WWUTT 1210 Q&A Parable of the Ten Virgins, If They Are Not Against Us, Women Witnesses, True Free Will?

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In the parable of the ten virgins, was Jesus condoning polygamy? When Jesus said, for the one who is not against us is for us, is this an instruction to accept false teachers?

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And can a man truly have free will? The answer is when we understand the text. Many of the

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Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is a daily online

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Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine. You can support our ministry when you visit our website, www .utt

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.com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. So of all the segments that we've done on when we understand the text,

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I don't think there is one that has generated more immediate response than the segment that we did last week on Bill Gates.

00:55

Oh really? Yes. Is that due to like COVID, you know, everybody being inside their homes and in front of their computers?

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It could be. Spending a little too much time in front of the computer. We mentioned it as part of the conspiracy theory question we were responding to last week, which was responding to a question that was the previous week.

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So now we're still on that particular question. Three weeks. But I mentioned that Bill Gates is not the

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Antichrist, which is a myth that has gone all the way back to the 90s. People were calculating his name and coming up with the number 666 and you sit in front of your computer.

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So that's the mark on the forehead and you use the mouse. So that's the mark on your hand. Oh boy.

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And that theory has kind of surrounded Bill Gates ever since. Sounds like it's stretching. Especially since that number, the mark of the beast, varies depending on the manuscript that or the translation that you're looking at.

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Some say 666 and some say 616. The earliest manuscripts, in fact, say 616.

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So that number is or the application of that number is taken a little out of context.

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We try to put it in our modern context and especially come up with somebody like Bill Gates being the

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Antichrist. Maybe I could have disseminated some of the reaction a little bit by saying

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I don't believe that Bill Gates is the Antichrist, but I would believe that he is an

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Antichrist. As we're told in 1 John, we know that it is the last hour, therefore many

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Antichrists have come. But I did not mean to paint this caricature of him as being this great guy.

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I understand that he is evil. The amount of money that he has put into Planned Parenthood, some of the things that he said about population control, all of that stuff is not lost on me.

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But we did clarify last week we pray for his soul. We hope that this man turns from his sin and puts his faith in the

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Lord Jesus Christ because he does not know God. Now of all of the responses that I got, I got a bunch of emails.

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I have not had the chance to comb through them all. But of the responses regarding Bill Gates that I received, one of them included a link to a podcast that was about why

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Bill Gates wants to vaccinate everyone. And that's intrigued me.

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I'll go and I'll listen to that because I don't know. I've heard him say in various places, like in TED Talks where he's talked about, we need to vaccinate everyone for population control.

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And that's just made me go, what does that mean? Yeah, that's a good question. You need to define that.

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I just remember seeing a clip of it and then him going on to something else. It was like, well, that's kind of weird. And it's statements like that which have led to conspiracy theories.

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Of course. Of people wondering what he's meaning by population control. So I'll listen to that. I'll find out. Maybe that guy can expound a little bit more on other things that Bill Gates has said regarding vaccination.

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He wants to vaccinate everybody against COVID -19. So seven and a half billion vaccinations in the world.

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Yikes. And he thinks that's the only way that we're going to get rid of the coronavirus. But there's no there's no guarantee of that.

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No. I mean, we've had the flu vaccine for what? How long? A hundred years? We still have the flu.

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A long time. Yeah. That hasn't eradicated the flu. So there's never a guarantee that a vaccination is going to do something like that.

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I mean, our lockdowns as they are, you're seeing statistics that are coming out now about the lockdowns are weakening people's immune systems.

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And we're actually making ourselves vulnerable to something else. So even if it's not

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COVID -19, that's going to wipe out the largest chunk of the population. And it doesn't look like right now the numbers are going to come anywhere close to the

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Spanish flu of a hundred years ago. But even if COVID -19 is not the thing that's going to destroy us, there's going to be another pandemic that's going to come about that will wipe out a major group of people, a large chunk of the population.

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Yeah. I'm one of those persons that I just think we should go about our lives as normal because we're always being faced with something.

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You don't know what could kill you when you walk out your door tomorrow. Yeah. I do think we need to take - If we even make it to tomorrow.

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That's right. You have no guarantee of tomorrow. If the Lord wills, we will do this or that. Exactly. I do think we should take precautions.

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That's not to say I'm sitting here saying, hey, let's go out and - Willy nilly. Eat, drink, and be merry. Yeah. That's not where I'm coming from.

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There's precautions that we need to make, but it's not a blanket like everyone needs to do this and then we'll protect ourselves from COVID -19.

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That's not working and it's actually causing ourselves more problems than it's solving. But I'm not a

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Bill Gates guy, not a fan. I'm still using Windows computers. I'm using one right now, but I won't take his vaccine.

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Yeah. Good luck with that, I guess. But thank you for those who were concerned about my Bill Gates comments.

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Again, I do not think he is the Antichrist, but I would concede that he is definitely an

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Antichrist and I still hope the guy repents of his sin and comes to know the Lord. Yeah. But as we know the words of our

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Lord in Mark chapter 10, how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

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It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

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Maybe this is a man who he'd have to lose everything before he recognizes his sin and need for a savior.

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That's a big, big loss. So we're getting to the questions here, being

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Friday, we take questions from the listeners and you can submit those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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This first one comes from Jason in Idaho, dear what? I don't know if you've seen the news, but as of this week, bigamy is no longer a sin in Utah.

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Oh. Have you seen this? No, I haven't. Oh, yeah. I thought we talked about this. But I knew it was coming soon. Okay. But I mean,

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I knew it was, yeah. I thought the day that it happened, we were talking about it. No, no, no. Maybe. Maybe you were the first one to show me the article.

