Matt Slick Live: September 6, 2024

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, take in your calls and respond to your questions at 877 -207 -2276. Here's Matt Slick. Hey everybody, welcome to the show.

It's me, Matt Slick. You're listening to Matt Slick Live. Today's a nice day. Let's see, today is September 6th, 2024. If you'd like to, you can give me a call. The number is 877 -207 -2276. All right.

Well, let's see. Let's see. Let's see. I've got a couple of things going here. I'll be down in Salt Lake City tomorrow, tomorrow evening. And I'm going to visit some friends and stuff. And I'm going to go hear Ed Romine preach.

Now, where is he preaching at? What church is he preaching at? And maybe you guys can put that in the private chat there and I'll announce it. Go down there and hear him preach. He's a friend of mine.

He has cerebral palsy, a good guy, loves the Lord. And a friend of mine and I are going to drive down and be there Saturday night and morning get up and go watch him preach. I'll tease him probably. And then we'll come home.

No big deal. So there you go. Well, hey, just by the way, we are on, let's see, Clubhouse. You can go into Clubhouse and just look for Matt Slick Live in there. Sometimes we even broadcast on Discord, but not many people really go in there, so we don't really worry about it.

We are also broadcasting live on Rumble. You can go to rumble .com forward slash Matt Slick Live and also in YouTube. I think if you just type in Matt Slick Live, you can see that. So it's First Baptist in Provo.

That's where it is, Provo. And I'll be there Sunday, Lord willing, I'll be there Sunday morning and hear Ed preach. Maybe we'll get something to eat afterwards. I don't know what we'll do, a bunch of guys and I and us or what, whatever.

So that's what that is. Hey, we have nobody waiting right now. If you want to call me, the number is 877 -207 -2276. All right. And if you want, you can email me as well. All you have to do is dial, dial, send an email to info at CARM .org, info at CARM .org.

And in the subject line, put in radio comment, radio question, and we can get to it. We've got a few of those. So there we go. All right. All right. Okay. Well, interesting stuff there. All right. What I'm going to do is just go on some of the questions that are going on and talk about that.

Paul Dictating Romans Through Tertius

All right. So there we go. Let's see. Why does it seem that Paul wrote Romans in Romans 1, but in Romans 16 .22, it says that Tertius is the one who wrote Romans. Is Tertius using a pseudonym? In Romans 16 .22, let me go to that, and we'll talk about it.

It's kind of a common question, Romans 16 .22, I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord. So Tertius was what we would call an amanuensis, an amanuensis, and an amanuensis is someone who would do the writing for you.

It's as though that a person was dictating. So standing there dictating as someone is writing. So Paul is what's saying, I'm telling you, I'm telling you this, I'm telling you that. The amanuensis would write down exactly what he says.

And then Paul would say things like, you know, greet so-and-so and so-and-so, et cetera. And then I, Tertius, who write this, greet you in the Lord also. Tertius was a well-known guy at that time.

That's all that's going on is that both Tertius, well, Tertius did the pen to paper, but it was Paul who actually dictated it, scribed it out, things like that, and that's all that's going on there. Okay, that was easy and no big deal.

Let's try this one. I've been a regular visitor for your site about 15 years. I think we've read this one already, Longer Face Group, uh-huh, I tried, checked it out before, and yeah, it's got problems.

We'll get to the next email. Let's see. Wow. Oh, that's right. You know, there's somebody, this email, this guy is trying to destroy the idea of the resurrection of Jesus. Now, okay, it's really interesting why people want to do that.

And the eyewitnesses who wrote Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, you know, Paul and Jude, they wrote about this stuff, and yet people just say, no, no, no, it's not true. They work hard at denying Christ, and I wonder why.

Different people are going to have different reasons for denying Christ and wanting to deny him, but definitely it's a spiritual thing, but nevertheless, I do meet them on line periodically, and I say, why do you say this?

And what they'll do is they'll offer me their presuppositions, well, it's impossible for someone to rise from the dead for three days, and I say, how do you know? You know, do you know all circumstances and all situations?

Do you know if God is out there or not out there? They just say, no, it just can't be because there's no God, it doesn't work. And what they do is very often they just offer an opinion as a fact, and that's their basis.

It's really interesting. All right. Here's another one. Now, wait a minute. Why is that like that? Let's see. Sometimes I'd like to hear your point of view on the sovereign grace people. Well, I'd have to know which sovereign grace people, because there's different kinds of groups called sovereign grace.

