Matt Slick Live: February 6, 2025

Luke 1 and the Meaning of “Nothing Is Impossible with God”

The following program is recorded content created by The Truth Network.

It's Matt Slick Live. Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry found online at karm .org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick Live for answers.

Taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877 -207 -2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right, and welcome to the show. If you want, you can give me a call as usual, 877. 207 -2276. Welcome to this lovely Thursday of February 6th, 2025. Hope you're gonna enjoy listening to the show. Hope it all goes well.

And we had a good call yesterday, actually. It was really interesting. Bob, he's a nice enough guy, Catholic. We ended up talking afterwards, I think for, oh, I don't know, an hour afterwards, just going back and forth with stuff.

And people started coming into the room and really paying attention and listening, and I thought it was a good time, a good learning opportunity for a lot of people to see how things are and stuff like that.

But no big deal. All right, so there's that. Like I said, if you wanna give me a call, the number is 877 -207 -2276. All right, now why is that there like that? Why is that? I don't know what that is.

Got all these things going on in my computer. I mean, it's good stuff, like I have a file open and there's a cell highlighted in my file that shouldn't be. Why is that highlighted like that? I don't know.

Hey, if you wanna give me an email, you can do that as well. All you have to do is dial, excuse me, is just send an email to info at CARM .org. Info at CARM .org. It's real easy and we can get to it. Just put a subject line, radio comment, radio question, one of those.

That's generally what helps and so we can get to you. All right, oh, I gotta switch this right here. I think that's right, it goes there. And so many things I'm doing. Should be working now. Everything should be good.

All right, let's get to Jermaine from California. Jermaine, welcome. You're on the air. Oh, hey, Matt. Hey, how's it going, man?

Oh, pretty good, I'm actually glad I didn't get through yesterday. I enjoyed the conversation.

Yes, it was a good conversation. I hope that people learn stuff by debating with real Catholics. Yeah, uh-huh. So what do you got, buddy?

Well, yeah, today I wanted to discuss Luke chapter one. I think it's verse 37. Just had a cousin and I have a nice discussion about things being impossible for God and I said, well, I don't believe that's accurate.

And of course we got challenged. And the things that I find that are impossible for God in the Bible, God not being able to lie, to fail, you know, whatnot, is the verse saying that nothing's impossible for God as if he can't not do those things?

Maybe you can kind of break it down for me.

Yeah, it's not a doctrinal statement that is exhaustive. It's more like hyperbole. God can do anything. Well, of course, the people who would write this Luke knows that God's not gonna lie. He's not gonna be unfair.

It just goes without understanding, without worrying about it, you know? We understand that. That's what's going on. Nothing, you know, God can take care of everything that you need. Nothing's impossible for him.

He can help you, he can do this and do that. Now, look at the context, okay? Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I'm a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

And for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age. And she who is called Maren is now in her sixth month.

For nothing is impossible with God. That's the context. With people, God can do what he wants. He can make an old woman pregnant or he can make a young man a father. He can do what he wants, do what he desires because he's perfectly capable.

That is really what's about what's going on, okay?

All right, yeah, thank you, appreciate that.

Okay, yeah, that's what's going on. Yeah, so we know that God can't lie, Titus 1, 2. And he, from everlasting to everlasting, he is God, Psalm 90, verse two. So he can't not be God. And he can't lie, you know, things like that.

So this is not, that verse is not saying that he can like make a square circle. Some people just take it literally. And so it's like hyperbole, it's exaggeration. It's just meant in the context, understand.

He can do whatever he wants with you, okay? That's, it's just another way of saying that. And that's all that's going on. Not that big a deal. All right?

All right, talk to you tomorrow.

All right, brother, God bless. Well, that was germane. And, you know, it's, just so you understand, it's like, I give this illustration to people that they'll say God is all good. And if he's an all good God, and all, they'll actually say all loving.

If he's all loving, why would he send anybody to hell? And I say, but that's not what the Bible says about God. It doesn't say he's all loving. It never says he's all loving. It says he is loving and just and holy and merciful and patient and wrathful and righteous.

