Matt Slick Live

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If you have comments, questions, or questions, call 8772072276. Jesus' response was, if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword. Don't you know that I can call down legions of angels? What does he mean by that, Matt?

Live by the sword, die by the sword. Well, it's just a common idiom. I'm not sure if you said that. Where is that?

The father of heaven. Let's see. I'm trying to find the other references for that. So I can make sure that is the case.

Drink the cup. Let's see. So anyway, he did that and struck the slave. That's Matthew 26. I'm looking at different versions that talk about it.

Yeah, there we go. Matthew 26.52. For all who take up the sword, shall perish by the sword. What it's talking about there is the act of living by it. It's an interesting construction in the Greek. It's an aorist active participle. Aorist deals with past tense.

You are in that past state of, actively, living with it. Participle is an ing word. So present tense, I eat. Participle, I am eating. That's what a participle is. In Greek, this is a participial form. So there's a continuous action that's going on from the past.

Generally, participles take their tense from the preceding verb. So that's what's going on. Loosely, it's like saying, for all who live by the sword, they're fighting with it all the time, you're going to die by that. That's the idea.

That's what's going on there. Okay, so does that indicate that Peter, throughout his life then, was a sword that's what he used regularly? No. According to the Greek?

No. All we know is what it says, and what it says is that he had one. Also, in Luke 22, 36, Jesus says, sell your cloak and buy a sword. They said, look, we have a sword.

He goes, that's enough. So the idea is of self-defense. So that was the means that the people could use for self-defense. A lot of people don't realize this, that Peter had access to a sword, and Jesus told them to buy a sword. The reason that's important is because a lot of people think that Jesus is the blonde haired blue-eyed Caucasian surfer dude dressed in a woman's nice gown, and he wouldn't hurt a fly.

So they don't understand that Jesus actually taught the idea of being strong and defending yourself. You have that right, not the obligation. You have the right. So if they're persecuting you for the faith, you don't have to defend yourself. You can just take it. But you also have the right to defend yourself and others.

So that's the option there. But nevertheless, so they had a sword with them, and Jesus never told them to get rid of it. Otherwise they wouldn't have had it. And then he abused it. He abused it, but he was trying to protect Jesus. And that's one of the things that is required in the Old Testament, to protect people, to deliver someone from the hand of the oppressor. And he was just doing what he thought was right. And Jesus says, put this away.

He says he has to do his Father's will. And that's what's really interesting. He said, oh, that makes a lot of sense, Matt. Yeah, because if he would have fought off those Romans, then Jesus would have never went to the cross and did the work that was needed for redemption. Theoretically, yeah.

He could have beaten all of them, but yeah, I know what you're saying. So he says, you know, in John 18, 11, Jesus says, put the sword into the sheath, the cup which the Father has given me. Shall I not drink it? So he's saying, he didn't say it's wrong for you to do that. That's not what he said. He didn't say it's wrong for you to defend yourself. That's not what he said. He said, put this sword away.

I've got to do what the Father wants. So that's what's going on. So I'm going to tell you, if someone comes to my house and they know who I am and they're persecuted because I'm a Christian, well, let's just say that I'll take care of it.

Gotcha. That really puts things in a different perspective than what's traditionally taught. You know, it seems like, Matt, Christians talk about turning the other cheek all the time, turn the other cheek, turn the other cheek. And that pretty much advocates especially a father's leadership to protect his kids against an armed assailant. You know, if he's supposed to turn the other cheek when, you know, his wife is somehow violated, when he could at least try to defend her.

That's right. And if someone attacks my wife, I will do everything I can to stop them. And my wife knows it. She knows I will go down swinging. She knows. And I'll do whatever I can to defend her. She knows that. That's what every man does. Good for you. And I have friends that if I'm with their wife, say, you know, we're out in a mall or we're outside and I get separated with their wife, you know, nothing shady, just a couple hundred feet away.

We're, you know, someplace and something happens to my friend's wife. Same level of defense. Amen. That's right. Amen.

Makes great sense. And thanks for that, Matt. I always love calling into the show because I always get straight up quick, slick answers, and I appreciate your knowledge, Matt, and for being as bold as you are, and keep doing the great work, sir. And if you ever come to Dayton, Ohio, I would love to meet you. Well, why don't you arrange for me to come on out there and speak at a church or something like that? I could do that, Matt. I would love, I mean, I turn a lot of people on to CARM. I turn a lot of people onto your program.