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Maybe. But you've slept since then? I have actually slept since then, believe it or not.

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And napped a few times too. Yeah, probably. Jason goes on, and by no longer a sin,

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I mean it's no longer illegal. In the state of Utah, a person can now be married to more than one person.

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Polygamy has been a debate in my area from before I was born. And this debate has been spurned because of the historical teachings of the

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Mormon religious, but I guess that's supposed to mean religion.

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From the Mormon religion, I believe that I've heard you say that polygamy may be illegal in Utah now, but the day that it becomes legal, the

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Mormon church will rejoice to resume their false prophets, false practices. Absolutely.

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It's just one of those things that's dormant. It's kind of like the Mormon church. We're going to ignore this part.

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Yeah. They nixed it so that they could stay on the government's good side. But yeah, as soon as it becomes legal again.

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Obviously it was important to them for it to get, I mean, because otherwise it wouldn't be a thing in the legal system, it wouldn't be legal right now if it wasn't important.

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And they've been fighting for it for years. So obviously they didn't nix it completely.

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They just kind of, let's hide this one under the rug or something until it's okay for it to come out.

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And even though polygamy is not legal in Utah, there's still people practicing it.

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Well, obviously. What was that TV show, Sister Wives or something like that? I don't remember.

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I didn't watch any of those. I don't even know. But apparently there's more than one. There's several. Oh yeah. Several of those

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Mormon shows? Yeah. Yeah. And if you go to Utah and buy a home, you might find houses that seem to be set up as like mother -in -law suites, but they're not.

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There was another wife there. And apparently that's a really common thing in Utah to find homes like that.

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So they don't legally practice polygamy, but there may be homes with multiple wives.

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They're just married before the Mormon God instead of... I'm so glad that we do not have to deal with this because...

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All I see is just drama. Yeah. Like, you know, it's sin, yes, but the consequences of sin would be just an enormous amount of drama.

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It would be. Yeah. I mean, otherwise they wouldn't make TV shows out of it. Thank you.

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If there wasn't drama... No joke. They wouldn't have those shows like Sister Wives and what was another?

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What's another one? I don't remember. My Many Wives. Is that... I don't know. The Ten of Us?

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It's like a guy and nine wives. I have no idea. I don't know. I'm just making up names.

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So Jason goes on. I was engaged in one such debate with an acquaintance of mine, someone who is in favor of the legalization of polygamy.

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He used an argument that I had heard before, but I don't think I'd been put in a position to have to respond to it before.

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He said that in Matthew 25, 1 through 13, in the parable of the 10 virgins, Jesus said illustrated one bridegroom and ten brides.

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Of course, five of those brides were foolish, but the implication, he said, is that the bridegroom married five of them at once.

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Christ never condemned polygamy, and in fact, his parable speaks favorably of polygamy as though it were perfectly acceptable.

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This is the argument that his acquaintance... He doesn't call him a friend. He just says an acquaintance of mine. I tried to tell him that this is a parable, not a mandate, but I don't know that I responded well to his argument.

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Invariably, this argument is going to come up again. How would you respond to it? It's interesting.

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It's by providence that you would bring this question up, Jason, because I had somebody else contact me this week and direct me toward a series from John Gerstner at Ligonier on exactly this parable.

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I was listening to this earlier in the week. You came downstairs earlier in the week, and I was watching an old guy with glasses on the computer.

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Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, that was Gerstner. I was watching the parable of the ten virgins teaching that he did.

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All right. So, what did you glean from it? Well, his teaching didn't actually help answer this question, because what he was talking about is the purpose of the parable, but he didn't mention anything in there about why was

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Jesus referencing... How would people distort it? Yeah. Well, it's five parts, and I listened to like two and a half of them, so if he talked about that later on, yeah,

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I didn't get to it. But let's go ahead and look at the parable. Matthew chapter 25, starting in verse 1, we'll read through verse 13.

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Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.

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Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

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As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry,

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Here is the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise,

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Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying,

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Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.

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And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

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Afterward, the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered,

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Truly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

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Now how do we explain that the bridegroom came and took five brides?

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Can you guess the answer to this question? Five tribes of Judah? I don't know.

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No, they aren't brides. Did you see anywhere in there that they were described as brides?

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The bridegroom. They were described as bridegroom, so you just assume that they're brides. You're just assuming that they're brides.

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They're not brides. The virgins are of the wedding party, but they are not themselves the bride.

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And Jesus very specifically chose that language for that reason. You actually don't see the bride mentioned in that parable at all.

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You have the bridegroom, and you have the virgins. When you go to the Song of Solomon, you have him and her.

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You have the shepherd and the shepherdess, and she's got her company that will speak with her.

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It'll say others, and then this is her party of maidens, basically, that respond to talking about how great the groom is and how wonderful their love is together and things like that.

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They're the virgins. They're her wedding party. It's not that they are themselves the bride.

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We're being given some sort of illustration of Jesus coming and receiving the bride, and then the bride's maids go in, and if we know that the bride is the church, then how do we understand this if we're all the bride's maids and not the bride?

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See, that would be way too confusing. The language is very specifically chosen here as being the virgins of the wedding party, and we understand that the virgins are among those who are the followers of Christ because we've kept ourselves unstained by the world.

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We've been clothed in white and righteousness by the washed garments that our

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Lord Christ has given to us as followers of Jesus, but don't read too much into this illustration where you're trying to figure out who's bride, who's groom, things like that, because that's not the point.

