Union with Christ: The Most Important Doctrine You've Never Heard Of

are we on okay so I didn't point at me hi welcome to another version of Facebook live and nature's life another what do you say there edition YouTube like wow my dad's so good at this that he's correcting me on terminology what a change of times yes I'm actually really bad okay I'm a bad technological millennial yeah I need to do some times that guy sitting next to you that's what I want to know you you should never use that word is that really bad word it is a yes I used that once with Jerry Lewis I played golf with Jerry Lewis I won't tell you the whole story because it gets a little dicey but he he when I use that word that often when I lived in Fort Lauderdale Florida many many years he corrected me on that well my dad did not mean to do that but hey come and join us share and like this video so that we can get as many people joining the Facebook live in YouTube life as possible and remember to comment where you're from and we may give you a shout out we want to talk to all of you I make some anecdotes about where you're from and how that connects to us so you might be able to I don't we doing this at 3 o'clock in the afternoon when most people I would assume are working unless you you know live in some other part of the world I don't know the answer to that question well why don't you ask the guy that sitting next David why are we doing this at 3 p.m. just decide we are experimenting with it though right David I mean we're trying to find the best time to connect with people and we're not perfect data yet but we're we're gonna find that sweet spot it seems to be the sweet spot we're also open so if you have a time that you think would work best let us know leave it in the comments and we are really delighted I mean you're always telling me David that with YouTube and Facebook live that one of the key things that we want to do is connect with people talk to people welcome them to the the YouTube Facebook live Edition broadcast what are you calling them Christina okay whatever edition broadcast whatever is called well you know thank you you're the expert I would just call it a Facebook live okay go to Facebook live but anyway we we're delighted to be able to connect with people in this way I mean that's the beauty of technology were that you were using earlier Christina native technology that we can connect with people that otherwise we would have no possibility of connecting with mm-hmm well we want to let you know before we start looking at our viewers the topic of the month is union with Christ so our research of the month is a book by Rankin will born will born called union with Christ and you actually context Union all caps two four one four four four and get this recent this resource resource and we also have a podcast that I just listened to it's really great with rank and Wilborn that you can check in a hank unplugged so you can check you love that podcast did you love that podcast the podcast with Frank and Wellborn was really good and I'm sure you're going to talk about it today yeah it was a fantastic podcast he's a he's a really good communicator it's a pastor of a church a Presbyterian Church I believe in Los Angeles California sort of a downtown Los Angeles Church it is I think one Church in two locations something like that and he is a fantastic communicator when it comes to this idea of union with Christ and let me say something about union with Christ the question is what makes union with Christ such an enchanted reality and in the book will burn actually talks about what enchanted means and the fact that we so often have forgotten about or lost touch with the notion of enchantment a union with Christ is at the very center of the doctrine of salvation Jesus Christ says that our relationship with him is like that of branches to a vine says that in in John chapter 15 grafted into the vine our very nature begins to change the reason is is the lifeblood of another now flows within us and gives us life the way this is explicate by our Lord is as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me and Jesus went on to say I am the vine you are the branches whoever abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing abide is God's way of communicating or describing our union with Christ and that again is the topic for this Facebook YouTube live session nothing is more basic or central to the Christian life than union with Christ if you've been listening to me for any period of time you've heard me quote loss key loss key said that following the fall the history of the human race is a history of shipwreck awaiting rescue but he said the port of salvation is not the goal the goal is for the shipwreck to continue on a journey whose sole goal is union with God and you know what the God again is as Christina was pointing out it is the title of rank and we'll borns book and he was very very candid about this when I did the podcast with him he was candid in saying this is not something that he came up with he is excavating a truth which is central to biblical theology and we have to wonder how something so central to the Bible has become so marginalized in our culture and we made this month a special month and you can see my copy of the spirit of the disciplines I mean it is really mingled if you look inside this book you will see that this is a book that has meant a lot to me I mean I've I've have an underlined intend in in yellow highlighter yeah pink highlighter I mean this is a book that I have devoured and I hope it's a book that you will devour as well if you've never read this you need to read this book but this book has to do with two songs one song is radical discipleship the other song is extravagant grace and without union with Christ the song of grace becomes impersonal rankin Willie Wilburn says it's it becomes a cold calculus that can leave you cynical the song of discipleship without union with Christ becomes joyless duty a never-ending hill that can leave you exhausted becoming a Christian means more than believing Christ did certain things for you it means that Christ joins his life to ours in such an intimate and comprehensive way that the prevailing metaphor for the Union is marriage we are the Bride of Christ so what we're talking about in this Facebook YouTube live session is nothing less than deification or theosis which was the Church Fathers way of talking about what the Apostle Peter describes as being a partaker of the divine nature again this is a central truth and the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we