WWUTT 2250 Q&A Theories About Luke, Doug Wilson Conversation, Steve Lawson News

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What are some theories about the identity of Theophilus, whom Luke wrote his gospel to? What does it mean to let others see our progress?

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And what sorts of things do we need to think about whenever a pastor falls in serious sin? The answer is when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word, that we may be conformed to the image of Christ.

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Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. So we're taking questions from the listeners. Yes. We've got a couple of calls we're going to get to as well.

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But let's begin with Proverbs chapter 4. Let's see. I leave off last time.

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I think I'm in verse 10 here. Yeah. I think so. Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.

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I have taught you the way of wisdom. I have led you in the paths of uprightness.

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When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble. Keep hold of instruction.

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Do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.

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Avoid it. Do not go on it. Turn away from it and pass on. For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong.

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They are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

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But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

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The way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They do not know over what they stumble.

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You know, it says in 1 Peter chapter 2 that they stumble on Christ, as they were destined to do.

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Oh, yeah. That makes sense. So when it comes to the judgment that will come upon them, it is because they did not walk the way of righteousness that was laid out for them by our

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Savior. Yeah. They did not walk in the light as he is in the light, as talked about in 1

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John. Yeah. And one of the things that I appreciate about this, about reading about a father's instruction to his son, is

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I remember what my parents taught me when I was younger, when I was living at home, and then

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I go off and live by myself and I do stupid things. Yeah, don't we all.

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Nobody's ever experienced that before. No, never. But I never went too far with it, even though I'm chasing after the passions of my flesh and I'm kind of exploring, you know, maybe

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I can do these things and I'm okay. There's always that conviction that comes to mind because of what

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I had been taught in the Word when I was younger. There's the verse in Psalm 119, 109 that says, though I take my life in my hand continually,

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I will not forget your law. So even though I was doing dumb things, yet the instruction that I had received that was biblically based, that was in the fear of God, that was directing me to Christ, those things would still come back to my mind and keep me from doing something too dumb.

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And then when I did sin, I would, it might have taken a little while, it might not have been right away, but I would turn back around,

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I would seek the Lord's forgiveness, and eventually I got on the right path.

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Praise the Lord. Sometimes I had to make some serious mistakes and learn from that. But it's like we read about in Hebrews 12, the

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Lord disciplines the one he loves. Yes. And so I am grateful for the people who did come alongside me in those seasons and showed me the right way to go according to the

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Word. Some of you are probably aware of Stephen Lawson having been removed from his position as pastor at Trinity Bible Church in Dallas, Texas.

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That was an announcement that came out just yesterday. I do have a couple of questions about that, and I will address it in this broadcast.

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The way we're doing the Friday episodes now, it's split into two parts. So the first part is aired on Christian radio stations.

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Very grateful for those stations that are airing when we understand the text during the week. Yes, thank you.

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And because all the other episodes are just like 25 minutes long, I have to keep this one about that long as well.

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Right. So we're going to break at the midway point, and then we've got part two. If you listen on the radio, you've got to go to the website to hear the full episode.

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Right. Wwutt .com. But that's where I'll address the questions concerning Stephen Lawson.

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Being the Friday edition, we take questions from the listeners, and you can send those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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You can also send us a voicemail. You go to wwutt .com and click on that voicemail tab.

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That's right there in the top right of the page, and then we really get to hear from you. Yes. You can record that either by your phone or through the computer, either way you want to do it.

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Just remember it's about a minute and a half. Yeah, and then it'll cut you off. Yeah. Or like the thing that happened, was it

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James last week? It kind of cut him off in the middle. Yeah, that was weird too. We had kind of a weird gap. A little glitch there.

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So he's messaged us back again. Oh, good. So here's the full thought from James that we missed right in the middle of that voicemail message.

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Hey, this is James again, just following up with my messed up message, but we were talking about how

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Paul, when his ministry first started, he was really passionate and almost overly passionate or overly zealous about dealing with issues, but as he started maturing, his gentleness started to come out and almost like a fatherly wisdom and gentleness that when you go to your parents now and looking for advice, even as you're an adult, you see gentleness and kindness in that wisdom.

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And that's kind of what we were talking about, how he grew, not only in his position, but also in his wisdom affected how he dealt with others.

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It wasn't pure zealous, pure passion, but it started to mix more and more with gentleness, with kindness, with knowing when to address what.

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But that's all we were talking about. That's a great point. Interesting thing to consider, especially when

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Paul said to Timothy, this is in 1 Timothy 4 .15, practice these things, talking about the good doctrine that he had been taught and therefore practicing that doctrine, practice these things, immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress.

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And so as Paul was instructing Timothy to show progress in his ministry, we would surely have been able to observe the same thing in Paul as well.

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Now, we know by what he said in Philippians chapter three, that it was out of zeal that he would persecute the church because they, in his view at that time, they were blaspheming.

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They were going against the law of God. They were saying, no, it's by grace and faith in Jesus. And Paul didn't believe that Jesus was the

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Messiah. So he's putting Christians to death out of a zeal for the word of God. He thought it was out of zeal for God's word, but not really realizing he was the one that was actually the heretic.

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And so Jesus appears to him, of course, on the road to Damascus. And as he's growing in wisdom, of course, there's going to be that maturing and settling down a little bit.

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Yeah. Outside of the cage stage. Yeah, exactly. That's right. He had his own cage stage there.

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But he went off to Arabia and was with Jesus in the wilderness for three years before he came back and did his apostolic ministry.

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So surely in that education that he's getting from the Savior himself, he's learning to calm down a little bit.

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If you look at the progression of his letters, though, I don't know that you would necessarily see that so much, because in 1 and 2

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Thessalonians, which are considered among the first of his letters, he does have a great tenderness and a compassion for those

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Thessalonian Christians. Yeah, that's true. Galatians may have been his first letter, and it's pretty obvious there what he thinks of what's going on among the churches in Galatia.

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There was a meme that I did one time with Justin Peters, and it was Justin's face, and the caption was,

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Paul with the Philippians. And it's Justin smiling with his, you know, his charming southern smile that Justin gives.

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And then the picture underneath it was Paul with the Galatians, and it's

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Justin's angry face as he's rebuking some heretic. I remember that one.

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Yeah. Thanks for being my subject for that meme, Justin. Appreciate that.

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So anyway, thanks for those thoughts, James. We should look to those teachers that we have in the

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Bible and follow their example. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, one, imitate me because I am of Christ.

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So it is good to look to those heroes of the faith. Hebrews chapter 11 makes that point. And the fruit of the

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Spirit is what we should strive for, which is the patience and kindness. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self -control.

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Did I get them all? I think so, yeah. I did that in a... I have to do the hand motions to remember them, you know. Oh, I gotcha.

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Yeah. Well, there's nine of them. So if I hit nine, then I got them all. And there you go.

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I did that during a sermon, and one of the kids got me afterward, like, Daddy, you missed one. Of course.

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Of course, you would catch that. But I missed one of the fruit of the Spirit. All right, another voice message here.

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This one comes from Adrian. Hey, Gabe. And babe. I know.

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Weird to say that. So anyway, my name is Adrian Selman. I am currently living in Mishawaka, Indiana.

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I'm actually studying to be a pastor, blessed by your ministry.

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But as you're going through the Book of Luke, during my studies, during my seminary studies,

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I came across a professor who mentioned that he believed that Luke and Acts were

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Luke's way of defending Paul during his trials, that Theophilus was the

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Roman procurator, the one who was used to defend

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Paul in his different trials. And Luke and Acts were kind of written as a way to clear

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Paul, as a way to show that Christianity deserved the same respect and admonition as the

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Jewish since it came from Judaism. It was an offshoot of Judaism. Just curious what your thoughts are on that.

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Again, blessed by your ministry. Keep up the good work. I appreciate it, brother. Thank you for your voicemail.

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I read something from a seminary professor, too, about that several years ago. I wonder if you and I read from the same guy.

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I can't remember who it was, though. Yeah, so the theory, again, being that Theophilus, at the beginning of Luke, is

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Paul's lawyer, basically. So while Paul is in prison for preaching the gospel in Rome, we believe that his first imprisonment would have been about a year or two that he was in prison.

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Okay. So Luke writes down an orderly account of the gospel that Paul preached, and that's what we have in the

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Book of Luke, and he addresses it to Theophilus, who would have been a lawyer of some kind, some legal official that may have been representing

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Paul or could have gone before Caesar on his behalf or something to that effect.

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Okay. And laid out the evidence for this is what Paul has been preaching, and here's why he's innocent. He's not guilty of what they're accusing him of being guilty of.

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So that's the possibility, especially since, as we considered, Theophilus is addressed as Most Excellent Theophilus.

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That's a Roman name or at least a Greek name, and Most Excellent is a title that was sometimes given to a person or a person that had like a position of authority might be addressed as Most Excellent or Your Excellency or something to that degree.

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So because Paul calls him that, we have an assumption Theophilus may have been a

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Gentile or he might have been a Jew with a Gentile name, kind of like Saul was also known as Paul.

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Oh, yeah, uh -huh. Or Apollos, who was a Jew living at Alexandria, still had a Greek name. He was

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Apollos. Yeah. Timothy had a Greek father and a Jewish mother. So that could have been Theophilus, could have been the same sort of a thing.

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Okay. However, in the Book of Acts, now remember, Luke and Acts are two parts of kind of the same story, the same narrative that Luke is capturing.

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You have part one with Jesus and his ministry, and then part two in Acts is the ministry that he commissions the apostles to go out and do.

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Right. Hence why we call it the Acts of the Apostles. So he addresses Theophilus at the beginning of that one too. However, there he doesn't call

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Theophilus Most Excellent Theophilus. He says in the first book,

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O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the

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Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. So there's not quite as proper a title there.

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Yeah. Or an address at the beginning of the Book of Acts. Whereas at the start of Luke, we have, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you,

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Most Excellent Theophilus. Now here, this is kind of key in verse four, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

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So Theophilus has been taught these things. Yeah. And it doesn't sound like,

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I think that's an accurate translation. It doesn't sound like Theophilus has been told these things as a matter of testimony.

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Okay. You know, in defense of the Apostle Paul. Okay. But rather, Theophilus himself is a

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Christian who has been taught this, and now he has a record, an accurate, detailed record of the things that happened during the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, as the

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Physician Luke has written down. And then you have an accurate record of all the things that had been done in the

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Acts of the Apostles, which mostly focuses on Paul. And you have that in the Book of Acts.

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Right. But we don't have enough evidence. See, this can only be a theory. So there's really not enough evidence that's given to us to present this as a possible defense letter on Paul's behalf, so that hopefully he can be set free.

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Now, I like the theory. I think it's neat. Yeah. It kind of adds to the mysteriousness of who

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Luke is and who Theophilus is. Yeah. And what is the story behind these letters?

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Why would Paul write it in this way? And who is he addressing when he writes this to Theophilus?

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So I think that's significant. Also, why was Paul let out of prison after his first imprisonment?

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We don't know that either. Yeah. We have a pretty good idea from, I mean, there's evidence in Scripture, and then we have this from church tradition that Paul was let out after his first imprisonment.

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He goes as far west as Spain. And somehow in that journey back to the east, he gets arrested again for preaching the gospel.

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And that's where in that second imprisonment, he writes second Timothy. Oh, right.

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And he's in a worse situation, clearly in a worse situation than the book of Acts ends with. Yeah.

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And he's saying, I'm going to die. Yeah. So I'm about to be martyred for the gospel. And here's what I'm telling you that you need to do,

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Timothy, as you continue on with your ministry, passing the torch to Timothy, so to speak.

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So anyway, it's an interesting theory. I appreciate you bringing that up. There are several different theories concerning who

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Theophilus is, that being one of them. And that one's a fairly recent one, if I remember right. Okay. The other ones being that Theophilus was a

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Jew from Alexandria in Egypt. Okay. And that's a Coptic tradition. So the

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Eastern Orthodox church as it originates from Ethiopia or as it settled in Ethiopia.

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Okay. So it's among the Eastern Orthodox. There's Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox. Coptic is the

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Ethiopian Orthodox. Oh, okay. So in the Coptic tradition, which goes back a long way.

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But did I say Luke? It would have been Theophilus. Okay. If I said Luke was from Alexandria. It's Theophilus who was from Alexandria.

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It was a Jew from Alexandria, just like Apollos was. He was from Alexandria. So then there was the theory, too, that he could have been some sort of Roman official.

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I think I did bring that one up earlier this week. I didn't put it in the context of him being a lawyer of some kind who was defending

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Paul. But he could have been a Roman official.

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Okay. Hence why he's addressed as most excellent Theophilus. And one of the neat things, too, that we have in the parallels between Luke and Acts, Jesus is declared innocent three times at his trial in the book of Luke.

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Right. And Paul gives a defense three times in the book of Acts. So that's one of the other neat parallels that you see between Luke and Acts.

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And I saw, it was actually a preacher friend of mine one time, laid out an outline of both

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Luke and Acts. When you put them together, it follows a chiastic structure. Oh, neat. Which is kind of interesting to consider, for those of you know what chiasm is.

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So another theory concerning Theophilus, the other one that I mentioned is that it was an honorary title.

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Or it could have been a word that was used where Paul is addressing all

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Christians as Theophilus. I'm writing this for all Christians, but I'm personifying them in a single figure named

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Theophilus. Okay. A name which means loved of God. Oh. So that would address all

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Christians. Okay. But the argument that I presented in opposition to that is because of Luke's meticulousness.

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Yeah. I was thinking that's not really his style. Right. I mean, he's really sure to get people and places and events and dates and all that stuff exactly right.

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So it's kind of odd that he would make up a person. It's very detail oriented. Exactly. Yeah. So we're just gonna make up somebody and say this letter's addressed to them and...

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Doesn't quite fit. It doesn't follow the flow. Yeah. It's not really Luke's style.

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I think you said that. Yeah. So anyway, thank you for the theory. Thank you for guiding us through that idea,

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Adrian. Yeah. Like I said, I like it. I think it's an interesting idea, but it's only a theory.

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There's really not enough evidence either biblically or externally for us to draw that particular conclusion.

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And like I said, it's relatively new. Oh, there is another theory that Theophilus would have been a high priest, because there are two high priests that have the name

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Theophilus. Oh, really? That served in Jerusalem during the lifetime of Paul. One was in the early 40s, and the other was in about the mid 60s.

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But at that time, Luke... Or Luke. Paul was probably out of jail.

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Okay. He was probably out of prison at the time that a letter could have been written to Theophilus, who was serving as the high priest in Jerusalem.

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So the possibility then is that because of all the unrest and the animosity against Christians that was going on in Jerusalem at the time,

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Luke is laying out a detailed description of the gospel and then a detailed description of the acts of the apostles and sending them to Theophilus who has been taught these things.

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But then he has the opportunity to guide the people in Jerusalem toward the truth, and it would kind of quell the unrest and the persecution of Christians that was going on there.

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Yeah. I kind of like that theory too, especially if you are convinced by the idea that Luke is the author of Hebrews.

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Oh, yeah. Because Hebrews would have been written to all the Hebrews in Jerusalem and Judea and all the surrounding area.

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Right. So that's an interesting idea. You have Luke and Acts go to the high priest in Jerusalem, whereas Hebrews goes to all the

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Christians, all the lay people. And again, reminding them of who

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Jesus is and that there's no other way of salvation. If you lose Christ, then you lose all of it.

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And warning them not to fall into apostasy. That's really the nature of the book of Hebrews. And some of the things that I pointed out earlier this week were certain phrases that kind of sounded like Luke.

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We find in Hebrews that we also see in the gospel of Luke. So there's, yeah, some things there that hint toward Luke also being the author of Hebrews.

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Yeah. And that does fit his character because he doesn't identify himself in Luke or Acts, and we don't know who the author of Hebrews was.

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Well, there you go. So it could be that. Anyway, let's see. Next question here. This comes from Matthew in Ohio.

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Dear Pastor Gabe, I appreciated your conversation with Doug Wilson over his ministry's use of the middle finger in a recent ad.

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It seemed like Doug had to cover a lot more ground to justify when Christians can use vulgar language.

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And I don't think he covered it, especially when he actually admitted that almost any time someone flips someone else off, they're sinning.

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Okay. Then where in the world is that magic spot a Christian can hit with their middle finger and not be sinning?

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Makes you wonder. I tried to do that with a straight face. I had to start laughing. Yep. Nope. Anyway. Didn't make it through it.

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Thank you for your faithfulness to the word and also your kind spirit in the dialogue. My question has to do with something you mentioned in the very beginning.

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You said that members of your church subscribe to Canon Plus. Do you subscribe to it?

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You also said that you've been a regular reader of Blog and Mayblog and that you had read one of Doug's books years ago.

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I believe you said it was the Serrated Edge. I was surprised because I've never heard you mentioned Doug Wilson before.

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Do you think he's a teacher who can be trusted? Well, let me say, first of all, that I actually get asked this question quite a bit.

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I will get emails about it. What do you think of Doug Wilson? Is it somebody that we can trust? And I know that question gets asked because there's a lot of controversy.

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Yeah. Surrounding Wilson and the manner and method in which he does things. You see that in the ad that came out from Canon Press just a couple of weeks ago.

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So I tend to avoid any public address of those kinds of questions.

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I'll respond to them via email, but I won't really bring them onto the podcast because he's such a figure that tends to,

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I guess you could say he's something of a dividing line. Yeah. Because people will kind of, they'll listen for, do you like Doug Wilson?

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Well, that tells me something about you. Right. Do you dislike Doug Wilson? That tells me something about you too.

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So just for that reason, I'll tend to avoid any of that. I don't think that Doug's a heretic.

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You can tell by the dialogue that I had with him, that's not my approach. I believe he's a brother in the

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Lord, but he does do some things that are controversial enough that make me hesitant to just sit here and go, yeah,

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Doug's fine, participate in his ministry or whatever else. Yeah. I like his blog and May blog because it is a fantastic cultural commentary, but he does tend to use some language that I would say is comparable with the ways people at the

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Daily Wire write. And I'm not going to advertise or promote the

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Daily Wire. Yeah. And so likewise, I wouldn't advertise and promote Doug's stuff either because he can say some things that are kind of crass.

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Yeah. I appreciate the pushback he puts or the pushback he gives on just the decline of things that are going on in the culture.

25:08

I don't share his post -millennial optimism. I don't share some of his views regarding justification by faith, which the way that he's detailed how he believes that has been a point of contention for a lot in the reform community.

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So there are some things that I disagree with him on certainly, but again, like I say, when he has those opportunities to step into the public square, like when he did debates with Christopher Hitchens years ago, those debates were fantastic.

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Yeah. And he's had plenty of opportunities to share the gospel through those avenues. And I think the

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Lord has used that work. I'm hesitant to want to say, yeah, he's fine and subscribe to his stuff.

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It's going to be a liberty issue. Yeah. Subscribe if you want, but I'm not going to give any promotion to it.

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And that's kind of why I don't talk about it. Yeah. But otherwise, I appreciated getting invited to that conversation.

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It wasn't Doug that invited me to it. It was Wrath and Grace who hosted that conversation. And they called me up and asked if I would be willing to have a dialogue.

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Yeah. So of course, James White has the sweater vest dialogues with Doug Wilson. Maybe that was our bearded dialogue or something.

26:22

Dialogue of the beards. There you go. Whatever you would want to call that. But thank you for your question, Matthew. I appreciate it.

26:28

And yeah, like I said, I do have people in my church that subscribe to Canon Plus. There is some good content that you can find on there.

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Oh, and one thing I will say, too, I have appreciated Joe Rigney's book, Emotional Sabotage.

26:40

Oh, okay. That's something that's actually been read among the elders at my church and has been passed on and said, hey, highly recommend this book.

26:48

So Joe Rigney's done a lot of good stuff. I was reading him when he was with John Piper. Okay. So he just went from John Piper's ministry over to Doug Wilson's.

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But I've been critical of stuff that's come out of Canon Press before. I thought

27:03

The Case for Christian Nationalism was a terrible book. So there's been some good stuff.

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There's been some stuff I would tell you to stay away from as well. All right. Last question for this segment. This is from Chris. Hey, Brother Gabe.

27:15

I was hoping for a bit of insight from you guys. I live in a fast growing town in North Carolina. We are traditionally a small farming town with Baptist churches on every corner.

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Well, now we have a pride event scheduled at a community park coming up. Folks tried to fight it in the council meetings to no avail.

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But my question is, what should the churches be doing? How can we intentionally and biblically organize against this stuff?

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I know standing out there with Turner Burns signs isn't the way. That's the Westboro Baptist Church approach.

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That's what I was going to say. You were thinking the same thing. Yep. But I can't help but feel that standing idly while the darkness just freely creeps in isn't the right way to go about it either.

27:57

Right. Would you love, or sorry, I would love to hear your feedback on some possible action steps to try to implement and guard against this, to implement a guard against this, or at least outreach opportunities.

28:12

Much appreciated and thanks so much for your ministry. I think you really answered it by saying outreach opportunities.

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Yeah. Go out there and share the gospel with them. Yes. Certainly talk about it with your church, with your congregation, whether it's something that needs to be addressed from the pulpit in a sermon.

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You can discern that yourself, with your church, among your elders and things like that.

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But certainly take it as an opportunity to address the church and say, this is going on. We should oppose this.

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Use it as an opportunity to reach out with the gospel. There's more I want to say about this. We're kind of coming to the end of this segment.

28:44

So let me hold on to this question and we'll come back to it next week. I actually, I actually grew up in a community that went through something exactly like this.

28:54

Yeah. And I'll share that story with you. So. To be continued. To be continued.

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That'll be next week. We'll come back to it. Hey, don't forget if you want to send us a question, you can send it to when we understand the text at gmail .com

29:06

or the voicemail is at www .utt .com and then click on voicemail.

29:14

Babe, thanks for joining me for this segment. Yeah, you're welcome. God bless you all. We'll hear from you again soon.

29:31

In Mark 6, Jesus went with his disciples to his hometown of Nazareth. And on the

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Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue. Many who heard him were astonished, saying, where did this man get these things?

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What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, whose family we know?

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And they took great offense at him. And Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and in his own household.

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And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. He marveled because of their unbelief and went to teach in other villages.

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Now, this part right here where it says that he could do no mighty work there. This does not mean

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Jesus was powerless because they lacked faith. Obviously, it doesn't mean that because he did heal people.

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This also does not mean you must believe the Lord will do a mighty work for you to unleash his blessings upon you.

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Here's what this means. No matter what Jesus did at Nazareth, the people would not believe in him.

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No miracle would convince them of who he really was and turn their hearts toward God. Only those who believe his words are his disciples.

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So he healed a few on whom he had compassion. Then he left and did not return. In John 5 .24,

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Jesus said, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

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He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. When we understand the text.

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Coming up here in a couple of weeks, I'm going to be finishing up the series that I've been doing in the pastoral epistles in 1st and 2nd

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Timothy and Titus, which I've been preaching through ever since I came on at Providence Reformed Baptist Church at the end of last year.

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It seemed good to me that we would study these things together as a new pastor in the new church so that we would understand our responsibilities as the household of God.

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And not just our responsibilities as a church, but even as a confessional church, because Paul makes various statements throughout the epistles to a trustworthy saying, like the passage that I'm going to be preaching on this coming

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Sunday out of Titus 3 verses 8 through 11, where Paul says the saying is trustworthy.

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And I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

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Those statements where Paul will make a reference to a trustworthy saying is a reference to a creed or a confession that the early church had memorized and would recite to express the basics of the faith that they believed and not just what they believed, but how they would live it out.

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Doctrine and life and how those things go together, what we believe affects how we live and the way that we live is going to affect how we believe.

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Another emphasis that Paul puts in these epistles is the importance of being sound in our doctrine.

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And I was thinking about these things yesterday as I was reviewing my notes for what

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I was going to be preaching on Sunday. I brought up social media and I happened upon an article or I happened upon a post.

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I'll say it that way. That was in reference to Stephen Lawson, pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Dallas, Texas, being removed because he was found disqualified as a pastor.

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Now, the screenshot that was included was the statement that was made on the church's website, but it was only the first paragraph.

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So I went to the website itself and pulled up the statement that had been released by the elders.

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And sure enough, Stephen Lawson had been removed as pastor because it had been revealed that he had been in an inappropriate relationship.

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It was said with another woman who was not his wife. And so looking at questions for today,

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I received several emails. I got these questions via text, the direct message on social media and by email asking me if I knew any more information, if I was going to talk about it.

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And so I've singled out this question from Ryan, who had sent a link to the article that was published by Not The Bee.

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If you're familiar with Not The Bee, it is the contrast to the Babylon Bee. The Babylon Bee is a satire website.

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Well, Not The Bee was started to post true articles that are so outlandish, you might have been convinced that they were satire unless they were published on Not The Bee rather than the

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Babylon Bee. So Ryan sent me a link to one of those articles, and he said, I'm shocked and in disbelief.

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I had to look at the headline again to see if it was satire. Sadly, it's not. What are your thoughts?

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Will Wretched and What be addressing this situation? Well, first of all, let me say that it's not even 24 hours old at the time that I'm publishing this podcast.

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It'll be after midnight on Thursday evening, and all of this just came out on Thursday.

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It is good for people to be slow to react to these kinds of things. And I typically have been in the past.

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I rarely respond to something immediately, especially news that is this big. But I did spend a lot of Thursday praying about it, reading about it, talking with people who were more closely acquainted with Steve Lawson than I have been, and even asking some questions about what was put in the statement that was released by Trinity Bible Church.

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So I think there's enough information for us to be able to meditate on this and at the same time come to a point of conviction and realization of the weakness that is within every one of us.

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As Jesus said to his disciples, watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation.

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The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. That's in Matthew chapter 26.

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This news has now been shared by USA Today and the Houston Chronicle, so it is a national, if not international story because of Stephen Lawson's notoriety.

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As reported by USA Today, Lawson and his wife, Anne, have four children. Lawson preached for three decades in Arkansas and in Alabama before becoming a pastor at Trinity in 2018.

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A pastor friend of mine attended Lawson's church at Dolphin Way. Many of you are likely familiar with who

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Steve Lawson is. In addition to being a pastor of a local church, he is an author and a seminary professor.

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He's the founder of One Passion Ministries. He's the leader of the Academy for Expository Preaching, which might be the most well -known traveling school for expository preaching to help train up pastors in exposition.

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I don't know that there's one that has a larger outreach than what Stephen Lawson is doing.

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Didn't he also publish Expositor Magazine? I think that came from One Passion Ministries also. Of course,

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Lawson has been a well -known preacher at conferences such as the Shepherds Conference, Ligonier, and G3, just to name a few.

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But just yesterday, even as all this news was breaking yesterday, he's already been removed from the faculty page at Masters University, which is

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John MacArthur's seminary, and he's no longer listed as a teaching fellow with Ligonier. Now, I hope that these two ministries are going to release statements explaining why

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Dr. Lawson has been removed. I don't think that it's enough to settle on the statement that had been released by Trinity Bible Church in Dallas.

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This was something that kind of disappointed me earlier in the year, too, when all that news was coming out about Alistair Begg and the bad advice that he gave to a grandmother saying that it was okay for her to attend the wedding of her gay grandson, who was also marrying a transvestite or a transgender, however that term might be applied.

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So all the controversy that was surrounding that with Alistair Begg, there were ministries that were cutting him out and not giving a statement as to why.

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So Alistair Begg's radio program, Truth for Life, was removed by American Family Radio.

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They made a statement as to why, a public declaration, and even said all the steps that they went through to try to gain an understanding from Alistair Begg's ministry, they were not satisfied with the answers that they got.

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And so that's why they had his radio program removed. Truth for Life was also removed from Ligonier, who did not release a statement.

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And then Alistair Begg was removed also from Shepherd's Conference, where he was listed to be a speaker earlier in 2024.

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A statement was made. I don't know that one officially came out from the

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Shepherd's Conference, but I know that Phil Johnson did make a statement online on social media about it, and I guess that's sufficient.

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But still, there were many others who were dropping Alistair Begg and not explaining why. And I think just as Trinity Bible Church in Dallas has released a statement saying that Stephen Lawson is unqualified, you can't just take for granted that people who listen to Ligonier know why

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Steve Lawson is no longer with Ligonier. I think it's important that they release a statement. So I hope that that's going to be the case.

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I'm not making a judgment now, because like I said, it's not even been 24 hours, but I hope that that will be the practice.

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I've actually been through this before, and I've shared this before when

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I was teaching through 1 Corinthians 5 on the broadcast a couple of years ago. And I mentioned that we had an elder at our church in Kansas who had been caught in adultery, and I don't think that I handled that situation as well as I should have.

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I think I should have released a clearer statement than I did, and because I didn't, that caused problems for us later on down the road.

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I think the same thing is going on here with Trinity Bible Church in Dallas, very unfortunately, and let me explain why.

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Coming to their statement that they make on their website, you can read it for yourself going to TrinityBibleDallas .org.

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The first paragraph reads like this. The elders at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas regretfully announce that effective immediately,

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Stephen J. Lawson has been removed indefinitely from all ministry activities at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas.

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Several days ago, the elders at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas were informed by Steve Lawson of an inappropriate relationship that he has had with a woman.

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The elders have met with Steve and will continue to come alongside him and pray for him with the ultimate goal of his personal repentance.

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Steve will no longer be compensated by Trinity Bible Church of Dallas. So that's the first paragraph.

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I'll get to the second here in just a moment. So just from what we're reading here, it appears as if Steve Lawson was the one who came to the elders at Trinity Bible Church and revealed that he was in this inappropriate relationship, as it said.

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Doesn't say exactly what that means, but enough so that the elders have removed him and to the extent that it appears that he is permanently disqualified because it says that he's been removed indefinitely.

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This is not like the situation that happened earlier this year with Tony Evans, who has been removed from his church also in Dallas, by the way.

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And and I think it's been said regarding Tony Evans. I know that I read this somewhere that it's not a permanently disqualifying sin that he is guilty of.

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So he's just taking some time away. Maybe a disciplinary process is going on there. And then the expectation is he's going to be restored back to that position.

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I think it's even been clarified that sexual immorality was not the reason why Tony Evans had to step down.

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And it may have even been something from several years ago. My dad had called me up and he had asked me if I knew any more about that situation with Tony Evans.

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And I said, regrettably, no, because the church has not been clear about whatever it is that's going on.

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So apparently, Dr. Evans is guilty of something significant enough that he has to step down.

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It's not something that's permanently disqualifying, but we're not allowed to know what that is and he will be restored.

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And frankly, we won't have learned anything from that. No lesson to learn from that at all, because we don't even know what the sin is unless after his restoration,

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Dr. Evans decides to expose what that is and talk about what it is that he had learned in his period of having to step down from his pulpit.

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One of his sons has been preaching in his place, and they've been very praising of Dr. Evans at his church.

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So this is a different kind of a situation where it appears as if Dr. Lawson has been removed as a pastor and will never be a pastor again.

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That's what it looks like. But we don't know exactly what he's done again, because the statement says that he's guilty of an inappropriate relationship.

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So first of all, Dr. Lawson is the one who came to the elders about this. So at least he confessed it, according to what we have here.

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But we don't know that that is exactly adultery. Like, was it the sort of a thing that Matt Chandler got disciplined for a year or two ago when he had an inappropriate texting conversation through private message on Instagram?

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And it was later revealed that it wasn't sexual in nature. It just wasn't appropriate for him to have that conversation with a woman who was not his wife.

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So he had to step down for a time and be disciplined, and then he was restored back again. A lot of details there we don't know either.

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But that was also called inappropriate. So is that what this is? It would seem it's more than that, because Dr.

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Lawson's being removed indefinitely. I was able to gain or to glean from somebody closer to the situation that this is a matter of adultery.

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So Steve Lawson was in an inappropriate relationship. Frankly, I think that Trinity Bible Church of Dallas needs to clarify that and that he has had with a woman who is not his wife.

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My heart breaks for the church. My heart breaks for his wife and for his family, and I have prayed for them.

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This cuts deep. I mean, this hits deep with me. I've spent many, many hours with Dr. Lawson, not personally.

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If you were to mention my name to him, he probably wouldn't know who I am, even though I had a booth right next to his at the

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G3 conference several years back. So the traffic that he was getting came over to the when we understand the text booth.

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And we talked. We had a conversation a little bit there. When I say that I've spent many hours with him, though,

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I mean that I have listened to his preaching hours and hours of his preaching. I don't know that he ranks in my top five necessarily, but I've listened to entire series from him when

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I was teaching through Galatians. I was listening to his series through Galatians more than anyone else.

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Typically, when I when I teach through a book, there might be one pastor that I am listening to more so than the others when

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I'm teaching through that book. And when it was Galatians, it was Steve Lawson that I was listening to. So I've spent a lot of time with the man in that sense.

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And so this is this is wounding, this hurts. To hear that he has fallen into this sin, and he's over 70 years old, 72 or 73.

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I can't remember where he's at in his age. And there is, you know, kind of that feeling of like, don't men get to a certain place in their life where eventually they don't have that temptation anymore?

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It's probably naive of me to think that way. But obviously, the answer is no.

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And I need to be careful there. I need to discipline myself, as the Apostle Paul says in 1

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Corinthians 9, that I discipline myself so that I will not be found disqualified.

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And he says also to Timothy, to watch yourself and your teaching, persist in this, for by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

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1 Timothy 4, 16. If Timothy falls into some kind of sin, isn't it likely that he's going to lead somebody in his congregation in the same way?

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They're going to find an excuse. I can do the same sin. Timothy did it. He's fine.

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I can do it. And may even end up falling to their own destruction. This is going to lead a lot of people astray.

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This is huge. It's a huge gut punch. And like I said, with regard to the news breaking, it's now an international story, considering the news sources out there that have been sharing it.

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We know Dr. Lawson, who have been an understudy to R .C. Sproul. He's a close personal friend of John MacArthur, who, by the way, has had an operation this week.

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Surely he knows about it. But just praying for everybody involved in this situation that they would have wisdom.

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The second paragraph in the announcement begins like this. In light of this, may we be reminded that we are all sinners.

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And Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. And Christ remains head of his church, which is bigger than any fallen man.

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Now, incidentally, the Houston Chronicle, when they ran this story about Dr. Lawson's moral failing, they quoted that.

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They mentioned that in there. So even though, yeah, this is tragic. And I pray that there are people that will not be led astray by this.

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But the gospel is still being shared in some of those sources that have quoted the statement that had been released by Trinity Bible Church in Dallas.

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Jesus still saves sinners. He will save Dr. Lawson. Now, Dr.

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Lawson may be permanently disqualified from here on out if adultery is indeed the sin that he is guilty of.

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He's no longer above reproach. First Timothy three to Titus one, six. A pastor and overseer must be above reproach.

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He must be above blame. And you won't ever be able to trust that a pastor who is guilty of adultery, who has kept that sin secret, kept it hidden.

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It always starts secret. It's never out in the open. But a pastor who's lied about that and has lied to other people and has kept that a secret and has cheated on his wife, has committed a sin that in the

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Old Testament, the punishment for that was death. She now has biblical reason.

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She has a biblical justification for divorcing her husband. For Jesus said that whoever divorces his wife and marries another, except for reason of sexual immorality, commits adultery.

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And whoever he marries, he causes to commit adultery. So sexual immorality is the allowance that Christ gives for a biblical divorce to be able to take place.

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So a pastor who has committed adultery, his wife biblically can divorce him.

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And remember that among the qualifications of an elder, he must be able to manage his own household well.

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If he can't manage his own household, how will he manage the household of God? He's supposed to be a picture of the way that Christ loves his church.

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And here he has whored himself out with someone else and has brought a reproach upon his witness, his marriage, his ministry in his church.

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So yeah, adultery is a permanently disqualifying sin. It would permanently disqualify a man from being a pastor.

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Proverbs 6, 32 and 33. He who commits adultery lacks sense. He who does it destroys himself.

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He will get wounds and dishonor and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

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That's what scripture says about the one who commits adultery. Yes, you can be forgiven this sin and Dr.

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Lawson should submit himself to his eldership and be repentant so that he may be restored back to this fellowship, but he won't ever be qualified to be a pastor again.

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So that statement continues on. In fact, Jesus Christ will continue to lead his church, including

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Trinity Bible Church here in Dallas, just like he has from the start of this work on January 5th, 2018.

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Since that time, the elders have focused on the primacy of biblical exposition knit together by various men filling the pulpit each week.

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The Lord was building Trinity Bible Church of Dallas well before Steve became our lead preacher and he will continue to build this church long after Steve Lawson or any other man for that matter.

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We would ask for your prayers for the elders, for our body and for Steve and his family. Let us always be mindful of the words of 1

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Corinthians 10, 12. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

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And again, that is important for every one of us to consider. Just think about the fact that in 1

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Timothy chapter 3, or sorry, chapter 5, it is said that for those who persist in sin, this is talking about elders, overseers in the church, pastors, for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear.

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And Galatians 6, 1 saying, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

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Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. So we should not ever look down our noses at someone else and think, oh, how terrible of you.

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This would never happen to me. No, this should in fact be a reminder to us that any one of us are capable of falling.

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Again, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. So let these who persist in sin like this, who have this kind of a platform be rebuked in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear.

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As we come to understand also from James 3, 1, not many of you should aspire to become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

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That's something that I have to remember constantly. I think about that when I examine my behavior in public.

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You know, it might be something like I'm upset over being overcharged on a water bill.

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And when I go down to the office to have to pay that bill, I've got to keep my composure and not get mad at somebody.

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Whatever, whatever witness I demonstrate there, though, I'm frustrated over the manner in which this bill has come out and I'm not being charged the right amount.

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I still need to keep a cool head about myself and not blow up at the person across the glass who probably has nothing to do with why my bill has been messed up in this way.

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I got to keep careful about those kinds of things. So I think constantly about what kind of witness am I demonstrating in public.

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To fall into this sin, my heart is broken, as I said, but I won't deny it.

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I'm I'm angry. I'm mad. Because this is Steve Lawson. He knows better.

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And the emotions that I remember going through when I had to experience this personally with the elder who was a close friend of mine, and it lied to me and the rest of the elders in his church and even his own family and the confusion and the sadness, the heartache, the anger, the betrayal, the sympathy for his family.

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All of that came flooding back again. When I was reading this about Dr. Lawson.

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He lied, that elder lied, lied to everyone, and he lied to such a degree that we couldn't believe anything that he said, even when even when he finally did come to a place of wanting to repent, which he didn't stick with.

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He was resistant to correction. And as far as I know, is still estranged from his family. He even at one point said to me that he would rather take his chances with God than be reconciled to his wife.

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It was an incredible level of hubris and anger. Sin makes you stupid, as I've heard it said.

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And in this situation, it sounds like Dr. Lawson was the one to step forward and reveal his sin.

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And so I hope that is a sign of a heart that is grieving over what he has done, a godly grief that leads to repentance, as said in Second Corinthians.

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So he may not be qualified to preach anymore. He's no longer above reproach, according to the qualifications that are given in Scripture.

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But he can be forgiven this sin. And maybe not just restored to his church, but even to his family.

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First John 1 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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Psalm 51 is terribly relevant here as well. This, of course, was the psalm that David wrote and sang after he had been caught in adultery with Bathsheba.

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He said, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

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For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

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Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

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Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

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Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

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Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

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Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.

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Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

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Cast me not away from your presence, and let not your Holy Spirit be taken from me.

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Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

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Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

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Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

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O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I will give it.

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You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart,

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O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure.

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Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings, and whole burnt offerings.

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Then bulls will be offered on your altar. Now there are some who are rejoicing at the fact.

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That somebody like Steve Lawson has fallen. That is just wicked. That is evil.

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That's a group of people that does not fear God. They do not love the church. They do not love those sinners who are in need of correction.

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They think way too highly of themselves on top of that, thinking that they won't fall into this sin.

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Did Jesus not teach us to pray in Matthew 6, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the evil one?

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And again, pointing to Matthew 26, 41, Jesus saying to his disciples, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

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The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. I don't think anyone ever really sets out to commit adultery.

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Well, there are some. It's something you can so easily fall into.

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God have mercy on me, a sinner. As the old saying goes, there, but by the grace of God, go

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I. I could just as easily fall into that if I don't discipline myself.

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If I don't continue to hold fast to Christ, as said in James 4, draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

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Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

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Purify your hearts, you double -minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. And so,

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Lord, cleanse us and make us new. I had posted this on social media yesterday.

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Are you tempted by sin? Flee from it. 1 Corinthians 6, 18, put it to death.

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Colossians 3, 5, resist the devil. James 4, 7, draw near to God. James 4, 8, pray that you may not fall.

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Matthew 26, 41, and should you stumble, seek his forgiveness and be cleansed of unrighteousness.

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1 John 1, 9, wash, rinse, repeat. Let's take a moment here and pray for Steve Lawson, for his family and for his church and that we too would not fall into temptation and fall into sin.

01:00:13

Heavenly Father, we are grateful to you for the patience and kindness that you show to us every day.

01:00:19

As we've been instructed in the word, love must be patient, love must be kind. And you show that to us constantly.

01:00:27

As said in Lamentations 3, your mercies are new every morning and great is your faithfulness.

01:00:34

Lord, we continue to be grieved when we hear of great men that fall into great sin.

01:00:40

And it doesn't just have to be as high profile as this, because I've also mentioned pastors of small churches, names that if they were said, people wouldn't recognize them.

01:00:50

But whether a person has a great platform or that they know a few people in a small town, nonetheless, that is a person who is supposed to be.

01:01:00

That's a man of God that should be a representative of Christ and an example of mature

01:01:06

Christianity so that people would look at that man and know what to believe and how that faith is supposed to be lived out in our daily lives.

01:01:16

With Dr. Lawson, who's been seen by so many people around the world having fallen into this particular sin,

01:01:23

I pray that his conviction is genuine, that he would listen to reproof, that he would submit to his elders in guiding him in what he needs to do in order to confess this sin and express his repentance and be restored.

01:01:41

I pray for his family that are no doubt grieving over this as well, praying for his wife that you would comfort her heart, that her reliance would not be on a perfect marriage, but that she would rely on the

01:01:56

Savior, who is our bridegroom, whom we are waiting for to receive his church and we will be with him forever in glory.

01:02:04

I pray also for Trinity Bible Church in Dallas, that you would give those elders wisdom, that congregation, that they would not be so discouraged by this that they fall away, but it would be something that would cause them to reflect in their own hearts on their own weakness, convicting them of sin if there is anybody else in that congregation that might be guilty of something that they know needs to be confessed before God.

01:02:30

May it be something purifying for this church. And Lord, I pray for myself and praying for myself on behalf of any others that might join me in this prayer, that you would convict my heart of sin.

01:02:44

As David prayed in Psalm 139, search even the deep places of myself.

01:02:50

Are there things that I'm not aware of that need to be brought to the surface so that I might be cleansed, convicted of this sin and confessing it before God, that I might grow in holiness and continue to be purified in sanctification that you are doing by your love and your grace toward me.

01:03:11

Keep me from temptation. Help me to flee from it, turn away from it, draw near to Christ, hold fast to you, never thinking that my life is incomplete unless I have this sin, unless I gratify my flesh in some way.

01:03:27

Let me not look at the sins that are going on in the world and be envious of that.

01:03:33

I wish that I could dabble in that, for there are people going to their destruction over that. I need to draw near to Christ.

01:03:42

I need to want to be like Jesus. God, purify me and draw me to you.

01:03:49

And may I be a good witness of the love of Christ that has been shown to me, to my wife, to my children, and to my church.

01:04:01

As I often pray from Psalm 23, forgive us of our sins and lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.

01:04:10

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Just do it.

01:04:41

Go bee. It tickles. Bee. Bee. This is weird. I thought it was if you look at the light or something.

01:04:49

But you look adorable, so. That's what this was all about.

01:04:54

That's right. Nothing about me about to sneeze. No, I just wanted to see you look cute saying bee. Bee. Take away the feeling of a sneeze.

01:05:07

I guess because you don't focus on it. You focus on being a...

01:05:12

Being a dork. Weirdo. Bee. Bee. Bee. Bee.