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The point of the parable is that there are going to be those in the church who look like the church.

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They're part of the visible church. They look like the church on the outside. They've been attending church.

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They probably even understand sound doctrine, and a lot of the confessions that they make sound like genuine faith, but their heart is actually far from Christ, and we don't know who they are.

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Jesus knows who they are, but this parable specifically was speaking to those who were not true followers that they would repent of their sin, that they would understand the state of their heart before God is known by God so that they would not continue this fake faith and think that just because they make orthodox confessions.

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They do the checkmark. Yeah. You know, you have their checklist, and you mark off everything. It still doesn't mean that your heart's in the right place.

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That's right. Yeah. You can grab your confession of faith and lay it down. Look, I have a sound confession of faith. It doesn't mean that it's transformed your heart, that you are somebody that actually believes in Christ from the heart.

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Right. Now, don't read this and think to yourself, well, then how can anyone know that they are saved?

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That's between you and the Lord, but this is nevertheless speaking to those who may not truly be transformed from the heart.

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All of their confession looks right on the outside. They check all the right boxes. They wear the right clothes, but they do not actually have a heart that has been changed for the

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Lord. They have religion. Right. But they don't have that relationship with Christ. And to them, they need to examine themselves before the bridegroom comes, lest it becomes too late.

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And you notice here that they ask for oil. Give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out.

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What would you think the oil would be? What's the oil? Give us some of your oil.

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No, we tell you to go to the merchants and go get your own oil because otherwise there won't be enough for us. The ones who are the true company of the bridegroom that go in with the bridegroom, they are the ones who have the

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Holy Spirit. So the oil represents the Holy Spirit of God. The ones who did not have enough oil did not have the

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Holy Spirit. So they go to try to find some and they aren't ready.

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They aren't ready for when the bridegroom comes and calls. And so the maidens go in.

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Be ready in season and out of season. That's right. Yeah. And then you've got half the company that's left behind.

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So there's going to be many in the church who will say, Lord, Lord, did we not do many mighty works in your name?

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And he will say to them, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. Going all the way back to Matthew seven.

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Yeah. So who would be among those to whom Jesus would say, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness?

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Well, they would be the ones who looked like they were part of the church, but never really were truly transformed from the heart.

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Would that be like the Pharisees? No, not the not the Pharisees, because the Pharisees weren't even calling

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Jesus Lord. Oh, OK. So even if you claim to turn from your sin.

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I mean, they were they were following the law. That's why I was thinking they were following the law.

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Right. But they do not refer to Jesus as Lord. OK, so our understanding there, at least according to Matthew seven and according to Matthew 25, is this is not talking about the

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Pharisees. OK. Often when Jesus makes reference to the Pharisees, the Pharisees are there.

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If they're the target of the parable, they will be there when Jesus tells this parable. Right. In this case, he's only talking with his disciples.

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You mean he didn't gossip behind their backs, behind the Pharisees backs? Yeah. Well, he did warn the disciples of the leaven of the

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Pharisees. So it wasn't like he never dogged on the Pharisees unless he was in their presence. Just checking.

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I get what you're saying, though. But in this case, you've got Jesus disciples with him on the

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Mount of Olives. This is Matthew 24 and 25, the Olivet Discourse. OK, so he's only talking to his disciples there.

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This isn't in reference to those who are Pharisees or teachers of the law, but it would certainly be in reference to those who might turn out to be unbelievers.

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So just to expect that those who walk with you aren't necessarily going to always walk with you?

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No. Is that what you're saying? No, because, again, as far as we can tell, they look like Christians.

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Right. That's what I'm saying. Walking with you. Like in some of the other books, I think it's

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Paul refers to someone who used to be with him, but now he's not. Yeah, Demas.

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Yeah, him. At the end of Second Timothy. Yeah. That would be. So is that who they're referring to?

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Demas would be more reflective of like in the parable of the sower. There was the seed that fell among the rocks and the seed that fell among the thorns.

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The thorns represented the cares and concerns of this world and luxuries and things like that, that choke out the word and it proves to be unfruitful.

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Paul says of Demas that he was in love with this world and went back to Thessalonica and deserted me.

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So he would be like the thorns in the parable of the sower. OK. But in this particular case, we may not even know who these people are until the judgment.

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OK. And then we would be looking at, you know, so and so next to me. Oh, my goodness. He served with me in a

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Sunday school class and he's getting judged with the goats. You know, it's going to be something like that.

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So, again, the purpose of this parable is not that we would start looking at people and try to figure out, well, that person is not genuinely saved because we can't know that.

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Only Jesus discerns the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. Got it. But this parable would be for the for the person hearing to examine themselves and make sure they are truly in the faith and truly followers of Christ.

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So this is this is going to be a self -examination. It's not going to be a test that we put upon all of the

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Christians who are around us. Got it. That's the point of the parable. But again, the the illustration is not pointing to polygamy.

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And that's not even the way that Jesus phrases it. Jason, as for the friend of yours that said that Jesus never can.

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Acquaintance. Yes. Sorry. Acquaintance. You're right. You're right. Just just check.

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Thanks for catching that. Yep. As for the acquaintance of yours who said that Jesus never condemned polygamy,

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Jesus gave the definition of marriage in Matthew back at chapter 19.

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That's what I was thinking. In verse four, he responds to the Pharisees and says, Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother, male and female, and hold fast to his wife, become a new family, and the two shall become one flesh.

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So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

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And going on to verse seven, the Pharisees said, why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?

