January 18, 2023 Show with Claude Ramsey on “The Mighty Works of God in the Psalms & Prophets”

Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of Founding Father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer

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Jim Thorpe, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have an view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions, and now here's your host,

Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Wednesday on this 18th day of January, 2023.

I'm absolutely thrilled and honored with the privilege of having on the program once again a man by the name of Claude Ramsey, pastor of Reformata Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tennessee.

He's also host of the Here I Stand Theology Podcast, and he's a speaker, one of the speakers, at the upcoming open -air theology conference titled

From Shadows to Substance in Tullahoma, Tennessee, and we'll be telling you more about that later.

But today, my guest, Claude Ramsey, is going to be discussing the theme,

The Mighty Works of God and the Psalms and Prophets. And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Claude Ramsey.

Thank you for having me, Chris. I certainly appreciate this opportunity, sir. Well, I certainly appreciate the opportunity to have you on the program.

The only time that Claude has been on the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio program so far, other than today, before today,

I was manning an exhibitor's booth at the Fight, Laugh, Feast conference, a conference of cross -politic in Knoxville, Tennessee.

How long ago was that, Claude? That was back in October. That was in October. Wow. Time flies.

And I was walking past a booth before the

Here I Stand Theology podcast, and the host of that podcast, who

I am speaking with now, Claude Ramsey, called out to me. He recognized me,

I'm assuming from Facebook photos or something, and he told me that he loved

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. He asked me if he could interview me, and then

I also interviewed him on site at that conference, and I was struck by this dear brother's genuine humility and passionate love for Jesus Christ and his gospel.

And I knew right then and there that this brother is going to become a lifelong friend, and I trust that that will continue to occur, that our friendship will continue to grow as the years progress, as long as the

Lord gives us life. And as I said, I am truly honored with your brotherhood, your friendship, and your presence on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio today.

Let's hear about the Reformata Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tennessee.

All right, so Reformata Baptist Church was planted, it'll be 15 years ago in May this year.

We planted the church there. We of course, you know, we're still a very small church, we're still, as I say, in humble beginnings, but we've moved from the living room to a garage to a storefront to another storefront, and then the

Lord opened up the opportunity for us to get a building right down on Chapman Highway in Knoxville, really, it was a providential act of God that we even are where we are now, and it's by the goodness of God that we had the opportunity to gather as a church body.

Amen, and I had the honor and privilege, after the Fight, Laugh, Feast conference,

I stayed in Knoxville an additional day, and had the honor and privilege to hear live, in person,

Pastor Claude Ramsey preach at Reformata Baptist Church of Knoxville, and it is a beautiful country church, it's a historic

Methodist church, isn't it? Yes, sir, 1850 it was built.

Yeah, and I really had a blessed time, and I strongly urge any pastors listening, or anybody who has the authority to invite speakers to come to your church, or perhaps, just to put a bug in the ear of your pastors, elders, deacons, to invite someone to speak, it would be

Claude Ramsey, I have a high recommendation of him, I was extremely, profoundly blessed by his powerful preaching, and now

I know why my friend, Pastor Jeffrey Rice, whose name is likely familiar to the

Iron Trump and Zion Radio listeners, from the ads that air on this program every day, voiced by Dr.

James R. White of Alpha Omega Ministries, for Post -Tenebrous

Lux Bible Rebinding, it's a bit of a tongue twister, and Jeffrey's having a conference, the very one that I mentioned, the

Open Air Theology Conference from Shadows to Substance, and he invited

Claude to be on the roster at that event, and it's very easily understandable why

Pastor Jeffrey Rice would do that, because Claude is a really, really powerful preacher.

And also, you are, I found out not long ago, I didn't know this earlier, but you are a mutual friend of my dear brother,

Pastor Keith Foskey of Sovereign Grace Family Church in Jacksonville, Florida. How'd you get to meet

Pastor Keith? Oh, goodness, we are affiliated together on the

Truth and Love Podcasting Network, but it's one of those just kind of internet friendships that began, but the more we talk to each other, the faster friends we become.

He is a, that's another good, godly man, and I know you've known him.

How long have you known him, Chris? I think at least six years, if I'm not mistaken.

I met him, he thinks that we may have met earlier at a

Bible conference, but the first time I was formally introduced to him was somewhere in the neighborhood of five or six years ago when

I was accompanying my former pastor, Mike Gaydosh, of Solid Ground Christian Books on a conference tour.

We were both hopping from one conference to another where he was selling books for Solid Ground Christian Books, and James White, Dr.

James R. White of Alpha and Omega Ministries was speaking at these conferences, and he and Keith Foskey had invited

Dr. White to speak at Sovereign Grace Family Church in Jacksonville, and that's when I had my first formal introduction to him.

And as God's providence would have it, I knew that my late wife's, or one of my late wife's former pastors,

Andy Montoro, I knew that he lived in Florida, and I knew that he did not live far from Jacksonville, and I told him about this conference that I would be attending.

I had not seen him in many years, and I was hoping to get a chance to rekindle a friendship with Andy and see him again.

Andy and Don Blind were the two pastors of First Baptist Church of Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York, where my wife was a member, my late wife.

And when Andy came to the conference, he also struck up a friendship with Keith, and now he's one of the pastors there.

It's a small world, isn't it? Yes, it is. At least to the Lord. Yes, it is. Now tell us about the

Here I Stand Theology Podcast. All right. So the podcast, we just began the podcast in January of 2020, is it now?

I can't think. I've lost track of time too. But in January, I think it was of 2020, yeah, because this is 2023, this will be starting our third year, yeah.

So a friend of mine, Matt Breeding, he's one of the contributors on the Truth and Love, on the

Labor's Podcast on the Truth and Love Network. And we had just, you know, it was just kind of a bug, just wanted to try to do something.

And our plan was to simply, you know, maybe do one episode a month at most.

But the more and more content we see, the more and more friends we make, the more and more episodes tend to just kind of appear out of thin air.

But I'm still not to the point, like a lot of the good podcasters where they've got, you know, they do shows every day or at least every week.

