Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. It's Matt Slick live. Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at karm.org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick live.

Francis, taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Hey everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick.

Oh man, I got so many things going on, I think I distracted already. This is the Matt Slick live. I'm your host. All right, if you want to give me a call today, this is for a little, it's live.

It's March 4th, 2025. If you want to give me a call, it's easy to do. Just dial 877-207-2276. You can also get to me here by email. All you have to do is send an email to info at karm.orginfo at c-a-r-m dot o-r-g and we can get to you. You know all the stuff that you do when you ask and things like that. We also, if you're interested, we have a chat room inside of Rumble, rumble.com forward slash Matt Slick live.

If you were to go to rumble.com forward slash Matt Slick live, you can participate in the chat room that they have there. It's really good. A lot of people are in there and we have a good time. Good people. Every now and then, the strepus individual will come in and just be bad.

We just get rid of them and things like that. There you go. As you may know, yesterday we had a bit of an issue with ATT&CK and that's okay.

Those kind of things happen. Not a big deal. There you go. You can also email your questions.

We already got that info at karm.org. Put radio question or radio comment or something like that in there and you can do that. All right. If you want to give me a call, it's easy.

877-207-2276. It looks like we're having a little bit of a sound issue there. Again, we'll do it this other way.

I have to Mickey Mouse stuff so that sound goes out over the internets and stuff like that. All right. There we go. Should be good. Good.

All right. Last night, for me it's interesting. I go into varying rooms. In fact, what happened yesterday after the radio show, we were halfway through a tech issue.

Not a big deal. I continued broadcasting live via the internet. Streaming out to YouTube and to Rumble and to X. I went into Discord. Discord is a chat system, voice chat system.

I just shared the screen and we kept recording and did that for another hour from the bottom of the hour up to half hour after the show would normally end. Showed people some of the stuff I go through. I think it's interesting if people want to make comments that they heard. It's really difficult to be polite a lot of times. When you're having discussions with people who their idols are bowing down to them and then I come in and tip their idols over, they get upset for some reason about Mary and their idolatrous ideas about Mary and stuff. To me, it's entertaining, but it's not why I do it. It's not an issue of entertainment. I don't want to just be entertained.

I want to be able to communicate to people and get them to believe the truth of who God is and what the word of God is. I went in an hour or so after that and encountered an individual. It's really interesting because people like to hide behind nicknames. They like to hide behind a nickname and then throw stones.

The safety or anonymity. I'll tell you about that encounter I had with a guy. In the meantime, let's get to Jermaine from California. Jermaine, welcome buddy. You're on the air. Hi man, how's it going today? Oh, it's going man. I'm hanging in there. How are you doing?

I'm doing pretty good. Actually, my call had to do with the interaction you had online yesterday that really kind of stuck with me as far as just watching your approach and how the other side eventually broke down and resulted into insults and swearing and whatnot. A lot of people seem to think that to be Christ-like means you never get in an argument, but are there times where it's appropriate to be, I guess what I would say is mean? Not evil, but just like mean.

Tough, tough. Yes, Jesus called people whitewash supplicers. He said a lot of mean things. In fact, if I were to go to Carm and I were to write, let's see, did Jesus ever say anything mean?

I wrote an article about this back in 2016. He called people, let's see, it's a summation here. I've got them underlined. Hypocrites, blind guides, fools, blind men, blind guides, hypocrites, hypocrites, washed tombs, full of dead man's bones, hypocrites, lawless, serpents, brood of vipers, let's see, foolish ones, you're like concealed tombs, hypocrites, your father the devil, and liars. So these are the things that Jesus said to people. Okay, yeah, I thought you were very gracious.

It's just when I was a kid, I remember my dad got mean with the belt a couple of times, and as a result, I never did whatever caused me to get the belt, so I was very thankful looking back on that. So I just want to hear your take on being mean in the spirit. Yes, there are times when, okay, let me put this way because it's difficult, there are times when I will get difficult with somebody, get really tough and accuse them of something, but it's not very often. What you heard on the show yesterday, the after show and all that kind of stuff, was nothing compared to what I experienced a couple hours later when I went on to the same server discord, went in there, and there's a guy who is foul, he claims to be a Christian, he says I'm a Calvinist, and therefore I'm going to hell, and repeatedly I said, please let me finish my sentences, I just want to build a community, and he would interrupt me constantly.

