Matt Slick Live

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

Today and tomorrow I'm here. From John chapter 2 when Jesus turns the water into the wine. My question is this, why did he choose to, why do you think he chose to use the stone containers rather than the ones the people brought to the party? Because they were going to be used for a ceremony. They were there for one of the feasts and have water in them. Plus there's six of them and God created the earth in six days. Now Colossians 1 15, 16, 17 talks about Jesus being the creator and it also says in John 1 verses 1 through 3 through 4 or 5 range it talks about Jesus is the one through whom all things came into existence. So this is his first miracle.

Notice it's on the third day which is interesting. At a wedding which is further interesting and then that's when he does his miracles out of six days and represents the six days of creation, his sovereignty and who he was. Do you think that that would represent the wine, the Holy Spirit?

No, because that would mean he'd be creating the Holy Spirit, no. The Holy Spirit is there and was anointed him in his baptism. But the issue here, a lot of people ask is the wine really fermented? Is it really wine or just grape juice? No, it was real wine. It wasn't grape juice. No, I believe totally it was real wine.

I think it was meant to restore the joy to the party or the wedding. And I know a lot of people are having trouble with the wine part. Well they should.

They get a little uppity about it. But you know Proverbs 31 6, I'm going to read it to you. This is what the Bible says. Give strong drink to him who's perishing and wine to him whose life is bitter. That's what the Bible says to do. So that's scripture. People are like, what?

That would never happen. Jesus, the blonde haired, blonde Caucasian surfer dude, he'd never make real alcohol. No, and then the groomsman or the master of the feet says it's the best wine he's ever had. So obviously it was good stuff.

All right, I just wanted to get into that. My whole thought was that he didn't want to use the vessels that they had brought with him for a couple of reasons. One, he didn't want anyone to misunderstand that he actually made the wine out of water. You know there could have been some residual wine in those containers. Yeah, that's a good point. And also that those were made out of dirt where these other ones were for purification.

So they were already quote unquote pure. Yep, that's right. That's right. Okay. Awesome, Matt. Thank you very much.

You're welcome very much. Well, God bless. All right.

Okay. Hey, three open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Jason from, let's see, Arizona, I think. Welcome. You're on the air.

Hi, Matt. I was realizing that since we are not born of God by a decision of our will, but it's God who causes us to be regenerated. And that in Romans chapter nine, he made us vessels of mercy, prepared beforehand for glory, that I came to the conclusion that ultimately our eternal destiny must be determined by God. That's correct.

Very good. And that's a hard pill for everyone I know to swallow, but I'm accepting it. Why are you accepting it? Because it's what the word of God says. So you know, that's the right attitude. That's what it says. And that's what it says. And that is what it says. And when I first heard about it, I said, no, my salvation was up to my goodness, my ability, my awareness, my decision.

And then I found out that that wasn't biblical. And I still just say discuss it with people who say, no, it's all up to me and my wisdom and my choice. And trying to show the conscripture is not the case, but I'm glad that you are affirming it. Well, in a way, doesn't it take a big burden off our back knowing that it's not our works that are going to secure it?

Yes. Because if we, you know, a lot of people are not sure what we're saying. So let me give some background information for this. God works all things after the counsel of his will. Ephesians 1-11. He grants that we have faith. That's Philippians 1-29.

The faith that he grants to us is in Christ. That's John 6-29. We're caused by being born again. 1 Peter 1-3. We're born again not of our own will, but the will of God. John 1-13.

We have to be granted to be able to come to Christ. John 6-65. The unbeliever is a slave of sin. Romans 6-14-20.

He does no good. Romans 3-12. He doesn't seek for God. Romans 3-12 also. He's dead in his sins. Ephesians 2-1.

Ended by nature, child of wrath. Ephesians 2-3. And cannot receive spiritual things. 1 Corinthians 2-14. So this is what the scriptures teach.

Once I learned all of these, I was like, you know, that's what it says. And I heard a comment from somebody who said, I'm glad that God predestined me from the foundation of the world because if he looked at me now he wouldn't pick me. And what we're saying there is, yeah, God is a sovereign king. And all things work after the counsel of his will. But too many people like to say that, no, it's up to my will, my ability, my wisdom, my goodness to be able to make these decisions.