You come on out here in Dayton, Ohio, at 6 p.m. on the Truth Network, 106.5 FM, and I would love to host and have you come out and do a fantastic Matt Slick presentation. Oh, see, now there's where you blew it. That's where you blew it. You said you wouldn't mind having me come out, but then you said, fantastic presentation. So that just blew it right there. I could do a presentation, but I don't know if it would be fantastic. Well, your show is pretty fantastic because you hit the ball out of the park, Matt.

So I would say just like Jose Consenco hitting it out of the park, Matt Slick hits it out of the park. That's pretty fantastic. Okay. All right, big man. Sounds good.

Well, hey, you never know. All right. Yeah, I'll be in touch.

That'd be awesome. Thanks so much for your time, Matt. All right. God bless. You too.

No problem. Bye-bye. All right. All right.

Well, that was Buskman from Ohio. Now let's get to, oh boy, here we go, Alex from Orlando. There goes the show. Are you prepared for what I'm going to say? I don't know. We'll find out.

We'll find out. Okay. I'm here first and foremost to demand Ernie gets a raise. Let's double his salary. Well, as soon as- Double or double, triple it. Triple it.

Yeah, triple of nothing is nothing. But I'm just going to, because you said that, there are several people who work for us and volunteer that we don't pay. We have missionaries all over the world that we pay.

We've been paying them for years. If people support the ministry, if they were to hypothetically say, I don't know how to say hypothetically, if you were to say this money, we would like to go to a certain person like Laura or Charlie or Ernie, and what we could do is we could lean at that direction. We have to be careful what we can and can't do.

We know all the rules, but there's some legality about it's for an individual. What we do is we use it out of the general fund because we're 501c3, but we help people and we've got Ernie some stuff and we've got Joanne some stuff for the work of the ministry. Anyway, people- Why don't you just take some of your salary and give it to Ernie? Hey, I've been thinking about that. We're going to see what's going to happen with my wife. No, I'm serious. Because we're getting social security, my wife's social security is coming, but you never know.

I've thought about doing something like that for the missionaries because they're in these other countries. They're doing a lot of work and stuff, but anyway, that's just what it is. It's a lot of variables in there, but we need support. You know I'm just joking around.

I was talking to Ernie earlier today and we always make that joke about you tripling and quadrupling the salary. Yeah. Well, he does a good job. He does a great job with the video work that we're doing and the thumbnails. Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. He does a good job. All right, big man.

What do you got? I know we're going to go to a break soon, but the question is, this Catholic guy I was talking to says, Mary is the second Eve. How do I respond to those claims? Where are they getting it from? I know you've probably debated Roman Catholics and heard this before. Where is this from?

How do I answer this? Well, they're comparing her to Eve that she was the mother of all mankind. They say Mary's a mother of all the church and they draw these parallels and they say that she's the Ark of the Covenant and then out of Eve came the truth. And so out of Mary came the word, you know, all these things. They do this kind of stuff. And the reason they do this is because they're idolaters, flat out idolaters. And they want to elevate Mary to the level of a functioning goddess. And I'll talk more about after the break.

And I'm absolutely convinced the Roman Catholic Church absolutely promotes, without a doubt, idolatry. And we'll get more on that after the break. Be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, all you've got to do is dial 877-207-2276. Alex, are you still there? I'm still here.

All right. Okay, so what the Catholics are doing with this issue of Mary being the second Eve is they're trying to exalt her. And some of the problems with this is it's not specifically taught in Scripture. And also, it denounces the idea of original sin and that she's a sinner, because they just say that she was born without sin. And then they say that she could hear millions of prayers all over the world, simultaneously spoken in thought, et cetera. So they draw these parallels with Eve, and then they use it, among other things, to validate their idolatrous stance towards her.

And so I just looked on CARM. I haven't read an article on this. So I put it in my notes to write an article. Is Mary the second Eve?

Why or why not? And so I'll work on that. But there are problems with that.

What's that? Oh, I was going to say, that's good. The other thing, so when I brought this up, I said, she's not the second Eve, and we're talking about that. He goes, yeah, she's never sinned. How could God incarnate be born of a sinner like Mary? She had to be sinless.