are not simply to believe right things about God we are to experience the life of God by abiding abiding in the vine being vines or branches nourished by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so that's the topic for today you can join in and a lot of you are Doug Williams on page 80 of Hanks book Muslim States Babylon was the name of present day Cairo does that mean Babylon was also the name of the Roman Empire Wow the I don't know that I ever said that on page 80 I got to look that up because I can't remember saying that at this point but yeah I mean Babylon is used in a metaphorical way it's not only used in a denotative way in the scripture to talk about a city and an empire one of the great empires of the world ruled by Nebuchadnezzar but it's also used in a metaphorical way in the Word of God such that we can talk about Babylon as though it is emblematic of all that is evil so it becomes metaphorical very much when very much like when I say that we're slouching towards Gomorrah I'm not talking about now the literal city of Gomorrah but all that Gomorrah represented in turn of its discordance and it's evil and its opposition to the will and the purposes of God Chad thanks Hank for taking the light of the Lord something I need to walk in this is a way I can be part of the body of Christ I need that or rather my spirit needs this somehow my problem with not being able to fan your page on here is now solved things so I guess there was a problem there but hi Chad glad you're joining us Nancy hands says I Hank and the Christian Research Institute praying for all of you I tell my family and friends that Hank is my mentor well that is an incredible honor but it is also an incredible well it is a what would you call that not only an honor but it is a weight you know I think whenever someone says something like that I think what James says what not many of you be teachers for with teaching there is the stricter judgment so I take the mentorship comment with a great deal of soberness thank you so much Nancy that Charlie thee says hello from Surrey British Columbia Canada now thanks be to God for your work over these many years your repetition has equipped me to give a defense for the hope I have and keep stretching us beyond our paradise you know I love that I love that Charlie stretching us beyond our paradigms you know paradigms can be limiting paradigms can allow us to see only what paradigms allow us to see might sound redundant but I think it's very very important to realize that paradigms paradigms can be very restrictive and so often we don't think about our paradigms as much as we think with our paradigms and so we can't think outside the frame if we're in the picture we can't think outside the frame and I think that leads us to tribalism there's nothing wrong with tribes but there is something wrong with tribalism so to be able to think beyond our paradigms is a wonder wonderful thing to cleanser perceptual lenses to get outside of her own psycho epistemological cocoons or own linguistic Hall of Mirrors is a very very good thing so thank you charlie Bill Hoffman praise the Lord for this show a lot of other people coming in from Cairo Egypt which is really cool shows that we're going around the world I actually have a Coptic cross on my wrist so that's my connection I've never personally been to Egypt I've been in Africa but no you did we had Cheryl from Tulsa Oklahoma have you ever been there dad Tulsa Oklahoma I have been there absolutely what's something unique about Tulsa well Roberts University I think one of your grandchildren was born in Oklahoma one of my grandchildren was born in Oklahoma that probably should have been the first thing and and my son-in-law taught at the University of Oklahoma I forgot she lived there yeah my daughter your sister yes well let's see who else we got here we got Belmont California Jose hi all congrats listening from Belmont California really good conversation on Corrections I was born in California I was born in Orange County Worth Belmont don't mind nice name okay where is Belmont you can comment we can look at it later yeah yeah David Dawkins says Hank one of my heroes in Christ thank you David Vance wit what is your thoughts about Bethel Church in Redding California well let me let me think about that so that I I'm careful about the words they use that ought to be a little bit of an Bill Hoffman praise the Lord for this show Beverly Graham early yay for a while your post weren't coming on to feed your back fans wit union Christ much more accurate than Pentecostal or than personal relationship with Jesus yeah that's you know the one thing I think we have to understand is that union with Christ means union with others hmm and there's there's such a thing in the Christian world as isolationism this idea that somehow or other were saved apart from the body of Christ but were saved into the body of Christ and and and and we can't really live apart from the body of Christ any more than a branch can live apart from the root so we're part of a body and we should never have this idea that were rugged individualists that we can we could make it on her own we make it within the context of a body of believers and it is within the context of the church that we receive the graces whereby we can become by grace what God is by nature now we are sons of God or God's by participation we are partakers in the divine nature so we're God's by grace we're not God's by Nature we're not as God is in the Godhead that would be a serious error but the the Incarnation it is what becomes the ladder of divine ascent whereby we can become by grace within the body of Christ well God is by nature we can be partakers participators in the divine nature as the Apostle Peter so beautifully puts it and of course all of this means that we can live by an energy that is in us but not of us now this is one of my all-time favorite passages where the Apostle Paul in Colossians 1 says we proclaim Christ but Mohnish and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that everyone may be made perfect in Christ and then he says to this end I labor struggling with all his energy which so powerfully energizes me and as I said on occasion is we can we can struggle with all our own energy we can be on the sidelines not struggling at all or we can struggle with all his energy which so powerfully energizes us and it works in us is a lot of modern translations will actually use the word works but it energizes us and and and so this is an energy that is beyond us so my contention