WWUTT 315 Q&A Hagee, Boxing, Studying, and Repentance?

Is John Hagee a false teacher? Is boxing a sin? What's a good way to study the scriptures? How do I know if I'm past the point of no return when it comes to my sin? The answers to these questions when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Black Friday, Thanksgiving, and the Friday Q&A Format

Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everybody. It is Friday, Black Friday to be precise, one of the most ironic days of the year when you think about it. It's right after this major American holiday when we've gathered around a table with family and friends giving thanks to our God, expressing praise to him for his many provisions and blessings on our lives, needing nothing else, fully satisfied in what God has given us.

And then the very next day, we're running out to the department stores, climbing over one another and clamoring for the latest gadgets and doodads which we think we need to have in order to be fully satisfied.

It's just, I don't know, it's just one of those really ironic days. But I can actually shop on Black Friday with a clear conscience and I hope you can as well. I plan on hitting up one of our local hardware stores, which on Black Friday really has the same number of customers as they do any other day of the year.

They just have some good Black Friday deals. So I might end up with a new pocket knife or something like that. Always love seeing what they have available for a little bit cheaper price than they would ordinarily sell it for any other day of the year.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday. You know, from noon to midnight, that span of 12 hours, I was eating that entire time. I think that my wife can testify to that. It was like I was grazing. You know, we ate the big meal at noon, but then after that, I was just picking from plates constantly through the rest of the day.

Anyway, it was a great day. I ate a lot of food. I'm sure I gained 10 pounds. I definitely had to loosen up my belt and I hope that you still got your stretchy pants on here today. So this is Friday, as I mentioned, and we take questions from the listeners on Friday and respond to them on the end of the week broadcast.

I've got four questions that I'll be responding to here today. And once again, if you would like to submit a question, whether it is about something that you saw in a what video, something that you heard on the program, or it could be something that I've written in a blog, which, by the way, the last question I'm going to be taking today comes from a blog that I wrote about a week and a half ago, and it was on the subject.

Of porn.

So I'll tell you that my last question is of more of an adult nature in case you use this podcast as family time, which we do have some families that write in that tell us, you know, my kids and I, we listen to the Bible teaching every day.

Love that. Thank you very much. But in case this final question is more of an adult nature and maybe something that you need to have a conversation with your kids about first, you'll want to you'll want to hold on to that one until another time, maybe stop the broadcast after those first three questions and then come back to that one with your kids later on.

Modern Worship, False Teachers, and Isaiah 1

This first question actually has to do with, well, a pair of what videos these two videos go back to back. There was a video that I did where I was reading from Isaiah chapter one verses ten through twenty and throwing up images of of churches, mostly megachurches and also Roman Catholicism here in America.

That is not actually genuine worship because it is not according to the word of God. And so you won't see those images as I play the audio of this video. Then there was a follow up video that explained what that first video meant.

The title of the two videos is Modern Worship and then Modern Worship Explained. And I'm going to play those two videos back to back here before we get to our first question. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, give ear to the teaching of our God, you people.

Of Gomorrah.

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats.

When you come to appear before me, who is required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations.

I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes.

Cease to do evil.

Learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression. Bring justice to the fatherless. Plead the widow's cause. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword. For the mouth of the Lord is spoken when we understand the text.

In the video on modern worship, the passage being read is Isaiah 1, 10 -20, the Lord grieving over the sinfulness of his people. Meanwhile, various images are being shown of churches and ministers who claim to be godly, but they're false teachers, fattening themselves on the offerings of those they mislead, making themselves into celebrities.

Many popular worship bands might sound like they're praising God, but it's vanity and heartless noise. The Roman Catholic burning of incense is an abomination. John Hagee, Jim Staley, and Benny Hinn are false teachers.

Rick Warren joked about kissing the openly gay Elton John. For all our attempts at appointing revival, it is God who brings revival. Though we might sing songs or pray prayers in Jesus' name, if it's not coming from a heart that the spirit has regenerated, God is not listening.

It is God who makes us worthy to worship him. The church in America must be cleansed, broken, humbled. We must repent. The church must stop trying to appease the culture and instead be made holy. We must love justice according to what God says is just, defending the fatherless, the unborn, and our widows.

In Psalm 51, David cries out, Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise, for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good in Zion in your good pleasure. Only then is our worship acceptable when we understand the text. So related to those two videos, particularly the part where I mentioned John Hagee, Justin has written in and asked this question.

