Matt Slick Live

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If you like to see more, please subscribe to the channel. Thank you brother. Jonah 3.10 How do you explain the... Oh, it's easy. When God saw their deeds, he turned away from destroying them. I think it's in Jeremiah 18.8 Let's see if I can remember this verse. That's which I have spoken, turns from its evil. I will relent concerning the calamity I plan to bring on it.

That's Jeremiah 18.8 So when you go to Jonah 3.10, where God relents from destroying Nineveh. Wow! That's why. Okay?

Simple. Listen, God relented from the calamity which he had declared bring upon them and he did not do it. So here, God using man will. God is not sovereign.

God is looking for man. No, no, no. There's nothing to do with that. Let's lay off this kind of thing because you keep talking about these same people. But this is just another issue and that's what it is. It's just an issue of God committing to relenting from doing things.

If a nation repents, that's all. I couldn't get it. I couldn't get it. You said Jeremiah what? Jeremiah 18.8 Jeremiah 18.8 So one small. Can you explain one small?

I didn't get it in my brain. Can I explain what? One more time. Sure. What? Oh, that.

Okay. If... How do you apply that God sovereign acts in God's words? He just, sovereignty, he does what he wants. And if he says he will relent when a nation repents, then he does. That's all that's going on. So he wants the nation to repent?

Yeah. So how do you apply God's foreknowledge? God's predestination here. How do you apply that God's foreknowledge of predestination here? It's not an issue of predestination. It's just an issue of them repenting. Okay? That's it.

And from all eternity that was worked. Okay? It's not hard.

I mean, I don't see any problem or any challenge to it. Okay, I don't. Alright? Okay?

Are you there? Yes, you see that action. Look, here's a break. So hold on. Okay? And we'll get back to you after the break. Okay, buddy?

Because there's the music. Hey folks, 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. Alright, everybody. Welcome back to the show. Be right.

I mean, I guess so many things are going on. We have a problem. I'm going to be redoing the feed there, Charlie.

So it'll come up in a little bit out of strain guard. So I'm going to close it and then we'll work it. Alright. So there we go. Hey, let's get back on the air with Luke from Washington.

Luke, welcome. You're on the air? Yes. The thing is, God is free to change his judgment when we repent. That's what he's saying.

No. What is happening is that God has from eternity decreed everything. In an anthropomorphic set, all that's going on is that we are seeing him work with us in the context and the way of what we would see as humanity.

It's called an anthropomorphism. That's how he works. He speaks to us. He works in human form, in human terms. When Adam and Eve were in the garden, what he did was walk in the garden with us, with Adam and Eve. And he said, after they sinned, he said, Adam, where are you? Well, of course he knew.

He was just saying this because he was relating to them on a human level. That's what he's doing with the covenant. That's what he's doing. When people repent, he relents of his stuff. It's eternally decreed. It's not a problem.

Are you there? God can change according to man's action. According to you... I'm going to say the same thing. It's an eternal decree that God has worked. That's it.

It's not a problem. It only looks as though he is changing based on human mind, human stuff. It just looks like it.

That's all. So, it looks like God's mind is changed, but it's not. How do you understand?

Because when you read that... I'm sorry. Wait, wait, wait. This is frustrating. I keep saying the same thing and it's difficult to understand you. So, I'll tell you what. We'll talk about it in another time.

I'm already giving you the answer and we're just going to move along. Let's get to Jason from Scottsdale, Arizona. Jason, welcome. You're on the air.

Hi, Matt. My question is on Romans 11.30 and 31, what's confusing to me is that it sounds to me like most of the Jews who were hardened so that they not believe the gospel at some point they're going to believe, which is just totally confusing to me. Totally what? Totally what?

Romans 11.30 and 31. Yeah, I got it. I missed one word.

It broke up. Say it again. Go ahead.

Say it again. Okay. So, my question is, Paul is saying that some of the Jews were hardened so that they not believe the gospel so that salvation could come to the Gentiles.

