Matt Slick Live

Another program powered by the Truth Network. Live, hopefully, everything's going okay with you. And, boy, busy day today. Busy day, let's see if I can get a newsletter out today. Man, I'm supposed to do it, and I haven't done it for two weeks, two or three weeks.

Just really working hard. And, hey, if you wanna give me a call, it's easy. Same as usual, 877-207-2276, and thank you very much. All right, now let's see, we got this, we got that. I'm gonna put this over here.

We don't have anybody waiting right now. And if you want, you can email me. That's easy to do, just dial an email. Dial an email?

Send an email to info at karm.org, info at karm.org. And we just put in a comment section, that's the subject line, put in radio comment or radio question, and we can get to it, all right? Oh, hold on, I gotta yawn. Okay, that was good, good yawn.

Like I said, I always wonder how many people are yawning when I suggest yawning, and they look at the radio and say, stop that, you know, I don't know. All right, so, yeah, we've got a lot of stuff going on, and I'm looking, I've got radio questions we can get to, got a caller coming in. Let me kind of just jump into a couple of emails here. Let's see what we got. Can you please explain the phrase harmful spirit from the Lord mentioned in 1 Samuel 16, 23? Oh, wow, 1 Samuel 16, 23, let me take a look at that. And we'll check it out.

I think I already know what it is. There we go. So, an evil spirit from God came to Saul. Now, it says evil there, but it just says, whenever the spirit of God came to Saul, they would take out the harp and play with his hand, and Saul would be refreshed and wily.

The evil spirit, the word rah-ah is there. So, oh, I see, whenever the spirit of God, okay, got it. So, it looks as though God has sent a spirit or allowed a spirit to do what he's gonna do in order to accomplish the will of God. So, you gotta understand, theologically, nothing happens unless God permits it to happen. Now, there's different levels of permission, and God can cause certain events to happen, and he can permit certain events to happen. And in between those, he can do stuff like, there might be a demonic force or a bad spirit or something that's, even a good spirit who's gonna work calamity and problems on somebody. So, it doesn't necessarily mean the spirit is like a demonic force, but it could be that it's actually a good force that God is saying, go get him, go discipline him, go make it trouble for him, all right, because God does that kind of thing. So, those are the two possibilities.

If God were to allow an evil spirit to go forth, then it's under the sovereignty of God and the issue and the manner of accomplishing his sovereign will. I hope that helps. Let's get to John from Indiana. John, there we go. Welcome, you're on the air. Yep, I'm here.

All right, so what do you got, buddy, what's up? In what is the role of the Holy Spirit in the rebirth, as is described in John chapter three, chapter three, verse three, and also verse five and six? Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and born of the spirit is spirit. So, it seems to be this, the work of the Holy Spirit, is he regenerates us, he indwells us, and makes us changed internally from non-saved to saved, from non-regenerate to regenerate. That seems to be what it is, okay.

Are you there? Yes, thank you, I wanted you to clarify that for other people, because there is a lot of question about what that exactly means. Well, what are they, what's their questions?

What are they saying? Just what does it mean, and that's it? Well, with some people, it's more of a work related thing instead of something that God actually does. And I think it relates also to, I forget which one of the problems it is, Isaiah or Jeremiah that says something to the effect that I shall remove from you hearts of stone and put within you hearts of clay and write my words upon your heart.

I may not have that exactly right. Jeremiah 31, yeah, Jeremiah 31, 31, I should have been studying that very verse in his context now for a couple, three days, yes. So I think that people need to really understand that it's not something that we ourselves can do. It is an act of God through the Holy Spirit. That's correct. Yeah, there's two kinds of salvation.

And I mean that, not there's really two, but there's only one. But internal and external. And I wrote about this yesterday and released an article on Carm. I think it was yesterday I did that, talking about the issue of sacramental salvation. And sacramental salvation is the sacramental system of being saved in that the church has the authority of the priesthood to administer sacraments.