That's what he said to me. And nothing logically or biblically says that Mary had to be sinless in order for Jesus to be born from her. It's just a, well, how could he do that? She's sinful. Well, then, how could she have been sinless without her mom being sinless?

How'd that work? So it's just, I'm just going to say it again and again and again. The Roman Catholic Church is just an idolatrous false religion. It is.

It's not Christian. Well, no. Oh, go ahead.

Sorry. No, go ahead. Go ahead. I'm going to read some stuff from the litany of Mary here a little bit. Sure.

Now, would you say that there are, where is the level, like, would you agree with me that there are some Christians in the Catholic Church? Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. That's why I say anyone who believes official Roman Catholic theology when they die will go to hell. Yeah.

But there are lots of Christians. Okay. So you could have like a, yeah, so you could have an old lady who sits there her whole life who truly believes that we're saved by grace through faith, or through Christ through grace and faith alone, and she just sits there her whole life and she could still be born again. Yeah. And there'd be an inconsistency of her believing the truth while going to a false church.

But there's lots of inconsistencies in people's lives. Okay. So, I was doing some research this morning, and one thing led to another, and I found the litany, the litany of Mary, okay, and it was done in, I believe, 1531, and was officially approved in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V, who suppressed all other Marian litanies used publicly. So it's official. I'm not going to read the whole thing, because it talked about the Lord, talked about Jesus, and then it goes on.

I'm going to read this. I'll try and make it quick and skip a couple of words here and there, but 53 titles are given to Mary. It says, Holy Mary, pray for us, mother of God, virgin of virgins, mother of Christ, mother of the church, mother of mercy, mother of divine grace, mother of hope.

She's most pure, most chaste, inviolate, undefiled, most amiable, mother admirable, mother of good counsel, mother of our Creator and the Savior, virgin most prudent, venerable, renowned, most powerful, most merciful, faithful, the mirror of justice, she's the seat of wisdom, the cause of our joy, she's a spiritual vessel, vessel of honor, singular vessel of devotion, the mystic rose, tower of David, tower of ivory, house of gold, ark of the covenant, gate of heaven, morning star, health of the sick, refuge of sinners, solace of migrants, comfort of the afflicted, help of Christians, queen of angels, queen of the patriarchs, of prophets, of the apostles, of martyrs, of confessors, and of virgists, she's the queen over all the saints, and she was conceived without original sin, assumed into heaven, and she's the queen of the most holy rosary, queen of families, and the queen of peace. Now, how do we say idolatry? That's how it's, it's a, yeah, um, there's actually two churches near me, one in, well, one is a few hours, one in Jacksonville, Mary, queen of heaven, Catholic church, and then there's one down the street from me that I always thought was a cult and it's actually a Catholic church and it's named Mary, queen of the universe. Yeah, you see, it, wow, you know, just want to walk up to there, I'm not going to do this, I'm just exaggerating, it frustrates me so much. Walk up to the priest at the church and just slap him.

Stop that. Stop leading your parishioners into damnation with your idolatry. The Catholic church, I've talked to so many Catholics, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds over, over decades, and they are in love with Mary.

It has to be about Mary. They turn to Mary, their heart full of Mary and the church. They're mariolatrists and ecclesiolatrists.

So idolatry is the worship of idols. Mariolatry is worship of Mary and ecclesiolatry is worship of their church. So they functionally replace Jesus with their church. Because where Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life, the Catholic church says it is the way, the truth, and the life. Where Jesus is the one who forgives sins, now the church is the one who has the authority to forgive sins.

So grace comes through the work of Christ, but then it comes through their sacramental system. And there's no salvation outside of Christ, officially there's no salvation outside the Catholic church. The Catholic church is just a gigantic idol, a false church, a false religion.

It may very well be the Whore of Babylon, but it is a damnable religion and it teaches false doctrine. Now I know people are hearing me who are Catholics and they're just enraged, they're furious. Well the truth is if you die believing in official Roman Catholic theology you're going to be damned.

You need to come to Christ, and Christ alone, not the church. Oh, it just makes me mad. Yeah. Well you know brother, any time you, that Queen of the Universe church and the Mormon temple are 30 minutes of each other down here, so we can go out there maybe in the future. You know, I would be willing to fly out there to Florida and do some stuff with you, it'd be fun. Yeah. Yeah, that would be fun man. Well we'll see, we'll see what the Lord has in the future.

