Road Trip Dividing Line: Only 45 Minutes Today

Well, greetings and welcome to The Dividing Line. My name is James White and we are coming to you live yet once again from Undisclosed locations.

Well, we're here in Missouri and it is Gray and dark and cold and breezy and wet

I like days like that. I'll have to admit, you know, I've got my flannel shirt on and We're doing alright.

We're doing okay I'm still struggling with a few issues with the unit but RVing is learning how to adapt either how to repair or how to adapt

That's just sort of how it works. You have this list when you get back And you don't just go park your unit someplace

In the storage area. Uh -oh. The cache is filling up looks like I'm crashing Doesn't look like we're gonna make it today.

Sorry. We will of course get this posted as soon as possible afterwards, but There you go we the cache is full and We are we are dead.

So Going to a dead cast. Sorry about that. Everybody Nothing we can do about it.

I don't know what's going on I reset the gateway right before we got started and it's just not gonna let us do it

We're gonna do a shorter program anyways And We're getting it recorded and and that's just how it's gonna have to go.

I don't know if don't know why Atmospheric Situations can impact things who knows.

I haven't bothered to set up the satellite yet we didn't we didn't have a reason to but Now maybe

I should have there you go. Anyways couple things. Why do you bunch of stuff? I wanted to get to actually little things

I Pulled the plug Still recording just letting rich know since he can't hear anything about what's going on because I didn't set up his little computer thing of a

Bobby I Started to say something in the last program It's an amazing how the mind works or doesn't work.

I Started to want to make a point and say something and And I never got around to actually saying it

I got distracted with a Background information or something. I don't know but a great deal of conversation

Social media has been I Don't know Doesn't seem overly fitting for the week after Thanksgiving or the week beginning

Advent the Christmas season You know, you'd think there'd be a little bit more Brotherly love to be found someplace, but it's not working that way and There's been a you know, you have the

Kevin de Young article in about the Moscow mood and that of course has encouraged all sorts of other folks to be jumping on this aspect of that aspect of things and Of course, it's right the end of no quarter

November so everybody can go. Well, you know, he's asked for it He was using a flamethrower only a few weeks in anyway

One of the things I was going to say I think what happened on the program yesterday is

I've been reading Jared Longshore's article in response to me and Thinking about the the reality that I'm gonna have to say some fairly strong things in Response to the idea that when when a

Christian man a Christian woman are married and She becomes pregnant the church has grown and There are some there are some ramifications that that I think are really troubling and I've been very consistent since you know, 2001 or so 2000 -2001 in really really emphasizing that for my

Presbyterian brothers we cannot go anywhere that presumes regeneration and it almost sounds like there are people today who have the idea that hey as long as As long as a child is born of Christian parents that that child is holy

That's not what first Corinthians 7 is about guys Paul Jewett nuked that years and years ago.

If you haven't read it, you need to read it It's it's just I Don't know that anyone would want anyone would really want to even try to defend that in any meaningful scholarly debate

Given the context of what is being said by Paul there, but this idea that in essence

If you have children in The Covenant that there is a promise of their salvation that that, you know again

I start thinking back years and years ago to reading Pierre Marcel and how the children

Covenant children have the effect of original sin removed from them so they are like a new

Adam and I'm just like What? What what what what is going on here?

It's very troubling to me. And so I'm probably have to say some hard -things there

But at the same time What I've wanted to say yesterday and that's probably where I got off the track is

I've been up to Moscow. I think three times at least twice maybe three times and I have

I have had dinner There's a particular Eating establishment slash pub there that everybody goes to and you

I think I think a video Was post a couple days ago of a sort of a flash mob thing there

That's sort of what you expect when you go there, but I've eaten with the guys from cross politic and the

Jared Longshore Obviously, I've had Sabbath dinner with Doug Wilson and his family