And through the sacramental system, then you can achieve or maintain or regain your saving relationship with God. But in that, I wrote, towards the bottom of that article, I wrote about externalism versus internalism. And in the context, externalism is salvation through ceremony, such as baptism, participating in the Eucharist penance. Where internalism in the context here is dealing with God's indwelling us, making us born again. And so the difference between external and internal is obvious by the words, but one of them is damnable heresy and the other is not. So the externalism that is replete in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches is a false gospel. So because their system is externally noted, externally worked through ceremonies. And you're talking about this kind of same thing.

We need to have it internalized, not externalized. Yeah, okay. Well, thank you very much. I think I have another question, but I think I will use that for another time. Somebody else may want to get a question. Well, we have nobody waiting right now. Thank you. If you want, you can give me a call. Well, okay, whatever you want, it's fine. All right.

Oh, nobody's waiting, okay. Well, I was having Bible studies in my house here and I ran into an issue with an individual who said something to the effect, and I still am trying to get my mind wrapped around it, is that the Jews are illegitimate and they can't prove their legitimacy through DNA. In essence, they were saying like they were squatters. And that just completely blowed my mind and I have no idea where that even comes from.

I don't know if you have any on that or not. Sounds like it might come from the movement called the Hebrew Israelite movement. And the Hebrew Israelite, it used to be called the black Hebrew Israelite movement, but they have expanded beyond just the blacks, but Hispanics and certain other groups, Indians and things like that. And I'm not saying it isn't that group, but it basically is the Jews that are in Israel now are not the true Jews, but the true Jews are the black race. And so they might be, that's one of the things I teach, so it sounds similar to that. But from what I understand, the Jews have kept their lineage alive through telling who, their descendants, what tribe they're from.

Though some have lost it, many have not. And besides, God knows, God knows who they are. Okay, so I'll turn it off. Yes, yeah, yeah. Well, I think it's heresy, that's my opinion. And I have the announcement as such. Good, good for you, all right. Well, I thank you for that. Sure, no problem at all, all right.

Well, like they say when they're having, like they say when they're having these congregational meetings, I yield back. So thank you very much. All right, man, thanks a lot. Okay, well, we have nobody waiting right now if you wanna give me a call, oh, interesting. I just saw a note, I'll read it in a second. So if you wanna give me a call, the number's 8772072276. And if you wanna give me a call, you can, it's easy. You can also send an email, info at karm.org, info at karm, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G.

There's a pretty good question. What do you think of Eli Ayala partnering with Apologia Studios? I wish there was enough funds for him to be on KARM.

Perhaps KARM's future will be with Apologia too. Interesting, Simon from Norway. Yeah, I know Eli, and so Apologia Studios with James White and, oh, I have trouble with that. Oh, what's his name? Oh, man, bears, I've called him many times. We've talked many times. I've got these different names in my head.

Someone'll type it out here for me to text here. But at any rate, it's good, yeah. And Eli and I talked about it, and good for him. He's working with them. They're able to fund him to do certain things, projects and things like that, which I think is very good. So it's a good ministry, Apologia Studios. And so praise God, you know?

Just praise God for what they're able to do with him. And it's Jeff Durbin, that's right, thanks. So I've talked to Jeff before. We did a seminar together in, or a conference, I should say, in Canada, that's where I first met him. We had a good time, and a good guy, and talked to him on the phone a few times. And I've met James White on a few occasions. He's a good guy too. So, you know, they're good folks. And I know Eli, we talk in the phone every now and then, and he's a good guy.

So it's good stuff, good stuff. All right, all right, let's get to David from Utah. David, welcome, you're on the air.

Hi, Matt. Sure. So I caught part of your program the other day, and it was talking about salvation. And I think you mentioned something about people asking Christ into their heart, and that that was not the maybe appropriate verbiage, for lack of a better word.

Right. Or it was a sinner's prayer. So I understand that God chooses us first.

Yes. So is that kind of the crux of the issue there, that if we're asking Christ into our heart, that it's almost like we're giving him permission? Well, there is a heretical song that's written.

It's, Lord, I give you permission to, you know, it's stupid. But, so, yeah, asking Jesus into your heart is just not a biblical statement, and it's not a concept. See, what you do is you, it's not a concept taught in scripture, you receive Jesus as John 1, 12, as many as received him to them who gave the right to be called the children of God. And so we receive Christ, and I never say, ask him into your heart, what does that mean?

Come into my heart, what does that mean? No, the issue here is that we are sinners, and that we are in trouble, and we need the atoning sacrifice that Christ has made so we can ask Jesus to forgive us, that's fine. And we can ask that Jesus live in us, that's fine. And we can ask him to be our Lord, and that's fine, too. And you can say that you trust the Lord, Jesus Christ, in his death-veiled resurrection, and you receive him and trust in the sacrifice he did on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins. That's basically what it is. And just ask Jesus in your heart stuff and just nod to the scripture, okay? A lot of noise back there, buddy, a lot of noise, yeah. So, and Christ alone, right?

Through Christ alone. That's right, that's right. And we gotta break, buddy, so we gotta get going, okay? All right, thank you. All right, God bless you. Have a good day, bye.

You too. All right, hey, write back Kathleen's messages, 877-207-2276, we'll be right back. I just wanna let you know that we stay on the air by your support if you like what you hear and you wanna hear more of it. Please consider supporting us. It's easy to do. You can go to karm.org forward slash donate. That's C-A-R-M dot O-R-G karm.org forward slash donate.

Easy to do. Also, if you're interested in checking out the trip in November coming up to Jordan, the Bible tour that we've gone, we're gonna go with Eric Johnson. He leads groups.

It'll be the third time he's been there. I've done three or four trips with him and they're always great. He does a great job.

I've known him for, I don't know, 30 years, I guess, 25, 30 years. He's a great guy and he knows his stuff. So if you're interested in that, just go to 2025jordan.com, 2025jordan, you know, all one word, no spaces, no hyphens, just 2025jordan.com. You can check it out and it's a good trip. It is, it really is.

It's good stuff. Let's get to Jim from North Carolina. Jim, welcome. You are on the air.

Thank you, man. I think you had a program a couple of weeks ago that centered on souls and I missed that except for about a minute. And I had a couple of questions and the first question is, I don't know if there's a Bible reference to this. I don't think there is, but I would like your opinion if there isn't, but I was born a twin and my twin brother was stillborn. And I just was wondering, what do you think the soul enters the body? Is that conception or after birth?

Do you have an opinion on that or verses? Well, there's a view called the Pollinarianism that teaches that God implants a soul at fertilization. There's another view that is called creationism in that sense, context, that says that the soul is generated by the fertilization act.

We don't know which one is the case. So I don't want to say that the soul has any pre-existence. False religious systems teach that, but it does not. We don't have a pre-existence.

I know the scriptures they use and they say blah, blah, blah. But in the womb, you don't think there's a, so it's not created in the womb, is that what you're saying? Well, yeah, let's just say it's created in the womb, okay? It's in the baby from conception, okay?

Conception meaning the very beginning. Yes, yep. Okay, that's what I hold to.

That's what I hold to, absolutely. Yeah, I'm just wondering if, you know, like with my twin brother, would he have a soul and would I see him again? I believe you are. Or, I don't know. I believe you, I believe you are. Okay. Yeah, uh-huh, all right. Okay, all right, thank you very much. Sure, no problem, man, God bless you.

That was it, huh? Okay. You too, bye-bye. All right. All right, now let's get to Jermaine from California. Jermaine, welcome, you're on the air. Oh, hey, Matt. Okay.

So what are you doing? Had a question about the whole abortion issue comes up all the time and I've seen some Christian preachers actually, it seems like they're saying they're against it, but then they say you can't legislate morality. And to me, I kind of find that argument a little weak because we kind of, in my opinion, we legislate morality every day. But is there any biblical reference that you can think of that actually justifies legislating morality?