is that the modern church is in serious trouble these are great bleeding out within the body of Christ and that can be reversed can be reversed when we start understanding the power of digital media platforms of what we're doing right now this is a wonderful connective tissue for the body of Christ is very much like the Roman roads were in years gone by at the time of Christ the Roman roads were the connective tissue digital media platforms are a far more pervasive connective tissue for the body of Christ so there's a downside to digital media platforms for sure it's a tool that if you use the wrong way it can be an addiction but there's a wonderful value to it as well and that's why we're trying to use digital media platforms in a way that is not a deflective but rather becomes something great in terms of the accomplishment of the great commission amen and we're getting to know so many people through our inroads through Facebook and YouTube so keep liking and sharing these videos so more and more people can get connected as well as comment where you're from we really want to know where what where are people hearing from and we can give you a shout out again and you know connect to you about if we've ever been there before but no I think this is a very important topic also just to remember that these outlets like Facebook and things like that are great to promote the gospel and to commune like this but it's no substitute for real communion in their church would I be correct in saying that absolutely I mean we have to be vitally connected to a healthy belt a well-balanced church and we can become facilitators for the church but the local church is the god ordained means through which you receive the graces that I talked about whereby we can become by grace with God is by nature Sampson anwer is saying something very very true we are saved by grace through faith we can read that in fact in scripture Ephesians 2:8 and 9 it is absolutely true we're saved by God's grace through faith and however I think it's important that we don't miss the whole story it is true that we are saved by God's grace but it is also true that while we're saved by God's grace through faith we must partake of something that is offered to us within the body of Christ and that is disciplines disciplines you think about a concert pianist if you put me on a stage with a baby grand piano and you say okay Hank wowed the crowd if I sat down at that piano it would be discordant sounds because I have no idea how to play a baby grand piano if you take a concert pianist like warren green who's the chief religion correspondent for Fox News they're going to be hanging out with her in about a week she if you put her on the stage with that same baby grand she will while the is because she's a concert pianist but what took what what did it take for Lauren green to be able to play that baby grand in front of a large audience it took lots and lots of practice and even the playing itself is practice and that's what the disciplines are and the Christian life they are the way we practice the way we practice so that when we fall into temptations we can overcome those temptations if you don't partake of the disciplines when you run into temptation you are going to fall if our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ exercised solitude and prayer because he he loved communication with his Heavenly Father if he's practicing those disciplines before the temptation the great temptation the desert temptation how much more should we practice the disciplines without them we simply have no chance I mean if I want to play golf at a high level and I used two years ago it took a lot of practice if I go out right now after years where the chemo I wouldn't do very good I just haven't been working at it so it takes practice it takes years and years of practice to be able to play at a high level without that you simply cannot perform in a golf tournament mm-hmm and you see that now with Tiger Woods and Tiger Woods's he was only three back after yesterday's round yeah in Florida though pryzbo I forget what's called tournament at the snake pit the Copperhead of course in I guess on the west coast of Florida I played it before but he's only three back he's getting better and better because he's practicing his playing under tournament conditions and that's maybe a good analogy for the Christian life well I remember talking to someone about this one time and they just thought prayer was so easy and it really is I think people need to recognize it just because it's spiritual doesn't mean it's easier in fact if it's spiritual it might mean it's actually harder you need to pray for an hour is not just second so we've got a lot of people tuning him you got Laurie from Fremont Nebraska I've never been to Nebraska have you been there Nebraska yes I have been to Morasca okay we got Kimberly from Allen County Indiana I draw drive through there often when I go to Michigan so that's a way to get to Michigan here's Jose Soto listening from a nursing home in Brooklyn New York may God bless your ministry thank you so much Jose and Paul John young PJ listening from Charlotte North Carolina hi PJ yes anyone listening from South America South America if you're listening in South America tune in especially if you're Chilean because my brother lived in Chile oh here's David by the way David the same by the way I'm an Orthodox Christian and the first heard your show and Protestant AM radio Protestant AM radio a few years ago and thought your show featured surprisingly Orthodox teaching blessed bless it fast thank you yeah we're fasting right now and this is my first ful faste during Lent I have once that she did once and I'll tell you I needed protein so bad at that moment I mean I was like a carnivore I just gobbled it down but yeah but I'm by and large being able to stick with this fast and and it's great and that what a great discipline that is I actually just think from food so you can feast on good mm-hmm and it's found it makes me healthier like I don't eat as big of a lunch and stuff like that because I realized that I don't need as much to sustain myself it's actually making me a lot healthier so it's really cool what fasting can do David has another comment if you want to read that yeah hello from Calgary Alberta okay so it's the same David okay I was wondering if your bishop has blessed your work as the Bible answer man also did your family and other CRI workers No and one of the things that we hold to at at the Christian Research Institute is the the notion of mere Christianity