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, and you're listening to Matt Slick live. If you want, as usual, give me a call. The number is 877-207-2276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call. And if you want, you can send some emails my way also.

That's at info at KARM.org, info at KARM, C-A-R-M dot O-R-G, info at KARM.org. And put in the subject line, radio comments, radio question. And that's it. See, easy peasy.

All right, all right. Now, let's see, as you know, I frequently go into discussion rooms and I debate, impromptu debates and discussions, and I do this for several reasons. But one of the main ones is, well, I do enjoy just going over theology and teaching biblical stuff. But it also keeps me sharp, because I certainly need it at my age to build a room.

To be able to remember things and give it a shot. Let me tell you, it's really interesting how vitriolic, condemning, mocking, and horrible people who claim to be Christians can actually be. It's really amazing. And so, you know, I've been doing studies out of a book by John Owen in the 1600s on the mortification of sin. And the book is interesting, because the way the guy writes is in such long sentences, and he takes particular points, he breaks them down, then he expands on particular points, and he goes on quite a bit. Well, anyway, you know, so as I'm reading through, I'm interacting with the thoughts, and this is causing me to think about that, and then I'll write something down, and that causes me to think of something else.

And then I'm keeping notes that are kind of, some of them are sparked by some of the things he says, and some of them are sparked by some of the things that I say in response to some of the things that he says. But it's a good book, Mortification of Sin. And, you know, it's interesting, because we don't really talk about sin a whole bunch in our own selves as Christians. And I think maybe because we don't like talking about it, and we don't like facing the issues that we have to face about ourselves, you know, the more you sin, the more accustomed you get to it, and the more accustomed you get to it, the less it hurts.

It's just true, okay? And so, one of the things he said that was revealing, I thought was good, I'm going to reference him for this one, is that temptation reveals a sin that's already in you. And, you know, I thought about that, and I went, you know, that's a good point, because temptation doesn't add sin to us.

It reveals the sin in us. And here's an illustration, like, you know, I don't, me, I don't watch sports. It just doesn't interest me. I just won't have any interest.

And so, if someone were to tempt me with tickets to a sports event, they were to offer a temptation. Well, I'm not tempted. It's not in me to be tempted by that. So, the temptation doesn't bring it out of me, because it's not in me to want to go watch a sports event. Sorry, I just don't have any interest in it, okay?

However, if someone were to say, look, Matt, we have a computer tech show at a big building, downtown, blah, blah, blah, and all kinds of vendors are going to be there, and would you rather do that instead of take your wife out to dinner? Now I'm tempted, because now I'm tempted. That's a temptation to me, because it's already in me to desire that kind of thing. See, temptation reveals the sin that's already in you. Now, here's a question. How many of us war against our sins? How many of us war against our sins and the things that are in us? Here's another question. This is a dangerous question, it's a dangerous question. How many of us ask God to reveal our sin in us? Now, that's a dangerous question, okay, because if we do, I suspect, as he did to me when I was back in my 30s in Southern California, that he will do just that, that he will reveal things.

Now, here's another comment about all of this. You see, we can know our own hearts, generally speaking. We can understand what we're about. We can understand if we have this amount of pride or this tendency towards that sin. We generally know ourselves. However, we do not know ourselves well as God does. You know, Hebrews 4.13 says, there's no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

So, there's nothing hidden from him, which means he knows our deepest thoughts. And I'm reminded of the time years ago when I was praying and I was on my knees and just confessing everything I could think I could confess to my Lord. I was confessing my sins, pride, selfishness, arrogance, stubbornness, whatever you want, just everything I could think of. And I was going through this list, reaching down into my heart, trying to plumb the depths of myself as deep as I could go, and then revealing those in a verbal form in confession to my Lord. And I couldn't think of anything after a while.

I can't think of any new stuff, you know. And then I said, you know, Lord, thank you for not making me like the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. And that was a modified quote from the Pharisee in Luke 18, 9 through 14 when he says, thank you, Lord, for not making me like the tax gatherer. And the reason I'm bringing this up is because even in the depths of our humility, we want to call it that, is pride and arrogance.

It's just in us. We don't even know. But God does. What do you think would happen if you were to ask God to reveal your own sin to him? And maybe some of you are contemplating that based on what I'm talking to you about right now. Well, let me tell you something that's risky because he might just do it.

