Bible Questions and Answers, Part 70

even dr. mark Arthur mark Rainier Simi Valley High mark seems to be a resurgence of a certain book and a couple programs you mention it in fool's gold and I want to mention the book of the author but you'll figure it out are we supposed to be more in touch with our or heart being warned the wild side or are we supposed to practice self-control because it's it's going around again well is this the wild at heart kind of books yes sir yeah there's a series of books it started out with wild at heart and basically it said that men should go out into the wilderness and you know live out under the Starlight and camp in a tent and express sort of your inner savage and as if this was some spiritual exercise no none of these books are really helpful at all they are they they're utterly misguided manhood is not is not basically achieved by abandoning all your responsibilities and going out and staring at the sky manhood is achieved by taking full responsibility for everything that exists in your world abandoning things it's just an old approach it goes back to monastics and monks in the past who thought that isolation was the key to spirituality when in fact spiritual development and spiritual growth and coming to the place of utter and complete abandonment to Christ and usefulness to him happens in the context of the life of the church my argument with that there are a lot of things wrong with that whole series of books but the primary thing is the idea that God wants to develop our virtue and our sanctification in the Fellowship of the saints not in some isolated fashion so that that is that the opposite of of coming together assembling together stimulating one another in love and good work so all of those books you waste your time reading them because they create an artificial kind of spirituality that been around for a long time it's just the latest version of it okay thank you sir thank you yes hi John my name is Andrew hi Andrew Merry Christmas thank you thanks for being our pastor and congratulations on 50 years of ministry thank you Andrew I was raised charismatic and spent 10 years Pentecostal as you may know those movements are all into like praying against the spirit of this rebuking and binding the spirit of that so and so forth so my question is basically do we need to think of or be afraid of Satan how should we think of Satan you know he prowls about like a roaring lion seeking who to devour what is spiritual warfare in title a entail one of the pastor's here said that spiritual affairs just warrant against your own sinfulness so basically how should we think of saying or should we think of Satan should our mind just be unwashed well it's it's a good question we don't want to be ignorant of Satan's devices that's what scripture says we don't want to be ignorant of his devices Satan comes at us through devices he comes at us through the world system I'm Satan first of all is not omnipresent okay he's fast but he's not omnipresent so the notion that whatever's going wrong in your life is specifically Satan at work it's just not accurate Satan has a host of demons as well who do his bidding around the world but primarily he functions with the system of evil that is basically within the human race so a fallen race of people are basically in the hands of Satan the whole world lies in the lap of the evil one that's what scripture says so it's it's not a matter of us fighting Satan as a personality but it is important that we not be ignorant of his devices and he goes around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour not in some personal encounter with satan but he goes around the creating an environment in the world that becomes solicitous to what is evil he drives the world system at the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life just look at advertising alone just look at television alone or film or or any form of media it is just loaded with things that appeal to the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life that that that that sort of sums up the contemporary human philosophy we have a right to be proud we have a right to fulfill our desires we have a right to fulfill even what we lust for that this is all legitimate this is Satan's big lie so it's important for a Christian to understand that you're you may never engage in a personal battle with Satan but if you do he's no more powerful than any other demon and it's important to say that the scripture gives us this promise resist the devil and he will flee from you it's not so much that you have to identify him and flee it's that if you resist him and you resist him by being strong in the word and wearing the armor of Ephesians six he will flee from you that there's there's no basis for chasing around Satan and talking to him I've never said a word to him in my entire life I don't intend to I don't even know if he's around but that would be pointless anyway but but I I avoid Satan and I avoid the operation of Satan if I avoid the things that come from the world system at the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and you insulate yourself from those kinds of things by setting your affection on things above by loving Christ by dwelling on his word David says your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you a greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world right the Spirit of God is greater than Satan you belong to God not even Satan can take you out of God's hands nothing can remove you from his care nothing can separate you from his love so I don't need to be preoccupied with him you don't need to speak to him or even to speak to demon spiritual warfare you brought that up at the end is described in second Corinthians as addressing the lies and the deceptive theologies and philosophies in the world with the truth of God what the Apostle Paul says in 2nd Corinthians is the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly they're not human in other words we're fighting a spiritual war but we can't use human ingenuity human wisdom human ideas human strategies because we are assaulting fortresses he says fortresses the idea is a stone fortress that the targets are too formidable for us to be using human ingenuity to attack the kingdom of darkness and what does he mean by attack it well he goes on to say we are assaulting fortresses and when you ask what what does he mean by that the very next line we are assaulting a log is Maas which is the Greek word for ideas ok spiritual warfare is not chasing Satan it's not chasing demons it's attacking ideologies it's attacking the lies of psychology for philosophy all forms of religion and Paul goes on to say it is virtually an assault or an attack on any idea raised up against the knowledge of God 2nd Corinthians 10 has all of this so the weapons of our warfare not they're not fleshly but they're mighty unto God we have to use divine weapons and the weapons assault the fortresses in which people are held captive and those fortresses are their ideologies so spiritual warfare is essentially taking the truth and smashing the false ideas that hold people prisoner those fortresses become their prisons and those fortresses ultimately become their tombs and the word for fortress refers to all three so spiritual warfare is not chasing Satan it's not chasing demons think of the sons of sceva in the book of Acts who were supposed to be able to cast out demons and the demon said to them Jesus we know and Paul we know but who are you as if to say you have no authority over us so your whole life long you don't need to be chasing demons you need to be building yourself up on his most holy word so that you know the truth well enough to protect yourself and you know the truth well enough to assault the ideologies that Satan has formed in the world that hold people prisoner and ultimately then you've take the truth and bring every thought Paul says captive to Christ so we're smashing these fortifications these wrong ideas raised up against the true knowledge of God to bring people into the knowledge of Christ that's spiritual warfare ok thank you very much and that is so much a part of the charismatic movement but it's it fits in that movement because there's so much fantasy in that movement there's not only fantasy about dealing with Satan and demons there's fantasy about even dealing with the Holy Spirit there's fantasy about miracles there's fantasy about speaking in tongues and it's it's full of things that are not biblical so it's not surprising that that's part of it as well ok yes sir hi Pastor John hi my name is Christian Louisa hi Christian thank you in cases of those who has come to faith in Christ but eventually left the faith in light of Hebrews chapter 66 you know prevent us from telling them the gospel again or praying for their salvation or inviting them back to salvation or so justice we just considered have to be dead no that's a very good question Christian when you have somebody who makes a profession of faith in Christ and then they abandon that turn away from that should we not then call them to Christ call them to faith in Christ or should we just assume that they have violated the basically what is laid out at Hebrews six that if they if they reject they can never be brought back to the point of salvation that would be describing an apostate and the answer is this when you have someone who professes to be Christian and who walks away from that you would apply immediately the eighteenth chapter of Matthew and you would go to that person and you would call that person back to faith back to obedience this is the first step in discipline if the if if a believer sins you go to him right and that there might be a sin of unbelief that arises you don't know if this is a true believer so you go to him and if he still doesn't repent of that let's say it's unbelief or the denial of the Lord you would still exercise that same effort you would then go with two or three witnesses to confirm that this is an this is a real denial of the faith and you would still call that person back to faith and if you tell the church and the church does the same thing and the person still does not respond then the scripture says you treat them like an unbeliever you treat them like an outsider so I think when when someone who professes faith in Christ appears to turn away wander away defect you don't want to assume that this is a permanent act of apostasy you you want to go through the process of calling that person back to fidelity and faithfulness to Christ following up with the two or three witnesses and even all of the Saints who know that person calling that person back to faith in Christ and I think our Lord gives us an illustration of this in the 18th chapter of Matthew where he says the Shepherd had a hundred sheep right and one of those sheep wanders away what does the Shepherd do he leaves the ninety and nine and he goes after that sheep had occasion in my life to do that a number of times to pursue someone who has walked away from the flock and might apparently be a false believer who went out from us as John says in first John because he never was of us but I don't know that so I would follow what our Lord says if I have a sheep who wanders away I'm not gonna say well good riddance there's another apostate I'm gonna pursue that sheep and do everything I can to find that sheep to tear him even so out of the wool wool from aus and bring him back Shepherd did that that was the picture of the Shepherd if she wandered away and the Shepherd would go and find that sheep and bring it back to show to the owner of the sheep that he had tried to rescue that sheep even if he couldn't do it he would need to bring back a piece of the Sheep sort of ripped out of the wolf's mouth to prove to the owner that he hadn't stolen the Sheep so I think the Lord wants us to go after those believers who wander away not to make an assumption about them and after we've done all we can there you know we then may decide that this down the road becomes a permanent rejection of the gospel and that goes into the category of apostasy and Hebrews 6 says that if you have heard the truth and been exposed to the truth and had complete understanding of the truth and you turn away in a final act then it's impossible to be renewed again to repentance but only the Lord knows when that moment comes I think for the rest of us we pursue those people with love and try to call them back okay good question thank you so much hello mr. MacArthur I'm Michael Marshall hi Mike you spoken the Christian of Christmas when it's how it started back in Genesis mhm through some of my study there in first Kings Jeroboam started a feast of his own to correlate with the Feast in Judah assist so I'm convinced that that's Christmas started in I've talked to many Christians that realize that Christmas is of pagan origins and as in Jeremiah 10 it says not to learn those ways of cutting down trees sure and I think it's high time that we stopped doing two things and get back true to true Word of God and believe what he said sure let me respond to that and I appreciate that I I don't know I'd have to think about going back to the the passage that you referred to about Jeroboam but I understand that Christmas the birth of Christ has gotten mingled with paganism through the years I fully understand that how else could you explain Santa Claus and let me tell you how bad Santa Claus is okay you asked so I'm going to tell you how bad Santa Claus is Santa Claus is the world's counterfeit God and the reason I say that is because Santa Claus is summed up in you better watch out you better not cry you better not pout Santa Claus is coming to town he sees you when you're sleeping he knows when you're awake he knows when you've been good or bad really there is there is another omniscient being in the world so be good for goodness sake because if you're good he'll reward you that is a false god of a works/righteousness system right that's that's that's the devil's lie somebody up there is watching you and if you're good you'll be fine that's a works based concept and then you give Santa omniscience and you also find out that he's not righteous because you know you were bad and you got a bunch of stuff anyway so you can't trust this word and he's not righteous this is just the world creating a kind of children's picture of a false deity I get all that I also understand the the rest of the follower all like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and all of that has nothing to do with the person of Jesus Christ and I get that it clouds the clarity of the picture of Christ I understand all of that but having said all of that I will say this God has allowed in human history for the birth of his son to be essentially a global holiday what whatever accoutrements have been added to it to confuse it whatever pagan elements have been added to it same with the Resurrection and Easter and rabbits and chickens and whatever the world the world may do everything they can to confuse and cover that but it is still true that at this time of year the whole world is focused on the fact that the Son of God was born into the world and that reality gives us opportunity to speak the truth into that consciousness that's all I'm saying so I think we have to take advantage of these opportunities rather than just condemn none of us as worshipping a false god none of us is worshipping Satan but we do understand that while the world is conscious of Christ we need to speak about him now about a tree let me say this I don't know what pagans do with trees but I know who made them God made trees and to celebrate God's creation and even the birth of Christ with some kind of expression that comes down to a tree is far different than creating an idol because the tree is the handiwork of God so I just think you have to cut through the garbage that surrounds Christmas and you can celebrate the birth of our Lord because your heart belongs to him he belongs to you and clear out the clutter and get to the celebration of Christ and use the opportunity to speak about who he is as long as people are aware of it okay fair enough I have to say it reminds me of the children of Israel in the golden calf and sure they were serving God they said Yahweh his name right but he said let's stand back I'm going to destroy you right it's different in this sense Mike we're we're not serving God in the name of Santa right we're serving God and trying to clear Santa out of the picture according to the Word of God it is sinful it's unlawful and we should not be doing it it the the Baptist Church back in 1704 the Puritans the Baptist and the president's Presbyterians was fighting against it now if I walk into a Baptist Church that I grew up in they would bust the window with me throwing me out the Word of God is true John McArthur I listened to you for years back in Kentucky and it's time I say today to serve the living Yahweh his name is Yahweh his son is Yeshua and those are his righteous holy names that no man is going to stop the things that God's gonna do and his law we're all gonna be judged by that law and when we was you were saying so much this morning I was trying about about Psalms 86 89 89 34 he will not alter nothing he said he won't change nothing you won't break it we've got to realize that he is not going to change for us we've got to change into him and that those schools the schoolmaster that's the law is spiritual now I've studied and he's woke me to the truths of his word and people are coming awake he says awaken to righteousness he sin is translation can I just tell you this yeah I agree with everything you said welcome glad you're here thank you amen hey man hi Pastor John my name is Ramon my second time at this church the first time was this morning welcome Ramon glad you're here thank you I'd heard a lot about you in the recent years and when I realized that you're actually here in my city I was really surprised I've been living here badly for quite a few years now but I'm glad to finally have come in attendance and heard you speak in person and I want to thank a brother Joe for helping me articulate this question mark 9 42 through 49 talks about the danger of making little ones stumble and removing all sin from your life to the point of you know removing any eye or hand that might make you sin however in this passage there's one verse that's not included in any other gospel it's mark 949 specifically it says everyone will be salted with fire I was just curious what that meant thank you yeah you need to get a copy of the MacArthur Study Bible do you have one of those no okay Joe will give you one after the service and all those kinds of passages yeah all those kinds of passages are fully explained in the MacArthur Study Bible Joe that's your assignment okay to the bookstore that is why we put together the Study Bible because there are passages like that that on the face are are hard to understand in the context so get a MacArthur Study Bible and the answers all in there okay Ramona thank you so much thank you brother okay next good evening Pastor John my name is sherry hi sherry I just wanted to ask you we know that even good solid Christians can feel fear when they're facing imminent death and I was just wondering what your personal favorite verses are to comfort a believing Christian when they're near death that like the song said tonight that all is well no I have been reading a fascinating biography of of a Scottish preacher from back in the 1600s and I came his name was William burns and I came to the the end of his life in the book so it's a fascinating book banner of truth has published that it's the pastor of kill such is the title of it it's the story of this faithful faithful pastor and when he came to the end of his life he had one request as he was on his deathbed and it was this he asked his family that were gathered around him to read over and over again to him Romans chapter 8 this he found to be the greatest comfort what then shall we say to these things if God is for us who is against us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how will he not also with him freely give us all things who will bring a charge against God's elect God is the one who justifies who is the one who condemns Christ Jesus is he who died yes rather was raised who is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us so who will separate us from the love of Christ will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword just as it is written for your sake we are being put to death all we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered but in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us I am convinced that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord and he found his comfort and that promise that nothing could separate him from the Lord not even death itself I don't know how you get any better comfort than that okay thank you good question yes hi my name is Sarah and I was just wanting to know which attribute of God that you rest in most and why I [Music] think that the the most comforting attribute of God is his love because it is the kind of love that transcends all failures that which is most wonderful about God is that God so loved the world there is no other God in the world of false religions that is by nature a loving God this is bound up in the fact that I have made a comment about it this morning that God is a Trinity think about Islam Allah is one therefore Allah eternally possesses no relational attribute who D relate to he is one therefore he has no interest in a relationship with anyone that is why no one in Islam assumes that Allah loves them or has any reason to build a relationship with them because here is supposedly an eternal being who is one contrast that with the Trinity God is Father Son and Holy Spirit and when our Lord describes his relationship to the Father he describes it as a relationship of love that the son loves the father and the father loves the son and they are bound together eternally in this love God is relational God is by nature a loving God and because of his love for the son he determined to give the son a gift of love and that gift of love was a redeemed humanity and that redeemed humanity would be loved by God and be chosen to be the bride for his son so it is compelling to understand that you cannot have a single God who is the eternal being who has within his nature any interest in a relationship with anybody else you say well wait a minute Allah created yes but Allah created only for his own devices only for his own purposes only for his own duties only for his own service and not to have a relationship because a single God can possess no attribute that is by definition relational that is why you don't ever want to undersell the significance of the Trinity when the very creation occurs what does Genesis say let us make man in our image there is a loving father and a loving son and a loving Holy Spirit that are in relation eternally and through them and God's love for them he extends that love to us and God by nature is a loving God that is the most defining characteristic of God that's why God is called a father you're not a father unless you have a relationship with a son and even though it's an eternal father and an eternal son it's still by definition the reality that God is by nature a loving God that he loves his son and his spirit with an infinite love that is the most compelling attribute of God and because he loves he seeks to demonstrate that love to his son and through his son and when Jesus prays in John 17 Jesus says father I want to bring them to glory that they may be loved as you love me that's the wonder of eternal heaven all the redeemed will be loved with the same infinite eternal love with which the father has always loved the Son and the son has always loved the father everything else issues out of that his promises his sovereignty his faithfulness those are all so comforting right it would be it would be it would be less than comforting if God was loving but not sovereign that is to say he wanted to show his love but he wasn't in control so you have to have his sovereignty alongside his love or he's sovereign and he's loving but he changes his mind so you have to have his faithfulness because otherwise he'd make promises it might be broken so it's hard to isolate one but as far as we are concerned what separates God from every other invention of a deity is that he is a Trinity and so by nature exists in an eternal bond of love that is what he extends to us okay thank you you're welcome thank you Sarah hi my name is Jenna question regarding some of my personal experiences and especially at my college campus and at work how would you biblically respond to suicide and mental illness to what suicide and mental illness especially suicide suicide and/or mental illness especially regarding the increase in our generation today well I I I think obviously this is a tragic reality but we live in a society where isolation loneliness emptiness and unfulfilled mminton life is that a pandemic level and it's that way because of the complete disintegration of the family people are just islands they don't have meaningful relationships they have serial kind of short term relationships that disappoint them one after another after another after another I think you you can't survive alone and we feed that you're the most important person you you should be whoever you want to be this is Who I am take it or leave it this is me that is a death sentence because okay that's you and you can have that kind of attitude but it's gonna be very difficult for you to build a meaningful relationships that's going to fill life with any sense of value and if you don't have anybody dependent on you if you don't have anybody that loves you and need you and holds you and trusts you and enriches you then what do you have to live for the ultimate end of this mentality today that you're the most important person in the world is absolute and total despair because eventually you're isolated you're so important that you destroy every relationship there is you have a generation of kids being raised in this kind of environment they don't even know a meaningful relationship and when they find out that they're not nearly as important as they were told they were and they can't be anything they want and they can't do anything they want and they can't accomplish anything they want and pride is disastrous because pride alienates everyone away from you when they finally wake up in that reality what is there to live for and if there's no God and there's no future the pain is too great so I don't think there's any solution to this I think that's it's partly why there are so much drugs opioid epidemic and all of that partly why alcoholism is what it is and youyou see it played out in the homeless these tragic people who are all one-off people you you see that right there dark a lot of some there are some homeless families it happens because of some economic issues but the massive epidemic of homelessness is all these isolated people who have lost control of life become alcoholic or drunken or have such an isolated life that they're thinking to escape into oblivion this is the legacy of destruction of the family so I I don't think it's going to go away I think what we want to show is sympathy and mercy and compassion toward people that do that it is a devastating thing to people who do care about somebody like that but you know it's it's pretty rare that someone takes their life if they're in a loving family or if they're in a loving relationship it's a dysfunctional relationship or the absence of any meaningful relationship that causes people to take their life and I remember years ago being at UCLA having some discussions with some people in the mental health part there because there was a girl that I knew who tried to take her own life and I was basically informed that this it this is very often caused because people are trying to inflict the ultimate pain on someone who hurt them Oh take this try to recover from this I'll kill myself and you can live with that this is the despair of living without meaningful loving relationships and I think we have to we have to talk about things like that we have to talk about how important it is to have a family and that's that's what a church is beyond just your you know you know your natural nuclear family is a family that demonstrates love and care okay thank you thank you hi Pastor John Terry Taylor from Sherman Oaks hi Kerry and hi I just wanted to start off by saying I just thank the Lord for him for this amazing church thank you feel so blessed to be here thank you um my question is is did Jesus died for the sins of the world are only for those who were predestined mm-hmm good question Kerry let me ask you a question did he die for everyone or no one everyone okay the Bible says he's the propitiating for our sins and not for ours only but the sins of the whole world so the only savior of the world has is Christ that's the second question is this was his death an actual atonement or a potential one actually yeah okay so if it was an actual atonement then it actually provided atonement for someone not no one so let me impact that for you okay if you believe that Jesus provided an atonement for every human being who ever lived then everyone goes to heaven right if he actually died for everyone in the world everyone goes to heaven because that's an actual but since we know that's not true because there is a hell and many are headed to hell we know that he didn't actually die for everyone so you could conclude oh he didn't actually die for anyone he potentially died for everyone in other words he he had sort of a potential atonement that the sinner activates by faith that diminishes the the atonement now you're telling me that if Jesus only did a potential atonement that is activated by faith then it would be fair to say that he did the same thing for the people in hell he did for the people in heaven but the people in heaven were smart enough to take advantage of it this this makes the atonement something less than real but if the scripture says he bore our sins in his own body on the cross then it is an actual atonement if it is an actual atonement it was an actual atonement only for those who believe and those who believe are the elect okay you don't want to turn the atonement into a potential atonement because now you've diminished it you've made it an A not an atonement at all but only some potential atonement that somehow is activated by a person's faith the atonement is never described that way he became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him we we were there when he died we died with him right Romans section we rose with him it was a real atonement we were really there he was really bearing the sins of his people and his people would be all who believed and those who believe are those who were given life and regeneration by the Holy Spirit because you were chosen before the foundation of the world so it's a real atonement thank you good hi my name is Elizabeth hi Elizabeth so I was wondering what does it might all say about tattoos about tattoos yes you go back into the Old Testament tattoos are identified with pagan religion they were basically in ancient times people identified their deities with the use of tattoos so the people of God were basically forbidden to have those in the Old Testament the New Testament says nothing about that so one could conclude in ancient times they were identified with paganism there were there were certain things that pagans did and and God's people were to avoid doing the things that pagans did they even the Jewish people were required to dress a certain way eat a certain diet and avoid marks of paganism so you could say well that was the standard in the Old Testament but the New Testament doesn't say anything about tattoos and that would be true so I don't want to I don't want to go so far as to say that tattoos are sinful the New Testament doesn't say that I could assume that you could have a tattoo of a cross or something that reflected your love for Christ or some people get a Bible verse I have to tell a funny story about a guy who got a Bible verse and they spelled the book of the Bible wrong on his chest so that's not good but the route the Bible doesn't really say anything about that but my feeling is that in the ancient sense it belonged to paganism there would have to be a pretty compelling reason for me to do that again I wouldn't say it so I don't have a tattoo but I I don't want to go so far as to say it's wrong to do that but it was part of what was pagan in the past and it's a choice people make I would personally rather be able to change my shirt every day and have something different than to have something I have to wear the rest of my life every waking moment and sleeping moment so just think about the reality of indelibly impressing something on you if you do that and maybe down the road you you you might wish it wasn't there that's that's the issue but I don't want to say that in and of itself there's something wrong with that because even the fashion has changed you know the Old Testament women were not to wear it what pertain to a man but what did that mean in the ancient days when men wore dresses they wore robes women wore ropes so there wasn't a whole lot of difference there I've heard people say well that's why women can't wear pants because the Old Testament says are not to wear what pertain to a man well men didn't wear pants in the old time so we've got to be careful with some of that you know how far into this culture you bring that okay just just be thoughtful about that yes hi I'm Joey cousins and my question is why didn't you so stop Eve at the Garden of Eden when he/she ate the fruit like I mean how he can just stop it like that why didn't he that is the most profound question of all questions why didn't God stop Eve from heating the fruit this theologians called the problem of theodicy why is there evil in the world if God is absolutely holy why is there evil in the world that's essentially that question why didn't he stop it before it started first of all the broad answer is this because God allowed her to eat that fruit God allowed sin to come into the world so that he could be glorified now God is a God of love and he could express that love even in the perfection of the Trinity and he expressed that love to Adam and Eve when he walked and talked with them before they sinned and before she ate so God could express his love but if there had never been a sin there would never be forgiveness that would never be mercy there would never be grace there would never be compassion there would never be healing that would never be restoration and so forever and ever the Angels would never be able to worship God for all those aspects of his nature so God allows evil so that he can display grace and mercy and compassion because those also are attributes of God that can only be put on display through his response to sin there's another reason and that is that God is holy and just and righteous he would never be able to display ultimately what that means unless there were sinners to judge so whether it is judgment on sin or whether it is salvation from sin the fact that sin exists allows God to display eternally the glory of the full scope of his attributes okay great question Thank You bud [Music] good evening pastor that's a tough question to top but my name is Salvador and I'm gonna piggyback on Terry Taylors of Sherman Oaks question on atonement it has to do with our Jewish friends and it has to do with also with what you spoke of this morning the chosen people the Jews are the chosen people you said earlier this morning God made a covenant with himself for Abraham to bless his nations so it's hard for me to just fan them all Jews is heaven in hell all Jews are going to go to hell so that's my first question if I'm correct in that assessment second question is when we have our conversation with our Jewish first especially now through Hanukkah and Christmas how do we turn the conversation to say it's not enough you have to go to Jesus to our Messiah to the Son of God so that you can go to heaven what do you suggest we have that covers well this is a great great question Salvador let me let me answer it a couple of ways first of all not all Jews are going to hell okay throughout human history God has always had a remnant that's Isaiah 6 that there is a remnant there is the doctrine the remnant it's it's it's throughout the Old Testament while the nation Israel was disobedient the nation Israel was apostate the nation Israel got involved with bail and and idols there was always a remnant of believing Jews that is true now in Christ there is Jew and Gentile then there's no distinction we saw that in Billy since 328 this morning so there has always been a believing remnant there has always been let's say the seed of Eve the the believers in the true God the those who were God's people among the Jews Paul says in Romans not all Jews are Jews but by that he means not all those who are ethnic Jews are in the covenant but there is a remnant so throughout all of human history God has retained a remnant of believing Jews and that is true today and in it there are many believing Jews many around the world and there have been four for the whole of human history so but in order to be a part of that remnant they had to believe in God and when Christ came they had to believe in Christ Jesus basically said believe in me and you'll have life you'll die in your sins if you believe not in me Gospel of John so Jews who believed in Christ are in the kingdom and there is a remnant and it's a large remnant all over the world today but the other aspect of this is there is a promise given that through that nation Israel the nations of the world would be blessed that's chapter 12 of Genesis the first promise to Abraham that through Abraham would come a seed through which salvation would come to the world and that has come to pass how because God used the Jews to be the people who received his divine revelation this book the whole Old Testament the law the prophets the promises the Covenant Paul says in Romans all came through the Jews so part of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise was that God would deliver the message of salvation through the Jewish people there were were Jews who believed it and they were from that group chosen those who would receive the revelation and write it down even in the New Testament the Apostles are Jews and they are chosen along with those who were with them to receive the New Testament so God used the Jews to receive His Word to write down his word and to give his word to the world so it is through the people that came out of Abraham's loins that the entire message of salvation has come to the whole world and then there's a final aspect there is a promise that God is going to save the nation Israel as as a nation Jeremiah 31 talks about the time when God will take out the stony heart to give them a heart of flesh write his law in their hearts that's the new covenant that is yet to come it's reiterated in Romans 11 all Israel will be saved because the promises of God have to be fulfilled so we believe in the future salvation of Israel promised in the Old Testament reiterated in Romans chapter 11 that is yet to come there will be some rebels purged out the prophets say and then the nation Israel will be saved what is remarkable about that is that there are still Israelites in the world because all the other people groups that were around the Jews have long since passed into the dustbin of history there are no Hittite Samurai --ts highlights Jebusites or any other rights but there are Israelites God has preserved them until the end as a people to save them as Romans chapter 11 says early in Acts when Peter preaches he actually says even though you killed the Prince of life and desired a murderer to be released under you Barabbas you are the children of the Covenant that God has made God is preserving his nation God is gathering his nation back with a future view to save them and that is what I've been telling you about Isaiah 53 Isaiah 53 is the confession that the Jewish nation will make one day in the future when they look on Christ and say he was wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities I think the best way to reach the Jews is to do what I did this morning to show the promise starting in Genesis fulfilled through the father's through David details by the prophets and the answer is Christ son of Abraham son of David virgin born and he is the one who goes to the cross and fulfills every single detail of Isaiah 53 that's why when I was with Ben Shapiro I took him through Isaiah 53 and I was pretty amazed because it went on for almost 20 minutes and he didn't even interrupt me which was really you know that was very gracious of him and somebody asked him did were you offended by John doing that he said no for two reasons I I know he believed it with all his heart and I know he cared about my soul well that is absolutely true so I I think I think the burden is with them to deny that Jesus is the fulfillment when he is born of a virgin when he is fully God and fully man when he fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies about being born in Bethlehem all the details and at the cross every detail from Isaiah 53 and even the resurrection and even the Ascension so what I encourage you to tell Jewish people is read Isaiah 53 and then read Matthew or mark or Luke and see if Jesus isn't the fulfillment the scripture has the power I don't think there's a kind of a way that that you can do it better than the Word of God can do it his word is alive and powerful okay thank you and it's always great answer thank you that's it time's up oh do you guys have questions these these are challenging times I I just want to say that in general these are these are very very challenging times this this country this culture this society we live in is disintegrating at every possible level you can get caught up in a lot of things right there's a lot of things that Christian people could be angry about we don't like what they're doing to our country we don't like that they're normalizing transgender deviation and wanting to teach it in elementary school to our kids this is a terrifying kind of thing we don't we don't like that that they're taking the Bible out of everything we don't like it that there's a deep and growing resentment of Christianity we don't like it that there's an advocacy of abortion in our culture that has completely taken over an entire political party and murdering babies is the agenda and giving place to homosexual deviation homosexual marriage and all other kinds of deviations and we ask how did these people ever get so much power it's very easy to get caught up in all of that it may kind of feel if you know your history a little bit like we're living in ancient Rome if it's any encouragement to you it's not new it's not new our focus always has to be the same we have to focus on honoring the Lord living for the Lord and proclaiming the gospel and as I reminded some people and a visit some years ago to Washington to talk to some of the White House staff we can't turn this group of people into the enemy there the mission field do you understand that they are the mission field we have to reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ that is why it is so ridiculous and I've been saying this on Sunday morning for Christians to be fighting each other what is the point of that that doesn't do anybody any good the reason they're fighting each other is because they've lost sight of the real mission of the church it's not to attack other Christians over racial or gender issues it's to reach those who don't know Christ right this is where all our efforts and energies need to go and you all have been very faithful in that and you know we we know the promise of Scripture it's going to get worse and worse right not gonna get any better you're not going to be able to make it better politically or sociologically it is what it is evil men will grow worse and worse Christianity will become more [Music] antithetical to the culture it'll be more alien to the culture it'll be more unacceptable to the culture there will come down more laws against the truth against the gospel against the Word of God over the next how many years that doesn't change anything I just read this week that Bibles have been banned in China probably more Bibles right now are printed in China than anywhere in the world and I asked a question of a publisher this week what's the deal and and he said you can print them there you just have to export them they want to make money on the Bible but they don't want anybody to read it so there is a growing hostility but that doesn't change anything the world is always hostile right they have been like more polite in past years that was a more polite world they've always the sinners have always hated the truth but they've been more polite they're not polite anymore they want to they want to raise the stakes and they want to crush us and frighten us and push us into the background but this is a time to be bold this is a time for courage I I don't see a lot of that even among many Christian leaders who seem to be kind of caving in to the culture but that's not surprising because for the last 25 years or so they've been trying to accommodate the culture with basically a style of Church that appeals to unbelievers and now that they've sort of made an issue out of appealing to unbelievers then it's time to take a stand against these things they've painted themselves into a corner so where is the courage of real conviction it's not that you want to fight it's that you have to proclaim the truth you have to proclaim the truth that's our mandate and truthfully these are the most exciting times of my life I'm glad even at this age that I can be in the fight for the truth and be proclaiming it these are times when people as we heard earlier are in deep despair that's the best time to reach a sinner right when he or she is at the end of her resources so preach Christ live Christ proclaim Christ be a faithful witness the Lord will lead you to the right people okay all right I don't think we got all the questions answered Michael we probably should do this again you will a father what a wonderful evening together thank you for your word thank you for revealing the truth so that we don't need to wander in doubt an ignorance your word is light it is a lamp to our feet a light to our path and we have been basically given this gift from heaven the Bible the Word of the Living God every word true applicable essential man and we have been designed to be the people of the book who can speak it into the lives of those around us he use us in that way and may we find great joy in faithfulness even in the darkest of times we thank you that as the needs in this society in which we live have been escalated such a profound level that you have placed us here and now to speak the glorious realities of Christ to this lost society use every person here for your glory and showing Christ and speaking of him as the only hope be glorified in the salvation of many through the witness of this faithful church we pray in Christ's name and everyone said amen

Channel: Grace to You

Views: 178,653

Rating: 4.8062077 out of 5

Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You

Id: xB6BxY4LzQk

Length: 66min 18sec (3978 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 05 2020