John MacArthur | Q and A | May 3, 2020

we moved to my office tonight because it allows me to talk to you a little bit about the church for the last couple of seventy nights we've done QA in our church auditorium I'll be in an empty auditorium we put a desk out there so you can see that the church was empty Sunday mornings we've been doing our services livestream from the worship center either live or we've used some previously recorded sermons but you know I did it's time for me to talk a little bit about this medium as as to whether or not this is legitimate for a church you know there are some people some people who profess to be Christians who have this experience of live stream Church Television Church and that's all they ever have they may go to an auditorium but they'll be looking at a flat screen and some person will be up there preaching on that flat screen and that's that's church but those of us at Grace Community Church know far better than that this is not church this is not how the church is designed to function this is this is an accommodation to the exigencies in which we find ourselves right now look I understand that sermons preached throughout all the years recently have been made available on the internet and you can listen to lots of preachers online on your computer on your iPhone on your iPad even on your television but that is not the church the church is not a group of people watching a show a program or even a sermon the church is the living organism of the body of Christ and if there's any command in the Bible that comes to mind at a time like this it's in the book of Hebrews where we are told to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is in other words don't be like those people who fail to come together and assemble is a living organism the body of Christ don't be like that and and much the more as you see the Day approaching the further through redemptive history we go the closer we come to the return of Christ the more difficult life becomes and the more we need each other the church was never designed to be people sitting in a dark auditorium watching somebody on a stage or somebody on a screen and certainly those of us who are a part of Grace Community Church we know that very well I've had so many people say to me I don't know if I can go another week without Church I don't know if I can go another week without gathering with the people and worshiping III miss the music I missed the singing I missed the fellowship I miss being able to take my kids to the nursery knowing what they're receiving from the Word of God I I miss the fellowship group that I'm a part of and all the dear people that are embedded in my life because of that fellowship group so wid Grace Community Church we we who know what the church is to be we who are a living church that meets in one location and has for over half a century we miss that reality and I know that's how you feel I don't I don't think anybody who's a part of Grace Church is ever gonna be able to substitute a flat screen experience for the Living Church look I get it there's accountability there there's high expectation there your life is exposed there people get to know you and so they get to know your strengths and your weaknesses there's vulnerability there there's honesty there but that that's what we seek that's what we desire because we stimulate one another to love and good works and that's the reason we assemble as that same passage in Bruce says so while there might be a temptation to extend the comfort of just hanging around your house and turning on the sermon or the message from Grace Community Church in the future if you have been a part of Grace Community Church you're gonna find that's never gonna be an adequate substitute what we do on radio what we do on television through grace to you what we do with putting our sermons online making them available and the sermons and lessons of all the teachers at Grace Church is a supplement never a substitute for the life of the church I miss you I I know you miss our fellowship thank you for the sweet notes and cards that have come to me expressing gratitude for us doing this but but they also almost all of them have the added note I can't wait til we get back together and speaking of that we don't know exactly when that's going to be I know there are all kinds of political aspects to this over which we have no control and about which we have no real knowledge but I would just give you a few things that you might find good news just a little bit of a report I noticed today that a report came out from the CDC which is the official group the Center for Disease Control and they said that actually the number of deaths that have occurred during this kovat epidemic is half of what has been recorded half so we have been operating with numbers that are unrealistic it has also come to light and I think this is very very interesting it's also come to light that half of the deaths occurred to people in hospitals and aging aging-- homes where you have older people because they're the more vulnerable population so the reality is that the vast majority of the population is really unaffected are mildly affected by the entire thing the most dangerous place you could ever go turns out would be a hospital because when you go into a hospital the staff there don't have a vaccine against this they're exposed to it and if there are other compromised patients as there are in a crowded hospital then the corona virus is circulated in that hospital so we're starting to learn that the folks who are just out in the world doing what we do we're we're the safest of all the place you you don't want to be is of all places in a hospital because that's that's where the highest incidence of this infection at its most serious level takes place so a lot of things coming out of this that I think are starting to remove the fear and help us