I can't even repeat the things he said because they were just not acceptable for radio. This guy's supposed to be a Christian, and I would put in verses like you're supposed to conduct yourself with wisdom, being patient and things like that if you claim to be a Christian, and he would just call me names and make demands, and then I said, look, I'm just done talking to you. Then he would call me names and say I was chicken and a liar, all this stuff, right? So there are people like that, and what gets me is they do this when they hide behind the anonymity of a nickname. So they're able to stand strong in their own self-deception, be accusatory, and they don't risk anything.

So I don't have really much respect or any respect for people like that. They hide behind nicknames and accuse, but they won't give up their real names. It reminds me, many times I've asked over the years, I've asked, okay, what church do you go to? And they won't tell me because I'm going to call their elders and see if their elders want to be interested in how they're behaving online with foul language, using the Lord's name in vain, cussing, accusing, things like this repeatedly, and not showing the fruit of the Spirit. And they won't tell me. They never tell me what church they go to. And then they'll say, what church do you go to? And I immediately give them the information. Here it is. This is where it is.

Call them up. And so it's really something that a lot of people have said with just what you said, that I'm very patient. Not always, but I try and be very, very patient.

You put your stuff on, man, it's tough sometimes. Right. Yeah.

It seemed to be getting very demonic at one point where the only resort they have is to turn into insults and just buy all this. So that was a great example. Great lesson. So thank you for that. Well, I'm glad that actually I'm very grateful that you called and gave me feedback on that. I wasn't planning on having anybody do that as in, I didn't expect it, but, uh, it, I spent a lot of time doing that and it keeps me sharp and I learn new things in the process. So feedback, like what you're saying is really helpful to me because I'm trying to be patient.

And if it comes across that I have been patient and praise God, but, um, uh, as you were observing correctly, there's a lot of very, I don't know how to call it, wicked people who claim to be Christians who are vile. It's amazing. Yeah. All right. Well, thanks a lot, man. I appreciate it. All right, brother. Well, God bless.

Appreciate you calling. And, uh, remember, you're always welcome my house in Idaho. Just come on out, man. Come on out.

More Willie. I will God bless you. All right, Jeremy.

God bless. Um, yeah, he's called many times. I just, I like him, you know, he's a good guy.

He's articulate and, uh, he's, he's good stuff. So we're talking about what happened yesterday. Halfway through the show, uh, they had a tech problem issue and they had to put on an old show, which is fine. You know, things happen and I can't talk to them.

I said that don't worry about it. So what I did was I continued my broadcast on YouTube and, uh, uh, X and Facebook and rumble. And then what I did was I shared my screen at four monitors and I went to something I go to frequently called discord. And, uh, there are lots of places to have discussions. So I went in there to show people and they could hear what was going on. Uh, and they've got an experience.

Yes. Some of the stuff, some of the stuff that I have to go through on a regular basis when I'm talking to people trying to be as patient as possible. And, uh, it's very difficult.

It's sometimes it's very difficult to do that. So I just opened up discord while we were talking. And, um, so there's a, I think he's an atheist. Uh, he says, uh, he'd like to talk to me and have an adult chat.

I've seen him many times on YouTube and would love to have an adult chat. When someone talks to me like that right away, I go, good, that's fine. Because surprisingly when they talk like that almost all the time, they're dead serious. They recognize the problem. It's that a lot of people have online and how they get just so disruptive, rude and counterproductive to any good discussions. And so usually when someone says something like that, let's have an adult chat. I know exactly what you're talking about.

And usually it goes pretty well. And I said, let me know when you're free to chat. Um, I, he emailed me and I said, I'll probably be, this is last, last night. I said, I'll probably be on and we didn't, uh, he didn't find me and I'm going to read this. What he says now, he says, um, I didn't see you in line. Maybe we can set a time to have a chat. I'm not going to bust your, I can't read some of the words you said. Uh, he won't be difficult. He said, uh, you know, in an annoying sense, uh, have seen many of your videos.