Why John Hagee Is a False Teacher

Hi there, first I'd like to say I absolutely love the videos that you post on YouTube, and I think you're doing an amazing job clearing up a lot of gray areas that people have concerning the Bible. I recently watched your video about modern worship and saw that you labeled John Hagee as a false teacher.

I'm just curious as to why. While I've seen him make mistakes in preaching, I've always thought him to teach the core aspects of the gospel very well, but I am open to correction. Again, very well done on the series.

God bless, Justin. Well, I appreciate you writing in, Justin. I actually have already responded to Justin by email. John Hagee's a heretic, and I'm gonna play a video for you that really is all the evidence that you need.

There are things that John Hagee does say in his teaching that go against what the Bible says concerning salvation. And here is an example of that. This is an ad for a book that John Hagee wrote in which he actually says, and you're gonna hear him say, Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah.

I'm delighted to present my latest book, In Defense of Israel. This book will expose the sins of the fathers and the vicious abuse of the Jewish people. In Defense of Israel will shape Christian theology.

It scripturally proves that the Jewish people as a whole did not reject Jesus as Messiah. It will also prove that Jesus did not come to earth to be the Messiah. It will prove that there was a Calvary conspiracy between Rome, the high priest, and Herod to execute Jesus as an insurrectionist too dangerous to live.

Since Jesus refused by word and deed to claim to be the Messiah, how can the Jews be blamed for rejecting what was never offered? Read it in the shocking expose, In Defense of Israel.

This latest book by Pastor John Hagee is destined to generate lively discussions among Christians the world over. It's available in most US bookstores or call the number on the screen and order your copy today.

Call now or visit our website. Ask for offer B139.

That is so off. It makes me wonder if Hagee's ever even read the book of Romans. I mean, you have Paul's statement there, his thesis statement at the beginning of the letter, Romans 1 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Paul spends the rest of chapter one bringing all Gentiles into condemnation. He spends chapter two bringing all Jews into condemnation and it's there that he says, God shows no partiality, Romans 2 11.

Both Jews and Greeks are under sin, that's Romans 3 9. And in case we didn't get the message, he states it plainly in Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Both Jews and Gentiles stand condemned before God, both need the gospel in order to be saved. Here are three ways, three other ways that Hagee's message is extremely dangerous. First of all, it leads many to believe that the Jews don't need the gospel and they're saved because they're Jews, which by the way is exactly what the Jews believe.

They believe that because their father was Abraham, they were inherently sons of the kingdom. But Jesus said this, Matthew 8 11 through 12, I tell you many will come from the East and the West and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and with Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So those who believed that they were gonna get to heaven because they were descendant of Abraham were absolutely wrong. It is only through Christ that anyone is saved and gets to the father. John 14 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.

Here's the second way, what Hagee is saying is very dangerous. He claims that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah, which is a lie from the pit of hell. I'll put it to you plainly, John 4 25 through 26.

This is in Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well. The woman says, I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. Verse 26, Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he.

Jesus later says in John 8, why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. And at the beginning of John's gospel, John 1 11 through 12, he says, he came to his own and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God. Once again, the only way anyone is saved, Jew or Gentile, is by believing in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the son of God, which he absolutely claimed to be.

Here's the third reason why what Hagee is saying is so dangerous. It is ridiculously self-centered and boastful. He made that statement that his book will shape Christian theology. Yeah, sure, it'll shape really bad theology.

Look, no one has anything new to say about the Bible. Everything that's going to be said has already been said. There are things that we don't know, so we must learn and we must listen to teachers in our current and modern age who can show us why what was written 2000 years ago is still relevant to our present day.

But that doesn't mean that anyone's gonna present any idea that's going to shape or shake Christian theology, whichever one of those two words he used. Everything's already been said. We don't know everything, and we must learn what the scriptures have to teach us, but never let any pastor think that he's gonna say something that has never been said in the 2000-year history of the church.

It's just simply not true. The only way to salvation is Jesus Christ. There is no other way. To suggest there is another way, even by birth or heritage, is heresy. And I hope that clears that up. I appreciate you emailing, Justin.

Whether Boxing Is a Sin

This next question comes from Zimon. He says, dear Watts, hey, first of all, I just wanna thank you because of the videos that you made on YouTube. They have really helped me. I'm a Christian teenager of 15, so I still have a lot to learn, but there is something I'm unsure about and it really bothers me.

