April 27, 2020 Show with Marc Grimaldi on “The Christ, the Whole Christ, and Nothing But the Christ”

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century Gospel Minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron.

This is a radio platform in which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing

the church and the world today.

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

another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to

have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with

your own questions.

And now here's your host, Chris Arnzen.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on

the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming at IronSharpensIronRadio .com.

This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Monday on this

27th day of April, 2020.

And I want to first of all start the show by thanking everyone from the very depths of my

heart who prayed fervently and are still praying fervently for my

oldest brother John who is in his 70s and living in Texas.

My brother John, as many of you know, I even announced it last Friday live on the

air, he had been rushed to the hospital and he has been for

years suffering from critical stage emphysema, and he had been rushed to the

hospital once again.

This time it seemed more serious than ever because of the fact that he could not breathe.

And they rendered him unconscious at the hospital,

they put him on life support, and his wife and daughter Regina were

expecting the worst.

And then the next day, after multitudes of people all over the world were praying for him,

he regained consciousness and he is off life support, he is breathing on his own,

although it is a laborious heavy breathing.

But the best news of all is my brother who typically

would make fun of me, it wasn't totally serious, but it was

still a form of mockery when I would talk to him about

Christianity and his need for Christ.

That was his normal responses, trying to turn it into a joke of some kind.

But it seems that he is truly and earnestly seeking after Christ right now.

And he had told me, the very first thing he texted me after he was taken off

life support, I was surprised to get a text from him at all, and he had

texted me asking about a certain website that I had never heard of before, and

it is a Christian website of some kind, and he told me he is searching the

internet for Christian websites.

So I recommended a couple of them to him myself, and I said to him

yesterday, keep looking to Jesus, and he texted back absolutely with

about five exclamation points, exclamation marks after that.

So these are obviously all very encouraging signs, and enormous,

incalculable answers to prayer, and I

am just so grateful to all of you who prayed, and I urge you to please

continue praying for him, that the Lord extends his life here on earth greatly, and

that he makes a very crystal clear profession of faith, and that he is

protected from false Christs and false Christianities, as

he is searching the internet and perhaps even meeting people,

at least he is not permitted to have visitors, so he wouldn't be meeting them face to face, but you never know, he might even have

a nurse who is a member of a cult or a false religion, or something like that, who begins to

witness to him, and of course we would ask that in addition to all the other prayers you

are lifting before our Lord's throne of grace, that you pray that a truly born -again

nurse or nurses or even doctor or doctors are

taking care of him, and that they further witness to him.

And there's a lot more I could say, but I just wanted to thank you all for that amazing news,

just truly powerful, powerful answers to prayer.

I also wanted to give you some sad news, because this individual, for any of you who have listened to

the Iron Shepherd's Iron Radio program going way back to 2005, when I was broadcasting

out of WNYG and WGBB on Long Island, New York, you

will recall we had a different voiceover artist

doing the opening announcements for Iron Shepherd's Iron, a man that many people told me thought

Morgan Freedman had been doing the opens for the show.

His name was Gray Payne, and I just found out today that he

went home to be with the Lord he loves so much on the 15th of April,

and he was 79 years old.

And now he is enjoying eternity with Christ with his first wife, Eleanor, who

was a dear, sweet Christian lady and also a woman who was on fire for the

Lord and filled with zeal as well as grace

and loveliness and sweetness.

So I'm sure that they have had a wonderful reunion.

But my guest today is someone whom I love to interview.

He's my most recent former pastor.

When I was a member of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island, New York,

in Merrick, New York, before relocating to Pennsylvania,

Pastor Mark Romaldi had become the pastor during my last few years on Long

Island.

And perhaps you can remind me, Mark, how long have you been the pastor at Grace Reformed Baptist Church now?

Yeah, Chris, I've been pastoring here.

Wow, time really flies.

Yeah.

And so I left Long Island

in 2014.

That would have been six years ago.

So you would have been in your, I guess, ninth year.

Is my math adding up there?

Yep, yep.

So you were my pastor for nine years there along with Doug Totter.

And in fact, I can remember Mark before he was even a Christian when he was a teenager because his

parents were members of the church and we would have Bible studies in their home.

And I remember on occasion this annoying guy with strangely colored hair would barge into the room and

start demanding things that he had misplaced or whatever.

And a remarkable testimony of salvation, I believe it was when you

had overdosed on drugs.

Am I correct?

Yeah, I had taken an exorbitant amount of drugs and wound up in the hospital, yeah.

And that's like when you were in the hospital is when you were brought to the Lord, or at least very shortly after, right?

Yes, throughout that time.

It wouldn't be necessarily the exact moment, let's say, but it was through that process of those things happening that led me to the

point.

And today we are going to be discussing the latest book

by Pastor Mark Remoldi.

It's not yet in print, but it is expected to be available very soon.

The Christ, the whole Christ, and nothing but the Christ.

And it's my honor and privilege to have you back on Iron Trip and Zion Radio, Pastor Mark Remoldi.

Yeah, it's good to be here, Chris.

And just wanted to make sure that your audience knows that you and I are at least six feet apart away at this time because of this.

Well, we're a lot more than six feet apart.

And why don't you tell our listeners about Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island?

Yes, Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island, as it says in the title, is a Reformed Baptist church.

We adhere to the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, hold out the

truths of the Reformation, and we would seek to be a Christ -centered church.

We would love to

have you come visit us.

Yes, and if you live in the city, it's very easily accessible by train.

The walk from the Merrick train station to Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island is only

about five minutes or so, if even that.

And this is a confessional Reformed Baptist church.

It adheres to the 1689 London Baptist Confession.

And you are a member of the Reformed Baptist Network, am I right?

Yes, yes, absolutely, yeah.

Great, and if anybody wants more information about Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island, and I hope to remember to

repeat this later on, but the website is gracereformedbaptistchurch

.org, gracereformedbaptistchurch .org.

I'm assuming that there are likely a lot of other churches with the identical

name who are filled with envy that you got that website.

We also have the dot com, same thing, dot com.

Great.

All righty, well, the Christ, the whole Christ, nothing but the Christ.

Before I even go into the subject at hand, how many books

are under your belt now that you've written or are in print?

Yeah, there are three in print.

There's one that's not in print, so there are three that are still presently in print.

Well, two, and this one is going to be in a short time.

And those two books are, one of them is we've, you

actually interviewed me about, I think about, and then the other one

has to do with the Odyssey called Evil and Suffering.

Yes, I recall them both very well.

And now we are entering into a discussion on this new book, the Christ, the whole

Christ, and nothing but the Christ.

Obviously borrowed from when a witness is swearing

in in a courtroom to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help him

God, or her God.

And so tell us why that title, why did you borrow that very

well -known phrase and change it around a bit to fit

the exclusivity of Christ?

Yeah, Chris, the reason why I used that particular title is I thought about

the, to encompass just some

of the very important aspects of the Gospel centered upon Jesus Christ, and especially, as you said,

with Christianity in our country and throughout the world,

because Christianity is exclusive and people see that as offensive and arrogant.

And so one of the main goals I had in writing this book was to deal with that issue and to show people

why Christianity is exclusive, that it's by necessity, that it's not to be arrogant, it's not to show

off some level of pride and say, hey, we have, Christianity is unique,

and that it's necessary.

And so the

three parts, speaking about how we need

to embrace Christ as two natures, his full humanity and his full deity, and

then nothing but the Christ, addressing the fact that there is no other, nothing to be added

to to Christ, nothing to be added to the Gospel, that it's Christ alone who saves.

So when you go through that three -part theme, it kind of deals with some of the counter -religions and the counter

-attacks that come against us.

But in a more gracious way, to say, look, it's by necessity.