in essentials unity non essentials Liberty and all things charity I feel very strongly about my Orthodox faith I'm very very thankful for it but I know God has his people everywhere and I am blessed to work with people the Christian Research Institute that are not Orthodox but are lions of the faith from my perspective and I'm again very very grateful for that John Finch watching from Texas Thank You John Lawrence Goodstein thank you for being a teacher I appreciate you always honor the Lord Jesus Christ thank you I mean that's the greatest compliment I could get and it's also a great challenge to honor the Lord Jesus Christ and everything that we do and thought word indeed and let me say that I do not always honor the Lord Jesus Christ I'm a frail fallible human being and I need your prayers thank you so much though for your kind words yeah I mean well this is this is unbelievable people watching from all over the world yeah you know Bethel Church in Redding California that question is popped up here again on my screen and I said I'd say something about it bill Johnson is the pastor of Bethel he believes that it's God's will to always heal and you know he's he's appealing to the scripture in a way that the scripture ought not to be appeal to in other words he's reading the Bible in a way that it shouldn't be read particularly when it comes to Isaiah chapter 53 by His stripes I am healed well if you read Isaiah 53 correctly not only verse 4 but also verse 5 you find out that that healing is spiritual healing it really isn't about physical healing now same passage does talk about physical healing which was ultimately fulfilled in the Ministry of our Lord the Savior Jesus Christ but the important thing to recognize here is that we don't put God in a box God most certainly can heal us I pray for God's healing with respect to my own cancer I pray for that every single day that I pray every single day that God will restore to me the vigor of my youth that I might be able to serve him not by might nor by power but by his spirit but that he would make me completely whole physically and everyday I pray that and sometimes I think God has already answered that prayer but the point for me is that God sometimes heals us and sometimes he does not heal us so the idea that if we're not healed we're not operating in the kind of faith that we ought to have is simply bogus you know the idea in this this channel of thinking is that faith is a force words are the containers of the force and through the force of faith one creates their own reality so if you muster up enough faith and this is a perverted idea of faith faith in your own faith as opposed to faith in your God that you can have perfect health but the truth of the matter is God heals some people and other people it doesn't heal and you can't answer the why question because God teaches us ultimately to trust him in the midst of our wise so suffering and sickness as part of the human condition and God uses even that may be especially bad for his glory amen I'm we're just it's so important to with the spirit to focus on being United with Christ right and and where it's one of the most important doctrines that we've never heard of and that nothing is more basic or central to this Christian life and union with Christ so union with Christ is essential right so I was wondering if you can talk about how this idea of deification and theosis has impacted your life a little bit yeah well I mean if you think about being a partaker of the divine nature if you think about theosis or union with Christ or deification or divinization what all of these words are pointing to is the metaphor that I referred to earlier this metaphor of union with God as branches to a vine we can experience the uncreated energies of God so that we do not live by might or by power but we live by his spirit so deification means to become a partaker of the divine nature we are God's by participation we're not gods by Nature you know you've heard the canard in the Word of Faith Movement that you know dogs we get dogs and cats beget cats and cows we get cat and god forget it gets gods well the idea there is a demotion of God at an elevation of humanity in the wrong way we never become as God is by nature so we're God's by grace we're not gods by nature and deification is this idea of being a God by grace so how do you become a God by grace you had to protect of the graces whereby we become by grace what God is by nature what is the chief of those races the chief of those Grace's is what we talked about in orthodoxy is the Eucharist in Protestant circles has talked about as the Lord's table or Holy Communion and Catholic churches is talked about as mass mass means mission Eucharist means Thanksgiving meal Holy Communion again talk all of these all of these words are talking about the same thing they're talking about partaking of the body and blood of Christ now for the first 1500 years of church history for taking of the body of Christ meant this is my body this is my blood the church always believed in the real presence of Christ and the Eucharist until the Reformation even Luther the great reformer believed in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist so he believed that when you pur took the body and blood you are really partaking of the body and blood this is my body this is my blood this is truly the Lord's precious blood this is truly his pure body well after Luther that was a fissuring where the elements were now taken in a spiritual eyes sensed or they were taken as a mere memorial or remembrance as opposed to the partaking are giving us divine grace where we are partaking of not merely biological energy but zoetic energy the kind of energy that the disciples experienced when they went up Mount Tabor they saw Christ transfigured and they themselves were enveloped in a cloud Peter James and John of course and they saw Moses the quintessential lawgiver and they saw Elijah the quintessential prophet and and at that moment their circuits were rewired because they started understanding what it means to become a partaker of the divine nature that there was something that they had never considered before there was something beyond physical energy and it was transformational to them well this is what we're talking about when we partake of the pure body and the precious blood of our Lord the savages because we're talking not about biological energy were talking about zoiy zoiy tackle energy and that energy is transformative so what happens then there's a mingling that takes place between our humanity