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And Jesus said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives.

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It wasn't a command. He allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning, it was not so.

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And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality and marries another, commits adultery.

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And see right there, that would be polygamy. Yeah, exactly. Committing adultery.

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So that is condemning polygamy. Absolutely. Very good. Very good point. Jesus defines marriage as how it was supposed to be from the beginning, a man and a woman united for life.

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Plus we have the picture of a pastor in first Timothy chapter three is a one woman man.

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He must be the husband of one wife. And you know, depending on where this goes with polygamy and whatnot, is the

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Mormon church going to hold to that? It's in their Bible too. Yeah, they claim that the

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King James Bible is part of their part of their canon. But of course, anything

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Joseph Smith came out, yeah, blacked out parts may have taken a sharpie to that.

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Yeah. Yeah. Anything that Joseph Smith had revealed to him trumped whatever it was that was that was said in any other doctrine.

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Joseph Smith's word was the final word in the Mormon religion. Now, he did not believe in polygamy at the beginning of Mormonism either.

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When you read in the book of Mormon, it talks about only having one wife. So that's a doctrine he came into later and really after about 1840, he started coming up with a bunch of wonky things that was in Nauvoo, Illinois.

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Isn't Jason from? No, Idaho. Sorry. Yeah, there's that. There's that line right there in, uh, in the

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U S from Idaho to Utah to Arizona. That's where you find like the most Mormon churches,

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I believe, the strongest amount of the of the Mormon population. Jason, I hope that that helps you and equips you to be able to respond to your friends.

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Should this conversation come up again? Acquaintance. Acquaintance. Thank you. Yes, my bad.

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When you have these debates and you enter into these arguments with those folks in your in your region, now you have a better understanding.

24:49

The reference to the virgins is not a reference to the bride or brides, right?

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They would be like the bride maids, brides, brides, maids. Now then

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I'm, then I'm getting into polygamy again. Bride maids, bride maids. Yes. That still doesn't sound right.

25:08

I think it's brides, apostrophe S made. Ah, okay. But I was,

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I thought that was a compound word though. Brides made as a compound word. So they would be brides maids.

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I don't know how to pluralize that. That is, that's a great question.

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I think it's bride maids. Don't look it up. Yes. I'm going to, no, no, no. We got to go on. Okay. Go on.

25:31

All right. Becky's going to do her side research over here. This isn't as long a question though.

25:38

Okay. Trevor in Arkansas, dear Pastor Gabe, could you explain what Jesus meant in Mark 940 for the one who is not against us is for us.

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I hear this verse all the time used to justify false teachers, charismatic preachers in particular, they aren't against Jesus.

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Therefore we're supposed to be for them or something. Thank you for your ministry,

26:02

Trevor. Okay. This is Mark chapter nine. Here I am verse 40. Boom. Okay.

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Let's read this section that goes from verses 38 through 41. But before doing that, have you come up with your answer?

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It's bridesmaids bridesmaids as a compound word. Okay. Yep. That's what I thought just as a heads up, just, it still sounds weird.

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It does sound very weird. English language. You are goofy. Mark nine, verse 38.

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John said to him, teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he was not following us, but Jesus said, do not stop him for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me for the one who is not against us is for us for truly

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I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

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So Trevor's question has to do with verse 40 for the one who is not against us is for us.

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Have you ever heard this one used before? Like, like to say, uh, yeah, whoever is in a, whoever, whoever is for us is not against us.

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I don't know. Anyway. Yeah. Something like that. Uh, for some reason my brain is going toward, uh, uh, eat the meat and spit out the bones, which also tends to apply to false teaching.

27:28

Okay. It's like, yeah, you've got a false teacher, but there's elements in there that are true. So you just need to take the truth and spit out the stuff that isn't truth.

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Not if it's, Oh, not if it's cooked all together. I mean, if you're talking about tertiary things, like stuff that, for example, end times doctrine, we differ on end times theology.

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So you can listen to a teacher who might have a different eschatology than you do. And when you're listening to him, just to, you know, take all the good stuff regarding the gospel, the rejoicing in the promise of the return of Christ.

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Yes. You don't have to like disregard that preacher just because he has a different perspective on the eschatology than you do.

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So on a matter like that, but when it comes to these charismatic guys. Who are, they'll say things like,

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Jesus, I command you. Well, yeah. Ken Copeland it's like, uh, really? No, they'll say things like the, the crucifixion gave us healing.

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So it's by his stripes. We are physically healed of our diseases. And somebody like bill

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Johnson of Bethel church will say the gospel is miraculous healing. That's what it is.

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And he'll say that anybody who says the gospel is anything else is teaching a false gospel.

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So if you say the gospel is salvation by grace, through faith alone, bill Johnson would say that's a false gospel.

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Unless you are defining gospel as miraculous healing straight out of Bethel church. I mean, that's heresy, but even regarding bill

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Johnson and Bethel, there are people that will say to me, well, Hey, he is, if he's for us, he isn't against us.

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So therefore we have to, uh, we have to receive him as a brother and we're doing the same work. You may disagree with certain things that he believes and whatnot.

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Now we're talking about essential doctrinal issues here. And we are not in the same partnership at all.

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Francis Chan should have nothing to do with this guy. If Francis Chan claims to have an

29:27

Orthodox belief, you know, using an example of somebody we might otherwise refer to as being sound in his doctrine.