I'm still hitting miss on that because my time's, you know, spread between the church and my family.

Oh, of course, you're a pastor, which I am not. So I am more free to do these programs every day.

And how do our listeners find both information about Reformation Baptist Church in Knoxville and also

Here I Stand Theology Podcast? As far as the church content goes, it would be just Reformation Baptist Church page on Facebook.

You know, we'd encourage folks, of course, go to church on Sunday, find a church, get plugged in, get tuned in in your spare time if you want to listen to us or watch a sermon from Rev Ramada, do that.

And then for the podcast, it would be on YouTube at Here I Stand Theology Podcast.

And I think, I can't remember, really remember my handle on Twitter. I think it's Here I Stand Theo.

And while you're at it, Keith Foskey posted a video.

He does comedic skits and he did the funniest one yet that I have ever seen him do.

Absolutely hilarious, where he was posing as different kinds of Christians, fundamentalist,

Presbyterian, Reformed Baptist, et cetera, who were representatives of different airlines.

Have you seen that one? Yes. That is, that's his best one. That was,

I was on the floor. But if you, go ahead. Have you seen the one he did,

Jeopardy? No, I didn't see that one. Yeah, he does the characters like they're on Jeopardy. It's pretty good too.

Oh, wow. That's another one. I've definitely got to see that. Well, yeah, look up Keith Foskey on YouTube, Sovereign Grace Family Church.

I'm sure you'll somehow find his comedy, unless you know of another exact specific way to find it,

Claude. Conversations with a Calvinist. Okay. Conversations with a Calvinist. Conversations with a

Calvinist. I had the privilege of being, we were on kind of with each other, back to back, last week or two.

So, I was on his show and he was on ours previously. We had some good conversations. All right, now also, tell us about this conference

I'm very excited to hear about, the Open Air Theology Conference, From Shadows to Substance.

It is being held at Covenant Reformed Baptist Church in Tullahoma, Tennessee.

And I know that at least, no, I've just found the dates, it's

February 16th through the 18th. February 16th through the 18th at Covenant Reformed Baptist Church in Tullahoma, Tennessee.

You are one of many speakers. Let's see, they've got two, six, nine, ten speakers.

And you are one of them. And tell us about this conference. All right, so Jeff, originally, the

Open Air Theology Conference was going to be on a different topic.

But Jeff and Brayden and Haps, you know, decided he was originally going to go with a kind of like an expository look, walk through Ephesians.

Yeah, in fact, I interviewed Jeff on that. And that was the theme. And I thought something had changed the last time

I looked at the ad. So now it's shadows to substance, you know, looking at the

Old Testament types and shadows that point to Christ. And I'll have the privilege of getting to speak on From David to Christ.

Oh, wow, that's a key one for sure. And if anybody wants more information on that, you can go to Covenant Reformed Baptist Church's website.

And it's on Even Bright as well, but that URL is very complicated to read on a radio show.

Absolutely. So, I'm getting Jeffrey Rice's URL for Covenant Reformed Baptist Church of Tullahoma.

And that website is, let's see here, sorry folks,

I should have had this all queued up already. Covenant, oh, I just found it,

CovenantRBCTN .com, CovenantRBCTN .com.

So I hope as many of you as possible will register for that and attend that conference in Tullahoma, Tennessee, February 16th through the 18th, and we'll be repeating that information later on.

Well, before we go into the theme of the mighty works of God and the Psalms and Prophets, I usually only do this or ask this of my guests when they're first -time guests.

But technically, as far as my two -hour live program, this is your first time, since the only other time, as I mentioned before, that you have been on Iron Trip and Zion Radio is when you conducted an on -site interview, a much more brief interview at my exhibitor booth at the

Fight, Laugh, Feast conference in Knoxville. So since you're the first time, a first -time guest on the two -hour version of Iron Trip and Zion Radio, I would like you to once again provide for our listeners a summary of your salvation testimony, which would include the kind of religious atmosphere, if any, in which you were raised, and the kinds of providential circumstances our

Sovereign Lord raised up in your life that drew you to Himself and saved you. I'd love to hear that story again.

All right, thank you for the privilege to share this. So a point in time,

March 1987 is when I got saved. Previous to that, providential circumstance, looking back, of course,

I don't realize this until we get there in time, but providential circumstances, looking back, the way that the

Lord worked things in our lives, we have hurt and pain, we have loss and gain, we have all these things as a child.

My father died exactly one month before I turned seven, and my mom was saved, but kind of in that loss in her life, she kind of reached out, and again,

I do not want to cast my mother in a bad light. She was a good, godly woman, but she was just like the rest of us.

She was a sinner and prone to sin. So she, you know, entered a series of relationships which carried us kind of,

I won't say around the United States, but carried us from here in Tennessee where we grew up, and I grew up in a little town called

Merrillville, about 20 minutes from here in Knoxville, carried us to Knoxville, and then carried us to South Carolina for a period of time, particularly my seventh and eighth grade school years.

But when we came back during my eighth grade school year, the

Lord placed a good friend in my life at school, and he invited me to go to church with him, and we hadn't, my mother hadn't instituted kind of a going back to church policy yet, but he invited me to go to church with him, to go to youth group with him, and he invited me to go to, of all places,

Nashville, Tennessee, with, you know, where you've got 5 ,000 teenage hooligans running around with shorts on their heads and acting a fool.

Ha, ha, shorts on their heads. Well, that was probably the least of the things that went on.

There's a lot of stuff that goes on at youth conventions that shouldn't, but nevertheless, the gospel was proclaimed, and that Friday night, sitting up high on the balcony at Vanderbilt, Nashville, Tennessee, the

Holy Spirit convicted my heart, and I got born again. Now, like I told you at the conference,

Mr. Arntzen, I got born again that day, and the Lord, I mean, the Lord saved me. He made me a new creature.

I've been imperfect ever since, but I've been moving ever, growing ever in sanctification because of his

Holy Spirit that lives in me. So long and the short, that's my testimony of salvation.

