July 3, 2025 Show with Marc Grimaldi on “Lessons Learned from a Recent Close Call with Death”

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Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer

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George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend

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Jim Thorpe. It's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

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Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

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

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And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

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

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Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

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

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Independence Day Eve, Thursday, July 3rd, 2025.

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I'm thrilled to have a returning guest who also happens to be one of my former pastors.

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His name is Mark Grimaldi. He's an author and currently the pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Whitehouse, Tennessee, which is in the

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Greenbrier, Tennessee area. We are going to be addressing the theme,

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Lessons Learned from a Recent Close Call with Death. It's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Pastor Mark Grimaldi.

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Thank you so much, Brother Chris. It is always a pleasure to be on here with you. I really appreciate you and what you do.

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I appreciate you saying that. Tell us more about Sovereign Grace Church of Whitehouse, Tennessee.

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So Sovereign Grace Church, we're a small church, a Reformed Baptist church in Whitehouse, Tennessee.

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We currently meet in a storefront on Stearman Drive in Whitehouse. We have a website, too.

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You can look us up, which is www .sovereigngracechurch .org.

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You can see a little bit about us there. We also have our sermons that you can access there as well.

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We are a 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith following church.

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We would love to see anybody who is in the Middle Tennessee area come and visit with us. Great, and I hope that they do.

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Tell us about some of the books that you have written. Yes, I've written a few books.

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One is, interestingly enough, on OCD. We've actually done a program on that. I've struggled with OCD throughout the course of my life in ministry.

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And by God's grace, I've made great strides. And so I wrote a book called OCD, Finding Hope on the

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Edge of Insanity. I've also written a book called Gossip, the Church Killer, just dealing with the severity of gossip.

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Another book called The Christ, the Whole Christ and Nothing but the Christ. A very gospel -oriented book just explaining the significance and importance of Christ being the center of our faith and contrasting that with Roman Catholicism and the cults and those that would deny faith in Christ alone.

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And then finally, I had written a book called Evil and Suffering in a

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Sovereign God's World. That's kind of like my theodicy. It deals with just the deep questions and difficult questions about the sovereignty of God and how that relates to the reality of the existence of evil and some of the very difficult things that we experience in this world.

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And I'm assuming that the folks can get these books from Amazon? Yeah, all those are available on Amazon.

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The gossip one is presently out of print. I have a few copies on hand, but the other three can be accessed on Amazon .com.

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By the way, I just want to say that when

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I just checked SovereignGraceChurch .org, it says website expired, but when

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I tried SovereignGraceChurch .net, it worked. It's .net,

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brother. Thank you. Oh, OK. Yes, I got mixed up on that. Yes, it's .net. Yeah. I'm glad that I checked that.

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And since you have OCD, you should have checked it 50 times. Several times.

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I know. And so tell us about this near -death experience that you had.

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I can recall—you'll have to remind me of the exact day it happened—but I recall getting an email or a

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Facebook post, some kind of contact from your mother, Dale.

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Pray for Mark. He's been in a head -on collision so far. Thank God he survived.

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He's just in a lot of pain, and that's all we knew at the time. But tell us about this terrifying experience that you had just recently.

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Yeah. Yes. So what happened was—and let me say this, too—that there are many folks, some that I know, some that you know,

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Chris, as well, who have perished or died in car accidents or motorcycle accidents, or some who have been severely injured.

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And so with respect to the injuries that I've sustained, by the grace of God, it turned out to be very mild.

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But the accident itself was frightening. And some of the things that the police officer and the doctors had said would at least give me encouragement to see how

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God had spared me from much of a worse situation. What happened was

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I was driving home from work. I'm also a bus driver for a school district that I do some driving on the side to help supplement my income with ministry.

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And I was driving home on a two -lane street. One lane goes north.

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The other lane goes south, coming toward me. And at least in middle Tennessee, what you have on a lot of these roads are these—on the edges of the roads, like the side where the shoulder is, it's almost like they drop off into these steep hills and things like that.

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It's something that I wasn't familiar with in New York. But here, you've got to stay on the road. If you go off the road, it can be a real serious problem because of the way you go off the side.

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Well, as I'm driving, I'm heading north, and there's a woman who was driving a minivan coming south toward me.

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And I noticed as I was driving—we're about 40, 45 miles an hour on this road, so we're both going about that speed,

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I would assume—she had somehow lost control of her vehicle. I don't know exactly why.

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But she went off the road and into that gulch, that gully on the side, and went all the way up on the side of the hill there very fast.

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And then she had tried to—so I noticed that as she's coming back, trying to get back on the road.

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But as she tried to get back on the road, she overcompensated. I think she got nervous and turned the steering wheel a little too hard and wound up going not only on the road but came right into my lane and hit me head -on.

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So we had a head -on collision at that point. And then what happened was—the immediate sense for me was when it happened, of course, the airbag goes off and there's smoke in the air, and that's like a big punch in the face from the airbag.

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But I had trouble breathing at first just from the hit, I think, from the airbag, from the both of us hitting each other and coming to a complete stop.

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As you know, when you have two forces hitting together head -on like that, it knocks the wind out of you. And so I was really trying to breathe.

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And in the immediate sense, I didn't even know whether I would live, what was going to happen. I knew

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I'd sustained some kind of injury in my shoulder, my chest, and could have been from the seatbelt as well, and the impact.

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My immediate reaction was I wanted to get my phone to call my wife because I thought that—I just didn't know at that point how severe the damage was or if I would even live.

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I was just in shock. And so I picked up the phone as best as I could, and the smoke was in there from the airbag.

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This is still while you're in the car? This is in the car, yeah. I'm still in the car at this point.

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And so I'm sitting there. And by the way, this would be good news to James White. I was listening to James White.

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My phone was playing some James White, some of his podcasts on the side. So he was in the accident with me in some sense.

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But my phone flew. I picked it off the floor, and then I tried to get my seatbelt off. And I just had all this pain, difficult, like I said, breathing, this airbag all over the place.

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I'm in a CRV, so there's airbags coming down from the sides, the front. And then I heard some voices from outside.

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So some folks must have—I know there were folks driving behind me who had seen the accident.

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In fact, the guy behind me, praise the Lord, had a video camera on his windshield that videotapes everything that's going on in front.

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So he had the whole thing on video, which was helpful. Not that the woman was going to lie, but it just secured the evidence that I was in my lane.

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And so I heard somebody calling out, you know, you okay, this and that. And then they opened the door, and I just—I still couldn't really move too much.

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Again, I was just—I didn't know what the damage was. And so I called my wife while I was there in the seat and spoke to her a little bit and just said

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I was in an accident. She was obviously frantic. She didn't know how bad it was and was asking if everything was okay.

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And then the guy on the outside of the car says to me, hey, let me help you out of the car. Now, I'm not a doctor, but generally

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I'm thinking you're not supposed to move unless the car's on fire. When something like that happens, in case there's some injury, you know, to your back or, you know, something like that.

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But the guy helped me out, and then I just sat on the ground. I couldn't even, you know, I couldn't look at the damage or anything or see how the other person was.

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And then when they came, they took me away in an ambulance and, you know, just went to the hospital. So that was kind of the immediate accident as to what happened when

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I didn't know yet as to how severe the damage was or not. But when

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I was in the hospital, the police officer who came, he was actually a state trooper, because it was just outside of the city limits.

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So it wasn't the jurisdiction of Portland where I live. It was beyond that. So the state trooper came into the hospital to ask questions.

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Obviously, we couldn't answer them at the scene. And so he had said when he saw the car, which

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I hadn't seen yet because I was just on the inside of it, he had just said that he had thought when he saw me that it was going to be a lot worse than when he saw the car, what it looked like.

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Yeah. Your mother told me that the police were shocked that you survived.

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Yeah, well, yeah, I think it was more of more of that. Yeah, I think the language is just that he thought that it looked like it could have been a lot worse.