and Christ's divinity now that mingling never means that each loses its own property the ancients in the east used to describe this as taking a red-hot poker or a knife or a sword they would they would take that white steel and they would thrust it into flames and after a while the flames would take on or though the steel would take on the property of the flames now the steel was still the steel and the flames were still the flames but now the steel was red-hot because it had the energy of the fire from no Oh in the same yeah in the same way in the in the Western father's like Agustin used to talk about this as sponge in water but the sponge in the ineffable waters of the ocean the sponge takes on the waters of the ocean but the sponge is still the sponge and the ocean still the ocean but this is the idea of mingling the mingling that takes place I quite frankly before I became Orthodox I learned about this within the recovery you know watchman Nee witness Lee talked about this so a lot of people thought this was Cerreta chol but they never ever read them in context if they would have read them in context that would have recognized that all they were doing is recovering something that had been lost in modern day Christianity that's an entrance by and large that's interesting that you bring that up because we have a caller a commenter Daniel he talks about why the woman who grabs got healed without Jesus laying hands on her that has a lot to do with his power flowing out from his even just his person her touching his person the power of the Holy Spirit well Jesus actually said yes and that has to do with that mingling idea does it yeah I mean it has to do with this idea of Christ healing us with the power that is beyond human healing capacities now God can heal us through normal means he can heal us through the agency of the doctor but he can also heal us in a supernatural way and the lady with the issue of blood had spent all of her means on doctors and never been healed and here Jesus Christ heals her supernaturally is what an amazing ministry that that passage is I love that passage but I just want to take a quick note make sure to keep liking and sharing these videos if you've just checked in with us we're really glad to see that you're here and we want you to comment where you're from so that we can interact with you a little bit but keep asking your questions today the topic is union with Christ if you have questions about that topic today's the day to ask it though we will answer any questions so we're going to go back to our comments you guys yeah New Mexico god bless you thank you so much and Nikita Nikita hey Hank always nice to listen to you sharing your thoughts and your knowledge on spiritual matters and regards your conversion to orthodoxy as your walk with Christ been impacted in any way and if so how absolutely has been impacted greatly you know the I mentioned this earlier I'm in the the study in this area of theosis began a long long time ago as a result of my encounter with the recovery and particular man who opened my eyes to things that I would never have been open to before and it started when this man his name is Elijah I won't mention his last name because it's very modest but when I when I met him he had a great deal to do with me changing the moniker of this ministry from we do what we do because truth matters too we do what we do because his life and truth matters so life matters and in fact I remember giving him a bracelet that we had made up at the Christmas Research Institute that said because truth matters and I handed it to him and he handed it back to me and he said I think life matters more and that opened my eyes to a reality I mean it took me a while for my eyes to be open but it started opening my eyes progressively to the reality that yes life does matter more that it is critical that we believe right things about God but it is not enough to simply believe right things about God because Christ did not only come to save us by his death he came to save us into his life and that's what we're talking about today when we're talking about a union with God but anyway that started a process for me that led me beyond simply debating doctrine defending doctrine defining the doctrines of the historic Christian faith it led me to experiencing Christ in a revolutionary way and it has been transformational to me such that I was willing to put everything on the line to be correct in this matter and to communicate this matter correctly not to my audience so it's been it's been transformational in many many different ways I would say this that without this I don't know how I would have gone through my own bout with cancer and I still have an incurable disease from a human perspective with God all things are possible but I have been able to go through my own disease with a great deal of peace and confidence and serenity because I know that Christ has a purpose in everything and I'm completely resigned to his purposes not resigned in a negative way but a resigned in a very positive way to his purposes because God doesn't do anything that isn't perfect his way in our life is the way of the master and so yeah it's been transformational there's so much more I could say about this but it has been a transformational amen well we got an answer about where Belmont is in California and Jose says it's about 20 minutes from San Francisco in between San Jose and San Francisco he also says praying for y'all great Bible show I like it I started listening in 2001 so that was a long time ago which is pretty awesome but yeah we have someone listening in Jimmy from New Jersey he says stay well Hank praying for you for him for your family and staff so thank you so much Jimmy let's see about Samson here and this here read this as they go along he's saying Samson and were am I saying that right and I'm not sure I think so I hope so anyway nobody didn't butcher your name Samson looks like anyway Lazarus was raised from the dead but he much later died the same power that raised Lazarus from the dead heals us however everyone dies and no one lives forever our salvation in Jesus Christ is our greatest possession that transcends into eternity you know what's really great about what what Samson's comment is here yeah Lazarus Jesus raised one Lazarus from the dead right mm-hmm but that Lazarus died again so this is a resuscitation in resurrection resurrection is qualitatively different from that resurrection really has to do with metamorphosis mm-hmm in resurrection and that's what first Corinthians chapter 15 does it