And so you take all of these things and you put them together. And then you have the whole picture of who God is, what he can or cannot do, so to speak. So when we take the whole of scripture, God cannot lie, but nothing's impossible.

We understand the hyperbole, the exaggeration. Nothing's impossible. He can save someone. Like he saved someone like me, an occultist who was into some pretty bad stuff. And then he yanked me out of the darkness of the occult and demonic influence and made me into a Christian apologist.

Look what he did. No one else could do it. That's what God does. He does that with people. He can save them. And that's why, for example, my wife and I pray regularly for our daughters who have walked away by their own choice.

They've walked away from the faith. They are doing some pretty bad stuff. One of them is doing really bad stuff and has done stuff that's really just horrible as far as morally going. And we just pray.

Nothing's impossible with God. We know that God is the one who can save people. We know he's the one who works with people. We know he's the one and we trust in him. That's what we're talking about. So he does that, all right?

And nothing's impossible with him. All right. Hey, if you want to give me a call, it is easy. All you need to do is dial 877 -207 -2276. I want to hear from you. Give me a call and we can talk. We can blab.

Tongues, Salvation, and the Marks of a Cult

All right, all right. Now let's get to Gokon from Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome, you're on the air.

Hey, how you doing, Mr. Matlick?

I'm hanging in there, man. That's how I'm doing. How are you doing?

I'm doing good, man. I just had a quick question about speaking in tongues.

Okay.

Okay, I've got baptized, gave my life to Christ, but I haven't spoken tongues. Is it true that you're not saved unless you speak in tongues?

No, that's a lie from ignorant people who don't know how to exegete scripture and couldn't argue their way out of a wet paper bag if it was facing towards the outside of a NASA centrifugal force machine.

Okay, they still couldn't get out, all right? So no, the Bible says not all speak with tongues, all right? And so out of 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Corinthians 14, they're different gifts that God gives different people.

Now I've never spoken in tongues, I never have. And I've been a Christian since 1980, you know, I'm 68. And I've never spoken in tongues except the one time I stubbed my toe really bad and I said some weird stuff.

But other than that, that's it, you know? So no, the people who say that usually are oneness Pentecostal or some form of hyper Pentecostal people who don't know really what the scriptures are teaching in this area.

And when I say they couldn't argue their way out of a wet paper bag, I'm not kidding. They don't know what they're doing and they're dangerous. Those people are dangerous. You have to speak in tongues in order to prove the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

And you know, you gotta have the baptism of the Holy Ghost and then you can say, give me a break, you know? It just doesn't work like that. It's a load of bums, okay?

Do you have any scriptures I could, because, well, it's actually the church that I go to and I'm hoping I'm not being led, you know, wrongfully. But do you have any scriptures I can maybe show my pastor and say, hey, this is what the Bible says about speaking in tongues?

Okay, does he say, well, I'll get some specifics here, but is your pastor saying you have to speak in tongues to be saved?

Yeah, well, they believe that they're Pentecostal.

Now, let me ask you, are they United Pentecostal?

I'm really not sure. I just joined, like, say, about two months, three months ago and I haven't, I'm still doing my new members class.

Okay, hold on. So do you have the name of the church in the city? Now, look up the website if they have one. Do you have that?

It's Charlotte, North Carolina. It's New Vision Ministries.

Charlotte, North Carolina, New Vision Ministries.

All right.

NV, I'm Charlotte, let's see. So, I hope I'm getting the right one. So about pastor, oh, it says the connection's not, it's not a secure connection, so I'm not gonna go into it. So I really can't tell you, but I wish I had my other thing.

Oh, man, I gotta get that going. Anyway, well, we believe, yeah, it's all, it's, I can't check because it's, there's no certificate of security on the web, so on their site. So here's the things you need to go ask them, all right?

You need to ask. So if you got a pencil and paper, write these things down. You need to find out if it's a cult or not, okay? I'll tell you why. See, normally speaking, churches that teach that you have to speak in tongue to be saved are cults, non-Christian cults, all right?

