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Matt Slick Live

Matt Slick Live! / Matt Slick
The Truth Network Radio
November 26, 2024 7:00 am

Matt Slick Live

Matt Slick Live! / Matt Slick

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November 26, 2024 7:00 am

Matt Slick Live (Live Broadcast of 11-26-2024) is a production of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry (CARM). Matt answers questions on topics such as: The Bible, Apologetics, Theology, World Religions, Atheism, and other issues! You can also email questions to Matt using: info@carm.org, Put "Radio Show Question" in the Subject line! Answers will be discussed in a future show. Topics Include:Matt asks for Prayer for The Truth Network/ What About The Geneva Bible?/The Movie "Bonhoeffer"/ Did Paul Hallucinate his Encounter with The Risen Jesus?/Is The Holy Spirit an Angel?/Is Jesus in Heaven Offering Animal Sacrifices?/ What About Roman Catholicism?/Are people in Cults Saved?/ When Does Salvation Occur?/Matt Explains The "Now and The Not Yet"/ November 26, 2024

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It's Matt Slick Live! Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Podcast. Thanks for listening this Truth Network Podcast.

If you are interested in emailing me, you can do that very easily. All you have to do is direct an email to info at karm dot org info at karm dot org put in the subject line radio comment or radio question and we'll get to it. Now, I want to say something here. I talked to the owner of the radio station network, Truth Broadcasting. We talked about 20 minutes last night on the phone. I'm not going to give details, but I will say this, that we could both relate to persecution because of the ministry that we're involved in. He's doing the radio.

I do karm and stuff like that. So I'm going to just say that if you guys could pray for the Truth Network and also if you would consider supporting them, if you can go into Truth Network and just talk to them. Maybe they have a way of support.

I hope they do. A lot of good guys there. A lot of good guys there. They're all nice.

They're all awesome. Let me just say, they give me a really good deal to be on the air. They can get more from others, but they're having me stay because of what I teach apparently.

I'll just leave it there. Please pray for this, not only for my ministry, but for the Truth Network. It's not like things are bad.

I'm just saying, you know what? They need prayer like we all do. To lift them up because there are certain events and challenges that people who head up ministries that the average bear doesn't know. The heads of ministries will often not say everything that's going on. They may have a few people they talk to, but not publicly.

They won't say a lot of stuff. So just lift them up in prayer and support them. Support Truth Network. Go there, thetruthnetwork.com and check it out and see if there's a way to help them out and pray. I'm not saying they're destitute.

Nothing like that. I'm just saying, hey, you know, it's just good to support ministries and just lift them up. Stu's a great guy.

The people are there. They're great guys. Even Keith.

Keith, he's a producer. He's not bad. I've been working on him for a long time.

When he starts laughing at my stupid jokes I know he's okay, which he already did, so he's okay. All right. Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we get the number out again and then we can get to the caller. 877-207-2276. Let's get to Jamal from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Jamal, welcome. You are on the air. Hey, brother. How are you doing today, sir? Doing all right. Hanging in there, man. Hanging in there by God's grace. Good deal.

Good deal. Somebody was asking me about the Geneva Bible, what I was trying to witness to them. And to be honest, I had no idea what the Geneva Bible was. I recently found out from my good friend Caleb Eiderle that it was, I think, one of the versions of the Bible that was translated earlier, if I'm not mistaken. But I just wanted to get your thoughts on the Geneva Bible. Yeah, it was first published very early in the Reformation. And so I haven't done a verse-by-verse compilation to check to see if there's better translations now.

I thought I could do that. If I could find a Geneva Bible online. I know what verses to go to right away.

Let's see. Geneva Bible online. Let's see if we can find it. Geneva Bible. There it is.

And the version information. Let's see if I can get in there. And what if I could? Page. Passage.

Let's do this. Romans 5, 18th. One of the first verses I go to to see.

Likewise, by the offense of one, the fault came on all mended justifications of justifying the benefit abounded all. Yeah, I don't really like that translation. Let's see. And that's knocking it. I'm just saying it's good. It's a good Bible. It has a lot of good notes in it, too. I know that. And the reformer notes.