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Like this looked like it really was bad. Yeah. In that sense. So, yeah, along those lines, but easily it could have gone,

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I guess, in any direction in that sense. When the doctor took my scan of my, you know, my body, he did the doctor did a scan from my waist to my head, an

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MRI. And and they said it was it was amazing. And you could see the Lord's hand in on it. The doctor said with that kind of an accident, every little movement that's made in especially in a head on accident is is critical.

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And one tiny move in one wrong direction can really, you know, you can have internal problems, organs collapse or serious broken bones and things like that.

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But the doctor had said that it that it was it was like the perfect situation.

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Like when I looked at the MRI, it was like the best case scenario because there wasn't any major internal damage.

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There was some bruising on the bones, the muscles, obviously the whiplash and all that and, you know, things like that.

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But but it turned out to not it turned out to be a best case scenario for that. So I was thanking the

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Lord for that. But that's kind of how the general way that the accident had gone.

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Now, when this woman was coming directly at you head on in the same lane.

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Did you have even time to think, was there any kind of terror in your mind of this is it?

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I'm coming home to Jesus. Yeah, well, when she when she swerved off the road, like I said,

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I saw her because she was going fast and she kind of went off. I didn't think she was going to I thought she was going to come back on and kind of or either slow down and stop in the gully.

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You know, the ditch that she was in or she would come back on the road and kind of in her own lane and, you know, just keep going.

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So it was kind of a last second that I just realized when she came back on the road and I saw her coming, you know, again, we're going about 40, 45 miles an hour.

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And I saw her actually coming at me. It was really yeah, it was it was no time. I mean,

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I didn't even have time to even swerve. It was just it was so unexpected and instant when

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I when she hit me. And then, like I said, right after the impact, I was so out of breath.

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My immediate sense was, man, this I was just saying I think I was just saying, oh, like, oh, oh, like in the sense of like I did, like I just didn't know.

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I didn't know if I was going to live at that moment. Like it just, you know, again, because of the impact of the wind being knocked out of me.

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And then I just at the least I thought I was going to be seriously injured. Like, that's how

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I felt immediately from it. But that's also from the shock. They were saying also from the impact of the airbag, the seatbelt.

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When I went to the hospital, if you looked across my chest, you could see like a red, you know, lining like really pronounced across my whole body from the seatbelt and across my stomach from the from the belt.

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So the so the belt and the airbag did their job well. And in fact, probably are the cause of some of the some of the obviously the injuries that I have, you know, that I sustained.

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But but overall, it we found out after that, that it wasn't that bad, thank the

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Lord, the way it turned out. But, yeah, I thought I thought for sure, at least if I wasn't dying,

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I was saying to myself, this is this is life changing, you know. And that was why the immediate my immediate response was

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I wasn't worried about whether or not I was going to be with the Lord at that moment. I was more concerned about, you know, just not having time to be able to say goodbye to folks.

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You know, it was just that kind of an instantaneous leaving the world. And, you know, you know, my wife, my kids, church, you know, family, loved ones.

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That was the bigger concern at that moment that I was really upset about, if anything. I understand that one of the eyewitnesses heard you scream out moments before impact.

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Why was I nicer to Chris Arnzen? That's right.

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I wasn't going to bring that up on the radio program, but but yeah, that was the very last thing I said. I said, you know, all those times that I've said those those mean things about Chris and made fun of him.

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And I can't even do anything about it now. But the just to let everybody know, to put them at ease.

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We're not joking. While there are people that are killed by this incident, the other the woman who was driving the other vehicle is apparently fine.

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Correct? Yeah. Yeah. My concern, too, was in the hospital. I didn't know who was in the other vehicle originally.

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I kept saying he because I just didn't know if it was a man or a woman or if there was more than one person. But when

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I was in the hospital, in fact, I asked the police officer, I said, how was the other person?

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And he said that they had sustained some some minor leg injuries. So they seem like they're OK. And again, I didn't know if that day was singular or plural.

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But what happened was about two or three days after the accident, I had to contact her insurance company to, you know, because I need another vehicle and just to get can get things processed as far as a case.

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You know, I, you know, get that process with their insurance. So when I when I when

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I looked on the her form, the forms that were the police report, I had noticed that her insurance company was very vague.

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It wasn't something wasn't wasn't written correctly about it. So I had her phone number on the document and it was her husband's number and his insurance.

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So I said, I'm going to call him and ask him for the insurance because I needed to file the information with them to file a case.

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And so when I called, she picked up her husband's phone and it was on.

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It was until I looked at the police report, by the way, that day that I realized it was a woman. So it was like two, three days later,

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I realized it was a woman, a Spanish woman. And she was you know, when I spoke to her on the phone,

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I said, how are you doing? And she said she she was doing OK. How am I? And she said, interestingly enough,

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Chris, she said that my husband and I have been praying for you. And I said, well, I want you to know, I said,

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I want you to know I was praying for you as well. We prayed for her and for them in the hospital as well. So near this woman seemed like, you know, she could very well be a

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Christian and and expressed her desire to make sure that there was nothing broken. And so I thank the Lord.

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She seemed like a real sweet person. Praise God. And obviously, the

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Lord wants you to stick around at least a little while longer on this earth to use your ministerial gifts and your gifts as a spouse and parent.

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And actually, Chris, just real quick, I hate to cut you off, but I think the real reason I still had to stick around is because the grass wasn't mowed yet.

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No, I'm grateful, brother, for that. What you're saying, you know,

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I I think I've become more convinced not just from this, but over over time that the

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Lord really doesn't need doesn't need me at all. You know, and, you know, we all know that, you know, that God doesn't need any of us.

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We're all expendable in that sense. But because it's in his will to do things a certain way, you know, he uses us.

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And so, yeah, from that positive standpoint, I would say he's not done with me yet. But but but I definitely know that that if if he had taken me, you know, he would he would fill everything up the way he sees best and could do even better, you know, if he wanted to as well.

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Yeah, well, if you notice, I said he wanted you to stick around. I didn't say he needed you to stick around. That's right.

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Good, good. And it is interesting that every

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Christian would immediately say after learning of someone's being spared death after something like this or any other kind of accident or illness that they recover from.

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They would, whether they are Calvinist or Minyan, not even truly regenerate, but have some kind of a belief in God, they would typically say, you know,

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God has spared my loved one, etc. But if the tragic circumstances were that you had perished in that accident, outside of the

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Reformed faith, there would be very few Christians who would be so ready to to say that God had foreordained that to.

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God had orchestrated that. God was in that. And I don't understand, for the life of me, why

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Christians find comfort in thinking that God is just watching something like that happen and not personally, intimately involved in it.

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Yeah, brother, I agree with you 100 percent. They're obviously in their own mind, they're trying to vindicate what they would see as an attack on God's goodness and fairness or man's free will.

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But there's no comfort in that. I mean, we had somebody in our church recently. In fact, we've had a season of death in our church.

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Different folks have lost loved ones who are so precious to us. We had a precious young couple whose infant child had gone home to be with the

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Lord from an illness that was picked up after a few weeks of being born.

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And boy, you know, the couple as well.

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I couldn't imagine telling that couple that that was something that, you know, well, you know,

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God didn't really plan to happen. And, you know, it happened. And, you know, but God, you know,

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God, it's not really, you know, it's nothing that has to do with God. It's just, you know, we live in an evil world.

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And, you know, there's no comfort. And it's almost purposeless. And it gives no sense of hope.

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And knowing that even, you know, in every situation when God brings someone home or whatever happens in the world,

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God has all of that is being used by him and ordained by him for a good purpose.

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So that when we get to heaven, they'll be able to say, right, and we'll all be able to say that was the best thing.

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I mean, we know it in theologically now, we can say that now, but we'll, when we're there, we'll be able to see even in some sense that that was the absolute best thing to happen.