There's different kinds of groups called sovereign grace. There's a denomination that way, there are individual churches that are called that, so it's hard to say which one. You have to give me an example of who would be more specific.

All right. So aside from that one, let's see. Let's try this. Was that that? No, that was this. Okay. Let me try this. Rather, their belief in elect versus, I don't know what that means, elect versus universal.

So I don't know what that means. You've got to write complete sentences, folks. Complete sentences with the subject and predicate. Make a point, then make a point based on that, things like that. All right.

Let's see. I would love to hear you expound on Proverbs 31 .3. Let's try that. Let's go to Proverbs 31 .3. Proverbs 31 .3, do not give your strength to women or your ways to that which destroys kings.

Wow. Wow. So you heard it. You heard it. Don't give your strength to women. So what does that mean? I think what it means is the issue of relying too much on women for your own strength and that don't give vows to them and let them, I think it's what Proverbs is talking about, undermine you.

So that's what I'm thinking is to others. There's a related verse, you don't give your vigor to others. So that seems to be what it is and let's see what the context is before. The words of King Lemuel, the oracle, what oh my son and what oh son of my womb and what oh son of my vows.

Do not give your strength to women. So a woman is saying this. It looks like the King of Lemuel, it says that this doesn't quite make sense. The King of Lemuel, the oracle, the oracle which his mother taught him, okay, his mother said that.

It's not for kings to drink wine or to rule or to desire strong drink for they will drink and forget what is decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. Well, yeah, okay. So mother, yeah, that's interesting.

I do some more research on that one. Don't give your strength to women. So that's nice. I should quote that to my wife and see what she says. Hey, honey, guess what this says? And I'll do it for like 10 feet away and see what she does, you know, throw something at me or whatever.

Who knows? Anyway, let's get to another one. Let's see. In first Kings 1138, God tells Jeroboam through the prophet that he will receive the kingdom of Israel if he follows his commands and walks in his ways.

God knows that he will not. So what are your thoughts on why God says it and if he gives Israel to Jeroboam knowing that he will cause Israel to sin? Well, because God knows counterfactuals and he knows the conditions.

Counterfactuals are those things which could exist but don't or don't have any actuality but have potentiality. So a counterfactual would be a situation like this. If you do this, things will go fine.

This is what will happen. But he didn't do that. So God's just saying what would happen under different circumstances. That's all that's happening. And it certainly is demonstrating that God is is a sovereign king who knows everything what's going on.

And that's what's going on there. Let's get to Sam from Raleigh, North Carolina. Sam, welcome. You're on the air.

Thank you, sir. Sir, as humans, we have a father, mother, children, that kind of thing. And if humans, if we are a reflection of the creator and there is God, the father, God, the son, is there any credence to a mother or.

No, no, it Mormonism teaches there's a mother goddess that came from another planet with her goddess, God, husband. And so in Mormonism, God is an exalted man from another planet. He came to this world.

He has a goddess wife. They have relations, produce offspring, spirit babies in heaven, et cetera. So but biblically speaking, no, there's no warrant for that whatsoever. God is eternal. There is no gender to God's nature.

He identifies himself in the masculine because there's two genders. And he identifies himself in that way for theological reasons as well. Federal headship representation. I can get into it more deeply, but that's what he does.

So the only mother associated with anything to do with the Lord God would be in the incarnation where the second person of the Trinity was born from Mary. So that's the only way we could we could associate anything that way.

OK.

All right. And sorry. What about God, the Holy Spirit, as the one who regenerates, you know, unbelievers?

Yes, generally regenerating part. Yes. It's generally understood that the regeneration that making us born again out of John three three through eight and actually first Peter three one three says, let's be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to great mercy, has caused us to be born again.

So this is the God, God, the father is what caused us to be born again. We know that the Holy Spirit indwells us. And I forgot the exact verse for that. But the father and the son find it. The father and the son also indwell us.

And that's what Jesus says in John 14, 23. And let's see. Let's see if I have that verse for the Holy Spirit in there, too. My notes. Yes. Christ, I'm searches the heart minds that crisis in you. Yeah.

We know that the Holy Spirit indwells us, too, but I could see it and find that verse and memorize it. But the father is one who specifically is said to be the one who caused us to be born again in first Peter one three.

OK.

All right. I mean, so there is no attribution to God, the Holy Spirit, since he's the regenerating.

Person. There's. I didn't understand everything you said. You're getting what?

Not giving birth to us. So in that sense that he is mother now, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We don't call God our mother. We don't refer to the Holy Spirit. Yeah. OK. Yeah. No. Functionally.

I mean, because he's the one who regenerates us.

Well, God, here's a difficult God is specifically the one who caused us to be born again. But it also says in Titus three, five, that we're saved not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing by the Holy Spirit.

So there's that also. We're going to break coming up, so hold on, OK, and we'll make this after the break. All right. So please hold. Hey, folks, be right back after these messages. We have three open lines.

If you want to give me a call, eight, seven, seven, two, zero, seven, two, two, seven, six. We'll be right back.

It's Matt Slick live taking a call at eight, seven, seven, two, zero, seven, two, two, seven, six. Here's Matt Slick.

All right. And welcome back to the show. I guess we lost the previous caller there. And I did look and found some other verses more in line with what we're looking at. I did cite Titus three, five, by the washing and renewing of the Holy Spirit and the issue of our being born again.

But also Jesus says in John three, verses five through six, unless you're born of water and the spirit, you cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So the spirit of God is definitely involved in our regeneration.

Now, here's the thing. There's a doctrine in the Trinity called inseparable operations and several operations means that the Father, Son, Holy Spirit being all one essence, one thing and divinely simple.

We recognize their distinction by their relationship they have to one another and to us and that each does. Each is involved in the work of the other. Now, there's distinction. But what we see, for example, is in John five, 19, OK, I'm going to read this.

This is an important verse about inseparable operations. Jesus says the son can do nothing of himself and unless it is something he sees the father doing. So Jesus, whatever he does, the father, he sees the father doing it.

It's an odd statement that Jesus makes because we know that the father was not crucified and Jesus only was crucified. So what to what extent is Jesus saying this? Well, that's worth another discussion.

We could talk about it because there are distinctions between the members of the Godhead where the father begets, the son is begotten, the Holy Spirit redeems, the Holy Spirit convicts and things like that.

Only the son became incarnate where the father did not. So yet, because they're all one being, the one God, then there's this perichoretic relationship. The perichoresis is the mutual indwelling of the persons in each other.

So Jesus can say, what I see the father doing, I do, which is really interesting. And Jesus says, I can do nothing of my own initiative as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will.

And also in that issue of Jesus not doing anything of his own initiative. It's also, I believe it's in, where is that verse? Where the Holy Spirit also does nothing of his own initiative. It's really interesting.

So this is new stuff that I'm coming across and having researched it and learning about it. There are theologians who've discussed this and so I'm becoming more familiar with what's called inseparable operation.

So in the doctrine of the Trinity, and as it relates to Christ too, we have the doctrine of the Trinity, the ontological Trinity, the economic Trinity, the perichoresis, and inseparable operations. And so I know all those and I'll be teaching on them next week, but at any rate, a lot of good stuff.

All right. All right. As soon as Candice, I can't activate her, I can't get her on the air yet. But if you want to give me a call folks, 877 -207 -2276. Let's get to Candice from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Candice, welcome. You are on the air.

Hello, Matt. Hi. I was listening to a young man last week you were speaking to about the rapture. And I think there's a lot of confusion between that and the second coming. And how do you define what some people call a rapture.

That's not actually, the word is not found in the Bible.

Right. It's Latin, I believe, ruptus, which means to be seized or carried away. And so it comes from the parallel verse in Hebrew and Greek, Harpazo, to be caught up out of First Thessalonians four. So it's just a Greek, a Latin term that is used and became what we call the rapture.

It's out of First Thessalonians 4, 16, the chapter five, verse two. That makes sense so far.

Now. Yes, sir. And is this something that's going to occur pre-tribulation or are Christians actually going to be through the tribulation and then the second coming of Christ, which some people tie in with the rapture?

So is there separate things going on there or.

They're separate events, but they occur, in my opinion, occur on the same day at the same time. I believe we're going to go through the tribulation period. Now, there are lots of people who believe we're not going to go through the tribulation period.

OK.

OK. My view is we will. That's kind of been my thought for a while that, well, a long time back, I felt like we were going to be going through the tribulation, that we weren't going to be rescued from between.

We might go through part of the tribulation, maybe not all of it. But only God knows that God knows.

And I think I've got a pretty good study that I think proves we go through it. I have a study that I've not seen anybody refute in 10 or 15 years. It's not because I don't want to listen, but, you know, go ahead, sorry.

Well, that's OK. The young man you were speaking to also, there was, you said there were two men in the field. One was taken away and one was left behind. Right. That's the wicked who were taken. The one that was taken away was the wicked.

Now, what does that come from? Because I've never heard that before.

And that's a shame if you've not heard that before, because it's it's really shameful. And what I'll do is I'll go to the verses and I'll prove it, OK? I'll just take my time here and prove it to you that the wicked are the ones who were taken.

I'll prove it from God's word. All right. So I'm going to go to Luke 17, 26. I'm also going to go to Matthew 24, 37. Now, these are parallels. So I'm going to go, Matthew, then Luke, Matthew, then Luke, Matthew, then Luke, so you can see it.

This is Matthew. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. Here's Luke. Just as it happened in the days of Noah, so will it be also the days of the Son of Man. OK. Back to Matthew.

This is 24, 38. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage till the day that no one entered the ark. Now, over to Luke, they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying.

They were being given in marriage until the day that no one entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Go back over to Matthew 24, because it says no one entered the ark. They did not understand until the flood came and took them all away.

The flood took away the wicked, destroyed the wicked. Right? It's clear. OK. And then it says, then two men will be in the field. One will be taken. One will be left. What's the context? Who's taken? It's the wicked.

And Jesus says, be on the alert and don't go down, do all this stuff, you know, be careful. And he says, let me show you where this is. Let's see. And in Luke 17, they asked Jesus, well, where are they taken?

So the question here is going to be answered by Jesus. And he says, where the body is, the vultures will be gathered. So this proves two men in the field and one is taken, one is left. It's not the good.

It's the wicked.

That's who's taken. OK. So what's the good? Where is this good left? Where's the good left? What do you mean? I don't understand. Yeah. I mean, they're not left out in the field.

Are they? They're not left out in the field. Now what we'll do. Now what we'll do is we'll go to Matthew 13 when we get back from the break and I'll show you. OK. All right. OK. OK. So this is different.

Sounds good. Most people have not seen this before, but there it is. I'll keep it right back. After these messages, ladies and gentlemen, please give me a call if you want, 877 -207 -2276. Be right back.

It's Matt Slick live taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right.

Welcome back to the show. All right. Let's get back on with Candace from Raleigh, North Carolina. Are you still there? Yes, Matt, I am. All right. Now I'm going to back up a little bit and show you something here.

This is, I actually released an article today, as a matter of fact, and a list of scriptures dealing with this very thing. And it's right there. You can go to the Karma Home page. It's the number one article there.

So there's only one return of Jesus. That's important. There's not a half return, there's not a partial return. And this is out of Acts 1, 9 through 11, when the angels prophesied that Jesus, who'd been taken up from you to heaven, will come in just the same way as you've watched him go into heaven.

There's no teaching that they teach he'll come back partially. He just comes back. In Matthew 24, 1 through 31, Jesus taught about the accompanying signs that would precede his return, because the disciples asked him, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

What will be the sign of your coming? There's a single return of Christ. It's always assumed to be just one thing. So he says the return, we already went through this, Matthew 24, he says that the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

That's what it says. And Luke 17, just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be the days of the Son of Man. So we know that Jesus is just returning once. And then there's a verse in Matthew 25, 31, but when the Son of Man comes in his glory, we don't see a partial coming.

We don't see a halfway coming. We just see this as one event, his return. That's how the scriptures speak. So now when we go to Matthew 13, what we find there is the parable of the wheat and the tares.

And they say, hey, should we tear up the tares? And he says, no, unless you tear up the wheat also. In verse 30, he says, allow both to grow together until the harvest. And in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, first gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up, but gather the wheat into my barn.

So Jesus is saying the first ones gathered at the harvest is the wicked to be burned, to be destroyed. Then he interprets what he said in verse 40 through 42. Just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire. And that place will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now remember, Jesus says, as it was in days of Noah, so shall it be the days of the coming of the Son of Man. They were eating, they were drinking, giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Well, where are they taken? The disciples say, where the body is, the vultures gather. People call that the rapture verse, but it's not. The rapture occurs, that's in 1 Thessalonians 4, but that's not the rapture stuff.

So what Jesus is saying is that at the end of the age, which is the time of the harvest, the first ones taken are the wicked and are taken out of his kingdom. That's what he said. I can go on more if you want.

Well, I'm just you're saying that the rapture event is would be the same as the coming of Christ and it's all one event.

Yes. OK, now I don't know if it's exactly one second, you know, but I mean, it's the same. Yeah, it's the same thing there.

Same event. OK, so it's not two separate things. And where did that come? I mean, where did the whole rapture separate from the second coming ever come in play?

I mean, historically, I think it was about 150 years ago or so. And I forgot who started it, but it was in America. And man, I can't remember the name of the person. Oh, anyway, it was popularized in the Schofield Reference Bible, along with dispensationalism and then became a view that was as dominated Christian theology and churches in America.

And in my opinion, it's because the Christians have gotten away from the sovereignty and majesty of God, and they have to some degree gathered teachers that will tickle their ears because it's it's right to say, hey, we're not going to go through anything.

We're just going to be raptured out of here. Everything's good. And that to me is that is and there's more I can show you, too. I can show you even more.

Oh, I understand now. I've always I've always kind of felt that there was that Christ was coming and that was that we would be going through some of the trip. We would be going through the tribulation because, you know, there are those that are suffering for Christ now.

And that doesn't mean we're all going to get away with it. I mean, that's my feeling. We may have to still suffer for our beliefs or for our following Christ. So and with him coming, you know, and everybody's saying he's coming soon, he's coming soon.

Well, you can't say he may be another 15, 20, 100 years. Who knows? But we may have to suffer through the tribulation and then go from there. And I just look forward to glory. That's so. But I appreciate you helping me understand that further.

I was a little confused because I guess I'd never heard the first one about the evil taken first. And I was like, wow, that's kind of interesting. I haven't heard that before.

It really throws a lot of people when I first found it in scripture. It took me two years before I would mention the radio because the and the reason is because, well, that's what it's saying. And I have to be wrong.

I've never heard this from anybody. And I seriously read a lot and studied. It doesn't mean others have been teaching. And I'm just saying I hadn't heard it. And so it really bothered me. OK, I can't be the only one who sees this.

And and it really bothered me after a while. I just this is what it says. And so now I just defend it. That's what it says. And I don't make any apologies for it. That's what Jesus himself said. But what's really interesting is he says that.

In fact, let me do this. Watch this. OK, let me get over. This is what Jesus says in Matthew 24. When the disciples asks, well, you know, what is the the, you know, what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age?

Jesus goes in and talks about a whole bunch of bad stuff coming. You know, he says there'll be wars and rumors of wars and false Christs, famines, earthquakes, tribulation, false prophets, lawlessness, et cetera, et cetera.

When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of in Daniel, run to the hills. If those days be not cut short, no flesh would be left. He goes on. He's talking about it. OK, then he says the coming of the son of man will be from the east to the west.

So he's talking about his return. And he says wherever the corpse is, the vultures will gather. This is what he's talking about in Matthew 24. And he says, but immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

The stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky. The return is the sky is after the tribulations, what he says. And he says in all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming in the clouds with sky of the sky with great power and great glory.

Now, I'm going to pause. I'm going to go to something here and get ready so I can read you something else. Because Jesus says in verse 24, 31, he continues in this. He says that he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet.

They will gather his elect from the four winds. So this is after the tribulation with a great trumpet, the elect are gathered. When you go to First Thessalonians 4, 16, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God.

The dead in Christ will rise first. That's the rapture. So we know that the rapture. Yeah, it comes with one return. It's with the trumpet, which he said Jesus himself says is after the tribulation. That's what he says.

This is going to lock me when I say it's what it says.

OK, well, it's true. That's right there. I think I think like you said, you know, people want to think, oh, we're going to miss the tribulation. And, you know, you know, where does the the two witnesses come into play?

And then they talk about the tribes of Judah and, you know, they're going to go out witness to the world. I think it's the tribes of Judah. And so this is going to be during the tribulation. That's right.

Yep. And there's more I can show you. It's even there's even there's a lot more. I've taught on this for like an hour at a time in different Bible studies. And I show people and they're like, oh, my goodness, I have never seen this stuff.

I see. I know. And it's right there.

I know, but it's just like you said, that that mindset from wherever from 150 years ago, this guy, whoever he was going to be putting everybody on that, you know, there's the rapture and then there's the second coming.

Yeah. And it can be quite confusing, but it's all the one.

But think about and let me say this really fast. We got a break coming up, but Jesus says he'll take them out of his kingdom. So the rapture is what precedes the rapture is the wicked are taken out of his kingdom, which means the kingdom of God is now, which means we Christians need to be acting like it and not waiting to escape out of a demonic kingdom.

We need to live in God's kingdom now. That's right. Humongously different attitude to have. It would change everybody's life. OK, there's a break. We've got to go. So God bless. Thank you, Matt. All right.

Great, great answer. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Hey, folks, 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.

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