29:34

Of course, Francis Chan seems to be going further that way. Yeah. A Catholic direction, almost swimming the

29:41

Tiber the way that, uh, that James White puts it, he's going over to Rome, you know, maybe that's the direction

29:47

Francis Chan is going. And I'm not saying that he's not a believer, but regarding Chan, somebody will say something about him, like,

29:55

Hey, he isn't against us, so therefore he's for us, so leave the guy alone. Well, his associations with people who are clearly heretics like Bill Johnson, Todd White, Ken Copeland, Benny Hinn, uh,

30:10

Heidi Baker, all of these associations are inexcusable. And the reason why we need to think of somebody like Chan even as being dangerous is because of the false doctrines he's going to be introducing people to due to these associations, which he won't ever condemn.

30:26

Right. He, he will lift these guys up as brothers in the Lord. Well, even if they say enough true things, it's still mixed in with everything.

30:35

And it's obviously showing on his, um, belief system, like what he believes because he is pulling away from the faith, right?

30:45

It is starting to become evident. And even the things that he says and teaches that the people that he say that it doesn't affect you, right.

30:53

It does. It clearly does. Yeah. So that's, I mean, it's sad.

30:59

Don't affiliate with them. I mean, preach to them the gospel. They need it, right?

31:05

That's what they need. So when it comes to the usage of this verse, where you see in verse 40, the one who is not against us is for us.

31:12

This has to do with differences on tertiary issues, some of those secondary issues, but we cannot disagree on the mains and the problem with those people that we brand as heretics, like Bill Johnson, Bethel church,

31:26

Hillsong, their doctrine is so far off that it cannot be called Orthodox. So therefore what they are teaching to people is not the true

31:35

Christ of the Bible. They're probably teaching people either a, um, an experience based faith.

31:43

And when that experience isn't there anymore, then the faith is worth nothing, which was the thing that happened with, uh, oh man,

31:51

I missed his name now, but it was, it was the guy, Samson, uh, Marty Samson, the, the praise and worship leader at Hillsong, he left

32:00

Hillsong church and even made like this, um, uh, explanation on Instagram about leaving

32:07

Christianity altogether that it didn't do anything for him anymore. And he, he lists all these skeptic questions and then there were typical skeptic questions.

32:14

There were things I responded to in a blog. I think James White even did a dividing line on, oh, um,

32:21

Cooper, the, uh, lead singer of skillet, John Cooper. Okay. He even did an awesome response on Facebook to the things that Marty Samson was saying.

32:30

But the reason why Marty Samson was leaving the faith is because it was entirely an experience based faith.

32:36

And when he wasn't feeling the thing anymore that had drawn him into what he believed to be

32:41

Christianity, then it wasn't worth anything anymore. Yeah. He was even willing to walk away from the money that he was making at Hillsong because it just didn't mean anything.

32:49

That's right. Just, it's frustrating to think that if you, you know, the whole,

32:55

I mean, there's tons of old sayings that go with this. If you lie with the dogs, you're bound to get fleas. You know?

33:01

I mean, you're probably thinking of one right now. It's just, there's so many that it has to be true because it's in the

33:09

Bible. Or yeah, even in Proverbs and Peter repeats this in second Peter chapter two about how a dog returns to his vomit and a sow wallows in the mire.

33:18

And then going back to the parable of the sower that we mentioned earlier, these are those who sprout up, they show some sort of joy in the message that they've heard for a little while, but they have no root in themselves.

33:32

They're not rooted in the spirit. They're not rooted in the word. They have no root in themselves. And so the plant withers away and dies.

33:39

But that's where you have to be careful of, are these people heretics and not believing the true

33:45

Christ and the true Bible, or are these people just disagreeing on tertiary and secondary things?

33:51

And if it's just the tertiary and secondary things, but they are of Christ, then you're all on the same side.

33:58

Right. So regarding the use of that verse, Mark 9 40, I would say the issue is less about understanding that verse in a right context.

34:06

It may involve that depending on how somebody uses it, but it's probably more a matter of, do you really understand what this person is teaching though?

34:14

Because when Jesus says the one who is not against us is for us, are you sure he's not against Christ?

34:20

Why don't we look into the essentials of their teaching and see whether or not they are truly for the word of Christ?

34:27

Because Jesus said, whoever denies me or whoever is ashamed of me and my words,

34:33

I will be ashamed of him before my father in heaven. So we have to have a love for the word of Christ.

34:41

If you love Christ, you're going to love his word. Anyone who is twisting that word and making it into a, into something different than what we read in scripture is not for Christ.

34:51

They are against Christ. So that's how you examine the, the application of that passage and whether or not it pertains to the particular teacher that you might be arguing over in that particular time.

35:04

Yeah. So have discernment and, and, um, and take it back to the word.

35:10

Cause that's how you know whether or not they are of God. Yes. Yeah. You can take it back to the word and examine what does this person teach?

35:17

What did Jesus say? What does the rest of scripture say? More than, you know, coming back to my, uh,

35:23

Mark nine versus 38 through 41 and understanding it that way, if that helps you out, uh, this next question comes from Neil, dear pastor

35:31

Gabe and Becky. Thank you for all that you do. I hope you and the kids are safe and well. Oh, thanks.

35:36

Are we doing okay? Yeah. So far, I'm not sleeping. Well, no, no, you're not. I'll hit those points a couple of times a year where I just have this weird insomnia and it keeps me up for.

35:49

I, the other day I was up for 24 hours before I had to send you to bed. And even then, when I laid down in bed,

35:54

I couldn't go to sleep right away. So it's like my brain switches on and I just hit this creative streak and I, I can't ever seem to shut down.