So that's really good. Let's see what it does with Titus 2, 13. Come on, get in there. Oh, hey, slimeball.

Maybe go over here. Where'd Titus go? There it is. Titus 2, 13. Looking for that blessed hope and appearing of that glory of that mighty God and of our Savior. Yeah, I don't like that translation either. Let's go to John 3, 16. Now, I'm not knocking and saying, oh, it's a bad translation. It's similar to the King James in a lot of ways.

The King James is great. Ah, okay. So the God of the world gave his only begotten son, whoever believe in him should not perish but everlasting life. Yeah, it's fine. You know, it's a good translation.

Me, I go to these particular verses that have specific things I look for. Right. I do that so it might appear as though I'm saying, no, don't use it. No, no, no. It's a good Bible. Yeah, okay, good. First Samuel 3, 14. Now, therefore, I've sworn unto the house of Eli that the wickedness of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever. That's a great verse. I love the way it puts it in there. Oh, yeah.

Did Jesus cancel their sin debt? Ooh, good question. So, yeah, it's a good, I've heard a lot about it.

I don't have one. But it's a good version and it's like the King James style and it's got a couple issues I wish they would update. Like the Rule of 518, Titus 2, 13, things like that.

Actually, the Granville Sharp Rule in Titus 2, 13, they always thought it was an absolute rule. Stuff like that. And then it has reformer notes in it.

Reformers. Ooh, nice. So, you know, it's good. It's like one of those Bibles you'd have on your shelf. You know, along with the good King James and an ESV and NASB and the NBD translation, the no big deal translation. That's a joke, never mind. The no big deal translation?

Yeah, the no big deal translation. It's something I would do. That's right.

So, OK. All right. Yeah, I also saw Bonhart's book and growing bookstore today. And that was one that, respectfully, I would say, I like to put on the shelf as well, because that was a huge book. But I want to read it because I did not know how interesting he was.

But it's so thick. I'm like, man, I got to put that on the shelf and read it, you know, later on. Or maybe read it piece by piece, because that's huge. By the way, real quick, have you seen... I'm sorry, go ahead. I was going to say he was involved in working against the Nazis. And stuff like that cost him a great deal.

But go ahead. Oh, yeah. When I found out about him, I couldn't believe that this guy was so brave and Christian.

And then did so much in the face of such opposition. Have you seen the movie Bonhoeffer? Bonhoeffer? No, I haven't. It's probably a good idea to watch it. I forgot about it.

OK. It's a new movie by Angel Studios. And it looks pretty good. I heard pretty good reviews. I just kind of wanted to see what you thought about it. But I'm going to go try to check it out. OK. Yeah, I might do that.

Also, Charlie, a friend of mine, he works with us. He says that Geneva is a French Bible translated into English. Which would be interesting.

Yeah, what now? Because Calvin was French. And so that would make sense. Oh, right, right. It would. And after seeing about these different translations, it kind of gives you a little insight on history and the origins, the timelines and all that. Real quick, would you mind if I give a shout-out to my Bible study?

Go for it. It would be awesome. All right, cool. Rocking Ronnie Kleinert and his wife, they listened before. So shout-out to those guys in Center Grove, Bible study, and Center Grove Church. Also to Stu and the guys over there.

I appreciate your rock the deal more. Anybody I forgot, anybody that's related to Truth Network and the gang, love you guys and keep doing what you're doing. And big shout-out to Matt Slick and his ministry. Support him, guys. He's a great guy.

We need him around. Thank you, sir. God bless. Happy Thanksgiving. All right, brother. You too, man. Keep up the good work. God bless.

And hey, everybody at the Bible study, I'm waving. So there you go, man. All right, God bless. Thank you. All right. God bless. You too, man. God bless. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

All right. Hey, if you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207-2276. Let's get to Elijah from Pennsylvania. Elijah, welcome. You're on the air.

