WWUTT 1835 Q&A Christmas Ghost Stories, Singing Imprecatory Psalms, What is Provisionism

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What does Christmas have to do with ghost stories? How can we sing imprecatory psalms when

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Jesus told us to love our enemies? And is provisionism biblical? The answers to these questions when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .tt .com.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Not with me this week. She's still sick, still has that terrible cough.

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Pray for her, folks. Pray for my wife. I want to have her back on the broadcast with me, especially considering what we've got coming up for the next three weeks of this

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Friday Q &A. Next week is December 23rd, the Friday right before Christmas. That's when we're going to do our

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Christmas episode. I've already got a few Christmas -related questions I'm going to respond to, but I could use a few more.

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If you want to send them in, the email address is whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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The week after that, last Friday of the year, December the 30th, and that's when we're going to do our year in review.

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As we typically do on this broadcast, we look back over the biggest Christian stories for the year and just kind of remember those things that happened in 22.

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Now, the year won't really be over yet. There's still one more day. December 31st will not have happened yet, but I'm going to assume the biggest things that would have happened for the year have already taken place, and yeah, we'll just wrap that up a day early.

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How about that? Then the next week, first Friday of 23, that'll be on January the 6th, and we're going to count down the 10 biggest what videos for 2022.

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Now, I'm going to do a compilation video anyway, and it will be on the what channel, youtube .com slash

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WWUTT if you want to subscribe. I'm going to post the compilation there, but what you'll get on the broadcast will be commentary.

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We'll talk about what went into making those videos, the kind of responses we got afterward, if I would have changed anything about the videos.

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I'm looking forward to these next three weeks, and I hope you are too. Mark them on your calendars, get those episodes downloaded, and pray for Becky that she'll be with me,

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God willing, for all three of those coming podcasts. And as always, we do

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New Testament Study on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Old Testament Study on Thursday, before the

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Q &A on Friday. I've got questions to respond to, a poll I want to mention to you, but before getting to that, let's open the word of the

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Lord. I'm going to read this passage, and I'm going to come back to it again at the end of the broadcast as well.

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But let's hear the word of Christ from 1 Thessalonians 1, beginning in verse 2.

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This was spoken through the Apostle Paul to the church in Thessalonica. Hear the word of the

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Lord. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our

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Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers beloved by God, your election.

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For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the

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Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. Just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake, you also became imitators of us and of the

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Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the

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Holy Spirit. What does that passage have to do with our episode today?

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Well, you got to stay tuned. Let me begin with this poll. This was a poll question that was asked by Fred Butler on Twitter.

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And he said, important poll. Does your family Christmas traditions involve telling scary ghost stories?

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Yes, for real. That was his poll question. And that poll is still going on. It hasn't finished up at the time that I'm recording this, but he's already had more than 100 respondents.

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And in my experience in doing polls, not much changes after that. You might adjust a few percentage points there, but you pretty much get an idea of what the results are going to be after about 100 folks.

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Here's what he's got so far. How many people—now, if Becky were here, I would look at her and I would say, give me a guess, babe.

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How many people out of a hundred do you think tell scary stories at Christmas as part of their

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Christmas traditions? And she, being as smart as she is, would probably say three out of a hundred.

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And I would say, you're right. That's exactly right. According to Fred's poll, 3 % tell scary stories around the

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Christmas tree. I don't know, around the Christmas tree. They tell scary stories at Christmas as part of their

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Christmas tradition. 97 % said no, 3 % said yes. And Fred replied, apparently it was common practice to tell scary ghost stories.

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I'm sure what will address this for the Gabe and Babe show tomorrow. It just so happens,

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Fred, I do know something about this. This was popularized by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

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That's kind of when it reached its apex with the publication of A Christmas Carol in the 19th century.

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But this was going on for centuries even before that. December, especially around the winter solstice, which was

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December 21st, was largely considered to be a season of death because the pagans thought of the sun dying on December 21st and then it came back to life again.

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Days started getting longer. There was more light. So since there was death associated with winter and with the winter solstice, then it became common to tell ghost stories at this time of year and that just got pulled into some families'

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Christmas traditions. Now, it became most popular after the publication of A Christmas Carol, but Dickens wasn't doing anything that wasn't already commonplace.

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It just got popular with A Christmas Carol. The story of Ebenezer Scrooge being a wretched old man that he was and then he's visited on Christmas Eve by the spirit of his dead partner,

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Jacob Marley, and then you've got the three spirits of Christmas past, Christmas present, and the

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Christmas yet to come. And because of what is shown to him, the direction that his life is going, he is convicted of heart, wakes up on Christmas Day, and becomes a loving, sacrificial, charitable old man, unlike the person that he was before.

