WWUTT 760 Q&A The Lamb's Book of Life, Sabbatarianism, and Paul's Apostleship?

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Is anyone's name blotted out of the Lamb's Book of Life? What does it mean to be a

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Sabbatarian? And was Paul truly an apostle of Jesus Christ? The answers to these questions and others when we

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Understand the Text. This is

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When we Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, who saved us according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the

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Holy Spirit. Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. So how are you doing? I'm cold. I'm warmed up now.

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She's got this big blanket. I got a gigantic blanket. It's a winter blanket.

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And this little bitty head poking out with headphones on. We're kind of in this season right now where we're super, super busy and we're not seeing much of each other.

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Hi. At the present. So how are you? I'm doing great. How about you? And it's probably going to be this way until mid to late part of September, I think.

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Probably, yeah. Yep. All the stuff we got going on. All good stuff. All good stuff. Yep. That's good. It's good.

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It's good. So being Friday, we ask for your emails, submitting questions to the ministry.

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Yes, please. When we Understand the Text at gmail .com is the email address.

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And oh man, I wanted to get that Simple Give page done. So we had a meeting as a church on Sunday.

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We had a business meeting. And he's supposed to be on top of this. I'm supposed to be. But they approved, the church approved for me to create a little separate account on our

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Simple Give site so that you can give to help us get to G3, yes, the

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G3 conference in Atlanta. And I just, I didn't do it. I didn't get it done. Maybe I'll try to do that tonight.

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Maybe I'll try to do that tonight when you go to bed. I don't know. Okay. That'll work. Perhaps it's up on Friday. Who knows?

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Our Friday, anyway. What's that? Our Friday. Maybe not their Friday. Oh, that's true.

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And we do have a question today from Australia. Oh, sweet. So they would be, yeah, they would be on another day of the week than we would be.

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Saturday. But check the website. Maybe we'll have like a news article on there. Or I'll post it on Facebook that if you're able to give to us to help us to get to G3, we're going to have a booth at G3, then we would sure appreciate it.

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So the website again is www .utt .com and you can send those emails to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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So this first question is not the Australian question. That was going to, that's going to be the second one.

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Okay. All right. So this first question comes from Luke and he says, Pastor Gabe, thank you for your dedication to the

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When We Understand the Text podcast series. I've been a listener for almost two years now and through your exposition,

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I've come to understand many sound doctrines. Through your instruction in the word, God has begun to show me the truths of the doctrines of election, grace, sanctification, all being works of God in his sovereignty.

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I must admit that he is still working on my understanding of limited atonement, which was something we talked about this week, but that is more of an issue of me learning to reconcile my conception of human free will versus God's sovereignty and God's speed on that journey.

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Yes. Because it's never easy. And let me just tell you too. It's difficult to wrap your mind around. And it's mysterious even when you think that you have an understanding of that doctrine.

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Or a better understanding. A better understanding. Yeah. Yeah. It's still difficult. Yeah. There are still things that are incredibly complicated for us to understand, but for us as Christians, we have the word of God, and we really can't go beyond what

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God has shown to us in his word. Right. And that's one of the things I really appreciated about R .C. Sproul's ministry, because there were really, really complicated questions that he would get asked, and he didn't have a problem saying,

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I don't know, the word of God doesn't tell us that. Right. So it would be something like a question I've heard before, and I've heard somebody answer it a certain way, but when it comes to R .C.

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Sproul, who's a genius, you know, when it comes to theology or anything. Yeah, he was. Yeah, and he would just respond with, well, the word of God doesn't tell us that.

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Yeah. So here's the different viewpoints on it, but we don't know. And it's not fair for us to actually make some sort of definitive conclusion on that particular doctrine when the

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Bible isn't clear on that. You know, to give you an example of that is Adam and Eve having free will in the

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Garden of Eden. So, did God give them a total, independent, autonomous free will?

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We're under sin, so we can only do what is in our nature to do, which is sin, until our heart is regenerated in the

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Holy Spirit, in which case, now we have a changed heart by which we can worship God and do so in a way that is pleasing to Him.

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Right. But what about Adam and Eve? So did they have an autonomous free will that was different than what we would understand as being a will?

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And anyway, so Sproul's response to that is, we don't know. We don't know what kind of will

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Adam and Eve were given in those first two chapters of Genesis, first three chapters of Genesis, because the

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Bible doesn't give us any more than what we've got. Yeah. So, it's nice that R .C.

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Sproul was humble enough to say that without in his genius understanding of theological concepts trying to impose himself on, well, it really is this way because of this and this, you know.