Hey, Matt. My question today is out of the book bag when Paul got knocked down off his horse or camel and saw Jesus. What are your thoughts on when atheists say that Paul invented Christianity all because he hallucinated Jesus and that he didn't really see Jesus and that Christianity only exists because Paul hallucinated Jesus? Have you ever heard them say that before?

Yeah, I've heard various things. How would you respond to them? I'd just say you must be really desperate to come up with such an idea. You're so desperate to deny who Christ is and what he's done on that cross where he died on the cross and rose from the dead three days later.

It wouldn't explain Paul's conversion and his ability to do miracles as were attested to by the eyewitnesses later on written on. So, no, the hallucination idea is just the attempt by someone denying truth to use a ridiculous idea. And that's all it is. So there you go.

That's what I say to him. And also, also one thing that I should point out is that in Acts nine, seven, it says that the other men who are with Paul heard the voice of Jesus, but they didn't see Jesus. So, so, so how do how do atheists explain that, that they also heard the voice, but, you know, didn't see anybody?

Yes, they heard the light and he was knocked down and what was going on. Now, just so you know, there's another place that's been many years since I've written on this where the issue is, maybe Charlie will put a link in there, where they heard the sound and didn't understand, they heard the words. And the issue is the Greek has two different kinds of words for hearing, one with understanding and one with not with understanding. And so I wrote an article on this so many years ago, I can't remember.

But nevertheless, yeah, so it's not a big deal. This is what happens when miraculous things happen. People get confused. People will see things, hear things, wonder about things. The thing we've got to pay attention to is that if something occurred and all the stories aren't exactly identical, but they have the core similarities, that's evidence that something really occurred. Just like I use this, I see just like abductees from UFOs. There's enough evidence all over the world that something's happening.

The question is, what is it? And then we go on from there. Hey, you want to hold? We've got a break, so hold on, buddy. You can hang up or you can stay on. Hey, folks, be right back after these messages if you want to call me, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. Music It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the show, 20 after the hour.

If you want to give me a call, it's easy, 877-207-2276. Let's get back on with Elijah. Hey, buddy, you still there?

Yeah, we're still there. All right, man. All right. I've got to make a correction. I've got to make a correction. I said two Greek words.

No, it's not. With the issue of hearing about the people who heard in Acts 9-7, and the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. In Acts 22-9, it says those who were with me behold the light to be sure but did not understand the voice.

So I did research on this, and I've got two quotes from Greek scholars. It says that the verb is used in the genitive case because the verb to hear with the genitive case may mean to hear a sound with accusative case, to hear with understanding. Genitive is social possession.

Accusative is direct object. So that's what's going on. Anyway, there's other quotes that talk about that. Okay. Oh, and hey, Steven with a V. Thanks for the $10 rant. Appreciate it on there on Rumble. Really appreciate that. Okay. Sorry about that, Elijah.

We're back on here with you. Okay. Okay. Also, I have another question.

Go ahead. So, Sean Griffin, one of his arguments for why he once said that he believes that the Holy Spirit is an angel is in Acts 8-26. He said in Acts 8-26, it says an angel spoke, but then three verses later in verse 29, it says the Holy Spirit spoke. So, you know, according to his logic, because the angel spoke first, then a few verses later it was the Holy Spirit. So therefore he thinks that the Spirit hears one and the same thing with the angel.

Yeah, that's fallacious logic. See, it says, but an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, get up and go south, et cetera. So he got up and went. He went from Jerusalem to Gaza.

It's along a desert road. So this is a long journey. So he went and there was an Ethiopian eunuch. So was it the same day later that day, later that week?

Who knows? It's a bit of a walk. So, and then it says, in returning and sitting in the chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah, then the Spirit said to Philip, go up and join this chariot. So just because they are about one, two, three, four, five verses from each other doesn't mean that they're the same, the same person or same whatever. He's just, he's drawing an unnecessary conclusion. And so it's an issue of logic. So it does not necessitate his conclusion. Okay.