You see, I recently started training boxing. I have an interest in fighting. My intentions were always to fight for good. I wanna fight when I am older, become a great boxer, and thanks to the money I would get, I would then use all the money to help people instead of spending it on myself.

I'm a very emotional person. I don't want people to be sad. I wanna make people happy, and it sometimes makes me cry because I don't wanna see them suffer. There are people who don't have things which I do, but I do not deserve.

If I would be a great boxer, I could also tell people about Jesus and the Bible to people who might not have heard about it. Please help me. I don't know if despite the good intentions, it's a good thing to do, or maybe if it's not a good thing to do, I would tell people they shouldn't do what I do.

I really don't know. Thank you for your email, Simon. Well, it's a complicated matter, and I would encourage you to talk to a pastor, to receive counsel from somebody that you personally know that you are receiving biblical teaching from.

I cannot tell you that boxing or fighting is inherently wrong, that you should not do that. To tell you the truth, I watch MMA. I watch the UFC stuff. I just kind of enjoy it. Me and one of the elders at the church, as a matter of fact, actually, all of us elders really like UFC, and so we'll get together sometimes when there's fight nights and watch a fight.

A lot of times I don't because they're always on Saturday evenings, and I'm prepping sermons on Saturday night, but sometimes we still get together and have a fight night. It's entertaining for me to watch.

I'm admitting that. However, if for you, there is a tinge of guilt in you about doing it, then I would tell you not to do it. Romans 14 .5, Paul says, "'Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.'".

And if somebody ever does anything that in their mind they think is sin, then whether or not the Bible says it's sin, if you think it's sin, you've sinned against God by doing it because you have done something that you have been convinced or even are questioning in your mind as being wrong, and so you've sinned against God.

So you must be sure about it. You can't be somewhat guilty about boxing and then doing it anyway just because you have good intentions with it. There are a lot of things that people have done with good intentions, but what they have done is actually evil.

So you must explore that, and you must be genuinely convinced in your own mind and in your heart that boxing is something that would be okay for you to do, that the Lord would actually call you to do something like that.

Otherwise, Simon, I would just tell you that in whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything for the glory of God, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't do it simply because you wanna be able to make money and bless other people with that money.

That's great if you wanna do that. That's very commendable, but first and foremost, do everything that you do to the glory of God. Give Him glory. Don't do it because you wanna get rich and get money to somebody else, because that might not be God's will for you.

And I know, I personally know people who have made a living out of boxing, but they never got famous from it. They just got fights here and there. They had other jobs on the side that they had to do. Boxing was something that they enjoyed doing, so they did it, but they never got wealthy from it.

Never made a whole lot of money. It was just kind of something that they did as a hobby. Sometimes they got paid for the fights that they did, but never got famous. And more than likely, you won't either.

But if it's the Lord's will for you to get rich and famous someday, I hope that you still have that conviction. You will take the things that God has blessed you with, and you will benefit others with it.

You should be doing that anyway, whether or not you are rich. So once again, regardless of whether or not you make a huge, wealthy profit from being a successful boxer, I mean, the other thing is you gotta be really good at it, and that's tough to do.

You have stiff competition out there. In order to be wealthy and hugely successful at it, you also have to be extremely good at it. So if it's not the Lord's will for you to be that championship, spotlight, marquee boxer, then give glory to God in whatever it is, and still use the things that God has blessed you with to be able to benefit and bless others.

And once again, encourage you to talk to an elder, Sunday school teacher, your pastor about this, that they might encourage you further in this as well. Next question comes from Tyson. He says, a very short message, sent this email, and it actually gets the little signature on there where it says sent from my iPhone.

So Tyson says, teach me how to study the Bible by myself if I have no Christian friends or pastors around. Well, thank you for your email, Tyson. My heart is broken for you that you don't have Christian friends or a sound pastor that can teach you the scriptures.

Here is what I recommend. I suggest that you pick one of the shorter epistles in the New Testament, and you read it every day for 30 days. The book that I most commonly recommend to people to read every day for 30 days is Colossians.

That's generally the one that I tell people to read because you have such a heartfelt presentation of Christ as Lord at the very beginning of the book of Colossians. And then you have also instructions on right living in Colossians chapter three.