to understand that we were told some things that just were not true about the effect of this the latest I heard and I heard a report today from a highly respected medical authority who basically said the death rate will be essentially the same as seasonal flu no greater than that we now know that and in retrospect we would say if we had known that at the beginning we certainly wouldn't have shut the world down to the degree that we have and did such disastrous damage to so many lives but having said that we have to understand that the Lord allows certain things and certain things are the fluidness of man even at their best efforts so here we are but I just want to remind you that this is temporary that this is there's not nearly as deadly as that we were told that the the rate of death is about like the seasonal flu it'll run its course and hopefully in a few weeks we'll come back together and we'll join each other again and have a great celebration so that's just to give you a little bit of update we'll do that when when we have the best opportunity to know that everything is the right time for that and then we'll just trust everybody's judgment if you feel like you want to wait a little longer before you come back that's fine we're all adults and we'll trust you to use your discretion with regard to that but we're starting to think about that now and looking very much forward to it well in the meantime rather than preach another sermon to you then what we've been giving you we thought a few sunny nights together just hearing what's on your heart would give us an opportunity to be a little more personal and the things that we have to say so here we go again tonight with some questions and we've just kind of condensed it down we have so many questions coming in from all over the planet that were trying to cover as many as we can so I'm grateful for the folks who have called through them and I don't know what the questions are I'm about to read the first one and we'll go through them and see what the Lord has for us tonight what is the best explanation for a skeptic to understand how it is that many private events and words of Christ were recorded in the Gospels by disciples who were not actually present at the time yeah that's a really good question it's from Jason the Jason is really asking this question how do we know that Jesus said what those disciples or Bible writers said he said when they may not have even been there that's a fair question it has a wonderful answer in the Upper Room at the Last Supper as we call it the night that Jesus gathered with his disciples for the final Passover he said to them the Holy Spirit's going to come and when the Holy Spirit comes he will lead you into all truth and he will show you all the things that are true about me in other words our Lord promised the Apostles and those who would be the Associates of the Apostles that the work of the Holy Spirit would be to reveal to them everything they needed to know the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth and when he comes he will lead you into all truth he will bring all things to your remembrance even the things I spoke to you and show you more things concerning me that is the Ministry of the Holy Spirit so when those writers sat down the Apostles and the Associates of the Apostles and even the one who came later Paul and wrote it was the work of the Holy Spirit to divinely reveal to them the exact and precise words of our Lord that he spoke during his life and ministry that appear in the gospel record it was the work of the Holy Spirit that caused them to have a perfect recollection if they were there of an event such as the Transfiguration where Peter James and John were there they were given the opportunity as well to hear a revelation from the Holy Spirit into their own minds that gave them an exact and precise historical recounting of all the details of events where they were not there so the Holy Spirit superintended everything sometimes their memories sometimes the very words of Jesus which they may not have remembered on their own were repeated to them through inspiration from the Holy Spirit and sometimes it was something that they didn't even experience something our Lord experienced apart from them for example his own temptation when none of them were there was given to them by way of divine revelation and the testimony of Scripture is that that work of the Holy Spirit causes the Bible not to be given by any private interpretation but holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit that's what Peter says in his epistle so you do have disciples who had actual experiences although they may not have remembered ever detailed perfectly who heard the words of Jesus may not have remembered every word perfectly and sometimes weren't even there on occasion but all of that was gathered together divinely by the Holy Spirit and distributed to them through inspiration so that it was perfectly recorded in the scripture all Scripture is given by inspiration of God all Scripture is god-breathed I hope that helps Jason I've thought about and prayed a good deal about pursuing a life of competition in the sport of mixed martial arts what is your biblical view on a Christian competing in such a sport my view duck and run the reason I say that I've known a couple of guys who did that I remember one particular young man and the the end result of that was really serious debilitation of his mental faculties there are some sports where obviously there is the possibility of a concussion and you can have a concussion slipping and falling on the kitchen floor but where the the intention is not only to harm your opponent but to render your opponent incapable of continuing or unconscious you're literally building that event around the possibility of doing permanent brain damage I think you could be in a sport where you might break an arm or break