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That's not the only story that Dickens wrote like that. There were a couple of other stories that he did, one called

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The Chimes and another called The Haunted Man, that were just like that, a story about an old man who was visited by ghosts and then he changed his ways.

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And those two stories also took place at Christmastime. In The Seven Poor Travelers, Dickens said,

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Christmas Eve is the witching time for storytelling. He liked telling ghost stories at Christmas.

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He even wrote some in the magazine that he was publishing and when it came around to Christmas, he would have ghost stories in his magazine.

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In Henry James' famous novella, The Turn of the Screw, the story involves a group of men telling ghost stories around a fire on Christmas Eve.

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And there was a book in the early 1900s that was called The Book of Indoor and Outdoor Games and some of those indoor games that you could do included telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve.

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Now, the commercialization of Halloween is really what moved ghost stories from December to October.

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And that's probably not an exact time when that happened. Halloween didn't really start taking off like right away.

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It didn't become what we know Halloween to be until about the middle part of the 20th century, the mid -1900s, because when the celebration of All Souls Day first came to the

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U .S., it was a holiday that was only celebrated among Irish and Scottish immigrants. Halloween parties didn't become a regular thing until about the 1920s and 30s.

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And even then, it was more like April Fool's Day. It was a time of pranks and tricks, right, which is where trick -or -treat comes from, rather than ghosts and goblins, though wearing masks have always been a part of Halloween.

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After all, you didn't want Mrs. Shufflebine down the street to recognize you after you just toilet -papered her trees, so people would wear masks when they did their tricks or treats.

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The pranks turned into trick -or -treating by the 1940s, but the early treats were like fruit.

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Have you ever gone to somebody's house at Halloween and they gave you fruit? Yeah, that has a long history, too.

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There wasn't individually wrapped candies at the time, so when you did trick -or -treating door -to -door, you would get popcorn, nuts, and fruit, because candy was all open.

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If you went to the candy store, there were the bins with the candies in them, but they weren't individually wrapped, so the candy probably wasn't clean.

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You didn't want to just have hands dipping into these bowls, so people weren't giving out candy at Halloween until manufactured individually wrapped candy, which became a regular thing in the 60s and 70s.

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Now, kids have been able to buy manufactured Halloween costumes, like store -bought costumes.

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That's been going on for like a hundred years. But guess where adults dressing in costumes came from?

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Believe it or not, you can thank the gay pride movement for that. I read about this years ago in an article in Slate magazine.

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Adult costumes began with men wearing drag, and women dressing up in skimpy nurse and French maid and devil costumes.

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We even know exactly the year when this started. It was in 1973 in New York City's Greenwich Village, which was known as a gay district.

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Now, because this is a family podcast, I won't go into further detail, but you know now some of the scandalous origins of Halloween.

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If it wasn't already problematic enough, now you're even more reluctant to let your kids celebrate, right?

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It's not just about the fascination with specters and ghosts and death that has all these demonic ties.

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There's also, yeah, some sexual immorality tied in with Halloween. All that to say that ghost stories used to be associated with Christmas, and I'm just fine that, you know, the most ghost stories you're going to hear at Christmas time is a retelling of the

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Christmas Carol. Now, whether or not you choose to celebrate Halloween or Christmas, that's up to you.

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And I say celebrate Halloween. I use that term very loosely. We've never celebrated Halloween.

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We've not done anything more than let the kids dress up as their favorite characters, which they do any day of the year anyway, and then grab some buckets.

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We'll go door -to -door and get some free candy. That's not celebrating anything. That's just getting free candy.

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But there's no requirement for any Christian to celebrate Christmas. That's up to you.

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Just don't quarrel over opinions. Romans 14, 4 through 6 says,

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Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls, and he will stand for the

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Lord is able to make him stand. One person judges one day above another.

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Another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.

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He who regards the day regards it for the Lord, and he who eats eats for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God, and he who does not eat for the

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Lord, he does not eat and gives thanks to God. I love Christmas time.

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I love everything that's wrapped up in the holiday, and there's nothing wrong with having a time that we remember and celebrate the incarnation of our

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Lord. I really don't think anybody's getting to heaven and standing before God and he's going to say, well done good and faithful servant.

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But really what was up with Christmas? Why were you celebrating that? The Lord is not going to say that to us, but we remember the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ every day of the year.

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Christmas is a great time to celebrate that. But of course we celebrate it all the time. The most important day for the

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Christian is Sunday. That's the Lord's day. When we gather together to remember everything about Christ and preach his word and understand how the whole

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Bible points to Jesus and how he fulfilled all the law and the prophets, how he died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead and all who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

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And we have the promise of him coming back to judge the living and the dead. All who believe in him will be saved.

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It's neat to consider how what used to be a pagan festival a time of paganism around December 21st has turned into a festival of lights when

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Jesus entered the world. It's no longer festival of darkness. It's a festival of lights when we celebrate that the light has come.