Hallelujah. And how did you discover and come to embrace the doctrines of sovereign grace, also known as Reformed theology, and also known and nicknamed as Calvinism?

Ha, ha, ha. I love that question. I absolutely love it, because here's the thing.

I surrendered my call to preach when I was 17 years old, and some people might ask, have you always been

Reformed since the Lord saved you and since the Lord called you to preach as well? And my answer is yes, but at the time,

I didn't know it. I wasn't able to articulate. I wasn't able to explain those ideas, and really, for a lot of folks,

I think Reformed folks, particularly, and you've probably heard folks use this terminology.

You may have heard somebody ask, when were they converted to Calvinism, right?

When did you accept Calvinism into your heart, or John Calvin into your heart? Ha, ha, ha.

It's really, Reformed theology is really something that you grow into, and I think it's best approached where you don't force the ideas on yourself by the theology books that back the

Scripture, but you go to the Scripture, and we let the Scripture shape our thoughts and our perceptions of what is what, theologically speaking.

Yeah, I have spoken with many folks, especially pastors, who before they were in the ministry, they came purely through hearing the

Bible accurately taught, and reading the Scriptures and studying the

Scriptures before they even ever knew anything that was labeled

Reformed theology, before they had even known who John Calvin was, even before they had known who

Charles Spurgeon was, or George Whitefield, they came to believe these teachings that we call

Reformed, and then later, they discovered, oh, this actually has a name? This has a historic context, too?

And so, it is a lie that is often hurled at us that Christians would never believe in the doctrines of sovereign grace unless they also had a source of learning outside of the

Scriptures to teach them that, and that is just not true. Now, do many people, through a sovereign grace -believing

Reformed Calvinist teacher, preacher, writer, do many people come to these teachings by hearing these men?

Yes, of course they do, but these men are expounding the Scriptures. That's the thing that is, like for instance, when

I first started hearing about unconditional election, I was very troubled by,

I was visiting Calvary Baptist Church of Amityville, which would later be the place where I was baptized by Mike Gaydosh, who now runs

Solid Ground Christian Books. He was the pastor of that church, which would later merge with First Baptist Church in Merrick, Long Island, to form the

Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island in Merrick. But when I heard Mike, it was actually on a break at a

Bible study on the book of Ephesians. It was on a break, we were having a coffee break for snacks and so forth, and I overheard him speaking with some other young men.

I was in my 20s at the time. He was talking about unconditional election with them, and I walked over,

I can still remember saying, you believe what? And he explained a little bit more, and I said, man, that sounds weird to me.

That sounds more like Hinduism or something. God chooses some people. I don't even know what it sounds like.

It doesn't sound anything like I ever thought Christianity was. I had been raised Roman Catholic, and the only evangelical experiences

I had when I left Catholicism were in the

Church of Christ, which is varying from ultra -Arminian to Pelagian in their mindset, although they would never call it that themselves, and also

Pentecostal churches. I had never, before Calvary Baptist Church of Amityville, I had never set my foot in a

Reformed church or picked up a book by a Reformed author or heard a Reformed preacher anywhere.

So this was all new to me, and when I was being interviewed for baptism,

I said, brothers, I love you. I trust you with all my heart to be faithful guides and shepherds over my life.

I want to be a member of this church where you pastor, but I've got to be honest with you, I don't think I'm ever going to believe in this

Calvinism stuff. And they said, well, we are not going to require that you understand and believe those things to baptize you.

You just have to believe that you are a sinner deserving of hell and that you need to trust in the triune

God and the death of Christ on Calvary's cross and his bodily resurrection to enter into eternal life.

That is your only hope for the payment of your sin. And if you believe that, we will baptize you and even welcome you into membership.

And we would just insist if we welcomed you into membership in the church that you not undermine our teachings with other people.

They didn't want me running up to people after a sermon telling them, you hear those lies?

So I agree to that. But then within weeks, a British gentleman who became a very dear friend of mine,

Nigel Stone, who's now in heaven, he approached me and he said in his very deep

British accent, I heard that you're having problems understanding the doctrine of unconditional election.

Well, here's a booklet that would be of great help to you. George Whitfield's letter to John Wesley on election.

Oh, yes. And I read the book cover to cover. And my first reaction was, oh, no, this is true.

But I still hate it. This is really what the Bible teaches, but I hate it. But then, thankfully, within,

I think, less than a month, I came to fall in love, madly in love with these teachings.

And it made my connection to Christ's finished work on the cross so much more personal.

In my mind, he was no longer a God who offered his son to die for a faceless, nameless sea of people that he was trying to save.

That came to an end, and I came to really understand and cherish the fact that Jesus Christ died for Chris Arnson and that he finished that work.

He completed it. He completed it. It was 100 % success. He accomplished what he intended to do, and it just radically transformed my understanding of Christ's death.

But that is all to say that it was not the words of George Whitefield that brought me to understand these things, because, number one,

I didn't even know who George Whitefield was when I was handed that booklet. I didn't know who John Wesley was. But it was the

Bible, it was the scriptures that George Whitefield preached back to Wesley in writing, that's what convinced me.

It was the scriptural evidence that overwhelmed Wesley's arguments and annihilated them.

Every one of my arguments against Calvinism were regurgitated by Wesley, and he had even more that I hadn't even thought of that were annihilated by Whitefield.

So the Bible is completely sufficient to teach us these things and, through the power of the

Holy Spirit, draw us to believe them. It does not require an extra -biblical, non -canonical source, as our opponents in theology would claim.

Amen. And on top of that, not only do we get to be Reformed, but we get to be Reformed Baptists.

That's right. I think about something

Spurgeon said in Spurgeon's tribute to his godly mother.

At the end, he said this, My mother said to me one day, Ah, Charles, I often prayed to the

Lord to make you a Christian, but I never asked that you might become a Baptist. And Spurgeon, in his wit, said

I could not resist the temptation to reply, Ah, mother, the Lord has answered your prayer with his usual bounty, and given you exceeding abundantly above all that you ask for in God.

Yes, and I have met men who, through reading the

Scriptures only, came to an understanding of the Reformed faith, having not yet heard about what the

Reformed faith was all about, and denominational affiliations and so forth. And the first group that they discovered afterward were

Presbyterians who were teaching this. So they became Presbyterian, and then later on, they were like,

Wait a minute! I just found out they were Reformed Baptists, because that's really what I believe! I just didn't think they exist!

I didn't think they existed! And they later became Reformed Baptists because of that.

I mean no insult to my Presbyterian friends by that, by the way. I probably interview more

Presbyterians on this show than Reformed Baptists, so please don't be insulted. But it's just, I think it is interesting that that has happened many times in the lives of people whom

God has led me to meet. But we have to go to our first commercial break, and when we come back, we're going to be entering into the theme,

The Mighty Works of God and the Psalms and Prophets. And if you'd like to join us on the air for the question for Claude Ramsey, send me an email to chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA. Only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Don't go away, we'll be right back with Claude Ramsey in The Mighty Works of God and the

Psalms and Prophets, right after these messages from our sponsors. James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.

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That's royaldiadem .com, royaldiadem .com. We are now back with my guest today,

Claude Ramsey. And before we go to our midway break, which is going to be coming up sooner than you know it, let's start into the discussion of the mighty works of God and the

Psalms and Prophets. Why is it, first of all, that you wanted to discuss this great theme today? Well, honestly,

Mr. Aronson, this is something that's constantly kind of on my mind and in my heart to communicate the importance of both the

Old and the New Testament. I think what happens a lot of times is that there's a tendency for us as believers to get unbalanced, right?

Where we tend to lean more maybe toward New Testament reading only, and we leave out, neglect the

Old Testament. But the Old Testament are the types and shadows that point us forward to our

Lord Jesus Christ. So this is actually, I chose this topic when

I was so thankful that you allowed me to choose the topic on this, that this was something that actually was my conference topic.

I spoke in a conference about early last year, and this was my topic.

So I just wanted to communicate the number one, the beauty and the glory of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and secondly, to communicate the beauty and the glory and the sufficiency of the

Scripture itself and how it points us to the Lord. Praise God. Well, begin with some of the first examples that you would like to share with us about the mighty works of God in the

Psalms and Prophets. All right. So I'd like to begin actually by quoting one of the

Puritans, William Grinnell. He said this, Whenever you read any promise, remember whose bond it is.

It's the word of God and no other. And when you think on God, be sure you do not confine him within the little compass of your finite apprehensions, but conceive of him always as an infinite being whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

When you have raised your thoughts to the highest, then know you are as far, yea, infinitely farther from reaching his glory and immensity than a man is from touching the body of the sun when he climbs up on a mountain.

This is to ascribe greatness to God as we are commanded, and it will admirably facilitate the work of believing.

So when we go to the Scriptures, we should look to the Scriptures to see

Christ, right? I think a lot of the modern ideology and the modern eisegesis that happens a lot of times is that folks are reading the

Bible to find themselves, but we don't look at the Scriptures to find ourselves. We look at the

Scriptures to see Christ. And the word of God itself is a treasure.

I mean, and treasures don't unearth themselves, right? The Scriptures are a land that will never be mined out.

So like Paul told Timothy, for example, right? Study to show yourself approved to work men under God that does not need to be ashamed, right?

So he told him that rightly dividing the word of truth. And so the aim and the goal of this topic in this conversation is really so that we, number one, as Christians, see the mighty acts of God in the

Psalms and in the prophets, but we do so with a view to Jesus Christ ultimately.

That when we look to the Scriptures, we are looking to Christ. For as a matter of fact, the

Scriptures say this, it's to Christ, which all the law and the prophets point to.

Well, praise God. And when we talk about the mighty works of God, what stands out first and foremost in your mind when you are viewing the

Psalms and the prophets as your source for this information? Well, particularly our focus here on this topic in this conversation is really

Psalm 33, the aim and the goal. Although we can't go,

I know we can't necessarily plumb the depths because the time doesn't afford us that.

But Psalm 33 really is an encapsulation of so many things today.

For example, I mean, just verse 1, 2, and 3, right? If we break it up into bite -sized chunks, the psalmist says,

Shout for joy to the Lord, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright.

Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre. Make melody to him with a harp of ten strings.

Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts. I think this here is where it begins because we are called as believers in Christ Jesus to give praise to the

Lord. And in one of the best, I think, one of the best remedies for us as Christians, because sadly, in this life, in this world, it seems like all that we face is turmoil and trouble and trials and tribulations and sorrow.

Our best step is to do like the psalmist said in another place, look under the hills from whence our help comes from, right?

And that requires praising the Lord. Now, I understand that folks praise and worship the

Lord in different ways. Nevertheless, we are called to worship

God, to praise God, praise him, not for any other reason than simply who he is and what he has done.

And that not even being necessarily anything good to us because he is of himself good and worthy of our praise.

Well, we have to go to our midway break right now. And if you have a question for my guest today,

Pastor Claude Ramsey, our email address is chrizarnsen at gmail .com, C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

Please give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA. Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

This is the longer than normal break, folks. Please be patient. Grace Life Radio, 90 .1

FM in Lake City, Florida, requires of us a longer break in the middle of the show because the FCC requires of them to localize this program geographically to Lake City, Florida.

They do so by airing their own public service announcements and other local things that are heard locally on their radio station, while we simultaneously air our globally heard commercials.

Please use this time wisely and write down as much of the contact information as you possibly can for as many of our advertisers as you can, so that you can more frequently and successfully contact our advertisers.

And we hope that you very often purchase their products, use their services, support their parachurch ministries, visit their churches.

But when you can't do those things, please do one thing that you absolutely can do. You can thank them for sponsoring

Iron Trip and Zion Radio if indeed you are grateful that there are people and organizations out there who love this show so much that they keep it going on the air through their financial support.

They share the money that God has blessed them with, with us, so that we can remain in existence.

So if you're really grateful for that, thank them. And send in questions to Claude Ramsey, of course, to chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Well, don't go away. We are going to be right back right after these messages from our sponsors.

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Also, folks, before I return to Claude Ramsey, my guest today, I have a couple of very important announcements to make.

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I may be able to help you too and anyone you love who is without a church home that is biblically faithful.

So send me that email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put I Need a Church in the subject line.

And that's also the email address to send. And a question to Claude Ramsey of Reformed Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tennessee and the

Here I Stand Theology Podcast on the theme, The Mighty Works of God and the Psalms and Prophets.

chrisarnson at gmail .com chrisarnson at gmail .com Give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence.

Pastor Claude, we have a recent addition to the

Iron Trump and Zion Radio audience who's been contacting us with excellent questions quite often lately.

His name is Ramon and he is from Metro Manila in the

Philippines. And he says, in the Psalms, sometimes God is being called on to shatter the teeth of someone enemies and other such supplications.

Is it okay to pray likewise today? How do Psalms like these square with Christ's teaching that we should love our enemies?

And it's very providential that Ramon from Metro Manila in the

Philippines asked that question because it came up in a Bible study I attended today with the

Christian businessmen's connection at Fay's Country Kitchen in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

That very question came up from someone in the Bible study. And Ramon is referring to what has been called or what have been called the imprecatory

Psalms. And there are quite a number of them. Psalm 69,

Psalm 109, and many others. So if you could, Claude, answer our listener from the

Philippines. That was a great question. And so I would say in short, as briefly and succinctly as I can put it,

I would say that those imprecatory Psalms, the Psalmist asking the Lord to break the teeth of his enemy, so on and so forth, and how they square with us as Christians.

In the New Testament, we are taught that vengeance is mine. Right? We're not to repay our enemies evil for evil.

And so judgment is the Lord's. So I would say that it squares with the

Psalms and the New Testament principle that's taught by the Lord himself is that it squares because the

Psalmist is not determining for himself to execute judgment, but he's asking

God to execute judgment on his enemies. So one of the most both comforting and frightening places that a person can be is in the hands of the

Lord. So I would say it squares because it's asking God to do these things and not being carried out because the wrath of man does not produce righteousness.

What would you say, Chris? Well, I can't improve upon that. And I must admit there are times when

I am uncertain which way to lean on the way I pray, the manner with which

I pray to God when faced with the horrible dilemma of being treated harshly and unlovingly and cruelly by someone, especially somebody who has betrayed a friendship.

I battle with how I should pray. In fact, I heard of a nightmarish incident today at that very same

Bible study, which is actually what evoked the question that was echoed by Ramon in the

Philippines. I'm not going to mention this elder's name until he gives me permission to publicly require or should

I say publicly request prayer. But an elder that I've heard of, in fact, he is a man who attended my most recent

Iron Sharpens Iron radio pastor's luncheon. Just very recently, his son -in -law, who is estranged, has been estranged from his daughter.

They are separated. And he attempted to murder this elder's daughter.

He first hit her with his car. And when he saw that she was not dead, he stabbed her.

And tragically, this woman is in a coma. So it has been very admirable and honorable to hear this elder making requests for public prayer that not only for the life of his daughter to be saved, but that the soul of his son -in -law be saved.

So it is an interesting fact that in this situation, the kind of a horrible situation that has few rivals in its intensity, this man is still preaching out with love to his son -in -law.

But there are differences though, because when we read the imprecatory

Psalms, they're usually in reference to ongoing persecution that also involves not only one person, it involves usually not just the psalmist, but perhaps the entire nation of Israel.

And it's an ongoing thing. Isn't that somewhat different? Yeah, and you said

Psalm 109, right? It was one of those imprecatory Psalms that you were referencing? Yes. So if we go over to it real quick here.

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot going on in those

Psalms. I mean, there's a lot of context that you could go to different specific things that are going on in the psalmist's life at that time.

You know, like, of course, the Psalm 51, the Psalm of forgiveness, you know, that was after the whole thing.

The whole Bathsheba and Uriah incident, right? But when we go to something like this, I think, like he says, he's literally calling out because wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me.

He says, they're speaking against me with lying tongues. They're encircling me with words of hate and attack me without cause.

In return for my love, they accuse me. And like you had mentioned, you were talking about betrayal earlier.

That's going on here in this Psalm. So they reward me evil for good. And just to, and actually to jump back in another area of the

Psalms, if you go back to Psalm 73, again, this mindset, this cry, this plea that the psalmist, that we see repeated throughout the

Psalms because we see the gamut of the heights of joy and the depths of despair in the

Psalms. But in Psalm 73 itself, actually, the psalmist writes these words.

You know, he said, truly, I feel like, just to summarize Psalm 73, he said, truly,

I feel like that all I've done has been a waste of time because the wicked seem to continue to have their way.

The continue, the wicked seem to continue to get along. But then toward the end of that Psalm, the psalmist said in verse 16, when

I thought to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task until, and there's that turning, that phrase, that turning phrase, until I went into the sanctuary of God and then

I discerned therein. So again, it's that, it's easy for us, easy for us as human beings, because Chris, I can tell you from personal experience,

I mean, as a, not to go into it, but as a teenager, I literally,

I'm sad to say it, but I literally, even as a young Christian, I would have killed my oldest brother for the things that he did to my family if I could have just at that moment gotten to him.

But in time, my eyes turn from my circumstance from the incidents that are taking place in my life, where, like the psalmist said, you just sometimes, when the world seems like it's spinning, just stop, just stop, be still and know

He's God. Now, how can we know He's God? We got to go to the scripture. That's what the psalmist said. Until I went into the sanctuary,

I didn't understand, but then I understood therein. And he realized that truly the wicked are set in slippery places.

And he said, my soul was embittered. I was pricked in my heart. And then the psalmist had to declare something that's hard for any of us to declare.

He said, I was brutish and ignorant. He said, Lord, I was acting like a beast towards you.

Nevertheless, he remembered this, that I am continually with you because you hold on to my right hand.

Wouldn't you remember as a Christian that no matter how out of whack things seem to get, that we are held by the hand of God, that we like to use the terms that we are holding on to God ourselves, but He is holding on to us.

And were it not for His strong and mighty hand, again, that's another reference in the

Old Testament, by the strong hand of the Lord, they were brought out of Egypt. And by the strong hand of the

Lord, they were delivered. But David closes that Psalm 73 by saying this.

He said, my flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Hallelujah. We have an anonymous listener who asks,

I am in dialogue with word of faith Pentecostals.

And I am wondering if you have the occasion to speak with these folks as well.

One of the reasons I'm asking this is have you ever asked them how on earth they could come to the conclusions they come to in their heretical understandings of health, wealth, and prosperity being guaranteed to Christians who have strong faith when they read the

Psalms? Because the Psalms are vivid, God -breathed proof that this theology is false.

When we read over and over again, the agony with which God's servants live through as they cry out to Him for mercy.

Great question. Great question. So on that question, I say, yes, I have very much interacted with word of faith,

Pentecostals and Charismatics. And I do want to interject this statement that not all

Charismatics are that far out there. That's right. The word of faith heresy is, as I shared with Keith Foskey recently, it's sewage is exactly what it is.

And it's, sadly, it's sewage. In an old John Popper sermon, actually, he said this, he said a bunch of crap called the gospel is being exported to other countries in the name of Christ.

And it's not the gospel itself. It's not the biblical gospel. It's that word of faith heresy.

And now, how in the world they still, to this day,

I mean, there is literally, when you take the scripture at face value, and I know when we talk about reading the scripture literally,

I want to be clear in this, that we mean the literal sense in which it is written, the literal grammatical historical sense, right?

So when that is written, you do not see a, now, let me play devil's advocate for just a moment.

Is that okay, Chris? Absolutely. Okay. So devil's advocate says, yes, you see, and you hear, and you read

God promising prosperity and even health to individuals in the

Old Testament. However, that is under the covenant of works.

That is not the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is not an agreement between us and God.

It's the covenant of grace is God's unilateral covenant with man. It's not dependent upon us in any way.

So those conditions, those circumstances, those blessings were conditional based upon their obedience.

Now, in the new covenant, we don't live by the covenant of works. We live by the grace of God, the grace of God throughout the scriptures.

It's taught that it cannot be earned. It cannot be merited. It cannot be achieved by any amount of good works.

The apostle Paul in Philippians even said these, you know, he said, look, if anybody has a right to claim they're righteous, it's me.

He said, I'm a Hebrew of a Hebrew, Pharisee of Pharisees. I circumcised the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin.

He said, basically, he began to list off all the things that he did. And then he says, but you know what?

When it comes down to it, everything I did was done in the sight and in the light of the grace and the glory and the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the work that Christ himself alone accomplished.

And he wants to be, he said this, he said, I want to be found in him having, I want to be found in him having his righteousness.

So that health and wealth, word of faith, prosperity gospel message is something that we do tackle.

We tackle it on the Here I Stand Theology podcast. And sadly, I have to tackle it. I've tackled it throughout the years.

There's, you know, there's, it's easy to call out national local heritage, right?

It's easy to call names like Duplantis and Osteen and all those other guys. But I would ask this to the individuals that are asking this question.

If you're a member of a local church, is your pastor versed in the word of faith theology and the heretical nature of it?

And then maybe point your pastor to books and scripture that literally just lays out before you plain that any biblical gospel call,

Jesus didn't say follow me and you'll have health, wealth, and prosperity. Jesus said, look, if you want to follow me, he said, this is what's going to happen.

You got to number one, deny yourself. You got to take up your cross and then you got to follow me.

Amen. Amen. Well, thank you, Anonymous. And if you are a first -time questioner, send me another email with your full name and your full mailing address, because as always with first -time questioners, you will receive a brand new,

New American Standard Bible, compliments of the publishers of the NASB and also compliments of Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.

That's cvbbs .com, cvbbs .com.

We have a BB in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, who wants to know if you can boil it down to one

Psalm, which is your favorite and why? Oh, goodness.

That is a great question as well. But again, I would have to, I would have, if I had to do that,

I would have to say that Psalm 33 is probably my favorite because there's so much in Psalm 33.

I mean, we have the exhortation to praise

God. We have the importance of the Word of God, you know, what the Word of God is, what the

Word of God does, basically. We have the call to stand in awe of God.

We have all these commands. We even have, in Psalm 33, you have the counsel of the

Lord said against or kind of a contrast, a juxtaposition, if you would have it, to the counsel of the nations, how that the counsel of the

Lord is better than the counsel of the nations. And then again, as the

Psalms typically do, they kind of bring us to a, ultimately, they always give us and point us to a confidence in the great

God that we serve and the fact that He is the one that's keeping us and He is the one that's caring for us.

So Psalm 33 would have to be my favorite. And because we are pressed for time,

I cannot read the entire Psalm, Psalm 33, but I would like to read verses 18 through 22, the concluding verses.

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who wait for His faithfulness to rescue their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield, for our heart rejoices in Him because we trust in His holy name.

Let your favor, Lord, be upon us just as we have waited for you.

I just am so moved by those words and the

Psalms are such a great way, universally known to biblically literate

Christians to minister to the hearts, especially of those who feel like they're at the end of their ropes.

They're in their darkest days. They have no hope in the near future, in their tunnel vision during their problems and their trials and tribulations.

And the Psalms can minister in such a powerful way among other scriptures, all scriptures

God breathed. But the Psalms definitely have a unique place in the ministry of God's people to the lost.

Amen. And in the ministry of God's people to their brothers and sisters in Christ, of course, as well.

Amen. And I find, Mr. Arnson, that's one of the,

I think if as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, if when, as they should, particularly in the local church context, but even when we're separated by space and time, right, in our different geographic locations,

I think when as brothers and sisters in Christ, when our brother and sister reaches out and says, pray for me.

I'm really in a dark place right now. I'm in a, I'm going through a legitimately horrible and awful time.

I think sometimes that we tend to over verbalize and kind of prescribe a remedy that is not the remedy that Christians need.

Our remedy, our health, if you would have it, our joy, our hope and our strength, it comes from God in his word.

And that just being in the scriptures and in exhorting, encouraging one another to look to the scriptures, there is just a, it is a timeless, it is the timeless standard for hope and encouragement.

Because unlike everything else in this world that is ebbing and flowing, rising and falling, the word of God, it just stays, it just stays steadfast.

Amen. We have an anonymous listener, another anonymous listener who has a question for you.

He said, I'm sure I am not alone in this, but at times when

I read the scriptures, and perhaps in particular in the Psalms and other places in the

Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, I long for a day when

I can see visually and grasp physically and tangibly these mighty acts of God that were far more spectacular in the way they are described in the

Old Testament than we see in our day -to -day lives today in the 21st century.

I know that it is a profound and mighty miracle of God that a lost sinner would come to Christ.

And I know that there are many things that take place every day in our earth that are marvelous and mighty works of God.

But at the same time, I think I understand why those who are led into the

Charismatic and Pentecostal churches feel such a drawing power to these movements, because they want to see these things occurring here and now.

How do you respond to people that have this strong longing for these things, which are not happening today in the magnitude that they did in the

Old Testament? Again, wow, these questions are fantastic.

And I am not sufficient in and of myself to probably give satisfactory answers, but I will certainly do my best here.

And to that question, and that was a large comment too, to that statement,

I would encourage... How was it, Mr. Aronson, they phrased the last part of that question, how would

I encourage? I already deleted the question, but I believe he was basically saying, how do you reach out to people who are longing for this insistence or this desire to see the spectacular, miraculous, mighty works of God like they occurred in the

Old Testament stories that we all love? All right, so let me start here by saying this.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to see miraculous events like what took place in the

Old Testament and in the New Testament. There's a balance to be struck, however, here for us as believers to understand and to realize that what we read in the scriptures took place over 1 ,400 to 1 ,600 years.

What we read in the scriptures, these miracles that happen and that occur weren't like rapid fire, like when you're reading through the scriptures, they were happening.

They themselves were few and far between. So I think it's just getting, like I said, getting ourselves a balanced view of the scriptures to understand that, yes, absolutely, the things that took place were supernatural.

They were the work of God. They were by definition miracles, which means it can't be accomplished by men.

That's what makes a miracle a miracle, that it's only accomplished by God himself. So to communicate that to our brothers and sisters who want the continuation of these miracles to happen and to take place as a kind of like, it's almost like at times that they want to see these things as a sign or a proof from God, but God has proven who he is from the beginning of creation to where we are now and to wherever he takes us, he has proven himself already and he has done so with continuity throughout history and we have it recorded for us in the text of scripture.

Now, can God do miracles today? Yes, absolutely. I'm of the persuasion that if God wants to heal, he can heal anybody of anything he wants to.

Can God raise the dead? Yes, God can absolutely do those things, but here's the rub, he doesn't need us to do any of that and that is what the word of faith and the charismatic movement seeks is for the power to be in the individual human being when there is one that's worthy of praise and one that is able to do the things that he did and that is

God. And of course, we must never forget the warning from the

God -breathed scriptures about those who insist upon such spectacular manifestations as their only way of validating truth.

We have that classic passage in Matthew 16, verse 4, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah.

And also, one of the verses that you very rarely hear as a proof of unconditional election and the reformed ordo salutis, that regeneration precedes faith.

Yes. Precedes faith. You very rarely hear this text being used, but I think it screams that.

When we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, 19 through 31, and it's interesting that when we have the rich man in hell crying out to Abraham, he says, let's see, where was

I? I beg you, Father, that you send him, meaning

Lazarus, to my father's house. And what he's basically asking is that Lazarus, since he is dead, that Abraham raises him from the dead.

I beg you that you send him, Lazarus, to my father's house, where I have five brothers, in order that he may warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment.

But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.

But he said, no, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

But he said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead.

That is proof, in my opinion, that no matter what kind of miracle anybody sees, if they are not born from above first, if they are not given a new heart and new eyes and new ears, where they can understand and trust in the

Scriptures, they're not going to care about these miracles. That's right, because it'll be just like anything else.

They'll need more and more and more to keep them going and to keep them up, rather than depending on the fixed, settled

Word of God. Amen. Well, we have to go to our final break. Don't go away. We're going to be right back after these messages.

James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here. I'm very excited to announce that my longtime friend, Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, and I are heading down to Atlanta, Georgia, again for the

G3 National Conference. That's Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd on a theme that I've been preaching, teaching, writing about, and defending in live public debates for most of my life, the sovereignty of God.

I'll be joined on the speaking roster by Steve Lawson, Voti Baucom, Paul Washer, Virgil Walker, Scott Anuel, and Josh Bice, founder of G3 Ministries.

And there's more great news. Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio can get you a 30 % discount off the registration fee.

Go to g3min .org, that's g3min .org, and enter promo code

G3ISIR. That's G3ISIR for the 30 % discount.

Chris Arnzen, I look forward to seeing you all Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd at the

G3 National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on the sovereignty of God. Make sure you stop by the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Exhibitor booth and say hi to Chris Arnzen while you're there.

Go to g3min .org and enter promo code G3ISIR for your 30 % discount off the registration fee.

It's such a blessing to hear from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners from all over the world.

Here's Joe Reilly, a listener in Ireland who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed,

Dr. Joe Moorcraft. I'm Joe Reilly, a faithful Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener here in Atai in County Kildare, Ireland.

Going back to 2005, one of my very favorite guests on Iron Sharpens Iron is

Dr. Joe Moorcraft. If you've been blessed by Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr. Moorcraft and Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia are largely to thank since they are one of the program's largest financial supporters.

Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming is in Forsyth County, a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Heritage is a thoroughly biblical church, unwaveringly committed to Westminster standards. And Dr.

Joe Moorcraft is the author of an eight -volume commentary on the larger catechism. Heritage is a member of the

Hanover Presbytery, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, and tracing its roots and heritage back to the great

Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Heritage maintains and follows the biblical truth and principles proclaimed by the reformers, scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone,

Christ alone, and God's glory alone. Their primary goal is the worship of the Triune God that continues in eternity.

For more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com.

That's heritagepresbyterianchurch .com. Or call 678 -954 -7831.

That's 678 -954 -7831. If you visit, tell them

Joe Reilly, an Iron Sharpens Iron radio listener from the Toit and County Caldera Sanctuary.

Hello, my name is Anthony Uvinio, and I'm one of the pastors at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Quorum, New York, and also the host of the reformrookie .com

website. I want you to know that if you enjoy listening to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio show like I do, you can now find it on the

Apple's iTunes app by typing Iron Sharpens Iron radio in the search bar. You no longer have to worry about missing a show or a special guest because you're in your car or still at work.

Just subscribe on the iTunes app and listen to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio show at any time, day or night.

Please be sure to also give it a good review and pass it along to anyone who would benefit from the teaching and the many solidly reformed guests that Chris Arnzen has on the show.

Truth is so hard to come by these days, so don't waste your time with fluff or fake news. Subscribe to the

Iron Sharpens Iron radio podcast right now. And while you're at it, you can also sign up for the reformrookie .com

podcast and visit our website and the YouTube page. We are dedicated to teaching Christian theology from a

Reformed Baptist perspective to beginners in the faith as well as seasoned believers. From Keech's Catechism and the

Doctrines of Grace to the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Leviticus, the Reform Rookie podcast and YouTube channel is sure to have something to offer everyone seeking biblical truth.

And finally, if you're looking to worship in a Reformed church that holds to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, please join us at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Coram, New York.

Again, I'm Pastor Anthony Invinio, and thanks for listening. As host of Iron Sharpens Iron radio,

I frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations. A church I've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is

Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey, pastored by Alan Dunn.

Grace Covenant Baptist Church believes it's God's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he shall be represented in the world.

They believe churches need to turn to the Bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship

God in spirit and truth. Grace Covenant Baptist Church endeavors to maintain a

God -centered focus, reading, preaching, and hearing the word of God, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Baptism and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship, performed with faith, joy, and sobriety.

Discover more about Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace

.com. That's gcbcnj .squarespace .com.

Or call them at 908 -996 -7654. That's 908 -996 -7654.

Tell Pastor Dunn that you heard about Grace Covenant Baptist Church on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. If you love

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, one of the best ways you can help keep the show on the air is by supporting our advertisers.

One such faithful advertiser who really believes in what Chris Arnton is doing is

Daniel P. Patafuco, serious injury lawyer and Christian apologist.

Dan is the president and founder of the Historical Bible Society. Their mission?

To foster belief in the credibility of scripture as the written word of God. They go to various churches, schools, and institutions to publicly display a rare collection of biblical texts, along with a fascinating presentation by Mr.

Patafuco, demonstrating the reliability of scripture. To advance the cause of the gospel, they created a beautiful, perfect facsimile of the genealogy of Jesus Christ from the original engravings contained in a first edition 1611

King James Bible. This 17th century hand -engraved chart shows the family tree of Jesus Christ, going back to Adam and Eve.

This book is complete with gorgeous full -size illustrations of Noah's Ark and the

Tower of Babel and an explanation of why the genealogy of Jesus is so important for his claims to the throne of the universe.

Originals of this work are in museums and nobody has ever made it accessible to the public in a large book form before.

You can have your own copy of this 44 -page genealogy book for a donation of $35 or more.

Visit historicalbiblesociety .org. That's historicalbiblesociety .org.

Thanks for helping to keep Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio on the air. This is

Pastor Bill Sousa, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support

Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio financially. Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end for which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign

Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ, today and always.

We have time for one last question. Bobby in Hartsdale, New York wants to know if you have your thoughts on the very theme you're speaking today, either in sermon form, blog form, or in some other fashion.

Actually, there is an audio of this sermon. I'll have to track it down. But if the person who just sent this request, if they're on Facebook, if you'll send me a friend request and request the link,

I will track the link down and send it to you. Otherwise, maybe there'll be another time that I can present this information as well.

Well, I'd love to hear it. So please send it to me. Okay. And I'd like you to conclude with about three minutes of uninterrupted time where you want our listeners to leave with what you most want etched in their hearts and minds regarding this topic.

What I want most etched in the hearts and the minds of the hearers as I sent you the text earlier,

Mr. Orenson, is simply this, that the Christian listeners would be edified and encouraged by the truth, the depth, and the knowledge, and the richness of the text of Scripture, and that the lost would hear and understand and know that there's not a one of us who is outside the grasp of sin, that we are born in sin, that we are shaped in iniquity, that we are by nature children of wrath according to the

Scriptures, that our sins have separated us from a holy God, but that Christ was born, came in the flesh, fully

God, fully man, actively obeyed the law of God, keeping the law of God where every single human being since Adam and Eve sinned were unable to do it.

Jesus kept the law in Jesus being not only fully man, but fully

God on the cross, took the wrath of God upon himself, bore that for us, and that he was buried, died, died, buried, and on the third day he arose again, and he ascended to the

Father, and according to the faithfulness of his word and the truth of his word, he will one day return again, and the church will be caught out of this world, and we'll be brought home to be with him forever.

So repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

Reject the gospel, and you will be forever damned. Amen. And don't forget, folks, if you want more information about Reformata Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, and by the way, that's spelled

R -E -F -O -R -M -A -T -A, Reformata Baptist Church, Knoxville, Tennessee, go to Facebook and type that in the search engine, and also type in the

Here I Stand Theology Podcast, which is hosted by my guest. Also, don't forget about the conference coming up with Tullahoma, Tennessee, hosted by Covenant Reform Baptist Church of Tullahoma, Tennessee.

That is going to be held February 16th through the 18th, and it features my guest, among nine others, it features my guest today, my dear brother, my dear friend,

Claude Ramsey. If you want more details on that, go to the

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church website at covenantrbctn .com,

covenantrbctn .com. I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater