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Matt Slick Live

Matt Slick Live! / Matt Slick
The Truth Network Radio
August 6, 2022 5:00 am

Matt Slick Live

Matt Slick Live! / Matt Slick

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August 6, 2022 5:00 am

Open calls, questions, and discussion with Matt Slick LIVE in the studio. Topics include---1- The first 5 minutes were dealing with technical issues.--2- Matt talks about his recent studies on the Trinity.--3- Does free will have anything to do with our salvation---4- Can you explain John 6-70- Is -devil- the right word---5- If you just give to people, is that the same thing as tithing- Is the 10 percent tithe to the church obligatory---6- When we die, are we immediately in the presence of the Lord---7- How do James 1-13 and Genesis 22-1 fit together- If God does not tempt anyone, how could He have tempted Abraham---8- Matt discusses the similarities between Isaac and Jesus' sacrifices.--9- How do I explain to a JW the meaning of the word -worship- in regard to Jesus.

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The following program is recorded content created by Truth Network. The following program is recorded content created by Truth Network.

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Thank you for listening this Truth Network Podcast. and restart my ComRacks also. That's right, okay, now good. I did think about stuff because I gotta make sure I don't click the wrong button or something like that.

All right, all right, you know, it happens. It's just little tech issues every now and then and we just work on them, work on them live. So if that sounds interesting, then keep listening and hopefully we'll get more callers coming in a little bit and you're listening to Matt Slick live and I might as well tell you that we do stay on the air by your support. If you are willing, would you please consider supporting us at $5 a month? $5 a month is all we ask. We want to be able to continue this work of ministry and to serve the Lord and we do need support to do that and you know, if you could consider helping us out, that would be awesome. So all you gotta do is dial when you, you know, just go to karm.org forward slash C-A-R-M dot O-R-G and if you do that, you can get in and sign up for $5 a month.

It's not very much and I hope that you would consider that perfectly. All right, now I'm gonna reboot my Comrex. He should be up by now and I'm up and so call in, all right. Everything's reset.

8772072276. As I have told you already, I'm working on a really big article, one of the biggest ones I've worked on and I'm still not done with it. I spent a little bit of time today and hopefully I'll finish it either tonight before the Bible study or tomorrow for sure but I've been going through, I don't even know how many verses, 130 some odd verses in the Bible that deal with mentioning the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, all that kind of stuff, relationship and everything that is there with that and it's been an interesting study for me, you know, for someone like myself who enjoys finding out how God works, what he says, relationships because I really do believe very seriously and very sincerely, I really do believe that the Bible is engineered, I believe it is. Every word that's there and every word that's not there, every combo like Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus, I believe those are there for a reason and that we can find them out. I like to do word studies. I like to look and see how, okay, okay, I can see how God communicates to us and the things that he teaches us through these patterns that most people just don't even think of looking at.

Me, I think they are fascinating and so this is one of the things I've gone through and I'm learning quite a bit from it. That's right, praise God. Okay, now let's give it a shot. Let's see how it is. Kyle from North Carolina. Kyle, are you, well, you're there. Can you hear me? Uh-oh, you know what, we may be having a problem here. I can't hear Kyle, this might be him. I'm gonna go to the next caller and let's try James.

James, can you hear me, James? Yes, I can. All right, that sounds good. Okay, so, wow, interesting stuff. So what's up, man?

What do you got, buddy? I understand that you don't believe that free will has anything to do with salvation, is that correct? No, it's not correct. Oh, you do believe it does? Of course, we choose God, but he enables us to be able to do it and the faith that we have really is our faith. He grants that we believe, he grants that we make that choice, so we do. If we hear the gospel, don't we humble ourselves before God, hearing it, and then he gives us grace? Oh, so then are you saying that God's grace is dependent on your goodness? No, it's depending on you humbling yourself before him in space-time. In heaven, you're humbling yourself anyway, but in space-time, we have a choice to humble ourselves.

So you're saying that God will give grace to you based on your goodness, is that exactly what you're saying? No, no, you admit you're no good. Humbling yourself is admitting you're no good. No, humbling yourself is a good thing, right? Isn't it, humbling yourself a good thing? It's admitting the truth, it's admitting the truth.

I didn't ask if it's admitting the truth, I asked is it a good thing, that's what I asked. Is humbling yourself before God a good thing? Well, God thinks it is, so I agree with him.

Okay, so let me ask you another question. Is humbling yourself before God a good thing that you do? Yeah, God thinks it's good, so I do too. Okay, so then you're saying that by the goodness that you do before God in your humbling, then, based on that, God now gives you grace. No, I'm saying it's a choice, because God says humble yourself before God in the Bible, and he also says that he gives grace to the humble, and it also says, Jesus also said, you have to come to me like a little child and humble yourself, so he's telling you to humble yourself, and that's something he's doing. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. You know, I talk to people, and when they do that, they just verbal carpet bomb things out of context.

It doesn't do anything. You see, humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord. He will exalt you, James chapter four. He's already speaking to believers, not unbelievers.

You see, you gotta look at what the context is. Well, he's speaking to everybody. No, he's not.

No, he's not. James himself, specific, excuse me, let me read. James, the bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. He's talking to those who are already believers in God. Yeah, but Jesus also says to humble yourself like a little child.

Dude, dude, dude, dude. You're doing something that's very typical of a lot of people that I have discussions with. You make a statement, I put it in context, you ignore what I say and go on to something else. If you continue to ignore- We say we have no choice. We have a choice. God gave us a choice. I never said we don't have a choice. You are not listening. You're not listening. Sure, you have a choice to humble yourself or not. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the choice.

Okay. Okay, are you saying then that an unbeliever can humble himself? If God gives him the gospel, that's the word of God and the power of the word of God, and he chooses to give us free will, he chooses to heal him. James. He chooses to humble himself. James. He chooses to humble himself.

James, James, James. You are not answering my questions. You're pontificating. Well, if I asked you a question, are you gonna actually answer the question? The question. Sure. All right, I'm gonna test you. Okay. I'm gonna test you. All right. What's two plus two?

Four. Okay, so I know you could answer a question directly. Now, is there any verse? Don't patronize me, please, sir. James, is there any verse in the Bible that says an unbeliever can humble himself? You are an unbeliever, and when you were born, you're an unbeliever, and then God gives you the gospel, then you choose to humble yourself, and he grants you grace.

Is there any verse? This is what I'm calling you on. You said don't patronize you, yet you are ignoring the question that I repeatedly ask you. This is why I have to back up to two plus two equals four to see if you are able to answer a question directly. I directly then ask you another question, and then you again dismissed it. I ask you, is there a verse in the Bible that says an unbeliever can humble himself?

That's the question. Where does the Bible say he grants? Okay, well, just move along, because I'm gonna get frustrated with him, because he's pretty typical, sorry, folks, but he's pretty typical of those who are brainwashed, and I'm not saying he's not a Christian, but I've met a lot of people who claim to be Christians, and they probably are, who can't think and don't want to go through, they can't think critically, I should say it that way. They don't wanna go through and answer direct questions, and the problem is you have to answer, if I ask a direct question, what's the answer? Here, let me help you out, folks. Is there a verse in the Bible that says an unbeliever can humble himself?

No. So we have to go and look at what the scripture says, but he doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to face what the word of God says and submit his theological perspective to the scriptures. He said, if you do a certain thing, then God's grace comes upon you. So he's saying an unbeliever does a good thing of humbling himself, and then God's grace is a response to his humbling. But where is that in the Bible? It's not there in the Bible. This is called humanist theology.

It's humanism, and it's woven into a lot of people's ideas about scripture and what God ought to be because they believe in a blonde-haired, black-occasioned, surfer-duped, dressed in an Ole Miss nightgown, telling you the door of your heart, asking permission, will you let him in? And that's just unfortunate. I wish he'd have been more capable of entering direct questions. We could have gone someplace. Hey, we'll be right back after these messages. Here we go. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the show. I hope the choppiness is done.

I don't know if the choppiness is going out over the air. And one person made a comment inside of our StreamYard feed and everything. It said, you heard the PSAs, but it was choppy and messed up, audio that was making me come off as always angry with that guy. Well, I wasn't angry with the guy. I was just frustrated, and he wouldn't just have a decent conversation. And so anyway, we're trying to work through some problems, because it might be on my end. It might be the internet. And for those who are listening online, we're trying to figure that one out, and we're working on it live.

And that's why we're having a little bit of an issue right now. Let's get to, let's see. Let's get to Dave from Greensboro. Hey, Dave. OK, now, you're back online, buddy. OK, what do you got, man? OK, I hope you can hear me OK now.

Much better, much better, OK. Good, good. John 6, 70, Jesus said, have I not chosen you 12 and one of you as a devil? When I think of the word devil, I only think of Satan. But yet, I know Judas was possessed with Satan when he entered into him. But when Jesus called him a devil, is that the correct rendering of that scripture at that point? Because it seems he's a lost sinner.

Here, can you explain that to me? Yeah, let me go look at the Greek. And when he was a devil, and the word is diabolos. Yep, that's what it means, it means devil. And what he's doing, Jesus is just saying that you are a devil. There is someone we call the devil.

We definitely have that. And let's see, I'm going to do a search for the devil. And that's a definite person, for you have your father, the devil.

And 844. So a diabolos, it can be addressed to the devil, but also a devil. And it's a false accuser. So you are a devil, a false accuser. And one who falsely accuses and divides people without any reason, he is an accuser, a slanderer. And I'm reading through a lexicon.

Analyzes the words and looks at them. Satan is called by that name because originally he accused or slandered God in paradise, being averse to the increase of man's knowledge and happiness. And then we have the children of the devil, as well. You have your father, the devil, John 844. So it's just a term, and it can be used of the, with a definite article, the.

It's a specific one. And without the definite article, like a devil, then it's just one among many accusers. Think of it that way.

Yes. So that title could be given to anyone who does against the will of God, who is warring against God. OK, now you said it better. Warring against God. That's different than anybody, you know. Like you and I could make a mistake and go against God's will in something that doesn't make us a devil.

But good for you. You said warring against. And yeah, someone who is warring against God is a devil. Now, we don't say he's a devil in the sense it created being with horns and wings and claws on his fingers and things like that.

But it's in the more generic sense that the word is used. So if I were to look at, for example, the word devil, which in Greek is diabolos, and it's 1228 in the concordance. So 1228, it occurs 37 times in the New Testament. And so it's the devil occurs many times.

And I'm scanning through as we're talking. Wow. And then one of you is a devil, John 670.

And schemes of the devil. Oh, interesting. Hey, that's interesting. Look at that. Wow, that's interesting.

Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips. And that's the word diabolos. Isn't that interesting? I just learned something. And let's see. Older women like, whoa, that is really interesting. Why would he say it that way?

That's interesting. The snare of the devil in 2 Timothy 226 and then 2 Timothy 33. And the context here, let me do this.

Scroll down a little bit. OK. For men will be lovers of self. This is in the difficult times to come.

Lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, or irreconcilable, malicious gossips. And that's the word diabolos again. This is interesting stuff. I like this good stuff. You learn. And then verse 7, women already read that one, in verse 11. Women must be dignified, not malicious gossips. So it looks like malicious gossips is how it's translated also, Titus. Oh, look at this.

Older women likewise are reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips. That's another one. Oh, this is fun stuff. See, I like doing this.

I get to learn. There is the devil, the devil, the devil. And it goes on. So we have a devil. We have the devil.

And we have malicious gossips. And that's what the word diabolos can mean, which is consistent with the idea that it's an accuser. The devil was an accuser. Did God really say he's accusing God of unrighteousness and not being honest in various things? So he's an accuser.

So that's interesting malicious gossips. And then the word, this is what I love studying stuff like this. Categor. Categor is accuser. And used in Revelation, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Accuser, slanderer, the devil. It's a synonym. And that's a different word in Greek, which I love. I enjoy this stuff.

People enjoy watching sports. I'm like, hey, look at how the word is used. Yeah, I got issues. So accuser is, look at this.

This is interesting stuff, all kind of good stuff. He said, I will give you a hearing after your accusers arrive. Also giving orders for them to be kept in Herod's Praetorium, Acts 2.23.

And that's 25.16. I answered them, it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before the accused meets his accuser face to face. So anyway, interesting stuff.

So I just learned this. Diabolos can mean malicious gossip, as well as the devil. But it can also mean a devil. And that's how Jesus was referencing Judas in John 6.70. Let me go back over there.

Did I myself not choose you? The 12. And yet one of you is a devil, an accuser, a false witness. That's what he's basically saying. Yeah. And I suppose that title could fit a lot of many people in the scripture, like Pharaoh, who resisted God, who warred against God, man, Moses, and on through the word of God.

Right. So we get the word diabolos, we get the word diabolical. That guy is diabolical. Evil at his heart, an intention, accuser, malicious, a gossip, seeking to harm someone else. That's diabolical. And so this is how it's going to be assigned. And that's assigned to the devil, we call him. But see, the word has changed slightly, like the word apologetics means to make a defense. Well, it's apologia, but now we get apologia, which means to say you're sorry by admitting guilt.

So the words change over time and have slightly different meanings and different scopes. OK, buddy? That was interesting. That was for you. All right, David. Good stuff. Man, I like that. I just learned something.

I like learning. Good stuff. Hey, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. OK, everybody, welcome back to the show. Let's get on with Alberto from Georgia.

We lost. And now let's move over to the next longest waiting person is Crystal from Ohio. Hey, Crystal. Well, excuse me. Welcome. There we go. Hi.

Hi. OK, so what do you got? I have a question about tithing. I was always taught that you're supposed to give 10% of your income to the church. My question is, I guess, do you believe that? Or if you just give to people yourself, would that be considered tithing?

All right. So you are not obligated to tithe in the New Testament. It's not a law that you have to keep. I say to people, you don't have to tithe. You're free to tithe.

It's different. Because there is a sense in which we ought to support the work of ministry, being Christians. And if you don't do that, you're the one losing. In that, if you're not supporting ministry work, then you're saying that what God does through people is not worth supporting.

And that's an obvious problem. So we're free to assess where we want to tithe. So your second question. So I was going to say that you can tithe to a church. You can tithe 10%, 20%, 1%, or don't tithe at all.

That's between you and God. And I like to say, you're free to support ministry. It's a good idea to do that, because it means we're supporting what God wants to be done in the world. And it just takes tithing and support. And it does say in the New Testament, when you do this, when you tithe.

So he's talking about what the Christians are doing, because their faith and their works match. But I want you to understand, it's not an obligation that's going to keep you saved or not. But we should tithe.

We should help. Now, do you have to tithe to a church? Well, what if you're going to a church and they've got millions of dollars in the bank, and your neighbor across the street can't pay rent? And you see this. I have no problem saying, Lord, I'm going to tithe by doing this, by giving it to someone who needs help.

Because it's supposed to go to the church to one degree, and then the church helps distribute it among the widows, the orphans, the needy. I don't see a problem personally with saying to the Lord, I'm going to help so-and-so. I don't have a problem with that. OK? OK. Well, I wanted to tell you I enjoy your show very much. And thank you for taking my call. God help you. Well, thank you.

I hope the Lord blesses you. OK? Thank you. All right. Thanks, bye-bye.

OK. All right, that was Crystal. Always liked that name. Nice name. OK, let's try Zach from Gastonia, North Carolina. Zach, welcome.

You're on the air. Thank you, Matt. Quick question, and I have a problem with my brother. We're arguing over at the time of death, are we in the presence of the Lord? That's my opinion and what I've read in the Bible. But he interprets it that, no, your body's just the rest asleep until the Lord comes back and will be resurrected.

And my niece was killed in a car wreck, and my sister's been really upset. And I wanted to support her and tell her, this is the way we all believe. But he said, no, no, that's not right. And I wanted your interpretation. And I went back to scriptures when he says he's on the cross, and he tells the guy beside him, he'll be in paradise with him today. Today you'll be with me in paradise.

And my brother says, no, that's not true. And it's not saying that. And I don't know, if I could get your opinion on it and what your mission of this is, I'd appreciate it. Your mission of this is, I'd appreciate it. I'm going to hang up and record it. No, no, no, you don't have to hang up. Don't have to hang up. Don't have to hang up, OK? All right.

Unless you have to. I mean, go ahead. I'll talk about it.

I was wanting to record your answer. All right. OK, no problem. All right, is that OK?

Yeah, it's whatever you want to do, buddy. It's OK. All right, so what happens when we die? 2 Corinthians 5, 8, we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. So that tells us that when we die, we're absent from the body, and also we are at home with the Lord. So it does not mean that we go into a state of soul sleep. That's what your friend, your brother's talking about, that the soul goes into soul sleep. It's just the body dies, and then the soul is either nonexistent, which is heresy, or the soul is just not active, and that's heresy.

And this is why both of those are heresy. Because Jesus has two natures, divine nature and a human nature. So when he physically died, if a person wants to say that when a human being dies, then his soul ceases to have any action, any work, anything, or just a sleep unconscious, then it must also be true of the human nature of Christ. But that would mean that during the interim period before his resurrection, in those three days, that Jesus was no longer Jesus. Because it would mean then that the attributes of humanity were not being ascribed to the person of Christ. Because you see, Jesus has two natures, divine nature and a human nature. This is called the hypostatic union. Also, the attributes of both natures are ascribed to the single person.

That's called the communication of the properties. So Jesus says, I, that's the person, I am thirsty. He says, I will be with you always, even at the end of the earth. So the same person, I, is claiming the attributes of humanity and divinity. If the soul, the human soul, so to speak, the human spirit, just ceases to exist, then that is destroyed.

The person of Christ is destroyed. If they say, on the other hand, it does not cease to exist, just to sleep, then there is no attribution of those characteristics of the human nature to the person of Christ, because they're not active. Because you see, what they say about soul sleep is, you're unconscious. You're not doing anything. I ask them, what's going on in this state of unconsciousness?

Is any energy being expended in the afterlife? You just don't exist? What's the answer? Well, you're asleep.

Where does that come in? Because sleep is only described in the physical body. When it talks about sleep in reference to a human being at death, it's because the body residing in a horizontal position, eyes closed in death, looks like you're asleep. And it's a metaphor of the way the Lord speaks about those who are asleep in Christ. It means they're really alive, because when you're asleep, you're still alive. And he's saying, you're not dead.

You continue to exist. But people, unfortunately, have then said, oh, that means you're unconscious. No, it doesn't mean you're unconscious, because unconsciousness is a characteristic of the physical, not of the spiritual. So if they're going to say that the human being goes into a state of unconsciousness, then there's no activation, no participation of the attributes, in the human sense, to Christ as a person.

That would be denying the communication of the properties, or the doctrine called the communicatio idiomatum. And this would be a heresy, because it affects the very nature of the attributes of who Christ is as a full person. So that doctrine that your brother's teaching is heretical, and needs to be repented of, and it's not true. Now, not only that, when I went to 2 Corinthians 5, 8, to be absent from the body is to be home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 12, 2 through 4, I know a man in Christ who, 14 years ago, whether in the body, or I do not know, or out of the body, I do not know.

God knows. Such a man was caught up in the third heaven. Now what Paul is teaching us is simple. He's saying it's possible that something could be inside your body or outside your body.

That's what he's saying. 2 Corinthians 12, 2 through 4, and such a one was caught up into the third heaven. In Jewish cosmology, there's three heavens. The first heaven is where the air and the trees are, and the clouds.

The second is where the stars and sun, stuff like that. And the third is the dwelling place of God. I do not know. God knows. Such a man was caught up to the third heaven, and I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know. God knows, was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. So he was conscious, separate from his body, in the afterlife right there, in the presence of God in the third heaven. So some people think it was Paul who was stoned, and then the E, a near-death experience. Or some people think that. We don't know for sure.

But what he's teaching here is very simple. It's possible to have your soul, your spirit, not exist in your body and to be someplace else, and to be conscious in it afterwards. 2 Corinthians 12, 2 through 4. So that doctrine idea that the soul sleep is refuted by scripture, and anybody who holds to it should leave it, abandon it, and repent of it. OK? There you go.

All right, brother? If he's gone or not or what, I hope that helps. We got about out of time. Got a break coming up here in a few seconds. He's gone.

I hope that helps. You know, God is a standard of truth, not us. Put Jesus in the middle of it, and then see what happens. How does your teaching stand when you put Christ right there? All right, folks.

Three open lines, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. All right, welcome back to the last segment. Just want to give you guys a reminder.

We stay on the air. Buy your support. Please consider supporting us. We ask $5 a month. Real simple, real easy.

Not very much. All you've got to do is go to karm.org, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G forward slash donate. And everything will need to be right there. Hey, Kyle from Richmond, Virginia. Welcome. You're on the air. Hi, Matt. Thank you for taking my call.

Definitely a fan. Got a question for you. I'll preface this by saying I don't want to spark debate. I'm genuinely curious as to where I'm reading this wrong. So I'm sorry.

You know, you're going to be providing me some knowledge this evening. However, it comes from two verses. One's in James 113, which says, For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.

And the other verse is Genesis 22 one, where it says, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham. And I'm just curious as to how I should interpret that. Well, if you send me $20, I can write an answer to it and give it back. No, that was a bad joke. OK. OK. Usually when I say something like that to my friends, they stare at me for a bit. They go, oh, you jerk. And then I get them. So it's like one of my friends, once he's telling me about a car accident he was in, you know, and something happened. And I said, did you ever get out?

He looked at me like an idiot. I love doing that kind of stuff. All right. So testing and tempting can have different ranges of meaning. So, you know, for example, I have no interest in sports. So you could tempt me and say, hey, you want to go to the Super Bowl? Not really. We get to, what, I don't even know, zero yard line seats?

I have no idea. Seriously, that's how little I know about sports. I just don't care.

And I'd say, whatever. I'm not tempted. You're tempting me, but I'm not tempted. There's an external thing, but there's not an internal temptation. Now, that's one sense in which temptation can occur. I think it's in Psalm 106, they tempted God in the wilderness.

But he's not tempted, so he's attempting. Now, when you want to do apologetics, what I recommend that you do is not use the King James. The King James, as good as it was, is archaic.

And it needs to be polished. What I'd recommend you do is use a more modern translation, like the NASB. It says, God tested Abraham.

The ESV says, tested. The King James, 1900, though, says, tempt. So let's just work with the idea of tempt. Is it true that God would tempt Abraham? Well, let's just see.

What's the semantic range that can be used of the word for tempt? So if I were to do this right now, I'm looking. And the Hebrew word is 5254. So I'm going to do my little trick I do, live. OK, 5254. And it occurs, ooh, interesting, 36 times. Now, in the NASB, it says, has God tried to take for himself a nation? It's used there. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested him at Masa. Deuteronomy 16. Venture, it's used as. Testing, tested, proved. So I could go in and probably find the same thing in the King James Bible and see what it says.

I'll do that right now. King James, 1900. And it says, tempt, prove, assayed, tempted, proveth, adventure, prove, prove, to say, to commune.

Wow, interesting. Tempting, and they tempted God in their hearts. This is Psalm 78, 18. So it has different meanings in different contexts, OK? All right, so we know that God does not, of his own action, tempt someone into sin.

We know that's a fact. So when we see the word, you're tempted. It could also mean, as the word has a range of meaning, a semantic domain, that it could mean, as the NASB and the ESV say, he's testing you.

He's tempting you out, not in a way to sin, but for you to discover what you're made of. And this is how the word can be used in the full semantic domain, even in the King James version. But in the more accurate translations, NASB, ESV, then we see the word, testing Abraham, and he tested him. Well, here's another question, then.

Why would he do that? Because God already knows. See, God already knows what Abraham's faith is.

God knows all things perfectly. So why is he testing Abraham? People have said to me, oh, he tested Abraham to learn, because that means God doesn't know everything.

Give me a break. He's testing Abraham to improve his faith, as James talks about, the testing of our faith, and that works and faith go together, and that through the temptations, but the testing of our trials, our faith is perfected. And this is what's going on here with Abraham, particularly because of what happens next in the context. And the tempting or the testing of him is the offering of his son, Isaac. Now, there is no temptation in a sinful way that God's offering to him, because he knows that Abraham already believed and already was trusting. He knows all things. He ordained all things. So it cannot be that God is testing him for God to learn, and it certainly is not the case that he's tempting him in an issue of sin.

Therefore, the testing is the best understanding, and it's so that the faith of Abraham can be manifested, and we can learn from it as well. And that's what's going on, OK? That was a great answer. I really appreciate that. Me and my buddy Jared listen to you every day, and he had an inclination that you were going to say it was testing Abraham. So I got to shout him out on that.

But really appreciate you, Tom, and the explanation. OK, before you go, before you go, read the rest of the chapter and go through 24. Because God says to Abraham, take your only begotten son.

Now, wait a minute. Abraham already had another son. He had Ishmael 13 years earlier. But no, take your only begotten son, Isaac.

Offer him on a hill, right? Genesis 22, 2. Jesus was offered on a hill. He was the only begotten. Both Jesus and Isaac took a donkey to the place of sacrifice.

That's what it says in Genesis 22, 3. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey. Took two of his young men with him. And two men went with him, as it says. How many people went with Jesus up on the hill?

Two men, one on the right, one on the left. Three day journey for Isaac, Abraham and Isaac, to get to the place of sacrifice. And Jesus was in the grave three days. Isaac carried wood on his back up the hill.

That's what it says. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. John 19, 17. And Jesus, therefore, went out bearing his own cross.

He had the wood on his back. And when Isaac said, hey, Dad, where's the sacrifice? God will provide for himself the lamb. Genesis 22, 8. Both sons were offered on wood. And a ram was caught in a thicket of thorns that didn't offer up Isaac for real.

But he was on there, ready. And God says, stop. And they got a ram caught in a thicket of thorns. And Jesus bore a crown of thorns to symbol the curse. And God says to, in Genesis 22, 17, I'll multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven.

And we are the offspring in that generic sense, the seed of God in his offspring by adoption. It says, Abraham went down. It does not say that Isaac went down in the text.

It just says, and a ram went down. The hint is Jesus had not come down from the cross. It says, get a servant. The servant says, get a bride for the son.

And the servant is Eliezer, who's the helper. It's a bride for the son. And the Holy Spirit gets a bride for the son. We are the bride.

And the bride was a beautiful virgin. And we are, for I am jealous. It's 2 Corinthians 11, 2.

For I am jealous for you and a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you as to one husband so that Christ might present you as a pure virgin. And the servant offered 10 gifts of the bride with Isaac and stuff at the well, which is the same well in Genesis. Excuse me, in John 4, when Jesus talked to the woman at the well with five husbands.

And I've drank out of that very well, as a matter of fact. Five husbands and there were five departures by Israel in certain times to serve false gods. And five represents that. And 10 gifts offered to the bride. And there are 10 charismatic gifts given to the church.

10. So you see, it was for our benefit as well that God tested Abraham. That Abraham's faith would be perfected. And that we would learn that everything points to Jesus Christ ultimately. That's what's going on. God's not introducing sin to him.

He's testing him, perfecting him, teaching him, and informing us at the same time. Amen? That was, amen.

That was great. OK, brother. God bless. All right.

Hey, God bless you. You have a great evening, sir. Thank you.

You too. Thanks a lot, Kyle. All right, let's get to our last caller, if he's still there, Junior from California, where I used to live. Hey, Junior, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, how's it going, man?

Just a quick question. So there's this coworker who's been talking. And basically, the worship, the word worship, when it's mentioned about Jesus, we've been kind of going back and forth. And basically, he told me that that word can also be translated as obeisance.

Obeisance, yes. He basically told, yeah, he told me that if I were to go to the Strong's Concordance, I will find it there. And basically, it's just a matter of what it is you believe in. He basically said, since you're a Trinitarian, Trinitarians are going to translate that as worship, whereas someone who isn't will translate it as obeisance. But he says it could translate either way. Is that correct, what he's saying? Yes. Yes, it is correct what church this guy goes to. Is he a Jehovah's Witness? Yes. Well, he doesn't attend anymore.

But obviously, he still has. So he's a Jehovah's Witness. All right. Now, what you can do is go to my website on the Jehovah's Witnesses. And I've written an article on this very topic, OK?

And the New World Translation and proskeneo. It's right there. And you can go and you can look this up. I'm kind of starting to go in quickly because we're about out of time here. We have to fix that table, make the table look a little bit better.

So what I've done is, let's see. The word proskeneo occurs 55 times in the Watchtower, Kingdom, and in linear. Of those 55, 15 are in reference to Jesus, with 40 use of others. 27% of the usage is of Jesus.

And not a single reference is translated as worship, even though in reference to the devil, demons and idols, they do translate it as worship. If this doesn't demonstrate their bias, then what does? You see, what they do is they, it's right there. It's right there.

I did the work, OK? So in reference to Jesus, it's all obeisance. In reference to God, they say worship. But they also say worship in reference to the devil. And I'm looking. And also generic, idols, it's used of. And let's see, so you can see it.

And also of an angel. So who's the one who's biased? Show it to him, OK? You show him that, all right? That's what I do, man. I love this stuff, OK? There's the proof right there.

I hate it. OK. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right, man. All right, you call me back.

Let me know what happened. You print that article. They go, hey, look at this. What about this, big boy? And see what he says, all right? OK.

But do it with love. Definitely. All right, brother. All right, man, well, God bless.

OK. All right, that was Junior from California. Hey, you know, this is the kind of stuff I like to do in research. And these kind of things come in handy. And there's a good example of how studying God's word and seeing how God uses words is really important. And then see what the cults do with them as well. Oh, not good what they do. All right, hey, everybody.

There's the music. May the Lord bless you. And I ask in his name that you be blessed greatly this night by God's grace. And hopefully, we'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a great evening, folks. Talk to you later. Bye. Another program powered by the Truth Network.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-03-15 12:39:48 / 2023-03-15 13:00:44 / 21

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