36:01

Gotta go, go, go. But I've been utilizing the time by recording, trying to finish the, uh, the recording for the

36:08

NASB, the literal word Bible app last Easter. Neil says, my pastor made a point that Jesus appearing to a woman.

36:16

And have her tell the apostles that he has risen was a groundbreaking moment because women back then did not have the credibility compared to today.

36:27

I'm wondering if he was tying this up to today's social justice issues. I once heard a sermon from John MacArthur stating that the women were simply just there and nothing more.

36:37

Is there a reason why Jesus appeared to Mary first? Peace and joy.

36:42

All right, I'm going to skip over here to, since I'm still in Mark, I'll just go straight to Mark 16.

36:48

This is the briefest, uh, depiction of the resurrection of Christ that we have in the four gospels.

36:55

Mark 16, starting in verse one, when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint

37:07

Jesus. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb and they were saying to one another who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb.

37:19

This is actually the only place in the four gospels where that conversation is had between the women. Okay. None of the other three referenced them saying who's going to roll away the stone when we get there.

37:29

Right. And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large.

37:34

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.

37:42

And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.

37:49

He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.

37:59

There you will see him just as he told you. And they went out and fled the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.

38:12

Why was it that the women were the first to see the empty tomb?

38:18

Neil says that his pastor claims that this was a groundbreaking moment because women back then did not have the credibility compared to today.

38:25

John MacArthur says that the women were simply just there and nothing more. Now, I don't know the context of John MacArthur's statement, but if I were to if I could venture a guess as to what it was he meant, we often make references kind of like Neil's pastor did.

38:43

We often make references to the fact that the women being there gave more credibility to the testimony of Jesus resurrection.

38:51

Because women in that day did not have the same sort of a standing with their witness and testimony as men did in the community.

39:00

A woman could not be a witness in court. Right. It had to be a man who testified. Right. Since the women were the first to witness the empty tomb, that actually gives more credibility to the story since since a woman's testimony was not admissible in court.

39:18

I don't really understand how that argument works. Because if the women witnessing this first was supposed to give the story more credibility, what

39:30

I mean, why would Jesus have not appeared to the men first? I'm not sure since they are the most credible witnesses in Jerusalem at that time.

39:39

Right. Anyway, I just kind of wonder if that's the reason why John MacArthur mentioned that, that it wasn't it didn't have anything to do with making the resurrection of Jesus more believable.

39:51

Yeah, because it doesn't. The resurrection of Jesus is believable because the

39:58

Old Testament scriptures predicted it. And then it happened. Right. Even after the women saw it, they didn't understand it either, which is why they ran away afraid.

40:07

So it's not like, well, why did the women get this? But the men didn't know. They didn't understand it either. Nobody understood what this meant.

40:14

It's why they were terrified of this. Then Peter, James and John or Peter and John, they're the first ones to get to the tomb next and they look inside and they don't find the body of Jesus either.

40:24

They did not believe the testimony of the women until they went and looked themselves. No one understood this and even what it meant until Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

40:35

And we have that in Luke chapter 24. Right. Even in Matthew 28, before Jesus gives the

40:41

Great Commission, it says that many of him, it says that the disciples, when they saw him, many of them believed, but some doubted.

40:49

So he's there on the mountain in Galilee talking with him and there's still some of them sitting there going, we don't know what to think about this.

40:55

Right. Yeah. And it was, he points that out to Jesus. Yeah. Right.

41:02

Well, what's, what's the matter? Did you, well, that was on the road to Emmaus. Like, did you, do you not hear the word explained to you?

41:09

Yeah. And, and then he explains the word to them. And then, yeah, of course, at the end of Luke 24, you have their minds open to understand the scriptures.

41:17

That's a work of God that is done in our hearts that we may understand his word.

41:22

Right. It's because of what the scriptures said that they understood the resurrection.

41:29

Even with their own eyes, they didn't understand it. It was because of what the Bible said.

41:35

And that goes for the women as well as the men. So that's why there wouldn't be anything regarding the women that's more significant than the men coming and witnessing the tomb.

41:45

Now, God in his providence certainly had a purpose for the women being there. So I don't think

41:51

John MacArthur's statement had anything to do with, it didn't matter if they were men or if they were women, I mean,

41:56

MacArthur understands the providence of God and speaks about it frequently. Right. Definitely. There was certainly a purpose for the women being there.

42:03

It wasn't like, well, the men could have come here too. And it's, you know, Jesus is not sitting there in the tomb going,

42:09

I'm going to sit here until some women show up. Right. Yeah. And it's the fact that he used the women to testify of his resurrection that, as well as the men who testified of his resurrection, that should be the thing that is the most rejoicing for us.

42:28

Because there's not special privilege being given to women here. They're simply regarded as the same.

42:34

Hence why MacArthur probably said that the women were just simply there. The women were called to testify.

42:40

The men were called to testify. All of us are called to testify of the resurrection of Christ as believers in Christ, his death on the cross, his resurrection from the grave, we all must give testimony to that, as it says in Romans chapter 10, nine, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is

42:56

Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. There is a call upon every one of us to have that, to testify with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus died for our sins and he was risen again from the grave, the women were there first because they were not in hiding like the disciples were, they were not in danger necessarily of going and anointing the body of Jesus, whereas what the disciples were concerned about is if they were going to put

43:26

Jesus to death, they might put us to death as well. We were his disciples. The women were not as concerned about that because the

43:33

Pharisees and the teachers in the temple and everything would not have come after the women the way that they were coming after the men.

43:39

That's why the women were there at the tomb first, but they also had concerns and fears of their own.