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John Calvin, when he lost a child, I believe at birth, he had said afterwards, and I'm not saying this was the easiest thing for anyone to say, but he'd say, he said,

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I'd have it no other way. You know, because he knew that it was necessary for God's will to unfold in that way.

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I find a lot more comfort in knowing all these things, even the evil ultimately is going to bring glory to God, right?

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He's not evil. He doesn't mean it for evil, but even all the evil things done in this world will play a part in bringing about the glorious reflection of God's character and his beauty and what he accomplishes and how he uses even that for good.

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It will bring him praise. That's a lot more comforting to me than to say, well, you know, this kind of slipped between the cracks or, you know, the devil kind of got a home run here, but God's still up by three runs.

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There's no comfort in that at all. Amen. Well, we're going to our first commercial break, and when we come back,

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I'd like you to go through some areas that could be considered lessons you've learned or at least powerful reminders.

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And as a result of this near -death experience, obviously that since you had very minor injuries does not mean that when you consider what happened, this could easily have been a horrible phone call that your wife received.

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Absolutely. That she has to come to identify your body because those kinds of automobile accidents are very often a certain death sentence.

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But we would love to have your thoughts on how, if in any way at all, this changed you or what kind of impact it had on you.

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And if you have any questions, those of you who are listening, please email us at chrizarnsen at gmail .com.

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As always, give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence. If you live outside the

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USA, only remain anonymous if your question involves a very personal and private matter.

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For more details on the Pre -Pastor's Luncheon, visit ironsharpensironradio .com.

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and mention Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. We're now back with Pastor Mark Romoldi of Sovereign Grace Church in Whitehouse, Tennessee.

37:25

And we do have an email from your parents, Mark, from John and Dale in Portland, Tennessee, thanking

37:35

God that he spared Mark. He lives right next door to us, and his grass was getting high.

37:43

Seriously, when we were driving home from picking Mark's daughter Faith up from work, we received the call about the accident.

37:56

We could only pray loudly. So, yes, many were praying right then and there, thanking

38:04

God for saying yes to our prayers. If it had to happen, what better evening than Wednesday night when many churches gather for prayer meeting?

38:15

And then she says, or your parents say, I'm not sure who wrote this specifically, but it says

38:20

Mark's words. I guess that was the last sentence. Yeah, yeah. It said if you're going to get into an accident,

38:27

Wednesday's the best time to go through something. You've got the prayer meetings going on. So, yeah, there were a lot of people.

38:34

As you know, Chris, I mean, the fact that you even had reached out to people, I appreciate that. And they contacted several people.

38:41

And it was also a lot. When I was in the hospital, you know, again, there were a lot of unknowns.

38:46

I had thought, to be honest, that my clavicle, my left clavicle by my shoulder, I thought it was broken for sure.

38:53

And that's why while we were waiting and assessing the different aspects of if there's any damage, the doctor was concerned about where the belt mark on my stomach.

39:03

If there could have been damage to, you know, to some of the organs, you know, or the, you know, your intestines and things like that.

39:10

And so while you're waiting there, you know, my father was there. He had come with my wife and my daughter actually works right near the hospital.

39:20

She works in a place right over there. So she left work and came there. But while we were there, there was kind of an unknown, you know, for a time period there of just trying to assess what the damage was.

39:31

Also, because my body was still in shock. I didn't know, you know, you just don't know.

39:36

And in fact, real quick, it's interesting because after like a day or two where all the pain was on my left upper shoulder and in that area where I thought there was so much damage, a lot of that went away quickly.

39:48

And suddenly everything on my right side to this day, more of the pain is still on my right side. So it's just funny how you don't really know what's there until the shock leaves.

39:57

But the reason why I bring that all up is that you have, you know, my parents, my mom obviously was here.

40:03

She wrote that, by the way. No question, because my dad wouldn't be one to type in anything.

40:10

I just know that off the bat. But, you know, so everybody's kind of waiting, you know, even at the prayer meeting, you know, for information.

40:17

And so through that period, there's a lot of just kind of waiting. And so that becomes a delicate, you know, time period where people are praying and just knowing obviously that the

40:29

Lord was gracious to us, you know, in hearing the prayers. Amen.

40:34

Well, if you could go through some areas that either you learned lessons or just were reminded very powerfully of certain lessons after this scary incident in your life very recently.

40:53

Yeah, yeah. I always, and I think we all should if we don't, when you go through things like this, you know, whatever it is, you know, any kind of trials or suffering or an accident, you always start to just try to at least think about some things and assess things in life and where you're at.

41:10

And maybe some things God could be teaching you. Some of those lessons may not come till down the road or you may not even be aware of ever how

41:17

God works through them. But a couple of things that hit me from the outset, Chris, I'd say two big things.

41:23

One was, of course, naturally a reminder of just the fragility of life and just how instantaneous your life can end in just a flash.

41:37

You know, we're not guaranteed to have a, you know, a drawn out death.

41:43

Not that that's preferable either, but, you know, that could be preferable because you could give testimony and some people are taken quickly.

41:50

You know, we know people who are in that situation, accidents and things like that, and they go quickly and some people it's longer.

41:58

But just how quickly that can happen, though, you know, you're driving. My plan was

42:03

I was coming home from work. I was going to go eat dinner. I was going to go to prayer meeting. I had all these steps in mind as to what

42:09

I was going to do. But that all changed right in a moment and only God knew how that was going to change.

42:15

He was the only one that was aware of that, obviously, because he ordained it. And I just think it's good to remember that, you know, we don't know what a day is going to bring.

42:23

The Bible says that even when we talk about if I'm going to do this such and such tomorrow, you know, it's just good to remember

42:29

Lord willing that we'll do that. We make those plans. You don't want to not plan, but always to be ready for, you know,

42:37

God can just change things at any moment. And so for the unbeliever, obviously, that's a big deal.

42:43

If you're not ready and you're not saved and you're not in Christ and your sins are not forgiven and you think, hey, you know,

42:49

I'm just going to wait till later on in life. And as if I have the ability to make a change in my in my decision, you know, later on, as if I'm not going to be hardened into a worse state, which can happen.

43:00

But but you never know if you're even going to have that time to repent. It may be an instantaneous thing where you just find yourself.

43:06

You're in the presence of God and you didn't plan it. Something happened instantly and boom. And so that was one thing.

43:13

And the bigger thing, believe it or not, that hit me more than anything, though, as far as lessons go, was

43:21

I was thinking about the woman or at the time I didn't know was a woman, but the other driver. And I just thought about what was it that could have caused them to to go off the road like that, like to to spin off the road.

43:34

And it reminded me of times when I've quickly tried to look at a text on my phone or even typed a text, like like sometimes

43:45

I'd be looking down quickly and hit a letter or two letters and then look up at the road, you know, that kind of thing.

43:50

Or or even answering the phone, you know, looking at the phone for some reason, just how how there's been times that I've done that and I and I pick my head back up and I found myself swerving a bit and having to swerve back in my lane or swerving off the road a bit and having to swerve back on it.

44:08

It reminded me of that with what happened with this individual, except they went off, you know, and it led to what happened.

44:16

I don't know that that's what happened with her. I'm not saying that. But when I thought about that, it really humbled me with just how many times

44:25

I know that I've I've, you know, looked at my phone or was reading a text or looking at something on the

44:34

Internet while driving, you know, and that we know that that's against the law. Obviously, it's not, you know, as far as a legal standpoint, but as a pastor, as you know,

44:43

I could I could try to make excuses of, well, you know, it's an important text that has to do with something to do with somebody

44:50

I'm meeting with about the church so we can kind of almost subconsciously as Christians use excuses for kind of doing that kind of thing.

44:59

But what hit me, Chris, about that was, you know, the Scriptures don't directly address, you know, laws that have to do with driving a car because they didn't have automobiles when the

45:11

Scriptures were written. But there are principles in the Scriptures that address everything that we do in life and the safety that we should, you know, we should utilize when we when we conduct ourselves, especially in concern for others, for the lives of others.