Doug Wilson and I have sat at taco time just the two of us eating crisp meat burritos and In all of that time in recording all sorts of stuff and and Visiting Canon Press and Preaching at the church a number of a couple of the churches a number of times in all of that time,

I Never heard profanity It you'd think reading some of the stuff that you're seeing on Twitter right now

That Doug Wilson walks around swearing a blue streak and The fact the matter is the only time

I've heard him using what we would call off -color language at all is in a written context to make a point some type of cultural point now,

I've I've taken a clear stand As I understand things

You know, he evidently has a freedom that I do not in those areas. I I do not feel it's appropriate to utilize

Profanity off -color language the serrated edge needs to be sheathed for the vast majority of us

Because of the fact of our remaining sin and the ease with which we can abandon the biblical command of purity of speech and purity of heart and things along those lines, so I'm I'm not mature enough to do that But other people feel that they are and Okay There you go,

I just Especially in Doug's situation. He doesn't need to needlessly give his insane critics

Who have Doug Wilson derangement syndrome on a fatal level Anything more than than what they already have

As far as to be able to attack him and so but I just wanted to say in in all the times that I have been with The cross -politic guys that's down in In Arizona Every place we've met and done things

I've never heard profanity. And so it's not what people are saying some kind of a

Regular thing where you're just constantly popping off with With foul language, it's just not been my experience and I wanted to say that at the same time

I have to say to my dear brother Gabriel ranch the tweet that I saw yesterday about grape juice and I Think it used to use the term cowardice.

I don't remember Dave really

That one wasn't fair. I know there was a context to it but Especially on topics like this where we are literally talking about Issues like well, what kind of bread do you use in the supper man?

There are people that will draw swords Over something like this and I've been in churches that used a loaf

And I've been in churches that used unleavened bread because you can make an argument for either

Paul uses the same language And So let let let each man be convinced in his own mind and let individual churches make that choice and and you know, if you've been if you find a church where the

Gospels being preached and where You know truth is being put out there don't let these little things

Tear you apart. Don't that let these little things cause you to not be in a fellowship that's actually reaching out and making a difference in the community and is being faithful to the gospel and all the rest these types of things

Just just don't do it. Don't people just get off on these side issues and end up dividing over stuff like You know, we use wine

Okay, I grew up Using grape juice, I mean No one's gonna convince me that I didn't have the

Lord's Supper and so we had wine And No one's gonna convince me that churches that are

Convicted that alcohol isn't isn't necessary here are not doing the

Lord's Supper and vice versa Why do we have to?

The conversations should be I think Edifying and useful but always leave room for Final disagreement on on certain things.

It's just so everybody is so dogmatic On on all this stuff. It's just like, okay, whatever

But I don't believe anyone's a coward or effeminate or whatever the term was

If you have grape juice if that's the the tradition of your church, I like The outer rows are

Wine inner rows or grape juice type thing to give an option to people You know that that's fine and dandy but I Don't make a big stink about it one way or the other

Same thing with the the kind of bread I've had people just get all angry about that.

You could use a loaf. You can use unleavened bread, you know We use unleavened bread.

We use matzah, you know the unleavened bread that would have been used Probably in in the original

Lord's Supper but for 29 and a half years,

I was at a church that passed a loaf around and you know you broke it was basically like a

French bread loaf type thing and you you broke a piece off as You passed it along the along the aisle.

I'm not sure how that would work At our church because we come forward to receive the supper

But anyway It's it's it's not something to divide over it's not something to get angry over and And Insult people over but man, that's that's how that's how the internet works.

That's just That's just that's just where it is. Um Let's see here

Yeah, uh Darren stid I don't know a couple days ago.