43:46

It wasn't like they were somehow braver or had more faith or anything like this.

43:52

Or push their way. No, we're going to do this anyway. Yeah. Yeah. I've heard that also. That they're headstrong.

43:58

Well, you guys, you can play your video games and do your guy thing. We're going to go out and do this. Right. We're going to go do the work.

44:04

That's right. It wasn't like that either. We certainly see a love that was demonstrated by these women, a love for Jesus to want to come and anoint the body after he had been in the tomb since Friday.

44:18

But yeah, there's nothing significant about this from the sense that God was showing special privilege to the women or they were being given a better platform.

44:30

Men and women are included in this work of faith, but that doesn't mean that God still doesn't have specific roles for men and women.

44:39

Right. Men are called to certain things. Women are called to certain things, but we all must give testimony to the death of Christ and his resurrection from the dead.

44:50

Neil, does that, does that help you? I hope so. Did you get that babe? I did. If you understand it, then

44:56

I'm going to believe that Neil understands it. Oh, thanks. Yes. Hey, it could be me. Like I'm just, you know,

45:02

I'm out in left field already. Well, you had a train of thought that was going in and then you, no, no, no. I think you derailed.

45:09

Okay. Good for me. If that's what he was asking. So, uh, last question here.

45:14

This is from Henry in Canada. Oh, and the, uh, the reference that I made earlier to the, uh, uh, watching the series from John Gerstner on Ligonier, there's another

45:24

Canadian friend. I think his name was Chuck. I'm sorry if I get your name wrong, but he mentioned it to me on Twitter. Said, Hey, watch this from John Gerstner.

45:31

So that's why I pulled that up and started listening to it. Thank you to my Canadian friends for passing on some good doctrine.

45:38

Anyway, this one is Henry in Ontario, Canada. Even though they've, you know, cut, shut down the border and cut us off.

45:44

Yeah. Sniffles. No more seeing each other. We have to shout across the. We're waving.

45:50

That's right. Across the, it's not a divide. What would you call it? Across the line, across the border.

45:56

I was trying to be more poetic than just border. And it's not a fence. I think the Canadian border is more open than the border between the

46:04

U S and Mexico. Uh, anyway, Henry says, hi, Gabe and Becky, my wife and I really appreciate your show.

46:11

I have a question about free will. I have often heard the argument that if we have free will, then

46:17

God would not be omniscient because if he knew every act we commit before the foundation of the world, then we really aren't free to act otherwise.

46:28

So my question is this, could God create a libertarian free creature if he wanted to, or put another way, does the

46:35

God of the Bible have the ability to create a libertarian free creature? Does the God of the

46:40

Bible have the ability to create a libertarian free creature? Thanks in advance,

46:46

Henry from Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Do I need to include the Southwestern? Of course.

46:52

Okay. I did it before. I just said Ontario, Canada. Uh, hang on.

46:58

I was going to turn to Ephesians chapter one, cause I'm going to close with this scripture to answer your question.

47:03

Straightforward. No, God could not create a libertarian free creature just like God cannot create a squared circle or God cannot create a rock so big that he cannot lift it.

47:16

True. These things are contradictions. They cannot be done. And God does not contradict himself, nor is he subject to nonsense such as this.

47:25

He's nonsense arguments that people tend to make. So regarding libertarian free will. No, we would not be able to make a creature with such freedom that goes outside of what

47:35

God has predetermined from his decree that was made before the foundation of the world. Because then you get into that territory like R .C.

47:42

Sproul would talk about. Now you've got maverick molecules and you probably have a person made up of all those maverick molecules and he's doing his own free will thing.

47:51

And therefore God is no longer sovereign. We would not be sure that any of the promises that God has made to us would ever come to pass if there's even one molecule in the universe that is acting outside of the will of God.

48:04

Right. So there is no such thing as a free creature that has a free will to that degree that they can do anything that is not known to God or has been ordained by God.

48:15

And the argument that you make, Henry, is absolutely right. You said, I've often heard the argument that if we have free will, then

48:21

God would not be omniscient because if he knew every act we commit before the foundation of the world, then we aren't really free to act otherwise.

48:29

And this is really the how the this is the contradiction in that Arminian argument of like, well,

48:36

God doesn't determine all things, but he knows he knows the choices that we're going to make.

48:42

Yeah. So therefore he chose us based on a future decision that we were going to make. There's two problems with that.

48:48

Number one, if God knows a future decision that you're going to make, then you could not have made any other decision.

48:54

Right. Therefore, you don't have free will. That's that's one thing. Secondly, if God is choosing you based on a future decision that you're going to make before you're even born, then you are tying

49:09

God's hands to obligate himself to you before you even exist.

49:16

And that's absurd. That is ridiculous. Like, I can't even fathom the ridiculous level of human autonomy that that goes to to have to make this argument that, well,

49:28

God chooses me because of a future decision that I'm going to make. And he looked down the tunnel of time and saw this decision

49:34

I was going to make. So that's why he chose me. Then you're tying God's hands and obligating himself to have to.

49:42

Well, I have to love you because I see this decision you're going to make in the future. And God can't make any other decision but to love you because of the decision you are going to make.

49:54

But the love and affection that God places on us is not based on our decisions.

50:00

It's based on his Lord. That's right. It has nothing to do with us. It is because he is good and he is gracious.

50:07

Whenever we read about foreknowledge, the whole concept of foreknowledge is not

50:13

God looking through time to see a decision we're going to make as if God were a soothsayer or having to appeal to some medium or necromancer or something like that.