Off the top of my head, biblical references, I don't know. But yes, we do it all the time. Actually, because there are verses in the Old Testament, if you have a murderer, he shall be judged.

You have adulterers, he'll be stoned. So it depends on what you mean by legislating morality. What we like to say is we are enforcing morality. That's a better way and we enforce it by laws. So we want to say that murder is wrong and so therefore we have laws against it. Is that legislating morality? Well, in that sense, absolutely, yes, it is.

And we should deal with the issue of abortion because the killing of human life for no fault of its own and no evil that is done is something that needs to be dealt with, needs to be. Okay? Okay. Well, yeah, I think that's pretty solid. Yeah, I think so.

I think so. We need to do that. We need to make sure that as Christians, we move our society towards godliness. And it doesn't mean we're oppressive. But here's a hypocrisy of the left is they say any legislation like that is oppressive but then they force their views on us and punish us for not bowing in need of their views. But if we say, no, we don't want abortion, oh, you're oppressive. So they're hypocritical liars. And we should not consider their hypocrisy and lies as valid argumentation. We need to stick with the will and the word of God and do what we can to remove the holocaust of killing the unborn in the womb. Yeah, okay.

We need to do that. Right, and it seems to be a selective morality. So I know that kind of would take us into other topics. I'll say that for another time. Oh, yeah, there's a selective morality going on. People like morals that suit them and make their life better.

Morality is often a very difficult thing to deal with because it's hard, it's internal. Morality is an abstraction. Just like the thinking I do of two plus two equals four is an abstraction.

You know, find two plus two equals four under a rock or we can't capture it and hang it on a wall or put it in a freezer. It's an abstract thing. It occurs in the mind, the heart-mind area. That's where a moral is in tension. And a lot of people don't think this through, but morality involves intentionality. So if I were to slap you because there's a poisonous whatever on your cheek and I'm trying to save you from getting stung, you know, I slap you, you know, trying to get, that's okay.

But if I slap you because I just don't like what you said, it's you're stupid, you're ugly, so I just slap you. Well, that's not okay. And so the intention behind an action has an effect on morality, whether it's moral or not, but it does not mean that if your intention is good when you kill somebody because you don't like their shirt, isn't it a good intention?

I'm not too sure, do you know what else to suffer with that shirt color? When you kill that person, that's not a good standard. It's not a good intention. So our intentionality is not to be such that we are the arbiters of what is morally true. That has to come outside of us from God himself. And he's the one who sets what the morals are. And so he's the ultimate standard of what is right and wrong. And we ought to enforce the morals that God has encoded in us and in varying societies.

And we ought to move all societies towards a godly, a godly behavior, let's say, which we ought to do, okay? That's right. All right, yeah, thanks a lot, man, appreciate it. Yeah, no problem. Well, God bless, okay? All right, have a good weekend, God bless you. Okay, you too. So this idea of morality is interesting. We have nobody waiting right now. We'll just talk about this a little bit more if you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276.

All right, so morality is intentionally based. Oh, it's hard to get into too many things all at once. But I'll do this. Well, there's a break.

So I'll have to do it after the break. If you want to give me a call, the number's 877-207-2276. We'll be right back after these messages.

We'll be right back after these messages. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Everybody, welcome back to the show. I'm Matt Slick. I'm your host, Matt Slick. And I'm your host, Matt Slick. And I'm your host, Matt Slick. And I'm your host, Matt Slick. And I'm your host, Matt Slick. And I'm your host, Matt Slick. Everybody, welcome back to the show. All right, so we had a question. We'll get to that first.

Maybe we'll get back to the issue of morality and universal abstract entities. Let's get to Rick from Ohio. Rick, welcome. You're on the air.

Hello, Matt. How's your day going? Oh, it's going. I'm hanging in there. Well, good.

Hey, I have a question for you. Just curious, in the beginning, Adam and Eve, when they were together and in the garden and whatnot, they did or did not procreate before the fall of sin. There's no evidence to suggest. There's no evidence to suggest they had children before the fall.