Maybe a couple weeks ago Posted a what I It says the year is 2100

Jeff Durbin's grandson is married to Douglas Wilson's great -granddaughter He is the president of the

United States and a national slogan is by what standard? They are Baptist, of course because this story is post -millennial

You know, we do have better humor We can have more fun with stuff you know

Blood up to the bridles the horses sort of hard to come up with anything overly funny about that But that one's a good one by what standard that's um

That's excellent. Thank you Darren for that Okay, um,

I want to thank Punk publican

Punk publican all one word on Twitter There is a account there are many accounts,

I mean Anti -calvinist derangement syndrome is rather prevalent these days

But punk publican Reposted and tagged me in a comment

Made by a and I've seen this I've seen other people posting. I'm not following this particular

Account With a whopping 417 followers on it, but the the name is

Calvinism is a lie and I you know, I Guess there might be some

Calvinists out there. They would have an account Arminianism is a lie or synergism is a lie. It just seems to me or at least for me anyways,

I Would not want to have a ministry that is based upon just Only what

I'm against I mean in apologetics you're against all sorts of things but we try to Do that in such a fashion that we are being

Very straightforward in what we are for so you'll You'll often hear my

Muslim friends saying something along the lines of Yes, James debated that subject and made sure to give us a good gospel presentation in the process

I always try to get the gospel and obviously But we're much more We're much more focused on what we're for So that when we talk about what we're against we're consistent in our criticism of false teaching

Because we're first and foremost Desirous of seeing the truth of those areas being presented and so I feel sorry for people who would have a

Twitter channel called Calvinism is a lie and In my experience, you're not going to get almost any honesty or integrity or accuracy from these folks

Um Because they're not balanced in their perspectives, so this guy posts a picture of me from the dividing line.

I Think it was just a few weeks ago really and In the regular studio and it says

Neo -Calvinism is a cult That started because Calvinists were first to get on YouTube Ponzi schemes benefit from first mover advantage

But then reality catches up and they collapse Imagine letting this guy convince you

God hates most people and Jesus didn't die for all okay, so um

The Calvinists were the first guy on YouTube. I'd love to see how you would prove that You know,

I was on YouTube pretty early But I had seen other people using it and when

I first heard about it you got to understand internet speeds were so slow back then that the idea of watching video was very often a painful experience and Once it started really

Taking off then. Yeah, you know, there was all this stuff you had to do to get your channel Monetized and then we discovered

You monetize your channel. You're basically giving YouTube control over what you're gonna do So we then got rid of all that stuff demonetized everything

But certainly we've been using it extensively and will until we get kicked off which will happen someday

But the There were anti Calvinists on YouTube from the start.

It wasn't that We were all just smart enough to start using YouTube or something so it's it's a

Ponzi scheme who knew Okay, but then reality catches up and they collapse

What This guy's got 417 followers we have millions and millions and millions of views worldwide and we've collapsed

I I They live in a fantasy world Do it sort of sad, but anyways

Imagine letting this guy that's me Convince you God hates most people and Jesus didn't die for all

Well, you know, I Suppose that there are Calvinists that are guilty of That kind of exaggerated and imbalanced statement in reverse

But I sure hear it a lot Especially from provisionalists who seem to be getting more and more radical by the way

But imagine letting this guy convince you God hates most people hmm

Well, I obviously affirm that God's love and mercy

Is throughout his creation, which is why? Sinners are not consumed in the instant of each sin or even at the point of their conception and They are extended tremendous

Grace by God and given many great gifts For which they will be held accountable

As to how they use those gifts but If a serious person were making this kind of accusation then the discussion would have to be well, what are the different kinds of love that God has and As soon as you say that a lot of these people

Not gonna talk about that it's like well, wait, wait a minute the scripture speaks of a

Special love that God had for Israel that he did not have for in a nation. Yes or no. Yes or no

So many of these folks have never been challenged to have any kind of consistency in their theology

Whatsoever and they are triggered when you demand or when you when you ask that kind of consistency and So To be consistent we have different kinds of love

My love for Family For ministry for people in my church fellow ministers is very very different than My love for a fast -food restaurant chain

Or Anything like that my the love for my wife is very different than my love for anybody else's wife

The love for my grandchildren is different than my love for other grandchildren because they're not my grandchildren We have to be able to make these types and it's proper for us to make these types of differentiations and it's amazing that so many people seem to believe that God can't make these differentiations and God's love cannot be

Differentiated. In fact, if it's if it's perfect love then it will be the exact same kind of love for every individual that's the thinking that many people have it's not biblical thinking because Well, this is why the why the

Old Testament is often sort of left off and left out of people's thinking along these lines, but It's pretty clearly obvious From the

Hebrew Scriptures that God had a special redemptive love for the remnant of Israel and that many promises for that remnant are made in the pages of Scripture that are not made for the rest of Israel and Certainly not made for the

Egyptians or the Babylonians or the Amorites So God has distinctions in his love

You can't read the Scriptures and come to any other conclusion but many of these people don't believe that and they don't accept that but don't you want to hear someone saying anything like that and so Does God hate sin?

Does the Scripture teach that God hates sin and if the answer is yes, and it is yes and If a person remains in their sin outside of Christ Then what is the inevitable result as far as God's relationship to that person is concerned now

I don't know who the elect are and neither is anybody else in this life

But we are called to Proclaim the gospel and its demands

To Everyone We do not have to first examine fruit and try to figure out whether this person's regenerate or not we can't know any of those things and So we promiscuously present the gospel to all people which is itself a command to repent and to believe and God blesses that Either in drawing his elect into himself by that means which he is foreordained

Or glorifies himself through the rebellious rejection of that message

By those that are not the recipients of his grace, but there is the issue for these folks

Everyone must be a recipient of grace Grace cannot be free Grace must be peanut butter grace.

It can't be specific. It can't have a purpose They can't it can't be specifically how the triune

God is going to glorify himself It has to be peanut butter grace.

So it goes to everybody equally That means it can't necessarily accomplish anything in of itself.

So when he says God hates most people if we're talking biblically

Then we want to ask the question at what point in time Are we talking about at their judgment during their lives?

What is God's relationship with rebel sinners who are in opposition to him and who love their sin?

These are all important questions that are just simply skipped for the rhetorical effect of creating a quote -unquote anti Calvinist message which is what you have in that line and Then secondly and Jesus didn't die for all well,

Jesus did die for all all kinds of men kings and those in authority rich to poor

Jews Gentiles male female Scythian bond free man

All the categories that the New Testament self uses Jesus did die for men and women in all those categories

But obviously what he's saying here and Jesus did not indiscriminately

Offer a sacrifice that saves no one Yes, I definitely believe that Jesus did not offer a semi salvific atonement

I Believe that what the Son did was in perfect harmony and unity with the

Father and with the Spirit and with the differing roles each of the divine persons have taken in the economy of salvation that results in the glorification of the triune

God and So when the Son intercedes before the

Father as a high priest Based upon his

Finished and completed work on the cross of Calvary He does so in harmony

With the Father Not in opposition to the Father. So if the

Father has already decreed not to save a certain individual

For his own purposes and to his own glory. And if you say that that's wrong, then you believe that grace can be demanded

You don't believe in the freedom of grace. You don't believe in the freedom of God. And so there is a perfect consistency

Between the decree of the Father The salvific work of the

Son as their substitute So there is a specific people united with Christ in his death burial and resurrection.

The atonement is intimately personal I Know my sheep

They know me they hear my voice. They follow me. I give my life for the sheep. You're not of my sheep

There is an intimacy That becomes so intimate that in John 17 the oneness that we have with Christ is likened to the oneness he has with the

Father and That's divine in nature.

And and so again the idea of a nameless faceless group just a generic group that we fill up by our actions is

Not what is seen in the New Testament. It is not what is seen in The understanding of Substitutionary atonement

Which is why again, we must point out the substitutionary atonement is a reformed concept

It is not an Arminian. It's not a synergistic concept. It's amazing to me

How many people hold to? PSA penal substitutionary atonement who are not themselves reformed.

They don't recognize that they're holding to a reformed doctrine of atonement rather than a governmental theory or a

Representational theory or a ransom theory or recapitulation theory or Christus Victor theory or?

all the other things that you could Bring into the conversation. I Do find that truly fascinating Um, but the

Sun then his intercession is for a specific people and we

We say that in our hymnology. We sing it in our songs. I wonder if someone like Calvinism is a lie would refuse to sing

Before the throne of God above because it says it plainly my name is written on his hands

As he dies, it's personal. It's specific. It's the elective and Given given by the father to the son.

He's now affecting their perfect salvation and his perfect self giving and Then the

Spirit of God again Inter -trinitarian harmony the

Spirit of God at The exact time that the triune God has decreed

Raises these individuals to spiritual life Gives them the gifts of faith and repentance

Union with Christ adoption Forgiveness sanctification eventually glorification all to the praise and honor of his grace not to our accomplishments or Our being wiser than someone else or more humble than someone else or any of these things the praise of his glorious grace so the atonement is a

Trinitarian and God -glorifying reality and there is perfect harmony and consistency between the divine persons in accomplishing that now

I Don't want to go off on a tangent here, but it's not gonna be too long in the future that we have to address.

I Think some of the confusion that some people have in regards to how to identify the actions of God And to understand how the divine persons take these different roles

And and what that means, but we'll we'll address that another point and so Imagine laying this guy convinced you

God hates most people and Jesus didn't die for all I The debate that I'm gonna do with Jason Breda in March in Tullahoma See you late

February early March whenever that I think it's late February now I think about anyway Yeah late

February, um, you know, I specifically requested the topic on The Atonement and So I'm excited about that and I'm I do not

Some people some some Calvinists are hesitant to affirm that doctrine or afraid of how someone's gonna respond

I I Told the story before but I can even remember what the room smelled like It was at Trinity Chapel in Wandsworth in London when

Doug McMasters was the pastor there. I Had just either done a presentation or a debate.

I did a number of debates there And it's an old church That's the one that has it's been years.

I mentioned it, but one of the pews Has this perfectly shaped indentation in it?

I can show you right where it is. I have pictures of it And it's the indentation made by a

German incendiary device During the bombing of London in World War two and it came to the roof

Landed on that pew and a passer's by Saw that something had hit the roof and had gone into the building and they were using these

Timered incendiary devices so that the fire

Control brigades couldn't get to everything because there would be a time delay and fires would be breaking out over and over and over again and And So the guy broke into the church and Got it out before it went off.

I mean he risked his life. Can you imagine what it was like? Running out out the back of the church that thing in your hand not knowing what the timer was set to and you know, it could go off at any minute minute, but he got outside before it before it went and saved the building and so anyway, well

I talked about memory lane there for a second, but There's a passageway, you know, if you're looking at the front of the beautiful building in the front you go over to the right and There's a pass narrow passageway.

It goes to a building in the back fellowship center type thing and I was heading through there and This woman came up to me and she stopped me and she said

I don't remember how the conversation started specifically but she said Now You don't believe in limited atonement.

Do you and in the way she said it was her expected

She expected me to say And I said if if you mean that Jesus dies perfectly for his elect people and It's Specific and focused and intentional and that he's gonna intercede for the very same people for whom he died

There's not gonna be a difference in the audience Which is what a lot of people will say

Then yeah, of course, I believe that and she was she was flabbergasted. She couldn't believe it.

I'm like why wouldn't you believe that and then You've got a few you've got 30 seconds of shock to work with there

To get into a Biblically based presentation of the the truth of particular redemption if you want to take advantage of it

But I'm not in any way shape or form Embarrassed to say that and so this this fellow

Just is Out there in his derangement syndrome,

I was seeing there's seven responses To something here, but we are really having net issues here right now

I've seen the evidence of the connection Failing out over and over again, and I can't

I can't even bring anything up in Twitter right now at all. So Well, you know what

I could do is Yeah, I'm just gonna bail out of Of our wireless system and and Oh Try to go to Well now now bailed out on all of How about I wonder if it would work on my phone

Yeah, we're having all sorts of fun issues here There we go. I'm on my phone now.