the leg but something that has the lethal effect of doing brain damage would maybe fall into the category of you know where the Apostle Paul says I don't want to do anything even though I'm free I don't want to do anything that somehow causes me to lose control I will do nothing that causes me to lose control it's it's something you applied to drinking alcoholic beverages are taking drugs Paul says all things are lawful I will not be brought under the power of any I don't want to do anything that takes away my ability to think and reason and act responsibly and secondly I would say this I don't know that in fact I'm sure that MMA mixed martial arts doesn't make a great contribution to recognizing man as created in the image of God it isn't deforming it is a defacing attempt and and I don't think that on its face it gives proper honor to the creation of man in the image of God for those reasons I would find something else to be a competitor in something that's gonna do less harm and give you the satisfaction that you need as a competitor and I get that I played University football all through my days I played a lot of other sports I was very competitive and I was somewhat aggressive as everybody else was you had to be here you couldn't compete but those were games that didn't leave people permanently damaged in terms of their ability to think and reason and I think that's something to avoid I can't find the church that believe is exactly like Grace Community Church in my area which doctrines do you believe are essentials to look for in a church this is from Charles well first suggestion moved to Southern California come to Grace Community Church we would love to have you here for sure and I mean that I mean we would love to have you here but when you're looking for a church one of the doctrines that you look for that are essential and that is a very good question Charles because there are some doctrines that they're not non-essential no divine truth is non-essential if you want the full range of divine revelation and the full scope of divine blessing is distributed through all divine truth but there are some doctrines that are not necessary for salvation one of them that comes to mind might be the form of baptism some sprinkle some pour and some immerse that's not a Salvation issue biblically speaking there are some doctrines that have been established in terms of how churches run their varying views on how a church should be structured there are people who differ on spiritual gifts and how they function those are not essential to salvation but when you're thinking about essential doctrine you're thinking essentially about the drivetrain of salvation so what is that well just to summarize it briefly it would start with the authority of Scripture the authority of Scripture is an absolutely essential doctrine because if you do not believe in the authority of Scripture then you don't know that you can trust what it says and all is lost so the most important of all doctrines is that the Bible is the Word of God and it is absolutely authoritative and in errant so that's where it starts to believe the Bible is the Word of God and only the Bible is the revealed Word of God that is number one now if you think about it that is the very doctrine that is most under attack in the society because the enemy knows that say knows that that if you can undermine people's confidence in God's Word everything is lost and that's exactly what Satan did in the garden didn't he when he Eve said well God said this and God said that and he said did God say that no God didn't tell you the truth you're not gonna die she believed a lie and catapulted the whole human raishin into sin corruption so everything starts with believing in the authority of Scripture from there you look at Scripture and say what are the essential doctrines in the scripture first God the nature of God writer of Hebrews says he that comes to him must believe that he is in other words you you come to God only when you come to the God who is God so you have to have what is called theology proper in studying theology we start with the category of Dibley ology the Bible is first and then we go to theology proper which is the study of the nature of God that's the second very essential Cardinal category of truth so if you for example deny the Trinity you have invented a God who is one and that's not the true God you're calling him God but you're worshipping Satan or you're worshipping demons false gods are concoctions of the kingdom of darkness so you have to come to the true God who his father son and holy spirit one in nature three in persons the God who is revealed in Scripture the true God then in understanding the true God you you need to understand the role of the father as the Creator the giver of life the role of the Sun as Redeemer the role of the Spirit as the power for salvation and the power for sanctification so a Trinitarian understanding of God then you come to Christ what do you believe about Christ that he's virgin born that he is God and man he is fully God and fully man truly God and truly man that's who he claimed to be that he lived a sinless life that he died a substitutionary death that he rose from the dead and that was the father validating his sacrifice the son and whom he was well pleased the validation of his having accomplished our redemption is the father raising it from the dead that he ascended into heaven and that he reigns there and will return again the other thing that is essential is to believe that salvation comes by faith alone in Christ through grace and not by human work so when I talk about the drivetrain of salvation I'm saying you start with the Bible the true understanding of Scripture true understanding of God the Trinity true understanding of Christ his his perfection his perfect life his substitutionary death his bodily resurrection his ascension his return and that salvation comes by faith in Him that is the category which we would say is absolutely essential doctrine here's another question many Christians have taken the meaning of fast to mean giving up anything such as phones computers sweets etc is this biblical and this is from mercy what no you wouldn't to be able to apply any of those things to a biblical fast in Scripture a fast is not something you do because you want to trim down your excess in life it's not something you do to lose weight it's not something you do to get a better grip on your life I can understand putting away a phone for sure and and I do that frequently I can understand staying away from a computer screen I can understand you know not eating everything that's in sight and especially when it's loaded with sugar I get all that but none of that can be confused with the fast that is all just part of sensible sort of personal discipline you know living your life in a disciplined way that all fits into that category when you're talking about fasting you're talking about something that is not isolated from another spiritual means of grace and that other spiritual means of grace is prayer you don't find fasting separated from praying and in that sense this is how you should understand fasting fasting is an accommodation to prayer I'll give you an illustration and I'm sitting at this desk and I remember very vividly number of years ago sitting here after nine days of fasting and on the ninth day somebody walked in the office here and gave me news that immediately immediately ended my fast and for the first time in nine days I asked for something to eat and I'll tell you what it was I found out nine days before that that my son Mark who was in college in those days was having severe headaches and we had taken him to see a neurologist to check on those headaches and he put him through some scans and reported to me that he had a tumor in his brain and he said I remember the words it could be terminal young and healthy college athlete loved the Lord I was just dumbfounded at the reality that this could be a terminal tumor and I remember I I had no appetite I had no interest in eating anything all I want to do is pray just continually pour out my heart and I remember many days in that nine day period I had to take mark down to the Cancer Center when they were continuing to do these scans and to try to find out what it was I remember on that final day we got the word that it was basically it was a juvenile growth that was benign and it was near the pineal gland and it didn't have anything to do with his headaches and they didn't think it would grow because they thought it was just a childhood anomaly I remember that that the word came from the doctor watch his batting average he was a baseball player watch his batting average and if his batting average goes down significantly may mean the tumors growing well over the subsequent months his batting average went up as it turned out it was benign but I thought about those nine days many many times and again that question makes me think about it now there was just no interest in eating there was one all-consuming desire of my heart and that was to bring him before the Lord and I had no desire to eat sometimes when I go to the hospital people are suffering people are struggling and they're recovering from an illness or they're they're in very serious condition well-intentioned friends may want to help them eat you need something to eat sometimes you'll see a grieving spouse in a hospital and somebody will say you need to go against them and you eat you want to be very cautious about that because there are times when food is almost unacceptable because your heart is so over wrought with concern and your you're consumed with prayer fasting really can't be isolated doesn't always have to be that severe a situation but the fact that we don't fast Moore is probably a testimony to the fact that we don't show enough concern in our prayers but that's where fasting belongs Paul and Gerard ask this question does the Bible say anything about cremation well the only thing the Bible says about cremation is that it's gonna happen to the entire world the entire world is going to be burned up with fire that is the final cremation just before our Lord creates a new heaven and a new earth Peter described it this way the elements will melt with fervent Heat what's going to happen is the atomic structure of the creation will be uncreated in some kind of a atomic Holocaust that'll take everything we know out of existence that will be the final creation of the whole universe but backing up from that let's be a little more practical the Bible does not say anything about cremation as such it doesn't say anything about what is required what is allowed or what is not allowed there are many people who have died in fires I've heard people say well you don't want to be cremated because you're gonna be resurrected from the grave and you so you want you want to have something of your body in the grave I don't think that's a very sensible thought there people have been dead for thousand years not gonna be anything there but dust there are people who who died and were eaten by animals there are people who are at the bottom of the ocean who have long since disappeared there are people who have been consumed in fires and the Lord's not gonna have any problem creating new resurrection bodies for those who belong to him in fact it's a great white throne the the earth will give up its dead and the sea will give up its dead and that's the unbelieving dead who will come before God in the great white throne judgment and be sent into eternal hell so their resurrection for even the unjust doesn't require the preservation of a body and the the rapture of the church the resurrection of the Saints doesn't require the preservation of the body so I would say it's it's a choice that you can make personally that's between you and your family but it has no bearing whatsoever on the coming resurrection you can talk it through and make any decision you want in that regard here's a question from Chris how would you reconcile Matthew 11:28 2:30 in which Jesus says my yoke is easy and my burden is light and luke 9:23 which says pick up your cross daily should we always expect the Christian life to be difficult or is it easier to bear because of our faith in Christ really question Chris because your juxtaposing to scriptures I would say it this way the Christian life is hard because it's hard to give up your own will it's hard to give up your own dreams and ambitions and desires that's what our Lord said in Luke 9:23 If any man will come after me let him deny himself that's the hard part and take up his cross and follow me the following is hard because we're sinful and even though we've been regenerated even though the Holy Spirit lives within us even though we are new creations were still incarcerated in unredeemed human flesh and it's a battle like Paul said in Romans 7 we do what we don't want to do we don't do what we we ought to do Oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from the body of this death says Paul so listen the whole of the Christian life is constantly this effort to deny oneself literally John says the words of Jesus were to hate yourself to literally determine not to do what your flesh wants to do lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and pride of life so the Christian life is hard because of who we are but on the other hand the Christian life is easy because of who Christ is the easy part is his part we don't have to maintain our salvation we don't have to maintain the presence of the Holy Spirit he grants us his spirit permanently we don't have to come to some kind of understanding of truth by pursuing truth on our own he gives it to us in his word so the easy part is the presence of the Lord the presence of the Spirit of Christ in us the truth of Scripture the blessings that flow from heaven he has ordained the plan of our lives he holds us in his care he supplies our needs he leads us in green pastures to still waters he fills our lives with blessing and you could say that all that flows easily from the loving hand of the Lord the hard part is us denying ourselves being willing to give our lives if we need to and being obedient to follow him how can we handle a daughter who is almost 18 years old raised in the church but she is clearly rejecting the gospel what advice do you have for us there's only one way you can handle that and that is to confront her with the fact that that is the most dangerous posture that any person could have why do I say that because in the book of Hebrews it says this of how much sorer or greater punishment shall he be thought worthy who has trampled underfoot the cross of Christ the blood of the Covenant encountered it an unworthy thing what that is saying is that punishment is more severe for someone who knows the gospel and rejects the gospel than it is for someone who has never heard it yes there is no doubt that those who die without the Lord will go to hell but there are degrees of punishment there and the severus punishment is for the person who knew the truth and rejected the truth how much greater punishment will come on that person so even at the age of 18 that that daughter needs to be given a dire warning and that if she continues in this direction of rejecting then Hebrews six comes into play if you have tasted and you've heard you know the truth and you reject the truth it's impossible to be renewed again to repentance this is what the Bible calls an apostate someone who having heard the truth rejects the truth continues to reject the truth goes beyond the truth can never be renewed to repentance the most severe illustration of that was the Pharisees Matthew twelve they heard Jesus teach they saw his miracles and they concluded that he did what he did by the power of Satan so he said to them you have committed the unpardonable sin blasphemy of the Holy Spirit what did he mean everything Christ did he did through the power of the Holy Spirit remember now he humbled himself to the Father's will and the spirits power so everything he did was by the power of the Spirit when they said it was by Satan's power they blaspheme the Holy Spirit they concluded that Jesus is an instrument of Satan he said having heard everything I said seen everything I've done if you conclude that I'm an emissary of Satan that blasphemy can never be forgiven so as a parent as a loving parent you need to warn that kind of young person not to go down that path of rejection it needs to be a firm heartfelt warning done in love and done persistently here's a question from Brad does Paul route his argument for head coverings in the created order in 1st Corinthians 11 if so should we not practice this today that's kind of an obscure question for many of you I know but the Apostle Paul talks about women having their head covered in that chapter God has designed men and women differently I think we all get that we all know that I know it's trying to be overthrown today but look reality is reality this is this is not fooling anyone not anyone with half a brain and any common sense men are men and women are women and God has designed men to have a certain function and women to have a equally certain function both are perfect in God's design suitable for men suitable for women both are roles fully honored by God and certainly there's no difference for a male and female in Christ spiritually but there are different roles and different functions and we know that in the plan of God and the economy of God built into life are structures we call submission and authority they're essential you have them most obviously in marriage somebody is the authority and someone is the submission now there's a mutual submission we all submit to each other in Christ we all defer to each other in Christ we all humble ourselves before each other in Christ without regard to what gender we are but in a marriage the husband is the head of the wife and the wife submits to her husband and that is because it's modeled by Christ Himself in that same book 1st Corinthians Paul says God is the head of Christ Christ is the head of the man and the man is the head of the woman so Christ submits himself to the Father and that's a model for how the wife submits herself to her husband now in ancient times and even today I would say in ancient times women demonstrated that submission in the way they dressed in fact going all the way back into the Old Testament men are instructed not to wear women's clothes and women not to wear men's clothes there was to be clear too stationed between men and women the Bible says that women do not wear those things that pertain to a man or the reverse so throughout history and certainly in New Testament times there were ways in which there was a demonstration of a woman's submission one way was the woman covered her head you see remnants of that today in the Islamic world where that is a sign of a woman's submission we might think it's a it's a bizarre sign today but that's what it is and it's a it's because that's always been a part of human culture but God has accommodated that sign in a most interesting way God has given women hair that from all that I've learned through the years grows rapidly and grows faster than men's hair and does not grow on their face like a man's beard so God has uniquely identified women by their hair and that's what Paul says her hair is a is her glory her covering it's a symbol of submission and it's been accommodated by by head coverings which are very similar to that so what does that mean to us today women ought to look like women dressed like women and behave like when men look like men dressed like men behave like men that's that's all it's saying why is that important to God because when that is confused everything is destroyed Society has destroyed Society can only survive as long as the family survives family can only survive as long as married survives marriage can only survive as long as Authority and Submission in love survives we're not talking about a abusive Authority we're talking about loving tender compassionate kind merciful Authority but marriage only survives where you have gracious loving leadership and willing sweet submission and where you have that you have a marriage and where you have that kind of marriage you have the raising of children in submission and because they see it model between mom and dad it's easy for them to understand the role they play and where you have that submission working in a family you have civilization you have order and when that all begins to fall apart as it is in our society if you lose civilization at its core we're seeing that right now in this kovat situation child abuse is escalating because the abuser is in the house all the time now marriage conflict which can be mitigated because the father leaves the home or the mother leaves the home and they get a little relief is not mitigated now so the irascible 'ti of that relationship is escalated the the mother has given responsibilities to do things that she's not done the father is given opportunities to express his hostilities on a constant basis that drinking is escalating in the home abuse is escalating the home this is a reflection of the fact that all those divine designs of authority and Submission have been overturned by the culture and that's not how people live and so they can't have successful marriages they don't have successful families Paul was simply saying follow the path of a woman submission and and do it in a way that the culture understands you're giving honor to those distinctions by the way you dress here's a question from Melanie how do you know when you are called to singleness and when you're called a marriage are there biblical reasons for the gift of singleness well there's one biblical reason given by Paul in first Corinthians 7 for the gift of singleness and that is for spiritual purposes Paul says this way he says those that are married have a concern for their wife those that are not married have a concern for Christ now that's that's the point so let me press this a little bit because it's very important to say this singleness just for the sake of freedom singleness so you can just do whatever you want without complications singleness so that you can have short-term relationships with women and then go on to the next one is obviously sin it's sin to have a relationship with a woman outside marriage that kind of singleness which only exists for the sake of personal fulfillment and freedom from responsibility certainly is not a reason for any Christian to be single for a Christian to be single you have to ask yourself can I be content being single and can I use that singleness for purposes of the kingdom so that not being concerned with a spouse and not being concerned with the family I can give myself solely to the service of my lord that would be a biblical reason for the gift of singleness that's the one that's laid out in 1st Corinthians now having said that I probably need to say some of you may be thinking that you have the gift of singleness because nobody's asking you to get married yet and this is bothersome to me people are getting married at such a late age I think I read a week or so ago the new kind of norm is 35 years of age when people as kind of a norm are getting married so what have you been doing with yourself for the 18 years before that when you get out of high school what what have you been doing marriage is the grace of life some of you men need to understand that the greatest thing you can do is to take one of the Lord's daughters and care for her give her your life as the one who loves her be to her as Christ is to the church the bridegroom it's not about finding miss America or the perfect person it's about asking yourself could I be a Shepherd to a woman who belongs to Christ and could we together raise up godly children to his honor and his glory that's the question it just seems like everybody's got their own pathway then people are running right through the normal time for marriage and generating such a kind of independent approach to life that it would be very hard for them ever to come into a union with someone because their selfishness is so I guess you could say petrified by the time they get to a certain age so ask yourself are there godly women the Lord has surrounded me with in my world that I could care for as Christ cares for his church because that's what a husband does love your wife even as Christ loved the church we love our wives in a saving protective nurturing providing way and we then provide for our wives what is most fulfilling to them and what is that children how is a woman delivered how is a woman saved Paul says by childbearing a Christian man should be saying I need I need to bring my life together with the life of a godly woman so that she can be fulfilled it's not about me thought about me having a trophy wife or thinking I might have to give up something you have to give up everything to give your life to someone else and then have the joy of children which fulfills your wife and by the way it fulfills you as well so think about it biblically and certainly not selfishly okay how do you know when to give grace toward those we are dating since no one is perfect give grace all the time what do we look past and what our red flags I can't seem to find a girl that wants to memorize whole books of the Bible or spend all her time praying that's ricki yeah well I don't think you're gonna find a girl who wants to memorize whole books of the Bible and spends all her time frame I remember when Melinda my daughter was it was college student the guys would date her and I remember one guy came to the door one night and he said hello dr. MacArthur I've come to take Melinda we're gonna go get some coffee and I just want you to know we will be reading the Bible and praying and I looked at Melinda before she went out and I said get rid of that guy and get rid of that guy I think she thinks this is a some kind of a spiritual exercise you know look as a pastor I have a responsibility to nurture the congregation the Lord gives me I I don't expect to find a woman who is everything that she should be in Christ especially in youth I don't expect that you as a young guy are everything that that wife would wish you to be or that you should be but this is how we grow together and again you're back to asking the question is this daughter of Christ does this one of the Lord's sweet daughters that I could invest my life in to Shepherd her for his glory for her joy and for the well-being of his kingdom that's the question what can I do for the Church of Christ what can I do to bring joy and fulfillment to a wife you know this is what we do as pastors I was talking to some young pastors just this last week and they were asking me questions about what kind of church should I go to and I I said look if you find a church that is already everything it should be don't go there they don't you find a church that is something short of what they should be and there find you your place because that's where you aren't needed we're not looking for perfection for some of us I think we're just looking for somebody to say yes and that may be good enough and then the Lord will fill that marriage with love and blessing so I I think we can over think this criteria if if you as a guy love the Lord and the girl has given evidence of genuine salvation you'll find that growing together spiritually is the best of all things because there's a sort of common surprise a common freshness in your relationship and it will wear very well here I am pushing between 50 and 60 years of marriage and I don't know where I end and Patricia begins because we're we're so joined in in everything and it's been more fulfilling as the years have gone by because we've grown together in ministry look at it that way rather than trying to find some perfect person find a person who is eager to grow along with you in recent month the Holy Spirit has convicted me of some prosperity theology that has crept into my thinking how can I properly read scripture when Jesus does miracles according to the individual's faith how does our faith relate to what God chooses to do or not do in our lives signed Shawn now let me go back to Jesus miracles Shawn for just a moment and say this there is no commonality of faith in the miracles of Jesus there's no commonality of faith Jesus did miracles to people who didn't believe anything he did miracles to people who had meagre faith he did miracles to people whose faith was barely recognizable and he did miracles for people who did Express faith but that is not the common denominator the common denominator in the miracles of Jesus is not anyone's faith the common denominator in Jesus miracles was his sovereign will look he raised people from the dead how much faith did they have the miracles of Jesus were not dependent on faith when he when he created food to feed a crowd of probably over 20,000 people he made fish and bread that was based on no one's faith least the disciples who said we don't have enough money to feed the crowd that's how much faith they had so there are times when there's a measure of faith there's times when there seems to be a greater faith Jesus comments on great faith but in most of his miracles there would be no indication of faith at all in fact essentially for the life of his ministry three years in Israel he banished illness from Judea and Galilee and faith was not the common element his own sovereign will was it's also to be noted and very importantly that biblical history is not just completely covered with miracles go to the Old Testament and look for miracles well the first miracle creation massive incomprehensible miracle creating the universe in six days the next miracle after that drowned the whole human race that's a judgment do you have some more miraculous judgments but you really don't have miracles happening all the time even though God is at work you have some miracle is around Elijah and Elijah but there are only just a very few times in the Old Testament where actual miracles took place number of judgments but not actual miracles they come into the New Testament and there's an explosion of miracles unparalleled around the person of Christ why because Jesus said believe me that I am the son of God for the works that I do he was demonstrating his deity he didn't do miracles to reward the faith of the sick he did miracles to demonstrate his divine nature and then the Apostles came along and the Apostles he gave the power to do miracles to do those miracles why because there was not yet a New Testament and there were all kinds of teachers and all kinds of creatures so how does somebody know who the true preachers are so you've got the Apostles in the book of Acts going out and saying Christ as the Messiah Christ as the Messiah he's the savior of the world he's the only Savior the only Redeemer how do I know that because his messengers do miracles so they were called the signs of an apostle so the flurry of miracles came in the Ministry of Jesus and then in the early years of the Apostles but as you keep reading in the book of Acts they begin to disappear and disappear and disappear and when you come to the letters of Paul to the churches nobody's told to do miracles in fact Paul left people sick as miracles began to fade so if you understand the role that miracles played it'll help you to understand how the prosperity gospel is basically asking you to believe fake miracles fake miracles and then trying to tell you that they're all out there waiting to happen in your life if you send in your money that's always the motive of false teachers how can I glorify God in a long chronic suffering physically I only get worse which causes loneliness and she has a sweet name grace grace I wish you were here love to pray for you and call on the Lord to pour out his grace on Grace I think that you glorify God in a long chronic suffering in a simple way and that is thankful praise thankful praise that's that's maybe all that you can do maybe your suffering has debilitated you maybe it's kept you kind of out of the public maybe it's limited you as you indicate in the question to a place of loneliness this is your time to express grateful praise grateful for the fact that the Lord has saved you redeemed you that he's gone to prepare a place for you in glory that he's going to come and take you to be with him in the very place that he's prepared for you there and that your suffering will end there'll be no sorrow no sadness no sickness no death no tears now you need to live in grateful praise I know you say well it's easy for you to say because you're not in this chronic illness I know that but I do believe that there is no trial force Corinthians 10:13 that has overtaken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted or tried above what you are able but will with that trial make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it so grateful praise lift up your heart to him I would I would read the Psalms a lot the Psalms because that's essentially what the Psalms contained just some after psalm after psalm of grateful grateful praise for the promises of God the power of God and the fact that we're not going to face what the wicked will face in the few may the Lord give you much grace as you endeavor to do that here's a question from James after we die do we go straight to heaven or go somewhere until final judgment day as Christians do we have to go through final judgment are only non-believers that's a good question James after we die we do go to heaven and there are two scriptures that indicate this to us where the Apostle Paul says far better to depart and be with Christ he was saying to the Corinthians look I would rather go to heaven far better to depart and be with Christ but you you need me here so I'm happy to stay here as long as the Lord wants me to meet that need but but go back to that statement far better to depart and be with Christ so he knew exactly where he would go if he left to depart and be with Christ to deed to leave this world is to be with Christ now Paul also said for to me to live is Christ if for me to live is Christ and to die is gain then death must be more of Christ absent from the body present with the Lord so every indication is that there is no purgatory there's no waiting place there's no holding tank there's no sort of Sheol type nondescript place and you do remember on the cross there's a perfect illustration of this where Jesus said to the thief who believed today you will be with me in paradise now that is the promise of the Lord that when we leave this world we are immediately in his presence we're described in the book of Hebrews as the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven so we are spirit beings in heaven in the presence of the Lord waiting for the resurrection of our that's the promise

Channel: Walking In Truth Ministry

Views: 55,343

Rating: 4.8647165 out of 5

Keywords: Christ, Jesus, Bible, God, Doctrine, Theology, Bible Study, New Testament, Old Testament, john Macarthur, john macarthur sermons, John Macarthur q and a, grace community church, grace to you, heaven, Jesus Christ, sunday service, evangelical, expository preaching

Id: G1sQlKJu0Sk

Length: 61min 19sec (3679 seconds)

Published: Sun May 03 2020