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And so I love doing that at Christmastime, but I love Sunday the most gathering together with the

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Saints with the Church of God to worship our Lord. Speaking of worship, this next question here, this comes from Daniel.

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He says, dear Pastor Gabe, greetings from Mexico. I really loved your article on your favorite worship songs for 2022, but you never finished it.

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I was anxiously awaiting part two and unless I missed something, I don't think you ever posted it. Are you planning on doing the second part?

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And if so, when can we expect it? Thank you for the reminder, Daniel. I just it just got out of my mind.

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I don't know why I never came back to writing the second part. I have most of the second part written. In fact,

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I just never finished it. So I'm going to make that a point this next week to finish part two and I'll post my next five favorite praise and worship songs for 2022.

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At least they're the favorite songs that I chose from the CCLI top 100.

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Some of the songs are classic. I mentioned Victory in Jesus and I can't remember if there was,

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I know there's another classic in the next set, the next half of the list. So I'll wait until that comes out.

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I'll try to finish it this week, Daniel. I'm also going to include my runners -up, like songs that didn't make the list, but are still songs that I love and enjoy and sing to this day.

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You can find the blog at PastorGabe .com. This next question comes from Savannah.

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Hello, Gabe and babe. Merry almost Christmas. I hope this season has been filled with much rejoicing over our

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Savior and the gifts that he has given for your family. I'm wondering about how imprecatory psalms should be used.

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We just started visiting a reformed church where we will sing those imprecatory psalms, such as Psalm 3, and there is not any teaching or context given about how we should be worshiping with those songs in our spirit and mind, such as who is the wicked, what

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God has done for wicked people such as me, and that we should also pray for salvation and not just judgment.

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I don't feel quite right singing them so often. They seem very serious prayers to pray and that it is unwise to do so without much thought or purpose behind them.

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Could you help me understand how these ought to be prayed or sung in light of Luke 6 27 to 36?

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Should we always view these psalms in light of the gospel slash new covenant?

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Thank you Savannah. This is a question that we've not received like this before.

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Every few months or so Becky and I will get a question about is it okay for us to pray the imprecatory psalms, but I think this is the first time

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I've answered about singing the imprecatory psalms. I've not answered the question in that way before.

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Now, first of all an imprecation is a curse. So when we're talking about imprecatory psalms, we're talking about those psalms that are like Lord break the teeth of the wicked destroy my enemies.

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I hate those who hate you. You know, those are the the kinds of psalms that we would categorize as imprecatory.

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Jesus quoted from the imprecatory psalms when he cleansed the temple in John 2, that statement zeal for your house will consume me that comes from an imprecatory psalm.

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And in John 15, he said in verse 23, he who hates me hates my father.

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Also, if I had not done among them the works, which no one else did they would not have sin, but now they have both seen and hated me and my father as well.

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But this happened to fulfill the word that is written in their law. They hated me without cause and Jesus is quoting from an imprecatory psalm.

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I've preached through imprecations before I have used imprecatory psalms even in my call to worship in church.

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There's nothing wrong with that. It's the word of God and they're good reminders for us that God is going to have vengeance on his enemies so that those who are opposed to God would tremble with fear.

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They would turn from their sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And likewise that we would be reminded not to fall into sin.

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There has been those reminders as we've been going through the book of Hebrews on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday about how those who will continue in disobedience will even fall into unbelief and they will not receive the reward that is promised for all those who endure to the end.

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Those constant reminders that come up in the book of Hebrews. We need to be reminded of that too that we would not become weak and potentially fall away as we just read in Hebrews chapter 6.

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We have sung imprecatory psalms here in our church and that's what Savannah is asking about.

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How do we prepare our hearts for that? Is it right for us to sing the imprecatory psalms?

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Well, the Psalter is the book of psalms. It's like our biblical hymn book.

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It's in the Bible. So it is good for us to sing this can't even be worship unto

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God because we're reminded that he will have vengeance on his enemies and he will deliver his

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Saints a lot of that in the in the imprecatory psalms also talks about God delivering those who are oppressed not just punishing those who are his enemies, but delivering those who desire to do righteously consider

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Psalm 3, which Savannah referenced. Oh Yahweh how my adversaries have become many many are rising up against me.

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Many are saying of my soul. There is no salvation for him in God say la, but you

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Oh Yahweh are a shield about me my glory and the one who lifts my head.

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I was calling to Yahweh with my voice and he answered me from his

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Holy Mountain say la I lay down and slept I awoke for Yahweh sustains me.

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I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who all around have set themselves against me.

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Now Psalm 3 is not really considered one of the imprecatory psalms. There's really 14 of them psalms 5 10 17 35 58 59 69 7 79 83 109 129 137 and 140.