And that's not the case. So it's unfortunate, but that's what people believe. And anyway, I'm glad that you hold to the biblical position. Yeah, well, in John 1-13, you know, he said it's not by our will.

I don't know how anyone can conclude we're saved by our will when he said it's not by our will. Yep. I'm with you. Anyway, thank you, man. I won't hold you. That's all right. That's all right, man. God bless. Have a good day. Bye-bye. You too. All right. God bless. All right. If you want to give me a call, we have three open lines or four open lines, 877-207-2276.

All right. Let's get to Dave from North Carolina. Dave, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt, honor to talk to you. Hey, thanks for talking to you.

I listen to you every day on the way home. And not too long ago, I heard you say that you were having a debate with a Muslim. And I never was able to catch that. And I didn't hear anything, you know, after you had the debate on how it went.

And I was wondering if you could tell a little bit about that. We had to postpone it. And it'll happen Tuesday, the eighth voting day. And next week on Tuesday.

Yeah. And so it'll be in the evening. But what happened was, my wife had a procedure done. And because, you know, I tell people, she has a lot of medical issues, and she had a procedure done. And let's just say that that day was not a real good day for her. And I was up quite a bit. And I didn't get much sleep.

And the next day, she had a little bit of an episode and details. And so that wiped that day out somewhat. And it took a day or two to recover. And I just wasn't up to it. I canceled several things that week. And we postponed it for a week.

That's all. Oh, well, gosh, I hate to bring up bad memories. I apologize, man. No, it's all right.

It's all right. She's doing better. She has, you know, I've told people over the years, she has one of the rarest connective tissue disorders in the world called Luis Dietz.

It's like Marfan's on steroids. And a lot of people know what Marfan syndrome is. But hers is much worse. And so she has osteoporosis. And she doesn't let me talk about this very much, but she has osteoporosis. And so they had to go through a procedure to help her bone strengthen so they don't break because it's worse.

Her density is worse than a 100-year-old woman. Well, when will it be televised on any network? Yeah, I'll put the link up on the calendar, karm.org forward slash calendar. Put it up there. And you guys can watch. It's with a Muslim guy. And we'll see how it goes.

It's on Is the Trinity Necessary for Existence? Okay. Right. I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, me too.

It'll be fun. All right. All right then. You have a good evening. And I'll say a prayer for your wife. Thanks. And she has another problem called stupidest husbandess.

So she needs a lot of prayer for that too. I understand that. All right.

You have a good night. Okay, man. All right.

God bless, buddy. Okay. All right. Let's see.

Debate with a Muslim. Okay. Then we got that one. Now we got three open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Rick from North Carolina. Rick, welcome. You're on the air. Rick. I hit the button.

Rick from North Carolina. We'll give you another few seconds here. He's probably panicking. Trying to get his phone to work. There you go.

First off, two questions. The woman who was calling an indulger when Jesus met down right on the ground, do you think, in your opinion, he was right down in the hands of the men that was already there? Well, I don't know exactly what he was doing, but I think it's... Where is it? There's a... I think... I thought it was in...

It's been a long time. Let's see. I'm looking for a verse in the Old Testament where God says that he will write down their iniquities. Okay. So, I'm trying to find it while I'm looking here. And so, some people think that what he was doing was reflecting that. I forgot where the verse is.

You know what's right down there, Nick, or there's other people that were there. Right. Right. I got you. All right.

This is amazing. I want your opinion on this. I was riding up the street the other day, and I saw it was a new church, and it said, Christ is King Catholic Church.

How about one off the road? Tell me what you think that means. Well, it means, hopefully, that they recognize that the King Lord Jesus is the Supreme One, not their Pope.

So, hopefully, that's the issue. Okay. Now, have you heard that before within the Catholic religion? No, generally, no. They don't promote Christ.

They promote Mary and things like that. Hey, hold on. We've got a break. Okay, buddy. Hey, folks, we'll be right back after these messages.

We have one open line, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. All right, everybody, welcome back to the show.

Okay, Rick from North Carolina. Hello. Still there? Yes. Yes, I'm here. All right.

So, where were we? Catholic Church and all that stuff. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yes, that, Rick, Lord Jesus, Christ is King Catholic Church. Now, I know that I'm a Catholic Scray and believe in Mary, but have you ever heard of Catholics converting to Jesus Christ? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yes, a lot of Catholics convert to Christ and put him first.