YouTube will mental honey was one of my favorites. Looking forward to having a talk. Um, well good. You know, so we'll just see if that happens. Um, and I don't know how many people request to have discussions with me and they do what's called a M A's ask me anything, an AMA and they'll put, set it up and I'll just go in and people just flood in and then it's moderated and people just, okay, you're next. That's the question. And we go and have these discussions and those are very good. It's like radio except it's a, it's there.

So anyway, that's it. Now look, if you want to give me a call, the number is eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six. I want to hear from you give me a call.

We have nobody waiting right now. So what I'm going to do is go to the emails and go to a radio questions and uh, let's see, let's see. We've got to already go to that one. How about this one? Good morning.

My name is Clint. Uh, can you briefly go over the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism or if you want to go super in depth, I'm okay with that too. This kind of stuff is new to me.

So any help with difference or the difference would be appreciated. Sure. Um, all right, so I'll do it, uh, five points, uh, the five points of Calvinism tulip and I'll go down T U L I P and I'll explain the reform perspective and the Arminian perspective. Now you've got to understand when I do this, not all Arminians hold to exactly what I'm going to teach you. Okay. Because there's a variety within Arminianism, but that's what I'll do.

I'll go through some stuff and give the generics, uh, as soon as I get back from the break. If you want to call me eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six. Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone. Welcome back to the show.

If you want to give me a call, you can. The number is eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six. All right. Now, as I said, it's going to explain the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism, uh, with the acronym tulip, T U L I P total of gravity is a T. Now in reform theology or Calvinism, it's the same basic thing. Uh, we teach or Calvinism teaches that a person is touched by sin, affected by sin in every part of what he is. Heart, soul, mind, body, will thinking motions, everything is touched by sin. And the result of that effect of sin upon him or her is that of his own free will, he will not freely choose Jesus, but he needs the work of God.

Uh, that's the only way. And so Arminianism, some Arminians hold to total depravity and they add prevenient grace that a movement of God upon the person re enables or enables a person to be able to freely choose of their own will. And reform theology would say, no, we don't agree with that. You have to be granted faith. Philippians 1 29 granted that belief and stuff like that.

Anyway, so there's a, there's a similarity, but it's different Sarah also. Unconditional election is you and in reform theology, what that means is God does not look into a future situation of what you're in or some good quality in you and then decides to save you based on a good thing in you. Where Arminianism would say that unconditional election is not true.

It's conditioned upon God's foreseen knowledge of your forcing faith that you're going to have in him under those circumstances you would choose him. L is limited atonement and in reform theology, Jesus only legally bore the sin of the elect, not everybody who ever lived. Where Arminianism would say that he actually bore the sin of everybody who ever lived. I is irresistible grace. What that means is in reform theology that at the point of regeneration, doesn't mean through your whole life, it means at the point of regeneration, you cannot successfully resist the work of God to make you born again.

So you can't, so you can't do that. So that is and in Arminianism, the grace of God can be successfully resisted at that moment, at that time. And P, perseverance of the saints, you don't lose your salvation in Calvinism, but Arminianism is kind of split. Some say you can lose your salvation, some say you cannot.

So that's the main way to look at it from a kind of a comparison, a light comparison. But also, reform theology would advocate for the very great sovereignty of God, that he works all things after the counsel of his will and that our free will choices are worked after his counsel and his processes and his doing. And Arminianism would say yes, but it's more melanistic in that God foresees what conditions will bring about your free will choice.

And so he's sovereign and predestining, but he predestines according to what he sees you'll do. That kind of thing, that's what we reject. Alright, let's get to Chuck from Ohio.

Chuck, welcome, you're on the air. Hi, yeah, I had a question about Bible translations and your preference and everything, but on your last point, what about somebody like J.C. Ryle? Wasn't he a four-point Calvinist?

I don't know, I don't know if he was or wasn't, but a four-pointer is called an Ameraldian, and that's, they denied limited atonement. They might hold everything else, and that's called Ameraldianism. So, anyway. But, uh... Okay. Okay. Yeah, I was just wondering what, uh, I think you're one of your favorites, or if not, your favorite New American Standard, isn't that... Right, yes, I use the New American Standard Bible 95 edition.

It's just what I use, and I have used it for decades. Now, the, uh, what's the, what is that one that does the, um, hold on, I just lose you. I just did something. Wow, I just realized I did something. No, did I? I'm trying to figure something out here.