Wow.

Yes, that's right. You gotta ask them these questions, okay? Do you have to speak in tongues in order to be saved? If he says yes, leave the church. Ask, here's another question. Are women pastors and elders okay?

If he permits women pastors, women elders, leave the church. He doesn't understand the Bible and those areas. Or ask if he believes in the Trinity, one God in three persons. And you wanna ask, does he believe in the Trinity or oneness, Trinity or oneness?

If he says oneness, and if he says the Trinity's not in the Bible, it's a cult, all right?

Okay, cult or not, from women pastors, Trinity or not, what was that other second one?

Okay, so women pastors and elders, you wanna ask about that. If they say yes to that, you can't trust them, you gotta leave the church. It's not good. If, ask what they believe in the Trinity or not. In the Trinity.

In the Trinity, okay.

Okay, or are they oneness, oneness? Now, I'm not saying they are of any of these things. I can't check the website out because it's just, you know, can't do it. So, I don't know if that is the case. I'm just asking you to go check it.

Because if they say yes to these things, like, do you have to be baptized to be saved? I mean, oh, that's another question. Do you have to be baptized to be saved? And here's a question. Do they say to be baptized in the name of Jesus?

Not in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Yeah, he did baptize me in the name of Jesus because we discussed that before. I told him, I said, I got baptized before in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And I don't feel, you know, because another pastor, you know Jennings, I would watch him on TV, so.

No, he's bad, don't say that to him. So look, so here's the thing. The formula he used at baptism, did he say, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Or did he say, I baptize you in the name of Jesus?

Which one?

In the name of Jesus.

Okay, it's a cult. It's oneness, oneness cult. Oneness denies the Trinity. And hold up, we got a break, okay? So we'll get back, we'll talk some more about this. All right, this is important, all right?

I don't want you to get mixed up in something bad. So hold on. And I'd be willing to come out there and debate them in public, too, on these issues. Oh, I'm not kidding, I'm not kidding. I will, oh yeah.

But hold on, buddy. We got a break, so hold on. Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned.

It's Matt Slick Live! Taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right, and welcome back to the show. We're having a little bit of an audio issue on my end. I've worked on it during the break a little bit. Hopefully that'll be better. Let's find out. Okay, Gokhan, are you there?

Still?

Yes, sir, I'm still here.

All right, man. So look, one, this Pentecostal theology teaches that there is no trinity. Now when they deny the trinity, they're denying the true God. When they're denying the trinity, they're denying, this is more advanced theology and stuff, but they're denying the necessary preconditions for intelligibility.

That's a whole other topic. Few people understand it. Anyway, so they deny the true God. And then they teach that you have to be baptized to be saved. And you have to be baptized, quote, unquote, in the name of Jesus.

And you have to be baptized, or excuse me, you have to speak in tongues in order to be saved. And generally, they affirm women, pastors, and elders, it is a non-Christian cult. It's a cult. It's not Christian.

All right.

I wish I would've known that before I got baptized and joined the church. Yeah, I just wanted to be a part of the church and just wanted to serve the Lord.

I'll tell you what. Charlie's gonna put a link in my chat here about a place to go look up churches. And I'm gonna tell it to you. Now, on my website, have you been to my website, karm .org? C-A-R-M dot O-R-G.

C-A-R-M dot O-R-G. I've been working the site for over 29 years. And it's got millions and millions and millions and millions of visitors. And I've written an article there, what to look for in a church.

What to look for in a church. So I'm gonna type in my website, karm .org, okay. And then I'm gonna put a link in my chat here in the search engine, what to look for in a church. And I hit enter. And what comes up is, I'm gonna make sure I get the right thing.

What things should we look for in a church? It's about the fourth one down. What things should we look for in a church? You click on that, and it'll give you an outline form, the things to watch for. Avoid a church that affirms any of the following.

Avoid them. Affirms women pastors and elders. Supports homosexuality in any way. As in, it's okay to be homosexual and be a Christian. It's not. Where unbelievers are paid to lead worship. Where it requires baptism for salvation.