We'll see. Alright man. Alright, I'll see you later brother, God bless. Oh my goodness, hey wait, I just found something.

The Second Vatican Council's Constitution of the Church states that, quote, Mary who's taken up body and soul into heavenly glory and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the Universe, that she might be the more fully conformed to her son, L-E-M, L-U-M-E-N, Lumen Gentium 59. Oh man. Put that in the chat notes. Yeah, so much idolatry, so little time. Alright buddy, I've got to go. Alright, see you brother. Alright, we'll talk to you later. Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages, if you want, give me a call, and we can talk. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276, here's Matt Slick. Alright, I want to welcome back to the show, let's get back on the air here, let's get to Jared from Indiana. Jared, welcome, you're on the air.

Hey, I'm a little bit under the weather, so bear with me. So my question wasn't, I guess my question might be a little bit vague, but Romans 1 16 says, the power of God is the gospel, but I'm not saying this facetiously, I'm really just trying to figure out how these things relate, but in Calvinism they say that your action, that you are granted faith in order to believe, but wouldn't that make that the power of God instead of the gospel? No, you could say also the regenerative work of God, and then he causes us to be born again, 1 Peter 1-3, could also be the power of God. The word is powerful, it won't come back out to you without accomplishing what he desires, Isaiah 55-11, so that's powerful. The Holy Spirit who convictions of our sins in John 16, and the one who reveals the truth of who Christ is in John 14-26, 15-26, is also powerful.

So when we talk about this, we've got to be careful we don't just say too much too quickly about something. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation. What, the proclamation of the gospel, or the gospel itself and the death, burial, and resurrection? Because what the gospel is, is the euangelia in Greek, and it's spoken of in 1 Corinthians 1-4, as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins. That's what the gospel is, that is the power of God to salvation. So what it's saying is that it's only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ who is a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, that's the only way we can have salvation.

And the Calvinists, what they do is they believe that's the case, Armenians believe that's the case. They believe that the gospel of Christ, that he died, rose from the dead three days later, bore our sin in his body on the cross, 1 Peter 2-24, that's the thing that saves people. So God grants that we have faith, and that's Philippians 1-29. And when we have faith, that's when we're justified, Romans 5-1, having therefore been justified by faith. And Romans 4-5 says, to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. So God grants faith to people, that's Philippians 1-29, as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed, Acts 13-48, and it's the gospel that is the power that saves them to begin with.

God in flesh who died on the cross rose from the dead. And the application of that redemptive work of Christ, let's just say the issue of redemptive work, I'll leave it as a broad statement for now, because I can get into nuances there, that is obtained by faith, okay? Uh, yeah, so, so then, then the, then wouldn't that make election not that big a deal then? Without election, no one can be saved.

Yeah. Well, because that's what, you know, it sounds to me that either you're elect and you're granted faith, and then you believe, or it's the power of the gospel, to anybody, to anybody. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's not this or that. The gospel is the thing that Jesus did. Faith is a thing we do. And God grants that we have faith in what Jesus did. But doesn't Calvinism say that God grants the faith? Well, because Philippians 1 29 says to you, it has been granted to believe. That's why Calvinists say that, because that's what the Bible says. But in that contradictory to faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, you couldn't have any faith unless you heard the word of God, right?

Well, what if you're deaf? See what he's talked about normatively there in Romans 10, 9, and 10, and 17, he's talking about the issue of the gospel being preached. This is what Jesus did. This is who he is. And God uses the power of that gospel message.

And we don't know all the particulars. And he opens people's hearts and minds, he draws them, John 6 44, he grants that they come to Christ, John 6 65. And so that he grants that they believe and grants they have repentance, 2 Timothy 2 25.

He does. And it's by the gospel. Okay. Yeah, I appreciate it.

Okay. Now, you have to understand though, Ephesians 1 4 and 5, a lot of people don't like what the scriptures actually teach in a lot of areas. It says, just as he, that's the Father, chose us, the chosen ones, and that's the Greek word. So he chose us in him, in Christ. So here's the thing that people miss theologically.

Now, personally, I'm going to take a sidestep here. I think most churches dumb down the Bible and don't teach biblical theology very well. And so now we have false teachers like Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen going around and teaching stuff that is just crud. Okay. And people don't know because they don't know biblical theology.