45:26

We're always to be concerned about the possibility that we can harm others, the basic loving other, you know, loving your neighbor and so on principle.

45:34

And I know when you're driving, that's a deadly piece of equipment, right?

45:39

A car. You're going, you know, 45, 40, 30, even 20 or even 56, whatever it is, miles an hour with a big piece of metal with plastic and all that.

45:48

And you have the ability to really change someone's life instantly with that vehicle if you hit someone.

45:55

And I know we tend to emphasize, you know, alcohol and things like that, and rightly so. But it really is something that as Christians, we need to reevaluate anyone who is in the same camp as me.

46:08

When we are, if we're using our phones in any way while we're driving, we need to realize,

46:14

I believe it's sinful to do that now. I'm much more convinced of that, not only illegal, but sinful as well, because it really is a lack of consideration for your neighbor.

46:25

And so when I thought about the person who would hit me again, they might not even have done any of that. But I just thought about I would not want to do that to somebody else.

46:34

If I was in that person's position and I had done that and looked at my phone for a second and went off the road, which

46:41

I at times almost have, and came back and hit somebody head on. I would have to live with the guilt of having caused some harm, possibly death or serious injury, to someone else because I looked at my phone real quick, you know, and took my focus off the road.

47:01

And it just hit me like that. So I stop now when I drive. I always put my phone away. I don't even keep it.

47:08

I just put it on the side. If I'm going to play a podcast, I'll do that and leave it on the other seat.

47:13

But I make sure that I'm much more focused on driving and trying not to treat it as if it's just second nature.

47:21

And driving a bus as well as I drive a bus, which I never pick up the phone when I drive a bus.

47:26

Let me just say that that I've never done. But other than the look at time, but, you know, you have all these kids there as well.

47:34

It's just all the more I'm having a much greater respect for how

47:39

I drive and realizing that I have the ability to change someone's life drastically by one maneuver.

47:45

You know, one simple maneuvering of the steering wheel in one direction or the other.

47:51

And so that was a big lesson for me. It sounds like cliche. I realize that. But I just would encourage everyone to rethink that if you're driving and you're on your phone or looking at it for a second, there is a moral principle there that comes into play with protecting the life, your own life, but also the life of others in your vehicle, in their vehicle, people on the roads.

48:13

And those laws are in place for a reason. And I think it's something that we really need to take into consideration.

48:19

So that was the bigger thing for me. Well, yeah, and we thank God for giving humans the ingenuity and the creativity and the expertise where we now have vehicles that have screens on the dashboard where you can have your phone connected to the car.

48:40

And if you're getting a phone call, you don't even have to look down from your windshield.

48:48

You could just tap on your dashboard and answer the phone that way with the speaker coming through.

48:55

And so things like that will probably be in every vehicle eventually. Yeah, yeah, that's definitely helpful.

49:05

Very helpful. And just in general, even, like I said, Chris, you know how many years, as you get older for me,

49:13

I've been driving now for, boy, 33 years in that area.

49:18

And it's very easy to become casual with driving to the point where you're not…

49:25

I'm not saying you want to drive around and just be terrified to the point that you can't function like, oh, you know, you start obsessing on everything that's around you.

49:33

And can I, you know, I don't want to kill anybody, so let me just not drive. I mean, there's going to be risks when you drive, period.

49:39

There's going to be accidents. That's just the reality of it. And there are many accidents. And there are more. A lot of people do die, sadly, from car accidents as well.

49:47

But I think it's just at least it should get us to think more about, again, just are we focusing on the road when we drive or are we becoming a little bit sometimes too casual?

50:00

You know, even if we're not on the phone, you know, just to become a little too loose and not realize we're operating something that can really change someone's life, you know, forever, you know, or take their life.

50:11

So those are the kinds of thoughts. I hope that that doesn't grow, you know, cold with me because I know that's still fresh.

50:18

But I am determined to really be careful because I have, you know, it's not like it's an everyday thing, but I have, you know, spent time.

50:26

I know, you know, where I'm sitting there, you know, looking at something on the phone or I'm certainly been a lot more casual.

50:32

You get loose when you're driving. You're just not even thinking about where you're going. There's a lot of times I'm driving. I don't even realize how

50:40

I got to where I got. Like, I'm like, I don't even remember driving yet, you know, because you're in your thought. And so just a more of an awareness that, hey, this is a way that we can we can really affect the lives of others if we're not careful and just to be more cautious.

50:53

And to boil that down to a matter of theology, even, is the fact that everything that we do, there should be, first and foremost, the question in our minds, is this honoring and glorifying to God?

51:19

Am I really thinking of my fellow man and his and what is best for my neighbor?

51:31

And obviously being lackadaisical about something when you're traveling 60, 70 miles an hour in a large medical metal object is really demonstrating, like you said, lack of concern for your fellow man.

51:55

Yeah. Yeah. And that's why I would charge challenge everyone and pastors as well. You know, for me, at least

52:02

I hate to use the word subconsciously, but at least in some way, you know, when

52:08

I've done things like that, I've I know that I've I know that I've thought about the fact that what

52:15

I'm doing is ministry related. And I could use that as an excuse to neglect, to consider what

52:22

I'm doing in the immediate sense in my driving, you know, and so I could pick up, you know, maybe

52:27

I got a text or an email just to me. The recommendation is, and again,

52:32

I know it's common, it's common knowledge, but we need to listen to it is if it's that important, pull over, you know, and address it, you know, get to a place where you can pull over a parking lot and then pull out your phone and do your texting or your email or, or, or if you need to listen to something or whatever it is, a message, you know, whatever, if it's going to affect your driving, pull over rather than, you know, trying to just, well, let me just get this quickly out.

52:57

I only have to say a couple of words. We just know that we see it statistically.

53:03

I mean, we know that there's a lot of actions that are caused and people get killed and everything else because of, because of a lack of concentration on, on, on, on the road when we're driving, you know, there's a lot of us out there.

53:15

There's a lot of metal going around. And when you hit somebody, you know, going even, even 40 miles an hour, it doesn't sound like it's that fast, but when you go from 40 miles to zero,

53:24

I mean, your body doesn't like that. Your body's still going forward, you know, and you need a belt to hold you in a, in a, in a, a big pillow to shoot out of your steering wheel to protect you, to keep you from doing major damage, but you can shake your brain.

53:39

You know, it's, it's a very serious way to be hurt. We have to go to our midway break right now.

53:45

And once again, if you have a question for Pastor Mark Romaldi, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

53:53

As always, give us your first name, at least your city and state and your country of residence. Don't go away. We're going to be right back.

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I'm Pastor Bill Shishko of The Haven, an Orthodox Presbyterian church in Comac, Long Island.

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I hold the Iron Sharpens Iron radio program hosted by my longtime friend and brother,

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Chris Arnzen, in the highest esteem. And I'm thrilled that you're listening today. I'm also delighted that Iron Sharpens Iron is partnering with one of my favorite resources for Reformed Christian literature for decades now,

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John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona. Taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnson and the

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Iron Sharpens Iron podcast. I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big, penetrating questions, while always defending the key doctrines of the

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Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast, knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray.

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I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise, and yet God has raised

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Chris up for just such a time. And knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances.

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I'm pleased to do so, and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting

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Iron Sharpens Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?

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I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris, if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com,

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where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com. Hello, my name is

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Anthony Uvino, and I'm one of the pastors at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Quorum, New York, and also the host of the reformrookie .com

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website. I want you to know that if you enjoy listening to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio show like I do, you can now find it on the

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Please be sure to also give it a good review and pass it along to anyone who would benefit from the teaching and the many solidly reformed guests that Chris Arnson has on the show.

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Subscribe to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio podcast right now. And while you're at it, you can also sign up for the reformrookie .com

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And finally, if you're looking to worship in a reformed church that holds to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, please join us at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Corham, New York.