Right. Um, what do you, what are your thoughts on, on, you know, because I did call in about this, I think it was a couple of years ago. So like, so like, what are your thoughts on him saying that Jesus is in heaven right now? And since he's, since he's a priest in heaven right now for us, you know, pointing to him, he says that, you know, if you know the front of your Bible, the Old Testament, then that you'll understand that a priest's job, one of their duties is to offer sacrifices and a poem for the sins of the people. So, so, so that's one of the reasons why you think that Jesus is still slaughtering animals in heaven. So it's not slaughtering animals. You know, if he reads Hebrews, I forgot the exact verses, but it says that he offered himself once and for all the blood of animals and goats cannot cleanse of sin.

That's why they had to be repeated. So he is the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, Hebrews 6, 20, Hebrews 7, 25, who forever lets make intercession for us. So he does that, but he made the offering of himself. And the proof that his offering was, the sacrifice was accepted was his resurrection. So there's no need for any further sacrifices because animal sacrifices don't cleanse of sin as the scriptures teach. But Jesus' blood does. Okay.

That's all. John Griffith does not know what he's talking about. He's a dangerous person who teaches false doctrine. Yeah, he said that somebody, somebody taught him this. I wonder, I wonder, I wonder who taught him on this because, because I remember he said that he used to, he used to believe in the Trinity. He went to a Baptist church at one time. And, and he just said that back then when, when he was believing all those things and going to that Baptist church, he, he, he even said that God gives him a word of knowledge and he was able to speak to somebody, something that he should have never known. And, but, uh, but, but now, uh, uh, uh, uh, he said that, uh, because I tell the powers, like some of the global God, so do that for you today.

And he said, no. So, um, yeah. Yeah.

I just find it, you know, you know, you know, interesting that he just straight, you know, all the way to left field. Yeah. They were not from us because they never were of us. If they had been of us, they would have remained as to first John two 19.

So he, you know, he's, he's just a heretic, uh, a false, uh, teacher who's a false convert and, uh, he's, uh, he's in trouble, you know, with God. Okay. He said, yeah.

Yeah. Right, brother. All right. Thank you. Uh, uh, have a good one. Okay, man.

We'll see you. God bless. All right. All right. Now let's get to Marcus for North Carolina.

Marcus. Welcome. You're on the air. Hi, Matt. How are you this evening?

Well, I hope, uh, God bless you and, uh, I hope the Lord continues to bless all that you do for us out there. Um, just a quick question. It's a real broad question. Um, recently been curious more so my wife than myself, but I'm looking for your take on just the Catholic church in general. Uh, it's always been our understanding and belief that it's a, it's more of a heretic belief than anything.

Um, you're correct. It's a false church. It's not Christian. It teaches a false gospel and a false Mary. And it's, it's, it should be avoided. And, um, I'd be elated if the Catholic church crumbled and went away.

Oh boy. Well, uh, while we're at it, uh, let me run one idea by you, uh, that I've heard and I just, I can't really get ahold of personally, but I want to know what you think about it. Um, some people close to me are of the mindset that there are many people who are in the Catholic church, um, many people in say the Mormon church and possibly a few others that are considered heretic that, you know, may still be saved because they believe wholly in the saving power of the blood of Christ. Um, and they still go along with the church ceremonially.

Is that something you can, you can vouch for or not? There's a level of truth in that. There are people who are in Mormonism and Catholicism who really are saved, but they don't know what the truth is. They don't understand what these false religions teach.

And so they stay in them thinking they're legit, gradually they'll come out because the Holy Spirit will work on them and get them out of those false churches. So yeah, it's possible. Okay. And there's a break. Hold on, man. We got a break. Can you hold on?

Can you hold on? We got a break. Hold on till after the show. I mean, after the show, after the break, we'll be right back. All right. Okay. Welcome back to the show. Bottom of the hour. We have two open lines.

If you want to join me, the number is 877-207-2276. Let's get to Marcus again from North Carolina. Welcome. Still on the air, buddy.

Thanks, Matt. I think the last thing you were mentioning was even though a person might be in a heritage church, if they are truly saved, that the Spirit would continue to work on them and hopefully dissuade them from continuing. Yeah, they will generally leave. I've talked to many Catholics, many Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses over the years, and they gradually go, well, something's wrong. And then they figure it out and they're gone because their believers are true believers. And the true God, the true Gospel. Right. So I guess the root of that would be the idea that if he started a good work in you, he's faithful and will complete that work. Right.

Philippians 1.6. That's correct. And I guess the completion of that work is in the next life.

Yeah, he works through our lives completely and totally until we die, and then we're with him. I want to get as good as possible here. Well, yeah. It's still going to be a shock how much further I had to go when I get there. But yeah, you're on the right track.

Okay. Well, I just wanted to make sure that, well, I'm trying to discern, you know, is that exactly what it means? You know, completion is the next life in the new regenerated body, all that. Well, until the day of Christ Jesus, this is talking about the earthly life, that word until there, akri, excuse me, and it's dealing with the work in progress of what he's doing until that day of Christ Jesus when he comes back and or when you die. And this perfection, this work continues in your earthly life. That's what it's really talking about. Then when you die or the Lord returns, then that's it.

You know, then you're there. Okay? Okay. I appreciate it. God bless you, buddy. Sure. God bless you. All right. All right. Hey, if you want to call me, the number is 8772072276.

You have two open lines. Alan from Virginia. Welcome. You're on the air. Hi, man. How's it going? It's going in, hanging in there.

What do you got, buddy? So I, I've been taught in the past that salvation occurs when you are granted faith. And that brings the question to me, what exactly is salvation?

Is it, um, is it just, is it basically in a sense shielding, being shielded, uh, from the father's wrath? And if so, when did that occur, either when you were chosen or when you die? There is in Christian theology, something called the now and the not yet. The now and the not yet. So I'm going to teach this to you.

Okay. So I'm going to go to Romans 8 29 and read that verse or the next verse and notice the tenses, the past tense. We get to verse 29, but notice this. Those who before knew he also predestined past tense to be conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom he predestined, he also called, and these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified. Now, glorification is spoken of in the past tense, but we know that glorification deals with the resurrection of our bodies and the complete glorification that we're going to have with the Lord. It's not yet occurred. So this is an example of the now and the not yet, because our now is simply not yet what it is going to be, but yet it's spoken of as being now.

It's already glorified. Another example of this is Jesus bore our sin in his body on the cross. Well, my sin was 2,000 years later. And so Jesus bore my sin.

His now was my not yet. There is this concept in Scripture where individuals, people, have an experience of that which is proclaimed by God, decreed by God, ordained by God. And for us, it's not yet, but it's said to be the case, just like the verses I've already read to you. He bore our sin in his body on the cross, 1 Peter 2.24. That was back then. And those whom he called, he justified, and those who he justified, he also glorified.

So this is guaranteed stuff. So when we talk about this issue of salvation, when are we saved, we could play with the words a little bit and say, well, normally, we say someone is saved when they believe. They're justified when they believe, Romans 3.28, Romans 5.1, et cetera. Now, to be saved means to be saved from the righteous judgment of God. Now, we could say that in that sense, that was predestined from the foundation of the world.

So from there, we could do a gigantic eternal now and not yet. Because before he created the universe, it was God's now, but the universe and all of us did not yet exist in it. So what God did was he decreed, he called his certain individuals to be saved. That's Ephesians 1.4. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

Well, that's his now, but our not yet. So in one sense, he has ordained those who will be saved from his righteous judgment. But that salvation necessitates the atoning sacrifice, the propitiatory sacrifice, and justification by faith, because Jesus canceled the sin debt at the cross. It's not canceled when you believe. It's canceled when Jesus was crucified, as Colossians 2.14. What we have in all this kind of stuff is this tension of time, now and not yet.

So now I get to ask you a question. What point is a person saved? In one sense, from the foundation of the world, he's appointed to be saved from God's judgment.

That's back then. That's election predestination. He experiences the salvation upon his belief, which God grants, Philippians 1.29. And so we could say then, in one sense, he has been decreed to be saved from the foundation of the world, but he experiences salvation upon the belief that he has the exercises in Christ.

Okay? Why don't you say, I guess, because I don't want to make it where it's... I'm tickling the idea of if salvation occurs before the foundation of the world, that sanctification occurs at the same temporal time that you are granted faith.

Hold on, hold on. We're going to say salvation occurred before the foundation of the world. At that point, we have to be very clear what we mean by that. The appointment of God to save people from the righteous judgment. In that very loose sense, they have been decreed to be saved. But they don't even exist yet. So it can't be that they are saved because they didn't exist when God decreed that. It has to be a future decree that they will be, but he's decided those are the ones who will be. So some people say, well, that means you're born saved.

No, it doesn't. Because in the now and the not yet, the person who is elect will come to believe because God grants it to them. And then they experience the now and the not yet manifested at that point in that time when they do believe, and then they experience that salvation of God that God has decreed. But before they believe, they're under the wrath of God because we are by nature children of the wrath of Ephesians 2-3. This is why the now and the not yet, it's a very important doctrine that few people deal with and talk about. But it's a very important doctrine, as you can see.

Go ahead. So I guess talking about, what was the term, etymology? The essence of words or the origin of words and structure of words, yeah. Etymology.

I'm more so talking about properties of nature, stuff like that. Ontology. Yes, ontology. Ontology. There it is.

I was thinking about it now. It doesn't really make sense that someone is saved that they haven't existed because they don't have a nature yet. Right. They're not born saved any more than when God decided to save them that they were saved. Because we have to understand how the Bible talks about this, that if you believe, you will be saved. In that context, it's saying if you trust in Christ, you will be saved from the righteous judgment of God.

And it's true, if you do, you will be. But God at the same time is decreed from eternity, those people who are his. So when it says you will be saved, does that mean then, does it have to necessitate that you are saved at the point of belief? Or does it mean that it could be at a future point? Yes, it's the issue of the now and the not yet again. So when we get back from the break, let's talk about this. Because let's talk about an atheist who is going to become a believer at 50, but he's at the age of 40.

What condition is he in at that point? So okay, hold on buddy, we'll get back after these messages and stay tuned. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone, welcome back to the show, last segment of the hour. Just going to remind you, we'll not be live Thursday and Friday because of the holiday or Thanksgiving. We'll be back on, Lord willing, on Monday. Friday I have a debate on unconditional election.

I'll put the information on probably if you go to karme.org forward slash debate and we'll put it there also on the calendar. All right, let's get back on the air with Alan. Alan, welcome, you're on the air. What are you thinking, Matt? Okay.

All right, so I gave this analogy or this illustration. There's a man who was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. He's going to be saved at 50.

He's 40. So he's a denier of God, he's an atheist. So the issue here is that God has ordained his salvation, but he is functionally under judgment. And the things he does are outside the will of God. But God in his mercy saves him at a certain time. At that time is when he experiences the salvific work of God. That's what he does when he gets saved, when he believes. But even though he's been elected from the foundation of the world, the now and the not yet, God's now is also God's not yet.

Because in his now, his election of him is true, but it's not yet occurred that the person has been created by God. So God has a now and the not yet, as we do in many other areas. So it's not a tension, but it's kind of a tension between the now and the not yet.

And it just takes some thinking about it, as many theologians have. They call it the now and the not. There's another phrase they use for it, the now and the not yet, and that will be, or something like that. I call it now and the not yet.

I saw the already but not yet, but it doesn't, a lot of it is talking about the kingdom and not necessarily salvation from what I'm reading. It's hard to get the exact... Yeah, I can refer to that, sure. Uh huh.

It's just, you can apply it in different ways. Now and the not yet. So, okay, not a big deal. All right. Okay. Did that help?

Yeah, I think so. I think I'm still trying to get it. I'm still trying to understand how, if it's, if you believe you will be saved. I'm having trouble with understanding how it's only limited to the point of, where it has to be limited to the point of being granted faith. And it doesn't have to be awarded after sanctification.

Basically, when you die, it would be safe. Salvation is before sanctification. Sanctification is a process you go through after being saved, after being regenerated.

This is why I tend to be more specific than a lot of other people talking about this. I like to say, at the point of your regeneration, this is when you are justified. Because belief and regeneration occur simultaneously. God grants that you have repentance, he grants that you have faith. This is the work of God. So, so anyway, I'll leave it at that.

Keep going, keep going. Yeah, that was basically, I was just trying to figure out if salvation and sanctification have to be that basically temporarily linked at the same time, or not. But with something as a, you will be, doesn't necessitate, it doesn't necessitate the exact point. Right, because God is the one who grants that we have repentance, 2 Timothy 2.25. He grants that we believe, Philippians 1.29. He, as many as had been appointed to eternal life, believed, Acts 13.48. He causes us to be born again, 1 Peter 1.3. We're born again, not of our own will, John 1.13.

So, God has elected people in Christ, Ephesians 1.4 and 5. What I teach on the radio here is not popular. It's not popular among preachers and Christians. That's why I give the references so you can go check what I'm saying right there with the word of God.

And the reason it's not popular is, one, it takes some brain work to figure some of these things out. The other is, what I teach removes the sovereignty of man and puts it completely in the hands of God. Then people complain because they don't like the idea that God can do with his creation as he desires. And he elects people based on what's in him, not what's in us. People don't like that. Because a lot of humans want to take pride and be the deciding factor whether it's safe or not. It's humanist philosophy that they've inserted into scriptural interpretations.

They've done this a lot. And it's prevalent in the Christian church. So, God does not choose us based on any goodness in us. He elects us in Christ, that's Ephesians 1.4. In Christ is a term of federal headship, which means he represented us. The choosing is only valid in Christ, and in Christ is only valid in the choosing or the election.

They work together. Where the Father would elect and give to the Son those in the Son, because in the Son is whom he would redeem. He didn't redeem every individual, and he certainly did not pay for everybody's sins. 1 Samuel 3.14 says so.

The iniquities of Eli's house will never be atone for them. And also, the unforgivable sin, it can't be atone for. Now, some people will say, yes, you can atone for a sin that can never be atone for. Which, you know, I've had people tell me that. I've had a Mormon guy tell me this a couple nights ago. Yeah, Jesus can pay for the sin that can't be forgiven. Yeah, okay, how does that work? Because that means the sin debt's canceled, and that's forgivable. It doesn't make any sense. But anyway, so, we have the tension here of understanding how God's eternal decrees, eternal will, because he works all things after the counsel of his will, Ephesians 1.11, how that works with the reality of, well, we choose to believe.

And we do. So, he elects us, and he grants that we have faith at a certain time as he draws us, John 6.44. But Jesus says in John 6.65, you cannot come to me unless it's granted to you from the Father.

You can't. So, how does it all work? The best way I make sense of it is God in the intertrinitarian communion before the universe existed elected certain people in Christ. In Christ means he would go to the cross.

It was already decided. The eternal generation of the Son, the eternal work of the Son was already decreed from eternity. And he went, Jesus says, all the Father gives me will come to me, John 6.37. He says he lays his life down for the sheep, John 10, I think it's verse 11, I think it's verse 15, he specifically lays his life down for the sheep.

He says, you're not my sheep. So, who is he going to redeem? The ones chosen in Christ. And so, the elect are all future to God, the not yet to God. When he chose to elect, when he did that election, none of us existed. And the manifestation of that election of God's choosing us and granting us repentance and faith occurs when we believe. Now, it's not robotic, it's not deterministic, it's not fatalistic. A lot of people just like to say that and they stop their thinking, they stop their studying.