They don't know, for example, I know this is for a test to those who don't like what I'm saying. Well, listen to this. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that means God chose us. That we would be holy and blameless. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself. So God chose and predestined. Well, then some people will say, oh, that's because he knows what they're going to do.

And he chose him because he knows what they're going to do. That's humanist philosophy. That's humanism. Because humanism would say man is a standard of righteousness.

Man is the reason. Humanism says, look, Jesus died, but I have to decide to believe. I am the one who applies this to myself. I'm the one in my wisdom who will decide I need Jesus.

Me, me, me, look at me. But the Bible says you cannot come to Christ unless it's granted you from the Father, John 665. God grants that you have faith, Philippians 1.29. You're caused to be born again, 1 Peter 1.3, and you're born again not of your own will, John 1.13. And I quote these things to people all the time.

And they get mad. And they say, oh, you're a Calvinist. I'm quoting the scripture, and this is what you say? And you're rejecting the word of God? And this is your interpretation. I say, I'm just quoting them.

There's a disparity out there. So two quick ones that made me think. So how would you relate that to who God foreknew he did predestined? And then in John 6. Yes, that's easy. Okay. And then in John 6. Let's do one at a time. It's Romans. Yeah, okay.

Let's do one at a time. Yeah. Romans 8.29, for those of me foreknew, he also predestined. The foreknown ones are also the predestined ones. They're the same group.

A lot of people just miss this. It doesn't say, hypothetically, to exaggerate, he looked into the future out and all the people to see who's going to believe in him, and he predestined some of them. That's what they think that means. But it doesn't say that. It says, those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. The foreknown ones are also the predestined ones.

They're the same group. Then we get into, what does it mean to foreknow? Some people just think it automatically means, he just knows the future, and he chooses people based on what they're going to do.

More humanist philosophy that's crept into the church, and it's undermining the truth of who God is in his sovereignty. Okay. What about John 6? What about John 6?

Okay. And then, so in John 6, so I think it's John either 7 or 10, it said that he wrote these things because the Holy Spirit hadn't yet been given. Is it possible that in John 6, he's telling them that they couldn't come to the Father because the Holy Spirit hadn't been given, and that's not how things were being drawn like we do with the Gospel after the cross? I don't know of a verse that says that, so I'm at a loss. Let's see, Bible, the Spirit had not yet been given. That's John 7, 39, so let me go.

So the context is this, verse 38, he who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his inner most being will flow rivers of living water, but this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those had believed in him who were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given. Yeah, that didn't happen until Pentecost, right? So that's all that's going on there. Right.

Yeah. But he told Peter, you know, the night before he was crucified, or not the night before he was crucified, but earlier in the Gospels that he said, who do you say I am? He said, basically he was telling him he's the Messiah or the Son of God, and he said, well, you couldn't have said that unless the Father had revealed that to you. Right. Yeah, and so the Holy Spirit didn't reside inside men, right, before then?

No, no, no, no, logic, be careful, you can't say he wasn't residing inside of people. What is the phrase, hadn't been given yet? That's the phrase we're going to look at. People very often, very quickly just assume something and then they work with it.

I say, don't do that. What does the phrase mean, given, but the Spirit given? Well, I say, don't assume, just go study, you know, you'll find this out, you'll find this out, that the Holy Spirit is prophesied in the Old Testament to be poured, that's what the Bible says, now pour out my Spirit in these last days, etc., etc., and he goes on and on, lots of verses like that in the Old Testament, okay? And so then in Acts 1, 5, this is after the ascension of Christ, John baptizes with water, you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit. That baptism has to be the pouring of the Holy Spirit upon him.

It has to be. That's how it's prophesied, the Spirit is prophesied. And then when you go in, and it says the Holy Spirit, you know, the prophecies of Joel were fulfilled in the book of Acts, we're running out of time, there's a break, and I can explain what that is so that we can get a better understanding, I know I'm going fast because there's the break, so hold on buddy.

So much theology and so little time, but it all works. Shave, we'll be right back, 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, we've got a guy in one of the chat rooms arguing with me about something biblical, he can't get it. So I love that kind of stuff, I'm hoping he'll call and then we can talk about Colossians 2, 14, which is a very, very interesting verse, hopefully he'll call if he's able to.

