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When Jesus rose bodily from the grave, did he still have blood in his body? Does the Old Testament tell us what kind of clothing is modest? And does baptism save us? The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text.
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Www .tt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. Fresh in from chasing tornadoes. Yes. Did you enjoy yourself? No. We had an unseasonable line of thunderstorms roll in on us here in mid-August.
Yeah, that's really odd. Typically, yeah, tornado season is April, May, and June. Mm-hmm. So we don't often get them in August, but we had a watch today. Mm-hmm. And then there was a tornado on the far east side of our county.
Right. I wasn't able to get there in time. It was starting to get too dark, kind of moved on beyond the area I would have been able to go and see it. But I took Becky with me when it was first rolling into the county.
We got to see a little funnel cloud up there. Little itty-bitty thing. Yeah, a little rope. It kind of roped out once we saw it. So there you go. Becky joined me on my hobby, which I used to have before we got married, and I stopped chasing.
Yeah. After I had a family. It's like, you know what, I probably shouldn't be risking my life anymore. That's not a good idea.
I was okay, though, during this one anyway, because, I don't know, like whenever I know the weather's bad, it gets me really nervous. And I wasn't really nervous. I just didn't want to be anywhere close to it.
Yeah, as we're creeping closer to it, she's like, now, where is this storm exactly? And I'm telling her, oh, this is like, I mean, it's a good 15 miles off yet. Right, but still.
I've heard too many horror stories.
My wife, when we first started dating, I'm pretty sure I told you this when we were dating, I said that I was a lightning rod. Yes. Lightning was attracted to me. Yes. And it wasn't until we were engaged and we went to a family reunion for my grandmother's 80th birthday.
Right. And there were two houses that we had rented. Because there were so many people, yeah. Yeah, there were so many people. I think most of the family stayed in the house with Mimi. Mm-hmm. And I know my family, along with my mom and dad, my brothers and sisters, we were all in the other house.
Maybe a few other people as well. Mm-hmm. But so you were in the house with Mimi. Right. So there was one day where Becky, I think you guys had finished up breakfast and you're standing at the kitchen window and you're washing dishes.
Right. Perfect time for a storm. That's right. Perfect time for a storm. Right after breakfast. I'm asleep in the next house. I'm still asleep on the couch. Jesse and I were both asleep on the couch. Yes.
Becky is standing there washing dishes, looking at the house where I'm sleeping and she watches lightning strike it.
Yep. I was in disbelief. I'm like, no, that just didn't happen. Surely that didn't. And there was like this little puff of smoke and like a little sizzling fire. Yeah, embers. And I'm like, I should tell somebody because I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that saw that.
So she calls my dad, who is awake. Yes. Says, your house just got struck by lightning. But I had told her I've been so close to lightning strikes. I don't know how many times I've been knocked off my feet by it.
I felt it surge through my bed one time when it struck the tree right outside my window. You just felt this electric ripple like go through the bed. It was really bizarre. So I told her all these stories.
I guess she was just kind of like, uh-huh. You know, yeah. Lightning, whatever. Sure. It's by chance, you know. Until she actually saw it happen.
So ever since I've been like, no, it's lightning outside. You can't go out. Yeah. She doesn't even.
Let me go out now. So if the storm is coming up, I can't go anywhere. Well, they hurt you too much. But don't you want me to be somewhere else other than in your vicinity? Well, now that you mention it,.
You can be on one side of the house. I'll be on the other. Well, see,.
That happened one time. I was in the kitchen. Yes, it did. It was when we lived in the parsonage. I was in the kitchen and she and Annie and Zieg, we only had two kids at the time, right? Yep, we did.
We're in the living room. And when I was in the kitchen, I saw the lightning go through the duct that was over our stove. I watched the bolt go down. Yep. It scared me to death. And it was really loud.
It was so loud. And I'm kind of standing there in shock, no pun intended. And I said, everybody OK? And then I heard Becky call from the living room. And did you say you saw it go through the track lighting in the living room?
There was something there. Yeah. It shot out the outlets or something like that? But I thought.
That time was whenever it struck over at the church and it shot. No, this hit the stovepipe on top of the house. That was that time. And then there was another time that it struck over at the church when you were next door.
And we saw something happened at the parsonage, too,.
Because it was connected by whatever line. That might have been the time it went through the lighting. That's what I was thinking. But then the one where I was standing in the kitchen, I know it like came out the outlets or something.
Something. I don't know. There's just been too many times we've had some close calls. Everybody now everybody's going, boy, I really want to move to Kansas. Right. Great to be part of that Kansas weather.
Yeah. And we usually get like another surge of storms around September and October to kind of like a leader, a last hurrah before going into fall. There will be one more string of storms. We'll still have some more coming up.
Yeah. Well, it's been crazy wet this year. This has been a very wet year. This is the most humid I ever remember Kansas being. Yeah. This year has been very humid. Our mosquitoes are starting to compare with those down in the south.
