Matt Slick Live

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Right. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith. Whatever is not from faith is sin. So Paul's doing is talking about our freedom in Christ. In Bible study last night I started mentioning that starting in Romans chapter 3. One of the things that we have to understand in Christian thought is that we are free because we have died to the law.

We are no longer under the jurisdiction of that law. We are under the gospel of Christ. And so our hope is in Christ. And our faith and our trust is in him and what he does.

All right. So this means that we are free to eat pork or not eat pork or worship on Saturday or Sunday or Tuesday. We are free to do these things. And we need to understand that as we do them that two things are important. An internal and an external. An internal aspect is what he is talking about here. That is not a faith.

But let's go to the external first. I don't want to stumble anybody else in my freedom. So if I, if an alcoholic comes over to my house I am not going to offer him an alcoholic drink. My freedom to drink doesn't mean that I need to have him do the same thing.

I don't want to stumble him. So we have to use our freedom in Christ respectfully and with wisdom. And that is what is going on.

All right. Now, when it talks here in 1423, he who doubts is condemned if he eats. So eating is like a dietary law. You can remember in the Jewish economy a great deal of import was placed upon what you could and could not eat. So now we have the Jews who became Christians and they could eat anything. To the Jewish mind that was a huge, huge issue. And Paul wrote about this in Romans 14 very clearly.

I call Romans 14 the forgotten chapter because it has the proclamation of our freedom in it and what we are to do and not to do. But nevertheless, so if you are convinced that you can eat a food that the Bible beforehand had said, no, because now Christ has come to new covenants in et cetera, you're free. But what if you're not so sure? What if you think, oh, maybe this is wrong.

Maybe I shouldn't be doing it. Now you're doubting and in your doubting you're condemned. Not that you lose your salvation and you're going to hell. But that if you are doubting, you're not walking by faith in Christ, but you're worrying in this case about the law.

Are you still needing to keep that law? And so if you doubt and you're condemned if you eat because your eating isn't from faith, it's not from the trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and the freedom that we have in him, but it's kind of like looking back to that law and making sure that we don't break that law. Can we eat the pork or not eat the pork?

That kind of a thing. And then he adds in whatever's not from faith is sin. And faith is only as good as who you put it in. So we put our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We don't put it in Muhammad, that false prophet, or the Roman Catholic Church, that false church. We don't put it in evolution because it just doesn't save you.

It just doesn't work. We put it in our Lord and Savior Jesus and faith is only as good as you put it in. So put it in Christ and you're free. And you don't have to worry about these legalistic aspects and things like that. Alright.

Okay. Now, for me, I'm a pretty anxious person about a lot of things and I have what's called OCD. So there's a lot of convictions that I'll feel that sometimes it might be something kind of crazy or almost just ridiculous and I feel I need to do it and it might be a sin before God. How do I handle something like that in this? Often I'll know like, okay, this isn't from God, but there's still that doubting question in my mind.

How would I go about something like that, some of the struggles in that way? Well, it is a problem, okay, because you have OCD. I have Asperger's and I'm trying to compare.

They're different and I understand the differences and the issues that people who are not what we call neurotypical. And so the issues that I've come up with and examined, and you can just apply this formula to yourself, is to subject them to Scripture. And if I have an issue I'm not sure about, what I'll do is I'll go to the Word and study what the Word says and then decide to believe and trust based on what I've seen in God's Word.

That's what I will do. So if you have an OCD thing, whatever it might be, and I'm not knocking you, man, I'm not knocking you. Let's just say you got something and you think it's something you ought to do because you think God wants you to do it.

Maybe he doesn't. Well, if that's the case, then you ought to do it because you're thinking God wants you to do it. This is why you would then need to go to someone who has wisdom, an elder or pastor at a church you go to, somebody that you can trust, and you say, hey, you don't have this urge. I always have to throw my sock at the cats every morning.

Okay, whatever it is, the OCD thing. Make something stupid up. And you think that's what God wants you to do. And he says, well, no, that's not in Scripture. It's not Scriptural. You don't need to do that. And you feel you must.

Now you have a struggle between what you know the Word of God has said and what you feel to do. One of the things you have to understand is that we develop habits and our habits alter the physical structure of our brains so that we can become habitualized. This is what training in martial arts does, for example. You go through the same thing over and over. There's actually a physical new pattern in the brain that's set up so things are automatic. I mean, OCD can be similar in that you practice patterns.

Well, you have to break the patterns. You have to decide to do them. And so what I would suggest you do is, whatever that thing is that you know in your head is not bad, it's okay, then you write it down on a piece of paper and you carry it with you.

This is okay to do or not to. And then you decide ahead of time. You talk to God and you say, God, I'm going to be struggling through this. And I'm looking to you through it. And then that way you don't have to worry.

You just do it the best you can and you retrain your brain for saying things like that. That's overly simplified, but that's the basic kind of thing. Okay?

Yeah. Now, there's often situations like at work. In some of these things, honestly, there might be some weight behind them, but I have to make a quick decision. One thing I've been struggling with is they might want me to turn the radio on. And then I had this conviction. I shouldn't do that because the songs they play on there aren't songs that I listen to. But there's this conviction, don't turn that radio on for them. And in my head that seems ridiculous, but there's that conviction there. In some situations where I have to...

In situations like, I don't know. Here's the thing, because I've worked in many secular jobs and none of them had the ability to have a radio. Yes, one they did had a radio you could have on. But if somebody said, look, man, put this radio on. Now, country western, I'm sorry. I can't survive in it. It's just ontologically evil.

Country western, nasal whiny stuff. It will drive me crazy. I wouldn't be able to work there.

That's not because it's bad or good. It's just I can't handle it. That's just me. I really could not handle it. I'd have to quit or chant something else.

No, I'm serious. I hate it. I hate country western. Oh, it's horrible.

It's throwing Chinese polka and cats that scratch on tile and stuff. All right. I just offended a whole bunch of people. So what I would do, I'd say, okay, I'll turn it on. And then I would listen occasionally to look for opportunities to use it to witness at the right time. God, teach me what to learn out of this paganism that I might speak with them. And do it that way. And me, I like secular radio.

I like corn and nirvana and stuff like that. And this morning I was working on some stuff and I was listening to praise music. So use the opportunity as a means by which, hopefully, you can witness to others.

Think of it that way. Yeah. And I guess I've been dancing around. The question I really, I guess, would like some help in is, and I don't want to keep you on too long. I can call back another time, but, um, is it okay sometimes if there's a doubt of whether something is right or not to just move in what I think is best according to the Lord and just moving that? Of course. Of course.

Okay. You always, you always move with what your convictions before God, but you don't want to become too legalistic. You want to recognize you have freedom. God is not here to slap you down every time you don't do something perfect in your own heart. And you've got to understand something that if you let this control you, it will control you.

And I understand, but OCD and I've got family members, blah, blah, blah. So I'm just going to tell you that you have to, um, get a hold of it and, and handle it. One of the things I had a family member, I would talk to you about once every other day for two years and I developed, uh, this idea of him going up to a, uh, a vending machine and he has all these choices and he can't choose. He's, he's stumped at what he's going to do because he doesn't know what the right thing to choose is. And I told him, picture it. You'd make a choice because no choice is always perfect. It's okay. You'll have another choice later and you can get something different and had relax about it. And he had actually helped him.

I had to talk to him about 10 times and he got it and it helped him because we have to realize it's okay. It's okay. Oh, I picked the wrong thing.

I made the wrong choice. Yeah. So move on. All right. Well, thank you very much.

I appreciate your help on that. All right, Oliver. God bless buddy. Hey folks, we have three open lines. You want to give me a call? Eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six.

Be right back. It's Matt slick live taking your calls at eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six. This is Matt slick. Welcome back to the show. Hey, it's going to give a shout out to cigar head. Thank you very much.

And rumble for the support. Really appreciate it. You're awesome buddy.

Thanks. You're actually, I'm gonna tell you this. You're the first one that we've had do this. I'm aware of. And the first time I've mentioned it on the radio.

So you can pay yourself on the back. There you go. All right, let's get to, but Huskman buskman buskman from Ohio. Welcome buskman. You're on the air. Oh, mr slick.

This is Billy Bob buskman, a country and Western star. How are you doing? I'm in trouble now. I'm okay so far. We'll see what happened. No, I do not.

No, I do not. It's one of the, you know, I got to tell you, I tried to like it. I tried to like, I remember where I was when I tried to like it.

I was driving down the 22 freeway going east down in orange County, California, next to the crystal cathedral. I was trying it and I sort of decided to listen to the country Western. I got to try this.

I can't just hate it cause it's so whiny. And uh, so I turned it on and listened for 15 seconds. I was done and I still remember the lyrics of the song.

It was some twangy guy going, that's driving down a road by a pond full of toads. That's it. It's over. So, so I tried. I'd be a lot of trouble. Hey, I will see that. I'd like Johnny Cash though.

I like Johnny Cash. Okay. So there you go.

I got it. You know, and when he, especially when he did the song hurt. Oh my goodness. It was so good. Yeah.

That's a really good song, man. Oh man. He, he nailed it. Yeah. Okay. So what do you got buddy? Wonderful songwriter.

Okay. Um, women leading Bible studies, Mr. Slick. Um, I ha I have a knowledge of a couple. Um, the husband, uh, is, uh, he, he's been in ministry. He's got ministry background, um, trained, seminarily trained, and his wife is going to lead the local Bible study for, for this, uh, this church among other leaders, Matt.

And I just wanted to know what your take is. Cause it's from what I gather, Mr. Slick, it's a coed. It'll be both males and females attending the small group.

So it wouldn't just be the lady folk, but it would also include the men folk. Well, what's the topic that she's teaching? I don't know. I think it, each group is autonomous and each group leader can choose their own, uh, curriculum for lack of a better term. Yeah.

It's a toughie. Um, so that a woman is not to be in a teaching authority in the church. That's it. And, uh, the position is for the males only. And I, you know, I've given all the scriptures or before everybody and there's a reason for it. So, um, a woman Bible study leader, I'd be nervous about, I don't know if I could attend personally because I'd be too worried about just the biblical mandate, but I'm not saying yes or no because what she teaching before I talk about that, let me, let me, uh, tell you back in seminary, Westminster theological seminary graduate, Miami Div in 1991.

All right. We had a whole week long period where all the classes were opened up to all the public. So anybody in the public had just come in and they could sit in class and they could just sit with the students and they had kind of had a theme for that week. Um, and it was varying topics. I forgot it was, but they flew in a woman, uh, who was going to teach in one of the classes and she, uh, she's going to teach on women being used in the church.

I don't know if it has the exact title, but that was basically what it was. And I remember thinking, Oh, this is going to be great. I mean, I definitely want to be taught by her in a seminary class. I have no problem with that. So this class was packed and I was the only male in the entire class.

Wow. Oh, that bothered me a great deal. Men should have been in there, but I think so many of them in the reform tradition are a little bit, uh, how do we say it? Uppity.

And so, uh, that's why I didn't really fit into the denomination there very well. You know, driving to school, listening to Striper, uh, walking in with my mod boots and my spiked hair in the seminary. Okay. So they're like staring at me. What?

Back of the day, this is back in the eighties and nineties. And so anyway, it didn't fit. But at any rate, so I was there and, uh, it was a bother. So I definitely want women to be used in the church. They're not to be teaching authority. So here's the question is the Bible sanctioned as an official Bible study in the church and that a woman would then be teaching in that and having teaching authority over men in the church. If that's the case that she shouldn't be doing it at the very least, the men shouldn't be there to just be the women and or what I would say.

Normally speaking, you have once a month, you have an elder go in and just kind of sit and make sure everything's good. That's all. And, uh, uh, it just kind of check it up because at the very least you should be teaching women and children. It's not that she's not capable intellectually or knowledgeably or with wisdom even to be able to teach men.

Undoubtedly she would have knowledge that some men, uh, most men probably wouldn't even, uh, possess. So I have any problem with that. I have a problem with it being sanctioned by a church in an, uh, if it's an official teaching thing that they say, yeah, she's going to be teaching on this level. The church sanct, uh, sanctions it.

That's a problem. Okay. Okay. So I have two questions based on what you just said.

Defined sanctioned. Number one. What does that mean? I wish you wouldn't ask me those difficult questions.

I was trying to get out of this gracefully and make myself look good. Um, so that's a good question. Uh, so let's see, there we go. What I would say is, uh, that from the pulpit, let's just say the pastor says, uh, Susan, so and so here is going to be teaching a Bible study on whatever it is on the doctrine of, of, on Soteriology. It'll be a five week course on Soteriology and we're, we're officially recognizing it as a good course that she's teaching. We recommend that you go to it and you see, you see, because I don't have a good answer for you because what if she was teaching it at a Sunday school and the elders are there and she's very qualified.

We can have women who are qualified in all kinds of ways. And so what if she's just teaching that? What if she's, uh, I don't know. You know, I thought I had it all down, but I just don't.

And this one, it's a tough one. Okay. And the second question would be this, Matt, um, because we know that all of our Christian bookstores from all over the country have all kinds of different, uh, texts, uh, uh, study guides, things like this. So is there a differentiation, Matt, between teaching the 66 books and teaching something from christianworld.com?

Um, yeah, it's, yeah, I'm gonna, when I've, I've talked about this and thought about this, what I'd like to do is just go back to the absolute. They're not to have teaching authority over men in the church, not to be pastors, elders, or not supposed to be deacons either. Can they, uh, teach in a, in a, uh, study in the church, under the church building?

I wouldn't have any problem with a woman teaching on the doctrine, the Trinity, for example, if she's an expert on it, she's been studying it for 20 years and she knows it inside out. I don't know. Okay.

So qualifications are required then. So she needs some kind of, yeah, we've got to go. We've got to break.

I'm going to think through that and talk to some people about it, but that's a good question, man. Okay, buddy. All right. Hey folks, two open lines. If you want to give me a call, eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live taking your calls at eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six.

Here's Matt Slick. All right. I want to welcome back to the show. It's the bottom of the hour.

If you want to give me a call, eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six. And I just want to let you know that we stay on the air by your support. If you're so kind as you might want to consider supporting us with $5 a month, all you have to do is go to karm.org C a R M dot O R G forward slash donate.

All the information needs right there. Don't ask much, but if we get enough people just doing $5 then we can keep our head above water. You know, it takes money to pay the bills for radio and stuff like that. All right, let's get on the air with Manuel from Wisconsin. Welcome. You're on the air, man. Hey, brother. I was going through Revelation with the wife and kids. In chapter four, the one who sits on the throne, it appears to be that this is the father because in chapter five, the one who is in the midst that looks like the lamb as a slain, take the scrolls from the one who's sitting on the throne and opens it. But the elders, they are the ones that cast their crowns at the father's feet in chapter four. They set them on the throne and so I was just always under the assumption that we would lay our crowns at Christ's feet. But chapter four, if that is about the father on the throne, it would appear that we would be casting our crown at the father's feet, not the son's.

Yeah, this is interesting. So I'm trying to find the exact verse you're talking about. I'm going through chapter four. Chapter four, verse eight-ish. Four living creatures is interesting.

I could really go into that quite a bit. Some people think it seems to be that twenty-four elders represent the church and they lay their crowns down before the throne. The throne of twenty-four elders, they saw sitting white garments, golden crowns on their heads. That's why some people think that's what it represents.

Twenty-four elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne, will worship him forever and ever will cast their crowns before him on the throne. Okay, so I am deciding how much to say because I don't have a great answer for you for one thing. Sometimes when I don't know, but something in the back of my head like it is right now, what I'd like to do is read the context a little bit more.

There are some things that are interesting in here. It says on verse six, before the throne was a sea of glass. Well, in Exodus twenty-four, nine through eleven, there's a vision that they have. They see God and under his feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky. Here it says a sea of glass.

So it's similarly described and I'm looking at that. The four living creatures in Ezekiel, the four-faced creature, lion, ox, eagle, and man. What's interesting about that is that in the tabernacle, the wilderness, the twelve tribes of Israel camped in four groups.

The four groups each had a flag or a banner that represented them and it was lion, ox, eagle, and man. When you take those men who were numbered around the tabernacle and you put them out proportionally northeast to southwest, you get a cross. So it looks like the four living creatures are designating something to do with Jesus.

That's why I'm talking about that. Also, the four gospels were known as the lion, ox, eagle, and the man in history, in code. So it gives in verse seven, the first creature was like a lion, the second one like a calf or an ox, and the third had a face like of a man, and the fourth was of an eagle. So right there in Revelation 4.7, we see that. So it looks like, when I'm reading this, it looks like it's a coded reference back to the Old Testament issues of the lion, ox, eagle, and the man around the tabernacle, which tabernacle represents Christ because in John 1, 1 and verse 14 it says, In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. Verse 14, The Word became flesh.

But another way of saying that is the word tabernacled, because the Greek word is skeine, which can mean the tabernacle. So the four living creatures each had six wings. At that point, I don't know what's going on. The eyes are all around them, they'll be able to see things, and holy, holy, and they're speaking. So look at the four living creatures may very well be literal, as in they have an actual existence and or there's a combination of the representation of the person of Christ and the work of Christ as is in the Old Testament.

So I don't have the answer for you on that one. So, now when we get down it says the living creatures, they lay their crowns down before the one who sits on the throne. I do believe Jesus does sit on the throne as well, with the Father. He's one to the left and one to the right, and I'm trying to find that, but I do remember that is the case.

So there's a lot there. Yeah, I guess because he's seated at the right hand of the Father. It was just because in chapter 5, starting in verse 6, in the midst of the throne, I saw the four living creatures and then the Lamb standing as his flame, and then verse 7, and he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sits on the throne. Now here's the thing. Does God the Father have a literal throne he's sitting on?

The answer would be no. Because God the Father does not have flesh and bones, only Jesus does. In Acts chapter 7, when Stephen was being stoned, he had a vision of God the Father. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand.

What that is is a representation. The right is a place of authority and salvation. The left is a place of judgment and condemnation. Jesus says the goat's on his left on the day of judgment and the sheep are on his right. So when it takes the scroll out of the right hand, it's a symbol of authority and justice and righteousness and power. What I would look at is to see if there's a place where it says that Jesus is sitting on the throne, because I do believe that is the case. But when it says that he's to the right hand, it's a visualized symbolism of the actuality of Christ being in authority. Now, having said that, I don't want to say that it's not possible that God the Father somehow does not have a, I'm not going to say it's not possible, but he actually does have a kind of a location that we might be able to travel to and go to in the afterlife.

I don't know. And if there is a way that God can locate himself a little bit for us so that we can have something to look at, so to speak, like the big ball of glory, I don't know, light coming out, we're not seeing God because he dwells in an unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see. 1 Timothy 6, 16. So maybe there's something like that that we'll be able to perceive in heaven. And if that's the case, then Jesus might literally be on the right side, which designates his power and authority. So I don't know, you know, just a lot here, a lot of symbolism here.

And I actually went through Revelation 8, 9, and 10, and I think part of 11 last night in bed before I went to sleep, I went and analyzed it and for a different reason. And there's just so much symbolism there that I just can't give you a great answer. I just can't. I wish I could. Okay. Sounds clear as mud. Appreciate it.

Thanks. You know, I want to help you, but sometimes, particularly the book of Revelation, what you have to do is really study. And what I would do is do a search for the word throne. Word throne, which is thronos.

In Greek, thronos. But look for throne and see if it refers to Christ. And see if that's the case. Thanks a lot, brother.

And then let me know what you find. Okay? All right, man.

Wish I could help you better. All right. God bless.

All right. Let's get over to Ryan from Pennsylvania. Ryan, welcome. You're on this show. Thank you for taking my call. Yesterday, you invited me to call on the show, and you were very polite about things. And I wound up being quite rude to you, and I felt like I owed you an apology. So I apologize for being rude to you yesterday. You know, Jesus said that we're one body in many parts, right? And it has been said to me that my function in the body of Christ is being the hemorrhoid. So I think that came out a bit in overdrive yesterday. So I apologize for that.

I had to mute myself while I was laughing. Hey, no problem. No problem.

I'm more like a thorn in people's flesh. But yeah, no problem. Okay? We'll work on stuff.

We'll get it done on transcendentals and stuff sometime. All right? Sounds good.

Sounds good. Thank you. All right, Ryan.

Thanks a lot, man. I got to hand it to Ryan. He's done that several times. He's called up and apologized when he thinks he's blown it. I got to hand it to him. That's pretty impressive. He does that. I'm not saying regularly because he blows it so regularly.

But you know, he's done that like three times. I respect that. I really do. All right, now let's see. Where are we? Almost ready for a break? Let's get to Cynthia.

Let's see how much time we got before the break. Cynthia, welcome. You're on the air. Hello, Matt. Can you hear me okay?

Yes, I can. We got a break coming up. Let's see what we got.

What do you got? Okay. First of all, I'm a regular listener, so I want to give a quick shout out to Lana, Laura, Joanne, Marlene, Allie, Randall, Phil, Terry, and Jimmy. Hi, guys. Good. Now hold on.

We got a break, so I want to hear what you got after the break, okay? All right, Cynthia. Good for the shout out. All right. I like that. That was good.

Fun. 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. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the show. Man, we got some good callers, so I'm not getting the hate mail today.

Darn, I love hate mail. Let's get to Cynthia. Okay. You're back on the air. Okay. Hi, guys.

Hi, Matt. First of all, I'm just very eloquent in my thoughts, but I'm a little scatterbrained when I talk, so I hope you can follow me. I'm just going to say a couple things.

I have a friend who I asked to listen to the show today and told her if she would listen, I would call in and ask you these questions. So bless her heart, she's listening. I love her, but we disagree on something. I'm just going to give a couple quick comments, a couple special references, and then let you take it from there, if you like. We disagree on eternal security. I have...

Okay, so what's your position? Reference, yeah. I have told her that our sins are paid for at the cross, to which she replied yes, but then we have to repent because we currently know that we have to repent, and I've explained to her... Let me say what I want to say first, and then I'll let you take it from there. And I told her no, all our sins were paid for at the cross. We then, as first John says, have to confess our sins to maintain a proper relationship, but not to maintain our salvation.

So we differed there. And also she brings up Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. And then it goes on and talks about who walk according to the flesh. And so she's looking at the walk of a Christian and saying that you can lose your salvation because of your walk, and I tell her no, you are either in Christ or you are in the flesh, that they oppose each other if you're saved, you're in Christ, if you're not saved, you're in the flesh. And then I also wanted to bring up Colossians... You're giving me a lot here.

There's so much. Let's do one thing at a time. I'll let you take it from there.

I'll let you take it from there. Our repentance is not what forgives us. The sacrifice of Christ is what forgives us.

So you're right. Colossians 2, 14 is where it says the certificate of debt, the kyrographon in the Greek, the handwritten IOU of legal indebtedness, that is canceled at the cross. It's not canceled when you repent. It's not canceled when you believe. It's not canceled when you get baptized. Colossians 2, 14, Jesus having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees, which was hostile to us, he took it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

That's when it's canceled. So people think that their salvation depends on their goodness. And this is why they don't get this. If it's the case that you can lose your salvation by not walking properly, then you are going to have to do the corollaries that you keep it by what you do, by your walk. And when I talk to people about this kind of a thing, for example, what I'll do is I can quote this.

I'll say, is this true? That in order to be saved, you have to keep the commandments of God. You have to conform your life to the statutes that God and his commandments that he set out. And I'll ask people, do you agree that in order to have eternal life, you have to conform your life to the moral requirements set out in the Bible?

And you have to do that and abstain from a debauched and moral way of life. And they'll say, well, of course. And I say, I'm referencing, quoting actually the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the Jehovah's Witness cult, February 15th, 1983, page 12. That's what they teach. And so when Christians start teaching the same thing as the cults regarding salvation, it's a problem.

They have to understand something. We're supposed to repent, but our repentance does not get us salvation. It does not keep us saved because our repentance is compliance with the law. If God says, don't lie and you're lying and you repent, you stop lying, then you're complying with the law. That's not what gets you saved. That's not what keeps you saved. Because what you're doing at that point is saying, I will by my effort, my sincerity, my goodness, I'm the one who's going to keep myself right with the infinitely holy God.

And that can't be the case. So we have to understand, I'll put you on hold because there's a background noise. And so we have to do is we have to understand that we cannot lose our salvation because it rests in what Christ did, not what we did on Christ's faithfulness, not our faithfulness. Well, then people say, well, then that means you can go sin all you want.

And the answer is, that's correct. You can, but you got also remember in St. Corinthians 5 17, you're made a new creature in John chapter three, verses three through eight, you're born again in John 14, 23, the Holy spirit and the father knew they live in you. So we're indwelt by God. We don't want to go out and do those evil things.

We want to war against them. We're not perfect. We fail, but we have a difference in us because we're regenerated.

We are no longer under the law. Our repentance is not what forgives us. Furthermore, here's something to think about what Jesus, how Jesus relates this issue. He says in John 10, I'm gonna read this and I can do it from memory, but I'll just read it because I want to make sure I get every word right. Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish. So he says, I give eternal life and they will never perish. Jesus equates eternal life with never perishing. Now look at John six, uh, let's see. Come on, John.

Oh man, I'm typing wrong today. John six 30 seven. And uh, we just go to verse 39. This is the will of him who sent me that all that he has given me, I lose nothing. Jesus says in John six 39 at the will of God, the father's at Jesus lose none. If Jesus loses anybody, they lose their salvation and he's lost them.

Then Jesus has sinned against God by losing them. And he goes on for this is the will of my father that everyone who beholds the son and believes in him will have eternal life and I myself will raise him up on the last day. So Jesus again is equating a believing with eternal life.

That's what he does. You can have eternal life. You'll never perish because that's what's going on. He says, whoever beholds the son and believes in him will be eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. Not I might, not if it's possible, I will.

If you keep yourself right. It doesn't say that because if you're going to say that Jesus could lose any, then he has sinned against God and that's a problem. We can't have that. And let's go to John three sixteen because what does Jesus say there? For God's love the world, he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. So Jesus equates not perishing with eternal life. When you have eternal life, you can't perish. You can make mistakes. You can certainly sin, but you can't lose your salvation.

Otherwise that would mean that Jesus failed to do the will of the father. Okay, Cynthia, did you hear all that? Hope she did too.

You still there? Yes. Yes I did.

Yes I did. And I appreciate all that. And I explained to her that a sheep is always a sheep and he may stray from the fold, but the shepherd always comes after him and brings him back. And so we are always safe and secure in Christ, even though we may at times stray.

You know, let me do one more thing. I'm going to slow down and I'm going to teach a little something here that proves that you cannot lose your salvation. It does prove it from scripture. People may disagree, but I'll show it to you.

And here's how it works. The Bible says in first John three four that sin is lawlessness. In Matthew six twelve and Luke eleven four in those parallel passages is where Jesus said, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. In Matthew six twelve he says, forgive us our debts. And the word there, debt, is legal debt. It's ophilema. In the parallel of Luke eleven four he says, forgive us our sins.

That's the Greek word hermartia. So Jesus equates sin with legal debt. Right there is a fact out of scripture. In John nineteen thirty Jesus says it is finished. He's on the cross. The word in Greek is to telestai and it has been found on the bottom of ancient tax receipts, handwritten by another handwriting you can tell, meaning a legal debt has been paid. So Jesus became under the law, Galatians four four, to fulfill the law, Matthew five seventeen, and he never broke the law, first Peter two twenty two.

So he did everything that was necessary. Then first Peter two twenty four says he bore our sin in his body. So since sin is a legal debt, legal debts could be transferred. So I could go into a restaurant and pay my friend's bill if he didn't, if he got his wallet I could go in and pay it. I can assume that debt, it could be transferred.

Legal debts are transferable. Our debt of sin against God was transferred to Christ. Then we go to Colossians two thirteen. The last few words of thirteen says, talking about Jesus, having forgiven us all our transgressions, all does not mean most. You cannot be saved if all of your sins are not forgiven. Some people will say you're forgiven when you believe in Christ up to the point of belief and from then on you have things to do to keep yourself right with God. You've got to continually repent.

You've got to continually do things right to keep yourself right. Well that's blasphemy. That's blasphemy.

And people need to know that that's what that is. Because we do not keep ourselves right with God by our efforts, but by Christ's work on the cross. His life, perfect life and his sacrifice. So it says having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt. The Greek word there, certificate of debt, is a single word, kerografon.

And it's a composite of two words, ker, hand, and grafe, writing. And what it means is a hand written IOU of legal indebtedness. Jesus canceled out the sin debt at the cross. Because it says, taken out of the way having nailed it to the cross.

That's when it's canceled. That means for us, respective of him, our sins were future. All of our future sins were imputed or transferred to Christ. And he died with them.

He paid that price for all of them. You can't be a Christian and be saved and end up going to hell because it would mean all of your sins are not paid for. But if all of your sins are not paid for, then how can you go to hell?

Or how can you be saved in the first place, excuse me? When Paul says Jesus canceled out that certificate, he canceled the sin debt at the cross because he's forgiven us all of our transgressions. This means all the future sins as well of those who are his.

He canceled them. Now this necessitates limited atonement, which is another doctrine. But it would not be possible then to lose your salvation because then it would mean that all of the sin debt is not canceled.

It's just that simple. Did Jesus cancel all of your sin debt or did he not cancel all of your sin debt? If he did, you can't lose it. If he did not, how could you ever be saved in the first place? And if anyone wants to say that they keep their salvation by their goodness, if they say that we found the second requirement more difficult—I'm reading from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the Jehovah's Witness cult—the second requirement more difficult, it is to obey God's laws, yes, to conform one's life to the moral requirements set out in the Bible. This includes refraining from a debauched and moral way of life. This is what's required in order to make yourself right with God.

But that's not the case. You see, our sin debt's removed at the cross, but we're justified when we believe. Justification's a legal declaration of righteousness. Philippians 3.9 says we have a righteousness that's not our own, a righteousness that comes from God.

So when we believe, we're justified. The righteousness of God is given to us. We don't maintain that righteousness. Christ's righteousness is imputed.

Our goodness is never good enough. Anybody who says that they are going to keep the law or the obligation to keep themselves right with God in order to be saved is back under the law. For as many as are works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them. Galatians 3.10. Those who are in Christ have died with him. Romans 6.6 and 6.8. And therefore, they died to the law. Romans 7.4.

And when the law is not there, the sin doesn't have any power over you. Your security's in Christ, not in your ability. Hope that helps, Cynthia. Give me some feedback on what she thinks on Monday. We'll talk to you then. Hey, Chuck from North Carolina. Sorry, man. Long wait. Hey, birdie. God bless. By His grace, we'll talk to you Monday. See you next time.