It's not because we're trying to be arrogant, but this is actually what the need is for mankind, because of who God is and who we are

and what's happening.

Let me immediately give our email address, in case anybody wants to join us on the air with a question of your own.

It's chrisarnzen, at gmail .com, C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N, at

gmail .com.

And as always, please give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence,

and your country of residence if you live outside the USA.

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

Perhaps you disagree with some important theological matter with your own pastor

or with the predominant members of your congregation or your

denomination, or perhaps you're even a pastor and you disagree with your co -elders or your

denomination.

Well, we would understand that you would want to remain anonymous, but if it's just a basic general question

on theology and doctrine from a theme that we are addressing today, then please at least give us your

first name, city and state, and country of residence.

Well, to start off with the exclusivity of Christ, in fact,

your subtitle of the book is Why the Christian

Gospel Must Be Exclusive.

This is an aspect of our faith that is most repugnant to

those who are not Christians, either those that profess to be Christians who are

really leftists and apostates, or even those from other religions.

For instance, from what I understand, if you are in a

Hindu country, Hindus will likely not bother you in the slightest,

even the most militant ones, just by believing in Jesus Christ.

But once you say that everyone must

believe in Jesus Christ as their only hope for salvation,

that's when the militant Hindu will get very upset and they have even

resorted to grotesque violence.

A lot of people are unaware of that.

They look upon the Muslims as the only ones involved in horrific,

barbaric terrorist activity across the globe.

But there are, especially in India, obviously, some very extreme militant

Hindus who have...

The most grotesque incident I can remember of Hindu terrorism or

atrocities were when militant Hindus burned an

Australian missionary family alive in their automobile while holding the doors

closed with long poles, so that they could be far enough away from the car, that the

Hindu militants could be far away enough from the car that they wouldn't

themselves be harmed by the flames, and yet keep the doors closed.

But there are people who have no problem with you believing upon Christ as long

as He is just one of many options, plausible,

acceptable options to enter Heaven.

You also have within Christianity people who have been great heroes

within Christendom, like Billy Graham, who believed...

I'm amazed how many people are shocked when I tell them this, because it's not like it was a secret.

I mean, he was on television a lot, giving interviews, and basically Billy

Graham was an inclusivist who believed that Jesus Christ

and His sinless life, His atoning death, His

resurrection, they were all necessary for anyone to be saved, but you

don't have to necessarily believe that or know that to be saved.

So he had an inclusivist understanding of Christianity and the Gospel,

whereby he had even clearly said, in an interview that you may have seen

on Robert Shuler's program many years ago, where he believes that many

people are coming from the Muslims and the Hindus and the Buddhists and the

atheists to Christ, but they're not leaving those things.

They're still coming to Christ, though, because they're basically living according to the light that they have.

And, of course, you have pluralism, which is there are different ways that one may enter into

heaven.

But as far especially as the one that is

most prominent amongst some very well -known evangelicals

and people from other forms or denominations within so -called Christendom, why

is that not an acceptable idea?

Like, for instance, if Billy Graham were alive, sitting here on the panel on our show today,

and he would say to you, No, Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary for anyone's salvation.

It's just that his grace is bigger than our understanding, and he recognizes that

many people will never get to know who he is on this earth.

And so, therefore, many of these people, he honors their faith and receives it unto

himself, even though they are not by name, claiming him as their sole

source of salvation or their sole Lord, God, Savior, and King.

And they may still be Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist or atheist that are searching,

and he will honor that nonetheless, even if they never come to the point of bowing the knee to him.

How do you respond to that kind of understanding?

Yeah, the problem with that, Chris, obviously, is that it's foreign from Scripture, both in

example and direct teaching.

When you look at the example of the apostles in the early church and the Lord Jesus Christ himself

and the call to go out and to evangelize and to make disciples and to baptize and to

teach the moral things that Christ had taught his disciples, and you see that being

carried out in Acts over the emphasis on the necessity,

away from whatever it is that you were embracing outside of Christ, whatever your faith was, whatever your religion was, whatever

your trust was in your works, your sin, all that is a part of repentance.

And you see that all throughout the Scriptures.

In Romans, sent to go out and to

give the gospel.

In Romans chapter 10, the necessity of sending.

How will they hear unless somebody preaches the gospel to them?

And how will they preach unless they're sent?

And so there's that need for people to go and to give that specific message and for people to hear that specific message

and to believe that specific message.

And the apostle Paul was grieved in the

flesh, and if anybody had a general enough knowledge of God in some sense, a monotheistic God

and so on, it would have been the Jews.

And you know that he grieved,

condemned if they would be saved through his condemnation.

So they were condemned.

So you see that in the teaching of Romans, the necessity of getting the gospel out there, and also in Acts.

Again, when you look at all the events of the gospel being preached, there's always the call to repent and believe.

You never have anywhere in Scripture where there's this unconscious sense of light that somebody's given

this whatever agnostic teaching might be.

That's just there, and some people are going to be saved and not know about it.

It's absolutely just absent from and completely contradictory to Scripture.

And I tend to think that Billy Graham, I mean obviously we know that in the later part of his life, his later years, he seemed to

have regressed more and more into that kind of a dangerous teaching.

Not that he was 100 % early on, but he was a lot more forward in his preaching.

And then he seemed to kind of drift off in that sense to maybe want to be welcoming and not to stir the apple

cart when you're dealing with Muslims and others and to allegedly love others by not wanting to offend and

hoping that they have this extra space for them that Christ is giving them even though they don't know it.

It's just not, it's just absolutely contradictory to everything that Scripture is and what it says and what it teaches.

I mean that's what it comes down to.

Yes, and people very often who may have good intentions

wind up acting as if they are more kind and loving and merciful and gracious

than God himself.

And as someone who spoke for God through

the God -breathed words of Scripture, the Apostle Paul, I always bring up to

people who have this inclusivistic idea and who think that I'm being overly harsh and

judgmental and mean -spirited and bigoted.

Even, when I talk about the exclusive claims of Christ and the

exclusivity of Christ in Christianity, I will say if what you are

saying is true, that we have to really not be caught up

in too much, giving theology and doctrine too much

importance.

If that is true, then the Apostle Paul really owes the Judaizers an apology.

Because they were, from what we know, they believed in everything that Paul taught except that they insisted

upon circumcision as being necessary for salvation.

Yeah, and if you look at Galatians, when Paul addresses them, I mean, Galatians

is one of the very gentle, and how he thankfully is, even

with the Corinthian

brand, I mean, he's showing

us of them,

it's Christ, and supposedly somehow there's some light inside of them that would save

them in the end.

So I mean, Galatians is a Jew that that's the case.

I mean, he goes so far as to say that he would rather the Judaizers

have castrated themselves than be

circumcised for the reasons that they believed one must be circumcised.

Well, Paul concludes you could have a meeting in Scripture.

I mean, he teaches us so much about Christian virtue and godliness and love and self -sacrifice and how he would

rather not eat ever again than let somebody stumble over something that he's doing.

But when it came to the Gospel, with somebody hindering the Gospel and fringing upon the Gospel,

he was like a drawn sword.

He knew that that was life or death, that was spiritual life or death for eternity.

Well, when we come back from our first break, I want you to discuss the issue that you

bring up initially in the book, the disease, and we'll have you enter more

deeply into that.

And if anyone would like to join us, as I said before, with a question of your own, our email address is

chrisarnsen at gmail dot com.

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail dot com.

And as always, give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country

of residence, if you live outside the USA.

And please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

That's chrisarnsen at gmail dot com.

Chrisarnsen at gmail dot com.

Don't go away.

We'll be right back after these messages with more of Pastor Mark Romaldi and our

discussion on the Christ and the whole Christ

and nothing but the Christ.

