Matt Slick Live

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Hello. I have a question regarding the Beatitudes, a saying of Jesus here in Matthew chapter 7, verse 21 through 23. I'll read it out loud for your listeners. Jesus says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. He will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will say to them plainly, I never knew you away from me, you evildoers. So we know salvation is by faith, and I'm just a little puzzled by why he would say these things that our works are being discounted.

Are these people considered to be wolves in sheep's clothing who are doing these things? Notice what it says there. It says many will say to me on that day. That's the day of judgment.

Lord, Lord, did we not? And they list three things out that they did, and he condemns them. Because on the day of salvation, on the day of judgment, they're appealing to faith in their works, and they're condemned. Okay.

That's what's going on. I know you're amillennial, so you believe in one event. I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture and then a day of judgment. So is this looking past to the day of judgment and not the rapture? No, it's just the day of judgment. There's only one, the day of judgment. Okay.

Sorry, I got a no come up on the screen. Excuse me. So there's just one judgment, one day, and there are different judgments that occur, but that's it. It's just the day of judgment. You know, God will raise us upon the last day, and different things happen on the last day. So what's all that's going on is that many will say to me on that day, didn't we do this?

Didn't we do that? They're defending themselves to Christ. So is it because they're saying, look at me, look at me, this is what I did, and they're not saying, Lord Jesus, we acknowledge you for what you did? Their focus is on them and not on the Lord?

Yeah, that's one way of putting it. Their focus on their ability to be saved and be right with God and be with Christ is their faith in him and their works. And Jesus condemns it. So we're justified by faith alone in Christ alone, not by faith in works.

And that's what's going on. Yeah, that's kind of what I thought, that they were adding works to their faith. Yes, they were, in order to be saved. Now, we're supposed to do good works.

We are. And I had a two-hour discussion with a Roman Catholic last night online, and we were arguing back and forth. And he kept saying that we do the works with the grace of God. So they're not really our works.

Well, yes, they are your works is what you do. And I was quoting paragraph 2068 that says you obtain salvation. In paragraph 2068 of the Catholic Catechism, excuse me, you obtain salvation by faith, baptism, and the observance of the commandments.

So they're back under the law. And this guy worked very hard to stay under the law and also have it be by grace. And he doesn't understand the difference, because on the Day of Judgment, the Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Eastern Orthodox are going to say, hey, well, we believe in you, and look what we did to prove it. Look what we did. All I'm going to be saying on the Day of Judgment is I'm here because of Jesus.

And even the faith I have was granted to me, Philippians 1 29. That's it. He's all I got. That's it. Yeah. That's a really good interpretation, and that's exactly right. My notes from my pastor's sermon on that day was we have to be born again, and that's the key here is that we're born again believers, and we're not trying to work our way into heaven.

Right. We are not to even try in any way to earn salvation or cooperate with God in order to be saved. And this is really important because there are a lot of Christian churches, Protestant churches, that teach the heresy that what you do to get saved is you cooperate with God in your sincerity because it's up to you in your wisdom to decide to believe in God, and that's not biblical. The Bible says he grants us repentance, and we can't even come to Christ unless it's been granted by the Father. He grants that we have faith, so we need to give God the glory for that, period. And a lot of churches are also teaching as long as you stay good and you don't do too many bad things, you'll be fine with God, and that's works righteousness.

In other words, you can't go to this movie or that movie or you've got to wear a long dress or whatever it is, or you can't say this, you can't look at that. You've got to be good because if you don't abide, then what's going to happen is you'll lose your salvation, so you maintain it by your goodness. And that's another heresy taught in Christian churches today.

So, it's the same thing. And just going a little deeper into this verse 23, Jesus says, I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. So we can think that we know God because we're doing it, like you say, through a workspace of righteousness plus our faith, but the important thing is that God knows us, that Christ knows us. So can you elaborate on that a little bit more? What does it mean to say that Jesus knows us?

Okay, I'm so glad you asked that question, it's a crucial question. This is what Jesus says in John 10, 26, I give eternal life to them. Verse 27, John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. In Galatians 4, 8, and 9, Paul says, when you did not know God, you served by nature those which are not gods, that now that you've come to know God, or rather are known by him, now you come to serve the true and living God. There's a teaching in the scriptures where God has to know us. There's no place in the Bible where, for example, the Gospels, where Jesus says to an unbeliever, I know you. There is one place he says it, but he says, I know you, you're of the devil.