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There you go. I cheated to you to get I had to look that up, but there's your imprecatory psalms.

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Those are the ones that we consider to be imprecatory. I've even preached on a few of those. I did Psalm 5 a year ago.

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It was in December a year ago that I preached on Psalm 5. I know what a lovely time to preach an imprecatory song.

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It was the Sunday between Christmas and New Year's. So how do we think of those things?

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How do we worship with that in mind in light of as Savannah mentioned what is said to us in Luke 6

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Jesus said beginning in verse 27. I say to you who hear love your enemies do good to those who hate you bless those who curse you pray for those who disparage you whoever hits you on the cheek offer him the other also and whoever takes away your garment do not withhold your tunic from him either give to everyone who asks of you and whoever takes away what is yours do not demand it back and treat others the same way you want them to treat you and if you love those who love you what credit is that to you for even sinners love those who love them and if you do good to those who do good to you what credit is that to you for even sinners do the same and if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive what credit is that to you even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount but love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the

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Most High for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and evil be merciful just as your father is merciful so indeed we need to take those things in mind, but that doesn't mean that we can't pray in Precatory prayers.

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You can pray for the justice of God to be done in this Earth and you know consider when you read the imprecatory

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Psalms. No one is explicitly mentioned there. It's very general about how the Lord will destroy his enemies, but he will deliver his

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Saints and so you ask that justice would be done and that we would be delivered every time you pray

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Lord Jesus come quickly. You probably don't think about this, but you're praying something in Precatory because when

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Jesus returns will be saved from this Earth from his judgment into heaven to dwell with him forever, but his judgment he pours out on the wicked his wrath will consume them and they will perish forever in hell.

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That's what will happen on that day that Christ returns. So when you pray Lord Jesus come quickly, you're probably just thinking about being delivered but understand that that day is a day of judgment for those who do not know

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Christ. You are actually praying something in Precatory as well. We do desire the justice of God to be done in this

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Earth, but we should also have hearts of compassion just as God showed toward us and desire that the wicked would not perish but that they would turn from their sin and be saved.

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I hope I've given you some things to think about Savannah bring this up with your pastor ask this of your worship leaders at your church.

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How should we think about these things? They probably have not considered preparing the hearts of the church to worship with this and so just asking the question kind of moves them in that direction and make them realize.

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Yeah, let's have some lessons on this that we can understand the right balance between loving your enemies, but also praying that God's justice would be poured out on his enemies.

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This next question comes from Adam who says hi, I've enjoyed a number of what videos along with a debate you did with latent flowers.

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Yeah, that was back in January and never actually did a follow -up to that debate. I was planning on a couple of interviews and I was just kind of going to let the interviews be like our follow -up to the debate one interview that I did fell through it just we were never able to make it work another one.

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I did we talk for like an hour, but due to technical difficulties, we lost that entire conversation.

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It was a good conversation. You just didn't get to hear it. So anyway, I do want to do like a video follow -up.

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Maybe I'll do it in January on the one -year anniversary of that debate to kind of summarize points that I made and you know what

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I wish I could have done better those kinds of things my first debate in 20 years. I had debated in a long time.

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So I appreciate you watching and I'm glad you enjoyed it and were able to to learn from it as well. Adam goes on to say it always inspires me when

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I see someone ably handling biblical teachings and responding to critics. This always makes me curious about the speakers education, but I can't find any references to yours online just a mild curiosity.

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You don't have to respond. I just assume you've gone to college and seminary and wanted to know where it was and which degrees you've acquired if it's okay to ask sure.

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Yeah, I don't have a problem responding to that. I've never attended seminary never taken a Bible class in my life.

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Not even not for college credit. Anyway, I have sat through numerous classes and seminars hours upon hours.

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I've never actually attended seminary. Now, I did go to college. I went to Juco for the first two and a half years and then

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I went to a four -year college didn't really get a substantial degree. I finished with like an arts degree, but yeah, not in not in anything theological.

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Now, my background is I've grown up in ministry. I grew up in Christian radio had my own radio show from the age of seven.

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I retired from that at the age of 29 and became a pastor. So I was in Christian radio for 22 years and when

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I was growing up, I was listening to programs from guys like Adrian Rogers and Woodrow Kroll and J Vernon McGee and there was even some

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RC Sproul and John MacArthur in there. There was a family life today with Dennis Rainey.

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There was focus on the family with Dr. James Dobson. These guys were my teachers growing up while my friends were flipping pizzas or bagging groceries.

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I was listening to Bible teaching all day long, even when I would get home. My parents had routines with us kids where we knew a certain show was coming on the radio at a particular time and we were supposed to make that a quiet time sitting around the radio listening to the

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Bible teaching. It was even outside of work that I was listening to this. My dad taught me to read the

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Bible when I first learned to read it was the Bible that I read and from age 5 to age 7 in those two years,

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I had read through the entire Bible. Then my dad took me through the Bible again and started showing me how to use

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Scripture to interpret Scripture. And so when I would be in Genesis again and that Abraham believed

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God and it was credited to him as righteousness. My dad would say where else in the New Testament. Did you see that several references in the

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New Testament? So this was my education coming up. This was this was an unusual upbringing, but I was preaching by the age of 17 and in the first 10 years of preaching by the time

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I was about 27 years old. I had been in over a hundred churches around Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, the

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Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. I haven't always been an expository preacher as I've joked about before some of those early sermons.

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I wish I could go back and do again. I came to love expository preaching listening to Votie Bacchum and I found

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Votie Bacchum through family life today. So listening to Votie is that was where I came to recognize.

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This is how preaching should be done before that. It was mostly topical. I mean, my dad taught me to understand passages in context and to preach verse for verse, but because I was going to so many different churches every

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Sunday, I had a lot of topical sermons or just, you know, preaching on a particular topic, not necessarily a specific book or passage.

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And so it took me a while to get into understanding the need, the importance of expository preaching so that even when

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I was doing pulpit supply, my sermons would be expository. These are things that I'm still learning to do.

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As many sermons as I've preached and it's been hundreds of sermons as a pastor, I've preached over 500.

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But if you add in what I did as an itinerant preacher, it was, you know, a hundred more than that.

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But I still am desiring to know God's word better and how to communicate it better and any good pastor worth his salt will tell you the same thing when he finished seminary that wasn't the end of his education.

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He just got the basic tools that he needed, but we continue to grow in a knowledge of God's word and some of those deep theological concepts that we can glean from the word as well.

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I appreciate your question, Adam, and God bless you in your study and your growth of the word, read it every day, read it over and over again, memorize scripture, let it get into your heart, listen to good sermons, read some good theology books as Charles Spurgeon said, visit many good books, but live in the

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Bible. And of course, don't just be a hearer of the word, do what it says as we're instructed in James chapter 1.

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This next question also has something to do with latent flowers. This question is from Melissa who sent this via a

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Facebook chat message. Hi, Pastor Gabe and Becky. I really enjoy listening to your podcast and I'm wondering if you could help clarify some questionable theology.

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I have been hearing about in recent months. It has to do with latent flowers and the provisionist movement.

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Did Jesus die on the cross for everyone? I come from the doctrines of grace background and would love if you have any insight into this movement.

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Thanks again for all that you do in bringing glory to our Lord. Well, I appreciate that Melissa.

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Let me play for you the video that I did responding to latent flowers ministry. Soteriology 101 and then

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I'll talk a little bit more about the doctrines of grace that you and I believe this doctrine of latent called provisionism and some biblical responses to this first.

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Here's the video that I did. Dr. Layton flowers professor at Trinity Seminary and son of the guy who started see you at the pole calls his ministry

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Soteriology 101 Soteriology is the study of salvation and 101 implies that these are salvation basics, but flowers emphasis is less on Soteriology and more on being anti Calvinist.

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Look at the logo is Calvinism correct in the statement of faith on his website. The entire preamble is about disavowing

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Calvinism Soteriology isn't mentioned until the fourth paragraph article 1 is on the gospel and it's rather vague.

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Yes. The gospel is the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, but salvation how

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John 316 whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

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Come on. This is Soteriology 101 article 1 also says we deny that only a select few are capable of responding to the gospel.

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Well, that's not even Calvinism which teaches what the Bible says that no one is capable of coming to Jesus unless it is granted him by the father

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John 665 in article 2 the statement says that each person sin alone brings the wrath of a holy

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God, but that's not what the Bible says Romans 512 says sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned flowers entire stick is to be anti -Calvinist which he calls

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Soteriology 101. But at the end of the day flowers understands neither Calvinism nor the basic biblical doctrines of salvation

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Romans 830 says that those whom God predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified that Soteriology 101 when we understand the text.

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So in her message Savannah asked did Jesus die on the cross for everyone?

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Well, it depends on what you mean by for everyone is the offering of what Jesus did on the cross to be made for everyone.

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Yes, the Apostle Paul said in Acts 1730 when preaching at the Areopagus the times of ignorance

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God has overlooked but now he commands all people everywhere to repent and he pointed them to the one

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God raised from the dead Jesus told his disciples to go and make disciples of all

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Nations. There is no one from whom we should withhold the message of the gospel God's free gift of grace in his son so that everyone who believes in Jesus will be forgiven their sins and have eternal life go and tell the world or as we say as we sing at this time of year go tell it on the mountain, but that said did

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Jesus die on the cross for everyone in the sense that his atoning work is for everyone and the answer to that is no only those who believe will be saved.

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These who believe are God's elect whom he had chosen from before the foundation of the world

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Romans 830 as I mentioned there at the end of the video those whom he predestined he also called those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified that is a basic understanding in the study of the doctrine of salvation.

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We believe and are saved because we were predestined in the doctrines of grace, which

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Melissa you made reference to the doctrine that summarizes this biblical teaching is called limited atonement though RC Sproul and Charles Spurgeon and and myself have preferred to call it particular atonement or particular

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Redemption if Jesus died only for his elect then his atoning sacrifice perfectly accomplished its intended purpose every person for whom

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Jesus died will be in heaven not one drop of his blood was wasted.

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So what are some passages that we use to defend the doctrine of limited atonement?

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How about a popular verse that we use around Christmas Matthew 121 she will bear a son and you will call his name

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Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.

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Matthew 2028 the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many not everyone but for many

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Matthew 2214 many are called but few are chosen

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John 10 11. I am the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep verse 15.

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I lay my life down for the sheep going on to verses 26 to 30 you do not believe because you are not of my sheep my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish ever and no one will snatch them out of my hand my father who is given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand.

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I and the father are one that's also a passage we use in defense of the doctrine of the perseverance of the

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Saints by the way, John 179 Jesus says I am praying on their behalf meaning his disciples.

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I am not praying on behalf of the world but of those whom you have given me for they are yours talking to the father

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X 2028 care for the Church of God which he obtained with his own blood

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Jesus obtained the church with his own blood 2nd

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Corinthians 514 to 15 for the love of Christ controls us having concluded this that one died for all therefore all died and he died for all so that they who live would no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

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Now, who are the all being talked about there? It's not every single person.

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In fact, this is a big passage in defense of limited Atonement consider it again one died for all that one being

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Jesus therefore all died has every single person died to their sin and been made alive in Christ.

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No only all of the followers of Jesus verse 15 and he died for all his sheep in other words so that they who live that's all who are in Christ would no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

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That's only the elect friends. Ephesians 525 husbands love your wives as Christ love the church and gave himself up for her.

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He gave himself for his church not every single person in the world. Now, I have said before that I don't really like the name limited

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Atonement, which is why I prefer to call it particular rather than limited when it comes down to it.

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It's those who oppose the doctrine of limited Atonement who are really the ones who limit the

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Atonement they limit it to a mere possibility or an opportunity for salvation. If people could just raise their dead spirits back to life and believe this also limits the power and the effectiveness of the

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Atonement if Jesus died for people who remain in unbelief and go to hell if Jesus died for people who would never believe in him then he died for them for nothing.

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What purpose did that serve and understand when we say that Jesus died for us were not simply saying that he he just died for us.

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His death was a sacrifice. He sacrificed himself for us. If someone sacrifices their life for someone else's life, then the person they sacrifice themselves for is saved, right?

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If one of my children is about to get hit by a car and I go run over and push them out of the way, but in doing so I get hit by the car instead.

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I sacrificed myself for my child. I don't tell my children. Here's how much

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I love you and then I go stand in the middle of the road and get hit by a car. What good would that do?

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That's not even a sacrifice. So when Jesus sacrificed himself, he saved someone.

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He didn't possibly save someone. He saved someone Jesus saves salvation is not as Herschel Hobbs described it like a fenced -in area and God predestined that everyone who's inside the fence is saved.

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But everyone who is outside the fence is not in that analogy.

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There's a possibility. No one gets saved at all. If God's plan of salvation is dependent upon us making the choice to go into the fenced -in area that God has set up for us.

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Well, what if nobody decides to do that Romans 311 says no one seeks for God.

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So if Hobbs analogy is true and Romans 311 is true, then no one gets saved.

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When the Bible talks about predestination, it's not talking about a plan like God predestined a plan.

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The Bible specifically says he predestined people Ephesians 1 5 he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself.

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Who's the us there? The us is the church. It's not saying he predestined every single person.

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Of course not. He predestined us to adoption through Christ verse 11 in him.

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We are predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

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We are predestined Romans 829 those whom he foreknew he also predestined those whom he foreknew he predestined.

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He didn't predestine the plan. He predestined the people. He predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son and then verse 30 again, which

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I quoted earlier and those whom he predestined he also called he affectionately called us to believe.

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Through the preaching of the gospel we who believe were predestined to believe now contrary to this latent flowers does not believe

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God has predestined people for salvation. He believes as Herschel Hobbs did here is what

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Leighton has said about what he believes quote by predestination. We mean the predetermined redemptive plan of God to justify sanctify and Glory whosoever freely believes he applies predestination to the plan not the people who are saved by God's sovereign will now

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Last month. I specifically asked dr. Flowers. Do you believe that God knows everyone whosoever will choose to follow

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Jesus and who will not and he answered yes, so I followed that up by asking if you believe that God knows everyone who will ever choose to follow

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Jesus and everyone who will not then didn't

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Jesus only die for those whom God knew would choose to follow him.

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The point that I was that I was making and asking that question was to show him that he's the one who's being inconsistent in his criticism of particular atonement dr.

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Flowers also believes that Jesus died only for those who would believe in him. He just doesn't admit that he doesn't recognize the contradiction

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Now, dr. Flowers replied and said no even Dabney Hodge and many others in the reformed tradition would argue for the actual sufficiency of the atonement for every person and I don't deny that John Piper who's an ardent

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Calvinist has said quote. The love of God is sufficient to save the world but efficient to save those who believe efficient means his love actually saves

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Believers. It is effective in saving them from perishing. The love of God does not have this effect in the lives of those who do not believe they perish unquote now a

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Calvinist can believe that consistently but dr. Flowers and his self -term provisionism cannot believe that consistently again as I pointed out and he fails to see the contradiction.

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He believes God foreknew that he saw from eternity past every single person who would come to believe in Jesus and those who would not believe so how is

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Jesus not only atoning for the sins of those whom God foreknew would accept the atonement see that sounds kind of like particular

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Redemption a little bit different form of it, but it's particular is particularly applied to just these people now that exchange was a month ago.

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This was the exchange that we had just yesterday. I brought it up again. Dr. Flowers posted on Twitter quote what more would the

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Bible need to say besides what it already does say to convince Calvinist to believe that Christ died for the sins of everyone and God desires all to repent in faith.

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So as to be saved unquote Calvinist do believe that God desires all people to repent and be saved just as I referenced earlier from Acts 17

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Charles Spurgeon a very outspoken Calvinist once said have you no wish for others to be saved then you're not saved yourself be sure of that Spurgeon's predecessor

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John Gill perhaps a more ardent Calvinist than Spurgeon was he referred to the salvation which

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God wills that all men should enjoy again,

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Dr. Flowers misrepresents Calvinism, which he hates when it's his it's actually his own views that are inconsistent.

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So I raised with Dr. Flowers again. I said quote if you believe that God foreknows every single person who will choose to follow

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Jesus before they ever make that choice then how could it be that Jesus died for anyone else other than those

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God foreknew would choose to accept him unquote Dr. Flowers replied quote if Moses knew some

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Israelites would be too stubborn to look in faith to the serpent on the pole. So as to be healed that's a reference to the story in numbers

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Would that void the provision of healing for those faithless people know our view speaking of provisionist blames man for not looking in faith while yours

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I would assume he's speaking of Calvinist blames a lack of God's provision. Absolutely false.

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I do not blame God for anything. Dr. Flowers believes God provides an atonement that goes to waste and sure he'll argue.

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Well, no, there's people that are saved in the atonement. Obviously will the vast majority of it goes to waste Jesus said the way is broad that leads to destruction and many go that route because that's the easy way but narrow is the gate and difficult is the road that leads to life and few will find the narrow way.

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Let me come back to that quote that I referenced earlier from John Gill. He said the following the salvation which

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God wills that all men should enjoy is not a mere possibility of Salvation or a mere putting them into a savable state or an offer of Salvation to them or a proposal of sufficient means of it to all in his word, but a real certain and actual

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Salvation which he has determined they shall have and is sure from his own appointment from the provision of Christ as Savior for them.

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See, it's Calvinist who believe God provides not provisionists. They think a man can be saved by his unregenerate human will as I said in the video and I've said before when responding to what

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Layton flowers does so Terry ology 101 and provisionism are misnomers the proper name for flowers

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Ministry is anti Calvinism 101 that is the motivation behind everything that he does with so Terry ology 101 to oppose

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Calvinism. It's even in the logo is Calvinism correct. It has that air of of a quarrel that Paul opposed in first Corinthians 1 11 to 12.

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He said for I have been informed concerning you my brothers that there are quarrels among you now.

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I mean this that each one of you is saying I am of Paul and I have Apollos and I have

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Cephas and I have Christ and those who are saying I am of Christ.

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They weren't saying that in a reverent way. Like well, we have the right way. We have the way of Christ. They were trying to one up the other guy.

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Oh, well, you have Paul. Oh, you have Cephas. Well, I have Christ and so Terry ology 101 kind of feels like that this this is so Terry ology 101.

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We have the study of Salvation now. Calvinists do this to they can dump their chest and be full of pride about their doctrine and take the

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Lord's name in vain with the worst of them. But all of us need a humble dose of first Corinthians 130 to 31 by his doing you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that just as it is written let him who boasts boast in the

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Lord. If you listen to Dr. Flowers, you will not get an honest representation of Calvinism nor will you learn the basics of so Terry ology.

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You will just get anti Calvinism. Now, I know that Dr. Flowers believes he accurately represents

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Calvinist in their own words. Sometimes he does but more often than not he props up straw men a misrepresentation of Calvinism that he can easily knock over such as the quote that I just referenced from him just a moment ago.

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He also rips Calvinist out of context and he will pit Calvinist against one another. The overall intention is not to present an honest take on Calvinism.

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Sometimes his beef with Calvinism so clouds his understanding that he will say things about Calvinism that are downright lies.

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Now, I know that's a pretty serious charge. So let me give you an example of that. This is audio that was posted on Twitter a year ago taken from Dr.

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Flowers teaching series tiptoeing through tulip, which he sells on his website for $40. The first voice is

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Dr. Flowers and I don't know who the second voice is, but this is just to say that this stuff has been listened to and tested by many others.

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Listen here to what he says and the rebuttal that comes after it. Calvin's own stepdaughter and son -in -law were among those condemned for being accused of adultery and they were executed.

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Okay, so his own stepdaughter and son -in -law were executed for the accusation of adultery.

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That's again. That's a fact of the matter. I'm not I'm not trying to be mean and saying that I'm not trying to stir up problems.

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I'm just these are just established facts of history that are recorded for us. In one case, a child was beheaded for striking his parents.

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Calvin did follow the Old Testament mosaic law and he believed it was scriptural to execute rebellious children and those who commit adultery.

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That's just a fact of the matter. Okay, these aren't facts. Dr. Flowers is repeating claims that find no support in the historic records of Geneva.

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The consistory records show that Calvin's stepdaughter and her lover were whipped. He was banished, but she repented and was readmitted to the

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Lord's table two months later. No one was executed in this. No child was beheaded nor is others claim had his hand cut off.

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It's easier to lie about Calvin in Geneva than to explain why thousands walk there for freedom.

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And that's the extent of the audio clip that I have and Dr. Flowers is there saying these are facts.

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No, they're not. Is he getting that from somebody else and he just chooses to believe it because he has such a chip on his shoulder about Calvinism.

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So Terry ology 101 in the doctrine that Dr. Flowers calls provisionism is just another form of synergism.

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It's the choice meets doctrine. Some of you will get that joke. But anyway, provisionism began in opposition to sound doctrine.

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Therefore provisionism is not itself sound doctrine have nothing to do with it. Now, I think

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Dr. Flowers is going to do fine with his this doctrine that he is coined. His channel is already surpassed mine and number of subscribers and a number of views.

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I've heard the term provisionism pop up occasionally in interviews with Calvinist teachers asking them what they think of provisionism and how to respond to it.

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Now, if I must say, I think the public awareness of provisionism is thanks to James White ironically,

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I more so what he said about it than what Layton Flowers has done. Nonetheless, Dr.

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Flowers brand has grown in popularity and more and more people who were not crazy about wanting to call themselves are minions and certainly would never call themselves in my

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Pelagian. They'll be a little bit more fond of the idea of calling themselves provisionists synergistic doctrines are always more popular than monergistic doctrines and case.

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You don't know what that means the doctrines of grace of which limited atonement is one.

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These are monergistic doctrines, meaning that we believe God alone affects our salvation synergism is the belief that the human will cooperates with the spirit of God to effect regeneration and therefore saving faith can be produced by our unregenerate human nature as Dr.

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Flowers believes. That's always going to be the more popular view that we have the free will to choose or reject

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God, but that's not what scripture says as I referenced already from Romans 3. No one does good.

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No one seeks for God. Paul said to the Thessalonians at the start of his first letter to that church.

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We know you are beloved by God because of your election for our gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power and in the

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Holy Spirit and with full assurance. Paul knew God had chosen them for salvation because they believed.

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When someone comes to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's how you know they were predestined for salvation from before the foundation of the world.

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Dear Christian, do you want to know if God has chosen you to be saved? Believe in the name of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you know your elect. Thank you so much for your question,

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Melissa, and I hope that my lengthy answer here was helpful to you. Let's finish with prayer

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Heavenly Father. We thank you for your provision of your son whom you sent into the world to live a perfect life for us to die the death that we deserve to die to rise again from the dead so that all who believe in him will not perish but we will have everlasting life first Timothy 115 the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and praise

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God that he did we celebrate this at Christmas, but as Christians all year long every single day rejoicing in you for the salvation that we've been given in Christ.

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If there's anybody listening who does not believe I pray that their hearts will be convicted. They will turn from their sin to the

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Lord Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness. They will be adopted into the family of God as a son or a daughter of God and we have the promise and assurance of eternal life with you in your eternal kingdom.

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Thank you for these wonderful blessings of your grace. It's in Jesus name that we pray.

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Amen. This is when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great

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Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours, but this is no replacement for regular fellowship with the church family.

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Find a good gospel teaching Christ -centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again Monday for more