Sorry, I had a little bit of a brain freeze there for a second.

And we'll be right back.

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

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

Sharpens Iron Radio financially.

Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives

to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And of course, the end of which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe ten minutes,

or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will

join us some Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior.

Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org.

That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

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

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

always.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the New American

Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors.

It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been

sticking with or switching to the NASB.

I'm Dr. Tony Costa, Professor of Apologetics in Islam at the Toronto Baptist Seminary, and the NASB

is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Jeff Downs of Knox Reform Presbyterian Church in Mechanicsville, Virginia, and the NASB is my

Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Mark Rimaldi of Grace Reform Baptist Church of Long Island in Merritt, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Scott Pasolo of the Master's Church of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and

the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Kevin Venue of the Bible Church.

Of Port Washington, New York,.

And the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Andrew Smith of Christ Reformed Community Church in St. Augustine, Florida, and the NASB

is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Clint Leiter of Highway M Chapel, Sedalia, Missouri, and the NASB

is my Bible of choice.

Here's a great way for your church to help keep Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air.

Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them

from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com.

That's nasbible .com to place your order.

The coronavirus pandemic has rapidly changed our way of life, bringing so many

uncertainties.

When will it end?

Why do disasters like this happen?

How do we deal with anxiety, fear, and the like?

Well, join us each Friday on the program Iron Sharpens Iron with your host Chris Arnzen

and Pastor Joe Jacowicz as they explore God's Word for answers to this and other of

life's related issues.

Tune in at firstloveradio .org.

That's firstloveradio .org each Friday at 1 p .m. Pacific,

4 p .m. Eastern.

That's Iron Sharpens Iron on firstloveradio .org.

Friday's 1 p .m. Pacific, 4 p .m. Eastern to hear what the Bible has to say

about pandemics and how we should respond.

As host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, I frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations.

A church I've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is Grace Covenant Baptist Church in

Flemington, New Jersey, pastored by Alan Dunn.

Grace Covenant Baptist Church believes it's God's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he

shall be represented in the world.

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

God in spirit and truth.

Grace Covenant Baptist Church endeavors to maintain a God -centered focus.

Reading, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,

baptism, and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship, performed with faith, joy,

and sobriety.

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

gcbcnj .squarespace .com.

That's gcbcnj .squarespace .com.

Or call them at 908 -996 -7654.

That's 908 -996 -7654.

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

Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,.

Give yourself unto reading.

The man who never reads will never be read.

He who never quotes will never be quoted.

He who will not use the thoughts.

Of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.

You need to read.

Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the Prince of Preachers to heart.

The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and

future, and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.

Since its beginning in 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God -centered, Christ -exalting

books for all ages.

We invite you to go treasure hunting at Solid -Ground -Books .com.

That's Solid -Ground -Books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past to

present you can unearth from Solid Ground.

Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

And please, folks, remember Mother's Day next month and Father's Day and all of the

wedding anniversaries that very often occur in the spring and summer

and graduation presents and going -back -to -school presents.

Remember Solid -Ground -Books .com for all of those purposes and more.

And, of course, to replenish and edify yourself by getting new books added to your own personal library.

And, folks, just always remember that every time you purchase books from Solid -Ground -Books .com

you are helping Iron Sharpens Iron Radio to remain on the air for a longer future because

Solid -Ground -Books .com is one of our primary sponsors.

So, make sure you tell Mike Gadosz and the folks at Solid Ground Christian Books that you heard about them

from Chris Irons and Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

We are now back with our guest, Pastor Mark Romaldi of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island in

Merrick, New York, where he is one of two pastors there alongside Doug Totter.

And we are addressing today The Christ, The Whole Christ and Nothing But The Christ, which is also the

title of a new book that is expected to be in print soon by

Pastor Mark.

And if you have any questions our email address is ChrisArnson at gmail .com.

ChrisArnson at gmail .com and I wanted you to enter in to a discussion now of

the disease in regard to the very first chapter in your book.

One second, by saying this too, so the audience is aware too.

It's only 60 pages long.

It's to be used especially because we deal with

people or we speak with people, friends, loved ones, who are maybe some are Roman Catholics, some are in other kinds of faiths,

some of the exclusivism of Christianity, what the differences are.

So, I'm hoping it could be useful to that end.

In this first chapter on the disease, this first section, I should say, part one on the disease,

what I address in the disease first, as I address the issue of sin, I begin with who

God is.

I start out with God's holy nature as righteousness and just the character of God.

And from there, I talk about man as the creation and then I get into man.

And now that sin has been propagated down to us.

And just beginning to understand the serious nature of sin as an offense against God, not because God simply

chooses to be offended by it, but because of who He is by His essential nature and character.

It is who God is.

It is His very nature to be opposed to sin and to judge and condemn it.

And so, we're dealing with the issue of the disease.

If you think about this by way of illustration, COVID -19

that's going around and they're wrestling with trying to find a cure.

It's not deadly for most people, but there are some people who,

somebody

like that, will cure

this illness.

There might be a thousand medications that you can get at a

CVS or a drugstore.

It's offensive or something that's arrogant.

You would say, well, you love these individuals who have

NyQuil or Tylenol or something like that to somebody who has COVID who can very well die from it.

You want to make sure they have the right cure.

Well, in the same way, when we understand the nature of sin

and the gravity of defense

against our Holy God and it requires atonement, it requires a just payment

to appreciate that the exclusive nature of Christianity is not something

that's coming from an area of pride or arrogance, but the disease

warrants that.

So whatever the disease somebody has, sometimes there's a specific medication that meets

that disease and other medicines will do nothing to help.

Well, in this case, the disease, how it offends

and the way that it opposes our Holy God.

And so that first chapter, the first section on the disease, I deal with the issue of sin and then I deal with the issue of death,

death being not only physical, but the whole idea of how

we see the matter, Chris, of how

serious of an offense our sin is to God and what it requires.

That's why the whole issue of Christ, the Gospel, the uniqueness of the Gospel, the exclusive nature of the Gospel,

that's where that all comes to the table by way of necessity.

And so it's important for people to understand that and not just think that Christians are this arrogant group of people who are

out there who just want to be exclusive.

Preach the Gospel,

not

evangelize.

How can you not?

If you know that this is the universal condition of all mankind is that we're condemned because of our sin

nature in the sight of God and we're heading to an eternal place of torment even at the

expense of your own comfort in life, evangelize.

And I think it was, you could probably tell which one it was, Chris.

It was Penn Jillette.

Penn Jillette, yeah.

He had actually said when somebody was on

the videos and stuff,

when he brought this to his attention, he said that he had put a quote

saying that if you're a true Christian and you really believe

that, if you're not, how could you do

that?

But he's saying he understands why we would be compelled to

do it with the whole idea of the disease and why it's important to understand the nature of our problem.

Yes, and I'm glad you said our problem because a lot of people

either have a wrong preconceived notion about our intentions

when we evangelize them or they're listening to a Christian or even

a charlatan professing to be a Christian who is so arrogant and proud

that he only brings condemnation to those around him for their sin and

they may act as though they have no sin of their own.

But this disease is something, since we are all made out of the

same lump of clay, we are all children of

the devil until some of us are adopted and rescued by God himself

and he makes us, by his miracle of grace and mercy, a child of God.

But we should never come across to those whom we want to see rescued

from their sinful state and from hell, we should never come across that

we are somehow innately superior to them.

And that's part of the problem too, Chris, with people's view of Christianity.

There's many people who have a story right of a church that they went to, how they were mistreated or

maybe that church, you know, there were grievous sins committed there and even in the

best of churches.

And we don't base our faith in the church

but in the Scriptures and in the Christ.