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Hi, this is

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John Sampson, Pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona. Taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnzen and the

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Iron Sharpens Iron podcast. I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the

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Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray.

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I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise.

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And yet God has raised Chris up for just such a time. And knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances.

01:02:29

I'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting

01:02:34

Iron Sharpens Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?

01:02:42

I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com

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where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com James White here of Alpha Omega Ministries announcing that this

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September I'm heading out to Pennsylvania to speak at two events that my longtime friend

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Luncheon at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville. Then on Sunday, September 21st at 1 .30

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p .m. I'm speaking at Trinity Reformed Baptist Church of Carlisle on the theme, Can We Trust the

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Bible is the Authentic and Inerrant Word of God. I hope you can join Chris and me for both events.

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For more details on the Pre -Pastor's Luncheon visit ironsharpensironradio .com

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That's ironsharpensironradio .com For more details on Trinity Reformed Baptist Church of Carlisle visit trbccarlisle .org

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That's trbccarlisle .org God willing, I'll see you in September in Pennsylvania for these exciting events.

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Tell them Chris from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio sent you. That's Gold Wealth Management. It's such a blessing to hear from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners from all over the world.

01:06:26

Here's Joe Riley, a listener in Ireland who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed,

01:06:35

Dr. Joe Moorcraft. I'm Joe Riley, a faithful Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener here in Atai in County Kildare, Ireland.

01:06:43

Going back to 2005, one of my very favorite guests on Iron Sharpens Iron is

01:06:48

Dr. Joe Moorcraft. If you've been blessed by Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr. Moorcraft and Heritage Presbyterian Church of Plumbing, Georgia, are largely to thank, since they are one of the program's largest financial supporters.

01:07:01

Heritage Presbyterian Church of Plumbing is in Forsyth County, a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

01:07:07

Heritage is a thoroughly biblical church, unwaveringly committed to Westminster standards. And Dr.

01:07:13

Joe Moorcraft is the author of an eight -volume commentary on the larger catechism. Heritage is a member of the

01:07:18

Hanover Presbytery, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, and tracing its roots and heritage back to the great

01:07:28

Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Heritage maintains and follows the biblical truth and principles proclaimed by the reformers.

01:07:36

Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, and God's glory alone. Their primary goal is the worship of the

01:07:43

Triune God that continues in eternity. For more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Plumbing, Georgia, visit

01:07:49

HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com. That's HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com

01:07:54

or call 678 -954 -7831. That's 678 -954 -7831.

01:08:03

If you visit, have them Joe Reilly, an Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener from a tie in County Kildare, Arlington, San Diego.

01:08:12

Welcome back. Before I return to Pastor Mark Vermalde, my guest today, I want to remind you folks, if you really love

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click support, then click, click to donate now. Last but not least, if you're not a member of a biblically faithful,

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01:12:06

chrisarnson at gmail .com, give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence, if you live outside the

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USA. We have Brandon in New Braunfels, Texas, or New Braunfels, Texas.

01:12:26

I'm sorry if I'm butchering the pronunciation, I'm not from Texas. But Brandon says, how do you respond to those who hate the doctrines of sovereign grace, who will say if God really foreordained and predestined and orchestrated something like an automobile accident, why would you have to care about looking at your phone?

01:12:51

And in fact, on the other side of the coin, if somebody is intoxicated and they get into an accident, even killing someone, you can't blame them because God foreordained it.

01:13:03

How do you respond to this kind of rhetoric? Yeah, that's very common, those kinds of questions, and that's why people tend to contradict what

01:13:14

I believe to be clearly written and taught in the scriptures. But I think we have to understand that and when we think about God and how he works and his sovereignty, we tend to flatten

01:13:29

God out and try to draw what we see to be logical conclusions from very deep truths about an eternal and infinite

01:13:39

God. And so what we do know for sure in the word of God is that God is completely sovereign, that God ordains all things, and that even the bad things that happen and even the things that are done with ill motives in the world, while God is not evil, while God does not have ill motives, he ordains to use those things for good.

01:14:02

And so when you're operating as God within a fallen creation, if he doesn't ordain to use even bad things for good, then nothing good is going to happen, right?

01:14:15

Because he's working in a fallen creation. But we also know that we are responsible and accountable for our actions.

01:14:23

And so when I do something wrong, whether it's looking at a text while I'm driving or drinking and driving or doing something harmful to someone else,

01:14:31

I'm doing that because I want to do that. I'm doing that because that's part of my sin nature. It's what

01:14:37

I desire to do, and I'm accountable for that. And yet at the same time, if I do something that's evil, it's not something that's beyond the reach of God's sovereign working.

01:14:49

In other words, he uses even that to accomplish his good. And we see that in scripture, right?

01:14:54

Oftentimes, and two very clear examples. One is with Joseph. We know that when Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, what they had done to him was evil.

01:15:04

They were jealous of him. They were wicked in their intentions, and their brother had suffered greatly because of that.

01:15:11

He went into slavery. He spent some years in prison for a false accusation that was made against him.

01:15:17

And yet in all of that, God was able to bring back, to bring about security to the whole world, to bring people a place, to be able to provide food for the whole world during the time of drought because of Joseph being elevated to the head of Egypt.

01:15:35

And so Joseph was later brought to a position as the head of Egypt where he could help supply food so that the entire known world at the time wouldn't die out.

01:15:46

But God used even the evil of Joseph's brothers to bring that about. If Joseph wasn't in Egypt, if Joseph didn't go through what he went through in prison and interpreting the dreams of the two individuals and later coming out and becoming the head of Egypt, then he's not put in a position where he can deliver the whole world from the famine.

01:16:06

And so what God used, what man had used for evil, what man had chosen to do because of evil intentions, as Joseph says to his brothers,

01:16:15

God had chosen to do for good. And we see that with the Lord Jesus Christ as well, very clearly.

01:16:20

The cross is the most wicked, right? The most wicked, ill -intentioned event that had taken place in all of creation.

01:16:28

A godly man, right, who was perfect, the God -man who was perfect and without sin, the Lord Jesus Christ was treated horrifically.

01:16:37

Not only was he beaten and abused and mocked by the religious leaders and the

01:16:43

Romans, but he was also put to death for crimes he didn't commit.

01:16:48

He didn't do anything wrong. He was innocent. So it was the most unjust thing to take place in all of history, was the putting to death of the

01:16:57

Lord Jesus Christ. And yet it's by that means, God had ordained that very means, using the wickedness of man, the wickedness of the

01:17:06

Jews and the Romans and of our sin even, to bring Jesus to the place where he would die so that he could bring redemption through his death as a worthy substitute on behalf of sinners.

01:17:17

And of course, God raised him from the dead. So we see that all throughout Scripture. You can look at what happened with the Babylonians and the

01:17:23

Assyrians and conquering the nations and God using them to conquer the nations and then actually bringing judgment on them, how

01:17:29

God uses even the wicked intentions of man to accomplish his sovereign good.

01:17:35

And so it shows his wisdom, it shows his power, it shows his glory, and God doing that and ordaining all things.

01:17:42

And yet what even brings more glory to God even is recognizing that he does that even by utilizing the wicked intentions of man so that what man means for evil,

01:17:56

God means for good. So for me, if I drive now and I say, well, God is sovereign.

01:18:01

And so I can look at my phone and play around and get drunk and who cares? Somebody gets killed, it's

01:18:07

God's sovereignty, right? Well, I can say that. And it is true that God would be sovereign over that if that's where it led to.

01:18:15

But I am so very much accountable for what I've done. I didn't mean it for any good purpose.

01:18:20

And I'm going to stand before God and I will be judged because of those specific sins and righteously so.

01:18:27

So both are true. God is completely sovereign and yet man is accountable. And so we can't just flatten that out and reason through that and say, well,

01:18:35

God must then be the author of sin and he doesn't care and he's not concerned and he's just going to do what he wants anyway.

01:18:42

We have to take all of scripture into consideration and understand that God has not flattened down to one or two dimensions or even three, but he's a lot more complicated than that.

01:18:52

And he is able to maintain his justice while using what's unjust in a fallen creation to accomplish a perfect and good and glorious will.

01:19:05

Excellent. Now we have Wendell in Cicero, Illinois. And Wendell says, typically the only people that do not fear dying are the elderly or people who are suffering with terminal illnesses and it is causing them great pain and distress.

01:19:28

But when it comes to a belief with certainty that there is a heaven and if you believe you're going there, why is anybody else afraid of going to die?

01:19:45

Why is anybody else afraid to die who's not going to have any means? Well, I think of what

01:19:52

Wendell is saying is if you believe you're going to heaven, why are you afraid of dying?

01:20:00

Oh, okay. Yeah, let me just say this, that in the situation that I was in, the fear of death at that moment, for me personally, wasn't the reality.

01:20:11

I had more, as I said, and I'm not even justifying it, but I had more of a fear of not being able to say goodbye to folks.

01:20:18

But I think the reason why even good Christians, right, there are Christians who still struggle with the fear of death and we don't have to fear, right, the sting of death because we know that death, if we're in Christ, we know that death is ultimately, is going to be the vehicle that brings us into the presence of God.

01:20:37

And we know that the only pain that we experience is the process of dying, however long that lasts.

01:20:44

But I think that what people fear more of with that, even as Christians, is first of all, it's uncharted territory in the sense for anyone who's living here now, we have a cross through to the other side.

01:20:57

We do see in scripture what happens. We know that it's a separation of the body. The soul from the body and the soul goes to be with the

01:21:04

Lord and the body is temporarily buried until the resurrection from the dead. But it's still something that people, you know, it's, you don't, the process of it is not natural, right?

01:21:16

The suffering involved with dying is not natural. It's not, death in itself is not a good thing.

01:21:22

In fact, death is going to be destroyed in the end as we're told in scripture. It's not a good thing.

01:21:27

It's actually bad in that sense. And so it's not fun. It's not joyful, even though the other side of it, we know is going to be where all the joy is.

01:21:37

So I think it's just the crossing over, the not being acquainted with that experience is something that can bring some fear to even good

01:21:46

Christians. But hopefully by God's grace, obviously it's like in Pilgrim's Progress, at the end of the book, you see

01:21:53

Pilgrim when he's walking through the water, which is him passing through death. And he's afraid at first because he can't feel the bottom as he's walking.

01:22:02

And so there's some nervousness there because he hasn't experienced that. But then suddenly as he's crossing over, his feet touch the ground and he gets secure and he makes it to the other side.

01:22:11

So I don't think it's an uncommon thing for Christians even to have a fear of something that, again, the process of dying, which is not healthy, which is not a good thing in that sense, even though it brings us to glory.

01:22:27

Death is not natural in that sense. Yes, I had one of the most precious privileges to be with my dear friend,

01:22:44

Dr. Conrad Mbewe, from Kubwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa, who

01:22:51

I'm certain you've heard preach. Yeah. Were you there in 1996?

01:22:56

I don't even know if you were saved in 1996, but were you there when he preached at Grace Reformed Baptist Church?

01:23:04

Yeah, I wasn't saved, but he was actually in my house doing,

01:23:10

I think it was because my mom had a woman's Bible study group that would be in our house.

01:23:18

And if I remember right, Conrad was there. In fact, I know, and he actually was doing some teaching.

01:23:24

I guess they had him there for the study. And so I do remember him being in the house. I remember the shirt he was wearing, funny enough, but I was not saved yet, but I was there.

01:23:33

Yeah. I remember being in regular Bible studies in your parents' house before you were saved, and I can remember you barging through the door with purple hair or something, yelling,

01:23:45

Mom, I told you not to touch my stuff! But anyway, I was so privileged to be with Conrad when we were at the deathbed of our mutual friend,

01:24:01

Gary Wolf, and Gary was afraid to die. And I wish that I had the forethought to write down what

01:24:14

Conrad was saying, because Conrad was so brilliant, and what he was conveying to Gary from the

01:24:22

Scriptures and from his heart to put Gary at ease, because both

01:24:29

Conrad and I were witnessing Gary, hearing him believe without question that he was saved.

01:24:38

We even repeatedly asked him, Are you trusting solely in Christ? And definitely, he wouldn't even hesitate.

01:24:45

But he was afraid to die. He also had concerns about the state of his faith, whether he was saved.

01:24:55

And Charles Adams Spurgeon had some charity towards people like that.

01:25:05

There are Christians who are overly cruel to any professing

01:25:12

Christian who doubts their salvation. Now, that is obviously not the ideal state of mind.

01:25:21

The Reformed faith is such a wonderful system of theology that should give us great assurance when we understand the

01:25:33

Word of God rightly. But even people in our theological camp can be terrified that they're lost, even some very, very godly people.

01:25:47

And I don't have Charles Spurgeon's quote in front of me, but I remember reading him saying that there are some people who are so sensitive over their own sin and rebellion, even if it's comparatively minor when taking into consideration the sins of others, that they're so sensitive about offending

01:26:17

God and the things that they think and do that they fear that they're lost.

01:26:23

And so people like that, even if they're truly born again, sadly, on occasion, are fearing death because they think that they may go to hell.

01:26:35

Yeah, and I think you're right, Chris. I think we need to be sensitive and try to encourage like what

01:26:41

Conrad was doing. And we haven't crossed that barrier yet, and I hope and pray that I'll have that sense of comfort.

01:26:49

But I'm sure there are those struggles with doubt or fears.

01:26:55

Or like you said, if you start to look inward and see the ways that you've fallen short, you can lose sight of the gospel.

01:27:01

And it doesn't mean you're not saved, but you could focus a little too much on your own shortcomings.

01:27:06

And you know, at that moment, when you know you're going to be in the presence of God and you're going to be in the hands of the

01:27:15

One who is the Creator, who is infinite and all -powerful, and that's it.

01:27:20

You're going to be there with Him. And it's a sobering thing, I think, for anyone that realizes that that's what they're facing.

01:27:29

And to have absolutely no fear is probably rare even, to just be trying to walk across like, oh, you know.

01:27:39

I mean, there are people who have died with great joy, even embracing flames and being burned at the stake.

01:27:44

And I think they've had extra grace in those circumstances. They're singing hymns while they're being burned alive. Yeah, yeah.

01:27:51

But I think, as you said, it may not be a healthy thing in the sense of, or the ideal, let's say.

01:27:59

But I'd be very slow to criticize someone's faith because they struggle in that way as they're crossing into eternity.

01:28:07

I mean, that's a sobering thing. And God did give me such a priceless gift when my mother was dying of pancreatic cancer.

01:28:18

I am absolutely certain that she abandoned and repented from all of her

01:28:25

Roman Catholic idolatry and heresy and superstition and was trusting solely in the finished work of Christ.

01:28:33

She made it very clear on her deathbed that she was trusting in Christ alone for her salvation, and she abandoned all prayer to the saints and Mary.

01:28:45

And she said to me that the only reason she was going to heaven was because of Christ's death on the cross, and that if she were to say her goodness in any way had something to do with it, it would be like the

01:29:04

Pharisee bragging in the temple about what he did and did not do and saying that he thanked

01:29:13

God that he was not the tax collector who was praying nearby with his head bowed, beating his chest, saying,

01:29:20

God be merciful to me, a sinner. And my mother said,

01:29:27

Chris, I'm the tax collector. But the gift not only was having that confidence that my mother was finally truly born again before she died at 70, which is only seven years from now for me,

01:29:46

I'll be 70, was that she could not wait to die when she was suffering with the pancreatic cancer.