So that's the statement he's saying, the context of what it says. But whenever it says, I know you, period, that means you're saved. If he says, I don't know you, it means you were not saved. And when he says, I never knew you, in Matthew 7, 23, he's saying they were never saved. They were never believers to begin with, true regenerate people, which is the case for, for example, Roman Catholics, because they're not, if they believe official Roman Catholic theology, they're not Christians, they're not known by Christ, because they're in a religion and they add works to salvation.

They're the ones who are going to say, look what we did, et cetera, et cetera. We believe in you and look what we did, the same thing. So this, to know, we know God, but it's more important to be known by him. It's a pattern that God uses in the scriptures. It's a pattern that God uses to be known by him, for real. And it would seem like when, when we're born again and we've received the spirit, which is the deposit guarantee, which is to come, it seems like when we're born again, that's the point at which God knows us.

Would that be accurate? Yeah, he knows us. Now there's, I'll show you something else here. He does, but let me go to Romans 8, 29. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed in the image of his son. Now, foreknew is the Greek word pro-genosko, pro-genosko. The word to know in Greek, like he says he knows you, is genosko. So here in Romans 8, 29 is pro-genosko. He foreknew, so I'm going to, I'll read this and then we'll get back to the break.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, the foreknown ones are also the predestined ones, not the non-foreknown ones. We'll get back, we'll talk about that a little bit more. We'll get back right back to the break, okay? Hey folks, we have two open lines, 877-207-2276. Be right back after these messages. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, buddy, welcome back to the show. Tom, are you still there?

I'm here. All right, so I brought this point up about foreknown. A lot of people think that that means that God looks into the future, so to speak. Knowing who will believe him in him and he predestines them. But that is, that's a false doctrine because it means that God's choices are dependent upon what he sees man doing. And that would make God's choice contingent instead of sovereign. And this is a violation of his aseity and some other doctrines concerning the nature and knowledge of God. Rather, the issue of the foreknown ones, if we understand the consistency that God knows only believers. Just as it says in Ephesians 1-4, he chose us from the foundation of the world. Okay, because what is it? And I'll go to that right now.

I'm going to read this. It says, there we go. It says, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we be holy and blameless before him. Well, those who before knew he also predestined, because it says, you know, the relationship of predestination with the foreknowledge of God. And then I go back to Ephesians 1-4, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us to adoption. So the choosing and predestination are related by Paul in Ephesians 1-4 and 5. This is the doctrine of election and predestination taught in scripture. And this issue of being foreknown is consistent with God only knowing believers. Now, he knows all things, but when he says, I don't know you, it means you're not saved. You know, I don't know you.

You're a friend of mine, that kind of a thing. And so this is also related to predestination. So only the chosen are the foreknown ones. Because it says, those who before knew, he also predestined. It does not say, some of those whom he foreknew, he predestined. It doesn't say that. It says, those whom he foreknew, he also. It's the same group.

So this is not our evidence that God only knows believers. Okay? Yeah, that's good. Okay, Matt, I appreciate your comments. Thank you. All right. I love theology.

Okay. God bless, Tony. So, folks, this is what happens when you do word studies and you start finding out, wait a minute, why does God say it this way?

Why not did it hit that way? And then you go study and you learn these things. It's great. So I love the word of God.

It's just tremendous. Let's get to John from Wake Forest, North Carolina. John, welcome. You're on the air.

Yeah. Hi, Matt. How you doing? Doing all right. Hanging in there. That's good to hear. Good.

I have a, it was a question more of curiosity than anything else. I mean, the answer's not recorded for us in the Bible. I just have this curiosity about, you know, Jesus enters Jerusalem, and everybody's laying their cloaks down and palm branches, and there's real excitement that he's there.

Yeah. On the other hand, you've got the Jewish leaders who want to kill him, but are afraid to because of what the people's response would be. And yet he still ends up getting crucified very shortly after that. You know, I don't know. Do you know of any extra biblical, you know, sources or whatever, that said, oh my gosh, these people rioted? No, I don't. Not at least, I don't know any Indian biblical sources that deal with that particular issue.

But what are you looking for? Just curious. Yeah, I was just curious how the people who, you know, were excited to have their prophet come into Jerusalem suddenly find out that their leaders took him off and killed him. Well, they wouldn't like that. Well, I'm sure.

I don't think they would, but I was just curious if, you know, somewhere somebody recorded that, you know, oh my gosh, the next day there was this big riot and, you know, they threw the leaders out or they said, nah, well that's just what happened. I mean, I don't know. Well, no, I don't know any extra biblical stuff on that.