The fact that there is a real devil and there are real minions that serve with the devil,

fighting against the Christ of this guy's church and trying to keep people

from benefiting from the gospel.

There are going to be many, many who

are

contaminated

with an easy belief and there's all kinds of contaminations out there and that's why I would encourage the audience as well

to make sure that authority has got to be there

and we'll let you down.

And if you look to anybody, you're going to

start to doubt the truth of Christianity.

So when you have all that in there, why there's

some sense

we don't add to that, we want to make sure that we're trying to come along.

I know what I deserve.

This is better than you.

I'm not in the position of higher, a higher position than you are and I'm trying to not bring you to my higher position because

of something good in me.

I'm saying that it's all based upon what this...

And so that's important when you think about the way people will, you know, will wrestle with the issue of exclusiveness

and how people treat them arrogantly and what they experience.

By the way, real quick, the person I was thinking of before, I think it was Ray Comfort.

Okay, great.

We have John in Bangor, Maine, who says, in regard to

your rejection of inclusivism as expressed by Billy Graham and others,

how do you interpret Acts 17, verse 22 through 31, where it

says, Paul stood in the middle of the Aragopagus and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that you

are very religious in all things, for as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship,

I found also an altar with this inscription to an unknown God.

And then Paul proceeds to basically reveal Jesus Christ as this unknown God.

It appears, unless I am misreading this, that they are unknowingly worshiping Christ.

Am I wrong?

No, and I think that text actually supports

you have all these gods, and he

uses dedication to the unknown God,

warrior gods, he follows that class,

and he does

suggest God in there.

And using that to bring God to them, like in the present,

he literally is that, even though they might not intend it that way, he uses that to that end, to bring them

to the truth of the true gospel.

So even in that context, these other gods that are there are not real.

And in that, when he's speaking to the people, he talks about that God is not a God that's made by hand.

The ground is that I depend upon Him.

And so Paul is kind of turning some of what he

says in the preaching there to the one right there.

So when Paul says, you are ignorant of the very thing you worship,

and this is what I'm going to proclaim to you, I assume from what you just said,

that is somewhat of a tongue -in -cheek expression, because they're not really worshiping Christ.

Like I said, it's almost as if, because they have all these gods there, you can imagine all

these different statues and dedications and plaques or whatever, dedicated, and the idea is that

they have this one there that they're not aware of, they don't want to leave that

one out.

Certainly, even though

they're trying to worship Him in some sense, because they don't want to leave anybody out,

directly, he can point to the true God.

He's basically,

can't ever change the circumstances.

Who are we dealing with?

Bullies or gangs,

whatever way is true, that he's saying is

unknown to you.

But what Paul says, he's the one who created all things in heaven and earth, so Paul, when he says that, he's immediately elevating,

it's more of, I think, a means of,

they're not aware of, that they're saying, hey, we want to make sure we praise a particular

God or God with you, but all these other

ones are not gods.

The one you're not, that you worship in ignorance, worship maybe

in sense, but again,

he's using that.

Right, just like Nadab and Abihu, they were offering worship to the true

Yahweh, but they were, well, they did so in a way that caused

their own deaths because it was displeasing to God.

It was a false form of worship.

Yeah, like you said, that unknown God, but the point is that they're acknowledging the possibility that there is some

other God, and Paul said, well, I'm not only going to, I'm not only going to agree with you on that, but I'm going to say that

that's the only one and true God, and here he is, and it's a brilliant...

All right, I would make a recommendation before we go to this midway break because you are still

over -modulating, and I don't know why, but perhaps when you speak, you could speak farther away

from the mouthpiece of your phone because that may help.

And I apologize, folks, this kind of thing happens from time to time, and they're beyond my understanding

or ability to fix.

But we're going to our midway break right now.

It's the longer -than -normal break, so please be patient with us.

This is the break where Grace Life Radio, 90 .1 FM, in Lake City, Florida, they

use the middle break of our show to air their own public service announcements

and other localized things because by FCC regulations, they have to

localize Iron Trip and Zion Radio to Lake City, Florida, and while they air their own public

service announcements, we air our globally heard commercials.

So please try to write down as much of the information provided by as many of our sponsors as possible

so that you can more frequently patronize them and more successfully patronize them because keep in mind, I know that

sometimes people complain about the number of ads, but this show would not exist without the finances

that come from the sponsorship of these advertisers.

So please be patient with us and also write down questions for Mark Romaldi on our topic at hand today,

The Christ, the whole Christ, and nothing but the Christ.

And our email address, again, is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Chrisarnson at gmail .com.

And please always, as I've said before, give us your first name, your city and state of residence, and your

country of residence if you live outside the USA and only remain anonymous if your question

involves a personal and private matter.

And we're going to be right back after these messages.

Chris Arnson, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here.

I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years.

His name is Dan Buttafuoco.

Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer, but not the type that typically comes to mind.

Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself.

Recently he wrote a book titled Consider the Evidence for the Bible.

Ravi Zacharias wrote the foreword.

Dan also has a master's degree in theology.

Dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states.

He represents many Christians in serious injury matters all over the country.

Dan is an exceptional trial lawyer.

He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

And currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for $1 million or more

and in approximately 10 different states.

In Illinois,.

His lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history.

In New York, his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the Law Journal.

If you have a serious personal injury or medical malpractice claim in any state, I recommend that you

call Dan.

Consultations are free.

There is no fee unless you win.

Dan Buttafuoco's number is 1 -800 -669 -4878.

1 -800 -669 -4878.

Or email me for Dan's contact information at chrisarnson at gmail .com.

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com.

James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.

If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know I have a great love for getting Bibles and other

documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity.

And besides that, they feel so good.

I'm so delighted.

I discovered.

Post Tenebrous Lux Bible Rebinding.

No radio ad will be long enough to sing their praises sufficiently, but I'll give it a shot.

Jeffrey Rice of Post Tenebrous Lux is a remarkably gifted craftsman and artisan.

All his work is done by hand from the cutting to the pleating of corners to the perimeter stitching.

Jeffrey uses the finest and buttery soft imported leathers in a wide variety of gorgeous colors like

the turquoise goat skin tanned in Italy specially used for my Nestle Allen 28th edition with a navy

blue goat skin inside liner and the electric blue goat skin from a French tannery used to rebind a

Reformation study Bible.

I used as a gift.

The silver gilding he added on the page edges has a stunning mirror finish resembling highly polished chrome.

Jeffrey will customize your rebinding to your specifications and even emboss your logo into the leather

making whatever he rebinds a one -of -a -kind work of art.

For more details on Post -Tenebrous Luxe Bible rebinding.

Go to.

P -T -L -BibleRebinding .com.

That's P -T -L -BibleRebinding .com.

Have you been blessed by Iron Sharpens Iron Radio?

We remain on the air because of our faithful sponsors and because of listeners like you.

There are four ways you can help.

First, do you know potential sponsors who may wish to advertise their goods or services on Iron Sharpens

Iron Radio?

Second, whenever possible purchase the products or use the services that our sponsors advertise

and then let them know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Thirdly, you can also donate to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio by going to our website at

IronSharpensIronRadio .com and click support at the top of the page.

But most importantly keep Iron Sharpens Iron Radio in your prayers.

We hope that Iron Sharpens Iron Radio blesses you for many years to come.

Chris Arnsen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio announcing a new website with an exciting offer from World

Magazine my trusted source for news from a Christian perspective.

Try World Now at no charge for 90 days by going to GetWorldNow

.com.

That's GetWorldNow .com.

I rely on World because I trust the reporting.

I gain insight from the analysis and World provides clarity to the news stories that really matter.

I believe you'll also find World to be an invaluable resource to better understand critical topics with a

depth that's simply not found in other media outlets.

Armed with this coverage World can help you to be a voice of wisdom in your family and your community.

This trial includes bi -weekly issues of World Magazine on scene reporting from World Radio and the fully

shareable content of World Digital.

There's no obligation and no credit card required.

Visit GetWorldNow .com today.

Also check out World News Group's podcast The World and Everything in It at

wng .org.

Forward slash podcast.

That's W for World N for News G for Group dot org.

Forward slash podcast.

I'm Dr. Tony Costa Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary.

I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love.

Hope Reform Baptist Church in Corham, Long Island, New York pastored by Rich Jansen and Christopher

McDowell.

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God like the dear saints at Hope Reform Baptist Church

in Corham who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into

the unfathomable riches of Christ in His Holy Word and to enthusiastically proclaim

Christ Jesus the King and His doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island and

beyond.

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing

of being showered by their love as I have.

For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church go to hopereformedli .net.

That's.

Hopereformedli .net or call 631 -696

-5711 That's 631 -696

-5711.

Tell the folks.

At Hope Reform Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron

Sharpens Iron.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005 the publishers of the New American

Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors.

It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been

sticking with or switching to the NASB.

I'm Dr. Joe Moorcraft pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia and

the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Anthony Uvino.

Founder of thereformrookie .com and co -founder of New York Apologetics and the NASB.

Is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Tim Bushong of Syracuse Baptist Church in Syracuse, Indiana and the NASB is my

Bible of choice.

I'm Eli Ayala founder of Revealed Apologetics and staff member with the Historical Bible Society and the NASB

is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Josh Miller of Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the

NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Joe Bianchi president of Calvi Press Publishing in Greenville, South Carolina

and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Jake Korn of Switzerland Community Church in Switzerland, Florida and the

NASB is my Bible of choice.

Here's a great way for your church to help keep Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air.

Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB and tell the publishers you heard about them

from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com that's nasbible .com to place your order.

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

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

Sharpens Iron Radio financially.

Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives

to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And of course, the end of which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes,

or you are visiting this area or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will

join us some Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior.

Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org.

That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

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

Lord, God, Savior and King Jesus Christ today and

always.

The coronavirus pandemic has rapidly changed our way of life, bringing so many uncertainties.

When will it end?

Why do disasters like this happen?

How do we deal with anxiety, fear and the like?

Well, join us each Friday on the program Iron Sharpens Iron with your host Chris Arnzen

and Pastor Joe Jacowicz as they explore God's Word for answers to this and other of

life's related issues.

Tune in at firstloveradio .org.

That's firstloveradio .org.

Each Friday at 1 p .m. Pacific, 4 p .m. Eastern.

That's Iron Sharpens Iron on firstloveradio .org.

Fridays 1 p .m. Pacific, 4 p .m. Eastern to hear what the Bible has to say

about pandemics and how we should respond.

Iron Sharpens Iron welcomes Solid Rock Remodeling to our family of sponsors.

Serving South Central Pennsylvania, Solid Rock Remodeling is focused on discovering,

understanding and exceeding your expectations.

They deliver personalized project solutions with exceptional results.

Solid Rock Remodeling offers a full range of home renovations including kitchen and bath

remodeling, decks, porches, windows and doors, roof and siding and

more.

For a clear, detailed professional estimate, call this trustworthy team of problem solvers

who provide superior results that stand to the test of time.

Call Solid Rock Remodeling at 717 -697 -1981,

717 -697 -1981 or visit

SolidRockRemodeling .com.

That's SolidRockRemodeling .com.

Solid Rock Remodeling.

Bringing new life to your home.

Hi, I'm Buzz Taylor, frequent co -host with Chris Arnson on Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio.

I would like to introduce you to my good friends Todd and Patty Jennings at CVBBS, which stands for Cumberland Valley

Bible Book Service.

Todd and Patty specialize in supplying reformed and Puritan books and Bibles at discount prices that make them affordable

to everyone.

Since 1987, the family owned and operated book service has sought to bring you the best available Christian books

and Bibles at the best possible prices.

Unlike other book sites, they make no effort to provide every book that is available because frankly, much of what

is being printed is not worth your time.

That means you can get to the good stuff faster.

It also means that you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic, heretical, and

otherwise faith insulting material promoted by the secular book vendors.

Their website is CVBBS .com.

Browse the pages at ease, shop at your leisure, and purchase with confidence as Todd and Patty work

in service to you, the Church, and to Christ.

That's Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service at CVBBS .com.

That's CVBBS .com.

Let Todd and Patty know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

And don't forget folks, you can call CVBBS .com if you prefer ordering by phone.

Monday through Friday between 10 a .m. and 4 .30 p .m. Eastern Time only at 800

-656 -0231.

800 -656 -0231.

No one mans that phone line outside of those hours, 10 a .m. to 4 .30 p .m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

And there is no voicemail, so if you intend to call, please call during those days and hours.

And always mention that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

In fact, as I've said to you before, since we have two book -related advertisers,

what you could do is you could go to, I strongly recommend that you go to solid

-ground -books .com before you go to CVBBS .com

because Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and CVBBS .com is a book

distributor and they carry all of Solid Ground Christian Books titles

and, of course, many, many other publishers.

So this way, you could kill two birds with one stone and bless both of our advertisers because

CVBBS will have to order, purchase those books from Solid Ground Christian Books

so they both win.

If you do it that way, please tell Solid Ground Christian Books that you place the order with CVBBS

so that they know that you responded to their commercial.

And tell CVBBS, too.

Before we return to Pastor Mark Rimoldi of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island in Merrick, New York,

with our discussion today on the Christ, the whole Christ, and nothing but the

Christ, which is also the theme of his new book that should be available in print in four months.

Before we go back to that theme, let me just give you a couple of announcements.

First of all, tomorrow and Wednesday, two days in a row, we're going to have Pastor

Mac Tomlinson returning to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

I do not know the themes yet.

I hopefully will know those tonight.

But Pastor Mac Tomlinson is always a joy to have on this program a very

biblically wise brother in Christ, a very gracious

and loving brother in Christ that oozes through his words.

I really love this brother.

In fact, many of you know from my frequent announcements requesting prayer that Mac Tomlinson

has visited my oldest brother, John, in the hospital before the coronavirus broke out

and he was permitted into the hospital.

But he has been in contact with him by phone during his latest trip to the hospital.

And I value that very, very much.

And I'm so glad that my brother, John, is very welcoming in receiving

contact from Mac.

But he will be on, as I said, tomorrow and Wednesday.

We have a first -time guest on Thursday.

His name is Michael Hammer.

He is from Princeton, New Jersey.

And he is a Jewish believer.

And we're going to be discussing his testimony of salvation and

how, as a Jewish believer, he has come to embrace the doctrines of

Reformed theology, also known as the doctrines of sovereign grace, and also known as Calvinism,

which seems to be a rare phenomenon amongst Jewish believers.

So that should be a fascinating discussion on Thursday.

And then on Friday, we have my dear friend, Pastor Joe Jakowitz, giving his weekly coronavirus

updates and then also giving biblical application on how we should respond.

And last but not least, folks, if you love this show and you don't want it to disappear,

I'm urging you, as I try to do every day during the show, I'm urging you to please.

Go to.

Www .ironsharpensironradio .com, click Support, then click Click to Donate Now.

By doing that, you can donate instantly by debit or credit card.

And if you prefer snail mail, you can write out a check to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and mail it

to the address that will appear on the screen when you click Support at www .ironsharpensironradio

.com.

And as I've tried to remember to remind you every day, please never siphon money away from your

regular giving to your local church to give to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, especially in this

time right now during the hysteria that has accompanied the coronavirus

pandemic.

Many churches are hurting badly financially because of the fact that their members

and visitors are not showing up physically and therefore many of them are putting

their giving on hold or many of them can't give because they've lost their livelihood.

Many reasons why this is happening.

So please don't siphon the money that you would normally give to your church away from them

to give to us.

And never put your family in financial jeopardy either by giving to us.

Those two things are commands of Scripture to provide for your church and your own family and

to provide for Iron Sharpens Iron Radio is obviously not a command of

Scripture like those other two are.

So if you are blessed financially above and beyond your ability to obey those two commands

providing for church and home then please help us if you love the show.

Go to ironsharpensironradio .com click support then click click to donate now.

And you could use some of that recreational money that you're not using

now because you have been quarantined to your own home during this time

of the pandemic.

You can't go to sporting events.

You can't go to the movies.

You can't go out fine dining.

You can't go to theatrical plays.

You can't go to Bible conferences.

So many things that you used to love to do that right now you've been prohibited from doing.

So if you could use some of that money I will take as much of that money as you want to give to us

as possible.

And I am very honored and I am so grateful and giving praise

to God for those of you who have maintained your loyalty and giving to us.

And I also want to thank the new folks that I've never heard from before who have given to us very recently

and have responded to our SOS's our cries for help which I hate doing.

I hate doing this.

Especially since there's so many charlatans who get wealthy off of

bilking God's people financially.

So I don't even want to be in the same company as them.

I hope you can distinguish between me and Iron Trip and Zion Radio and these false teachers.

So please help us so that we can remain on the air.

We lost, temporarily anyway, two of our biggest advertisers whose businesses were

negatively affected by the hysteria accompanied by the coronavirus pandemic.

So please help us replenish that which was lost and I am grateful for you and grateful to God

for you.

Also folks, if you want to advertise with us, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com

chrisarnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line.

We surely could use your advertising dollars as long as whatever it is you're promoting is compatible with what we

believe.

You don't have to believe identically with me but you need to be promoting something that's compatible.

So just send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line.

And I want to be more compassionate and gentle in the way that I say this because I've been rebuked by

a woman who shall remain anonymous who I think very rightly

pointed out to me that there are people out there who do not belong to a church

because they have been horribly abused by a church in their past and they are very hesitant and

frightened and paranoid about making themselves vulnerable again and becoming a member of

a church.

But having said that, and I do have compassion for you, having said that,

no matter what we experience in our lives, however, is not a license for

us to disobey God.

And it is clear that in the New Testament there are no lone wolf Christians.

There are no maverick Christians who are not under the authority of a local body of

elders at a local church.

And it's not going to do you any good anyway.

It's not going to benefit you perhaps even especially if you've been harmed seriously by a

church in the past.

It's not going to benefit you by just wallowing in that pain without truly

ordained men of God as your shepherds over you and the body of Christ that can

overwhelm you with love and grace.

So please, if you are not a member of a church and you're having trouble finding one,

send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail dot com and put I need a church in the subject

line.

I have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the world and God willing I will be able to help you find a church no matter

where on the planet earth you live.

I have helped quite a number of people all over the globe find churches where they have joined or

recommended to family friends and loved ones who don't have churches or where they have visited on vacation.

So that's chrisarnson at gmail dot com and put I need a church in the subject line.

That's also the email address where you can send in a question to Pastor Mark

Romaldi on our subject today The Christ, the whole Christ and nothing but the Christ.

That's chrisarnson at gmail dot com and we do have a listener.

We have Johnny in Queens, New York and I have to enlarge his email because the

font is microscopic and his question is many in the visible

church are reading the same bible about the person and work of Christ yet they

still come to different conclusions about the atonement his work to sanctify and

preserve his people or the meaning of his teaching in the four gospels.

Why would there be such confusion and division if they all claim to know the whole Christ?

Very good question.

Definitely a very good question.

For one, I would say it comes down to the way that people

would study this.

How do you understand the scriptures?

Is there a method of endurance?

And I think that when you're dealing with who Christ

is I'm talking about the foundational issues of scripture.

It's very clear.

What I mean by that is a proper means of

interpretation where you wouldn't

see in the political realm, right?

We see a lot of take somebody's statement out of context and

make it into something it's not saying.

A lot of it happens within Christianity as well, within studying the bible.

So somebody's really trying to study the bible and they understand how to and I don't mean that there's this secret knowledge

and understanding

of the very

issues of the faith.

Now there are things that can be debatable that are less maybe they're not as clear

understanding some of the

things in Revelation and talk

about baptism individuals should be

they're wrong but they make a good case I'm

telling Bill.

Schisco on you.

And you'll see whether or not they

ceased and how they're to be used.

There's some debate in there but I think when you come down to the fundamentals they're thoroughly clear

about the

fundamentals.

Say whatever

you want if you don't use.

I don't understand narrative a

proper understanding of didactic teaching literature which would be an epistle.

You just look at it and kind of pull things out of context with any book in the world

just like any author has a message that he wants to convey

and there's a way of getting to the bottom of that message.

So I think that's where some of the debate issues.

But when it comes down to the fundamentals of who Christ is when an individual is saved

Christ being fully God and fully man salvation

there are

people who do that

though.

That will not really I think

that has a lot to come down to.

How you interpret the script is important.

And therefore you really answered a question that I was going to ask

before Johnny wrote in there is a teaching that

those who are heirs of the Protestant Reformation believe is a very important doctrine the

perpiscuity of scripture which basically means that the scriptures are

clear, they're plain they're intelligible, they're transparent.

But at the same time those same scriptures teach that there

are very strict qualifications for somebody who is to be a teacher in the church.

And the scriptures warn against the sin of

pride and so on.

So we should not be so arrogant and proud that we think that we don't need anybody else to help us

understand the scriptures.

And because we're all sinners and fallible and finite we are not all

going to have the same depth of knowledge on every issue in the

Bible that others have been gifted to have, like for instance you could even have somebody who is a

genius who is a Bible scholar and yet

eschatology might be something that he's ignored for years or just it's something that he just hasn't delved

into enough to form solid conclusions.

And you could even have a brilliant Bible scholar who rejects Reformed theology and

yet he is still a brother because he believes in the primary points of the gospel and

the pillars of the faith like the virgin conception of

Jesus Christ his sinless life his atoning death his

physical bodily resurrection his ascension into heaven his ruling and reigning at the right hand of the Father

and the deity of Christ the Trinity, you know, all these things that we share.

Does it trouble you as much as I am troubled that there is a new breed of those who

profess to believe in the the tulip who condemn to hell

anybody who does not believe in those things.

Oh, it comes to people I've met many people who would hold

to the Arminian standpoint of tulip who would not agree with tulip who would be more

Arminian in their Christian life would put people like me to shame, who

are just faithful Christ -loving people who love the gospel again,

I think that they're

preaching the gospel, mission -minded and so, you know, there's no, because you said Chris

there's not, and even those who may have

more times when

they died in

arrogance and like that and even condemn people and

the way that they treat damage and harm to the very

doctrines they agree.

I mean, there's a lot of brothers and sisters and a lot of different denominations

defied by faith, if

we could agree on those five

things I'm not alone, that would be including who he is as to

his divine and human humanity, both full natures.

I think there's room for disagreement in some of the areas we

study church history and I would recommend people do this.

I think that really gave me a good appreciation

of the people we respect in church history all the way back from the beginning into the Reformation and beyond.

People in the past who were very faithful who laid down their lives for the faith and condemned them because they held to certain

views that today we realize as we've stood on shoulders and as we've seen doctrine develop and condemned

them to

hell and yet they were very faithful people who,

you know, just unfortunately don't know how to treat people

with respect and love.

We have Ronald in eastern Suffolk County who says I have heard

even some Reformed Baptist scholars say that we should not identify

Christians as sinners, even though these same people would never

believe in the heresy of sinless perfectionism.

They believe that we do sin, but the actual phrase sinners is in their

minds only to be used for those who are lost or reprobate.

Do you agree with this?

I guess it depends on what they mean by sinners, you know, I can understand what the individual is

saying or what some of these people when

you, everybody

and then I give the gospel to

you that is me saying basically that we have a warrant to sin and

struggle

with sin everyday in some sense and we're talking about issues of pride

in that fight and we strive but we're not given over, we're not owned by that sin anymore and that's the big difference from

just saying hey, you know, we're sinners in that sense so I think it depends on how you define it in

that sense, I would just be guarded

you know, what is the word when we use that term, how are people understanding,

are they thinking that we're saying hey, we're in Christ, but

you

know we

have to perform

faith, we know what it means we can say because, and the nature of

it is perfect, we're not impure

in ourselves, but we to some degree lace with impurity

and say we're sinners, those who don't know, I'm okay

with whatever you want as long as you're in faith who are okay with that and

presenting that and so you don't want to identify with that some

people using that term, but the reality is.

And I'll bet you I'll bet you that most if not all of those folks, even the

reformed ones or perhaps especially the reformed ones who say oh we should never call

Christians sinners, I'll bet you they all sing amazing grace who saved a wretch

like me, in fact it disgusted me that some people

have taken that out of the lyric, like for instance when Phil Driscoll

performed that song, at least on one of his albums, he replaced it with who saved someone

like me and that takes away the whole amazing part.

The reality is that we need Christ as much today as we did when we were first saved and before and

after and we always will until we get to heaven.

If Christ said okay, you're going to let

you go forward from here on

again, within

us each day and just every

Christian.

And when we understand that that wants to uphold

the reality

when we were first saved, now we have been sanctified, defied

against sin, we should be learning to love others more.

And we're doing that by any of that, well could

never happen if

we don't understand, like I said, why they say us

without

about ourselves.

You know very well since

you were one of those ministers who placed me under discipline that I was a drunkard

but I one of the things that I really oppose in the philosophy of

AA and NA is that they say that a necessary element

of a true road to recovery is to forever for the rest of your life until you're dead,

you identify yourself as an alcoholic or a drug addict and

I don't say I'm Chris Arnzen and I'm an alcoholic.

I say I'm a, Chris Arnzen and I was a drunkard and I was delivered by the grace and mercy of God

from that wickedness.

I don't.

I choose not to take it because I know that that temptation would be strong for me in that area

but, no, it'd be like somebody saying, hey, I'm so -and -so but I'm a I'm a

fornicator, you know, Paul says such were some of you, you know, you're not.

That's not your identified way of how

you would address that.

And of course, especially those who are not biblically literate

and those perhaps who are from Roman Catholicism or other

folks that profess to be Christian.

And, by the way folks, if you're Catholic and you're being offended by this well

one of the most beloved Catholic apologists, Patrick Madrid has said on a number of

occasions when he has spoken at Catholic conferences if you're looking next to the person

if you're looking at the person next to you in the audience and he has a Bible on his lap, you could probably be

95 sure it's evangelical so even he said that, but

what I'm intending to say here is that many people, when they hear the word sinner sinner, they only

think of the scandalous extreme and they don't

recognize that even a thought a passing thought that is adulterous

renders us guilty of the actual sin of adultery in the sight of God.

That's not to say that in the sight of the church we are to deal

with people that way because everybody in the church would be excommunicated if we held

that high of a standard on earth with each other, but in the sight of God, we are guilty of

adultery, even just by thinking about it and I can remember when I was

organizing my very first Roman Catholic debate on Long Island between Dr. James R.

White and Roman Catholic apologist Jerry Matitix this very sweet

woman, Roman Catholic lady who was very excited about the event, and she came

from my memory to nearly all of them, for those 10 years I did those debates

she was a very sweet, humble gentle woman but I

remember her coming into my office holding the poster and the

theme of the debate was Mary sinner saved by grace or a sinless

queen of heaven she said why do you call Mary a sinner, what do you

think she was some kind of a whore or something.

I said no, I don't think that is that the only type of person that is a sinner

I mean, you know don't we sin every time we have a

thought of pride where we view ourselves more highly than we ought we view ourselves more highly than

our brothers and sisters around us or you could go on and on with the things that

we would flippantly view as immaterial or unimportant, those same sins will send somebody to

hell without the covering of Christ's blood.

Am I right?

Mary, you know, and this is where we've got to be careful from the other extreme not

to go upset.

From a young age she probably put many of us to shame

and there are things that she did in her life that if God were to

hold her, it's not that we don't have respect for her in the

sense of how God used her and somebody we could look up to in many ways.

She even thought along with her other sons those

that actually had father as a who actually had Joseph as a biological

father other than Jesus himself, obviously she

joined them in thinking that Jesus had lost his mind even though she had known before

she even conceived she knew who this child was, but somehow she had

amnesia at that point.

That's one of the most mysterious parts of the Bible to me, how Mary could have thought that way even though she

knew that she was a virgin who conceived, she knew what the angel had said to her

and even Joseph had the affirmation from.

So I mean.

But we now are going to our final break, it's much shorter than the last one, if anybody else would like

to join us on the air, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail dot com chrisarnson at gmail

dot com and as always, please give us your first name at least your city and state of residence

and your country of residence.

If you live outside the USA, only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal or private matter.

Lindbrook Baptist Church on 225 Earl Avenue in Lindbrook, Long Island is teaching God's timeless truths in

the 21st century.

Our church is far more than a Sunday worship service.

It's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant, it's like a gym where one can

exercise their faith through community involvement.

It's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people in healing.

We're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our Lord Jesus Christ, in fellowship, play.

And together, hi, I'm Pastor Bob Walderman and I invite you to come and join us here at Lindbrook Baptist Church and see

all that a church can be.

Call Lindbrook Baptist.

At 516 -599 -9402 that's 516 -599

-9402 or visit LindbrookBaptist .org that's LindbrookBaptist .org.

When Iron.

Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the New American Standard Bible

were among my very first sponsors.

It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been

sticking with or switching to the NASB.

I'm author Gary DeMar, President of American Vision, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Dan Lebenick of West Hills Baptist Church in Huntington Station New York, and the NASB

is my Bible of choice.

I'm Justin Peters of Justin Peters Ministries, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Reverend Buzz Taylor, author of God's Lawson, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Dr. William Webster, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Battleground, Washington, founder

of the ministry Christian Resources, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Ryan Galan of Central Islip Community Church in Central Islip, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible.

Of choice.

I'm Pastor Brandon Smith of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Jackson, Georgia, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice.

Here's a great way for your church to help keep Iron Trepans Iron Radio on the air.

Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them

from Chris Arnzen on Iron Trepans Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com that's nasbible .com to place your order.

Every day at thousands of community centers, high schools, middle schools, juvenile institutions,

coffee shops, and local hangouts, Long Island Youth for Christ staff and volunteers meet with young people

who need Jesus.

We are rural and urban, and we are always about the message of Jesus.

Our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on Long Island, New York by engaging young people in the lifelong

journey of following Christ.

Long Island Youth for Christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959.

We have a world class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement

to youths in need all over the country and around the world.

Help honor our history by becoming a part of our future.

Volunteer, donate, pray, or all of the above.

For details, call Long Island Youth for Christ at 631 -385

-8333 631 -385

-8333.

631 -385 -8333.

Or visit liyfc .org.

Or visit liyfc .org.

James White of Alpha Omega Ministries and the Dividing Line webcast here.

Although God has brought me all over the globe for many years to teach, preach, and debate at numerous venues, some of my

very fondest memories are from those precious times of fellowship with Pastor Rich Jensen and the brethren at Hope

Reform Baptist Church now located at their new, beautiful facilities in Corham, Long Island, New York.

I've had the privilege of opening God's Word from their pulpit on many occasions, have led youth retreats for them, and have always

been thrilled to see their members filling many seats at my New York debates.

I do not hesitate to highly recommend Hope Reform Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island to anyone who wants to be

accurately taught, discipled, and edified by the Holy Scriptures, and to be surrounded by truly loving

and caring brothers and sisters in Christ.

I also want to congratulate Hope Reform Baptist Church of Corham for their recent appointment of Pastor Rich Jensen's co -elder,

Pastor Christopher McDowell.

For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.

Go to hopereformedli .net that's hopereformedli .net or

call 631 -696 -5711 or call 631 -696 -5711 or call 631 -696 -5711.

Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island that you heard about them from James White on Iron

Sharpens Iron Radio.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,.

Give yourself unto reading.

The man who never reads will never be read.

He who never quotes will never be quoted.

He who will not use the thoughts.

Of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.

You need to read.

Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the Prince of Preachers to heart.

The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and

future, and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.

Since its beginning in 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God -centered, Christ -exalting

books for all ages.

We invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com That's

solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past or

present you can unearth from Solid Ground.

Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

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

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

Sharpens Iron Radio financially.

Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers, which strives

to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And of course, the end of which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes,

or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will

join us some Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior.

Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org.

That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

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

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

always.

Welcome back.

This is Chris Arnson.

If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours with about 10 minutes to go is

Pastor Mark Rimaldi of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Long Island in Merrick, New York.

We are discussing his soon -to -be published book, The Christ, the whole Christ, and nothing but

the Christ.

And we have John in Sharpsburg, Georgia.

Just a quick note, even Paul, a mighty servant of God, considered

himself to be the chief of sinners.

Yes, that's very true.

In fact, perhaps you could shed some light on that for me.

Pastor Mark, that's the famous text from 1 Timothy 1 .15 and

probably most well -known by the King James Version's rendering of that because

most of the other translations don't use the word of whom I am chief, but they say of whom I am

foremost of all and other ways of phrasing that.

But as Paul's saying, the Apostle Paul, was he saying that he was

in reality the worst sinner that ever lived?

Or was he just perhaps referring to the fact that he had persecuted Christ's church

before he was saved on the road to Damascus?

If you could shed some light on that.

Yeah, that's a good question.

I think you can see that in two ways.

One, Paul states,

you can see that there's a sense in which he never forgot and so he

did know, he always knew at the forefront of his mind how he had persecuted the church, how he had treated Christians, and

so on.

So there's no question that that is an implication of that there as well.

But there's also the interesting thing about that text is when Paul says that, he doesn't say that I

was the chief of sinners.

I was foremost.

It's in the present tense.

Yeah, because there's a debate amongst, even amongst Calvinists, as to whether

the man in Romans, is it 7 or 8 right now?

I'm losing my mind.

When Paul is referring to himself in some very horrible and wicked terms, and

there are some who believe that he must be referring to himself before his regeneration.

Roman 7, yeah.

There's a big debate.

Is that some of the language in Roman 7 lends itself

to words like, I was sold to sin, or carnal, or I am.

And then some would see it more in the speaking about himself, what I will to

do, I don't do, right, in the present tense.

I take that more in the present from the other angle.

But either way, when you look at, like I said, Galatians, what Paul talks about, the battle

against the flesh and the spirit, I can, in that

text of Timothy, in the present tense, even closer

with God, you know, very close with God, he's receiving visions, God has to humble him, to fall in the

flesh.

These people, when

he had said, I'm a man of unclean lips, you know,

when he saw the glory of God, you know, he was completely just, and that was

Isaiah as probably a man of God to some extent, you know, but I think the closer you get to God,

the closer to the Lord, I think you see, as we talked about before,

within our own

hearts, even

to say

that I'm, to some extent, but

that I was, and

I was, you know, a persecutor of the people of God, or whatever I did there.

I agree with you, and I saw an informal debate on that many years ago, back in the

1990s, and I agreed with the side that you just identified yourself

with, although I believe that the main reason, it seemed, that compelled

some fellow Calvinists to reject Paul, reject the interpretation that

it was Paul speaking about his current condition is that they did not want to

give sway to the cheap -grace, easy -believe -ism notion of carnal Christianity,

that somebody could be an unrepentant, wicked individual,.

And even...

And I just preached on that this past Sunday, actually, and I was saying one of the main statements I made, I'm at the very end of the

Sermon on the Mount, that there are going to be people who are going to come to him, and not everyone who comes to him and calls

him Lord, Lord, apart from the work of lawlessness.

The whole idea of a carnal Christian

could be labeled like that eternally at times, and we do.

We fall short.

I could see why they're trying...

We have to be careful that the idea of the gospel and the idea of a Christian having to walk in

holiness, and we do, we need to emphasize that.

We don't want to go to the extreme that we...

Christianity ought to be something where, in a sense, where we're saying we're perfect and we're

without sin, and that we don't sin, and that if we hold ourselves to God's standard, even at any moment, that we need it.

So there's a balance there, and we have to trust the Holy Spirit to do that work, and that's why

when we preach, you'll see that there is

this strife, wrestling with sin,

and forging ahead.

And you know what makes, to me anyway, Jesus' warnings in Matthew

chapter 7 more terrifying is that those whom he is

speaking to on Judgment Day, who thought they were going to be welcomed

into the... welcomed into eternity with Christ, they were not

that we know of drunkards and homosexuals and murderers and

rapists.

They were religious people who were even performing miracles and casting out demons in

Jesus' name, and I don't know what your conviction is, but I believe

that they were performing miracles.

I don't think that they were charlatans, because Jesus never says, no, you didn't do those things.

He just says, be gone from me, you workers of unrighteousness, I never knew you.

And that's why, that's why, Chris, the emphasis on the work of the

Spirit is not on the gifts, because somebody can have gifts, but even to

those extent, look at the Scriptures, he was involved with

the Spirit to win the Scriptures, give

yourself joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, kindness, those are the things and the

wonders, you can have the signs and the wonders, even in truth, you could

have had those, or have those, and still not be a.

Christian.

Well, Pastor Mark, I'd like you to have, let's say, three minutes

to summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners before we conclude this program, and I

already know that I'd like to have you return in June, when our first openings

are on the calendar, to continue this discussion, because we really only got into the first chapter of your book,

and even though it's a short book, we only got into the first chapter.

Yeah, no, that'd be great.

In fact, by then, we'll be getting to the point where I'll have the book, and I'd like to offer free copies, too, to anybody who

calls in, that kind of thing, so we can do that when we have the second interview, I'll be ready to do that.

Yeah, I would leave in the hearts of people talking

about the book, I would say we need

to make much,

provide

everything

that matters for us,

is all bound up in who He is, as fully God, and as fully man, as

we fell in at Him,

but He is, and He alone,

that's where

your

heart is

fixed.

Praise God.

Well, don't forget, folks, if you want to find out more information about Grace Reformed Baptist

Church of Long Island in Merrick, New York, go to gracereformedbaptistchurch .org,

gracereformedbaptistchurch .org,.

Pastor Mark Romaldi, it's been an honor and privilege and joy to have you back on the

program, as it always is, I look forward to your return, if you could stay on the line, I will schedule you

on the calendar in June, and I want to thank everybody who listened, especially those who took the time to

write in questions, and I want you all to always remember, for the rest of your lives, that Jesus Christ is a far

greater Savior than you are a sinner.