Okay. There is no evidence. I know people say they did, but no, there's nothing biblical to suggest now. Okay, but all right, well, I just have a different theory on it. What's your theory? My theory, I just feel that it would just have been those two that because they were the only two that, Adam and Eve would have been the only two that would have created the sin in the world. Well, I would think that just sex in general, you know what I mean, would have been, I don't know, I would have looked at that as, that wouldn't have been, they would have been like together without having that kind of a relationship prior to the fall of man. That's what I think.

And then I think childbirth. Hold on, hold on, hold on, let's talk a little bit about this, okay? Okay. So how long were Adam and Eve around before the fall? We don't know.

Don't know. So it probably was not very long because Satan, of course, would come in very quickly to try and work against God immediately. He's not gonna wait.

So it's gonna be very quickly and he probably came in very quickly. So Adam and Eve were made mature. They weren't made little babies, they had to grow up. So, okay, they're mature and the devil came in quickly. That's what's most logical.

And then they fell and after that childbirth it would be with pain. So, there you go. That's what I would go with if I were you, yeah. Okay, I guess. So, yeah, because I was thinking that, you know, he would have had to have had some sort of a sexual action towards her, you know, by sight or whatever, you know, lusted towards her or whatever.

So wouldn't that have been a sin? We have children, we have children listening occasionally. So, you know, these are your words.

I'm sorry, okay. Yeah, so that's what I was just kind of just curious about. So, yeah, I just don't, because if you try to put down all sin, you know what I mean? Like, and especially in that way, you know, where do you draw the line on that?

So I don't think that they would have been, I think that it was just those two and then they came in. Well, you know, there's different views, but they were made mature. Satan came in quickly. He's evil. He works as fast as he can to work against God as much as he can. And then birth is talked about.

I would go with what just the Bible reveals to us and don't go beyond what's written, which is 1 Corinthians 4.6. That's what I would do. Just stick with that. Yeah, okay. All right. Okay.

Just a question. All righty, thank you. All right. Have a great evening. God bless you. You too. God bless. All right, hey, we have nobody waiting right now if you want to give me a call.

The number's 877-207-2276. All right, so I was talking about this idea of morality. It's an interesting concept. A lot of people are just not aware of, don't think of. So an abstraction is, we'll call it a thought. An abstraction occurs in the mind. Now, there's discussions about this.

I'm not gonna get into too many details and too many tangents. So if I think of my wife, the actuality occurs in that thinking only in my mind. It's not outside of me. But God's aware of it, of course. But the thought is in me. All right, so that is not a universal abstraction in that it's everywhere all the time. But let's talk about a moral. Can a moral have a universal abstract value or existence, which would mean is it always everywhere?

Now, wait a minute. What does that mean, to have an abstraction? It's like a thought that's everywhere?

The only way that's possible is if God himself is everywhere and he is the author of all abstract entities. In other words, God is the one who has thought and knows eternally all concepts and ideas, and that we discover thoughts and ideas, the number two, roundedness, heaviness, things like this, as we bump into, I like to call them bumping into transcendentals, so that we discover what is morally right. Now, these kinds of discussions are very philosophical, and they get quite deep.

And I've had discussions like this with atheists a lot. When I ask them a question, I say, is the following statement true or false? And the statement is, it is always morally wrong to torture babies to death merely for one's personal pleasure. If they say, no, it's not always wrong everywhere all the time, it's okay to do that sometime, then I say, please give me an answer where you justify the truth of that statement, tell me where it is, that you're advocating that it's okay to do that in certain circumstances.

What circumstances would it be? They've never come up with anything. Now, if they say it's always true, now what they're saying is there's a universal moral truth that they ought to follow. How do you have a universal moral truth or an atheist worldview that is comprised of just basically chemicals, physics, waves, energy, things like this?