Apparently, we're getting some bird size mosquitoes. They're pretty, pretty sizable. They're not Alaska size yet, but they're definitely southern. So are they bigger in Alaska? Apparently, they're like helicopters.
What our friends would say. We actually have an email today from somebody in Alaska. Oh, we can ask that. It's the last one I got on the list, though, and I kind of threw it in there as a spare in case we're able to get to it.
Let's get to it. Let's get to these emails. Friday edition of the broadcast. We take questions from the listeners and you can send those emails to when we understand the text at gmail dot com. This first one comes from our friend John in North Carolina.
We haven't yet met John. No, but we hear from him a lot. Yeah. So we thank you, John. I've talked to him on the phone a couple of times. We thank you for listening. He says, Dear Pastor Gabe and Becky, I cannot tell you enough how much I am enjoying this study through the book of John.
Oh, yeah. Which will finish this week. Yeah. It's hard to believe that you actually started this last September. So it won't be quite a year when I get it done. What I'm about to ask is kind of peculiar.
I actually heard it from a a King James only country preacher from another part of North Carolina. So I'm definitely not just going to take his word. You mentioned several times about how Jesus would refer to himself as flesh and bone.
One of the instances is when he told Thomas to touch his wounds in his hands and in his side. And he said, See for yourself that I am flesh and bone. This old country preacher postulates that there is a distinction between flesh and blood and flesh and bone.
In Matthew 1617, when Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am? And Peter answered him, You are the Christ, the son of God. Jesus told him that he was blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to him.
But it was from the father in heaven. This pastor is trying to say that flesh and blood reveal human beings because blood is one of the agents that cleanses our bodies from impurities. And Jesus in his resurrection body was flesh and bone because he had no blood in him any longer because it was not necessary to cleanse a perfect body.
He said that it is the way that we will be in our resurrection bodies in heaven after the end of the age. He said that another proof would be the statement in Revelation 21. One says that in the new earth, there would be no more sea.
He said that is because the saltwater oceans purify the water and cleanse impurities for the rain cycle to rain fresh water back down on the earth and on the new earth, which would be similar. There would be no need for saltwater oceans to cleanse because there would there would be none.
What think ye? Sincerely, John. I hope I read all of that right. I know that was kind of confusing, but hey, whenever you talk to those King James only guys, they tend to be kind of confusing. Yes, they do.
Blood as a reference in scripture is to life. So consider this from Leviticus 1711 for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
And then Leviticus 1714, a few verses later for the life of every creature is its blood. Its blood is its life. Therefore, I have said to the people of Israel, you shall not eat the blood of any creature for the life of every creature is its blood.
Whoever eats it shall be cut off, which was why the Israelites couldn't eat something with the life still in it. It had to be cooked. Right. The pagans drank blood because they believed that they were absorbing the life force of the animal, which I was going to say whose blood they're drinking, which is blood they're drinking.
It is kind of a witch's thing. Yeah, the animal's blood. Yeah, the animal's blood they're drinking. Anyway, you know what I'm saying? The pagans would do that because they believe they were absorbing the life force of the creature.
But God was telling the people in Israel, that's not what you are to do. Right. Because you're not gaining any life by drinking the blood. Right. And that was why that was forbidden. Rather, since the life was in the blood when an animal was killed on the altar, it was a life that was being given for a life because, of course, the wages of sin is death.
Roman 6, 23. Right. So the atonement for sin was the giving of a life. It was not merely the spilling of blood. The spilling of blood was to show that the animal was dying. The animal's life was being given for the person.
Gotcha. It wasn't enough to slaughter a lamb and just have its blood spilled out. The animal also had to die. So the life was in the blood. That's the significance of blood in Scripture. It's not that blood is a cleansing agent.
Now, when Jesus presents himself to the disciples and he says, see that I am flesh and bone. We get this mostly from Luke 24, Luke's account of Jesus showing himself to his disciples. In verse 39, it says, see my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.
Now, it's a fairly common teaching for someone to say that Jesus did not have blood after his resurrection. Right. The Berean Call, which is Dave Hunt's website, he even says this, Christ has a body of flesh and bones, making reference to Luke 24, but there is no blood in his body because it was all poured out for sin upon the cross.
We really don't get anything from Scripture that says any such thing. Right. There's nothing in the Bible that says that Jesus' resurrected body.
Had no blood in it. I think that would be important for it to mention if that is the case.
Right. I understand the argument the way that they're making it. Christ gave his blood for.
Our sins. Right. But at the same time, I didn't think blood was a cleansing agent. Yeah, it's not.
The liver is, sure, but not the blood. Yeah, the liver cleanses the blood, even the kidneys.
I mean, the blood transports like oxygen and stuff like that to the body. Right. I get that, it transports, but it's not cleansing, right? I think it's a moot point.
One way. I'm not a doctor. When it comes to cleansing in Scripture, water. I'm just really confused. Water is what's being referenced as being cleansing in the Bible. The argument related to whether or not Jesus had blood in his body after he was resurrected, there's really not a reason to have to argue for or against it.
There really wasn't anything incredible about the blood of Jesus itself. It was human blood. There wasn't anything about his blood that was any different than any other human's blood. Right, because he was fully human.
Right. And fully God. He was very man and very God. So there wasn't anything about the property of his blood that was different than any other human being's blood. If there was something different about the property of the blood, then there would be reason for us to make argument about, oh, well, did Jesus really die?
Was it something else that happened there? Like he transported himself out of the body so he didn't have to suffer there? You could always come up with some sort of Jesus not being really human if you made some sort of argument about Jesus' blood being more miraculous than our blood.
Right. Of course, Jesus was very man and very God, but he was man and still is man. Right. Even according to First Timothy 2 .5, there is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus.
So he's still the God man, even seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Amen. So therefore, it's kind of a it's a mood argument to be contesting whether or not Jesus had blood in his body after his resurrection.
The reference to see my flesh and bone. OK, see that I am flesh and bone. All Jesus is presenting to his disciples is that he's physical. He's really here. Yeah. He's not some spiritual apparition that, you know, they're looking at a ghost because that's what they thought.
Right. They thought they were looking at a ghost when Jesus came walking to them on the Sea of Galilee. Yes. But he shows to them that he has flesh and bone. He has physical property. You can touch the outside of him, his flesh, and it feels like you're touching flesh.
Right. And he has he has a solidness to his mass, which is the bone, which is the bone. He's being held up by his bones. This was also Jesus communicating to his disciples. My bones are not rotting in another grave somewhere.
True. These are my bones covered with my flesh. I'm standing before you, flesh and bone. He wasn't going to show them his blood. He wasn't going to cut himself and show blood because he had already spilled his blood on the cross.
Right. So whether or not Jesus did have blood in his body after his resurrection, it wasn't necessary for him to show it, show them that. That's why he didn't say to them, look at me, I'm I'm flesh and blood.
That was that that wasn't a terminology that he needed to use. As John is talking about this guy also making reference to the fact that there's not going to be any saltwater seas in the new heavens and the new earth.
Yeah. Well, yeah, I don't get that either. Well, in Revelation 22 five, it says we're not even going to have the sun anymore. Right. The night we won't need to. We won't need it. The night will be no more.
They will need no light of lamp or sun for the Lord. God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever. Whatever the new heavens and the new earth are like, it's not like it's not going to be what it's like now.
Right. We won't have a reason to have to have the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, stars. Earth won't be an orb floating out into space. There's a lot of that is completely mysterious. We don't know what it's going to be like.
Right. But it's not going to.
Be like this. Right. And even if we were to hear what it's going to be like, we still can't.
Comprehend it. Yeah. And that's yeah. Paul said that very thing in second Corinthians chapter 12. He got to see it, whatever that's going to be like. Right. And he said that he got to see what no eye can see, nor ear can comprehend.
And so he wasn't going to be one who was going to come back and tell us what it was that he saw on the other side. Right. But the Lord certainly showed him something incredible that he could scarcely comprehend and put into words.
And even in such a way that we would be able to comprehend whatever it was he saw. Right. I hope that was helpful for you, John. And thank you again for your question. I don't know what you're going to do with that answer.
I don't know. I don't know. I'm at a loss. Yeah, those King James only guys, they're in a world of their own sometimes. Next question comes from Mark in Indiana. Pastor Gabe, I was hoping you could address this topic on your podcast.
I have heard Exodus 2842 and Isaiah 47, two and three used as text to prove that showing one's thigh is considered nakedness. I'm not opposed to women wearing pants, but it does seem inappropriate for a skirt or pair of shorts to come up above the knee.
Could you clarify this, please? Thank you so much, Mark. You are setting me up to just get everybody after me online for saying anything about modesty. This seems to be the one topic that if I touch this in any way at all, it's just like a firestorm of response.
Oh, yes. I don't really think my critics are listening to me that closely to see what I'm going to say about this. But nevertheless, this feels like a setup, Mark. I think you're setting me up for something.
I'm just teasing. Okay. Exodus 2842 says this. You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh. They shall reach from the hips to the thighs. Now, this is in reference to the priestly garments.
Okay. When God is telling Moses, here's what the priest garments are supposed to look like. So this reference here about covering the nakedness of your flesh, it's not necessarily saying that if you are if you're not wearing clothing that goes past the knee, then you're considered naked.
That's not really what this is saying. Any exposed flesh would be referred to as naked flesh. So here in the specifications for the priestly garb, the the wear that they have is supposed to go from hip down to I'm sorry.
Yeah, hip to thigh hip to thigh. Okay. And that's supposed to be the the length of the garment. That was specifically, you know, there were certain specifics for those priestly garments. Isaiah 47, two and three says, take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers, your nakedness shall be uncovered in your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance and I will spare no one. Of course, this reference to a judgment that God is inflicting. It's just in the in the wording of this. Some people take this and say any uncovering of your leg would be considered to be nakedness.
Oh, okay. Now I get it. Now, I don't necessarily think that we can set guidelines according to the kinds of clothes that we should wear based on what we're reading here in Exodus 28 and Isaiah 47. That's not really what these texts are for.
Generally, whenever we we start talking about modesty, the passages we most often use are in First Timothy two and First Corinthians twelve, because in our English translations, this is where that word modesty most prominently pops up.
Okay. So First Timothy two, nine and ten says women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works.
First Corinthians twelve, twenty three on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty. So these typically are the two verses that we use.
First Timothy two more so than First Corinthians twelve to talk about modesty. But when it comes to what kind of clothing is appropriate, there's definitely going to be some gray area. There's some opinion related to what is going to be appropriate where and what is not right.
I think it's always wise to wear more than less. Yes. The thing that I have gotten in trouble for in the past, although I will admit I was mostly just trolling, but it was making the statement leggings are not pants.
So if you're going to wear leggings, you stay at home. If you're going to go out, put some pants on or cover up with a skirt, put a skirt on over it. So you're a little bit more presentable. You were listening to a podcast not long ago where some of the women on the podcast were saying something to the effect of you told me about this later.
I didn't ever hear it. But you said that the women were talking about, you know, you wear enough to cover up, but not enough to keep things interesting or something like that. Yeah. Do you remember that?
That's been so long. And you were really upset about it. I know that.
Yeah. But just that was pretty close. I was trying to remember exactly, but I can't.
Oh, and Becky was she was hot about it. Yeah. I don't remember what I was doing, but I came in and she was like, you will never believe what these ladies just said. So the problem with that is their objective was really not to honor Christ.
Exactly. It was like, how can I wear clothes in such a way that I can keep people kind of wondering about me or thinking about me and what it is that I wear? That's really appropriate.
And they have nothing to get after me about, but I'm interesting enough to keep their attention. Yeah. It's like, why? Why would you want that attention?
And that's that's not what we should be thinking about when we clothes ourselves. We should be even in the clothing that we wear, be thinking about how does this honor Christ? What am I doing to honor the Lord?
I'm astounded at the number of women who are even prominent women in Christian circles that will have avatars on Twitter or Facebook, and they look like they're topless and they may not be, but you have deliberately cropped that photo to look like that, to have your bare shoulders so that there's no indication that you're wearing a shirt.
That's a problem. That's a huge problem. I don't think that you're approaching that with the mindset of how am I honoring Christ with this photo? And furthermore, you're not even thinking about how I can keep my brothers in the Lord, their minds focused on Christ things and not fleshly things.
You are very deliberate in cropping your photo that way to draw attention to yourself. That's exactly the way that's exactly the reason a person does it.
I used to be of the mindset of, you know, I'm going to dress how I want to dress and the guys can keep their eyes to themselves. But now as a maturing Christian, I won't say mature because I'm I still have a long way to go.
But maturing Christian, that's maturing Christian.
I have learned that there are just some things that I can't help as a woman and like the baby crying, I can't help but listen and hear the baby crying. Like there's nothing. It doesn't matter if it's not mine.
There is nothing that's going to stop me from hearing that. And there's just certain things. I'm sure there's like hundreds more, but that's just one. An example. A very short top of the head example.
How your mind can be taken away to something else because of your mothering tendency.
And I'm like, is that baby hurt? Is that baby needing somebody? Is that baby, you know, I mean, like hundreds of different things are going through my head, even though I'm trying not to be over there.
I'm trying to be here and, you know, doing something here. I just I can't help it. But my brain doesn't do that.
No. I don't hear babies rise and go like, oh, what's wrong with that baby?
Yeah. So that in saying that there are many things that we have as men and well, as women and then you guys as men, let me word that right. Okay. That you just can't help. You're wired that way. Yes. And not saying that you shouldn't take responsibility and take those thoughts captive immediately.
That is our responsibility. First Corinthians, 10, 5, 2nd Corinthians, 10, 5.
The responsibility on the ladies is to help them take that thought captive immediately. Right. And not help put that thought in front of them and linger, you know, and keep things interesting for them.
That's that's not OK. You're just setting people up for failure. Right.
Over and over and over. It's selfish. It's self-centered when you're talking about making things or keeping things interesting. You're thinking about yourself. You're not thinking about somebody else.
Right. So if you are thinking about how to uphold the purity in someone else's mind. And as Becky said, there are certain things that a woman is not going to be able to help, but you do need to take control of those things that you can help.
Right. And Romans 14 says that our liberty is not a means to flaunt being able to do whatever it is that we want. We have to be mindful of one another. Right. We have. And Paul, in this case, in Romans 14, he's just talking about days and food.
He's not even talking about clothing. Right. But even if he was concerned about food, so to such a degree that he would say, if my eating meat is going to cause a brother to stumble, I'm not going to eat meat.
Yes. And so, you know, that if that kind of clothing that you're going to wear might cause your brother to stumble, wear more. And don't put pictures on your Facebook and Twitter page of you in your bikini.
Right. Don't. There are so many. I don't think that you should be wearing that anyway. It's the same as your underwear. It is the exact same as your underwear.
And me as a woman, even though I try very deliberately to not flaunt or anything to get attention in that way, I purposefully do not click the heart. Click the heart, Gabe, click the heart. I don't click the heart.
The like heart. The like button. And I don't retweet anybody who is dressed immodestly.
In their pages. On their pages. Right. Because you don't therefore want to also contribute to somebody else's stumbling by sharing something. Right. That has an inappropriate image in it.
I can't say 100%, but I try very hard to not follow anybody that is dressed that way, too. Just because I don't want people to stumble. Right. I don't know if it's going to help anybody. It might not help a soul.
But in my mind, it makes me more at peace that I'm doing my part in following the Lord and honoring him.
Right. There are certain convictions that each person is going to have that's going to be different than another. Definitely. Like one of the things that I've mentioned before is that I don't wear clothing with labels on them because I don't want that label to be sending a message to somebody.
Right. Myself as a preacher in that particular position, there could be something behind a label or a graphic or something on my shirt that could be communicating something. I don't have any idea what it's communicating.
Right. Even like, say, for example, a T-shirt that says Coca-Cola and somebody's going, well, I know Coca-Cola gives a whole lot of money to LGBTQ causes. Is Gabe saying it's okay to support somebody or buy someone's product that's supporting LGBTQ?
It's just like, I don't want your mind to ever have to go there. Right. So as best as I can, I'm going to wear fairly plain clothing. And it's just so I don't cause you to stumble. That's really the reason why.
Right. I like movies and video games, and there's certain products that I like to use as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to be a walking billboard, you know, that's going to. I don't pay you for that.
You pay them. They don't need my help. I just don't want to cause somebody that kind of turmoil in their conscience over something that is really would not ordinarily have such a significance. Yeah. When I dress, that's the way I'm thinking about it.
I don't necessarily have to think of modesty as much because I'm covered up for the most part.
Well, and see, that's and that's another thing is that. Even men need to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Men should wear shirts like our son, Zeej. He finds it very odd when people are out in public and the guys are not wearing shirts.
He's like, mom, mom, they're not dressed. I'm like, you're right. They're not.
Yeah. He does find that strange. He does. Yeah. I think that there is a general understanding of what is modest and what is not. And I think that this is one of those areas, too, where we need right accountability.
And there needs to be some people around us that can tell us. And you can receive this instruction also that what you're wearing is OK. It's appropriate. Or you might need to put on a little bit more than what you've been wearing.
I'm not suggesting burkas. Anytime we get into this discussion, that's going to be where it goes sometime. Well, you're telling us to wear like robes from head to toe and you got to burka over your head.
No, I'm not saying that at all. My wife's sitting here in jeans and a T-shirt. Yeah. That's perfectly fine. We went out that way. We went chasing tornadoes that way. Stop. But again, coming back to First Timothy two, where it says what we should be concerning ourselves with is good works.
Right. And letting that be the testimony or letting that be what people notice about us, not because you showed some part of your body off. Right. But because you were demonstrating the light of Christ Jesus that is in your heart through the very actions that you had toward other people.
And you're not interested in drawing attention to yourself. Right. You are interested in loving others.
And I know there's some people that go for the other extreme of, well, what about in places like Africa where they don't wear any nobody wears any tops? It's like, well, we're not there. You know, if you ever go there and it's inappropriate to cover up, then I don't know what to tell you.
You just have to cross that bridge when you come to it. Yeah.
I'm not even going to cross that now. No, but I'm just saying it's people throw that out there. Yeah, they do. They go to the extreme. They do both extremes. Like, I'm going to cover up head to toe or I'm going to, like, go be where they don't.
I don't know.
Yeah, this is very common. Even when I do. Frustrating. When I do witnessing in the community, typically among teenagers in particular, I'll talk about the gospel following Christ. I don't know how often this happens.
Two times out of five or something like that. They'll say something to me to the effect of, well, what about the guy down the street over there who's never heard this before? Right. So you're saying God would send him to hell, but you and me would be saved or whatever.
And typically my reply is you believe it and then you can take it to them. Right now you are being given the gospel. So what are you going to do with it? Right. Are you going to repent of your sin and believe in Christ?
Or are you going to go on believing that you can be a good person all by yourself and then fall into judgment?
I think that has a lot to do with our society now, is that it's never about right now and it's never about the conflict at hand. It's always, I'm uncomfortable here, so I'm going to draw your attention everywhere else,.
But where we're at. Yeah, like get the attention off of me. Yeah.
Focus on the other. I want the good attention, not this kind. Right.
So what about that guy? What about that guy who, and then we do the same thing with the modesty conversation. Well, what about people in this country that dress like, yeah, sure. If you're ever in that particular situation, then we can start asking that question and whatever needs to be done about that.
But here and now, this is the way that we understand modesty in our culture. And when it comes down to it, you know, in your mind, what you're wearing is either okay or not. You've either chosen to ignore it and suppress the truth with unrighteousness, perhaps.
Or you're trying to toe the line. Trying to toe the line. Hey, see, as long as I'm not crossing this line, then it's okay.
That doesn't make it okay because you're facing the wrong direction. You're not looking to Christ.
You're still looking at the line. Still trying to see how close I can get to the sin without actually sinning. Right. And beware the cultural response to this. So this whole thing of like, oh, well, see, that's rape culture.
See, you're putting the blame on the woman. Because if she got molested or something like that.
See, again, that's not what we're talking about. This is not. That's deflecting blame. Yeah, this is not the conflict at hand.
You know the responsibility that is for you. And you need to honor Christ with your body. In Romans chapter 12, verse one, in view of the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice unto the Lord.
This is your spiritual act of worship. Verse two, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. Oh, amen. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And that's a hard one.
That's difficult to do because you're constantly fighting that. The river flow is one way and you're trying to swim upstream.
And then what is the pattern of the world? And then what should Christians be doing in either response to that or contrary to that? And again, this is where many counselors are helpful. Having good accountability around you and.
Very much. Receiving wisdom from many brothers and sisters in the Lord.
And make sure to keep those accountability partners as ones that will tell you the truth, even if it hurts. I mean, you can keep them to telling you softly rather than just bluntly laying it out there.
But.
Let a righteous man strike me. It is a kindness. Yeah. Or as it says in Proverbs, an enemy multiplies kisses. But precious is the are the wounds of a friend.
And isn't there one about a net beneath you?
Well, that's yeah. Flattery is spreading a net under your feet. Flattery. Yeah, that's related to flattery.
A little different, but still a yes, man.
So thank you for your question, Mark. That was Mark's question. Next one comes from Henry in Canada. Hi, Gabe, why don't you include the book and chapter that you cover in the podcast title? This would make it much easier to go back into the archives and find a podcast about a specific text that I am studying.
Well, that's true. Yeah. But at this point, I have over a thousand podcast episodes. You can always start now. Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna change the pattern.
What I preach. After you finish, John, you won't change your pattern? No.
Okay. What I preach on Sunday, the Sunday sermons, the reference is in the Sunday sermons. Right. But I don't have it during the week. However, everything is categorized by book. So if you go on Podbean and you're looking for all the Bible lessons that I did in John or any of the other books that I've covered so far, 1st and 2nd Peter, Jude.
I don't remember all that I've covered. And so on and so on. And so on and so forth. You just click on that book that you're looking for, and it'll give you the list of all of them. As you go down the list in the description, it'll be right there on the same page as you scroll down the list of podcasts.
In the description, it does have the reference. And I was sure to make the reference the first thing in the description. Oh, that's awesome. So at least you see it there. It's not gonna be in the title, but you will find it in the description of the episode.
Easy enough. I hope that was helpful enough. Yeah, helpful. Yeah. Next question comes from Gianni, helpfully.
Sorry, my words are like, like I'm talking something else over here.
This is Gianni in Miami, Florida. Hey, Gabe, could you do a video on is baptism necessary for salvation? I'm 50 -50 right now because I wanna believe in justification by faith alone, but I'm really, really struggling with many verses throughout the Bible, which seem to be quite frank, such as Acts 2 .38, John 3 .5, 1 Peter 3 .21, Mark 16 .16, et cetera.
And nowhere in the Bible does it say that baptism is a sign or a symbol. So the common thing among us as Baptists is to say that baptism is an outward sign of an inward change. Right. An outward symbol of something that's happened in your heart.
Gianni goes on, on the contrary, it is repeatedly stated that baptism saves, forgives sins, it's when you receive the Holy Spirit and so on. Please help me out with this question, I've been struggling with it for so long, I've almost gone mad, seriously.
Thank you, Gabe, and God bless. Well, I did do a video on 1 Peter 3 .21 and I did one just last year, pretty sure it was last year, either last year or the start of this year on John 3 .5, explaining what Jesus meant when he said, unless one is born of water in the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
He wasn't talking about baptism there. It was a reference back to Ezekiel. I will sprinkle clean water on you. Oh, right. And I will pour my spirit within you. And so that was the reference that Jesus was making there.
Anyway, Gianni, I will send you the link to both of those videos. In the meantime, I'll go ahead and play the one here on baptism. 1 Peter 3 .21, here is the what video I did on that a couple of years back.
All right. 1 Peter 3 .21 says, Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is one of those proof texts some will use to say that baptism is necessary for salvation. After all, it's right there. Baptism now saves you. While Peter does make a connection between baptism and salvation, in no way is he saying that water has salvific properties.
Water does nothing except wash away dirt. It's not about what baptism does. But what it represents, an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To be sure that's what Peter is saying.
Look at the story of him baptizing Cornelius in Acts 10. After Peter preached the gospel, the Holy Spirit of the Lord came upon all who heard it. Then Peter declared, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus. And there you have it. Baptism was the sign of their belief. It was not the cause of their salvation. Hang on, I take that back. They were saved by baptism, a baptism of the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist baptized with water, but he said there was one coming after him who baptized with the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is the outward symbol of that inward change, signifying that we have been buried in our sins and risen to new life in Christ.
Jesus commanded to baptize and be baptized. It is a command we must obey just as we're to love our neighbor. But water baptism is a work, a sign of our faith, not the cause of it when we understand the text.
I don't really know what I need to add to that. Yeah, I couldn't think of anything either. That was more thorough than I remembered it being, actually. Anyway, so one of the other verses that you had asked about, Gianni, was also Mark 16, 16, where Jesus said, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Well, receive that in light of what was explained in that video, but also understand that Mark 16, 16 doesn't exactly belong in your Bible. Everything after verse 8 in Mark 16 is part of what is referred to as the Marken appendix.
It was added later. It wasn't written by Mark. And if you look in your Bible, it says that. You should have a notation that says the earliest manuscripts do not contain this section of Mark. It was a later edition.
So this statement in Mark 16, 16 of needing to be baptized to be saved doesn't even belong in your Bible anyway, but just taking something like Acts 2 .38, Peter saying, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Again, baptism in light of every other passage that's mentioned is to show that you have received the Holy Spirit. It is not the thing that gives you the Holy Spirit because going to Acts 10, as was explained in the video, when Peter was preaching at Cornelius's house, the demonstration of the Holy Spirit coming upon them had already happened.
And then Peter says, hey, these guys now need to get baptized. That's right. It's showing through obedience that they are now believers in Christ Jesus. And by their baptism, they are showing that they have been buried with Christ in baptism and risen again to new life.
So Paul talks about this in Romans 6, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means? How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So when we are baptized in water, that's what we're demonstrating.
We've been buried with Christ in our sins. We've been risen with him to new life. The statement that Peter makes in 1 Peter 3, verse 21, where he says baptism, which corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience.
That statement not as a removal of dirt from the body is Peter saying the water has no magical property to it. The water is not the thing that is cleansing you, but rather it is demonstrating that you have been buried with Christ and you are risen again to new life.
That's right. And a person who is truly been saved is going to obey God and one of the commands of Christ is to go and be baptized. If you refuse to be baptized, you might not be saved because you are not obeying even the simple basic commandments that Christ first gave to anyone who would become his disciple.
Remember that John said, I baptize you with water, but there is one coming after me who was gonna baptize with the Holy Spirit. That's the baptism that is salvific. That's the baptism that saves needing the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
And we have in Titus 3, 5, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. This is the baptism of Holy Spirit that we receive, which is our salvation.
And the Holy Spirit cleanses us, which is always described as being like the water of the Holy Spirit. So we are cleansed and because that inward change has taken place, we show outwardly what has happened inwardly.
Right. When we are therefore baptized in water. And of course, as a Baptist, I'm gonna say must be by full immersion. Yes. That's the kind of baptism that you should be getting. And unlike my Presbyterian brothers, I'm not gonna tell you to baptize your babies.
Right. It is by confession. And then you show that you are with Christ in baptism when you make that decision to be baptized as a demonstration of the faith that you have. Yes. But again, recognize that this is the work of God.
It's not by our works. I'm preaching on this coming up on Sunday, Ephesians 2, 8, by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast.
If you start believing that you have to be baptized in order to be saved, like your salvation came when you were dunked in water and came back up again. If that's what you're gonna believe, here's what's gonna end up happening.
You are gonna begin to question as you go through life, you'll begin to question whether or not you did it right. Right. If you think that your salvation is dependent upon a work that you do, not the work that God does,.
Then you're gonna question whether or not you did it properly. And if you need saved again and again. Right.
And again. Did I get baptized in the right church? Yeah. Was it the right kind of water? Right. Was the minister, was he the right kind of guy to baptize me?
And that usually bleeds over to other areas of. Am I doing enough good works? Yep. Am I doing enough of this and that and the other?
It's never ending. It's gonna come into some other things as well. You will never really have an assurance of salvation. Right. If you're placing your assurance on that work instead of on Christ. Definitely.
So know that it is Christ who has saved you and then you show that you are baptized with Christ when you obey his commandment to be baptized in water. That's right. And that's not the thing that saves you.
It's just like any other work that we do, a demonstration of the salvation that we have received in Christ. I hope Gianni that that answer is able to put your mind at ease. Yeah. And we're gonna pray for you a little bit here when we get to the end.
But we did make it with enough time to get to Stan's question from Alaska. All right. Dear Pastor Gabe, greetings from grizzly bear country. That's awesome. Seriously, I had one in my backyard this morning.
No, thank you.
I like watching the videos of that, but I don't think personally I can handle it.
I believe that I can get away from a tornado more effectively than I could get away from a grizzly bear. That's so true. So I'm okay with chasing tornadoes rather than being chased by a grizzly bear. Or a moose.
I've also been chased by tornadoes too. Yes. Being chased by moose, by meeses. Yeah, I don't do meese. Stan goes on, I first found your ministry through wretched and ever since then, I have watched your videos and read your blogs when you write them.
It doesn't seem like you blog very often. Yeah, it's just a couple of months. Yeah. One or two a month. But I always enjoy it when you do. I just have a couple of requests. Number one, could you put a place on your blog where a person can subscribe by submitting their email address?
That way when you post a blog, I can get it by email. I will know when you've posted a new one and I will know where to find it, in my inbox. Number two, can you also talk about your blog on the podcast?
I've only just started reading your recent blog on the guy at Hillsong Church who said that he has left the faith. I do a lot more driving for my job and if you could do your blog on the podcast, then I could listen to it and I wouldn't have to remember trying to finish reading it.
Thanks again for all that you're doing for the kingdom and for taking the time to read my email. I know you're a busy guy, Stan in Alaska. Well, Stan, I was hoping we'd even have enough time here at the end of this podcast.
I could go ahead and go through the blog. Sure. But we don't. I don't think we do. We're out of time. We're too chatty. If you go to pastorgabe .com, I have purchased that domain name so that will take you directly to my blog.
You don't have to remember the longer name, which I believe, see, I don't even have it memorized. I think it's pastorgabehughes .blogspot .com. Okay. I think it's So what was the other one? Pastorgabe .com.
There you go. That'll get you there the fastest. But yes, I will add a little thing at the top. There is the option to add this bar and somewhere down the line, I had deselected it. Okay. But the little bar at the top where you can enter your email address, so that way you're now subscribed to that blog.
So I'll be sure to add that back in there and you can subscribe to the blog that way. You're so sweet. Thank you. As for recording it and getting it on the air, I tell you what, that's something that I'll entertain possibly doing.
I mean, we do have a Saturday that's not occupied with anything. It's called family time. We need some of it. No, I'm saying sometime during the week. Oh, okay. Getting that done. I'll consider that after I get done with the literal word recording.
Right. Because I'm recording the Bible right now for the literal word Bible app. And so any spare time that I've got, that's what I'm doing. I'm recording the Bible. So wait till I get that done. And then sometime into this year, start of the next, maybe I can think about throwing blogs on the podcast.
Might be the Saturday thing. See, the thing with writing a blog is when I'm at the church, when I'm at my office at church, that's what I'm doing most of my research or my writing. Right. Because I can't record there.
All my recording stuff is at home. So that's where I blog or do my reading or anything else. And then I can't record the blog because I'd have to come home and do it. Right. It's just scheduling. It doesn't fit right now, but maybe we can find a place down the line.
Stan, if you so want to hear the blogs in podcast form, pray about it. That Gabe's schedule clears up a little bit. In the meantime, I do want to conclude here by praying for Gianni in Miami and that's how we'll bring things to a close.
Okay. Let's pray. Yes, let's. Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time together. And again, thanking you for this medium of being able to do the Bible in this way and take questions from listeners and talk about your word and your scriptures.
And I pray that all that we do is gonna be edifying for the saints and it is gonna be honoring to Christ our King. May we do everything to his glory. How may I live as a servant of the King today? How can I be as a kingdom person living in this world, in the world, but not of it and showing by my life, the godliness that I am pursuing in Christ Jesus.
Help me to keep my mind and my heart focused on the things of God in all that I do and keeping myself away from the temptations and the trappings of this world and of my flesh. We wanna pray for Gianni as he is struggling right now with assurance of his own salvation and wrestling with the concept of baptism.
If he has been baptized, I pray that you rest upon his heart in such a way that he knows that's enough. He has done what you have required of him. The work of salvation was never in his hands in the first place.
It is what Christ has done for him. And then in obedience to the Christ who saves him, he has shown and demonstrated his love for God by being baptized. And therefore he is done with that and is going on to other things as he progresses in his sanctification in becoming more and more like Christ Jesus.
I pray that your word speaks loudly to his heart and that he understands according to the scriptures, what you have said and giving him assurance in his heart of the love that you have for him through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And it's in his name that we pray, amen. Amen. Get out of MySpace. I used to stalk your MySpace page.
I didn't ever use it when we met. Nope, but you had one.
I did have one. It was kind of a yellowish photo, short hair. You remember that? Yep.
And I had a picture of me with my Tonka toy.
Yeah, your big old truck. In front of my Tonka toy.
Loved that thing. I'm sad I didn't get more pictures with it. Yeah, I think I've only seen the one. Because it was so dusty that nothing worked for very long. So you didn't bring much. Nothing on the truck worked for very long?
No, no, no, no. Like electronics. Oh yeah, right. Because the air was so dusty. Yeah. It didn't last very long.
It's like the beach, you know? You don't take your good stuff to the beach. You don't take your phone down to the beach. Unless you're Rob or Steven Melanson taking pictures of the ocean water and mocking us with it.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't mind. If they want to replenish free, what?
Risk the destruction of their own phones dropping into the water.
Yep, I don't mind. You said you were ready. I am ready. Then let's go. I think I'm recording. Yep.