it gives us examples from zoology and botany and astrology astronomy I should say rose trilogy it gives us examples for what it will be like when we're resurrected immortal imperishable incorruptible we're no longer corruptible were incorruptible so we go through a metamorphosis and that's uniquely the blessing of all of those who are in Christ we're resurrected immortal imperishable incorruptible that's such an amazing amazing fact of life let's see if we have any other people that we wanna dog walking hi from British Columbia Canada I've never been there so we also have I Gabriel from college California saying they love our ministry which is really great I grew up in California again I said that in this broadcast before Chad is watching Ryan from Petaluma California I've never been there Brian if you want to tell me where that is that'd be cool it's near San Francisco never mind but hey I love San Francisco so if it's like that it's a good City so let's see what else we have here Edgar from bloomingfield New Jersey I've never been to New Jersey but I've been to New York I've never really understood the difference but other than that there are two states but I think that connect their border each other whatever anyways he says thank God for your ministry and thanks for recommending union with Christ it was something I needed to help me with my walk great book I've read it that was my comment not his and you should listen to the podcast because I listened to it and it's fantastic it's kinda on Hank unplugged and David's telling me something else yes a great companion it's a great companion to the book I feel like he's my teleprompter sometimes but it's great because we need the body to help us out right let's see what we got here we have new life in grace power-aware know your thoughts matthew 27:9 okay and I was just looking that up sort of familiar with the passage but I can't quote it because I haven't memorized it and I wanted to give a little context to it but anyway in Matthew 27 before you get to verse nine which is being asked about in verse six the text by Matthew says the chief priest picked up the coins and said it is against the law to put this into the Treasury since it is blood money so they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners that is why it has been called the field of blood to this day then what was spoken by Jeremiah the Prophet was fulfilled they took the thirty silver coins the price set on him by the people of Israel and they used them to buy the potter's field as the LORD commanded me so the question is explication I guess of what was spoken by Jeremiah the Prophet was fulfilled and yes this is what was spoken of by the Prophet Jeremiah so there is a prophetic prophecy made in the Old Testament it is fulfilled in the New Testament and and and and there are a number of different kinds of prophecies that you find fulfill there's direct prophecy so you you have for example yeah in Micah the prophecy that Jesus Christ would be born in Bethlehem and Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem so that's a a direct fulfillment of what the prophet Micah said but there's also tip illogical prophecy and and and that's a different kind of a thing and so I've written about this we can understand the import of tip illogical prophecy in a book called has God spoken it's actually multi-layered and it is it is quite it is quite exhilarating when you start to understand how it works so my recommendation would be that you look at my book has God spoken or just look up tip illogical prophecy in in general we've got a really cool testimony from though yes Thank You Hank I discovered you in solitary confinement confinement of a level seven maximum-security facility well and from there the Lord allowed you to inspire my own walk and thirst for the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ so that's a pretty cool testimony right there well I would yeah I wonder how he came across you but hey it shows that Oh beau can you let us know how you came across my dad that'd be kind of interesting just to know your testimonies wonderful and we're really grateful for the amount that you shared so far another city's secret mm-hmm was Matthew 24:29 symbolic or did the Roman destruction Jerusalem really have the Sun darkened low moonlight and the stars falling from the sky no it's symbolic the reason we know it's symbolic is because that language is used to all over the Bible in fact you find that language being used by the Apostle John in the apocalypse in the book of Revelation the Sun will be dark in the middle that shows like the stars will fall from the sky and they have named Bosworth shaken that language is used also in the Old Testament so it is used in various places one that comes to mind is Isaiah chapter 13 and that language is apocalyptic judgment language so when the Medes and the Persians put out the glories of the Babylonian Empire by defeating them that language was used so Jesus the heir to the linguistic riches the Old Testament prophets and a greater prophet than the mall uses the language of the prophets they now applies it to what is going to happen when Jerusalem in the temple are destroyed so all this language follows on this epic experience where Jesus has pronounced ichabod on the temple and he's leaving the temple the disciples are gassed and they're pointing out the wonders and the beauties associated with Jerusalem and the temple then Jesus says do you see all these things I tell you the truth not one stone here will be left on it everyone will be thrown down and then the disciples who want to know when will this happen won't be the sign if you're coming in the end of the age of sacrifice and Jesus then explains to them that this is going to happen within a generation and he's using again the language of the Old Testament prophets is used that apocalyptic language now with respect to judgment on Jerusalem so the same language used in the Old Testament with judgment on other nations is now used by Jesus and applied to what's going to happen to Jerusalem the city that will ultimately cry out that Jesus is crucified in our midst so it's amazing we have apocalyptic language it is a popular plain language and I always love when you talk about that it's a pretty cool topic and I'm trying to understand that more myself we have another guy that found you in jail - through the radio Chad found your dad and and on the radio in jail so that's pretty cool how radio can reach that place - which are full of good people I we also have different questions I don't know what you want when you want to do okay so let's see well we have a comment Samson says Hank we love you and I pray that God's Will shall be fulfilled in your life I've been a listener since 2003 purchase blue CD packs of compiled Bible answer man questions and answered when I lived in Memphis Tennessee my life has not been the same since then what amazing tennis testimony I don't know if I've been I've driven through Tennessee on my way of Chicago so I'm kind of connected to it we have Stephanie from Langley British Columbia she says thank you for your different formats reaching so many people for Jesus so there I've never been I don't know if I've been to British Columbia I think I've said I haven't I'm so far in this broadcast and then Beverly says we are in need of trusted voices thanks for serving so those are some of the comments we have again remember to like and share this video so more people can get engaged and remember that we'd love to hear where you're from if you're just coming in right now hi let us know where your fun we'd love to give you a shout out so we have a question about from Inga does James 2:24 deny salvation by faith and grace absolutely not you know what's really interesting about that passage I was just thinking about that passage because a lot of people bring that that passage up and I I think it's worth reading this in context you see that his faith and his actions were working together this is of course talking about Abraham and his faith was made complete by what he did and the scripture was fulfilled that says abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called God's friend and then James says this you see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone and the Reformers actually talked about that I mean Luther said we are saved by faith alone but the faith that saves us is never alone so the faith that saves us is a faith that is always a faith that is demonstrated by what we do so the the church fathers never juxtaposition one against the other or talked about one or the other in isolation they use the language of James and this is important when we're talking about tradition right because a lot of people say in traditionalism that you do tradition for the sake of tradition but a lot of tradition is is doing these things by faith that God would impart his grace unto us through different means you know there's a great quote and I don't know who originally said this but I think it's it's it's very very appropriate when it comes to the so matter of tradition and traditionalism a tradition is the living faith of the Dead traditionalism is the dead faith of the living this is to say that we ought to seek after a holy tradition but never seek after traditionalism you know just where we're talking about the body of Christ we want unity but we're not looking for uniformity mm-hmm so oftentimes when we talk about the isms we get into trouble traditionalism as opposed to hold of tradition we can be very thankful and grateful for Holy Tradition because through holy tradition we received our Bibles yeah through holy tradition the Apostle Paul could say what I received I passed on to you as of first importance well this is a probably a question on a lot of people's minds and I'm gonna bring it up since it's within the conversation Larry asks so then you believe in faith and works for salvation not just faith for salvation is that true it's a misunderstanding right well I I believe exactly what James says and let me repeat what James says but someone will say you have faith I have deeds show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith but why by what I do you believe that there's one God good even the demons believe that in shudder we're saying it is not enough to simply believe write things about God and we're saying that on the basis of what scripture says you foolish man do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless I'm reading the inspired infallible repository of redemptive revelation you foolish man do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless was not our ancestor Abraham concerned considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar you see that his faith and his actions were working together you see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did I'm asking anyone listening in can you say it any better than that well and I know there and let me continue here quickly and the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called God's friend you see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone and and and let me just elaborate on this using the words of James who continues by saying in the same way was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction as the body without the Spirit is dead so faith without deeds is dead so again the simple way of explaining this is I would never put one up against the other because I do not want to go beyond the interpretation given to us throughout church history by the saints who took very seriously the Word of God and passed down to us a teaching that never puts faith and works in opposition to one another and James most certainly does not put faith and works in opposition to one another in fact the whole of Scripture does not put faith and works in opposition to one and this is precisely why James is quoting from the Old Testament he's talking about Abraham he's talking about Rahab and he's even using an example that Paul uses in in Romans chapter 4 and if you have a problem with James then the Jesus we need in Matthew 25 the parable of the sheep and the goats that he says the quinoa reply truly I tell you whatever you did from one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me so those that don't that say there there it's more Lord you know we believed in you we we said that we the sinner's prayer whatever but they did not care for the week they did not care for their neighbor Christ us to depart from me so I mean you even hear coming out of the words of Jesus Christ himself the mouth of Jesus Christ himself yeah so yes we've got a lot of people tuning in see you go back to her cue daniel has a question that's an interesting question he asked how did Paul shadow heal well this was a supernatural non-normative healing and this was one of the things that identified the disciples for what they were disciples were in fact those who were identified and ratified by the works that they did and therefore we can trust them as being those that gave us not only the Holy Tradition that I mentioned earlier where Paul can say what I received I passed on