What I would suggest, having done this before, I would suggest asking him to reveal one, maybe two sins. That's it. One, maybe two. Because one is bad enough, two, oh my goodness.

And three, forget it. It's like kids, you know. You're married and you have one kid.

Not a problem. I can handle one kid. We go out to the store, go out to the whatever. I can handle one kid. Two kids? Now, instead of just two, it's more like four because they just amplify, you know. You have three kids.

It's like having 50 all of a sudden. What are you doing? How come you're over there?

Come over here. And sin is like that, you know. And so if you ask God to reveal one of them, I think we can handle it. You just deal with the one. Two, if you want to save time, be efficient like me. Hey, I'll take 2.5, you know.

So God will do it. Now, is it worth it? Oh, yeah, it is.

It is. I mean, I'll tell you something. I remember I did that.

I did it years ago. And I mean, I felt bad. I started to reveal. God started revealing in me various things I wasn't even aware of. And like I said yesterday in the air, I said, I remember when I withdrew the prayer. I said, Lord, thank you. But can I retract this now?

Because wow, all right, it was tough. But I'm considering again, I'm considering again asking God to reveal something in me to myself to work on. And I think I'm going to do that, you know. But here's something else. In order to really have the light of truth shined down deep into your heart, I think two things are needed. The work of the Holy Spirit and the light of God's word. If you go to, I think it's Psalm 139.

And let me see if I just, it's been a long time. It talks about the word being a light. Let's see if I can find, oh, maybe it isn't there. There's another one where it says, the word is a light to my path. And I love that. The word is a light, I'm going to find the verse, to my path.

Here, just type it in as a search thing. And it'll tell me what verse it is. I like to go to these verses.

I like to know where they are. It's Psalm 119, I knew that. 119, 105.

So let me go there, 119, 105. Your lamp, here we go. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

I'm having trouble today. And so the word of God, the word of God in us, Jesus, and the word of God outside of us, the Bible, we need both. We need the inner and external. We need the inner light of Christ and the light of God's word that we read, and it shines upon our hearts. And I'm reminded of a verse, this is in Philippians 4.

6. And there are certain verses in the Bible that I'm not real fond of, and this is one of them. I don't like certain verses in the Bible because they make me face myself.

I don't like what I find. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

OK, that's not a problem. However, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there's any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. That's Philippians 4.

6 through 8. And that pericope of scripture has always stuck with me because he tells us to trust him and to rely on him and the goodness of God and the peace of God will be with us and in the meantime, focus on what is good and honorable. So we're to direct our hearts by the exertion of our will. Then if you go to Colossians 3, 12, it says, so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone. I would venture to say that the sins in us work against those truths written in God's word. Do we want to focus on what is right and honorable and pure and lovely and good? Do we want to be forgiving and bearing with others when someone complains against us, forgive them? Is that how we want to be?

Well, we can say, we can say that yes, we want to. And I can't help but wonder how sincere are we being when we say it, which leads me to another thought. Sometimes when I'm praying, I know that I don't mean as much as what my words are saying. And I might say something like, Lord, discipline me sharply in my error, in my sin. But in my heart, I really don't want that. But I'm saying the words. And so then what I'll say sometimes is, Lord, listen to the words, not my heart, because I know what the truth is.

And I ask that you deal with me according to your love, your grace, your kindness, and according to your word. It's a funny thing about sin in us. We are, sometimes we just don't deal with it in our heart. We just don't deal with it enough. And we aren't aware of it as much as we need to be. And that's not a good sign.

Those who grow close to Christ will become more aware of the depravity of their own hearts and seek repentance and holiness and forgiveness in Jesus. Amen, amen. Hey, there's a break. We'll be right back after these messages. Please give me a call, 877-207-2276. Be right back.

We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, welcome back to the show. Let's get on with Patrick from North Carolina. Patrick, welcome, you're on the air. Hello, Matt.

Thanks for taking my call. I have a question about John 514. Where Jesus healed the crippled man at the well or at the water there, and he healed them. And then he told them, sin no more or something worse will happen to you. Do you believe that could affect our lives if our sins, can our sins affect our health?

Of course they can. If you do drugs, which is sinful, they can affect your health. For example, yeah, smoking, alcoholism. Okay, so like when he told that the crippled man, he didn't do any drugs or anything. You know, he just got healed, but Jesus told them, sin no more or something worse will happen to you.

So our sins can affect our health. Of course they can, yep, absolutely. Okay, well, we'll be right back. Absolutely. Okay, I have a question for you. You've told me before that, or I've heard you say that, if you want to learn how to sin, spend a day with me.

Would that be healthy to say that? It's a joke. You see, it's in the context of when I talk to people who say they don't sin anymore. They're sinless perfectionists, and they actually say they have no sin in themselves anymore.

They live a perfect life. And in a joking way, I say, spend five minutes with me and I'll fix that. That's all it is, it's just a joke, okay? Well, I understand it's a joke, but that's a serious thing, though, to joke around with. Well, it's just meant to be a joke, that's all, okay?

That's all it is, it's just meant to be a joke. Do you believe that a person cannot follow the 10 Commandments perfectly? Correct.

Mm-hmm. So can you yourself, have you followed the do not murder command perfectly in your life so far? Nope, never. So you have murdered people. Well, I'm not gonna say I've murdered people, okay? I'm gonna say I've not done it on the level of Jesus Christ, because he talks about if you have hatred in your heart for someone and righteously, you've committed murder in your heart.

I have most assuredly behaved badly in such ways as that. Okay, so you cannot control murder in your life. You believe you could murder. Okay, do you understand? Look, look, look, do you understand what I said? Okay, now you can move on to another topic, that's fine. Okay, I've already answered that one.

Well, like I said, Jesus told them, man, sin no more. All right, we're just gonna move along, because this is Patrick, and he's called numerous times, and he's not a true believer, not a true Christian. Doesn't really listen to what's being said.

It's just time to move on, because it usually digresses into a name per seflage. Let's get to, let's see, next long that's waiting is Chuck from Ohio. Hey, Chuck, welcome. You're on the air.

Hi, thanks for having me back on. Sure. My question is, I've been struggling with a couple real specific fleshly indulgences, and it doesn't seem, I mean, sometimes it seems like I'm making headway, but I've talked with a couple older Christian pastors for counseling, and one had even said, I wonder if you're really trying hard, and I wonder that myself, but I recently, I jumped ahead of the Lord, I think, I got anxious, just like you just mentioned, Philippians 4.13. I got anxious, and I signed a lease, and we moved, and to be closer, and to where I could go back to a church that I went to for about eight years before we moved to a different area, and I feel like I, what do you do when you're, what do you do when you have, when you've lost all your peace about something like that?

I'm not sure what you're asking. Peace about something like that, what's the that? Well, if you, I feel like I just jumped ahead of really praying and being sure the Lord wanted us to move, and now I don't have any peace about it since we have moved, even though, you know, I like the area and I like the church and everything, but I feel like I really, you know, really might have done some harm to my wife and myself. Well, here's the thing, let's talk about that then. Okay, so you made a decision. Now, I'm not gonna say it was good, I'm not gonna say it was bad, okay, and you're not sure, but what you do is, in a case like this, is you go before the Lord, and you lay it all out before him. You talk to him about it, you confess that maybe you made a mistake, but you're not sure, and you ask forgiveness and you ask for cleansing, and then you ask him to bless where you're at, and then you don't worry, and don't let it drag you down incessantly, because it'll give the enemy a foothold, and we don't want that. We make mistakes, sometimes our mistakes are pretty big, we can't live in the past like that, we need to learn from them, and you own it, you confess it, and you do your best as a man to live in the situation where you're at and make the best of it, and then you ask God for guidance in the process, and that's what you gotta do, okay? Yeah, okay, thank you. Yeah, I know, trust me, I know. Been there, all right, been there. I'm not talking theoretically, I'm talking from experience, and this is just how it is, and sometimes, also sometimes, it doesn't make sense until years later when you say, oh, God did have his hand in that. Oh, I thought I was on the wrong path.

Oh, turns out, it was. So this is why you have to live by faith, not by sight, have the good too far. Live by your faith and trust in Christ, and if you suspect you did make a bad decision, lay it before God and say, I suspect I did, maybe I didn't, but I think I did, and for that, I just confess, et cetera, but Lord, nevertheless, would you please make the flowers grow from the weeds? And you can do it, okay? Amen, thank you, yeah, thanks a lot. Hey, welcome a lot, brother, all right? Yeah, thank you, God bless you.

Okay, and welcome to the Club of Messing Up and have you live with your decisions. Yeah, well, thank you, yeah. All right, okay, God bless, brother, okay. God bless you, thank you very much, brother. Sure, no problem. All right, hey, we have three open lines if you wanna give us a call.

877-207-2276, Mike from Dayton, Ohio. Welcome, you're on the air. Hi, Matt, at the beginning of the segment, it sounds like you were just talking to me.

Maybe God was speaking to me, I don't know. You know. Oh, man, hold on, we got a break. Sorry about that. Okay, well, no worries.

Well, if he's talking to you, then you must have as much sin in your heart as me, as I was talking, I was confessing. So, you're really bad off if that's how it is, all right, because I know. So, hold on, buddy, we'll be right back, okay. Hey, folks, two open lines, 877-207-2276.

Be right back. ["It's Matt Slick Live"] It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, buddy, welcome back to the show. Let's get back on with Mike from Ohio. Okay, Mike, welcome.

You're on there. Back on you, buddy. Yeah, that's okay. Like I said, you felt like you were talking to me. So, all through my life, I was a Christian as a young kid, and I felt like, you know, God was always chastising me, I guess that would be the word.

Okay. He was reminding me, making me a stronger Christian by showing me things that He doesn't like about me, and which is kind of really disheartening, but the more you get into the word, and the more you pray, and the more you seek after God, the more you really understand that God wants you to be the best you, and then, you know, He brings up those little things in your life that, hey, I want you to get rid of that one, you know? I'm like, oh, shoot, yeah, you know? I like that one.

And I thought, yeah, exactly. That was not that bad. I kind of like it, but it's not that bad. Come on, God, I just lied to my wife about a little thing to make her happy. You know, it wasn't that bad, you know?

You know? Now you gotta go face her. Now you gotta go confess it.

Now you gotta embarrass yourself. Oh, man. Right, right. And then she's mad at you, and you know she's gonna be mad at you, and then God's gonna- You just look at her and say, oh, God made me talk to you.

Yeah, exactly. Well, let's pray about it. You know, that's how I deal with it. But, you know, God is like that. He loves you so much that He wants you to be humble and to be broken down. And we're a prideful people, and we're a prideful man. You know, God, I don't know why we're so prideful, but it's so hard to be humble and worship and just say, okay, God, you take my direction in life. Okay, you show me the way.

You show me how. You know? Yeah. And thank you for taking my call. I thought for sure you were talking to me. Well, you know, we all know that one. The pastor's talking about sin, and you go, why are you talking about me? How'd you know me that well? And are you spying on me? You know, it's just how it is.

And that's a hard subject, isn't it, Matt? I mean, it really is. My gosh. And what we needed, you know, we need to realize that, hey, God, I'm sorry for this. I'm sorry for that, God. And then, yes, I failed there, Lord.

This guy cut me off in traffic. You know what I mean? I should pray for that guy, not just chastising. You know what I mean?

Yeah. You know, and humbled ourselves for what God's will is, you know? And that's hard, man, that's hard. And the more, again, I said previously, I said the more you pray, the more you study, the more you get God's word in your heart, you get refined, you know what I mean?

You get, you become stronger in God and you become less and less, less yourself. Hey, that's true. Wow. You know, that's yourself. You know, thank you.

That's right. Well, you gotta stop talking to me, will you? I love listening. Don't listen anymore.

You know, I mean, hey. I know, I don't get to listen all the time, but I love when I listen. So thank you, sir. Thank you for being here. Well, God bless.

Yep. All right. God bless. God bless. Okay. God bless. All right.

So that is a tough topic, you know, and we need to hear it every now and then if the synod indwells us and the fight that we have against it. It's good for us to hear it. Let's get to Ben from Dayton, Ohio. Ben, welcome. You're on the air. Hi.

Thank you for having me. Sure, sure. Got a quick question about Matthew chapter seven versus 21 to 23.

When I was reading through my Bible and everything, those verses rarely scared me to death and I was just kind of want some more knowledge or maybe some in depth or your thoughts of what they mean and that's pretty much all I have really. Sure. Well, what the pericope is that you cited is Matthew 7 21 to 23. Let's go through it. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who's in heaven.

Okay. The will of the father is that you listen to Jesus. Jesus, the father says that is baptism. This is my beloved son and him I will please hear him, listen to him. The father wants us to have fellowship with Jesus.

First Corinthians one nine. God is faithful for whom you're called into fellowship with the son Christ Jesus. And the father wants Christ to redeem us. And so what we do is we listen to what the father says because he points to Jesus. So what we're to do is listen to Christ. Okay, that's point one. Now it says, does the will of my father he'll enter into heaven?

Okay. Well, the will of the father in Bible, okay, is something that is deep and there's several issues to it. And we have to understand that we are not saved by doing. We're not saved by doing. We're saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And this is a real basic principle, all right. So what we're called to do is to obey the father, does the will of the father and the father's will is to listen to Jesus.

All right, very simple. Now verse 22, many will say to me on that day, that's the day of judgment. On that day, the day of judgment.

Lord, Lord, they're believing in him. Did we not prophesy in your name? In your name cast out demons, your name before many miracles. And I'll declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

So there's several things you can look at here. Now they're calling him Lord. That means they believe in him. And they talk about what good things they did. Prophesying, casting out demons and performing miracles.

That's pretty impressive. And Jesus condemns them. The reason is because on that day, the day of judgment, what are they appealing to for their so to speak salvation?

They're not appealing to faith alone in Christ alone. Lord, look what we did. See how good we were? We believed in you.

We prophesied, taught, we did miracles in your name. That's why we get to come into heaven. Get away from me, I never knew you. So issue of never knowing you is something that's important too.

Because those people who do those things were never saved to begin with. When he says I never knew you, you gotta understand something. Jesus says in John 10 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. He says and I know them.

I give eternal life to them. In Galatians 4 eight, it says, however at that time when you did not know God, you were slaves to those by which by nature are no gods. But now that you've come to know God or rather to be known by God. See God, excuse me, God knows his sheep. He knows his people. God knows who belongs to him. God knows you. If he says he knows you, it means you're saved. If he says he doesn't know you, it means you're not saved. This is the pattern of knowing.

This is from the Greek word ginosko. Furthermore, when we go to Romans 8 29, for those whom he foreknew, pro ginosko, he also predestined. He foreknew people and he predestined them. They're the same ones, the same group.

The foreknown ones are the same group as the predestined ones. Now this is a theologically significant point. Because when Jesus is speaking and he says, get away from me, I never knew you. It means they were never saved because true believers don't appeal to their faith and works for salvation like the false churches do, like Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, things like that. So if you believe in Christ, he's God in flesh, died on the cross, rose from the dead, you believe in the Trinity, you believe you're saved by the grace of God alone and that you can't because you're just a filthy, vile sinner saved by grace, you got nothing to offer him and no goodness to offer him, not even your sincerity.

You got nothing. You just appeal to what Christ has done and you trust what Christ has done. That is salvation. That's it. Yeah. Okay.

I have to experience it and also save so. And that's why I'm glad to hear your programming was able to give a bit more in depth about those verses. Good. But I thank you very much. And. Okay. Yeah.

I'm gonna go through. Okay, we've got a break. That's why I was kind of interrupting.

Sorry about that. Oh yeah, go ahead. But if you want to stay on after the break, I'm gonna take you to another section of scripture and I'll exegete some other area of scripture and I'll help you even more. If you want to hold.

Yes, of course. If you hang up, either one, I'm gonna do it after the show. So hold on everybody. We'll be right back after these messages.

Please, stay tuned. ["It's Matt Slick Live"] It's Matt Slick live. Taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, welcome back to the last segment of the show. Ben, are you still there? Yes, sir. All right, so what I'm gonna do in concert with Matthew 721 through 23 is go to John 6, 37 through 40. Because this is important. It's one of the more important areas of scripture in my opinion. And I'm gonna read verse by verse and go through it. We've got some time here.

But there's theology in it. Are you making noise? You're clicking on something?

Something's going on? I'm going through my Bible. I apologize. Okay, that's all right. And so in John 6, 37 through 40.

Now I use the NASB 95. It's just my habit. Now this is what Jesus says. And notice there's a lot of comfort in these words. All that the Father gives me will come to me. This is critical because it does not say all who come to me, then in that case the Father will give them to me. Jesus is not saying if you decide to come to me, then the Father will grant and come to you. You come to me.

That's the opposite of what it actually says. All that the Father gives me will come to me. You're gonna come to Christ because the Father gave you to Jesus. That's the theology right there. The only reason you've come to Christ and believe in him is because God the Father gave you to Christ for that reason. And Jesus says, and the one who comes to me I certainly will not cast out.

That's interesting. The ones that the Father gives to Christ will not be cast out. He says, I won't cast them out.

Not gonna happen. He says, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Now the will of the Father, remember all this we talked about earlier? This is the will of him who sent me. That all that he's given me, right? Verse 37, all the Father gives me will come to me. That all he's given me, I lose nothing.

But raise it up on the last day. The will of the Father is that all that the Father has given to Jesus, that Jesus not lose any. Some people will say, well, you could lose yourself. But that's not what the text is about. It's not about you. It's about the Father and the Son. All that the Father gives me will come to me. I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of the one who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me. All he's given me, I'll raise him up.

This is about the Father and the Son. Jesus is revealing the intertrinitarian communion from forever ago. And he's telling us secrets that only he would know because he's part of the trinity. So the will of him who sent me is that all he's given me, I lose nothing.

But raise it up on the last day. The will of the Father is that Jesus not lose any and resurrect them. Verse 40, for this is the will of my Father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him. That means you believe in him. Now the reason you believe is because Philippians 1 29 says it's been granted to you to believe. That God's the one who does this. Jesus says in John 6 39, he says that the work of the Father, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent.

The work of God that you believe on Jesus. And God is the one who grants that you have faith. So the reason you came to Christ is because God granted you have faith in Christ. And Jesus says you cannot come to me unless it's granted to you from the Father. John 6 65. So the Father who's granted that you come to Christ because he's ordained it before gave you to Christ and that's why you came to him because he granted you faith in Christ. And you came to him. This is the work of God.

Not you. Now you do truly believe. Now in this, how are you gonna get out of this?

How are you gonna run away from this? That when Jesus says everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life and I'll raise him up on the last day. Because in verse 39, he says I'll lose none and raise him up on the last day. You'll have eternal life and I'll raise him up on the last day. When Jesus speaks of eternal life, he speaks of it related to never perishing.

Never perishing is he has given me I lose nothing, that's never perishing. And you have eternal life in the next verse. When you go to John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me, verse 28, and I give eternal life to them and they shall never perish. And then if you go to John 3, 16, he says this. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Notice how Jesus relates never perishing with eternal life. He's the one who gives eternal life, John 10, 27.

That's what he says. I give eternal life to them and they will never perish. Who's he giving eternal life to? The ones given to him by the Father. When did God the Father give them or choose them?

That's found in Ephesians 1, four. Just as he, the Father, chose us, that's us, in him as Jesus, before the foundation of the world that we be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us to adoption as sons of Jesus Christ to himself. This is the work of God.

So what we're saying is, God elected from the foundation of the world, he gave them to the son to redeem, they won't be lost. The reason you believe in Christ is because of God's work in you. You were not wise enough, you were not good enough to choose him on your own in your own sinfully enslaved will, because if that were the case, it wouldn't be true that you cannot come to me unless it's granted to you from the Father, because if it was up to your free will and your sinful self, then it wouldn't be true that you couldn't come to him unless God granted. You'd be able to on your own free will, but that's not what the Bible says. So I'm trying to get you to understand something. And others who are listening, your salvation is the work of God. The faith that you have in him is the work of God. You were given by the Father to the son.

You've been chosen from eternity past, and he knows all of your sins, he knows all of your crud, he knows all of your doubts, all of your failures, and he still loved you and gave you to the son for redemption. Why? Why'd he pick you? I have no idea. What was he thinking? Why'd he pick me? I have no idea.

What was he thinking? I don't know. But I know this. I have eternal life, you have eternal life, and we will never perish, because the Father's will is that Jesus not lose any. Those in Matthew 7, 22 and 23, they're not true believers, because they're not appealing to salvation based on faith only in Christ, which I can show you where Jesus teaches that.

But in their goodness, in their own hearts, their own abilities, in concert with their faith, and that's condemned in scripture. That's why you don't have anything to worry about. If you're a true believer in Christ, don't worry about it. You won't be lost, you can't be lost. You can be disciplined, you can be reshaped, you can be dealt with, but he's never gonna leave you or forsake you, Hebrews 13, five. Okay, brother?

Okay, yes, thank you again. Okay. All right, I want you to understand and rest in Christ, because once you are free in resting in him, then you can grow in him. Otherwise, you can't rest in him because you're bound by laws. By don't do this and do that to keep yourself right with God. You don't grow in grace when you're under law.

You grow in grace when you're free. All right. All right? All right, thank you. All right, brother.

Appreciate it. Definitely helped me on furthering, picking up my cross and spreading the gospel to others. So I thank you for that and your program. Praise God.

Let the station know you appreciate it in my show and other shows, but praise God. All right, brother. Yes, amen, thank you. You have a good night. You too. All right. That's theology.

I call it theology in sneakers. Ron from Ohio, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. How you doing today, sir? I'm hanging in there. I get the privilege of preaching and teaching God's word.

So doing great by that. Amen. Hallelujah.

Hey, got a simple question for you. I don't know it, but I thought I'd do it until somebody in my Bible study brought it up. And does everyone that Jesus lets enter the kingdom, does he call everyone well done and good and faithful servant? Does he say that to everyone or half the people or a few of the people?

It looks like he says it to everyone, but that's a good question. That's what I'm thinking. And so it has to do with the parable. I think it's in Matthew 25.

Let's see. Well done, good and faithful servant with a few things. Yeah. And the wicked servant.

Yeah. The wicked servant. Oh, that's a good story. I can explain, this is a side note. People should call me up and go through that and explain why Jesus praises the wicked servant. He does.

Most people don't know why, but I can explain why. But so, yeah. And that's what it is right there in Matthew 25. He entrusted two talents. Yeah, well done.

So the idea here, what Jesus is saying is that the talents, not just the money, because that's what it was called back there, a talent of gold or talent of silver, but the talents that we have, the abilities that God has given us, we're to use them for his glory, whatever they are. That's it. We don't sit on them. We sit on them. We sit on them. We sit on them. We sit on them.

We don't sit on them. We don't want to be judged by God. We want to do what we're supposed to do, with what God's given us. Okay, so even the one with the last talent, God will still tell him, well done and good at people's service. Of course. God gives people a different approach. Yeah. God gives people a different approach. I don't know, I was thinking... Go ahead.

He does it. I was just thinking, other than the different gifts that he gives, awards, but I was thinking, I would think everybody that goes in to have him would be called well done and good and faithful servant, until that question arrives. Maybe. I'm not going to die on this hill, but you could technically have a Christian who doesn't do much with his gifting and dies and goes to heaven. You could have someone who's been saved for two or three days before he dies, and there's not really much to say. So maybe God won't say it. I don't know. Maybe God won't say it, but he's still in heaven.

But normally speaking, a Christian who's been around, has served God, he's going to be gifted with certain things, and he's to use them for the glory of God and the furthering of the kingdom of God. That's all. And that's it. Even the doorkeeper, right? Everybody.

Even the doorkeeper, he'll say, well done, and good and faithful servant. Yep. Whether you're on the radio, write books, or you're a mechanic, you're a nurse, you're a mom, you're a dad, doesn't matter. Yeah. That's given everybody responsibilities and talents and where to use them for the glory of God in the situation that he's called us to be in.

Don't compare ourselves to left and right. Look straight to Christ and say, what do you have me to do? And just move forward. That's it. All right, brother. Appreciate that. God bless you. Have a good day.

Yes, sir. Take care. All right, bye. And by the way, folks, when you have your giftings and you move forward with them and you fail using them, welcome to the club.

It's OK. Pick yourself up again and keep going. When you fail, talk to God about it. Move forward. When you mess up, talk to God about it. Move forward.

If you're not sure what gifts thing you have, ask him and then go do stuff, and you'll find out. He wants us to be involved. He wants us to do. He wants us to pick up our cross daily.

Go after him. And that's what we're to do. So don't worry about failing. You're just going to. What you worry about is, are you trying to follow Christ in the gift that he's given? That's what he wants you to do. And no one does it perfectly. Hey, folks, we are out of time.

There's a music. May the Lord bless you. And of course, by his grace, Lord willing, we'll be back on there tomorrow, and we can talk to you then. Have a great evening, everyone. God bless. Thank you. Another program powered by the Truth Network.