Okay. And they end up leaving Catholicism. I have a book from written where 50 priests came to Christ, and they wrote their testimonies and what happened.

So, yeah, it happens a lot. The Catholic Church is the greatest source of, right, it used to be this way 20 years ago, don't know what it is now, the greatest source of the cults, you know, the Jehovah's Witnesses. Oh, okay. Romans, yeah.

So, if they convert, if those Catholics converted and left Catholicism to become born-to-be Christians, then they can't call themselves, their church should not be called Catholic Church then, right? In the Roman Catholic sense, that's correct. Okay. Okay, I got it. Yeah.

Yeah. Because, you know, Roman Catholic just means, Catholic means universal and Roman Catholic became known as the universal true church of Rome. And so, the Roman Catholic, but Catholic just means universal. So, we're all part of the Catholic Church as it means universal, but we're not part of the Roman Catholic Church, which is a false church.

Okay, one more quick opinion. Now, I know you said you're having this conversation with a guy who's Muslim. I got new neighbors, I mean, like within 12 foot apart, that are Muslim, and they are very, very nice.

They're an older couple. But now, with the Muslim religion, it goes all the way back to the New Testament, right? No. The Muslim religion was started by Muhammad in the 600s, and...

In the 600s, AD? Yes. Yeah, there were heresies floating around in the area, and apparently, he wrote them into the Quran. You know, it says, don't say Allah is three, there's only one Allah, for example, and they'll say that.

What it means is, Muslims, they'll stretch things to try and make the Quran fit and make it true, but the Quran is not. So, you're telling me that in the Old Testament, the Egyptians were not Muslims? No. Of course not. Okay.

Well, I know you would know, okay. Yeah, they were not Muslims. Yeah.

But the Muslims, like I say, Abraham was a Muslim, Jesus was a Muslim, and they don't realize how sinful they are in saying such things. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Matt. And like the other gentlemen, I will definitely keep your wife and you in prayer.

Well, we both need it. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, brother. Oh, it is your pleasure. Thank you. All right, Rick. All right, let's see.

Next longest waiting is Jeanette, I guess, or Janet, from North Carolina. Welcome. You're on the air.

Yes, Janet. Thank you. I have a question. I wanted to know how free will and predestination coexist together in harmony, I guess you could say.

Sure. Free will is the ability to make choices that are not forced on you, but are just consistent with what you are. So, some people say, well, your free will and God's predestination aren't compatible.

Of course they are. I mean, whoever says that just doesn't know what they're talking about. Because the Bible says God works all things after the counsel of his will, Ephesians 1-11. So, if they want to say that they have free will independent of God, well, then that would be idolatry. But even if they have that view, I'm going to ask them, does your free will choices work in the sovereignty of God? They have to say yes.

Well, then what's the problem? Now, here's the illustration that I give to people. I say, I can cause you to do what I want you to do when I want you to do it and you still have your free will. People say, no, you can't.

Yes, I can. Let me show you. Let's say you and I are at a restaurant and we're having a cup of coffee talking about something. And to my right, to your left is a window to the outside. And what I want to do is cause you to look out the window in 15 seconds.

That's what I decide, right? So, when that time is there, I just look out the window, point and I say, what the heck is that? And you look. I cause you to look. But I'm what's called the proximate cause, not the efficient cause.

The proximate cause means I put the circumstances there and brought it to bear. And yet, you're the one who chose to do what you wanted to do according to your own freedom. I didn't make you do it by forcing you.

Like, sit next to you, take your head in my hands and turn it and then force your eyelids open. Okay? That's not what happened.

You chose to. So, it's a basic illustration, but it demonstrates that God can bring circumstances to bear by which his will is accomplished with your free will. And so, both are compatible with his sovereignty. Okay? And so, that's the same thing for salvation in terms of if we accept Christ of our own free will, but God also predestined that as well?

Yep. So, what happens is the unbelievers, a slave of sin, cannot receive other things of God for their foolishness. First Corinthians 2.14. So, what happens is God regenerates a person.

And then they freely choose God because of their generative work. In this, he grants that they believe, Philippians 1.29. And it says, to you it has been granted. It has or has been granted is what's called a payer, excuse me, the aorist passive indicative. That means that past tense and you received your passive, you received the action of the act of God granting to you that you do the believing.

So, it's this weird kind of thing where God grants to you that you believe, but you do the believing. Okay? Huh. Okay. I have to kind of mill on that a little bit. It just seems so, it seems contradictory, but you're saying it's really a harmonious relationship.

Yeah. It's not contradictory because nothing in the logic states that one cannot exist with the other. Just as my illustration of looking out the window, I can bring you to do what I want you to do when I want you to do it without violating your free will. And God can certainly work those things even more so. But the Bible says also, he moves the heart of the king where he wishes it to go, Proverbs 21.1. We don't know how it all works. He doesn't reveal it to us.

Okay. But we know that is the case. And so, even Jesus says in John 6.65, you can't come to me unless it's been granted to you from the Father. That's it. That's what the scriptures say. People say, no, it's all up to me.

Me, me, me. No, it's not. It's not. It's not. It's not to your wisdom and your ability. It's up to God's decrees. Well, that's unfair.

God wants everyone to be saved. Well, then we can talk about that one as well and what the context is and stuff. Okay? Wow. Okay. Okay.

Sounds good. Well, thank you so much, Matt. You're welcome so much, Janet. All right.

God bless. Have a good evening. You too. Bye-bye. All right. Bye.

Okay. Three open lines, 8772072276. Let's get to John from Virginia. John, welcome. You're on here.

Hey, Matt. Thanks. I don't get to listen to your show very often, but I'm thankful for that. Appreciate it. Good. Okay. Good.

I was on hold listening to one of your advertisers. Uh-oh. We got a break. I'm sorry, brother.

We got a break. Okay? Okay. Hold on.

The topic sounds interesting. So we'll be right back, folks, after these messages. Three open lines, 8772072276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live. Taking your calls at 8772072276.

Here's Matt Slick. Everybody, welcome back to the show. All right. Let's get back on. Okay. Yeah. Here we go.

John from Virginia. Sorry about that, John. All right, brother.

What do you got? Yeah. I appreciate your show and listening to you. I don't get a chance very often to hear you. But this is not the original reason I called, but I was just curious.

Two things. Is Matt Slick your real name? Because it's kind of a really cool name. Yes. Yes, it is my real name. It's on my birth certificate. Yep.

Birth certificate, driver's license, passport. I'm born with it. Yep. That's right.

Got it. And then I heard one of your advertisers saying 40% of Christians didn't vote in the last election. That's astounding.

I did not know that. So the original reason I called was about, you know, I'm sure you get peppered with all kinds of odd and creative and peculiar questions. And I was wondering if you could share with us maybe some of the most peculiar or odd questions you've ever gotten before. I can hang up and listen. Well, I don't know how to answer it because I've gotten so many questions. I've been doing radio almost 18 years.

There we go. Doing radio almost 18 years, I've gotten thousands and thousands of questions. And the only ones that stand out to me are, well, the only one issue that stands out and that's Atomic Body Man. And this is from an email and I do hate mail, lack of mail on Fridays. And this guy said his pastor's body was going to change into an atomic body.

And I read it over the air and I had a blast with it because it was just hilarious. But, you know, I just don't recall any specific questions. But the ones that do kind of stand out to me, I guess, or to say anything, is the kind of questions where I get to minister to somebody, not just answer a question, but join them in their suffering and try and help them and touch their lives. That means a lot to me to be able to do that, to kind of counsel. So those kinds of questions are the issues or the things that mean the most to me because I like to help people.

But other than that, you know, I just don't know. I can't think of any really stupendously bad questions, though they're out there. But most people who call and get on the air with me, they're pretty good. And they ask good questions. And there are antagonists, people who don't agree with me, and they ask good questions.

So for the most part, it's been pretty good. So I'm not sure I'd answer other than that. All right. All right. All right. Let's get to Noelle from Virginia. Noelle, welcome.

You're on the air. So my question today was, we all tend to assume that when a small child or a baby dies, that they automatically go to heaven. But knowing what we know about predestination in an election, what would be a biblical standpoint for what we all assume? I don't know of anything in the scripture that says babies go to heaven or do not go to heaven.

It's not addressed. The closest that is there is when David loses his son due to his own adultery. And he says, I know I will see him in the resurrection. And so the implication there is that the baby was within the redeemed camp, because David certainly was. Now, the question then becomes, is that only related to the covenant people of Israel? And that's just a question that needs to be asked. And we can't answer it. So Jesus does say in the New Testament, of course, he says, you know, suffer not the children that come to me.