So it's really all there in the book of Colossians, declaration of the gospel and how that gospel should be lived out in the life of a believer. So pick the book of Colossians, read it every day, all four chapters, every day for 30 days.

Another one that I recommend is the book of 1 John, which is only five chapters. Read all five chapters every day for a month. And after you finish it, after you do that for 30 days, do it again. Read the whole thing again, every day for 30 days.

After you do that, pick another book of the Bible and read it, the whole thing every day for 30 days. Now I'll tell you that the first several days that you do this, it's gonna be rather confusing. There are some concepts that will probably be over your head, but the more you read it, the more things are gonna start making sense to you.

You will see things in the letter that actually, you know, explain something that was said earlier in the letter. So the letter explains itself, but even as you start doing more and more books of the Bible this way, you're gonna see how scripture interprets scripture.

Something that you read in another book is gonna explain this book that you're reading and on and on it goes. This is how we grow in our knowledge of the scriptures. If 1 John is the book that you pick, go and read the gospel of John, because 1 John kind of explains the gospel of John, John with some deep and heavy theological subjects that are mentioned there.

If you have read 1 John first and become really familiar with that, then the gospel of John is gonna be that much easier to read. Above all, Tyson, I would tell you that you've gotta be in a good church.

As much as it feels like you're lonely and you don't have any sound teachers around you, somebody is around somewhere. Do some internet searches, talk to some people, be a part of a gospel-centered church who can encourage you in the scriptures and in your walk with Christ.

We were meant to do this with a body of believers. We were not meant to grow alone. You can't grow alone, because part of, and as we've talked about this week, as we've been studying in the book of 1 Peter, part of this Christian walk is showing love to the saints, and you can't show love to the saints if you're not fellowshipping with the saints and growing together with other brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pray to the Lord, Tyson, that he would show you the scriptures and also bring you to a good body of believers. And I'll be praying for you as well. In fact, let me pray for you right now. Dear God, I pray that you would reach into Tyson's heart and draw him to you, draw him to your word, and help him to love the word of God, to rejoice in being able to read it, knowing the mind and the heart of God through what we read in the scriptures.

We get to know your good, pleasing, and perfect will by what we read. And so I pray this passion would be within Tyson that you would also give him your spirit to be able to discern what is written here, and God, that you would lead him to a sound body of believers, a good, solid gospel church with whom he can grow, not only in a knowledge of the scriptures, but grow in love and in fellowship.

Thank you for what you have called us to, out of darkness into your marvelous light, reconciling us not only to yourself, but also to the people of God, that we as the body of Christ would grow closer into him who is the head of the church, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

Repentance from Porn and the Danger of a Hardened Heart

All right, this last question that I have here has to do with an article that I wrote a week and a half ago regarding the subject of porn. And very plainly in the article, I just said, the reason why you won't stop looking at porn is because you don't want to.

How is it that you stop looking at porn? And I got the idea for this article after reading another article where this guy offered five suggestions on how to stop looking at porn. I mean, it's nice, it's good, I'm sure that it was helpful for somebody, but there's just one basic way that you stop looking at porn.

You stop it, you stop looking at porn. And the reason why you're still looking at it is because you don't want to stop. So that's what I wrote in the article. And I warn the person who is looking at porn that if you don't stop, you will be destroyed because you have raised up an idol, an altar to a false God that you continue to bow to instead of submitting to what the Lord has asked of us.

And that is that we submit our bodies to God as living and pleasing sacrifices to the Lord. This is our spiritual act of worship, Romans 12 .1. So these were some of the things that I said in that particular blog.

And I got this email from Joe. He says, dear Pastor Gabe, I'm 52 years old and I have a serious problem viewing porn in the morning. I'm numb to it, meaning it feels normal. Then there's the Christian side of me that everyone sees, my pastor and elders, they don't have a clue.

The problem is I'm a slave to my sin. I know it's wrong. I want to stop, but I keep going back to it. Because of my sin, I don't pray anymore because I know I've sinned. I go to Bible study in church, hoping this will be the Sunday that I repent or confess.

There's something inside me that can't confess. After reading your article this morning, I'm afraid. God has turned me over to my sin. I am a quiet, overall nice guy. If you met me, you wouldn't even know that I have such a dark sin.

I'm talking to you because you don't know me. So please help me. I have so much more to say. I'm so ashamed of what I've become. Am I at the point of no return? Has my heart been hardened to the point of no return?