What I'm thinking about is Josephus. You may have heard something and wrote something down, but other than that, I wouldn't know. I just don't know. Yeah, okay. Well, no, that was it, just a curious, you know, it's almost like you're watching a movie and something happens and you go, well, they didn't explain that in the movie, you know, and you feel like there's this plot hole kind of thing.

Now, I know it's not germane per se to, you know, the crucifixion and resurrection story, but still it just seems like, well, what happened here? Right, and I'm not sure what to tell you. I'm just not sure. Yeah, I know. Okay. Okay. Well, I greatly appreciate it. All right there. Okay, man. All right.

You have yourself a nice day. You too. God bless. All right. Take care. Okay. Bye-bye.

Excuse me. That was John from Wake Forest, North Carolina, if you want to give me a call. One open line? Oh, no open line, so you've got to hold on now. Let's see, the next longest waiting person is Rick from High Point, who we lost. And so now we have one open line if you want to give me a call. Let's get to Timothy from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

How's that? We lost Timothy. Oh, come on, folks. Let's see, now let's get to Michael from Pennsylvania. Michael, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, what's going on, Matt?

Hey, radio. That's what's going on. What do you got, buddy? All right, so yeah, I wanted to ask you, would you say that libertarian free will ended with Adam and Eve? No.

No? Well, okay, so we have to define our terms, all right? Libertarian free will is the idea that a person is free.

Okay, let's try it this way. Compatibilism, this is always not that easy to do. Compatibilism is the idea that God's sovereignty and man's free will are compatible and that we can still make free will choices that are compatible with God's sovereignty. All right, so libertarianism would say, no, that's not the case, that we have to have a measure of free will that's not absolutely known by God because if it's known by God, then how is it that we can make our free choices when it's time to do that? So libertarian free will says that a person is at liberty freely also in this to be able to choose good and bad and is not restricted by his sinful nature.

So this is one of the issues of that. And so I would say that libertarian free will is just not biblical to begin with, but compatibilist free will is. And the reason I would say that is because Jesus is the model of a human being, of what it means to be properly human. And Jesus, John 5.19, John 5.30, he says he could only do what he saw the Father do. He could only do what the will of the Father was.

He could do nothing but his own initiative. And he also came to fulfill the will of the law, to redeem people, John 6.37-40. So what we're seeing is that Jesus, who had free will, was perfectly compatible. His freedom of choice was perfectly compatible with God's predestination, election, choosing, and sending of Christ. And so compatibilism is demonstrated out of the person of Jesus right there. So it's biblical.

And he is the one who was without sin, so he would be like Adam before the fall. So libertarianism isn't really an issue. Compatibilism is the right one because it goes with Christ. Gotcha. Yeah, I got to refresh myself with compatibilism. Again, I'm going to check your site. Also, one more thing. If you could ask Dave to check his email, I responded to his email about a debate, and I didn't hear back from him again if he could possibly just maybe send him a message.

Let him know so he could check his email. Well, he and I spoke today about several things, and one of them was that a guy challenged me to a debate, one of three topics. Was this what you were talking about? No, mine was on one topic.

It was the resurrection. Want to debate me on it or somebody else? Yeah, he wanted to debate you on it. Who does? It's Elvin Israel, and I sent him a video of his last debate on it, whether or not the resurrection is bodily or not. And he does not affirm that it's bodily.

He's a flaming heretic. Okay. Yeah, so I sent him a video of his last debate on it. So Dave let me know what his schedule is like. I let him know. So if you're interested and he's interested, I just let him know. I sent him an email back.

Yeah, I'd be willing to debate the issue of the physical resurrection of Christ, which is prophesied, fulfilled, and if he denies it, then he's a flaming heretic, and nothing but the mercy of God is letting him live right now because he's denying the truth of Christ. Yeah, I agree. Good. All right, buddy.

There's a break. All right, brother. Take care. All right, man.

God bless. Hey, folks. Two open lines are going to give me a call.

877-207-2276. We'll be right back. Okay, welcome back to the show.

Let's see. Let's get to Nelson from Bakersfield, California. Nelson, welcome. You're on the air.

Hey, Matt. God bless. God bless. Where do you go? I've got two questions. Let's start with the first one.

In the Gospels, do you see anywhere, or maybe if you can find, I'm not sure, if Peter comes from the tribe of Judah? Oh, I don't know. I don't know.

I never studied that. I don't know. Maybe someone knows.

They could tell me. Let's see. I'm looking through a commentary really quickly because I don't know, but I don't see anything.

I'm scanning his background, raising Galilee, brother. No, I don't know. It doesn't say anything. Okay. Why are you asking? I was just wondering because I'm doing a study on 2 Peter, chapter 1. Okay.

It's a good one. And so I was just wondering because I Googled it, and some of it says that one of them said that he is, and then there's other ones that basically they're not really sure. Sure about what? I'm just guessing. Oh, that he's from that tribe. He comes from the tribe of Judah. Yeah, I don't know.

Because I know that Paul comes from the tribe of Benjamin. Well, it would be interesting to see the references that they would give for whatever it is that they're asserting. Yeah, exactly.

So that's why I just wanted to call and ask you if you ever see that anywhere or anything like that. I don't know. That's a good question.

That's a good topic to study. Another question is, this is the way I see it, but maybe I'm wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong. A person that is filled with the Holy Spirit and a person that is not filled with the Holy Spirit, the person that is not, is he filled with a spirit, a demonic spirit? Well, we don't know. I wouldn't say that everybody who's not a Christian is demonically possessed.

They can be oppressed. But we know that Christians are indwelt by God. John 14.23 talks about this. But as far as the unbelievers go, now there's nothing in the scripture that says all unbelievers are possessed.

Even though you look on TV, you wonder. But no, it doesn't say that. Okay.

I was just wondering. Okay. Nice to be here. Thank you, man. All right, buddy. God bless. Thank you. All right. All right, let's get to Timothy from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Tim, welcome.

You're on the air. Okay. Nice to be here. Thank you, man. All right, buddy. God bless. Thank you. All right.

Turn the speaker down back there. You're on the air, Timothy. Hello? Yes. Hello? Yes. Hello, Mr. Slick? Yes. You're on the air. Okay.

Hi, my name is Timothy Garner from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. My question is a two-part question. The first part is, if God commanded Christians to keep, or God demanded his people to worship on the Sabbath, which is the Sabbath day, and the Catholic church changed on the first day, and Jesus worships on the Sabbath, why did the Roman Catholic church change that? Why do churches still practice that when they have the knowledge that that's wrong?

First of all, hold on. Let's make some corrections. The Catholic church didn't change it. They started doing this before the Catholic church was even present. And I have an article on karma about this, but on the first day of the week, I think it was Acts 16, I think it is, or 1 Corinthians 16 talks about gathering together, hearing the message, tithing, and things like that.

So it was done very early on. And Romans 14, 1-12, verse 5 in particular says, one man regards every day alike, and another man one day above another, let each person be fully convinced in his own mind. Furthermore, the Ten Commandments, only nine of them are restated as valid in the New Testament. The Sabbath is not. The reason the Sabbath is not validated, revalidated, is because Jesus is our Sabbath and we rest in him. Furthermore, since we're in Christ, 1 Corinthians 15, 22, and we've died with him, then we've died to the law, Romans 7, 1-4.

So therefore not obligated to keep the Sabbath as Christians on that Saturday. We're free to do it any day. Okay? All right. Can I answer the second part question?

What was your second question? Second question is why do churches now practice celebrating Easter and Christmas when the apostles did not practice doing that? Also, and those holidays go back to pagan worship. Do you do anything on Saturday? Do I do anything on Saturday? Yeah, because Saturday.

Then I do some things on Saturday. I'm talking about Easter now, Easter and Christmas. You understand Saturday is the word from the pagan worship of Saturn.

And now it's on Saturday. You use that pagan terminology. So why would you use the pagan terminology in reference to the Sabbath day? But yet you complain about Easter, a celebration of the resurrection, and Christmas, a celebration of his birth.

And yet you will use the terminology of pagans in order to do whatever you want to do. Are you consistent? Did the apostles celebrate Easter and Christmas? You hear what I'm saying.

You're not being consistent. That's my point. And did they celebrate? Well, the church was forming, and we don't know what they did or didn't celebrate.

There's nothing wrong with celebrating it. Let me ask you a question. Say what you know about biblical theology and our freedom in Christ. If you and I were in a town in some faraway country and we're both hungry, and there was a temple, a pagan temple, and they sacrificed animals in the pagan temple, and then they took that sacrificed meat to the pagan temples, and they stole it in the marketplace.

Could you and I buy that meat and eat it and be okay? Yes, we could, because God did the ability to do that. Jesus gave us the right to do that. Yeah, because of 1 Corinthians 10.

Because it's nothing. You're allowed to eat and put into your body the very thing that was sacrificed to demonic forces, because we're free in Christ. Are we free to be able to celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Christ? Yes, we are. What about the tradition of where Easter comes from, which is actually a derivative of Esther, which was pagan worship also, not the Esther from the Bible, or Ishtar, actually Ishtar, that's the name.

Well, that's what they say, but I don't buy into that. So yet, you will call the Sabbath by the pagan name of worship of Saturn. Well, what I actually mean, I call it by Saturn, but what I actually meant was the Sabbath day, because the Jews, their calendar was totally different. The Sabbath, they could have followed in there, but we depended on the cycle of the moon.

No, no, no, you're missing my point. You said that it's the word Easter. The word Easter is Ishtar.

It's pagan origin, so why would you celebrate on that day, or celebrate Easter, because it's a pagan word. Well, why do you do the Sabbath on Saturday, since Saturday is a pagan word? I did explain to you when I said Saturday, I was actually talking about the Sabbath day. I got you.

I got you. I'm just trying to show you your inconsistency, that's all. Okay, so because of my inconsistency, you're saying it's okay to worship things and practice things that were practiced by pagans and then give them recognition as though God commanded us or would want us to do that. Because of my inconsistency, it doesn't make everything else okay. No, not because of your inconsistency, I'm just showing you that you are inconsistent. That's all I'm showing you.

You haven't thought the issues through. Well, that's because I am imperfect. Yeah, you are.

You're very, like me, okay, we both are, but I'm just saying you're inconsistent. So if the unbelievers celebrated a certain day of the resurrection, of something, and then the Christian church tried to commandeer that pagan day and change it into a good day by saying, hey, we'll celebrate the resurrection of Christ, which is pretty accurate when it really occurred, okay, then is that okay? I don't think so.

You don't think so? Well, I understand Jesus walked into or rode in to Jerusalem roughly in the first week of April. I don't know the exact day.

I've heard April 6th. But on March 14th, 445 B.C. is when the decree went out from Mardic Xerxes to have the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. And the prophecy of Daniel 9, 24 through 27, was that there would be 173,880 days until the Messiah came into the city, which is exactly on the day that he rode in on the donkey. So we know that it happened right about April 1st, give or take, because of the calendar, that he walked in. So a few days later he was crucified.

He came in. So we know it's early. Now, let me ask you, is it wrong to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, the crucifixion and resurrection by which we're redeemed? Is it wrong to celebrate that?

I would have to say I really don't know. It may be, it may or may not be, but that was my question. But also what I do think would be wrong is to associate pagan worship things with Christ and his heavenly Father. I hear you, but let's just say that it was a certain day that was pagan worship day and that the Christian church tried to take care of it and get rid of the pagan aspect and said, no, we're going to worship something good on this day. And then let's just say 200, 300 years later the memory in the population of that pagan thing is gone, and now they're worshiping on that day. Is that okay?

Yeah. Just because the pagans did it also the same day doesn't mean it's bad. See, we're free in Christ. We're free to worship any day we want. Okay. Let me ask you one more question, because this is very important. I'm glad you said all of that. And the other reason is that why do churches command that you have to do the tithe when Jesus fulfilled the law and will free from that law?

I don't see. That's not one of the nine commandments that can be done through Jesus. Well, only wacko churches. Exactly, because you just freely give, freely give. You give from the heart, you just give.

There was no set amount to give. Right. And only the wacko churches require tithing.

Okay. False churches and cults require it because they're still under the law. They haven't died with Christ to that law. So I tell people, you're not obligated to tithe. You're free to tithe.

That's it. Yes, because if I'm in God makes it even harder to give 50% of your life. But anyway, so I'm glad you said that. You did say that churches and wacko churches that require and follow the law that command men and women, Christians, to tithe 10% that those are not, those are false churches.

They're wacked. I wouldn't say they're necessarily false because it would condemn everything about them. But the idea there is that, you know, you don't have to tithe. You're free to tithe. And that's what I preach. If I were a pastor again, I'd say, look.

I'm saying to you, I don't know what you do, but I thank you for that answer. And I'm glad you said that because that clears me up for all the pastors that listen to you that know that the church, when they do that, they're under the law. And that's not, you're not required to do that. You're not required. You're free to. You're not required to.

We're going to go Saturday. But you're not required. You're free not to also. You're free not to also. That's right. You're free not to also. That's right. But you're not required to free not to also. That's right.

That's right. God bless you. We're free either way. God bless you.

And then we want to please God with what we have. God bless you. All right. God bless. Okay. Hey, folks. There we go.

We're out of time. May the Lord bless you. And by His grace, we'll be back on here tomorrow. We won't be on Friday because it's a holiday. May the Lord bless you. God bless. Bye. Another program powered by the Truth Network.