My windows are all mixed. There we go. Okay, got it. So, um, I use the NASB, and, uh, Laura, she likes the LSB, Legacy Standard Bible. Thanks for putting that in, Laura. Because it's based on the NASB, but they take the word Lord in the Old Testament, which is Yahweh, and they put in Yahweh, which I really like. So I'm going to be looking into that, maybe switching to that for that reason, but I'm going to, I'll check it out, do some comparisons.

But the LSB and the NASB are really good. Okay? I've got an LSB, and it's a little bit, especially like when I was reading to my wife in the New Test, I mean, I'm sorry, in the Old Testament, where it's, uh, forever, you know, where it's in the most. And, uh, she kind of, you know, like, what's that all about? And I'm just wondering how much of a, uh, how much time is it going to take for people to get used to that?

It depends on the person, how much they read, and stuff. So, it just depends. Um, but, you know, that's all it is. And the LSB is, will be wooden like the NASB is. It'll be wooden. Uh, and what that means is that it's literal, as literal as possible.

And because of that, it's not as smooth as some translations might be, like the NIV. Okay? Yeah. Okay. Can I ask you one more thing real quick? Sure.

Go ahead. Okay, uh, I got a book by Carl I. Payne called The Spiritual Warfare, uh, Christian's, uh, Demonization and Deliverance. And I know it sounds charismatic, but actually, as I was reading, I just skimmed through it. I haven't read the whole book. But it seemed to be not really a charismatic book, and there were some places that actually seemed to be pretty solid. What, have you read that book, and what do you think about it if you have? No, I've not read it, and don't know about that, guys, so I can't comment.

Except to say that, that a lot of times, not, doesn't mean it's going to happen with this guy, but a lot of times, what we find in ministries like that is an over-charismatic kind of a thing where you can be demon-possessed or afflicted as a Christian, and then you have to go through certain spiritual processes in order to be delivered from all this stuff, and oftentimes, it's very damaging. So I'm just telling you. Okay? Yeah.

Just be careful. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Well, God bless.

You're welcome. Okay. All right, now let's get to Tom from Virginia.

Tom, welcome. You are on the air. Hello.

Yes. How are you? You're on the air. Oh, I'm fine. Privileged of doing radio.

So what do you got? My question is from 1 Peter 3, where it says, Baptism now saves us. What exactly that means?

I was baptized as an infant. We got a break, so hold on. We'll get back to you after the break, okay? We'll talk about it.

It's a good passage to talk about. All right, hold on, buddy. Hey, folks, we'll be right back after these messages.

If you want to call and get in line, the number is 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the show. Let's get back on with Tom from Virginia. All right, brother.

You're back on the air. Okay. So what about you? Well, great. Okay.

Go ahead. My dilemma is I was baptized as an infant in the Reformed church and told that it was valid. I needed to confirm it, but it was valid because of the Word of God. Then my parents left and joined the Baptist church, and when I was 13, they said, no, that was an invalid baptism. You need to be baptized after your belief, and what makes your baptism valid is your belief. So I got baptized again. But as an adult and studying, it almost – the dilemma is it almost seems that I'm basing my believer's baptism on the fact of a work that I believed, and therefore the baptism was valid rather than the Word of God who just made the baptism valid. So just in light of Peter saying that baptism now saves you. So I was just needing some insight on that.

Well, you said a lot of things. So some valid Christian denominations affirm infant baptism, but not for salvation, but as a covenant sign, and there are some very good arguments for it. Baptists just universally reject those arguments, and they say that the only valid baptism is the baptism of an individual once you believe. And then they also say it must be by immersion, which is problematic because Jesus at his baptism, he had to fulfill the Old Testament law, and it appears that he was sprinkled. And I can show the scriptures for that. I can also show in the New Testament where the application of water is to the person, not the person in the water.

So I've done a great deal of studying on the issue of baptism, and I have my notes open on baptism, which is 55 pages, and I can double that easily by going through and completing some of my study stuff in it, but nevertheless. So let's take a look at 1 Peter 3.21, because what's really important for us to understand is the context. So when we go there, I'm going to start in verse 18, because we want to get a good context. It says this, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, in which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who were once disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of the dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So the Greek word here, it's antitoupon, that's the word for corresponding to that, or in like manner.

Antitoupon is a typology, a representation, an antitype, that type that comes before, corresponding to that. So the question then becomes, as baptism is being spoken of in 1 Peter 3.21, to what is it referring in the previous context? Well, it wouldn't make sense to say that what the baptism is referring to is Jesus going and preaching to the spirits, or made proclamation, I should say, to the spirits in prison. It seems more likely that the baptism is related to something in the immediately previous verse, where days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which eight people were brought safely through the water. So the question then is, what is Peter doing? And I'll just tell you, this is a very contested set of scriptures.

There's a lot of commentaries and a lot of examinations. So I'm going to give you what I think it is, and then you can go do your own research as well. I believe, or I lean towards the idea that the baptism represents the ark of Noah. And the reason is because the ark is what saved Noah, not the water. The water is a means of destruction.

That's what Peter says. In Peter, he uses water in the same context as a means of destruction and killing and destroying people. So is baptism related to the water that destroyed and killed people? It doesn't seem to make sense. It seems to relate to the idea of the ark.

But there's a grammatical problem, because generally speaking in Greek, the grammar lends itself towards the antecedent being the closest noun. And so generally the rule is it's referring to water, but not necessarily, not always, but that's a general understanding. So if it's the water that baptism is referring to, then we have problems, because justification is by faith, not by ceremony of baptism. And we get into that. So it could also be that what corresponding to that means is not just the ark or just the water, but the event of entering the ark and going through the flood.

The whole long event. And if that's the case, which I think has a lot of merit to it, then we can understand something a little bit more, because the ark is where eight people, eight is the number of new beginnings, and I can get into that some other time. They entered the ark through a single door, and God closed that door. Jesus has called the door. And Jesus said, when God opens, no man can close.

When God closes, no man can open. So God closed the door, and he opened the door when it was time for them to leave the ark. So if it's the deliverance in the ark through the event of the destruction of water, and baptism now relates to that, then it says it saves you. But then what Peter says is not the removal of dirt from the flesh. He's saying it's not the application of water to the body, but an appeal for a good conscience to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So some commentators, they go in and they say, what this looks like is the baptism might relate to the whole process before, but they enter the ark by faith, just as you, with a good conscience, are baptized by faith.

And that appeal, that's the thing that saves you. But when it says baptism now saves you, he corrects himself, so to speak. He says, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience. So he's describing what that baptism is, an appeal for a good conscience. And it's a commitment.

It's a promise. So it looks like what's going on is that, it looks like what Peter is doing is relating baptism to our public declaration and commitment to Christ. We have a good conscience in it, and this whole thing saves us. Not the ceremony of the water, but the appeal, the faith thing that we have before God. And so baptism, and there's so much to talk about with this, because baptism is a covenant sign that's related to circumcision. And we can get into some other stuff about covenants, but you see this is not an easy one to get through.

And I'm telling you a lot, but there you go. I appreciate it. I appreciate it, and this is very helpful, and thank you very much, brother. Okay.

You're welcome. But just know this, that you're justified by faith alone in Christ alone. That's the biblical doctrine. It's not baptism that removes your sin. It's not baptism that makes you right with God. Because the Bible says we're justified by faith, Romans 5.1, and Philippians 1.29 says that God's will to grant us faith. If God is granting us that faith, and Jesus says in John 6.29 that the faith that we have from God is to believe in Jesus, then that faith is real faith, and therefore we're justified. And we're not saved by faith and a ceremony of baptism, or a ceremony of Eucharist, or whatever else people might say, but by justification of faith alone in him.

And Peter's talking to the Jews who are going to understand covenant relationship and signs, and baptism is related by Paul with circumcision as a covenant, not exact equivalent, but there's a relationship between them. So the theology here is not one inch deep. It's about ten inches deep there. We really need to get down there and dig in the dirt to figure out what's going on. Okay?

Just a lot there. Alright? Thank you brother. You're welcome. Alright.

Okay. You know the issue of baptism is very critical, and I just want to say something that we are not saved by faith and. We're not saved by faith and something we do. We're not saved by faith and baptism, or faith and church attendance, or faith and keeping the commandments, or faith and being nice and keeping yourself right with God. All of those are false gospels.

It's by faith alone in Christ alone that we are justified, and everything else we do is a result of that. Hey folks, we'll be right back. Give me a call. 877-207-2276. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Alright everyone, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, it is easy. All you need to do is dial 877-207-2276. I just want to tell you that we do stay on the air by your support.

If you'd be so kind as to consider supporting us, we do need that. I don't like mentioning it on the air. I don't. That's one of the things people who work with me said, Matt, you've got to tell people.

You've got to ask them. I just don't like it. We're not hurting. I'm just saying it's not like he's super desperate and a 300 foot Jesus is going to destroy me if I don't get something.

Not like some people have said in the past, and that may ring a bell with some people. No, we just let you know that if you like what you hear and you want to keep us on the air, please consider supporting us. We do need that support, and it does tell us if the radio show is important to people, because we can tell from their geographical area, when the supports come in, if I ask things like that, we just need that. If you want, you just go to karm.org forward slash donate. C-A-R-M dot O-R-G forward slash donates. What are you going to do? Let's get to Matt from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. How are you doing? Doing all right, man. Hanging in there. You must be a humble, intelligent, good-looking guy with a name like that.

Yeah, that's what I heard. Goes around on it. So what do you got, buddy? I had a question about Peter's vision in Acts chapter 10, verse 9, he has. Is this strictly dietary or is it, is he talking about the Jews coexisting with the Gentiles or is it both? Can you explain that a little bit? It's an issue here because the Jews wanted to have nothing to do with the unclean Gentiles. And so the vision here of eating unclean animals, no, no, we can't do that. That's not right to do that.

Well, no, kill and eat. And so he does. So there's been discussions about what this means. And basically it's the idea that the Gentiles are accepted into the kingdom of God.

It seems to be the generic understanding of it. Okay. Okay. Get into more if you want.

Yeah, I had a... Go ahead. Yeah, a little bit. I have a friend that's really got into this Torah kick and it kind of seems a little cultish, but I wasn't sure. Is there a name?

No, I'm not sure. It's just, this year recently, there's been a lot about the Torah, a lot about following the law, the dietary law, the Sabbath. And I was just curious where this was going and, you know. Well, it's not going to go well. Generally when they follow the Torah, then they become legalistic and they will start judging you and others for not keeping Torah, even though they say they won't. Got to be careful. So I'm going to give you some theology here to help out, okay?

That will teach as well as give you some ammunition, hopefully. So there's a doctrine called federal headship. It's a very, very, very important doctrine and few Christians know it, few Christians teach it. But federal headship is a representation that Adam represented everybody and Christ represented his people. It's called federal headship. In Adam, all die. In Christ, all are made alive. I've written a lot on federal headship and I teach on it. This is significant because if you go to, for example, I'm going to lay this case out. If you go to, and this will help you, all right, go to Romans 6-6 and I'm going to read what it says there, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him.

This is federal headship. When was Jesus crucified? 2,000 years ago. And it says in verse 8 of Romans 6-6, Romans 6-8, now we have died with Christ. So when did we die with Christ? Well, people say when you get baptized, that's when you died with Christ. Well, it doesn't make sense because in verse 6, we're crucified with him. So he was crucified 2,000 years ago, so he represented us. Now, the reason this is significant is because of the next chapter. So it's Romans 6 and Romans 7. But you can go through those. Sorry, Romans 6-6 and just go to Romans 7-6.

Basically, that'll do it. And it says that those who have died are freed from the law. Those who have died are freed from the law. Therefore, my brethren, this is Romans 7-4, you are also made to die to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another day and was raised in the dead.

So, we are not obligated to keep the Old Testament law requirements because true Christians have died with Christ and died to the law. We're no longer obligated to keep it. Okay? Very simple. Okay. Yeah. So, just for easy memorization, just remember Romans 6-6 and go to Romans 7-6 and that'll help you. Okay?

You can just go through and underline some stuff. We've died with Christ. Therefore, we're freed from the law. Therefore, we're not obligated to do that. Now, here's something else. I know you're probably driving.

It sounds like it. Here's something else to think about. It says in Colossians 2-16, and you can look this up on the web. Okay?

Just find it when you're free. Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come. That's Colossians 2-16.

So, your friend is now back under the law, but to what degree? Is your friend trying to keep the law to be saved? Then that person is hearing a false gospel. If that person wants to keep the law to honor God, but doesn't explain to you if you don't, then that's okay. But no one's supposed to judge you regarding a festival, food, drink, Sabbath day, anything.