01:29:56

Every day when I'd visit her, I'd walk through the door, and the first thing out of her mouth was,

01:30:02

Chris, do you think the Lord will come take me home today? I really want to go home. And so that finally did happen, and I had the privilege of being with her.

01:30:14

That very moment when she took her last breath, she was in my arms, and I was singing Amazing Grace to her, which became her favorite song.

01:30:22

And she had the strength to kiss me in the cheek just minutes before she died.

01:30:30

But whether you have that confidence or not is not a determining factor of where you're spending eternity.

01:30:43

That's right. Because all of us in some way have flawed theology and ways of thinking in some way.

01:30:54

Yeah, absolutely. And so there should be people listening who should not be unnecessarily terrified that they have loved ones who are dying, who are fearing that they're not saved.

01:31:16

Now, obviously, we want our lost loved ones to have that fear.

01:31:26

We want them to repent. We want them to come to Christ.

01:31:34

And that's one of the greatest plagues of this planet is a lack of fear of God. And before we go to our final commercial break, is there any other lesson or powerful reminder that you have as a result of this close call with death that you just had recently?

01:31:56

I think those are the big ones, as I said there. And again,

01:32:02

I think it doesn't even have to be the accident that brought this to bear alone.

01:32:09

But I think the longer I'm in the faith, Chris, I think the more I appreciate the greatness of God and just how,

01:32:22

I guess the best way I can say it is what I was saying before, is that everything that He does with us is what

01:32:30

He chooses to do with us. And in any way we serve, whatever capacity that is, that's a privilege for us.

01:32:37

And it's not a favor to God. He doesn't need us.

01:32:42

In other words, as gracious as it is for God to save us, it's also equally gracious that He gives us time to continue to serve

01:32:52

Him for however long that is. And we can never think of ourselves as filling some gap that God can't easily fill with a donkey, with Balaam's donkey, if you want to.

01:33:07

So I think that's something you just realize, you just keep more and more able to say that He's God, and He is right in all that He does, and He will accomplish all of His will.

01:33:19

And we can be thankful for every part that we have in that, but we're not the main star or the main character.

01:33:27

He's already come, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And our goal is to support and cast and just to do what we can to be faithful and when

01:33:35

God says to us, time is up, whether it's James, the apostle James, who was killed early on in his ministry and beheaded after he's thrown off a roof, or Peter, who is freed from the prison.

01:33:48

James is not freed when he's captured. He's killed, and Herod says, okay, well, let's get Peter. I see the Jews like this, and I want to make them like me more.

01:33:55

So let's kill Peter, and they arrest him, but God takes pains to free Peter through angelic interference.

01:34:03

He didn't do that for James, and James equally was as useful as he needed to be in God's will as Peter was.

01:34:09

So we just need to be content with where we are and just recognize that we're not the main show. This is about God.

01:34:15

That's a lesson I think that just becomes deeper and deeper as I grow more and more in my faith, that this really is not about me, and God can do as He pleases.

01:34:27

Amen, and we're going to our final break. And once again, if you have a question before we run out of time, our e -mail address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

01:34:37

Give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence. If you live outside the

01:34:43

USA, please don't go away. We're going to be right back. This is

01:34:55

Pastor Bill Sasso, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

01:35:01

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially.

01:35:10

Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work of our

01:35:22

Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end for which we strive is the glory of God.

01:35:29

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

01:35:42

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

01:35:52

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

01:36:00

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

01:36:05

Sovereign Lord God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always.

01:36:40

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

01:36:47

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Anthony Uvino, founder of thereformrookie .com

01:36:53

and co -founder of New York Apologetics, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

01:36:59

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

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Bible of choice. I'm Eli Ayala, founder of Revealed Apologetics and staff member with the

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Historical Bible Society, and the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Josh Miller of Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the

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NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Joe Bianchi, president of Calvi Press Publishing in Greenville, South Carolina, and the

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NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jake Korn of Switzerland Community Church in Switzerland, Florida, and the

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NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

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Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew bibles tattered and falling apart?

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Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

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

01:38:18

I'm Dr. Tony Costa, professor of apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary. I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love,

01:38:30

Hope Reform Baptist Church in Quorum, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jensen and Christopher McDowell.

01:38:37

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God, like the dear saints at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Quorum, who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in His Holy Word, and to enthusiastically proclaim

01:38:54

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

01:39:01

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love, as I have.

01:39:11

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

01:39:17

That's hopereformedli .net. Or call 631 -696 -5711.

01:39:26

That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Quorum, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.

01:39:40

I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President Emeritus and Professor of Systematic and Applied Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

01:40:02

Every Christian who's serious about the Deformed Faith and the Westminster Standards should have and use the eight -volume commentary on the theology and ethics of the

01:40:12

Westminster Larger Catechism, titled Authentic Christianity, by Dr. Joseph Morecraft.

01:40:18

It is much more than an exposition of the Larger Catechism. It is a thoroughly researched work that utilizes biblical exegesis as well as historical and systematic theology.

01:40:30

Dr. Morecraft is Pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, and I urge everyone looking for a biblically faithful church in that area to visit that fine congregation.

01:40:41

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For details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com,

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01:43:31

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01:43:44

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01:44:10

And we are now back with Pastor Mark Romaldi of Sovereign Grace Church of White House, Tennessee.

01:44:18

And we have, let's see here, we have an anonymous questioner who says,

01:44:29

I'm remaining anonymous because I'm going to be speaking about a loved one who I fear is lost who may be listening today.

01:44:37

I have a loved one who I have very little doubt is going to hell unless this loved one clearly repents, and they are dying at the moment, and I know that many people when they are evangelizing such a person are overly sweet and comforting without giving them the other side of the gospel, the good news, which is the bad news.

01:45:09

Can you give me any counsel on how to speak to this person without being unnecessarily cruel in a time like this, but also being more concerned about where this loved one will be spending eternity than hurting their feelings now?

01:45:30

Yeah, yeah, that's certainly really a difficult place to be in, and what

01:45:35

I would suggest with that is certainly as I'm sure you are, this anonymous person, is be praying fervently for the loved one, maybe even fast, especially as they're drawing nearer to eternity.

01:45:50

But I would say that if you can read scripture to them, it's certainly a good thing.

01:45:56

Read some things from the Gospel of John, and if they'll allow that, pray with them.

01:46:01

And then I would say that you just remind them of the very basic gospel. Just give them the gospel.

01:46:07

That's the power of God unto salvation. Explain to them that you love them. You can preface everything you say.

01:46:14

Say that your concern is for them, that you care about them, that you love them, and you want to be with them forever, and you know that this life continues beyond the grave.

01:46:24

And so you can tell them about, just get back into the gospel, the reality of their sin, and how that has separated them from God, and that God is determined to punish all sin, and in fact is just to do so, and that either

01:46:40

Christ will pay for that sin, or the individual will, or we do, if we die our sin.

01:46:47

One of the things that I thought about as Chris and I were just talking about, those who have asked, one of the fascinating deaths that I've read about, and maybe some of you have, of a

01:46:59

Christian, a brother, and I think it was one of the martyrs, I don't remember who it was, who was actually being burned at the stake,

01:47:06

I believe, and he just kept saying over and over, Son of David, have mercy on me.

01:47:11

Son of David, have mercy on me. Before the flames overtook his life, and I thought about that, and it just reminded me of the fact that, that was of course the cry that the blind person had had on the side of the street when

01:47:28

Jesus was coming by, and the people were telling him to be quiet, like he was interfering with Jesus in some way, and they were trying to hush him, and he all the more got louder, and just kept crying out,

01:47:38

Son of David, have mercy on me, until he got the ear of Jesus, and then Jesus of course went to him, and healed him, and so on, but I just know that in that simple statement that was also used by that martyr, it's such a statement of confidence in Christ alone, as if all you can see in those moments is your need of Christ, his mercy.