How do you have universal morals and a truth value like this? Where is the bridge between the is and the ought? It is wrong, we ought not do it. Or it is correct, we ought to do it. Where do you have the is-ought connection? In an atheist worldview, I don't see how they can do that. Now, I've had them try and tell me how they can bridge the gap between the is-ought. It's called the is-ought barrier. And I've never seen any successful attempt.

I've seen attempts, and I've already been able to poke holes in them. So the only way I can bridge them is by positing that the God of the universe who is tells us what we ought to do. And therefore, the is-ought connection is in his mind, not ours. And this is why what is is what ought to be followed, because it's revealed out of his character, and he's a universal being. So these are the kinds of discussions I've had with people.

I know they're a little bit heady, but I enjoy them. Let's get to Norm from North Carolina. Norm, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. Thanks. Thanks.

So I got a question about maybe application. I was listening, talking about morality and, I guess, application of God's law. So two things I was thinking of. One would be maybe like the teetotaler movement in the turn of the century, and then in a lot of places, particularly in the South, where alcohol was criminalized, right? Couldn't buy alcohol. So in the Bible, it talks about not getting drunk, but drinking is OK. So the question is, did we go too far in applying God's law, kind of like the Pharisees?

And then I guess the other side would be something like gambling. I think, I'm not sure if you would agree, maybe gambling is prohibited in the Bible, in God's law, yet we've got so many states, right, where you can buy lottery tickets and gamble. And so we've failed to apply God's law in that area.

Thoughts? OK, yeah, so as far as drinking goes, Proverbs 31.6 very clearly tells us this. It says, give strong drink to him who's perishing and wine to him whose life is bitter.

Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his troubles no more. So right there is a statement in wisdom literature that it's OK to use alcohol. It's in Proverbs. A lot of Christians say that the wine that Jesus made in John 2 was just simply grape juice, and that's just not the case. So we're not to believe it. Yeah, I don't believe that.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense. And so Timothy, So did we go too far in outlawing it in certain areas in the past? Well, I would say it seemed to, because if they're saying that any consumption of alcohol is wrong, then what do they do with the Bible? The teetotalers, why were they doing it? And I can understand some of the reasons, but to completely outlaw it was, I think, was too far because the Bible tells us to have some of it and to hurt certain times.

So I think that was a violation of scripture. Now hold on, we've got to break, OK? OK. Back to the gambling thing, so hold on. Hey, folks, we'll be right back after these messages about gambling, and then we'll talk to Sam in Indiana.

Did Peter go to heaven? We'll talk about that right after these messages. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone, welcome back to the last segment of the hour.

Let's get back on the air with Norm from North Carolina. Are you still there? Yeah, I'm still here. So just the other part of the question was what your thoughts were. Have we failed in allowing so many states to legalize gambling? You know, gone too far at times on the drinking thing, but didn't go far, didn't fight hard enough against gambling.

OK. So we had to define what gambling is, and then what does the Bible say about it. So gambling is leaving to chance for your provision and security that which belongs to God.

But there's different kinds and levels of this. So do you gamble when you trusted a doctor to do surgery? Yes and no. 98%, no. 2%, yes. Maybe he's bad.

Who knows? There's no perfect way to measure all risks and all options, but what we needed to do is work towards giving our hearts and issues to the Lord to lead us and trust us. That's what we need to be doing. OK, so if we go to Vegas and do gambling in order to gain money to pay the bills, that would be wrong. That would be wrong. Now, what if you go there and you take $50, because no big deal, it's not a big deal, and you go in there and you gamble, and you lose $50? Yeah, is that just entertainment? Yeah, so you lose $50, then you go away. Is that OK? And we can say, well, yes and no.

What are you trying to do with it and from it? But if it's just a form of entertainment, I can't make the case that it's automatically sinful. But it reminded me, I went to Vegas or Stateside once when I was in California.

This is true. I don't gamble. I don't go to do those things there. But I went with a friend, just keeping company in. Then we had a good meal and dried back on the way back. It was nice, just good company. And he took a certain amount of money to blow, and he blew half of it, I think. He said, yeah, let's go home. And we had a good time.