Colossians 2-16. All right? There's more I can give you, but that should help.

Yeah, that cleared it up a lot. Thank you, Matt. You're welcome.

God bless, Matt. All right. Have a good day. All right.

All right. So, this is the basics of salvation and stuff like that. So, I'm going to write my notes in here. There we go.

If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. So if you go to Romans 6-6, there's something really interesting here. It says that our old self was crucified with Christ in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death is no longer a master over him.

So, what Paul is teaching in Romans 6, 6-8 is based on federal headship, that Christ represented his people. And when you understand this, this can set you free. Some people, unfortunately, what they want to do is think that their salvation depends in part on their goodness, on their faithfulness, on their ability.

And you need to abandon that. If your salvation depended in any way on your ability, on your goodness, it's gone. Because you're not good enough. I'm not good enough. We're not good enough.

Period. Salvation is granted to us by God to come to Christ, is granted to us. John 6-65. God grants that we believe. Philippians 1-29.

God's work is that we believe in Jesus. John 6-29. In fact, in John 1-12 and 13, as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name.

Who were born, this is a tough context, but you ain't being born again because believing and stuff like that. Not of the blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. So, unfortunately, some churches in America, some Protestant churches, teach you that in order for you to keep yourself in that kingdom of God, there are things you have to do or things you can't do. Now, I'm not advocating sin.

You've got to hear me out here. We have to understand that we cannot keep ourselves right with God. Jesus bore our sin in his body on the cross. 1 Peter 2-24. He did everything that was necessary for our salvation. And Colossians 2-14, it says that Jesus cancelled the sin debt at the cross.

It's not cancelled when you believe. It's not dependent on your goodness. It's not dependent on your faithfulness. It's dependent on God's work. When Christ finished his work on the cross, John 19-30, it was finished, it was done, it was accomplished. The effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice is not dependent on your goodness, your faith, your faithfulness. The work of Christ is applied to you. When you believe, you're justified. You're declared righteous before God. This is what happens when you believe.

And God grants this to you. So you don't keep yourself right with him. You don't keep yourself right with him by ceremonies, keeping the Old Testament law, keeping covenant boundaries, or by baptism, or by going to church, or by reading your Bible, or by being honest. You don't keep your salvation by your good works, by good things. Just abandon that. You have no ability to do anything good.

None. Because everything you do is touched by sin. And the standard of goodness is not you. It's God. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. So, this is why we need to understand that we have died with Christ. We're crucified with Christ.

And he did it. And therefore, the Father considers me and those of us who trust in Christ. He considers us clean and okay because of the blood of Christ that wipes the sin away. And the work of Christ in his life, and the righteousness that's there, that's given to us by faith, that's Philippians 3.9. So God strips us of sin and clothes us in righteousness. A righteous is not our own. A righteous is that comes from God. Philippians 3.9.

This is the work of God. Not you. Not your faithfulness. Not your church attendance. Not your sincerity.

All that is just nothing. Now, it doesn't mean it's okay to sin. We don't want to do that. Because if you go out and sin, you'll be disciplined by God. And if you continue to sin with no conviction, well, you're probably not saved to begin with. We're not saved by our repentance either, by our stopping of doing something wrong. That's not what saves us.

That's just compliance with the law. We are free in Christ. We've died to the law. We've died with Christ.

We're free and we're secure in him. But along with this comes regeneration. That's the indwelling of God in us. John 14.23. We are made new creatures.

2 Corinthians 5.17. And because of this, we now go and love God and our neighbor. Because that's what we do. It's natural to us because the love of God is in us. Because God lives in us. So now we act in a loving manner and we accidentally keep that law. But we don't keep that law to keep ourselves right with God, to keep ourselves saved.

We keep that law accidentally when we love God and love our neighbor. We're free from the obligation of keeping the law to be saved. We're now free to love God and love our neighbor and not worry about our perfection.

That's taken care of in Christ on the cross. We're secure. We're free. We're cleansed. Praise God forever. There's the music. May the Lord bless you and by his grace, we're back on the air tomorrow. And Lord willing, we'll talk to you then. So have a good evening everyone.