Matt Slick Live: August 29, 2024

It's Matt Slick Live! Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry found online at calm .org

When you have questions about Bible doctrines turn to Matt Slick Live for answers. Taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877 -207 -2276.

Here's Matt Slick Everybody welcome to this show. It's me Matt Slick. You're listening to Matt Slick Live.

Today's date is August 29th 2024. Hope you're all having a good day I'm having a good day by God's grace

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Let's get to Alan from Virginia Alan. Welcome. You are on the air Hey, Matt, how's it going?

Oh, what's going buddy? I'm hanging in there more hanging than in there, but I'm hanging in there There you go.

All right Do you remember it's been a while.

Do you remember a conversation about me potentially going to the new church at Swift Creek Baptist?

But you going to some church Well, I visited Okay, I visited visited it and asked the pastor some questions

Okay, and what so fill me in what happened so most of the most of the questions were actually about Calvinism or Arminianism because that was one of the things

I wanted to Get it. Um And some of the comments from our discussion was we didn't have much time maybe a ten minutes of talking

I guess but uh, mm -hmm one thing he said I My opinion is that he at least has a foothold in the door of Arminianism Um, but I don't necessarily think he's a five -point

Arminian So and from what I'm reading I Think I believe that some

Arminians don't hold to the five -point right and that there's nuance in between that right?

Yes Okay, so I'll get down to the list. So He says that he does not affirm

Calvinism or Arminianism and states that he is somewhat in the middle partial depravity

And denies total depravity He did mention that he has spoken with a lot of Calvins in the past but so does not from Calvinism Anybody also has

Calvinist? He said that he has Calvinist members of the church. Okay, so He doesn't he doesn't believe that faith is a work but may agree with works

And that they can be from the heart such as looking at a woman in luck He says some of them

Calvinist here from faith alone, but then I commented to him Well, we're when Catholics also affirm faith alone, so I can't just take him out of the word for that Actually, they don't affirm faith alone

Catholics deny that faith alone in justification And they do they deny really I thought

I remember hearing one of their conversations where they said they believe in faith alone No, no I know the official position if for example

In Canon 9 and the canons of Trent on justification, it's 9 and 24

I believe it is I'm paraphrasing but it says if anyone teaches that It is by faith alone that one is justified that is to say without works without this without that to let it be anathema

In paragraph 20 60 to the catechism of the Catholic Church It says that you attain salvation through faith baptism and the observance of the

Commandments paragraph 20 36 and 20 70 there's a combination of those those

Paragraphs where it says that the Ten Commandments that keeping them is necessary for salvation Okay, so yeah

They deny Faith plus works, but people who don't understand doctrine would say faith alone for Roman Catholics.

Is that correct? People who don't know what official Roman Catholic theology are would say it's for say they're saved

I actually what they would say is they're saved by grace alone And what they're doing is playing with the words and they're not being malicious, okay, this is how they're trained

This is what they think so grace alone means God's gracious work in you through your works and your faith

Saves you so it's by grace alone. You see that's what they do But they'll say you the works that God gives you are the works that are graciously given to you and as you participate in them that you are

Demonstrating your your faith and working your faith out in such a way that the grace of God will work in you and through you

Okay, interest. Okay. Um, he also affirms election.

So he doesn't believe All can be elected Well, I can't say that but he says he affirms election but not the same election as Calvinism well election

And you know what reform theology says people individuals are chosen for salvation

But God chooses people to do various things who are not saved also, so, you know, but anyway, you know

Yep, but he also believes that we're chosen before The foundation of the world, but I didn't get his affirmation on and he believed that is election like like a salvation election or I Ask him, you know, if it's

God's election Ask him is it based on foreseen works that he says these that God sees people will do there be a false teaching

But you can ask him because you know that you're gonna do a good thing. That's why he picks you, you know Yep, I asked him about Philippians 129 and he started to explain what it means

He focused on the suffering And I'm laughing because yeah, he

Struggled with for Philippians 129. Yep And in he pseudo denied that it is speaking of being granted faith

He denied as being granted faith that people are granted faith. He he he didn't

He didn't completely deny, but he basically did Yeah, it's either way it

I'll do I'll just offer a logical statement Is it the case that God grants people faith or is it not the case that God grants people faith?

It's a true dichotomy in this place And so you can ask him the question because a lot of times what people do

When you ask us a specific question, you know, for example is Jesus God in flesh and they will you see blah blah blah now

Say is it the case that he is God in flesh or flesh or is it not the case that he's got in flesh

Which is the the situation? So you pin them that way to get them to answer a question because a lot of times people don't want to answer a real

Question what they want to do is him and ha around things Yep, and Let's see.

He at least affirmed that Jesus paid to send it on the cross. So that's good That's good

They can ask we didn't get paid for everybody Yeah, did he yes he did well then there's all her debt canceled all the sin that can't

Yeah, it was like a 10 -minute conversation if he had to go and I was after a class but yeah

We didn't get much into free will predestination or women women pastors and deacons

He This is this is pretty big for me Assuming he pretty much has a lot more of a foothold in the door for Arminianism like Calvinism He denies regeneration before faith and I believe he said that he affirmed faith before regeneration

Does he talking temporally or logically? Do you know the difference we didn't have time to really get to that Okay What was that do you know the difference between temporal priority and logical priority

I Believe so. I've heard your light bulb explanation and stuff for good.

That's good enough You can ask him when people say well if faith precedes regeneration then

You know say well, are we saying a few seconds here? Then are you saying that we have a believer who's also not regenerate at the same time?

How do you have that? And that's the last point

I have but from from when I was gathering with him and I actually scheduled I might we're actually He's he's willing to have a discussion with me about two or three weeks from now

Ah, so we'll see if that goes through and then by that point I should be able to have a list of more things.

I can ask about being constrained to like 10 minutes Yeah, well, we sound like a good guy's within orthodoxy.

I mean, you know, I'd ask other questions, too Like is Jesus a man right now, you know and your wife from dead the same body

He died it just to make sure can you have women pastors and elders and is Roman Catholicism Christian lose it

I'd ask those questions, too Mm -hmm. There's a there's nothing I wanted to ask you.

Do you believe partial depravity is faith plus works because They believe that they have that their choice matters

Now we had to define our term to talk about what's partial depravity is so You know it would

I would like to study that and see if there is an official

Armenian position But as far as I understand in Arminianism real Arminianism, they believe in total depravity

Not that's what I've read to Yes So basically

It's it's like they're saying excuse me. It's like saying they're just mostly depraved You know just mostly so that they're still capable of making moral choices.

And so what this is is Human centered theology, okay

Well, God wouldn't just choose people He's going to make it so that you're able to make a freewill choice and and I would ask somebody well, can you show me that in Scripture which they can't and Why do you say that and it usually comes down to their idea of what fair is?

Yeah, I've your Arminianism as Being prideful and trying to take away some of God some are all of God's sovereignty to show off Yeah, sometimes but you know

Armenians certainly love the Lord, you know, and they're Christians and they put their trust and faith in Christ They're just inconsistent and some theological fine points, but that's okay.

You know what it's all right And My view is if it is actually faith plus works, then

I wouldn't consider them Christian if no works can be done from the heart If they say that works keep them saved or get them saved in combination with the faith

Then we've got to give them the gospel. They need to have the gospel presented It could be that someone's regenerate and just ignorant and you got to correct them

Lovingly impatient. Yeah. Yeah, but if someone says no you have to do good works in order to please God in order to keep your salvation

Well, then they don't know what the gospel really is And they need to preach it to me. They need to correct it

If they would say that they that them Choosing to save say if they believe that God grants them

God grants them grace Basically, they believe in irresistible grace If that is the case and that the deciding factor is that they choose to accept or not do you believe that works no

No, it's just an inconsistency because we do choose even in reformed theology God's regeneration enables us to make that choice in which he grants his faith.

So it's it does happen. Okay, buddy There's the brakes. We got to go. All right So, you know how it goes with him call back again, okay

Hey folks, we write back after these messages, please. Stay tuned Keep listening right back

It's Matt slick live taking your calls at eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six

Here's Matt slick everybody. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call the numbers eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six, let's get on with Alberto from Georgia welcome buddy.

You're on the air Yeah, good evening Ashley my question is why some pastors teach that that Romans chapter 6

And verse 3 and 4 that they teach that that that's water baptism And also they said that if you don't you don't get back to the water baptism, you cannot be saved

But well that Romans 6 and 3 is referred to baptize them to Christ and not water baptism

Because it says in verse 4 been buried with him through baptism into death And so the general consensus is that when you're immersed in water that that is the fulfillment of being buried

With him through baptism into death and that's why they would say that Okay, but that that but that's

Roman 3 I mean with the Roman 6 verse 3 and 4 that's referred to baptize them to Christ spiritually or wash your water baptism

That's my question. Well some people Okay, maybe I'll open the door here

Baptism is an identification and you can go to first Corinthians 10 for example, and it says that That I do not want you to be unaware brother that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea now they walked across dry land

We're never touched by that water. So we get we're baptized into Moses. So baptizing into deals with the issue of of identification and We can get into more phraseology from stuff like that, but that's what it basically it means

Okay, so baptized into all right. So when we talk about being baptized Into it's spoken of in Romans 6 3 baptized into Christ baptized into his death from first Corinthians 10 to which

I just said baptized into Moses Then in first Corinthians 12 13 We're all baptized into one body and Galatians 3 27 for all who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ So I'm not exactly sure how to say exactly what that phrase baptized into means

But it gets theological on this So we have different kinds of baptism. We have water baptism now

Jesus when he was baptized I believe he was sprinkled because he had to fulfill the Requirements of entering into the priesthood according to the

Old Testament law in Numbers 8 7 the requirement was to be sprinkled That's what the Bible says.

And so I hold to that position. I don't have a problem with that. I don't have Get a lot of noise in the background everybody so Okay, and also

The baptism is a baptism of fire The baptism of the Holy Spirit which deals with the charismatic gifts.

There's a baptism of persecution so there's a baptism of Just water which is a covenant sign the very least in relationship to the

Christian Church in Christ. So there's a lot here so we said when you've been baptized into Christ, so you could be baptized into Christ hypothetically if Sprinkling was the way that was done that would still qualify or if pouring was the way it was done

Because people say didn't realize I gotta give this very patient Who's to people who are listening whose eyebrows are shooting up?

What because in Acts 1 for Jesus says that people we baptized

John baptized with water But you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit not too many days from now With a baptism of the

Holy Spirit is always in the Old Testament is prophesied as pouring It's always said the

Holy Spirit will be poured upon you in Joel 2 28 29 and acts 1 17 18 So I'm just saying that the word baptism has a lot of meanings and when we get to this particular place

And then we say well, what does it mean here? Baptized into Christ have been baptized into his death.

I would say that it's an identification with Christ That you have gone through a process a ceremony that is sacred in the

Christian Church And you've been baptized into identifying into and with the death and into Christ and So when you are baptized into death enrollment in verse 4 just as Christ was raised to be raised to it's a it's an identification with Covenantally as a sign with what is going on in that act of baptism with what

Christ did a lot of noise in the background Er, okay. I know in the street. They were in the street

Yeah, but can you you're walking on the street or in a car going window? I don't know in a car in a car and a window rolled up Okay So, um, so this is this is why

I'm just saying it's a tough one to analyze and just get exactly what it is It's just a tough one, okay

So we're much a quick quick question if a person accepts Christ and get baptized into water, but then they say well

He truly never got truly That was with faith convert Now it was he still baptized into Christ spiritually, even though he got baptized into water

Even though he's pretty now treated in their family truly repentant So if he's really that just the

Christ if he's a true believer and he gets baptized he's baptized into Christ. Yeah. Mm -hmm Sure.

Uh -huh Okay Okay But time will tell though, right eventually, yeah

All right, not a problem, okay, all right All right, man. Okay.

God bless. Okay. All right That's okay. It happens. Okay. Now, let's get to Matt from North Carolina Matt.

Welcome. You're on the air. I Don't hey man,

I'm hanging in there hanging in there. What do you got buddy? Whenever God calls his people out of the

Babylon Church and Revelation Is that a particular particular religion or is that the city is it both?

Just a question. I've had well Babylon wasn't an actual city in the

Old Testament and it was in Mesopotamia and So it was also

Pretty bad So it has come to symbolize rebellion against God and bad stuff so when

Yeah, I'd like to know the exact verse you're talking about but when it talks about Christians being taken out of Babylon then there's and it calls it the great harlot then

Then we're not sure okay, because some say the great harlot is the Roman Catholic Church Some say it's a world government

Some have even said I've heard this United States of America I mean, you know, you hear different things and so I can't tell you exactly what it is.

All right Okay, okay My view is it's the

Catholic Church and Like all cult religions mixing together and possibly

Judaism mixing together, but That's just my particular view So it's possible

It's possible. So we do know that there's gonna you know, Babylon was full of commerce money and paganism and Evil was occurring in it.

Well, the Roman Catholic Church is full of commerce and money and paganism

So That's why some people say that's what it is because it's throughout Europe and claims to be true

Christianity yet It purports idolatry a false priesthood and a false gospel So that it could be but it could be also something else that comes up later

It might even be the literal city of Babylon. It might be that there might become a

Political center of power with the Antichrist there and Christians might be there and are called out who knows

Just don't know Okay All right, man. Thanks, man

All right, buddy. Wish I had a better answer for you, but I can only give you you know educated guesses on that one. All right

All right. All right. All right God bless. All right. Hey folks, there's a break if you want to give me a break break

I'll call the numbers eight seven seven two zero seven two two

Seven -six, why don't you give me a call be right back after these messages? It's Matt slick live taking your calls at eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six, here's

Matt slick Or about Let me try it again Welcome back to the show.

If you want to give me a call. The number is eight seven seven two zero seven two Two seven six, let's get to Jim from Minneapolis.

Welcome here on the air Hi, thanks for having me all right,

I just saw rustling with the Your stance on free will

I guess and Justification Faith and baptism and all that stuff.

Um, I guess my question is so So are you saying that?

Faith you say it's granted By God, are you saying that that is not a decision on our part or are you saying that it's just it's like preordained?

It is preordained and it is granted and it is our decision all of it

Okay, okay Okay, so is it our decision and then it's granted

No, or is it granted and then our decision? No, if it was our decision to believe and that would violate certain aspects of Scripture, but the

Bible says is in Philippians 129 it's a verse I go to frequently when

I'm discussing theology particularly Soteriology the doctrine of salvation It says to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake

So if God grants that you suffer, it means it's something that he has granted that's going to occur to you

But it also is the case that he's done this that you believe now the the word

To grant in this case is the air is passive Indicative and what that means in the

Greek is past tense and passive means that you receive the action so God has granted to you to believe in Christ, but you do the believing you actually do it and God and you can also go to X 1348 as many as had been appointed to eternal life

Believed so when you ask the question, you ask a three -part question. The answer is yes to all of them God ordains it because he appoints

X 1348 He grants Philippians 129 and you do the believing because it grants that you believe, okay

So it's not a decision By us at all. Yes, it is.

How is it a decision if it's pre -ordained? If it's pre -ordained that I have a schedule

To like on Tuesday, I have a phone meeting with somebody at 1130 It's pre -arranged.

Does it mean I don't have free will does it mean that that person doesn't have a free will if it's pre -arranged?

So the free will if it's pre -ordained that you're gonna be there So so we don't have a choice whether we actually follow up or go to that place

So is that not just an argument against free will no I'm trying to illustrate one point.

You said if it's pre -ordained, we don't have free will that just that doesn't follow. Yeah Okay, so here's something that's arranged.

I have an appointment next week Yeah, I have an appointment next week. I you know, unless something weird happens, but I have an appointment.

It's all pre -arranged It's pre -scheduled. Does it mean then you that I don't have free will because something is pre -arranged the answer is no

Okay, well you've made the decision to schedule that right yes So the decision came the free will decision came before the actual pre -ordained meeting.

I just don't see all that analogy Oh, I guess for one that might work. Yeah, I get her saying now. Okay, so let me ask you.

Are you a Christian? I Am okay, which church you go to? I Go to free grace and Elk River Okay So so here's what the

Bible says. This is what it says Also, we having have obtained an inheritance having been predestined

According to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will that's

Ephesians 111 So God works all things after the counsel of his will do you agree? Yeah Yeah Yeah, no, okay, so what about the

Adam what about the eating of the apple in the garden of Eden Oh, hold on. Oh one thing. It's a little thing One thing at a time, okay, so God works all things after the counsel of his will does the phrase all things include your freewill choices

To me that just seems like it takes all free that there's no choice if it's already Pre -ordained

Well, then let's let's talk about God here. Do you think God is up there in heaven squinting his eyes looking down?

Come on, please. Please do this. Please. Please be told man. Dang. He didn't do it Is that what

God does? No Okay. No, I don't think that no good is

God Sovereignly in control of everything or there are things that happen that God is like, oh my goodness

I hope this doesn't happen, which is it? Ah So that I kind of wrestle with a bit because since the you know, since inception of the beginning of time mm -hmm and This world and the fallen that it's taken through the garden and the free will that people have

Yes, so there's no freedom of choice in the believing in Christ because it's already pre -ordained

God Prayer when you're asking to You know, you made a statement.

I want to address the statement then you're in yours. You just it's going on. Okay So I want to just run this by you

God ordained that you have free will inside of his sovereignty Would you agree with that?

Yes, 100 % Okay good. So then that means your free will and God's sovereignty are compatible, right?

Yeah, okay did Jesus have free will Boy She's got that free.

Well, I would say yeah. Yeah, he was God, but he was also human, right? So I would say yes.

Gosh, I'd say yes and no Yes, because he was human he felt everything Okay Yeah, well, okay, how about this does

God have free will No So God doesn't have free will is saying that he can't do anything he wants to do it

Something else had to work on him to make him do stuff. He's not free. That's what you're saying Yeah, so check it out.

So he can't do negative like God is only just okay, right? He's okay He only let's only go he can't do bad

Let's define or like he doesn't have a choice to do the devil's work. He's only good

Look, look, let's define free will in terms of God's character not ours. All right, that's what you're doing He's you're reversing what should be done

God is free because he is the true free being and he can only do that which is consistent with his own nature

He's holy. Yeah, he can only do holy things Yeah, so free. Will it is the ability?

Free will is the ability Free will is the ability Mm -hmm

Yeah Let me define what it is. Hold on.

Take a breath. Okay, hold on So free will is the ability to make a choice as consistent with your nature, but is not forced on you

Okay Yeah, all right. Okay. So does God have free will?

Yeah, okay good now Jesus is God in flesh and the attributes of both of his natures are ascribed to the person.

So Jesus Walked on water. All right, Jesus says I'm thirsty. So he has the attributes of divinity.

So does Jesus have free will? Answers. Yes. Yeah Now John 5 19

Jesus says the Son can do nothing of himself Unless it is something he sees the Father doing in John 5 30

Jesus says I can do nothing of my own initiative if you say Jesus has free will and he does because he's

God How is it then that he can only do what the Father has him do? Logic would say

That God who's free Christ is free came to do the will of the Father He has the freedom to do

God's will and he's still free at the same time Okay As far as free will and people like coming to Christ or coming to believe

Free or Dan, but yet you still make the decision because we have our central nature to go the other route

Our sinful nature means that we will only choose consistently with our nature Sinfully so God changes us.

He makes us born again. He causes you born again first Peter Justified by faith, but look look at this

John 1 12 and 13 says this but as many as received him So you do the receiving you actually receive him you do it.

All right That's in the active voice, which means you're performing the action But as many as received him to them he gave the right to be called the children of God Even to those who believe in his name who were born not of the blood nor the will of flesh nor the will of man

But of God we get back and talk about that. Okay, so hold on buddy. Hey folks

We'll be right back after these messages, please stay tuned good theology

It's Matt slick live taking your calls at eight seven seven two zero seven two two seven six, here's

Matt slick Everybody welcome back to the show as soon as they reactivate Jim because the producer is gonna do that little click there

He did that let's get back on with Jim. Hey you there I'm here.

All right. Yeah, I know it's just a recap. I'll go ahead. Are you on? No, I was gonna say I read that the pericope or the two verses and what we're trying to do is show you the

Bible Teaches this what do we do with it? And how do we make sense of it? That's my that's the claim

Okay So in John 1 2 1 12 and 13 it says but as many as received him so you did the receiving no problem

To them that's to you He gave the right to be called the children of God to become the children of God even to those who believe in his name

And you did that you received him and you believed and it says

Who these who do this who were born not of the blood or the will of the flesh nor the will of man?

But of God So, wait a minute, what do we do with this most people what they'll do is they'll say well

They'll explain it away they go on to something else and it has to be that we follow the blonde haired blue -eyed Caucasian surfer

Jesus who's standing at the door of your heart asking permission for you to let him in That's what they want to follow because it's easy

But what I do is I say no, no, no. No, let's look at this God appoints people to eternal life acts 1348 and he grants that they have faith lipids 129

Jesus even said In John 665 you cannot come to me unless it's granted to you from the father

John 665 So we have to make it all work and there's how

I put it together God ordains whatever shall come to pass. He called us for salvation from the beginning for salvation second

Thessalonians 2 13 He grants we have faith lipids 129. He grants that we come to Christ flip

John 665 but it is we who actually do the receiving and the believing John 112

But we do this not initiated out of our own conscious but what God has done in his regeneration because he causes us to be born again first Peter 1 3 and Then in that state we freely choose

God of our own will because he's fixed it for us. Okay? Yeah, that's good

And I appreciate the the explanation it didn't quite understand how the free will would fit in with With the the preordained or predestined predestined stuff and right.

So I kind of rustled with that. So I appreciate that Here, let me show you something else too. Okay, we got nobody waiting.

Let me let me do this. I'm gonna read Two verses and then go someplace else and read some another something about what this says here.

I check this out This is acts 427 28 For truly in the city there were gathered together against your holy servant

Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the

Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur

Now they were gathered against Jesus Okay, so Pontius Pilate and Herod.

Those are two individuals Along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. That's two people groups

Against Jesus just talking about his killing him Okay to do they were they were gathered by God to do what your hand and your purpose and predestined to occur

God predestined them to do this That's what it says Okay Yeah, now check this out x 223

This man Peters East he's talking smack to the to the Jews he's talking smack to the

Jews, okay And you know, I'll go back to verse 22 men of Israel. Listen to these words

Jesus the Nazarene Nazarene a man Attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which

God performed through him in your midst just as you yourselves know this man delivered over by the

Predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death

Who's who's responsible? Those guys are Yeah Okay, yeah the predetermined and all that stuff,

I mean it definitely makes sense obviously because he's outside of space and time So I just had a hard time wrestling with that A notion and and free will it just didn't make sense to me but Now that you say it and put it like that.

It definitely makes sense Yeah, and this is a tough one and most people they don't want to get into it.

They don't want to study this They don't want to have their brains hurt trying to figure it out

Yeah, okay, because I think a lot of it would be coming back to right well, then okay now explain pain and suffering, right?

You know That would probably be a rebuttal that I would get Well, I would say

God's the one who ordains it when we say ordination We don't mean that God is directly causing every bit of suffering.

He certainly can and in Exodus 411 he says to Moses who makes the eye

Blind the ear deaf the tongue dumb. Is it not? I not me the Lord. I'm doing this

So he does that in some instances now the other instances it's not necessarily the case where I show this to people

They're just blown away Because they're not taught my opinion a full scope of theology

About God is nature and work of Christ and all this stuff because it's too tough for people Because they don't like it and they don't want to think that deeply

But here's something else even more we got nobody waiting. I'll show them some more stuff to you God incited

David to number Israel that's 2nd Samuel 24 1 Says now again the anger of the

Lord burned against Israel and it incited David against them to say go number Israel and Judah So God incited

David to number Israel, but also Satan moved David to number Israel in 1st

Chronicles 21 1 and it says Satan stood up against Israel and moved

David to number Israel Yet it was David who sinned in doing it and that's 2nd

Samuel 24 10 You see It's really this is he

God is greater than what's being taught in a lot of places Oh, it's just up to you and your wisdom your it's up to you.

God just gives you the gospel It's just up to you. That's all it is. Is that what the Bible says it does not

Okay, make a lot of noise back there buddy, okay. All right. Yeah, it's raining pretty hard.

Okay Okay, yeah, it's just this is theology this is the work of theology this is

It's good stuff and it it makes a lot of people upset but that's what it teaches. That's what the Bible says

What we do You get you get the answer later, you know people well, how can you you know before God who allows this stuff to happen

Well because we have free will because we are made in the image of God and the attributes that God has given us

Include the idea of our limited forms of sovereignty which reflect God's ultimate sovereignty

His creative work in our creative work. He created life, but we create

Organization and subduing the earth, etc And we continue life by having children and subdue the earth so God has allowed us to represent him but in that Rebellion that Adam did against God he has allowed us to continue in our representative position of him as he's as we are working in the world and suffering and sin come into the world because of Adam sin and also continues because of our actions and rebellion against God So he allows evil to occur because it's his will to allow it to occur

He's not the author of evil He doesn't make anybody do it, but nothing that is bad that happens can occur without God's ordination

What we mean by that is it has to be within his sovereign plan Otherwise it would not occur

So he he it within his plan to allow people to do exactly what it is that he will permit them to do

Whether it be evil or good Okay Yeah, that makes sense, how do you feel about I've heard it said that the free will and the ability to make decisions

Is because God wants a relationship with us and you can't force love

No, you see that's the humanist philosophy. The reason God does is because he wants relationship.

Okay, he wants relationship that came out of the book By Paul young the shack and it's just humanist philosophy

This is what he wants free will because he wants relationship. No, we were created for God's glory

That's for Isaiah 43 7 Christ was crucified for the glory of God second

Philippians 2 11 and God desires that we have Relationship with him or fellowship with him through the person the work of Christ and that's first Corinthians 1 9 and God wants that But to say that you have to have fellowship you have to have free

Well, there's truth in that but I don't like it when people say God wants this and this is why we have to be like This because I'll evade ourselves.

That's the kind of thing I stand against that. They look at themselves This is what God wants look pretty well because of me because what

I can do and and that's I have a problem with that Okay Yeah, no problem

It's really kind of hard to hear so I'm gonna hang up and turn the radio up It'll be easier to hear because there's rain.

It's just too loud. All right, man. Sound good, buddy. God bless. Okay All right.

Well, that was Jim from Minneapolis, Minnesota what he was doing was asking some of the more difficult questions in theology and for a lot of people

They don't have the mental Energy to be able to sort through it and that's okay doesn't mean they're inferior doesn't mean they're dumb

Sometimes people just can't deal with it for a lot of reasons and that's okay God doesn't require that we do but he does teach these things that I'm telling you that are in Scriptures, so what do we do with them?

If you can't understand them then just submit to them and say I don't know how it works

I don't know how God can sovereignly work all things and yet we also have that freedom.

I Don't know how it works. And that's a perfectly acceptable Answer to say I just don't know and though I have thought about this a lot

Over the years it doesn't mean I've solved the problems or all of the intellectual problems, right?

I shouldn't say promises you say Challenges because there are a lot of these issues that we just can't get to and that we have to well

We've got to try we've got to try and figure them out But the scriptures do teach a lot of things about the sovereignty of God They teach that he is the one who's in control.

He is sovereign So check this out So in Job 37 6 through 13 it talks about how moisture comes from the clouds and disperses from the clouds and lightning comes there and it says it goes on and changes direction whether for correction or for his world or For loving -kindness, he causes it to happen in Psalm 135 6 whatever the

Lord pleases he does Proverbs 16 1 the plans of the heart belong to man

But the answer the tongue is from the Lord Proverbs 16 33 The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the

Lord Daniel 4 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and he does according to his will and the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth

Jeremiah 10 23, I know O Lord that a man's way is not in himself

Nor is it in man who walks to direct his steps and there's more verses I don't just don't have time to get through them.

I'm trying to show you God is is Sovereign, but he's not the cause of evil and yet at the same time.

We're free now How does that work now that's worth a great discussion?

So anyway, there you go We are out of time with the Lord bless you and by his grace will back on the air tomorrow

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