I believe I'm a Christian. Thank you for reading. Well, Joe, I'll tell you that you're not at the point of no return because you know that it's sin and you know that you need to stop, but you're dangerously close.

You need to know that. So because you even have to ask, because you know that you are a sinner, because you know that you are guilty of this dark sin that you continue to persist in, you are not yet past the point of no return.

And let me also put it to you this way. Because you're still alive and you haven't died yet, you're not at the point of no return. As long as we are still alive and we still have breath in our lungs, it is not too late for us to repent.

But do not take that as an excuse to continue in this sin. God has not destroyed you in this sin. As Paul talks about in Romans 2, the reason why you have not yet been destroyed is because God is patient toward you and he is kind toward you, allowing you to come to repentance.

And so you must take this opportunity as a chance to be able to repent of your sin before Christ and be purified by his spirit. Hear what it is that I say to you, because it is extremely important. What you are doing is a very deadly, dangerous game.

And if you don't stop it now, it will destroy you. So once again, you're not at the point of no return, but this is not an excuse to continue in this sin. You must stop now, today. Don't look at porn anymore.

And whatever it is that you have in your life that keeps you coming back to porn, you've got to get rid of it. If you can't seem to stop it on your own, even though you know it's wrong, but you keep coming back to that device or that magazine or that book or that television set, whatever it is that is causing you to stumble in this way and come back to this sin, which you know you must stop, you have got to get rid of it.

And I stated in that article, where Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, if your right eye causes you to sin, then you cut it out and you throw it away. It's better to lose a member of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.

Now, this is not calling for asceticism. It's not calling for you to literally cut your eye out because you still got another eye that's going to be looking at that sin. And this sin that you're in is coming from your heart.

It's not coming from any part of your body. So you have got to get rid of the thing that causes you to stumble until you can get into the habit of submitting your mind and your heart fully unto the Lord without any other distractions around you that would draw you back into that sin.

Do what you got to do to cut that sin out of your life. Submit yourself fully unto the Lord. When you are tempted, when you are tempted in your flesh to entertain that sin, you have got to start praising God.

You've got to start taking those thoughts in your mind and submitting them to Christ. Sing songs, hymns, spiritual songs, making music in your heart to the Lord instead of letting your flesh be pulled away from God and into this worldly idolatrous sin.

You've got to memorize scripture and submit your mind to the full authority of the word of God. Start quoting scripture to yourself whenever you're tempted in this way. Start praising and worshiping God, submitting your mind unto the Lord.

It is so difficult for the devil to draw you into sin when you are in the presence of God. We have this stated for us in James. When we were in James chapter four, we talked about this here. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. And Joe, I'm gonna keep reading because you need to hear this. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. So part of the problem, Joe, is your heart just may not be broken enough over this issue yet.

You say that you know that you have sinned and you say that it's tearing you apart, but not enough because you keep going back to it. So you need to be, you need to understand what James is saying here.

You need to be wretched and mourn and weep over your sin. Don't laugh about this, don't put on the fake smile. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom until you humble yourself before the Lord and then he will exalt you.

There is a reason why sexual sins are listed first. Whenever Paul goes through a list of sins, he mentions sexual sins first. I'll give you an example of this. Galatians chapter five, where we have the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the spirit, right?

The works of the flesh are evident, he says, evident. You know what they are and you know they are against the commands of God. Verse 19, now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, and all four of those first sins, works of the flesh, all have to do with the same thing, sexual immorality.

Sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Above such things, there is no law. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires.

So the thing that you lack in looking at porn is self-control and you must beg God for that, that he would give you self-control to keep you away from indulging in these passions of the flesh. Now, once again, there's a reason why sexual immorality is almost always listed first at the beginning of any list of sins.

And it's because, as Paul said this to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapters five and six, every other sin a person commits, they commit outside their body. But sexual sin, a person commits with their body.

So that makes it unique. It is different than every other sin. What makes it like every other sin is because all sin is the result of ungratefulness, ungratitude, not being thankful to God for every good thing that we have been given, fully satisfied in our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Whenever we sin, we are essentially saying to God, what you want for me is not good enough and I need this other thing in order to be satisfied. I need to do this thing that you told me not to do in order to be happy.

And when we do that, we are partaking in Adam's sin because that is exactly the thing that Adam did when he sinned against God by eating the fruit that God told him not to eat, eating from the tree that God told him not to eat from.