look let me read Scripture.

Psalm five five, The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all who do iniquity. And then we go to Psalm 11:5, and that says, The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence, his soul hates.

So God actually hates people. And when I show that to people, Psalm 5:5, Psalm 11:5, and also Romans 9:13, they're blown away.

So God can, in one sense, hate the reprobate, those who are given over to their depravity, and that's a judgment of God upon them, and out of Romans 1:18 through 32, where they commit sin and God gives them over to it. That's a form of hatred and judgment.

Now, some people will say, well, that necessitates only that God knows how bad they're going to be. And therefore That's why he he hates them.

Well, not always exactly the case, because it says. That uh Uh not only this, it's Romans 9, 9 through 13. Not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins, by one man, our father Isaac, for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, Not even born, no nothing good or bad, so that God's purpose, according to his choice, would stand, not because of works, but because of him who calls. It was said to her, The older will serve the younger, just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

Some will say the word hate there means love less. That's not what it's saying, it means hate. And so, because people have the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian surfer Jesus image of God, then they want to reinterpret Scripture.

Now, in that sense, yes, God hates. In another sense, He loves everyone. What sense is that?

Well, then we go to Matthew 5, 43. and start reading. And what it says there is, you have heard that it was said, love your enemy, or excuse me, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. And he goes on.

And he says, if you only love those who love you, what good is that? Because God lets the sun shine on the good and the bad. He sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. And if you greet your brothers any more, what good is it if you only greet your brothers, not anybody else? Therefore, You're to be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

So, in that sense, what's called general grace, general provision. Let's just say God loves everybody generically in the sense that He provides. Nourishment for them, sunshine, breathing, families, and things like this, in that sense, because that's how it's used, as Jesus says in Matthew 5:43 through 48.

So in one sense, yes, he hates people, in another sense, he loves people.

Okay? Oh, can I just Uh clarify.

So I would actually think Say like he waters the plants or whatever. For everyone. And in that sense, he's doing it because he loves the elect. and the reprobate are just benefiting from the love he has for the elect. That's a legitimate position.

It's a legitimate position because the non-elect, the non-saved, Those who openly reject Christ, do they benefit from the atonement? The answer is absolutely yes. Because God has from all eternity elected people for salvation. That's Ephesians 1:4 and 2 Thessalonians 2:13. That's what these verses say.

He chose us from the beginning for salvation, 2 Thessalonians 2.13. And He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we'd be holy and blameless. In love, He predestined us adoptions. That's Ephesians 1, 4, and 5.

So God does that from eternity past. And so, oh man, I hate it when I forget the question you ask when I was explaining the foundation to answer it. Could you restate your question again? I hate it when I do that, but that happened. Basically, that the non-elect benefit from the elect.

Yes. So there are a certain number of elect or certain number of people that God has chosen for salvation throughout time.

Some of them are not even born yet.

So, because of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, God stays. He resists. He doesn't carry out his judgment upon the wicked. And for the sake of the elect. The world continues, and the only way that can work is if the crucifixion of Christ occurred.

So, because God has called people into faith, and because He will then grant people faith later, Philippians 1:29. Then the benefit of the patience of God, waiting for the people that He's elected, chosen, that are going to grant faith to, who are going to end up believing in Him. Is not yet fulfilled and totaled.

So the unelect, the non-believers, those who go to hell, are reaping a type of benefit. Of the atoning work, which guarantees God's working patience throughout time as the elect come into salvation. And the unbelievers, reprobate, receive benefits from that, and that they're not judged now.

Okay. Yeah. So I mean, that's kinda what I hold to. And so it makes me wonder when I read in March Chapter 10 about the rich young woodler. where it says Jesus loved him And now I'm wondering, so was the Rich Hung ruler actually elect?

Well So he could have compassion and love on someone, because remember, Jesus is a human being made under the law, Galatians 4:4, lower than the angels, Hebrews 2:9. And he could see somebody walking up, and he could have compassion and love for that person, seeing how difficult their situation is. And in the The issue of the incarnation When we look at a temporal setting of Christ walking on earth, dealing with real people, real time, he's going to get angry with some. That might get saved later. He might be loving to some who won't be saved.

And that would make perfect sense in the sense of his the hypostatic union and him being a single person made under the law, you know, two natures and stuff like that. And so there's no problem there.

Okay, another problem.

Alright. What kind? That's all I have for the day.

Alright. Does that help? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. I was gonna give you an update. I called uh like last week or something.

I was having trouble with uh my assurance of faith.

Okay, oh I remember. Yeah. Yeah, well, uh Yeah, God's been working with me. I I I can feel him again.

So you're getting stronger in your faith? Oh, yes. Good.

been reading scriptures and yeah, that's that's where he's leading me.

Well you know Welcome to the club. Of being a human being with doubts and problems that you're going to go through, and God in His great loving kindness. Allows you to go through as He, just like Jesus did to the ritual, he loved Him. and he loves you. And you're saved.

And his love for you was infinite? And his love for you is unending, and yet you got to walk. Through this fallen world and bump into the difficulties that cause problems. And you're walking through them, and Christ is right there with you.

Alright. Amen. Amen. That's how it works. And the older you get, the more you'll see that.

Have you ever heard the? It was back in the 80s and 90s, there was this poem. in a picture. A lot of people will remember this. And it was um I can't remember exactly how it works.

The pictures, a single set of footprints in the sand. I think that's, I'm remembering this correctly. and the poem or the story goes, Lord You know, I see in the sand you are walking next to me. I see your footprints walking next to me. And then As I'm going through and in more time, getting older and looking, then there's only one set of footprints.

Where did you go? And his response is Well, that's what I was carrying you. Yeah. Okay, oops.

So that kind of stuff I think is cool. I think is awesome. And may the Lord bless you. Those of you who remember that, you know, I'm probably remembering it incorrectly, but it's been a long time ago.

So it's a nice analogy. It's a nice thing. All right. So. So today, I was testing on a new headset microphone, and I went online, and just going to give this little bit of info for another minute or two, and went into a discussion room.

With somebody who asked a question about the saints in heaven hearing prayers. And Let me just say that as I went through some of the stuff that The Eastern Orthodox gentleman was defending out of Romans 5. Yeah. That he says this means that they can hear our prayers in heaven. This is what it is.

when he had taken the book, the four living creatures, and the twenty four elders, fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. He says, see, that means they can hear our prayers. You know? Sometimes you just stare, rub your forehead, shake your head. And the people's desperation, to make things fit.

into the Bible. instead of letting the Bible shape their theology. That's the lesson. Let the scriptures Shape your theology, not the other way around. Don't look to God's word and let your feelings guard it.

and interpret it. and follow the blond haired, blue eyed Caucasian serf for Jesus. Follow the God of Scripture. And don't read into the text what isn't there. Read through the scriptures.

Go through them slowly. Start in the Gospel of John. Read one verse. What is it saying? What is it not saying?

What do you think it means? And how might you be wrong about what it is? Does what you think it means really fit in the text? That's an exercise worth doing. You can do that once or twice a week or three times a week, I'll tell you.

It'll really influence you on how you start reading the Word of God. All right, now. I'm not going to be on the air tomorrow. Take care of some stuff. And Lord willing, be back on the air on Monday.

So today's date is July 30th.

So tomorrow's the last day of July. It won't be on the air live. It'll be pre-recorded. And also, I'll just let you know: hey, If If you want, you can support this show, and that's easy to do. You just go to carm.org.

And go to the top of the page, C-A-R-M.org, top of the page is the donate button. There is a newsletter sign-up, and I do that every other week. And so you can keep up with Carm by signing up with a newsletter as well. And we've got a few hundred people. We had to restart everything.

We're starting from scratch. We used to have thousands, but now we only have anyway.

So sign up because if you did before and you're not getting it, that's why.

Alright?

So what you can do is sign up at karm.org. C A R M dot O R G. May the Lord bless you all. And by His Grace, who back on the air on Monday, and I hope. And all of you have a good weekend and enjoy your church, enjoy your fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and with one another.

God bless everybody. We'll talk to you next week. Another program powered by the Truth Network.