Or teaches full preterism. If you don't understand those things, don't worry about it. And let's see. Yeah, and I may have to update this thing a little bit. What do you expect to find in a good church?

The doctor, the trinity, yeah. And I think I am. I think I'm gonna work on that a little bit, just because of our phone call. Speaking, tongues, baptism in the name of Jesus. Because I wasn't thinking of these things when I wrote this with something else.

But I think I might modify it a little bit to kind of update it a little. Because I wrote it back in 2010. So, the church you're going to sounds like a cult. All right, non-Christian cult.

All right?

They'll use Christian words. Christian this, Christian that. But it's not Christian. Now, tell them. When you say, yeah, I talked to a guy named Slick on the radio. It's not real impressive, okay? You know, some slick guy on the radio, okay?

But it's my real name, all right? I'm willing to fly out there and do a debate in person in the church on proper means of baptism and the nature of the Trinity. Now, we haven't even gotten into, plus speaking in tongues, baptism, we can do all kinds of stuff.

I haven't gotten into another really important issue here. And I don't expect you to understand all of this, but one false teaching always leads to other false teachings. When I talk to oneness people, I talk to oneness people, I tell them, I say, look, who was Jesus speaking to?

Because in oneness, God is one person, not three, not a Trinity. He's just, they call him Jesus. That's why they say they baptize in Jesus' name. They don't understand what it means in the Bible, the phrase, but that's another topic.

And so they'll say Jesus was praying to himself in the garden. And I'll say, wait a minute, he was praying to himself? That's impossible. It doesn't work like that. Prayer's always offered in the garden.

They'll tell you that.

Right.

Well, and so, then when I press them, then they say the human nature was praying to the divine nature. And I won't explain all the details, but this invalidates the true incarnation and invalidates the true sacrifice of Christ.

I can connect the dots. If I was teaching a class on it, here's why. So this is a dangerous church that you're involved with, and I'm sorry to tell you, buddy, but you need to ask them questions to find out.

Better to know you than to be the lost, right?

That's right, and get out. Now, that's right. And now I'm gonna tell you the URL that you can go to to find a church that's a good church in your area, all right? So it's www, that whole thing. It's T-M-S, Tom Matthew Samuel.

T-M-S dot E-D-U. So T-M-S dot E-D-U forward slash find a church. It's find hyphen a hyphen church, okay? So T-M-S.

Forward slash. Find a church.

Find a church with the hyphens between the letter, in other words, find hyphen a hyphen church. And there's gonna be some good churches out there. Furthermore, you're out there in Charlotte. I bet you if you call the station up, because they're out there in Salem, I think.

Is that right? I don't know if Keith's listening where you guys are at. But they could probably recommend some good churches in the area as well.

And

Oh, okay, okay.

Troop Network.

Yeah.

And, and, I take this stuff seriously. And if you were to find a couple, three churches, you know, you go, are these churches good? You could call me up on the radio. I'll look them up on the web. If you say, here's the name and the address, their URL, and the website.

I'll go look and say, look at the, I'll scan through stuff and go, yeah, it seems to be okay. Or, I got some problems here, or whatever it is. I'll do that for you, okay?

Okay, I appreciate it. And I can email you at the, I can get in touch with you through karm .org if I have any other questions or anything.

That's right. Info, the email is just info at karm .org.

All right?

Info, okay.

Info at karm .org.

Okay, I appreciate it.

Get a lot of good people to answer the emails. You're welcome, brother. Call me back, let me know what happens. Just, you know, when you find out. It's a cult, all right? Stay with the cult, okay? They won't like it.

I'll definitely keep you updated.

All right, all right.

Thank you so much.

Okay, brother, God bless.

Nice talking to you, have a blessing.

All right, man. Before we get to the next caller, I just want to say that I personally, in person, challenged the number one defender of oneness theology in the United States to a public debate. And he didn't accept.

In person, I was three feet from him. I said, look, my name's Madison, and I know oneness, I know Trinitarianism. I'd like to debate you. And he was out in my area, and he declined. I said, how about a written debate?

He said he would think about it. And then he declined that as well. I would love to have done that. I think he did some research on me and found out what I teach. I don't know, but whatever. All right, having said all of that, let's get on the next call, which is Andrew from Maryland.

Andrew, welcome, you're on the air.

Hey, Matt, how are you tonight?

Oh, fine, just exposing cults are my favorite thing to do.

Absolutely, I tell you what, Dr. Michael Burgos runs a Reformed Baptist Church up there in Connecticut, and writes articles similar to yourself on that topic. He does a great job, too.

Oh yeah, he used to work with us. Yeah, he's a good guy. Hey, hold on, Matty, we got a break. Sorry about that, just a little timing problem there.

You're good.

We'll be right back, okay? Hey, folks, we'll be right back after these messages, please stay tuned.

It's Matt Slick Live! Taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right, everyone, welcome back to the show. We have all the lines filled. If you want to give me an email, or send me an email, it's info at CARM .org. Info at CARM .org with a subject line, radio comment, radio question.

We can get to them. Let's get to Andrew again. You still there, buddy?

Yes, sir, I'm here.

All right, man. There we go. What do we got?

Hey, sorry, I sent you an email. I don't expect you to reply to it right now. I know you get a ton of emails, but it was about Ephesians 1 in the Greek. I thought it was

Is that Ephesians 1?

Yes, sir, I'm a Reformed Christian, and just like you, and there's a lot of attacks on Reformed theology. He chose us and him before the foundations of the world. It was basically, it was an article just trying to bring something to your attention about the data versus the accusative case, and I don't want to take up your time on the air about it, but I just thought I'd let you know about it, so.

Yeah, so the accusative, direct object, date of indirect, so in which verse?

Is it verse 11, he chose us and him?

Ah, okay, and so just tell me what the point is. I'm curious, you know, let's see what he got. What is it?

Yeah, do you want me to elucidate it real quick?

Sure.

So basically, it's in the, the in him is a prepositional phrase, obviously, and it's in the dative case, which is describing location. And so what this means is that it's referring back to the choosing of the Father, which is that the location of the Father choosing has always been eternally been in Christ.

It's never been outside of Christ, it's always been in unity with him, that sort of thing. And the reason why this would be important is because provisionists today try to argue that, well, he chose, certainly, but he chose those who would choose him, those who are in Christ already.

Now, obviously, we know what Romans 5 teaches and everything, but the point is.

Yeah, it's a slash prevenient grace, slash semi-Pelagianism kind of Arminian, weak Arminianism of that view, yes.

I couldn't agree with you more. I just, I always like to try to prove the point from the verse itself, you know, and then there's other places to go to, but, and I'm sorry to take up your time, but basically, if it was referring back to, but if it was referring back to the direct object, us, it would have to be in the accusative case, which is clarifying who or what.

So who or what did the father choose? He chose us, and it would be describing us and him, which would have to be the accusative as opposed to the dative, which is describing where the choice is being taken place.

Right, that makes sense. Us is a direct object, right, in him, and it deals with federal headship. I assume you know what that is. That's what it's going about. In him, it makes perfect sense. It's a dative, which is the indirect object related to Christ and federal headship.

Yeah, I love that.

Yeah, yes, sir. I called two nights ago, and I was saying thank you for everything that you've done for Romans 5 for me, so I really appreciate that again.

Romans 5, oh, people don't know what a treasure Romans 5 is, a treasure, and oh, yes, I love teaching Romans 5, 15 through 19. Just tremendous stuff, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely, super deep theology, and I know you have a ton more callers, but I just did want to make one more comment last night about when you're having a good discussion with the Roman Catholic man, and this is not meant to be disparaging in any way, but it broke my heart when he kept referring back to, you know, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life, and my blood is true fruit, because at the very beginning of the discourse in verse 35, Jesus clarifies and gives us the terms by which he's using.

He literally says, sorry, just to pull up in my Bible here, I apologize, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst, and Jesus is saying that he's using the terms of eating is coming and drinking is believing, and that's said prior to the entire illustration about bread and blood and body, so Jesus is giving us the cipher, if you will, of what I'm about to say.

I'm telling you the key, here's the key, use it, and that's why when he says in verse 44, whoever believes has eternal life, yeah, because if you come to Jesus, if you believe in him, if you eat his blood and drink his blood and eat his flesh, it's all the same thing, it's believing.

That's right, amen, brother, good stuff. Also, we talked about, he and I spoke for another hour after the show, and we went through.

I watched, yes, sir.

Oh, you did? Well, he didn't know about this one part, apparently. This is the blood of the covenant. We talked about the nature of the covenant and the covenant sign, which is the blood that is offered.

It's not the covenant sign that saves, it's the covenant that does. This is the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins, but I say to you, I will not drink from the fruit of this vine until now, until later.

So I said to him, and you heard it, Jesus still referred to it as wine, the fruit of the vine. That's what he called it. And he didn't know, Kevin didn't know what to do with that one, but it's right there.

Yeah, it's good stuff. That was a good, it was good after the show, I thought. Then I had to go and get some medicine for my wife. Which was fine.

Oh, absolutely, and part of me calling tonight was to ask you about that Ephesians 1. Thank you for verifying my own study, and then also, in case he was listening tonight, just that he has to deal with what Jesus says at the beginning of the discourse about the centrality of the sovereignty of God and salvation.

That's what John 6 is about.

Yeah, absolutely. Now, about the Greek, I've had, I took a lot of Greek, and I'm still very rusty at it, but it's really wise when looking at the date of, particularly related to the accusative in a verse like this, to see what the Greek experts say, because there's something called the date of of means, and I'm not sure if this relates to that, but it might be related to that issue, and it might shed some light on some stuff, but yeah, anyway, there's a lot there.

Well, if it perks your fancy, it perks mine, and if you feel free to look into that and make that part of, I don't know, an article or something, that sounds pretty cool.

Yeah, because the date of of means indicates the instrument or the method by which something occurs. So, he chose, now that's the verb, but the date of of means might appeal, might occur or be a reference, but I don't know, I'm not good enough in Greek to be able to say.

So, that's what I'm saying. It's interesting stuff, but yeah. All right, buddy.

Yeah, absolutely. Hey, have a good night, sir.

You too, man. All right, all right. Now, let's just jump over to Mr. Anonymous from California. Welcome, you're on the air.

How are you, Matt?

I'm hanging in there.

Do you want to say my name? Be it the city you know.

Oh, you're really hard to understand. Let's try it again. It just sounded pretty confusing.

I didn't want to say my name today, but the city you do know, Bellflower. Today, a friend of mine called my mother and me to come and see her mom, because she is dying. She is, excuse me, she is mute, but she could see with her eyes and stuff.

And breathing is a little bit hard, of course. But the thing is this, I don't know if she's going to heaven or hell. To me, to me, I could only say hell, because the last time before, she was flying and she was up and down.

And I asked her, can I give you a Bible so you can read and I can come a couple of days later and read it with you? And she said, no, she doesn't do it. She's just, she's not interested in reading the Bible.

She's a Catholic. And all I could do for her when I went to her house and saw her today was just pray. So, but the thing is that I truly don't know if she has accepted the Lord from what I see.

I would just preach the gospel to her. She doesn't have to read the Bible. She has to hear that gospel. Just give her that gospel. She said, she's mute, but just tell her repeatedly, you need to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.

Trust in Jesus and in him alone, not anything else, but trust in Christ. Just give her that gospel. And just pray that God opens her heart and her mind.

It's very hard. It's very hard for me to say that. One, because her daughter is a normal daughter. Her second daughter is a lesbian and her son, her third son is bisexual. And that makes it hard for me because she also follows the Catholic church.

Yeah, and we got a break coming up, buddy. So we gotta go, but that's what you gotta do. Get that gospel to her, okay, brother? That's what you gotta do. Hey, folks, we gotta go, because there's the break.