So anyway, I'm not judging him at all. It's just what happened. Well, I went to the roulette wheel just to do it. You go red, black, red, black. I guessed internally, I guessed 11 in a row. Then I missed one. Then I got nine in a row. What are the chances of that? I don't know. Well, it's probably 0.5 to the 11th power.

Let's see if I can get that. What would the odds be? It's, wow, it's 0.0005, one in like 100,000 or so.

Anyway, so it was rare. And then I did it. Anyway, so I told him that in the way home. He goes, what? Why didn't you tell me?

I go, because I might have told you when it worked. So anyway, it was no big deal. Two to the 11th power is what it is. It's just one in 2,048. So the odds of doing that is one in every 2,048. OK, so anyway.

So it was fun, but whatever. So I just say, don't risk gambling. In the Twilight episode where the guy went and gambled in the one-armed band, it ended up killing him. Do you remember that episode? You ever see that?

No, I don't remember that one. So as Christians, we don't necessarily need to be gambling. So that's the question, right? How do we legislate? You guys were talking before about legislating morality. So we probably need to pick our fights. And abortion, obviously, is the biggest fight we should be taking. But how do you decide, I guess, is one of the things I was thinking about what is important and how should we be pushing God's law? Right, and that's just not an easy question to answer. There's a lot of people and a lot of thought and a lot of prayer.

No, there's not. And so generally, we need to move towards that. And God works through us and through time and space as we pray and move. But society is just a fornicating mess. And so it's a self-pleasure everywhere.

And the risk of pregnancy occurs. And then they destroy that life to satisfy their own needs. And this is one of the signs of the degradation of society, when that is your solution to kill another for yourself, for your benefit. Yeah, it is. I know I say this is a lot of people, but that's what it is.

And then they need to come to Christ and need to be forgiven of their sins, like everybody else does. Yep, absolutely. All right, thanks, Matt. I'm going to let you go.

Appreciate it. All right, well, God bless. OK, all right. All right, hey, now let's get to Sam from Indiana. Sam, welcome. You're on the air.

Hey, Matt, I've been listening to you for a while. And I just have a quick question. And I'll hang up and listen to your answer. It's OK. You can stay on the air.

It's no biggie, but go ahead. No, I can. I got something to do. I can't. Oh, OK.

I can listen, but I can't talk. OK, but anyway, I was asked a question today. I'm a long time Christian. And I don't know if that's gnarly. But I keep studying and reading the word.

And I learned a lot off you. But anyway, I was asked today, it says in the Bible, if you deny Christ, the four men, I will deny you in heaven. I can't quote the verse. Well, then they asked me, well, what about Peter? Yeah, Peter denied Christ.

Yeah, he said that. Well, I couldn't think of anywhere where he repented or whatever or was made, whatever you want to call it. How many times? I believe he's a Christian.

Go ahead. How many times did Peter deny Jesus? Three times, right?

Three times, yep. Right. And so when you go to John, the end of John 21, Jesus says to Peter, he says, do you love me? Yes.

Follow me. Do you love me? Yes, do you love me? Three times.

So, yeah. So it looks like what's going on there is that's John 21, 15 through 17. So it looks like what Jesus is doing is reiterating what's going on and counterbalancing it, so to speak, three times. Peter, do you love me? Did I have him three times?

Affirmed him three times. Never thought of it like that. OK. Yeah, so I have no doubt that Peter's in heaven. Oh, me neither. I just couldn't answer him properly. OK, all right.

OK, why, I think you freely answered. Sure, no problem. God bless. All right, have a good day. God bless. You too. Thanks.

God bless, bye. All right, let's get to Zach from Washington. Hey, Zach, welcome.

You're on the air. Hello. Hello.

Can you slow that down? All right. Hey, Matt.