Jared, you still there? Yes. Yes. Okay, so the Holy Spirit hadn't yet been given, really quickly, the Holy Spirit is prophesied as being poured, and it shall be the last days, God says, I'll pour forth my Spirit in all mankind.

That happened in Acts 2, that's Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and when the manifestation of the Spirit was there, the charismatic gifts manifested, speaking in tongues, glorifying God, and that's what's going on there, the gifting of the Spirit for the church. So if that hadn't been given yet, that's all that's going on, okay? Yeah, I guess I will have to call back in, I've got more questions about it, I'll call back in maybe tomorrow or the next day, because I'm really trying to figure this out. I listen to a lot of people, I listen to a lot of apologetics, a lot of Calvinists, a lot of just Bible preachers, and I'm trying to relate, and, you know, I feel like, okay, yes sir?

You can email me at info at karm.org, and I may look on you and we'll just talk. I did, I did. Oh, you did?

I did, I did. Yes, I did email you, and it's under Jared Miller, and it's basically kind of along the same question that I had on the show, so. Okay, that's fine.

And, you know, I'd be glad to talk to you about it, and, you know, we can just talk, and, you know, if you believe it, great, as long as you don't believe it, for what you believe is biblically sound, and you're not outside of Orthodoxy, then no problem, okay? Yes sir, I appreciate it. All right.

Well, good stuff, man. Thanks for the time. Yeah, thanks for the time, and I'll be excited to hear from you. Okay.

Sounds good. All right, thank you. Thank you. All right. Okay, God bless. All right.

That was Jared. Now, let's get to, oh boy, Shibu, welcome, you're on the air. Hi, how are you, sir? Doing all right.

So, what do you got? Did God die as per Revelation 1.18? Yeah, yes, that's the person that Christ was, two distinct natures, and the attributes of both natures were ascribed to the single person. That's the communication of the properties, and so therefore the person died on the cross, so therefore the attributes of both natures given to that person who died on the cross, so therefore we can say yes, in that sense, God died. Okay.

So, we said your death, burial, and resurrection, that's what the gospel, so he died. Okay. Thank you, sir. Okay. Okay. That was easy. All right, let's get to Angie. Angie, you're on the air. Hello. Hi. Welcome.

Yes. What Scriptures would you recommend to find comfort in trusting that your unsaved loved ones will come to faith in the doctrine of election? Well, election's a different thing. It deals with the work of God from eternity past in his sovereign mind, his sovereign decrees.

That's what election is about. We don't know the criteria that God has about electing and choosing people for salvation. Second Thessalonians 2, 13 says God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. This is biblical, but then we have also James 5, 16, 17 talks about, well, the prayers of a righteous man avail much with God.

Okay. I'm righteous and you're righteous because we're in Christ, and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. Romans 5, 1 and Philippians 3, 9. So that means our prayers influence God. How then do the prayers that influence God influence God if he's planned that they influence him?

So we get into this, I have no idea how it works thing. So now we talk about the people who we're praying for. We're praying for them. Like I pray for my daughters and others and my wife and I pray for her family too, and not as often as we should. We pray that God would open their heart. And what I say sometimes in my prayers is, God, if they're not elected, please elect them. What I'm saying is don't know how it all works, but I'm asking God to be merciful.

And then I trust him in his mercy and continue to do what I'm supposed to be doing, which is praying and interceding. Okay. Great. That brings comfort. Thank you.

That brings me comfort. Thank you. All right. Yes.

Yeah. Have a great day. Okay.

You too. God bless. Okay. Oh, go ahead. You were going to say more.

Please do. Okay. I was just going to say that if someone is theologically trained and knowledgeable as I am, I'm trying to boast, I'm just saying, I don't know how it works. And I just trust my Lord. And you know, I just trust him with the people that I love, and I ask him to save.

And I say, you're the sovereign king. Please open their hearts. Please speak into their hearts.

Please grant them that repentance and that faith. And that's what I do. And I know that my prayers are sanctified through Jesus himself. And I know they're heard, and I know they make a difference. And then in the process, I submit and say, Lord, please help them.

And this is a perfect opportunity to say something. This is exactly the place I get to where I don't understand how it works. And I'm frustrated in that because I want to be able to have answers, but I don't know how. I don't know how it works. And is it that man's free will is so vast that God just submits to it, but without submitting, because that means he's less, then does he let them have what they want and he chooses to? There are just so many things I can't answer.

And I don't know of any theological perspective that answers it. And so that's where I'm at. That's why I say, Lord, if they're not elect, please elect. Lord, I just throw my hands in the air. Just please save them.

That's what we do. Okay. All right.

Yes, it is. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Have a good night.

Bye bye. Okay. You know, it's one of the things, you know, that I've studied and struggled with. And I say I'm reformed because I believe it answers most of the questions, not all.

No man developed system of theological analysis can answer every objection in scripture. And I know that there's some I've talked to say, well, we can answer that, you know, whatever question we might be talking about at the time, you know, I'll ask them questions about their answers sometimes and show that, well, there's some problems there. But every now and then someone will ask me a question dealing with the sovereignty of God, election, predestination, which are taught in scripture and man's choices and how they interact from eternity past and God's ordination. And I just can't figure it out.

I've tried, I think I came close once and I was talking, I was thinking about it and all of a sudden I heard a in my head and I lost about 12 IQ points. So I gave up and, uh, I just don't know how it works with God, but I know this, I know God's good. And I know that, that he listens to the prayers of his people because all of us who have trusted in Christ, who depend on the blood of Christ, Jesus to cleanse us forever. We ask through that blood, through that sacrifice of Christ. We pray to the father and say, father, would you please save so-and-so and so-and-so would you please grant them the same mercy you've given to us? And these are good prayers. These are wonderful prayers. And this is what we must do as Christians.

As someone told me, he says, we're in sales, not production. We're trying to get people to be convinced and we can use arguments and we can use the truth. We can do whatever we can, but it doesn't mean that everything that we do will have a one to one correspondence. Well, I prayed, gave him the truth, therefore they should be saved.

It doesn't work like that. There are things that God has not revealed. Why is it he doesn't grant faith to everyone? I don't know. Why is it he hasn't chosen everyone because he could do that.

I don't know. You know, if you go to Acts nine and there's Paul the apostle on his way to kill Christians, he's committed to working against the things of God and against the people of God. And then Jesus knocks him off his horse and saves him.

And you know, people say, well, he was in it sincere in his heart. Who are you? He didn't even know who are you. I'm Jesus. We are persecuting me to blind him, knock him off his horse.

And why doesn't Jesus do that to everybody? We all have our horses we're on. We all have our moments of pride.

We all have things that we look to that we consider as important in our lives as reasons for this or reasons for that or not or whatever it is. God has no problem just knocking us down, knocking us off our high horse as the expression goes. And he can save us.

Why doesn't he do it more often? I don't know. You know, when I got saved, I had an incredible experience of the presence of God.

I mean incredible, not just, ooh, I feel it. I mean just wailing, weeping on the ground, the presence of holiness, the power that was there resulted automatically and naturally in my conversion. Why doesn't God do that to more? I don't know. I don't know. Is it because people's hearts are wicked and some he'll pick and some he won't because of something in them? It doesn't make sense. Look at Paul the apostle. He was wicked. I look at my own life.

Oh, man, I was involved in some bad stuff back in the day. So why does God not do this more often? I don't know. And I have to throw my hands up in the air and just say, I don't know. He's not revealed it in Scripture.

He's not revealed it to me, and I don't know of anybody else he's revealed it to. So what we do is we live by faith, and we trust God. And in the meantime, what we can do is pray, and we can ask the Lord, Lord, I submit to your will. I don't know how it all works, but I ask Jesus that you would save me. Pray for somebody.

Please reveal them to your grace. Please reveal to them, Lord, the repentance that they need, faith in you. Please be merciful to them. Beg the Lord to save others. Intercede for them. Ask Jesus to save them.

Ask God to work in their hearts. He will hear your prayers, because your prayers are filtered through the very blood of Jesus himself. And so you are cleansed.

So therefore, our prayers have an influence with God. But I just don't know how it all works. I don't know.

I don't know. And I wish I did. I wish I had great answers, but I don't. What I do is I just trust in my Lord. I just trust in my Lord. And I ask God to heal, I ask God to forgive, I ask God to save, and I trust him. That's what you have to do.

That's what we all have to do. May the Lord bless you by his grace. We'll be back on the air tomorrow, and we'll talk to you then. So have a good evening, everyone. God bless. We'll be back on the air tomorrow.