In other words, don't hinder them. For the kingdom of heaven is such as these. So, though, I don't know the correct answer.

I suspect that all babies who die go to heaven. That's what I suspect is the case. Okay. Yeah. But I mean, based off of God's attributes and his character, one would be quick to assume such things. But I just, you know, I was kind of wrestling with that question the other day, just because of like predestination and election.

Yeah. But also, a baby doesn't have the opportunity to sin. Well, there's a yes and a no to that, because everyone everywhere is obligated to serve God.

So even a baby is to do that. That's one point worth making. Another point is that we are, by nature, children of wrath. Ephesians 2, 1, or 2, 3. And another point is in Romans 5, 19, through the transgression of Adam, the many were made sinners. And that's talking about all people.

So even the children are born in sin. All right. So these are just the theological necessities that we have to include in the discussion. But even then, I can't tell you what the case is, because the Bible doesn't tell us. Okay. I just don't know. Hey, well, I appreciate your perspective.

And it's not too far off along the lines of what I've been told and also studied for myself. So I just wanted to see if you had any extra input on that. But I greatly appreciate it. Sure. Well, you're welcome.

And I wish I had a better answer, but that's the best one I have. All right. Okay. Well, thank you. And you have a blessed evening. Okay. You too. God bless. All right. Oh, look at this.

Four open lines. 877-207-2276. Carl from North Carolina. Carl, welcome. You're on the air. Yeah. Yeah. How you doing, sir? Doing all right.

Hanging in here, man. Good. Great. Great. I don't like, like the last other call is that I don't get a chance to listen to your broadcast that often. But when I do, you come across as very, very solid.

I really, really appreciate that as well. My question was in regards to free will. I heard you talking to one of the callers about free will and how all of that works together with the sovereignty of God. And as I understand it, man's free will, like you were saying a few moments ago, that we're enslaved to sin. That as far as man's will can go is that it's been bondage to sin.

The only freedom that it has is freedom to sin, not to receive or choose Christ. Right. The unbeliever. Yes. That's in reference of the unbeliever. Yes. Exactly. Exactly.

In reference to the unbeliever. Exactly. And so man's freedom is only limited to his nature.

Right. Just like a lion. A lion is not going to eat oats because that's not in his nature to eat oats. He's going to only eat meat. And man's will is not to choose anything wholly because man by nature is not holy.

And so when God grants a man, like in John 1 11 or 1 12, the ability to receive his son, that's the work of God alone. I believe you believe in monergistic regeneration. Whoa.

I like that. Monergistic soteriology. Regeneration is of course monergistic also, but it's the act of God.

But monergistic soteriology is what you're talking about. Yes. Good.

Yes. So that's where I'm at with that. And I felt like that caller, she was a little bit confused about it a little bit, even though she wasn't convinced based on what she was saying. But as she was pointing out, salvation is a monergistic work of God alone. And our sanctification is synergistic as you already know, where we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Very good. I just wanted to throw that out there and see where you stood with that. Yes, you're using the terms properly.

I appreciate that. And soteriologically, it's monergistic. Monergistic for the folks who don't know means God alone, mono one, monergistic. And synergistic means that we cooperate with God and we work salvation through our efforts and our will.

The synergistic soteriology is in Islam, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Society, and so only in Christian theology is soteriology monergistic, where God is the author, perfecter of our salvation, the grantor of our faith and repentance to my which all of it comes to. Yeah, so good for you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your comments there.

Appreciate your ministry that you have going there. I've heard you a few times and every time that I've heard you, you're very solid in your response to your callers. And you had me laughing every week when I heard you laughing at your critics. And that was pretty funny. But that's how you approach your critics, you know what I mean? Well, it's not laughing at them in mockery. It's not a mockery. It is laughing because I think their criticisms are often very funny. And it's not a mocking.

But I just have a condition, I guess, where I enjoy the insults and the condemnation and I get a kick out of it. And that's all it is. Okay.

So there we are, Carl. God bless, buddy. All right.

God bless you, too. Bye-bye. Okay. Hey, folks, we have wide open lines, five open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Give me a call, I'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live. Taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Welcome back to the show. We have four open lines, 877-207-2276. Hey, I just want to give you a reminder. Would you please consider supporting us? We do need your support.

And without it, let me just say, without it, we can't keep ourselves on the air and do what we need to do. This ministry reaches out to millions of people yearly. We get about 30,000 page views a day on the website at 152 million visitors.

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It's in red. The word donate would appreciate it. $5 a month would help us a great deal. Let's get to Bonnie from North Carolina. Bonnie, welcome.

You're on the air. I have a comment for the lady who asked if you believe that children who die go to heaven. And in that reference that you gave, and I think in the Matthew where the Lord mentioned the little children, he makes reference to their angels in heaven. And what is an angel? It's a ministering spirit for the heirs of salvation. So to me, that indicates that they have angels in heaven.

And so they would go to heaven. That's one of the arguments. Yep. I think there's good evidence. Well, I put it this way. I would think, wow, I can't say there's what's more or lesser.

You know what? I could argue both sides. Just put it that way. I could theologically argue both sides. And I just leave it up to God, of course, because he doesn't reveal it to us. And if any babies do go to hell, then that's the right thing. And if they all go to heaven, that's the right thing. And God will always do whatever the right thing is. But he just doesn't tell us. So that's it.

It's as simple as that. Some people do know, but a lot of people don't know, that my wife and I lost our son Jacob shortly after he was born. And I believe that I will see him in heaven. I believe I'll be with him. You know?

Okay. Psalm 139, it says, you know, in the womb, all my members are in your book. That's right. That's right. The psalmist says, I believe they're all covered.

Have you ever considered that? I know. Go ahead. No, go ahead.

That's all right. I don't believe in limited atonement because I feel like it's not consistent with God's nature, but I mean, I understand all the verses about predestination, but then you also have the verses that say that he's not feeling that any should perish. He would have always come to the knowledge of the truth. John 3 16. And I think about those children for one thing, but have you ever considered that perhaps we're all in the book until we're blotted out? Well, let's just say there's different arguments about what that book is and what it means to be blotted out.

It says he won't be blotted out. It doesn't necessitate that you can be. And it depends on the tree of the book, the tree of life, the book of life. So there's different aspects, let's just say. So it's a deep discussion and I love having that discussion with people when they disagree and I show them things in scripture and go through the logic and stuff like that. But, you know, I just, I hope that all babies go to heaven.

I would love that that be the case. And children who are mentally incapable of making that decision? Yeah, I think that it's God's nature that they would be. Well, I always like to submit my understanding of God's nature to what the scripture says. And when people talk to me, well, God would never do that because it's not his nature. I say, be careful.

But the Bible does not speak about the mentally challenged either. And so I just say, well, the Bible doesn't tell us and whatever happens is the right thing. Okay.

Okay. And I have one more argument about this atonement. When the unsaved dead stand before God at the great white throne judgment, if they didn't have a choice, why do they have to stand beforehand? Because they say, well, I never had a chance anyway. I mean, how would he judge them if there's no yardstick necessarily? Who said they don't have a choice?

Where's that? Well, I'm sorry. I mean, it says they can open the book and the book where the book of life where their name might have been.

I mean, that's the way I look at that scripture. I'm not following you. You're jumping around a little bit, this and that and different topics. So I'm not sure how you're relating them. Okay. So I'm not sure at this point. Okay. I'm sorry. No, it's all right. I just feel like that there's judgment, degrees of punishment.

Yes, there are. Just like the rewards for the safe and degrees of punishment for the unsafe. Yeah. But so this unsafe, they stand at the great white throne judgment. I just feel like that's where they realize the things that they've done and they should have done differently. They had the opportunity to be safe, but they didn't take advantage of it.

That's right. They did not. People reject Christ of their own free will. The gospel is offered. They freely reject it.

And that's the case with a lot of people. And I just pray that God opens their hearts and minds. That's what I pray. I would assume you'd pray the same thing.

Definitely. But I was thinking that you thought that there are certain people who don't have that opportunity. They cannot be safe because they weren't chosen. Oh, no, no, no.

When people mention that, I get that a lot. I mean, with respect, I say, well, no, that's not our position and you've not understood it. But it's not an issue of they have the opportunity. All people are condemned in Adam and that's Romans 5, 18 and 19, 1 Corinthians 15, 22. So all people deserve hell, period.

That's just how it is. And so the freedom to choose is an interesting issue because the Bible says the unbeliever is a slave of sin, a hater of God, doesn't do any good. His heart's full of wickedness, doesn't understand spiritual things, doesn't seek for God.

So then we have to ask questions. Well, then how does he get saved? Well, the only way he could be saved is if God grants him repentance, 2 Timothy 2.25, grants that he believe, Philippians 1.29, believe in Christ, John 6.29, grants that he comes to Christ, John 6.65, things like that. And so God grants it to whom he will.

But we don't know what the criteria is of those people we call the whom he will. See, I can pray and ask God to save so-and-so because I'm free in Christ. And God hears the prayers and those prayers have been ordained within God's will from all eternity. And so my prayers, which are free, influence God because the Bible says, James 5, it says, you know, the prayers of a righteous man avail much with God. And so they avail with God.

So I don't know how it all works, but I just trust that God has it figured out. I'm free to pray and ask him to save more people like I do every day. I pray for my daughters, two wayward daughters, I pray for their salvation. And I pray for my opponent in my debate next week. I pray for him for salvation. So that's what we do. One more point.

Sure, no problem. I just thought about when Jesus is praying his prayer, he tells the father, he said, I've lost none that you've given me, save the son of perdition. So God gave Jesus Judas, but Judas did not choose to follow Jesus. Yeah. He was never saved to begin with. Right. Yep.

Right. But the father gave him Judas. Yeah, but not in the saving sense because Jesus says in John 6, 37 through 40, he goes on from there and that pericope says, this is the will of the father, that all that he has given him that Christ lose none.

So that will the father had Jesus not lose any. So when Jesus is talking about Judas being lost, it was never the case that Judas was saved because when Jesus in John 6 is talking about the will of the father, it's in concert with all who would believe would have eternal life. So the true believers can't be lost, but Judas was never a true believer in Christ. Okay.

True. But the Lord Jesus chose him, but Judas did not choose the Lord. What?

Did I say that again? I said the Lord Jesus chose to have Judas as part of his intimate group, but Judas did not choose to respond to that. No, he did respond to it. He responded and was in the group with Christ, but he was, he just was never a true believer.

Yeah, yes, he was. And, you know, John 6, 64 says, some of you do not believe, he says, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. So he talked about the unbelievers there and as well as what he would betray him. And so that's Judas specifically. So he's an unbeliever. He never truly trusted in Christ and believed and accepted everything about him, but he worked with him and saw what Jesus did and what a miraculous thing and still denied him.

And yet Jesus knew this and specifically chose him to be in the inner circle, probably so he could be betrayed. Right. Right. Okay. Okay. Well, I guess we're sort of on the same page in something. Yes, sort of. We'll get there, you know, just a little here, little there.

Take a look, take a look at Mark, Mark 4, 10 through 12 and think about that and then give me a call tomorrow or Friday. Yeah. Tomorrow. I'll be on tomorrow. Friday won't be on because Luke's going to do the show. I'm going to do an ABN sat TV thing. And so you can call back tomorrow if you want.

And Mark 4, 10 through 12. Take a look at it. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Have a good evening. You too. God bless. All right.

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We don't ask very much. $5. And if a thousand people would do $5, that's 5,000 a month. That's what we need in this ministry.

It doesn't come to me personally. It goes to the ministry and the ministry then pays salaries. It's a five Oh one C three organization. There's the board of directors.

It's a, it's a whole thing. And so what we do need is that support. And let's just say that, uh, as the economy falters because of the leftist whacko morons who are doing what they're doing with the government overspending, uh, destroying our gas, uh, independence on, um, in our country, uh, opening the borders up for everybody, defunding the police, you know, just the basics that are, uh, designed obviously to destroy this country. Um, then because of that, well, uh, the economy is faltering and people are, are, are having trouble, but if it's not too much to ask, uh, within that trouble, would you consider $5 a month?

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That's not how it is here. And I don't want to get too many details, but let's just say, uh, we definitely have a need and, uh, it's in order to supply, uh, you know, the, the needs of the people who we have as missionaries in, uh, in South America and Africa and, uh, Turkey and also, uh, elsewhere. Anyway, there you go. Uh, carm.org forward slash donate $5 a month. That'd be great. Hey, may the Lord bless you and by his grace, but back on there tomorrow. And we'll talk to you then have a great evening, everybody. Another program powered by powered by the truth network.