God woos, he draws, he has his means by which he does things, he uses our prayers to lift up others and ask God to redeem and all this is decided beforehand, it gets really complicated, but this is how the scriptures teach. Most people don't want to think this deeply and they accuse others of having philosophy when they themselves have a philosophical approach. So, they're dismissive, oh it's just philosophy, in other words, stop thinking, is that what you're saying?

Stop thinking? Yeah, they just dismiss it, it's philosophy, don't think. Well, the doctrine of the Trinity is arrived at philosophically by, for example, by adopting the laws of logic and law of identity, law of non-contradiction, law of excluded middle. It's various laws that are necessary when you go to the scriptures and then you presuppose certain valid points and truths out of scripture and derive out of the systematic approach the doctrine of the Trinity. So, a lot of people are very inconsistent and what they want to do is have their cake and eat it too. They want to say the very simple basic theological assertations and then judge all of scripture and others by what they do.

This is really bad, it happens a lot in the Christian church. Nevertheless, we get to this issue of the now and the not yet. The Trinity had all knowledge, he has all knowledge, actual and potential. He knows himself exhaustively, he knows exactly what will come to pass in every circumstance because every potentiality is known by God.

He actualized one of those potentialities, that timeline of potentiality. And anything on that line could only exist by the will of God, either by direct causation or indirect permission. He doesn't want us to sin, but he permits us to sin. He wills us in one sense to not sin, that's his will, that's called the prescriptive will. But he has his permissive will where he wills to permit you, he decides to permit you to sin. And all of this is because God has decreed that this is what will happen. Because when he says decree, it doesn't mean directly caused, a lot of people think that's what it means. It means that through his work, nothing could occur without his work and his permission since it says he works all things after the counsel of his will, Ephesians 1-11.

It also gets into the issue of the now and the not yet, the foundation of how the now and the not yet is possible. Because it means then that God has elected, but we are not yet, and so when we become existent, and God grants us that faith after the wooing and the preaching of the gospel, Romans 1-16, Romans 10-11-12, 9-10-11-12, the power of the gospel saves, the power of the gospel opens our hearts and our minds, and God does this. There are so many verses I have in my head about this. And so we have to understand the whole of theology. The Trinity makes no mistakes, he's always known everything, he's decreed those who are elect, he has elected them and they will come to faith without error because God can't make a mistake. So he is elected in Christ before the foundation of the world and in that sense the elect have been chosen to be saved. And we experience, the elect people experience the salvation at the moment of belief when we have that encounter with God, the true living God in trust, by faith, and are justified, okay? Okay, real quick, because I only have a few more minutes.

I was wanting to, sorry, I'll be real quick. I was wanting to expand my knowledge with nuance and semantic demands and whatnot about salvation, sanctification, and all that kind of stuff. And I'm starting to read this book called Redemption Accomplished and applied by John Murray. Have you heard of it before? Yeah, it actually reminds me of Michael Horton's, one of Michael Horton's books.

But yeah, uh-huh, I've heard of it. And apparently this guy seems to be a five point Calvinist, so that seems nice to use that environment and our many perspectives on salvation and whatnot. Arminian salvation, to exaggerate, is dependent upon man's choices. Reformed salvation, to exaggerate, dependent on God's choices. But the Arminian is not negating God's work and God's sovereignty.

And the Reformed individual is not negating man's free will and his choices, okay? There's a blend. Okay. All right?

I appreciate it, Matt. All right, man. God bless. All right, buddy. God bless. Okay.

Hey, Martin from North Carolina. Genesis 3. We're out of time. We've got music starting in six seconds. Sorry about that, buddy. I hope you call back tomorrow. And if not, then on Monday. May the Lord bless you all. And sorry for waiting so long, Martin. 25 minutes.

Wow, I feel bad about that. But call back tomorrow. We'll get you on right away. May the Lord bless you. By his grace, we're back on there tomorrow. And we'll talk to you then. Have a good evening, everyone. We'll be right back.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-11-28 12:37:46 / 2024-11-28 12:55:28 / 18

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