What do you got? Thanks for talking with me. Sure. I'm curious about your view on lordship salvation. We'll define it first. A member of a Reformed church and. Oh, you're a Reformed church, OK. Yeah, and somewhat Calvinistic, I would say. And ultimately, it's a big proponent of lordship salvation, which seems to grade against me a little bit.

Wait a minute, wait, wait. Because it seems like adding something. Yes, it is.

Go ahead. A Reformed church that you're going to is saying that you need to have lordship salvation, which means you have faith in Christ and that he had to submit to him in every area of your life as well in order to be a true Christian. That's what lordship salvation is. OK, so if you don't submit to him in every area, are you no longer a Christian?

Yeah, and that's the problem I have. Right, so you're a Reformed brethren there. I would disagree too. They need to repent of that. They need to stop thinking that.

And depending on if you're representing them accurately. But the idea that Jesus is automatically Lord. We don't make him Lord. God made him Lord, Acts 2. But we don't make him Lord. And he is Lord by the very nature of him saving us.

And once he saves us, he works more and more in sanctification to make us more like him and experience his lordship more and more in every area of our life. Now here's another question. So what percentage of lordship are you giving Jesus in your finances or in your movie watching or in your driving habits? Let's pick driving habits, OK? So do I always obey the speed limit?

No, heck no. I grew up in Southern California driving. And if you did the speed limit on the freeway, that was dangerous. It was dangerous.

You had to keep up with traffic and you had to move. And so, well that's what you do. So is he the Lord of my life and driving? Well, how much?

80%. Oh, I guess you're not a Christian. Because the standard now is how much you're giving lordship to him.

And then the next thing you know, you're keeping yourself right with God by how good you are. And so this is the problem with lordship salvation. And you need to talk to them, to talk to the elders and see what's going on there. And I'd be glad to get in the phone with them to talk about it to help them get in line with a better view, OK? Thank you so much for that.

I appreciate that offer. Could I ask you just briefly about Hebrews 12.14, because that's a passage they often cite, holiness without which no one will see the Lord. And I think we have just a difference in interpretation on that.

I'm curious to know your view. It says, pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. It's the Greek hagiosmon. And it's basically holiness, and that's fine.

So I would ask questions. Where do they get this holiness? Where is this holiness?

Is it internally generated, or is that externally granted? Holiness belongs to God. We don't make ourselves holy. And we don't comply with God to make ourselves holy. But we comply to God because we're submitted to him, and he is our Lord. That's how it works. It sounds to me like you have some legalistic Calvinists here, legalists.

It happens, OK? And I pretty much guarantee they wouldn't like talking to me, because I believe in the continuation of the charismatic gifts. And that generally turns off a lot of people very much. They then say, I'm violating scripture, violating the candidate.

They don't even think these things through. They just react and say, no, it's not the case. Let me explain. So sometimes people like that tend to get legalistic. And then you have a club in the church, where you're in the club that is in lordship salvation. And then you're over there, and you get this judgmental kind of thing going on.

It can happen in Reformed churches, OK? All right. I'll be glad to, seriously, have a conversation. You know, over the phone with them, get them on the phone, get them on the phone kind of thing, arrange it.

I'd be glad to do that. It wouldn't bother me to say, well, let's define it. And what do you think the parameters are? And what things must we keep? And how much of this lordship are we obligated to adhere to in order to keep ourselves right with God? That's the question that's going to be asked. Because then if they say, well, you've got to do this, and this, and that, you might as well be a Roman Catholic then. And they don't like that when I talk like that to them.

They get upset. So, OK, hey, there's the music. We've got to go, buddy.

This is a good question, though. Thank you, Matt. Talk to them and call me on Monday.

Let me know if you talk to them, what happens. If you do. All right, buddy, God bless. You got it, Matt. God bless. Thank you, sir. You, too. Hey, folks, no, you won't be right back.

I want to say that I heard the music. It'll be back Monday, by God's grace. Hope you have a great weekend. God bless, everyone. We'll be right back. Another program powered by the Truth Network.