01:47:59

There's a lot of voices, right, that'll be around us, things on the inside, and doubts, and questions, and fears, but if we could just keep our eyes on Christ, and Son of David, have mercy on me, we know that he will hear, and so I would encourage you, you don't have to get into all kinds of complicated theology with this individual, especially at this point, but if you can pray with them, and exhort them in that way, and just say that the

01:48:23

Lord Jesus is merciful, and that he will even yet still save, and that would be their cry, just to cry out to the

01:48:30

Lord, to have mercy on him. That would be the best advice I could give. I'm sure there's others who can give other advice, and additional things that are helpful, but I hope that's helpful.

01:48:43

Yeah, let me ask you about something, because I know that when my mother was dying,

01:48:52

I wanted to make sure that I wasn't putting words in her mouth, because I wanted so desperately to be convinced of her salvation, that for lack of a better term,

01:49:09

I was playing the devil's advocate, as it were, having conversations with her.

01:49:17

For instance, I remember saying to her, Mom, you have been such a good mother.

01:49:25

Your life has been filled with selfless deeds, generosity, humility.

01:49:33

You've been a very religious woman. You're beloved even by the ex -spouses of some of your sons, who still call you

01:49:51

Mom. Your children cannot think of anything to complain about you over.

01:50:01

Is any of that helping you to get to heaven? And she said, No. And that's when

01:50:07

I said, Why wouldn't that be helping you to get to heaven? And she said, Well, that would be like the

01:50:14

Pharisee in the temple that was bragging about himself, and bragging that he did not sin in this way and that.

01:50:22

And then he said, I'm thankful that I'm not. Like this tax collector, and the tax collector beat his breast, bowed his head, and said,

01:50:31

Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus said that the tax collector went home justified, and my mother said,

01:50:37

I'm that tax collector. That's what, when I spoke of that earlier, that was what led up to that conversation.

01:50:45

But I didn't want to feed her with answers that she would think made me happy.

01:50:53

That's why I questioned her like that. And her answers were such a joy to hear.

01:51:03

And isn't that, in some ways, a way to approach someone if we're concerned about where they're spending eternity is not to be trying to manipulate them emotionally on their deathbed so that they, purely out of terror, may say that they believe in God, believe in Jesus, or to shut you up if you're badgering them.

01:51:41

Am I making sense here, that we have to— Yeah, do his work? Yeah, I think you had,

01:51:48

God had given you good wisdom, Chris, and the Spirit to lead you to be able to do that with your mom and to get that assurance.

01:51:55

And that's really, that's very encouraging to see how the Lord used that. Yeah, I think it is important to recognize as we minister to people, especially in those moments, but at any time, that we're not just trying to get them to run through, right, the motions of a step -by -step method of doing this, this, and this, and this.

01:52:20

And that's one of the dangers, right, as we know about the laws, the seven laws or whatever it is that you give to people to try to get them to say what they can say, and if they say the right things and they just parrot it, then you give them all the assurance in the world that they're saved because they just merely said it.

01:52:38

We know that salvation is not just a confession. It's being born again.

01:52:45

It's the reality of the Holy Spirit working in someone to have genuine faith in Christ. So the Lord gave you the wisdom to be able to see that in your mom by you saying those things, and so I think that's very helpful.

01:52:57

And when you're communicating with them, I think it's helpful to even to a brother or sister to say, hey, how is your faith?

01:53:08

Are you trusting? What are you trusting? Are you trusting in Christ alone? Or just engaging them with questions at those moments to make sure that they have that confidence that they're really in Christ.

01:53:22

I mean, it's important. There's no going back from there, and we do that when we baptize someone, right?

01:53:29

We ask them those kinds of things, and certainly someone can still just appease us and say they know what we want to hear, and we can't control that, but I think it's helpful,

01:53:40

Chris, you're right, not just to get them to recite some things. Mom, Dad, just say this, or just copy what

01:53:46

I say in my prayer. That's not a good method.

01:53:52

I think it's really to lead them to the truth, give them the reminder of the gospel, of what

01:53:59

Christ has done and who we are and our need of the gospel, our need of Christ, and then to even follow up with that if you have the time to do that, which was great.

01:54:07

So I think that was really good what you did, Chris. I think that's very positive. Yeah, as you know, one of my oldest brothers

01:54:14

Andy, the second oldest brother, just recently passed on, and I was given evidence that he was trusting in Christ, and I'm thanking

01:54:23

God for it, but I can recall a very close relative of mine seemed very disappointed that on Andy's deathbed

01:54:36

I didn't walk him through the sinner's prayer, and people can view that almost like it's a magic spell.

01:54:45

Like if they say this series of words, they'll be saved, and sometimes we wrongly think that the only superstitions that exist amongst professing

01:54:59

Christians are Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, but evangelicals can have their own share of superstitions, can't they?

01:55:07

And that can be a very dangerous way of evangelizing people spiritually.

01:55:14

It's extremely dangerous, Chris. It can give people a false assurance, again, because they've said the prayer, that they're safe now, they've just gone through the motions.

01:55:24

And I've actually heard in the past, I've seen people who have said, when somebody has said, okay, and they've just repeated it, and they would say to them, okay, well, don't let anybody else tell you that you're not a

01:55:35

Christian, you're definitely safe, you have all the assurance, kind of an easy -believe -ism method of reaching people, and that's extremely dangerous and counterproductive.

01:55:47

And that's why I said we come back to that fact that we know that it's not, the profession itself, it's not that it's not important, but the reality is that an individual needs to be born again, and their faith has to be not in a profession, not in an action, not in walking an aisle or going to an altar.

01:56:05

We want to give them something that they can hold on to, and that's not what they need. What they need is a -

01:56:15

Are you there, Mark? Huh, for some reason. Hello, Mark, can you hear me?

01:56:22

I can hear you. Okay. Yeah, you dropped out there for a brief second. Oh, okay.

01:56:28

Yeah, maybe something, a glitch or something. But I was just agreeing with you, I think that it's more than a profession, you know, that there has to be a genuine faith in Christ, a personal trust into Christ.

01:56:41

And so just saying these words or mimicking something is not equal salvation.

01:56:47

As you said, you don't see that anywhere in Scripture. They have to believe into Christ. And so I agree with you 100%.

01:56:54

I think that's dangerous. And I'm sure that one of the last thoughts you'd want to give to our audience is that they should always be ready to meet their maker, because we never know when he's going to take us off this planet.

01:57:10

And that was really brought home to me not long ago, just a matter of a few weeks ago, when

01:57:18

I was wondering where to go to dinner. And instead of walking to a local restaurant that I often do,

01:57:27

I took an Uber to a restaurant that was farther away.

01:57:33

On the way home, I see a roadblock with ambulances' lights flashing and police car lights flashing right two blocks from my house,

01:57:44

I see this. And I found out later the next day that that very road where I very often walk to a restaurant nearby an elderly couple was walking home after a concert at the library.

01:58:02

And on the very sidewalk where I walk almost every day, a drunk driver jumped up on the sidewalk with the vehicle and killed the wife right in front of the husband.

01:58:15

So we have to be prepared for that any moment. We never know when it's going to happen. But we've actually run out of time.

01:58:22

And I want to make sure that I repeat your website. It's SovereignGraceChurch .net. SovereignGraceChurch .net.

01:58:30

Any final words in about 30 seconds that you care to summarize what your thoughts are today that you want etched on the hearts and minds of our listeners?

01:58:38

I think you said it well, Chris. We need to remember that there's going to be a day that we're going to be the person in that casket looking up in a lifeless body, as it were, that that's coming to all of us.

01:58:50

That's going to be the time of our crossing. And it can be sooner than later. Let's be ready. And if you're a

01:58:55

Christian, let's make good use of the time. And if you're not, seek the Lord now before it's too late.

01:59:01

Amen. And I want everybody to have a very safe and blessed and happy Fourth of July tomorrow and a

01:59:09

Christ -honoring weekend and Lord's Day. And I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater