Albert Mohler | T4G Ask Anything

well good evening and welcome to this very special ask anything event for 2020 together for the gospel and together in a whole new way and I had hoped to be welcoming you to the campus and having a conversation face to face but I'm very thankful the Lord's provided this way for us to have a conversation we otherwise could not have and these asking anything events are always fun as I look forward to finding out what's on your mind and I've just really looked forward to talking to you about what you want to talk about tonight I want to tell you right up front just to remind you that on Friday we're going to have a virtual preview day for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and I've dedicated my life to this institution along with many others and together we tried to build the most trusted theological education we could imagine and as I tell people my great joy has been to help build the seminary that with the faculty with whom I'd want to study and I want you to get to know them I want to look forward to spending time with you we have another special ask anything event for that preview there were over 300 questions sent in for this event tonight there's no way we can get to all of them but I'll look forward to continuing that conversation with the virtual preview day if the Lord's called you to ministry then the Lord's called you to prepare and that preparation for ministry has a very great deal to do with your stewardship of this call and your preparation to do what God's called you to do so that special virtual preview day is going to be an event held at 1 o'clock on Friday this coming Friday April the 17th and for more information just go to SBTs edu slash preview that's SBTs edu slash preview now again over 300 questions I love that because it says very good things about those of you who are joining with me tonight it says that you're thinking about life around you're thinking about the Bible you're thinking about theological issues you're thinking about ministry and it's not by accident that we're questioning creatures and those questions often lead us to the best thinking even going back to Socrates just to remember you know it was a it was a question and answer format that that Socrates basically you in order to to seek to get to the meaning of life unfortunately you can't get there simply by means of philosophy our presupposition is we can only get there by means not only a philosophy but a more importantly theology and and that theology based upon the gift of divine revelation so there are a lot of things to think about I'm going to look forward to this conversation tonight Jason from Waverly New York asked in what ways do you see the church as a needed presence during the current pandemic well you know this is this is a really interesting question given the fact that so many churches are themselves not meaning most churches the vast majority of churches aren't meeting and for good reasons stay at home shelter and place orders make sense given the urgency and the the deadly nature of this an infectious virus so we understand that for a time and we ache for that time when we can return as congregations to fellowship being together meeting together and of course that will come with with other aspects of life but when you think about the church you know I'm a Baptist and so I'm gonna start with the visible church that is a local congregation of believers now we believe that that church is a part of the one church that Christ is established for instance in Matthew chapter 16 but it is visible in local congregations and so there's a sense in which we can't be everything that we would want to be as we believe we're called by God when we can't meet together but still we are together and I don't mean that most importantly in a virtual together I mean that most importantly in that we are commonly United to Christ and so we still care for one another and most churches are still one way the other seeing to the fact that the Word of God is preached and we're trying to encourage I I say something that inside the Fellowship of the church is very healthy at this time is that there are all kinds of Christian moms and dads and I'll say this dads in particular who have taken the responsibility to to lead their families in Christian worship and to demonstrate a kind of Christian leadership there are moms and dads or just being so faithful and now they get their children in their home it's not just that so many are now one way or another more committed to homeschooling than they were in the past they're kind of committed to to the church in the home and the home was the first church in that way in the community you know the fact is that I've been so encouraged to hear so many so many churches that have said to their people look if there's someone near you who you know can't get to the grocery store can't get groceries need someone to pick up drugs you know just just acts of kindness and care from Christians in the name of Christ are profoundly important and the church's evangelistic witness is still very much going on you know there there are opportunities actually also for Christians to have conversations that we might not have had before simply because we were at work during the day the neighbor you know we hardly get to see when now a conversation about you know is there anything I can do for you or are you in need of anything that can lead to all kinds of evangelistic opportunities but I want I want to just finish answering Jason by saying in this sense I think one of the most important things we can do as Christians in the middle of a pandemic is share the fact that we don't expect all the satisfactions that we desire on this earth we're yearning for a different city and I think in the middle of a pandemic with life and death very much on the consciousness of people who might otherwise try not to think about it it's a real opportunity for gospel witness all right submit it online a question how does a Christian deal with perpetual sin in their life that they cannot overcome does this mean they are not a Christian according to first John 3:6 well look John warns about continuing in sin at the same time you know in the Christian world we've had conversations about the settings sins patterns of sin recurring sin so we do know this if one is sinning repeatedly and gives oneself to it and does not deny oneself then then that's a very bad sign that's a that's a very deadly sign as as we reminded to make our calling and election sure and to look at ourselves examine ourselves even just in the course of the Lord's Supper where we're told to examine ourselves that's it that's just a reminder what it means the Lord's for the Lord's Supper to be one of the ordinary means of grace a part a part of the means of grace is in that that cycle of of the conviction of sin and repentance for that sin and receiving the forgiveness of Christ you know I think most Christians of any age will admit there are patterns of sin and there are particular temptations that we have to guard against and this is where going back to the previous question you know we really are dependent upon the church we're dependent upon the church even and even though I mentioned the Lord's Supper the church is supposed to be defining the Lord's Supper in such a way that when it invites people to the table as baptized believers it's inviting them to the table having examined themselves now if you ever get to the Lord's table and examine yourself and find yourself unconvicted of sin then something is wrong but I think that warning in first John 3:6 is about someone who persists in sin is unrepentant is not denying self and it's not seeking help and and that's where as a Christian it's always appropriate to go to the elders of the church to go to a Christian friend and say I need help with this and that kind of accountability can be another important aspect of being serious about trying to fight sin including denying you know access to sin and you know or just being busy doing in in well doing so and look listen let's be honest in the midst of a pandemic like this with people outside their normal cycle of perhaps even accountability and and having too much time on their hands that can be a real temptation so doing things that require us to be busy in well doing that's a that's a good thing also submitted online what are some reasons for a pastor to get a doctorate before and against don't have any against and I'm not saying that because I'm president senator I don't have any against unless you know it is going to impair your ministry by the investment of time right now or it's going to stress your marriage in a healthy way right now but I I can see no reason not to do it and every reason to do it and there are all kinds of doctors a doctor of ministry degree that enables you to be in in ministry in cycle and your minister actually becomes a part of the the doctoral project and and it's known as a professional doctor and of course in the array of doctorates that we offer here Southern Seminary is the doctor missiology a Doctor of Education you can just go down down the list and of course also the PhD now here's the thing and there are two ways to look at this one is if the Lord's given you the ability to do that kind of doctoral degree then it is at least in part of stewardship questions the words giving you that ability and and the access to that degree then what what could it do but strengthen your ministry just remember that when we're talking about the Reformers we're talking about those we recognize as the fathers of the church we're looking at someone like Jonathan Edwards or you look at the the major Puritan Divine's or you look at so many of the pastors that you probably want to listen to right now they have either the PhD or something like the equivalent and it's because they've given themselves to rigorous theological and Biblical study that's reflected in that degree and it's reflected in their ministries and you know many of my colleagues it together for the gospel we and by the way many of us a marking ligand I in particular really got to know one another and our hearts were melded together as we were all in the PhD process and and very shortly thereafter so I can think of I can't get really no disadvantage the advantages are number one just remember that the doctor degree or the doctorate it goes back to the Latin in which obviously we get the word doctrine but we also get teacher and and so it's a it's a it's one who is able to teach teachers one is able to it equip others a doctor of the church a teacher of the church and so that's just something to keep in mind I'm a big believer in it so much so that the the second degree that Southern Seminary offered is the was the PhD the second degree and that really says something about the importance this institutions put on the doctorate our research doctoral program goes back to 1892 I know a very long time ago and I think that's just a sign of the fact that if the words giving you that kind of ability then you ought to do it and we've made that and I don't mean southern but I do mean southern first and foremost we we've made those degrees as accessible as possible and the standards exactly where we think they ought to be so holding a doctorate from this institution means something we we make sure it means something and so I would just really encourage you I think that one other thing here is it kind of asking both for a pastor I don't believe that a pastor needs a less rigorous less significant theological education than a teacher in a seminary I don't know there's some academic issues and writing in research and other things but I'll just tell you that I think we should expect and then a day in which you know when it when it was saying a century ago the pastor is almost always the best educated person in the congregation just with even a college equivalent education but we're in a different world now and I think that's the reason why there's so many pastors who are rightly seeking doctorates it's because it makes a difference Joe should churches take advantage of the cares act stimulus the PPP program in particular I think is what's referred to here the the payroll insurance process I have mixed feelings about this Joe to be honest the Baptist in me wants to say no next question because one of the principles by which I've always operated is that it where the government's money goes its hand follows and some kind of control is going to come and I think even in this by the way there's a story this morning in the Washington Post about the fact that many in Congress now think it was an error that churches could participate in the PPP program but you know that's where it is two trillion dollars huge story I'm not it's not a hill on which I would die I'm not going to tell pastors you're abandoning the gospel or betraying Christ you take that money because it is eventually forgiven it becomes a grant in effect and you know I I think the rationale for it would be that even in the church there are church members who would have financially supported the church with what the church would have needed during that time and this is not a decision made by the church or even by those members that has interrupted the economy and this is the federal government deciding that the way to try to ensure the economy itself does not collapse is to is to eventually allow persons to be paid so that they can continue to do the things they would do whether it's you know buy groceries or you know pay the rent or contribute to their local church and so the argument for doing it would be that this is not the church this is not the state that is seeking to attract the church into a vulnerable moment but rather it's it's just treating the church like any other employer in a situation unprecedented in American history where the government's trying to just ensure that people continue to get a paycheck and they didn't exclude churches from it so I have concerns about it yes the I I think the more Baptist you are in this or the or the more Free Church the more concerned about you are simply because the last thing we want to do is put the church in the debt to the state or to allow the state any incursion of control into the church and by the way this means I could not support I only put this way I would be much stronger in my opposition and advisement if this were for a considerable period of time because there's just no way that kind of financial involvement for any significant period of time is not going to mean some kind of compromise or entanglement but at least at this point it's a very short amount of time it's understandable plausible within a different specific historical content so I will say that gospel minded churches can come to different Christians can come to different conclusions about what to do related to the PPP program and the cares act and we'll just pray the world preserve its Church in every way in the midst of this pandemic with this decision a part of what we pray or how we pray the Lord will protect his church Rick from Santa Clarita California besides reading and writing what other fun activities do you enjoy I'm an avid golfer Rick and NASCAR races those those things consume I'm kidding that actually I admire people who golf I think they're probably a lot healthier i I don't golf don't do NASCAR races I do like to fish when I have the opportunity and so but that's mostly a warm weather thing you know during the summer when Mary and I take time together I try to go fishing we enjoy walking I mean they're just all kinds of things like that but I will say this if I have the opportunity which right now we don't have the most fun we have in the world's playing with our grandsons that's the most fun we have and that transforms everything such that you know taking them fishing would be infinitely greater than just going fishing not possible right now but we can't wait for the time in which it will be possible for our family extended family to be together again but that's a fair question you know in a vacations by the way are a part of taking Dominion and so in other words we talk about hobbies and we talk about you know those hobbies can very much be for the glory of God whether it's sports or you know wood carving or whatever it might be it can be very much for the glory of God indeed it must be for the glory of God one way or another God made us in such a way that for instance why most interesting theological issues that that most people ignore is something like a theology of leisure and by leisure I don't mean just rocking on a you know a rocking chair leisure rightly defined is time over which we have some discretion that we basically earned we have we've worked and and now we've we work so that we have earned this time for leisure and but that leisure can be very busy that can be very busy but it's it's elective in that sense it's something which we do because our lives don't our livelihoods don't depend on it but but we feel you know we feel God's glory in it as Eric Lidell said the famous Olympic runner winning when he ran he said he felt God's pleasure and that's a that's a good good activity if when you do it you feel God's pleasure will from Amarillo Texas is it proper for the sacrament the Lord's Supper to be administered in an online format during the current covin nineteen crisis I would say no because every reference in the New Testament to the Lord's Supper and I appreciate the fact you call it the Lord's Supper I call it the Lord's Supper every reference to it is of the church gathered together now I understand we're in an emergency situation and I think streaming services are absolutely justified so long as we understand we're not this isn't this isn't an exact replacement in any sense for for the meeting of the church together in in an assembly in a congregation gathered together but it's it's the best we can do under the circumstance but when it comes to both of the ordinances let's hope and pray that this is not so long a period that we are not so long separated from one another so that when we are together again as the congregation of Christ we can enjoy together and and assemble ourselves together for the preaching of the word of God the singing of hymns together so that our voices are united and the observance of the two ordinances both the Lord's Supper and baptism no no I'm not gonna condemn someone who disagrees with me as a heretic this isn't a matter of heresy but I will say this I have seen some statements made by pastors that I think they look this is kind of a particular Free Church temptation maybe even a particular Baptist temptation where we're certain that it's not really a sacrament that is there's no effusion of grace there's no there's no particular sacramental grace involved in this so not being able to have the Lord's Supper together we're deprived of a blessing yes but we're not deprived of grace but and and you know this goes back to the argument about the fact that the Lord's Supper is symbolic in that nature well every Christian believes that symbolic the question is do you believe it's more than symbolic and obviously the Catholic understanding of transubstantiation and Catholic sacramental theology and even in some Protestant Church is still a form of sacramental theology that's very different than what I is a Baptist belief but I do believe that Christ commanded the Supper in a certain way and that means the the bread or the loaf and it means the the fruit of the grape and so you know I I've just seen I saw on Twitter where someone said and this was not a Baptist not a Southern Baptist Church I'm sure this wasn't t4g or any Church connected with t4g but the pastor just said you know grab your Gatorade or your kool-aid or your your preferred beverage well I'm just thinking this is taking the this is taking the non-sacramental symbolic nature of the Lord's Supper I think beyond the fact it is an ordinance that is it is ordered in a certain way by Christ we don't call it an ordinance by accident it's commanded by Christ Brit New Orleans Louisiana how can churches integrate church discipline more effectively into their congregations well you know it's so interesting you ask that question Rep because I think we just talked about it when we were talking about sin and we talked about the Lord's Supper and we just talked about the Lord's Supper again so one of the ways the first ways in the New Testament the church discipline is is set out is the church this one of the table the the Fencing of the table the the guarding of the table that so the way you if you're a pastor Brit the way you invite believers to the table of the Lord has a lot to do with whether you're actually exercised interdiscipline now by the way the whole the whole word let's just let's use a worst-case scenario where someone is removed from the communion of the church that is excommunicated that means no longer part of the communion but excommunicated in the history the church has most specifically meant denied access to the table and so that's an extreme act now it's very clear in the New Testament yeah you know our hope in church dis one is that it restores a brother or restores a sister but a brother or one who identified as a brother or a sister and was among us but as repeated Christ or is obstinate in sin Grievous sin to the to the the harm to the believers testimony or the indication that this is not a believer or the harm and impediment to the witness of the church as a congregation then when you talk you're talking about church discipline well you know if it's not exercised at the Lord's Supper in the Lord's table then you're not exercising church discipline the other thing is that when you have the membership of the church the congregation and the congregation is taking responsibility for its ministry and and the Church of which I'm a member mary and i'm members of 3rd Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville and the members meeting you know month by month then church discipline issues rightly administered by the elders and brought to the church for report and for action only only in the extreme circumstances that is to say by name the church doesn't deal with with things and unless they go really badly that's the bottom line even then the church is seeking as a congregation to take responsibility and and to seek the restoration of a brother or a sister but it's a part of the ongoing conversation the other thing we do at our church which is so Baptist I'm just so thankful I think it's so New Testament is that we have a church covenant and at the members meeting and at certain other points of the year we we stand and we read that covenant together we remind ourselves of our responsibilities to each other to to guard the the Ministry of the church the integrity the gospel and to seek to live amongst one another and to encourage one another in such that we walk with the Lord and that we do not bring by sin we do not bring disrepute upon ourselves or upon the any other or the or the congregation so I would say you need to mention it your preaching you know deal with your preaching deal with it as it comes in the text when you talk about the church define it at the Lord's table define it practice the practice the the discipline of understanding that the lord's table itself is to be an exercise not only in obedience to the command of christ but also obedience to the new testament understanding of the Lord's Supper which is a demonstration of the discipline of the church the teaching of the church the rigorous faithfulness of the church and then in the process of your elders or your leaders dealing with church discipline and bringing those for the church use those as opportunities not only to grieve where there's heartbreak and to rejoice where there's restoration but always to teach alright thank you ormond from Little Rock Arkansas we were discussing with a couple of our grandchildren the three days and three nights of Jesus spent in the tomb and I'm not certain we gave them an adequate explanation could you explain the timetable well Norman I know who you are and God bless you love you and you've got so many wonderful grandchildren but let me let me just say as a grandfather as well that's the kind of question you really want to enjoy first of all it says somebody's paying attention you know you do about three days and three nights but the most important thing to recognize is that when we think about a day we're already thinking in terms differently than then people in Judea in the first entry would have thought about the day because we think about a day as beginning in the morning and then continuing at night whereas the the the concept of a day in Judaism and not only in the old but but even now is that it begins at sunset you know the day before so the point is that with the trial and and with the arrest and trial and the scourging the crucifixion of the Lord it's a process of three days three days in the tomb by the time you look at how so it was it was part of three days insofar as Christ was crucified laid in the tomb and so that doesn't necessarily mean three 24-hour periods and and look here's the or mean let me just tell you here's the greatest assurance we have on that it is that in the time these events took place when Jesus crucified on Friday and he was raised from the dead on Sunday everybody at the time referred to that with no trouble whatsoever as three days later that is as three days in the tomb so that just tells you that they thought of time differently than we do not in the weather a day is 24 hours or not but we're a day begins and so even now when you consider the Jewish people and they're talking about the their the understanding of the Sabbath on the on the seventh day you know the obligations begin at sundown on Friday so you know one of the most assuring things to me it was to think about this when I'm reading the Bible the Bible would hardly say three days and then or Jesus Christ is raised on the third day that's the other thing just keep remember remember that is raised on the third day so you look at that and you go well this is the very same you know Luke's telling us this and for example just take one gospel and there it goes makes perfect sense makes perfect sense to Luke who after all wasn't Jewish but he understood exactly what that meant it makes perfect sense to John and his gospel to Matthew and to mark and in the preaching of the church the early church it made perfect sense so the problems are modern context and asking the question it's not a problem in the biblical text and so then that raises the question what about Jonah well Jonah evidently Jesus himself through the parallel so and of course with the Jonah it's not the same chronology but the point is there was just because the parallel being in the belly of the fish and the the sign of Jonah he talked about it's just all a reminder of the fact that there's great comfort and realizing that this is the Word of God and that as it's given to us it was meant to make perfect sense not only at the time but now so great question thank you Caleb from Oklahoma what's your advice for someone experiencing spiritual weariness in their day to day life and ministry how can I continually be renewed and not experienced so much fatigue in ministry I don't have a slightest idea Kalyn I'm what I mean is I don't know exactly how to transfer from my experience to yours and so it may be that you're just flat tired and exhausted but when you say fatigue spiritual weariness it sounds to me like more you're kind of being worn down and look that will happen in ministry and by the way it's gonna happen no matter how great your defenses are it's gonna happen for time to time no matter how much you love Christ and love ministry at times you're going to be fatigued in ministry your heart is going to grow faint and it's because you are human and it reminds us as ministers of our dependence upon Christ absolute dependence upon Christ because he's faithful when we're faithless and we also have to just remember the fact that we would be not only fatigued but defeated in ministry if we had to complete this thing so you know you uh you're gonna do what Paul talks about in Colossians chapter one you're good you're going to preach the word and fulfill your ministry hoping that you'll be able one day to present those believers complete or mature in Christ but that's only possible because Christ is gonna get it done now he's getting it done through you but he's gonna get it done for his own name sake and for his own glory and and we're all going to die before that's completed and it's not even gonna be completed in us when we die so you know you need physical rest by the way we that has been a principle is hard for me to learn but I've learned it much better as I get older we do need physical rest we also need moments where possible where we have some we mentioned hobbies and a vacations a few minutes ago you know if there's something a healthy about taking a fishing pole and a hook and a little carton of worms out to the local pond and just just being quiet and letting lint and letting God show you what happens and just know that incredible unexpected joy when there's a tug on the other end of the line and and just you know marriage I will tell you this I don't know I don't I think when when you look at Paul's admonition to Timothy in 1st Timothy 3 you know should be the husband and one wife I don't think the operational issue of one there is the first point although it's there it's there let's be clear it's there but the fact is wife and you know I I couldn't I couldn't imagine ministry without Mary and you know when when I feel down fatigued I've got someone who's who's gonna hug me and hold me and that that's priceless that's that's just absolutely priceless and and just just understand as you ask this question you're not alone don't look at other pastors and think boy they got this thing licked because generally when we're together we kind of see ourselves at our best because we would get up for it we are ready for it and and look there's such joy in ministry and and we want to show that joy but to at least have a friend have a friend in ministry you can pour your heart out to all right that that's that's a part of what we're trying to model and together for the ministry yet together for the gospel we can call this tonight together for the ministry to add together for the gospel mark and ligand I I mean the the friendship is such that you know we we need each other and we're there for each other and we when when when one of us may be faint the other two can be strong and that can happen any of us at any time and sometimes it can happen just in the middle of a conversation and you can even hear a tone of voice change in the course of a conversation and suddenly you only have to say hey I'm fatigued it just it just becomes clear so have a friend like that have and cherish and look for a wife like that and then you know it may also be I just have to say this that you're you're not following a biblical model of ministry which is to be a shared ministry you know with elders of the church and with others if you're trying to carry it all that's not a sign of a good healthy church okay Corey from Yankton South Dakota at what point are under what conditions would churches need to start thinking about disobeying quarantine ordinances you know the biggest issue here corey is if churches are singled out so right now the entire society in the economy basically it's like someone's just standing on the hose you know everything is slowed down to a trickle and I wrote about that today two different articles I posted a and the whole edition of the briefing this morning is about what I see as unconstitutional threats and actions against Christian churches but the big issue is this the tripwire is when the rule or the restriction is not generally applicable if it's generally applicable then that makes sense for a while and it works it makes sense in two ways Corey the first way is the church must not be singled out so if you've got a governor who says hey churches can't meet but the high school you know basketball team can play well that's a huge problem that's a huge problem and that's when you would you'd know you've got a problem and at that point civil disobedience could very well be called for I don't think that's the case in in most jurisdictions I think most political leaders have have understood the need for or been reminded of the need for a generally applicable policy so that's a good thing there that outliers need to be called out and as I said they're outliers from sea to shining sea right now and so we we've got to watch that but the other the other good thing to think about here Cory is that so long as it's a generally applicable restriction then the entire society can't wait for the restriction to be relieved that's that's a good thing so people can't wait to get to those games they can't wait to get to the freedom of movement they can't wait to open their businesses they can't wait to to be out in the community so that's a good sign if it's a generally applicable order then you're having an entire society saying we can't wait for this to be over and and if there's a unique restriction on the church then that's when we'd have to think very hard and if there's if there's an order that the church can't worship and and so that's another thing and I called out a couple of glaring problems more than two but two two that had to deal in particular with political entities intruding in the worship life of a church saying you could do this you can't do that and again that's where we have to recognize there's a big problem but you ask a good question and and we're gonna be in conversation about this if we reach the point where people say hey you can go back out in the community you can reopen your businesses you can do this but not churches we're gonna have a problem and I'm living on the front lines of calling that out for what it is and if I get arrested I will plan to get arrested for the glory of God I don't think that's going to happen but we always have to have to understand that the the other thing to think about is that as we are looking at these orders I have just really worn political officials stopped using the language of essential and non-essential as related to religious institutions and churches not your business another thing you don't say essential non-essential when you're talking about you know whether the the gift-wrapped store has to be open or the grocery stores be open I understand there's a distinction but you need to be very careful to stay away from the church speaking of what's essential and not essential you would think politicians have the sense not to do that if it's a generally applicable order then about an assembly then you've just included all assemblies you don't have to single out the church you're saying the church we got a problem all right Andrew from Des Moines what advice do you have for someone who feels called to ministry is not sure exactly what role they may they might fill okay well so here's the deal if you do know you might be wrong you don't know and so at this point at least we know this you're not wrong and so what I mean is I find that in the course of ministry an awful lot of folks end up doing things they did not know in the beginning they were saying yes to when they followed in obedience the call of Christ and ministry to serve the church so when you know how to roll just prepare to teach the Word of God that's the central role of ministry prepared to teach the Word of God and whether you become a preacher pastor or in some other aspect of ministry the one thing we know is that you are to prepare to be what is an elder you know able to teach so that's why for instance the main degree program at Southern Seminary and other similar institutions is the master divinity program which prepares you for ministry across a range of things it's it's the general ministry degree it's got the biblical and Theological content the content apologetics and church history and doctrine and and ethics and and all the rest in practical ministry and preaching and evangelism and missions and all the rest so that it will prepare you on a general basis to be ready for deployment in just about any aspect or role of ministry and then you'll discover as you're in ministry and as churches ask you to do X and ask you to do Y and ask you to do something else you're going to discover and and the church will discover you know where you are best deployed and I'll just promise you to all work out it will all work out and you may at the end of your ministry the Lord gives you link today's you're probably going to look back to your ministry and say I had a pretty good idea idea I'd be doing that I had no idea wasn't be doing that but faithfulness just led you there and so I would say don't worry about it just prepare for ministry and the Lord will deploy you for his glory as he sees fit hey who do you like better mark Denver or ligand Duncan yeah I know that Kevin from Washington asked that with a smiley face and the fact is it great to know that that you could have one friend much less two friends of such a quality it's kind of like if you have children or siblings and you look at it you go well you know if I need to do some things this is the first brother I'm gonna ask if I need to do something else finding help with that there's another brother I'm gonna ask but you know what I need them both and and you know what we're best together and so I know that the question was sent just to dare me to answer it so I'm gonna tell you the answer is who do I feel closer to like better marked overlooking Duncan the answer is yes the answer is I'm just thankful to have even one friend like that to have two friends like that is is beyond anything I would know to ask for one of the greatest gifts of ministry I have all right Matthew from Havana Illinois I was very hesitant to vote for President Trump in the 2016 elections because of character issues yet he has done some significant things in regards and sanctity of human life how do you wrestle through these issues Matthew I want to thank you for your question I'm sorry we're out of time on I'm kidding you we're not but boy isn't this an interesting question right here in 2020 because doesn't it for one thing just remind us how fast time goes I mean it seems like we were just talking about these issues in 2016 here we are in 2020 and in 2016 I was let me put it this way my political understanding is tied to my Christian worldview has been basically a very straight line from the time I was a teenager until I would say 2016 I didn't face many hard decisions electorally between the first presidential candidate voted for who by the way was Ronald Reagan I worked for him in 1976 in the campaign but I couldn't vote but in 1980 I was I was 20 but it was the first presidential election in which I could vote and and III voted for Ronald Reagan no question no mental energy required you no supported him again worked in the campaign that that made perfect sense and ever since then it's just made perfect sense I might have had a different candidate in some presidential cycles in the primary process but by the time we got to the to the general election it was very clear that I was going to support the Republican candidate because of my own worldview commitments and the issue the sanctity of human life that first loomed really large in the the American presidential election process in 1980 and has every year since then and you come to add to that the importance of the courts again related to the abortion issue but far larger than just the abortion issue you take you take the fact that that in general by the time you get to say the mid-1990s it's becoming implausible that a Democrats can be anyone other than someone very consistent with the Democratic platform and the Republicans going to be someone very consistent with the Republican platform and on issues related everything from marriage to sexuality to obviously even you know hermeneutics the way you interpret the Constitution you have two different worlds in in 2016 that became a very confused territory and it wasn't because the Democratic candidate wasn't predictable the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was extremely predictable the Democratic platform in 2016 was tragically predictable especially on issues of abortion and you know but even you know calling for taxpayer funding of abortion in 2016 the the disequilibrium in the race had everything to do with the Republican side and everything to do with with Donald Trump kind of astounding all expectations of the political class and winning the Republican presidential nomination and look he came with more baggage than any president to a candidate in American history I mean it just it that is of a major party he came with more baggage than anyone else I mean he wrote books in which he bragged about his promiscuity bragged about you know we cut deals his personal character was such that Americans knew what they were getting in the 2016 election and in the you know the final weeks of the election you had the bombshell of the the video in which she had made comments to a television personality that were just beyond even kind of the the moral vocabulary of most evangelical Christians and yet against all odds again that is a at least the political class Donald Trump won election in 2016 winning in the electoral college all kinds of reasons behind that I did not vote for a Donald Trump I certainly did not vote for Hillary Clinton as a matter of fact I did I did something like 30 radio spots commentaries and they were all against Hillary Clinton I just couldn't do him on support of Donald Trump but they were all gets totally Clinton I don't believe voted Hillary Clinton or encouraged anyone to vote for Hillary Clinton nor for anyone who was running on the Democratic platform at all so it was the platform itself in its abhorrence and it was Hillary Clinton and again there were character issues related to Hillary Clinton there and Bill Clinton I mean my goodness massive character issues but not the same Hillary Clinton was the epitome of the establishment in 2016 such as it is and Donald Trump was the epitome of the anti-establishment candidate but I had gone on national television something like 45 times during the Bill Clinton crisis and I called upon President Bill Clinton to resign his office not not I started you can't say not just both for the fact that I believed he had committed perjury before a grand jury and sexual misconduct and even abuse when you consider his president United States that was unforgivable in that office and so I felt that I was in a position where I just I could not say well I said that to Bill Clinton when he was president but I'm not going to say that to Donald Trump when he's Canada so are things different in 2020 for me I'll get your name again Matthew I'll tell you they are different for me in the final calculation a couple of things number one in in terms of how Christians view government and representative or constitutional democracies I would argue that what's happened in the United States is that the partisan divide has become so great that we are basically in a situation we're almost like someone voting in a parliamentary system it comes down to the position articulated by the party that's going to be most important and I realize this is something that's likely to be true for the rest of my life for the rest of my life I'm probably just going to vote for the the I mean unless the moral situation changes and then it's always possible not likely though look at the trajectory these parties over decades I'm not likely to live long enough for anything to be fundamentally different which means I am just going to end up voting for the Republican presidential candidate and campaigning and every way I know against and again I made every argument on the briefing I could against Hillary Clinton in 2016 and I'm gonna be I already have been as clear as I think I could possibly be about the impossibility of voting for the Democratic candidate in my view just and it's not there's no just it's not just over the sanctity of life issue but just consider what's being that party swerve so far they left and there's now even on religious liberty issues so antagonistic to biblical Christianity and when you consider what happened you know what the the the contraception mandate in the Obama years and you consider that the transgender revolution the whole LGBTQ collision with the religious liberty you think about the future of the courts and yes the sanctity of human life I don't think anyone is actually a single-issue voter and I say that because they're related issues but the fact is I don't believe you actually I don't I I don't understand the people who would say yes I'm entirely for the transgender revolution at the expense of religious liberty but I'm pro-life and I where's that those people may be eccentric but that is not a normal worldview pattern and it's because we understand there's a basic Christian worldview a theistic worldview and has implications and there's a non theistic worldview and it has implications and and so it they're very they're very few opportunities I would say actually to be an honest single-issue voter but I think every one of us if on us would say there is at least one issue that would be determinative for me and I I don't apologize for saying that the life issue is its determinative so what have I learned I've learned I think that that the platform is where I have the in the general election I don't have the opportunity to choose the candidate I have the opportunity to elect one of these two candidates presented to me and so I am just being honest and candid I I don't think I don't I don't have a different moral estimation of Donald Trump I mean even in office I mean you know eat he continually leaves me very frustrated and how he presents himself how he speaks but he has been more consistent in pro life decisions executive orders I think are consistent with what I see to be is the rightful exercise of government on so many of these issues and he has been more consistent than any President of the United States of any party but he's been more consistent than any Republican certainly in the quality of appointments he's made to the federal judiciary which will far outlive any any presidency and and then again I just want to say it's in the context of the fact that in order to in order to win the Democratic nomination which is a party now far to the left of where it was in 2016 Joe Biden who also has character issues now is nothing this icy moral equivalent shake any two individuals they're never exactly the same but but there are all kinds of I mean what he did on the hyde amendment that and you know having been for it for so many decades he told us and then all of a sudden he's against it you know they're all kinds of character issues here but i i will i will make a different political calculation in 2020 and so you know it's a fair question are you are you making a political distinction now and then building you know ex post facto a worldview rationale for it well that's that's always a danger which is where I have to rely on the fact that I've been making these arguments out loud for my entire adult life and I'm willing to live with those arguments I've made over time and it's a consistent trajectory I'm having to look at the situation in 2020 differently because 2009 he is not 2016 and I expect in 2024 we'll be talking about issues we couldn't imagine now if the Lord allows us but that that I think that's the best way I know to put it by the time the political platforms of the two parties are released I think they're gonna be very few Americans who are gonna say I really don't know which way I'm gonna vote if they have any consistent worldview whatsoever Eric from Blackshear Georgia how do you respond to a woman who claims that she's using her gifting to preach as a pastor and preacher of a local church well what you say is no you're not now I understand I'm not saying that you just knock on her door and say no you're not but the fact is that when we're talking about gifting in in the Bible if it's God's gift it will be given and is to be exercised according to God's command and so God is not the author of confusion he doesn't he doesn't give someone a gift that is to be used in his church and then call that person to defy his own commands and to reveal pattern about how that gift is to be used now the key words were in the church so I think there are women who have massive leadership ability I think they're women who have massive teaching ability and by the way there's a deployment for that in the church according to God's plan the Titus to woman for example and women teaching women it's one of the greatest needs we have in the Christian Church today but women teaching in the General Assembly that Presbyterians are going to perk up at that point speaking in the Assembly of the church in the congregation that that I believe is in violation of God's Word so again God's not the author of confusion he doesn't he doesn't give a gift for the church and then call people to disobey the application of that gift so we're not denying that persons have great ability and that a whole gifts come from God the question is where are these to be rightly exercised and where's the church to follow God's pattern for instance in the teaching authority the teaching office of the church and I think the New Testament pattern is very clear that doesn't mean that women never teach in the church it doesn't mean that that these gifts do not come from God it means that every gift is to be received and applied and exercised in consistency with God's Word and so I was being a little bit facetious where I just said no you're not but the fact is that we didn't have to have some honest conversations and you know if we were just looking at at people at individuals you know we might look at certain kinds of abilities and say you ought to be this you ought to be that you ought to be this but over time you come to understand it's a little more complex than that and and that's why in the ministry we actually need God to give us a plan and God to give us a structure and God to give us instructions he does and and and we actually need the church to be judicious and obedient and that means thinking these things through and taking responsibility for the right ordering in the ministry and and so in a healthy Church these things are gonna work out but you know God is not going to contradict himself and I think that's a great assurance and then it comes down to whether or not we believe we can read the Bible and find God's structure and plan and command for the church or not I believe we certainly can and must and if we can't we're doomed and the church is nothing more than an inchoate you know disorganized you know have it as you will organization I don't think that's at all true I believe the Bible is the Word of God and the the church is the the Bible people all right Adam where did Jesus go when he died well funny you ask that question Adam I did not ask him I did not ask Adam to ask this question but actually there's a very important book I will simply in which I addressed that very question the Apostle Street why because I believe in the Apostles Creed and its most historic form of Leo's right he descended into hell but you asked such a good question Adam what does that mean I believe he descended unto the realm of the dead him which is the confessional Creed a language is saying as the Bible says he really died and and he was laid in the tomb so his body was in the tomb and and he was in his spirit in the realm of the dead it's the same realm of the dead that you would have referred to in the Old Testament of Sheol and in the New Testament is Hades I do not believe that and by the way remember that in in the in both in the Gospels and in the book of Revelation hell is a place being prepared that is Gehenna is being prepared now in Luke 16 we come to understand that there is a in the the intermediate state there is already punishment for those who are like the rich man you know in torment in Hades but we have to avoid extra biblical speculation here Adam so one of the problems came especially in late patristic Christianity in particular in medieval Christianity there were simply mischief and speculation that took place about what happened on what the church would call a Holy Saturday you know that period where Christ was that was in the realm of the Dead and I think we ought to avoid that kind of speculation I believe as I say in the book the Apostles Creed and and I argue for that phrase to be in the Apostles Creed because it's stating that Jesus actually died and and his death was like our death that's what's so important it's his death was like our death when Jesus died he died just like Abraham died he died just like Moses died he died just like Lazarus had died and he will he died the death that you and I will one day die if he tarries and and and I think that's just really important but having suffered death for us he was raised by the father on the third day and and of course that's our hope the firstborn of many brethren thank you so much Adam Wesley from Gulfport Mississippi did the Spirit of God in dwell Old Testament Saints yes in a sense yes being filled with the spirit in that sense was being filled with divine utterance and and divine calling a divine courage that there are many references to the Spirit of God moving and the spirit being upon someone and but that's different than the Holy Spirit as the helper whom Christ sins as we have so beautifully articulated in the gospel of of John so we come to understand that in some sense yes God's Spirit was and and I think the the the most important pronoun error adverb but might actually be upon him in this case just thinking of of how to speak but the the fact is were united with Christ and the Holy Spirit dwells within us upon and and by the way that's not something more and less at any given time this is another crucial distinction it's not something that happens and then perhaps doesn't happen and and for instance when when you have an Old Testament prophet speaking prophecy that was an occasional act but the Spirit dwells within us always and that's that that's a distinction is it wise for Elder boards to be comprised of both Calvinist and our minions when this can compromise unity in the church and how it proclaims the gospel where does this issue fall in terms of theological triage well I don't mean to be squeamish here but it kind of depends and so I would say that I would not be in a church where there is an Arminian elder period I just wouldn't but but by that I mean Arminian as in really Arminian and and that that doesn't have much to do for instance with virtually any Southern Baptist Church that I know where the Baptist faith a message is not our many and it's just someone who's you'd have people who are more self-consciously inconsistently Calvinist and you have people who however they might define themselves and I'm not going to do it in any way pejorative I'll just say they're they're people who would not identify as Calvinists in in any kind of self-conscious way or perhaps in a consistent you know Calvinist structure but nonetheless the Baptist faith a message which is the confession of the Southern Baptist Convention establishes a real unity in which you have people who are you know standing on the same ground that but they don't necessarily on for instance the five points of Calvinism they might not agree on the five points of Calvinism but they're agreeing on the larger structure let's put it this way a consistent Arminian argues with with our minion ism that that there are people who are believers who are subsequently not believers and or you know and saved and then are not saved and and we don't believe that and in fact that position is explicitly rejected by the the Baptist faith and message so I realize you don't necessarily ask for a Baptist Church or much less a Southern Baptist Church I would simply say I know there's some community like churches where you could have elders and our minions who are I mean Calvinists are minions it might be a real Calvinist and a real Arminian that's just beyond the stretch and in that case I just think it really is it really is very dangerous in the sense that it comes down to how you preach the gospel and how you address the church do you address the church as ones who are united to Christ and can never be severed from him or do you address the church as those who are Christians today and we hope our Christians in the future you know so theology has consequences it's a very good question theology has consequences so I'll simply say I would find that to be a and and by the way you asked where this isn't theological triage I don't mean to leave that this will be second-tier this would be a second-level issue because this is an issue that constitutes the membership and the leadership of the church but does not mean you anathematizing and say on the basis of this disagreement this person is not a Christian so I believe that there are Arminian Christians I do I don't believe they're theologically consistent but I believe there are Arminian Christians and most are minions I know believe they're Calvinists Christians so we're not anathematizing we're not declaring one another to be a heretic but but when we organize a church that's where you're going to the preaching of the gospel is going to go one way or the other if you're truly Arminian and/or truly Calvinist again that is a situation that is not at all common in the denomination of which I am a part in which there's a far far greater unity and always has been a far far greater unity and so that that's a very different picture Sam Fayetteville Arkansas what are some of the best books you've read on church history oh my goodness you know it's really interesting that I mentioned in a conversation with ligand Duncan and Mark Denver just the other day that I can still remember as a seminary student reading J and D Kelly's book early Christian doctrines and just all the sudden realizing oh my goodness I was twenty years old when I read it I remember thinking I know so little about the history of the church I just wanted us so much more and so I probably read that book like three or four times and I know later in life I bought a different copy it wasn't marked up the way I marked it up when I was 20 and I could mark it up a different way actually when I was teaching a doctoral seminar one time and you know if you're interesting to look at those two volumes and say there's the 20 year old there's the 40 year old these are the things and you know what is most amazing to me I underlined almost all the same parts I guess again it's just a basic consistency which I hope is right and healthy you know hey I I'm always very very hesitant what I'm think about you know the best books in church history because they're just so I love biographical works you know whether it's even something as recent as you know the two volumes by Ian Murray um Martyn lloyd-jones are looking at Rowan bangtan's book here I stand on Martin Luther if you will email me Sam I'll try to be better and sending aa reading list I'm better when I write him out and and share them over time but you know I still remember reading when you just consider the the history the of the Christian Church just basic text books in church history that I just learned so much from and so I'll be glad to send some of those the other thing I would recommend is that another transformative experience in my life was reading the five volumes of Yaroslav pelicans work the Christian tradition that's historical theology but boy is it rich stuff it by the time you do that it's like taking you know a couple of doctoral seminars with the late Yaroslav Pelican if you don't know that name Yaroslav and then a great name you got to be a good scholar if your name is Yaroslav Pelican that's jay-ar OSL AVP ii i kan he was sterling professor of history at Yale University and those five volumes on the history of Christian doctrine owns the Christian tradition they're a tour de force in in understanding the theological pilgrimage of the Christian Church Megan from Downingtown Pennsylvania do unborn or young children go to heaven I think the answer to that is yes and Megan what a sweet question my friend Danny akin and I Danny by the way did a breakout session together for gospel this year for us available for you online when when all this is unfolded Danny akin IO 20 years ago probably wrote an article on the salvation of the little ones and it's on our website and if you can't find it just email me at albert Mohler calm and we'll we'll make sure you get a link to it but i won't go through the whole argument but i think consistent with biblical revelation and with our theological structure I have confidence that in the salvation of the little ones and I will just tell you that I take a lot of this in terms of my encouragement from passages such as the first chapter of Deuteronomy where God Himself acknowledges a distinction between the children of Israel who are disobedient in the wilderness and their little ones as he refers to them who did not know the difference between good and evil now I'm not saying that I believe there's an age of accountability in that sense I'm not saying that that those infants and unborn children are not sinners indeed marked by total depravity and and of course original sin I'm not saying they don't need Jesus I believe that they do but God in His sovereignty is sovereign over all things and I believe that there's ample Biblical encouragement for me to believe that provision is made in Christ for those who and and by the way this would include not only children not yet born or young children it would also refer to those who because of mental incapacitation or or issue you know did not have the opportunity to respond to the gospel as you and I have had and so this is not an easy question that I don't have a you know third Corinthians and which I have a proof text it's a biblical logic but I'll stand here with people like Charles Spurgeon John MacArthur you go down the history of the Christian Church the alternatives are few either no infants are saved and that's that was the traditional teaching of the Roman Catholic Church until fairly recently it was limbo you know or or at least let's put it this way the official teaching was that that infants were not in hell but were at least in common as a lay Catholic theology and buttressed by authoritative Catholic teaching they were in a they were in a situation different than either the redeemed or the Damned and and or you can say that all infants are saved or you can say that some infants are saved and then you'd have to explain how in the world that can be and whether it's some infants are saved or all infants are saved in either respect you can't make the argument that it's based upon a conscious confession of Jesus Christ as Lord because you're talking about children who are not old enough to do that so then you're just left with the biblical evidence and the best biblical theology you can deduce and again I refer you to that article okay I wish we could just do this all night I'd do it what would you say are the greatest dangers to the church today you know I think the greatest danger to the church today it would be that we'd be unaware of how our thinking has become secular and we'd be unconcerned with unbiblical teachings infiltrating the church or we would be unconcerned about Christ's people not being ecstatically excited about and motivated by the teachings of God so it all comes down to the teaching ministry of the church what we're looking for is God's people exalting in God's truth to God's glory living out in faithfulness God's truth to God's glory where that truth is denied and heresy or false teaching we've got a huge problem and don't we have a lot of evidence of false teaching I mean again I I think and we talked about this in a panel and a breakout session related to together for the gospel this time it's just that you know there's kind of a hard prosperity theology that no one at t4g I think would ever embrace but there's a soft prosperity theology kind of in the self actualize a that there's pretty insidious in an evangelical Christianity and and then there there is the absence of the preaching of the word of God and the teaching of God's Word and and we've got to be horrified by the absence not only the presence of heresy but the absence of biblical teaching and and then there just be the danger that Christ's people would not exalt in fine greatest joy in God's truth and God's presence in his people and his faithfulness to us in Christ so I think there all kinds of other dangers of materialism and faithfulness but I think it really comes back to those three things more than than anything else I see we've got one more question coming here and until they stop me what advice do you have for young pastors for loving and leading their families just in what a great question and I can tell you're loving and leading your family or you fully intend to do so when you have a family by the way you ask it and I would simply say that the families the first church and I I thought of this just the other day in this way if the family is the first church biblically defined in terms of this is where at the at the parents knee and the the the parents are are making their home a church for their children now that's not to say they're not in church it's not to say I'm any excuse for not being fully engaged in the life of the local church but when we say the family is the first church it means that faithfulness has to start there and especially when raising children and nurturing and loving children it has to start there and if a pastor isn't faithful there why would he be faithful in a larger family so just keep that in mind and and look God's gonna make it easy for you to love your family guys don't make it easy for you to love your wife and in God's eye make it very easy if you love your children and so but love them in a way that fits a biblical model of love it's it's not an indulgent love it is a self sacrificial love it's a gracious just joyas love it's not it's not an indulgent love in the same way the church exercises discipline so the the home rightly ordered exercises discipline the parents exercise discipline but again the whole point is to raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and then you will you'll lead by the way first thing is to leads to teach to teach us to lead and then remember that that that leadership is also exercised in in a sense of gravity gravitas and authority in the family so that you lead by presenting Christ and truth and faithfulness demonstrating your obedience to Christ in such a way that it will be very natural to your children to follow your example of obedience to Christ Caleb from Cambridge I know sure if that's Cambridge in the UK or Cambridge Massachusetts it just says Cambridge so either one of them is a wonderful place to be if you could sit under the Ministry of one person in history not a person from the Bible who would that be and why oh my goodness I will tell you that I would love to I tell people this I would love to have lived in Luther's house and gone to Calvin's church now I realize that's impossible and anachronistic but I would love to have been around Luther I'd love to hear Luther preach but I'm not a Lutheran I would love to have heard Calvin teach the Word of God I'm also not a Presbyterian and I'd love to have been in Spurgeon's Tabernacle I'd love to have heard Martyn lloyd-jones but as much as I love the question Caleb it vexes me because I can't put myself in London in the 1960s or for that matter in the 1860s and 70s and 80s I can't put myself you know in Vinton burg in the 16th century or in Geneva in the 16th century so that's all imagination I'm thankful that in God's sovereignty I've had the pastors that I've had and the older I get the more I want to say thank you to those pastors who taught me the Word of God and showed me Christ from the time I was a tiny little thing and my pastor was dr. T Rupert Coleman in Lakeland Florida to the pastor I have now Greg Gilbert who's one of the speakers this year's together for the gospel I'm thankful with the pastors who've loved me and taught me from the very beginning and so there's a sense in which I love your question is the historian in me loves that question but the Christian to me wants to say I can't indulge that question too much because then the sovereignty of God God put me in a place where these were my pastors and I'm very thankful for them and several of them have already gone to be with the Lord and I don't even have a chance to thank them the way I'd love to thank them right now all right well I understand that then we are out of time I just decided and run on a little bit I want to thank you for joining us tonight for this this special edition of ask anything I'm really looking forward with you together for the gospel over the next couple of days and and more I want to speak to you from the heart just a little bit if you'll allow me I can't really say this you know on the together for the gospel platform because we don't have the same platform this year but mark and league and I and and the other speakers who are aparted together for the gospel we're on the one hand just extremely disappointed we're not together that's just honest but we to understanding the sovereign Providence of God understand that God intends something better for us maybe that something better includes you being where you are right now rather than in Louisville Kentucky where we plan to be maybe maybe the Lord's doing something in our lives and in our churches that wouldn't happen otherwise but we came to the realization that we can do this and so I just want to tell you everyone the speakers for it together for the gospel poured his heart out in in getting the message ready for you to to receive over together for the gospel 2020 and I certainly did that and so I just want to say we're hoping and praying that what you receive maybe tonight we I so wanted to welcome you to the campus I it was such a beautiful spectacular night on the campus and so I drove up and I admit I thought what a tragedy what a heartache that we don't have all these people on the campus and then I thought that's just not as Christian as you ought to be Moeller listen to your theology talk to yourself and I realized that God and His Providence makes no mistakes he has intended something for us in together for gospel 2020 that will only come to us by the way we're going to experience it this year so I'm gonna be thankful thankful for the time with you tonight in closing I may just remind you of our virtual preview on again different than we intended to do it but I believe God has something special in it Friday 1 o'clock Eastern Daylight Time you can find out more about it SBTs edu slash preview your questions have encouraged me I hope by God's grace talking about these questions has encouraged you until we meet again tomorrow morning for it together for the gospel god bless you all rest well you

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Keywords: Albert Mohler, Ask Anything, T4G, Al Mohler, Politics, Theology, Worldview, Southern Seminary, SBTS

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Length: 79min 24sec (4764 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 15 2020