50:24

This is God knowing the future because he ordained the future.

50:30

And foreknowledge is him placing his affection on us, knowing us before we are born.

50:37

It's David in Psalm 139. It's what we have in Ephesians chapter one, beginning in verse three.

50:43

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

51:04

In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

51:18

You have that statement in verse four, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

51:25

So God chose us not only to be justified, as we've been talking about in our study of Romans three, but he also chose us to be sanctified.

51:34

Yeah. So if we've been called to be Christians by faith in our

51:40

Lord Jesus Christ, then we have also been called to live lives of holiness. And those whom

51:46

God has justified, he is also going to sanctify. If he's not sanctifying you, then you haven't been justified.

51:52

Right. And those who have been justified, he will also glorify, as we have in Romans 830.

51:58

This is all the work of God. And this is what he has decided before the foundation of the world. The scripture is clear on it.

52:04

And therefore there is no libertarian free will, because you can make no decision or act in no way that is contrary to the plan of God.

52:14

Furthermore, it's incredibly selfish, even when it comes to... That's what I was thinking, very prideful. Yeah, it's that.

52:21

And it's also in the way that you interact with other people, it's very selfish. Because every decision you make is going to affect other people.

52:29

Right. So are you making decisions that's therefore going to hinder another person from ever being able to make a decision to follow

52:36

Christ? And they never had the opportunity to do that now because of your stupidity?

52:42

So think of the number of people you're damning because of your ridiculous decisions. And there was no hope that they had because they were depending on you and you let everybody down.

52:53

That is a burden none of us can bear. No joke. No one can bear that. Yeah. And the fate of seven and a half billion people on planet

53:02

Earth is not up to you. The Lord God has predestined some for glory and some for destruction.

53:11

And that's the argument that Paul makes in Romans chapter nine. Yeah. I mean, the moment you can call yourself holy is the moment you can say,

53:20

I am outside of God's. Well, well, fully sanctified. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we are we are holy in the sense that God has justified us.

53:27

I mean, like, holy, holy, holy, as in the Lord is holy. Yes, definitely that.

53:32

Right. Then you're putting yourself in the place of God. Exactly. And that is that's the sinful tendency of every man to want to be in the place of God.

53:41

But it's it's in Ephesians control over God. Yeah. Anyway, Ephesians one eleven in him, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

54:01

Amen. It's all to the praise of his glorious grace. Well, that's our show. Again, if you would like to send us an email, ask a question, leave a comment, whatever.

54:13

Send it to. A polite comment. Nice. Don't don't harass me about Boogates anymore. Go easy.

54:21

You can send it to when we understand the text. Friendly. At Gmail dot com. Sorry, I interrupted.

54:27

That's all right. I think. Was that it? Oh, and if you would please care to give us a donation, any any amount, whatever you're able to give to us, it would be a gift that goes to our church.

54:36

So therefore it's tax deductible. You got the information to contact our church at WWU, TT dot com, or you can give online straight from our website.

54:45

Go there and click on the give tab. And that's that's how all the instructions on how to give to us are right there.

54:52

Yeah. Thank you so much for your kindness and your prayers for us sharing our videos and this podcast and other things on social media.

54:59

Yes. Thank you. Let's pray. Yes, let's. Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time together.

55:04

We thank you for your word. Guide us according to your precepts. May we love your commandments and desire to do them.

55:12

May we be patient with one another, with the way things are in the world right now, all of the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus and COVID -19.

55:21

People can be kind of on edge. They've got plenty of their opinions. They want to try to bog down everybody else with their opinions.

55:27

Help us to be gracious and patient with one another. It's what we've been called to do. Romans 15, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves, but to build our neighbor up for his good, considering others' needs ahead of our own.

55:43

As we're told in Philippians chapter two, help us to be gracious and kind and continue to extend the love of Christ and above all else, taking with us the gospel, for it is the good news of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again from the grave.

55:59

And by faith in him, we have forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. This is our salvation.

56:06

Let us never neglect to share the gospel with others. We pray these things in Jesus name.

56:13

Amen. It's not okay.

57:20

Okay, but it's okay. Your father was a slacker, too. I'm so tired.

57:29

Okay. And yet I don't want to go to sleep. I want to go watch that show. What show?

57:34

My Korean show. You're tired and you want to go read subtitles.

57:41

Yeah, I know that part doesn't feel very good, but I do want to understand

57:46

Korean. That'd be kind of cool. I have no reason why necessarily. Well, I mean, kind of.

57:53

We know some Korean people. It'd be kind of cool to chat with them. Korean Baptist Church, our sister church.

57:58

Exactly. That's what made me really want to speak Korean. Start learning

58:04

Korean? Yeah. Okay. Not that I can speak more than Ni Hao, but that's

58:11

Chinese. That's Chinese. So it sounds like they're talking Chinese. Because they say

58:16

Ni Hao and Xie Xie. It's probably a common tongue between them all.

58:22

And whenever they introduce themselves, they say, this is my name, but this is my

58:29

Chinese name. So they give both. So it's interesting that they would have two different names.

58:36

I don't know how that works. I don't either. Never studied Korean. Okey dokey.

58:42

Okey dokey pokey. Ready, ready. Smokey pokey. No, my mouth is dry.

58:51

Anyway. Do you need your drink? Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't.

58:58

When we understand the text is a daily online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine, to teaching sound doctrine.

59:05

You can support our ministry when you visit our website, www .wtt .com. Here once again is

59:12

Pasta Gabe. Oh boy.