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Right. So, God is sovereign and we know He was sovereign even in the Garden of Eden, because it says that God had chosen for Himself His elect from before the foundation of the world, as we have in Ephesians 1 and other places.

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And that's actually what we're going to be talking about here as we go on with Luke's question. Okay. Well, let's continue. Because I haven't finished his email.

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Yes. My question is regarding the names in the Lamb's Book of Life. I know that John writes in Revelation that the names of those who worship the beast have not been recorded in the book from before the foundation of the world.

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That's in Revelation 13, 8 and 17, 8, implying that those who will be saved have been recorded since the foundation of the world.

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But in the same book, John refers to names being blotted out from the Lamb's Book of Life.

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Is it possible that God would remove the name of someone from the book after having recorded it before the foundation of the world?

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I appreciate you taking questions like mine from your listeners. Your ministry has been a large part of my walk and growth and understanding of the word.

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I use your podcast as a teaching tool for the youth Sunday school that I teach at church.

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Thank you and God bless. Well, that is a very encouraging email. And I thank you so much for sending that,

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Luke, and also for asking your question. So the Bible actually makes reference to several books in heaven.

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It's not just the Lamb's Book of Life, but that's the one that we think about most often.

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You know, people who are not even well versed in scripture, they have probably heard that term. Yeah. The Lamb's Book of Life before, which has the names of everyone who is a follower of Jesus.

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Because then there's a lion and the lamb pictured over onto the side and there's a great big book, you know, in the scene.

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Well, yeah. Jesus is the lion and the lamb. I know. But in the pictures. Oh, in the pictures.

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Oh, yeah. I get what you're saying. Right. Yeah. Yeah. There's never actually a verse in the Bible that says the lion will lie down with the lamb.

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Right. So we paint those pictures and you see them at your local Christian bookstore.

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But there's not a verse that actually says that. Anyway. Yeah. Side note. Now, I have to clarify in case somebody emails, well, did you check

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Isaiah? Right. Isaiah says the wolf will lie down with the lamb. Oh, OK. It does. And there's a lion mentioned in that verse, but it doesn't say that a lion will lie down with the lamb.

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OK. Anyway. Noted. It's just totally a minor side note. But just one of those things where you've heard it repeated so many times that you think there's a statement in the

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Bible. But Jesus is referred to as both the lion and the lamb. Right. He is the lion of Judah and he is the lamb of God.

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So the Bible makes reference to several books, as I mentioned. And as an example, Revelation 20, verse 12, says that there are other books that are opened with the book of life and the dead are judged by what is written in the books according to what they had done.

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So this seems to indicate that there are books which chronicle our works. Like you think of Jesus in Matthew 12, 36, saying that there's a record of our words being kept.

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You will have to give an account for every careless word that you've spoken. Right. That scares me. Yeah. And this is frightening.

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Right. It's an understanding of things like this, which I think is what prompted Paul to say to the

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Philippians, work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling. Right. We're still all going to stand before God in judgment, even us who are in Christ.

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But the difference will be that our book is written in the Lamb's book of life, as well as there being books that chronicle all the works that we've done.

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So related to these books is an occasional reference to blotting out.

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And that was the question that Luke had. So what about those places where it talks about being blotted out of that book? Sometimes that term blot out is used to say that the

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Lord has removed our transgressions from us. So in the books that chronicle our works by the grace of God, the sins we've committed are blotted out.

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And when we ask for forgiveness, he cleanses us from all unrighteousness. First John 1, 9.

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The metaphor depicts someone as having taken a pen and dabbed ink over the listing of our works so that they're no longer readable.

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So like in Isaiah 43, 25, where the Lord says, I have blotted out your transgressions.

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Or we have something like that mentioned in Acts chapter three as well. Then there are other occasions where in addition to blotting out your transgressions, there are occasions when blotting out specifically refers to a person or a name.

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So in Exodus 32, Moses asks God, you know, this is after the golden calf.

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It's been reported that there is a golden calf now in the camp of Israel that is being worshipped and God is going to wipe out

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Israel. And so Moses pleads on behalf of Israel that God wouldn't wipe them out. But he asks

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God if Israel is going to be blotted out of God's book, that Moses be blotted out also.

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And the Lord responds that only those who sin against God are blotted out of his book.

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It's as if God is saying to Moses, request denied. Right. Precisely.

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So in Psalm 69, David asks that his enemies would be blotted out of the book of the living.

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That's verse 28. And we get the picture that the book of the living and the Lamb's book of life are synonymous.

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Okay. Book of life, book of the living. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. So does this imply then with David asking that his enemies be blotted out, does this imply that these people were once written in the

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Lamb's book of life, but were later removed? So it's important to remember that whenever we're being told of something happening in the heavenly places and it's given a physically relatable description.

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So you think of like angels riding horses and wielding swords. Right. Or even in Revelation 19,

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Jesus returning riding on a white horse. These things are metaphorical.

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They're not literal. So the fact that there is a reference to two kinds of books, a listing of the elect and a listing of everyone's works, this is like saying that our salvation is verified by the evidence of two witnesses.

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If our name is written in the Lamb's book of life, then the books that list our works will verify that our works have been carried out in God.

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Right. And that's something Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, 21, that those who are of the light will come into the light.

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So it will be clearly seen that their works have been carried out in God. So if we are in the book of life and we are followers of Christ, then our works will look like those things that Jesus has commanded his disciples to do.

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And so it's like our salvation being verified by two witnesses. We're in this book and oh, look, the works that are in this book go with this book.

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Right. So that's kind of the picture that we're being given. And again, this is metaphorical. It's not literal.

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So our names are not literally written down and then literally blotted out.

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Okay. That make sense? Yeah. So otherwise there would be conflict with the doctrine of eternal security. How could we be confident that we're not snatched out of the

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Father's hand, as it says in John 10, 28 through 29, if our names can be blotted out of the

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Lamb's book of life. Right. So what would be our eternal security? The principle in citing Revelation 13, 8 or 17, 8 is simply to show that God has already chosen those whom he will save and those from whom he will withhold salvation.

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And this was all decided from before the foundation of the world. So that's the reason why

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I would cite a passage like that. It's not to say your name is literally written in this book or it's literally blotted out of that book.

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Right. It's just to show that God has already made this decision. And we have references like that in the scriptures of those whose names

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God has known from before the world began and has called us to himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

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Right. When you're talking about the process of salvation, it began in eternity past.

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Exactly. But you are still saved the same way anybody is saved, by grace through faith in Christ alone.

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Right. According to the scripture alone. And this is by the gospel that was proclaimed to you and you heard the gospel and you turned from your sin and you believed it.

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And it's exciting. Woohoo! Oh my goodness! But then when you study the theology of it, so like you talked about trying to come to understand a doctrine of limited atonement or something like that.

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When you study the doctrine, when you go into the scriptures and you read about this work that God has done and how he's put all of these things together to bring about the salvation of his elect, amen, praise

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God, glory, hallelujah, then you see that God has already decided this.

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This is, you know, as James White will describe it as the difference between God's decreed will and then what he's working out in time.

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So everything that's happening, God has already decreed. And that's a hidden will. And we don't know what that will is.

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All we know is what God has told us in the Bible and we know what has already happened. But what's going to happen in the future, we don't get to know that.

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So your call is to be obedient to the word, to repent, turn from sin, follow

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Jesus Christ, be obedient to what he has said, preach the gospel to others that they would likewise turn from sin and come to know

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Christ. But we know that God is sovereign and he has already worked these things out and none of this is dependent upon us.

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Oh, praise the Lord. It is God's work from beginning to end. Nobody's excited about this and they should be.

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They should be very excited about it. No, we want to argue and contend over different doctrines. Everybody's so like about it and I'm like, no, no, yay, be excited.

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I think one of the things that turned me the most quickly, is that proper

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English? Sure. We'll go with it. That turned me the quickest to understanding the sovereignty of God was somebody asking me the question, why would it be wrong to give

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God more glory? And I'm going, right, yeah. So it's all his.

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That was kind of the eye -opening moment for me of like, all right, woo, hallelujah.

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So I hope that helps you out, Luke. And I thank you again for your email. And now we're going to go to Australia.

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So this is Melbourne from Hayden, where Hayden is the person, Melbourne is the place,

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Australia is the continent. Okay. Greetings. It's a little confusing. Is it backwards there?

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Well, it's down under. It's upside down. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe, maybe a little. Just kidding.

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Greetings, Pastor Gabe and Becky. Thank you for your ministry and you are part of my daily commute to and from work.

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Oh, fun. We had a soldier contact me this past week too, and had said, I listen to half the podcast on the way to work and half the podcast on the way home.

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Oh, that's awesome. I get it all in one day. Your teachings have impacted me dearly and I appreciate the manner you discuss things.

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I had been toying with catechism for my family for years, to be honest, but you got me over the line getting the

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Baptist catechism for our family to work through. I saw - I love it. I saw Annie and Z running around with their catechism books this morning.

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I was like, hey, good job, kids. Yeah. I drill them. No, just kidding.

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But kind of. Ugh.

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Sorry. All right. So I have a question for you. That's why we take these emails.

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Of course. In a recent interview, you spoke about Sabbatarianism and you said, you are not a

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Sabbatarian, but you might look like one. What does that look like for you? I would love to describe myself in the same manner, but I'm not totally sure how.

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What do you consider work? Work in quotation marks. So like, don't work on the Sabbath.

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Right. Do you need to prepare yourself on Saturday in order to do this?

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So you have the day of preparation like in Old Testament. Like you do double. In what ways are you not a

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Sabbatarian? I look forward to your response. Thank you, Hayden. All right. So I appreciate you listening and for your question.

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The term Sabbatarian is used to describe a Christian who recognizes

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Sunday as the Sabbath. So you wouldn't use the same term to describe an

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Orthodox Jew who keeps the Sabbath on Saturday. And it's very common in Reformed Baptist confessions to view

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Sunday as the new Sabbath. And this is also written in the London Baptist Confession 1689.

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All right. So this is how it appears. Chapter 22, paragraph 7. As it is the law of nature that in general, a proportion of time by God's appointment be set apart for the worship of God.

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So by his word in a positive moral and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a

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Sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week.

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And from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's day and is to be continued to the end of the world as the

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Christian Sabbath. The observation of the last day of the week being abolished. So that's

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Sabbatarianism. It's the Sabbath is no longer Saturday, but it's Sunday as the

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Lord's day. Now there are certain things about Sunday that are very special to us as a family.

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It is the day that we gather together for church. I have a certain preparation on Sunday morning that I do not have the rest of the week.

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We have certain things that we do even in the afternoon and evening that we don't do the rest of the week. Sunday is a day that I've implemented for my kids.

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We're not going to watch TV that day. And so, you know, they might be rewarded with television other times during the week, but Sunday will be family time.

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We'll be focused on each other. We'll read books together. We'll play games together. That's the kind of stuff that we do on Sunday.

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So the fact that we treat Sunday that way is why I look like I'm Sabbatarian, but I really don't actually follow this aspect of the

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London Baptist confession. And this is one of the reasons why I say that I lean Reformed, but I don't actually call myself a fully

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Reformed Baptist, because I don't follow a Baptist confession like the LBCF 1689.

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And there's really only two places where I don't agree with the LBCF. And this is one where they refer to Sunday as the

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Sabbath. And the other is in Chapter 30, Paragraph 5 concerning the Lord's Supper. Because you don't think that Sunday is the

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Sabbath? I don't think Sunday is the Sabbath. No. Okay. I think the Sabbath is still Saturday, but there's not a mandate upon Christians to keep the

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Sabbath. And I'll explain that here in just a moment. Okay. But first of all. I'm skipping ahead. Yes, you are. Sorry. Jumping ahead. It's because you know my mind so well.

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Yeah. Even though we don't get to see each other all week long, we're still clicking.

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Wouldn't there be somebody at church who said, like, how is it that you guys just end up on the same page together all the time?

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Yeah, that was Raymond. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Just thought it was funny. We always end up at the same place at the same time.

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You guys are like train rails. You never cross paths, so you don't know what each other's doing, but you always end up at the same spot.

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All right. That's a good metaphor. I'm like, yeah, exactly. We get to where we're going.

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We know each other that well. I think it works. So the other part of the LBCF I don't agree with is the part that has to do with the

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Lord's Supper. So in chapter 30, paragraph 5, it says, the outward elements in this ordinance duly set apart to the use ordained by Christ have such relation to him crucified as that truly, although in terms used figuratively, they are sometimes called by the names of the things they represent to wit the body and blood of Christ, albeit in substance and in nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine as they were before.

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Now I do not agree with the doctrine of transubstantiation. So that's what that part of the

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LBCF is confronting. But under chapter 30, where it talks about the Lord's Supper, it mandates that those elements must be bread and wine.

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And I don't agree. I don't agree that they have to be a certain kind of bread and a certain kind of drink, because there's nothing in scripture that says that exactly.

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Even in whether you're talking about Jesus giving the Lord's Supper to his disciples or you talk about Paul repeating it in 1

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Corinthians 11, there's nothing in there that mentions that the cup is fermented wine. Now I think you'd probably be making a silly argument to try to argue it was just juice.

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It wasn't actually fermented wine. I don't think you'll get anywhere with that argument. But nonetheless, there's nothing that specifies that was wine.

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Yeah, this has to be wine. This has to be wine. Right. And so those two aspects of the

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LBCF, and they're really minor disagreements. It's not like I would never attend a church.

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But you either are or you're not. Right. Right. Precisely. So because I have these problems with the

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LBCF, we have not adopted that as a statement of faith as a church, and nor would

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I call myself a Sabbatarian, even though I look like one, because I don't actually believe Sunday is the

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Sabbath. Saturday is still the Sabbath. Sunday is the Lord's Day. But there's not a requirement for us as Christians to have to keep the

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Sabbath. And here's five arguments that I have for you. Why? Okay. So, number one, the

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Bible says that the Sabbath is a shadow of things that were to come.

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Colossians 2, 16 through 17, therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a

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Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

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So that passage, by the way, also goes with why I don't agree with the wine issue in the

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LBCF. Yeah, but aren't you passing judgment on them?

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No. No. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. Play on words. Right. Okay. But I'm just saying, if that's what you want to do, great.

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It's just, I don't see that that has to be a requirement for anybody. I agree. Yeah. I was just teasing.

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Okay. She's kicking me in my shin, too. I am. I'm just kidding. I'm like, get over it.

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Get over it. Also, when Paul talks about days, like which days are holy and which days are not, when he talks about this in Romans 14, verses five through six, he says, one person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

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Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor in the

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Lord. But Paul never, at any point in there, says, no, it's Sunday, and you have to recognize

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Sunday as the Lord's day, and everybody needs to be gathered on that day, or else you don't recognize the

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Christian Sabbath, and you are in sin. There's nothing in the Bible that says that. Now, Sunday is certainly called the

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Lord's day, because that was the day that Christ rose from the dead. It's the day that the Christian saints gathered together to commemorate that resurrection.

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And the Bible tells us that we should gather together. The Apostle Paul, talking to the

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Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 16, 1, about gathering on the first day of the week to take an offering.

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You have a reference to them gathering on the Lord's day in Acts 20, as Paul was teaching.

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This was the story where Eutychus falls out of the window and dies, and then Paul goes and revives him back up.

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And then also in Revelation chapter one, I want to say it's verse 10, where the

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Apostle John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, when he received the vision that he was given from Jesus Christ.

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And so you have these constant references to being gathered together as the saints on that particular day of the week, the first day of the week, because it was the day that Christ rose from the dead.

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But there's no requirement to keep that day, nor is there any mention of the

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Sabbath becoming Sunday. Right. And I'll get more to that here in just a moment. But my first argument is that the

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Bible says the Sabbath is a shadow of things that were to come. There is no obligation for us to keep it.

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Argument number two, the Sabbath is a sign of the Mosaic covenant. And this is where I get to refer to something

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I just read yesterday in our study of Nehemiah. So Nehemiah chapter nine, verses 13 and 14, as the people were praying unto the

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Lord, and they were asking God's forgiveness for the sins of the people of Israel and for their forefathers, they say unto

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God, you came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments.

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And you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses, your servant.

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So the Sabbath was a sign of the Mosaic covenant. And as we read about in second

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Corinthians, that covenant has faded and is gone. Right.

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And now we have a new covenant, which is in Christ Jesus, which is unfading and has an eternal glory.

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Amen. So then a third reason, there is no commandment in the New Testament to observe the

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Sabbath, nor is there any kind of penalty mentioned for those who do not keep the

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Sabbath. Right. It's not in the New Testament. That's true. So again, the church met on the first day of the week, but nothing says that the

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Sabbath has moved from Saturday to Sunday. And I feel like this is the same kind of argument that Pado Baptists use when they say that baptism is the new circumcision.

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Oh, okay. So we're no longer under the covenant of circumcision. We have baptism now. And it's the same kind of argument when the

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Reformed Baptists will say that Sunday is the new Sabbath. It's moved from Saturday to Sunday.

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There's no direct correlation in scripture. So I don't see how we can therefore mandate that upon anybody that they have to keep

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Sunday as the Sabbath when there's nothing in the New Testament that says that. I use the same argument related to infant baptism.

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There's absolutely nothing in the Bible that tells you to baptize your babies. Yeah. Nothing. So there's not a requirement to have to do that.

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Right. Now you are told to be baptized. Most definitely. Yeah. This is a demonstration of the faith that you have in Christ.

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Yes. In obedience. It is a work that Christ has told you to do in obedience unto him.

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And if you are saved, you will delight in doing that work. Yes. But there is nothing in there that mandates that a child, an infant who cannot express faith or belief is supposed to be baptized.

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Well, you're supposed to be asking them to change their diaper if you can change their diaper for them.

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Yeah. Right. That's the new thing now. Right. Yes. Where was it? I read that. I don't remember that now. But yeah, there was some article

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I was reading where they were now trying to encourage parents. Ask them first.

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Yeah. You need to ask. You need to get their permission. You need to ask your infant child their permission to change their diaper.

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Oh, man. And use certain words. Mariah would be in her diaper all day. None of our kids have enjoyed getting their diapers changed.

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So it's like, I'd rather sit here in my filth. Thank you very much. Anyway, how did we get on that?

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I don't know. Fourth reason. Oh, the baptism. Infant baptism.

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Well, yeah. I've been baptized by my kids changing their diapers several times. Oh, stop it. Stop. Oh, dear.

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Oh, no. I don't baptize my babies, but they baptize me. Oh, dear. All right. Fourth argument here. There was no

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Sabbath before Moses. Okay. There was never a Sabbath. So there wasn't a seventh day of the week that was supposed to be kept as holy.

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And this applies the same way with the dietary laws. There were not dietary laws.

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But with Moses. Sorry. I'm kind of hung up on that. So God did the six days of creation, and then he rested on the seventh day.

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Rested on the seventh. Right. So how is that not the Sabbath? There is nothing mentioned prior to the law that was given to Moses that that day had to be kept.

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Okay. As a day of rest. Okay. So the mention in Genesis 1, or at the start of Genesis 2, as the

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Lord resting from his work was a foreshadowing to the law that was going to be given by Moses. Okay.

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I gotcha. Or given to Moses, rather. Because remember, Moses is the one that also wrote Genesis. Right. So he's writing in there about creation.

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So when we get to the law that he's written down in Exodus, then we see the correlation between the creation account and the law as it was given to recognize the

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Sabbath as holy. Got it. But prior to the law being given to Moses, there wasn't a

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Sabbath that had to be kept as holy. I'm following you now. And it's the same way with the dietary laws.

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So the dietary laws were enforced as part of the ceremonial cleanliness laws before going into the tabernacle or into the temple.

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You had to be pure, and you could not eat certain foods or you made yourself unclean.

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Once Christ fulfilled all of that, and he becomes our fellowship with God, and he is our sacrificial lamb that takes away the sin of the world, there's not a reason for us to continue those cleanliness laws, which the dietary laws were a part of.

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Right. So prior to the law being given to Moses, there wasn't a dietary system. In fact,

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God said in Genesis 9, 3, he said to Moses, after Moses and his family came off the ark, I give you every animal for food.

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Moses came off the ark. I've done that before. There was another podcast where I said Moses on the ark.

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I've done that before. Noah on the ark. Noah. There we go. Who built the ark?

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Yes. I've said Moses's name enough times now up to this point that it just became

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Moses in the ark. I was like, whoa, wait a second. I missed a story in the Bible. Hey, Moses had an ark and Noah had an ark, okay?

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Okay. They both had an ark. This is true. This is true. But he didn't come off of the ark. I'm pretty sure he wasn't allowed to touch it.

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Right. Yeah. But you know. Okay. So Noah, when he came off the ark.

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There we go. That sounds better. The Lord said to him, I give you every animal for food.

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So you could eat any animal. No animal was unclean until the dietary laws.

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And that was for the purpose of the tabernacle slash temple system before going into the place in worship.

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So anyway. So it's the same way with the Sabbath. There was no Sabbath prior to the law being given to Moses.

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And this was a type and a shadow law given to Moses, not Noah. Right. Okay. You said it right.

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Making sure I got the right name. Yes. And again, this was a shadow of what was going to be fulfilled in Christ.

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So Christ fulfilled the Sabbath laws. And I'm kind of jumping ahead, too, because I'm going to get to that here in just a moment.

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So number four, I think that was the one I mentioned. There was no Sabbath before Moses. Okay. That was my fourth argument.

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Fifth argument at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. The apostles did not impose

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Sabbath keeping on the Gentiles. So those are my five arguments.

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Number one, the Bible says that the Sabbath is a shadow of things that were to come. Number two, the Sabbath is a sign of the

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Mosaic covenant. Number three, there is no command in the New Testament to observe the Sabbath, nor is there any kind of penalty mentioned for those who do not keep the

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Sabbath. Number four, there was no Sabbath before Moses, just as there were no dietary laws.

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And number five, at the Jerusalem Council, the apostles did not impose Sabbath keeping on the

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Gentiles. Now, as I mentioned, Christ fulfilled even the laws of the Sabbath. So he says the following in Matthew 11, 25 through 30.

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Oh, amen. And I don't think it's coincidence that right after Jesus says this, you go into Matthew 12, and you read about his declaration of being the

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Lord of the Sabbath. And so Jesus is our Sabbath rest.

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Every day in the life of a believer is a Sabbath day that we keep unto the Lord, for we're supposed to give all of ourselves all day, every day unto

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God. All the time. That's right. Romans 12, 1, in view of God's mercies, brothers, present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto the

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Lord, and do this as an act of worship. This is your spiritual act of worship.

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Verse two, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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And then you will be able to see, you will be able to test and approve God's good, pleasing and perfect will.

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And that concept of transformation, of transforming and renewing the mind, that's a daily thing that you do.

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Right. So every day. Yes, definitely. Yes. Every day we submit ourselves unto the Lord. Some days

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I feel like I'm starting over. Yeah, I know. All right. Reset. Day one. Here we go again.

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Right. Today is day one. Yes. Yeah. So we give all of ourselves unto God, and no day do we work or strive or labor to attain salvation.

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Right. For that is the work of God. We do not labor for our salvation. We rest in Christ who has fulfilled all of these things, and Jesus is our

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Sabbath rest. So every day for a believer is a Sabbath day unto the Lord.

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Every day for the unbeliever, they break the fourth commandment. For they live every day in unholiness and unrighteousness, in rebellion against God.

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They do not rest in God, rather they are striving to try to attain a righteousness of their own, which in itself is blasphemy.

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So they break that commandment every single day, whereas the believer, the Christian, keeps the fourth commandment every single day, that we rest in Christ instead of working to try to attain our salvation.

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So that is my understanding of the Sabbath, and that's what I believe. Now I still think it's important for a

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Christian to have a day of rest, and Sunday is the perfect day to do that. And so, yeah, like I said, there are certain things that apply in our family that aren't things that we do for the rest of the week.

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But if we were, you know, somehow, something were to happen and I got to go mow the grass, I can't think of an emergency where I would have to go mow the grass on Sunday.

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But let's say I do that. I'm not breaking any Sabbath laws by doing that. And so again, it's why

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I sound like a Sabbatarian, but I'm not really. All right, last question. This one comes from Peter.

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Good name. That's my middle name. Hello. Peter says, Hi, Pastor. I've been enjoying your YouTube channel, and I wanted to ask you to look into the claims of this website, which he gives, and I'm not going to give the name of the website, arguing against the authenticity of Paul's writings.

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How can we counter those claims? Some of the claims on this particular website is that Paul was actually

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Satan in the flesh. So everything that Paul wrote was contrary to Christ and the ministry of his apostles.

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And so we need to do away with all of the epistles that were written by Paul in the New Testament. So Peter goes on to say,

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I've been in discussions with people who say that Paul was not really an apostle. He didn't see Jesus. He wasn't recognized by the apostles.

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He claimed to be the father of churches, although the Bible says to call no one father.

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And then he sealed it by saying that even if an angel would appear and preach something else, don't believe it.

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Well, Paul actually never referred to himself as the father of the churches. That wasn't his claim. He did refer to himself as like a father and even referred to himself as being like a mother, like a father.

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We cared for you like a like a mother. We looked after you. And this is very much in the spiritual sense.

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He was not telling anyone to refer to him as father. And like when we were going through first and second

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Timothy, he refers to Timothy as his true child in the faith. But this is because of the way that Paul brought

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Timothy up in the faith. He's not expecting Timothy to call him, oh, my father, you know, like we like the

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Catholics say that of a priest or of the pope or something, because the word pope itself means father. So that that wasn't

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Paul's meaning in those things at all. Furthermore, Paul had made an apologetic appeal for his authentic, his authenticity as an apostle.

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And you read that in Second Corinthians, right? This was the same issue that was going on in Corinth, where some of the

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Corinthians did not believe Paul was a genuine apostle. And so Paul said in Second Corinthians, twelve, twelve, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

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This is Paul saying, you saw what I did. I healed the sick. I prophesied things that came true, all of the genuine things that verify the power of an apostle, that Jesus Christ is with them in the word that they speak in the message that they declare.

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Paul demonstrated those things before the Corinthians. He performed miraculous signs and wonders.

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In First Corinthians nine, one through one and two. So the previous letter, am I not free?

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Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the

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Lord? If to others, I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the

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Lord. So here's my contention. If Paul was supposed to be a minister of Satan, why on earth was he leading people to Christ?

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Good question. And telling the people that it is by grace through faith that you are saved and not of yourselves.

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It is the gift of God, not of works so that no one may boast. If the apostle

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Paul was going to be a minister of Satan, I would expect him to say something like it's not by God's work, it's by your work that you are saved.

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Anyway. Work harder. Yeah. These, these arguments, these contentions have already been responded to.

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Paul had people who doubted his authenticity as an apostle. And so even to the Galatians, he appealed to his confrontation with Peter and that he was verified by the other apostles.

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That's in Galatians chapter one. The other apostles verified that he himself was an apostle. Barnabas vouched for Paul in front of the other apostles.

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So in Acts 11, 25 through 26, Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, who's

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Paul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year, they met with the church and taught with a great many people.

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And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. Then in chapter 12, and Barnabas and Saul returned, returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them

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John, whose other name was Mark. So John Mark, who wrote the book of Mark, was even a servant along with Paul.

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And then in Acts chapter 13, verses one through three, now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers,

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Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menean, a lifelong friend of Herod the

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Tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me

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Barnabas and Saul, who is Paul, for the work to which I have called them.

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Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Then you also have Barnabas and Paul appearing before the

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Jerusalem council, which I talked about just a moment ago in Acts chapter 15. And they talked about the

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Holy Spirit being verified through miraculous signs and wonders at Antioch. And there the other apostles verify that this account that comes from Barnabas and Paul is genuine.

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It's accurate. Right. So he's tested, tried and true. Now he mentions of himself in first Corinthians 15, that he's the least of the apostles as one untimely born because he was not one of the apostles who actually walked around with Jesus and got to know him during his time of earthly ministry.

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Rather, Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. So that's one of the reasons why Paul refers to himself as one untimely born.

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But also the reason why he refers to himself as the least of the apostles is because he persecuted other

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Christians and the other apostles did not ever do that. And so it is by the grace and mercy of God that Paul was rescued out of that satanic behavior and was made an apostle of Jesus Christ.

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Not an agent of Satan, but he was one who was sent by Christ. And his testimony, his letters, his work, eyewitness accounts, on and on it goes, verify that Paul is who he said he was.

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He was an apostle of Christ. But if they're throwing out those books, they don't know that. Well, yeah. And here's the thing.

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If you want to say that Paul was not an apostle and instead he was some sort of minister of Satan, where's your proof?

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Amen. What's your evidence? You don't have it in the Bible. Right. For the Bible verifies that Paul was who he said he was.

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Exactly. So, Peter, the recommendation that I would make to you whenever you encounter people who make these claims is you just come back to scripture.

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I would study 2 Corinthians and read the whole letter, it's 13 chapters, but you'll see from beginning to end,

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Paul makes a continued appeal to his genuine apostleship. Even though he gets to the height of his argument in chapters 10, 11 and 12, he's been making those appeals in various places throughout the first half of the letter as well.

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So study 2 Corinthians because that's where you'll find the most apologetic argument for his apostleship.

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There were people during his day that doubted his authenticity as well. But he was nonetheless an apostle of Jesus Christ.

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That's our show for today. So thank you to everybody who sent in email and we'll see if I get that simple give account done.

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Yeah. You can go check that out. Let's pray. Yes, let's. Our wonderful God and Savior, we thank you for saving us.

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We thank you for sending your son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and that by your Holy Spirit, our hearts have been regenerated to know who you are, to realize our sinfulness and our rebellion against God, to see you as holy and how unholy we truly are.

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And that we would turn from this sinfulness and desire to live in righteousness, a righteousness that did not come from ourselves, but was given to us in Christ.

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And we've been clothed in his righteousness to do your work with zealous fervor.

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And so give us a passion for you to worship you and do the things that you have called us to do.

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We thank you for those who have sent us emails today. And I pray for Luke as he is continuing to think about some of these deep truths in scripture and understand you as sovereign, that you would continue to give him wisdom.

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As we read in James 1 5, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously and without reproach.

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And you would give such wisdom to Luke. Also, we pray for Hayden as he is leading some of the youth in his church and that you would continue to give him wisdom and knowledge and understanding that he might lead these teens in a right way.

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And we also pray God for Peter as he is responding to those who have been contentious against some of the truths that we read about in your word and that Peter would be able to respond to those accusations with gentleness and respect.

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Help us all to set apart Christ as holy in our hearts, being ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us and doing this with gentleness and respect.

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And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Are you cold?

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No. And why are you wrapped in that big blanket? Because I'm freezing. You just said you weren't cold.

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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You are cold.

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No. Freezing. Oh. Okay. My bad.