I wonder if I can pull this up. I want to see if he There we go Okay, I'm just for I'm just seeing this for the first time.

He says neo -calvinism has been around for 20 years Okay Christians have already engaged your arguments and proven that scripture refutes

Calvinism entirely Now we're focused on warning others against your

Gnostic cult and helping others escape from your toxic doctrine of lies repent So So we've already refuted you we're not gonna refute you again, we're just gonna warn everybody

Again you feel sorry for these folks, you know, they don't have answers you you know that they can't do the exegesis and they can't even accurately represent what you're saying and It really does make you wonder.

What is the motivation? For a lot of these folks and it differs from from person to person.

I mean, you know Some people have been hurt in a reformed church or something like that or but a lot of it really honestly is just a

I Can't handle the idea of a of How different God is?

than I am I want God to be comfortably the big grandpa in the sky type of an idea and Calvinism does not allow that because it deals with everything scripture teaches on The fact that God is holy and completely other and does with his creation as he sees fit

You know a Psalm 135 6 says and other passages say that So So 1689 reformed has that button thing and it's you with a hand and it says

Everyone I disagree with is Gnostic That's I have warned against the abuse of the term

Gnosticism Calvinism is a Gnostic cult Promising you guys secret knowledge.

This is back to Calvinism as a lie guy promising you guys secret knowledge and teaching you that Calvigod picked you special and he hates everyone else and Y 'all believe that oh and your

God decrees every sick and perverted sin that man does for his glory So ridiculous

It's It's it's sad to see people in this level of self -deception.

It really really is and There really there really isn't much

The only only reason I even read these or interact with them is to sort of warn

You know some some people Read the Puritans they read they read

Sproul or something. They read the Potter's freedom. They become reformed and they don't realize the kind of deranged unhinged hatred there is out there

For something you've just now come to love the sovereignty of God really recognizes

God's God and I'm not and I can't put in my categories and So it's more for you folks to warn you this stuff's out there and If you end up with a co -worker in this type of a mindset things that these are some of the ways you might want to Try to give a witness but in many instances in my experience

They're not gonna listen. They're just not gonna listen and this clearly is is one of them

If you're in the st. Louis area starting tomorrow night seven o 'clock coming to Grace Church on Moogie Road The sufficiency of Scripture we've done it probably three or four times before over the past 23 years, but interestingly enough over 23 years

New Reasons to address it arise, which means you're gonna be focusing on different aspects of it

That did not exist or weren't a part of our experience at that particular point in time, so sufficiency of Scripture Ten two and seven on Saturday at two o 'clock one is so killer and then

Sunday school and the Sunday morning sermon on Sunday and Then I'm heading look at the calendar at ailment org heading to Sedalia, Missouri For Wednesday and Thursday, and then

I'll be in the Kansas City area again on the calendar Friday Saturday Sunday so sort of a

Midwestern swing here and Just pray for traveling mercies and stay healthy get through this

Get home in time to go to the Messiah with my granddaughters and my wife Really looking forward to getting a chance to to do that.

That'll be a beautiful thing and so anyways, thanks for it's a shortened version today because I have a

I have pastoral duties in half an hour on zoom a little concerned about the

Connection right now. You're honest with you. I'm gonna have to reset that modem again. See if I can get something working better And then recording webcast this evening at 7

That You all will find if you if you know the fellow goes by name wise disciple

He's the fellow teaches debate and he reviews debates and stuff like that We're gonna be recording a webcast tonight at 7 o 'clock so busy day busy weekend and Appreciate you making it possible for us to be out here doing this stuff