Right. And what's confusing to me is it sounds like he's implying that those hardened Jews that disbelieve the gospel at some point will believe the gospel so that God will have mercy upon all, which is completely confusing to me because if God's election is he chose before the world began who, Jew and Gentile, would be saved, it's immutable. So, can you help me in verse 30 and 31?

Sure. Just as you once were disobedient to God but now you have been shown mercy because of their disobedience. So, the Gentiles were shown obedience or mercy because of the Jews' disobedience. So, these also now have been disobedient that because of the mercy shown to you they also may be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all. And I mentioned earlier the word all is interesting. God uses it differently than we do. People sometimes just think all means all.

Yeah, of course it does. All the days of my life means a limited number. All the history of the world is a larger number. All of Israel was taxed or all the world was taxed as it says in the Bible. So, it has different meanings. So, when you say for God has shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all, we see here this is I'm going to open up a big can of worms, but I can make the case very easily that the first all is different than the second all.

Now, there's two ways to kind of tackle this. He shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all. Now, it could be that that all is the same reference to the same group of people, every individual who ever lived.

It's a possibility that that could be the case. But he hasn't shown mercy to every individual who ever lived. Because there are some who were created for the purpose of destruction. Romans 9 23, Proverbs 16 4.

When we go to for example, I'll give you a little bit of a background so you can see what I'm talking about. When you go to Romans 5, I think it's 5 15, it says this. But the free gift is not like the transgression. By the transgression of the one, the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift of the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. Well, there is an example where the phrase the many is used in two different senses.

And a lot of people are really confused by this, so when I teach it to them, it's like, I've never heard this before, and I have to go over it with them and show it to them. So I'll say it again. For if by the transgression of the one, that's Adam's sin, the many died. Well, that's everybody who died, because they're represented by Adam. Much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus, abound to the many.

Well, that's a different the many. Now, people think, no, man, you're just reading into it. No, I'm not. When you go to Romans 5 18, it says, so then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. This is where it's very clear. The first all men is every individual who ever lived, and the second all men is not, because it says a result of justification. You following me?

Are you? Alright, so the second all is different. And what it comes down to is federal headship, that Adam represented his people and Jesus represented his people. So 1 Corinthians 15 22 says, for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Well, what all? Because in Adam all died, that's everybody Adam represented. And in Christ, it's just reference to federal headship and those who are in Christ, all.

That all is limited. And you see this in the scriptures in 1 Corinthians 15 22 Romans 5 18, Romans 5 15 and this verse here in Romans 11 32 He is shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all. Now Romans 11 32 isn't as clear because it could be, there's another possibility, in Romans Matthew 5 43-48 it talks about God letting the sun shine on the good and the bad, and therefore be loving. So to everybody just as God is. So God can show mercy to everybody in a very generic sense.

Providence, he lets the atheist live and eat and enjoy family and freedoms and things like this. He's being very merciful to them. And so it could be for God to shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all. Now, but wait a minute, so he shut all up in disobedience it could also be that all is the Jews. So that he might show mercy to all. That could be the Gentiles. Or it could be everybody. Because only through the disobedience of the Jews the Messiah came by which all, everybody is saved. So it's not as easy see what I'm saying? We've got to break.

In my opinion, Romans 11 is the most difficult chapter in the New Testament for me to understand. We'll be right back folks after these messages. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Alright everyone, welcome back to the show, Bottom of the Hour. Alright, we've got everything working smoothly now. Let's get back on with Jason from Scottsdale. Alright.

Hey Matt. I think there's an easier way for me to ask my question. What I'm trying to get at is, when Paul says that if the Jews abide not in unbelief they can be grafted back in. But our understanding in Reformed theology is that if a vessel is hardened they're a vessel of wrath prepared for destruction and that they cannot believe. So how is Paul making it sound like, well if they abide not in unbelief they can become a vessel of mercy and they can become a believer after they've been hardened?

That doesn't make any sense to me. Separate covenant from decree. So a decree is something in this sense set by God from eternity past in the eternal communion of the Godhead. So that was set.

Alright. So covenant is different. So children were entered into the covenant at the very early age.

You know the males at eight days when they were circumcised. And so you could have someone inside of a covenant bond and the relationship in the covenant is still there even though they may not adhere to the nature of the covenant. So for example a marriage covenant is like this. So we could have a man and a woman who married they entered into a covenant.

One of them commits adultery. They've broken the covenant but they're still married. And so God works covenantally. And if you go to 1 Corinthians, not 1 Corinthians, but Romans Exodus 21-17 it talks about the Ten Commandments there. And you'll see the Ten Commandments are a covenant style document where there's an opening of this is who I am, this is what I've done and the stipulations, the boundary stipulations of keeping the covenant and the warnings and blessings that are in it.

And then hence there's two copies, ten and ten, not four and six. And so we could have an Israelite who was under the covenant, in the covenant but is not a believer, not elect, not true covenant keeper. And so we could say that God shed up all, you could add the word covenantal in there and it would clear things up. So they were covenantally unfaithful. Now that means the nation as a whole because Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The lost sheep of the house of Israel. The house of Israel is a term of the nation of Israel. So he was sent to, what's interesting is the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So because Israel broke the covenant with God, they rejected the Messiah, then we the Gentiles are grafted in.

But many of the individual Jews believe in the Messiah even though covenantally the nation of Israel rejected the Messiah. Beautiful, beautiful. We can do the same kind of thing here. Alright, so I'm not saying this is it and I'm starting Romans 10 verse 1 on Thursday going through study and as I teach through Romans and when I get to 11 I'll be getting in this more depth. But those are some of the outlying things I would look at. Sorry Matt, go ahead.

No, go ahead. So Matt, therefore in Romans 11 22 am I comprehending correctly that when he says branches being cut off, that cannot be individual, if we're elected we're already vessels of mercy, he must mean Gentiles as a whole. Think of this as the nation of Israel was often called the vine. And so what he's doing is he's relating the idea of branches, natural branches, the natural members of that covenant faithfulness of God. If they're going to leave the covenant and then come back in the covenant, they'll be grafted back in.

That's all that's going on. And we're outside that covenant and yet we were grafted in. And the natural branches the people of the covenant, the Israeli covenant are more natural. When he says do not be high minded but fear for if he did not spare the natural branches he will not spare you. So we're saved irrevocably in Christ so we can't individually be cut off if we're regenerated.

That's correct, we can't. But notice what he's doing, he's talking covenantally. Right, so he's talking about you Gentiles could covenantally through arrogance be cut off in the future?

We can't lose our salvation and God's election is for the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1 4. Look at Romans 11 because what he's doing is he's speaking to the Jews here. And in Romans 2 he's speaking to the Jews. He says here in Romans 11 I too am an Israelite, descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

That's an interesting phrase. Or do you not know the scripture, what it says? And it goes on he quotes the Old Testament. So he says there has become in verse 5 a remnant according to God's gracious choice. So there we have the issue of the election of individuals that God keeps for himself that are retained within the national covenantal group called Israel, the nation of Israel. Gotcha, gotcha. So verse 22 Matt, real brief how do you personally interpret verse 22?

Any way I want. He said personally, so you know. But biblically behold then the king, the kindness and severity of God to those who fell, severity but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in his kindness otherwise you'll also be cut off. So think of this I tell people this, imagine this, say you're reformed and you're going to go speak to a crowd of 500 people at a church and you're going to give a gospel message. You don't know who they are who are believers or who are not believers. You don't know who God is calling, drawing or not calling or not drawing.

You don't know. So what you're going to do is you're going to say you need to believe in the gospel. You need to repent and come to your senses and come to Christ and believe and trust in him.

You need to do this which is true. And you can say to every individual because it's true of every individual. And you could get in there and you could say and if let's say you receive Christ here this day, this night, whatever it is and a year from now you are living like you're not a Christian, you're the devil well then you have fallen from the promise that God has given. That if you truly do believe then you will be saved.

But if you truly don't believe but you're walking as though you were for a little bit and then you fall, you fall away, then you were never the believers to begin with. So he's talking generically to a lot of people not knowing who is elect, who's not elect. And the church in Rome is full of unbelievers, full of unbelievers as well as Jews. But he's speaking a lot to the Jews. Romans is really a very Jewish book. And so he's speaking there covenantally. There are a lot of Jews who are listening to this. And just think about it. You're a Jew you're sitting in the synagogue, this is being read by somebody, you're sitting there and behold the kindness and severity of God to those who fell.

Severity. But to you God's kindness if you continue in his kindness. And it's true if you continue in his kindness then no problem. But it doesn't mean that we earn our salvation by it it's a manifestation of what we are if you continue. But you are obligated to continue you're obligated to do what's right. So along with this theology is something that is also not taught in a lot of churches.

Federal headship is not taught and it needs to be and also the concept of righteous obligation no matter what righteous obligation. So God says in 1 Peter 1 16 he says be holy for I am holy. Well we can't be holy but he commands us to be holy.

The obligation is to everyone whether you can do it or not is irrelevant. God does not lower his standard for you. He commands that everyone everywhere repent.

Acts 17 30. This is what he wants for everybody but in 2 Timothy 2.25 he grants repentance. So on one hand he requires that all people be obedient and do what's right because that's his standard. But on the other hand he grants it to varying individuals. So some people say that's not fair. Well if it's not fair then you can argue back to God and read Romans 9 9 2 23 and you can talk about it and you can face God. But this is another aspect of theology that's not talked about that I will mention in my Bible studies when I teach when I have more time and I explain it slowly.

It's new. So continuing in his goodness could that be also seen as just continuing in faith because if that's how someone is grafted in is by faith and they're cut off by unbelief. So if we continue in faith in his goodness then we're the recipients of that.

Sorry if I sound a little confused. It's just a lot to take in. It is. It's a lot to take in. Just remember federal headship and the requirement of righteousness is based on God's character. Righteous requirement is what God wants.

And if you weave it in with covenant it will make more sense. Okay there's a break got to go. Alright Jason God bless buddy call back. Alright hey we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned.

Hey Matt. I just wanted to ask you after the show could you please check your emails. I just sent you two videos from Aaron Raw and one of them I'm in the middle of watching but like the other one I've already watched and so basically the videos are about him. The first one I watched is about him trying to debunk the Bible and show how there are many prophecies in the Bible that never came to us and the second video he's talking about how Jesus said some lies and you know some other things. So I would like you to like write an article on those videos. Well let's see how big is my pile of things to do.

I have to climb up to see where I'm at in the landscape. So I got a lot going on but you know maybe thanks for sending those. I can look at them and maybe what I can do is just do a video commentary going through it and then do a commentary on the side or something like that and saying how he doesn't know what he's doing which is often the case with him. But we'll see.

It's just going to take some time. Yeah and one of the things that he says that sticks out to me the most is the part, I think it's in Mark 4, 10-12 where Jesus says that he's speaking in parables so people will not be saved. I believe and he said that this is Jesus being deceptive and that he said that deception is a form of lying. He said that Christians go to great lengths to try to defend Jesus lying here. Aaron, it's not an issue of deception. He's speaking in parables. A parable is a theologically significant thing.

It's meant to be understood by those who are elect. And what he's doing is offering what's called an external critique. He's not offering an internal critique.

An external critique is invalid. It's like me getting on his show and then saying evolution is false because the Bible said God created us. Well okay, it's not a critique examining his evidence from inside. And he's not doing the same thing. He's not examining the evidence from inside the Bible. He's judging stuff. He doesn't understand about predestination. He doesn't understand about election. He doesn't understand about the nature of those who are sheep and those who are goats. He's ignorant about a lot of biblical theology. And this is the case with a lot of atheists which I've offered over the years to teach in biblical theology so at least they'll understand what they're criticizing. But they never, not a single one has ever taken me up on it. Now all the times I've offered, I'll say you don't understand the issues that you're criticizing here. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm not trying to be insulting. But you don't know about this. And I can explain it to you why it's like this. And they don't care. And so if I was talking to an atheist in science and he corrected me, I'm willing to be corrected.

Absolutely. In fact a Mormon last week corrected me on an issue out of Greek. He teaches Greek. And he said, Matt, that's not exactly right.

He wrote it up and he sent it to me. I'm very grateful for that because I checked and he's correct. And so we have to be willing to be corrected. And if you're not willing to be corrected, you're not willing to learn, well then why are you talking?

Why are you just having issues with people? So the thing is here, Aaron Rod is not willing to be taught. He's not willing to engage in the actual arguments. So what he does is external critique. He ignores the internal references, ignores the internal context, and then judges it by an external means. So that's his failure. But he does it all the time. And most atheists do too.

Okay? One more scripture. He didn't bring it up in this video, but I think he brought it up in another one I watched a while ago. The scripture in the Old Testament where God said that he will put a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophet. Basically the argument is that since God put the lying spirit in their mouth, that shows that God is a liar basically.

Yeah. To send a lying spirit is what it is. He sent it.

So a lying spirit was allowed by God to go and do what it's naturally going to do. That's what's happening. So he says, do you want to do that? Go ahead and do that.

It'll serve my purpose. And that's all that it is. So again, what I would do if I was talking to him, I'd ask him an interesting question. I'd say, well, here's the answer, which I just gave. I'd expand on it. But I'd say, I have a question for you. Is lying morally wrong?

It's a question. If he says, yes, I'm going to say you're an atheist. On what basis do you say that that's the case? If it's from a subjective experience and preferences, well then, you know, he's got nothing to stand on.

But if he wants to say, well, inside of your Bible, you say it's wrong to lies. And now you're doing what's called an internal critique. And inside that internal critique, God then sends something to get something done. He's not the efficient cause. He's the proximate cause of this. And proximate causation is different than efficient causation, which I would explain to him. And I've explained to many atheists so they can understand what culpability is. Because if God sends a spirit that's deceptive, he says, you can go.

Go do what you're going to do. He's not the one causing the deceptive spirit to be evil. And he's not causing anyone else to believe a lie.

His hands are innocent of that. But he's certainly in sovereign control and will allow all deceiving work to go forward. And if he's going to be consistent, if Christians are going to be consistent, think through this. In God's permissive will, he allows people to do all kinds of evil things. But he's not the author of their evil.

Just like Adam and Eve were in the garden. The efficient cause of something is Adam, for example. He did his own sin. No one forced him to eat the fruit. No one forced him. That was his own choice. But it was God who put Adam there, Eve there, the fruit there, the trees there, and let Satan come in the garden. And God's the one who gave the law. Don't eat of this.

Don't do it. You'll be in trouble. So he's the proximate cause of Adam's sin. But he's not the efficient cause because Adam is the one who did it of his own free will. Therefore, he's the one culpable. The same kind of thing goes with this issue of the demonic force.

God sent it. He put the circumstances there. He's the proximate cause, but not the efficient cause.

All right? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. You know, watching his videos, it's like he has a point. But then when I listen to you talk, his arguments just completely fall apart.

Right. And it's pretty typical of atheists. I'm not saying I get all the answers. Okay, there's certain things I just don't know about.

I get that. But the fact is that typically, atheists do not know what they're talking about. Now, typically, but not always, a lot of times, not a lot, very few, I will say this. I've met some atheists who are well versed in scripture, really understand a lot of things. And I like that. But they're rare.

They're rare. So for the most part, 99% of everybody I meet in encounter, they don't know what they're doing. They don't understand the main issues. I have to teach it to them. And then they reject it anyway.

So, okay. Also, before I go, I don't know if you know this or not, but did you know that Aaron Ra is doing a Bible study series going through the whole Bible? And right now, he's about to upload a video on Leviticus 21, where he does a live stream with a few other atheists. And they go in and they try to read through it. And then afterwards, they just try to debunk the Bible.

I didn't know he was doing that. But here's the thing. A lot of times, what they'll fail to do is realize there's a difference between the things said that are required of Israel only and everybody. They don't understand that difference. They also don't understand covenant.

They don't understand the apoditic law, and they don't understand what God permits, like the issue of slavery. He permits it. Now, here's the thing.

Now, listen. If these guys raise something in a text and they say, well, that's obviously wrong morally. Well, how do they know? Are they being arrogant and say that they are the ones in special connection with some universal moral truth they can tell?

What is it? And so they don't realize how badly they do in the issue of moral integrity and determination of what should and should not be done. They're exceedingly weak in this area, and I expose them regularly on this. If, however, they want to go into an internal critique mode, that's different. Then we can discuss that as well and say, this is why it was done this way.

This is why that. Tell me where that is, and then maybe I'll listen in sometime, and who knows? Okay? All right? Okay. All right, buddy. Thank you.

Thanks a lot. All right, Elijah. Hey, let's get on the air with Wes from the United States.

Hey, Wes, you're on the air. How are you doing? We talked on Friday for a minute, but are you shutting down at 7 o'clock or shutting down in a few minutes here?

We've got three and a half minutes before we're done. What's up? Oh, okay.

Yeah, I don't think we're going to be able to dig into this. You had mentioned something about the Bible and not believing the King James Bible was God's word, and I was going to ask you about your- Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. How are you- No, I didn't say that. No, the King James Bible is the word of God, absolutely, as is the NASB and the NIV. It's just English versions of it, but there's not a perfect translation from the original to the English.

That's what I'm saying. Do you believe that they're inspired? No, the English versions are not inspired in the sense that there was an inspired work of the Holy Spirit upon the translators.

That's not the case. But what they're doing is translating inspired documents, but their process wasn't inspired, okay? Do you believe that copies are inspired? Okay, they're copies of inspired documents. What do you mean by inspired? Do you mean that the copyist was inspired by God to make sure it was accurate, or do you mean- No. How do you believe that the originals were inspired? That's why we may not be able to finish this in just a couple minutes.

That's okay. They were inspired because God worked through the apostles and the prophets when they penned what they did in the scriptures. Those original documents, those autographs, were inspired and inerrant and perfect, period.

Those are the perfect ones. Verbal dictation? No, not verbal. How did they get those words from God? We don't know how they got them from God. We just know that God worked through them and in them.

They retained their personality, their knowledge, and their linguistic skills, and yet it was inspired at the same time. Okay. Interesting. Okay, I'll have to call you back to dig into it a little bit more.

Sure. What are you? Are you an atheist or a Christian or what? I'm a Christian. I'm a King James, and I believe in Christians. Oh, okay. Well, I'll give you some homework, okay? Look at Romans 518 in the King James and compare it to the NASB in the King James, and you'll see they're different, significantly different.

And then go to the ESV. Which one matches the original? The NASB. Do you have the original to tell you that, to prove that? Look, I don't have an original document. I have copies of the original, and all the copies say the same thing, okay?

All the copies say the same thing. Yes, look, you need to be careful of your loyalty to the King James. It's going to blind you. I can tell already it's going to blind you. I'm just telling what the Greek documents say.

The King James has it wrong in its translation. Go to blueletterbible.com, look up the interlinear, take a look, call me tomorrow, and I'll explain some more, okay? Okay. All right, buddy. All right, you too. All right.

Boy, that was an interesting show. Hey, if you want to give me a call, you've got to whittle tomorrow. May the Lord bless you, and by His grace, look back on there tomorrow, and we'll talk to you then. God bless. Bye.