to you as of first importance let's first concludes chapter 15 but also he can give us he can give us the Epistle zero two thirds the New Testament epistles he gives the epistles and he is identified as someone who was an eyewitness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ so they are identified by the works that they do and this is a supernatural work done by the Apostle Paul demonstrating that he was in fact what he claimed to be an apostle you know he says and I am the least of the Apostles I don't even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God but by the grace of God I am what I am this grace to me was not without effect no I worked harder than all of them yet not i but the grace of God that was with me whether than it was I or day this is what we believe and this is what you received of course he's talking there in context about the resurrection of Jesus Christ but he is identified there as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and the eyewitness of the of the resurrection of Jesus Christ here's Brian Rademacher saying thanks be to God for you Hank my family and I have been attending st. Seraphim Orthodox Church in Santa Rosa California we have never felt more welcomed or more at home in a church than we have here reading Timothy where's the Orthodox Church now and praying about becoming a catechumen well that is fantastic and Kimberly Spencer is literally everything that happens to you in your life directly from God I hear this so often but that doesn't allow for free will is literally everything that happens to you in your life directly from God I hear this so often that doesn't love her very well well obviously Kimberly I have a robust view of limitary and freedom I believe that we have the ability to act or to act otherwise and so our will plays a big part in in in everything that happens I think that there is a tension between the sovereignty of God and human freedom and free will and I sometimes live in the land of antenna me when it comes to this question but I have a robust view of free will and you know we we have the ability to act or act otherwise in the circumstances of life and therefore we are genuinely held culpable for what we do and the outcomes that that avail as a result of what we do mm-hmm Hugo I know that Joseph Smith was not a divine prophet but was he a gifted writer with a great imagination given that he penned the Book of Mormon in other words yeah I mean I do think he had a fertile imagination that's absolutely right and he came up with people that didn't exist in places that are nowhere in the planet so out of a fertile imagination it's one of the things that separates the Book of Mormon from the Bible in the Bible you find maps because the Bible is about a real history real places real people groups the Book of Mormon not so much and then you read about the Lamanites and you read about people groups and places that simply have no correspondence to reality even animals that don't have any correspondence to reality and in terms of the places that's supposedly located so you have you know the the places in in the Book of Mormon that that that simply are fictional demonstrating that he he did have a vivid imagination that he did I just want to make a quick comment we're gonna try to wrap this up in 10 minutes so be sure to ask your question still comment we'd love to even look at those after the broadcast but if we don't get to your question we may just talk about it on the broadcast tonight at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time so you can join us for that as well the Bible answer man broadcast that is at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time you can find it on I did I have said things about that there's product cast but I can't say it again no I think you should especially with respect to the book that we're talking about in David and you can expand on that a little bit yeah so we have a ranking well rank and Wellborn union with Christ the book that you can text for one four four four to get the resource text union two four one four for all caps you can check out this book and we also have a podcast on Hank unplugged which you can get on Google devices or on Android devices Google Play or on iTunes and you can check out my dad's interview with Rankin will war and it's really great interview really talks a lot about how to attain union with Christ and a lot of that has to do with the disciplines which is something I kind of wanted to round us back towards so that how have you found the importance of developing disciplines in your life what are ways that we can work on developing it or what are the disciplines that are important that you found well right now we're we're involved in the great Lenten fast so Lenten is a period of preparation for Holy Week and deeply for the epicenter Foley week which is resurrection and so fasting is a fantastic discipline solitude silence fasting prayer study these are all disciplines in the Christian life with respect to fasting again it is a preparation it is a way when you fast for example from wine and oil your fasting from things that satiate you from a human perspective of biological perspective because what we're really looking for is intimacy with the Lord and so this is a great great discipline that we participate in but we never do it in isolation we're doing it within the spiritual gymnasium that is the church so during the Lenten fast we spend a tremendous amount of time in church we're not just going to church on Sunday we're going to church a whole lot more than that during Holy Week alone in our church we have more than 30 hours of services and the vast majority of those services we deal with with Scripture we're literally awash in the Word of God some people think that orthodoxy it doesn't pay much attention at the scripture nothing could be farther from the truth I've never been and I've been studying and memorizing the Bible all my life I've never been so a washin scripture as I have within the context of what the doxy of course you can find this in many other traditions as well but for those who think orthodoxy has nothing to do with scripture dead wrong Holy Week is the quintessential example of that but yeah the spiritual disciplines are so many disciplines you know you think about the discipline of of pray reading you think about the discipline of of becoming someone that is constant in prayer praying at all times in the spirit it was talking about but he talks about the full armor of God so yeah these are these are all disciplines that are critical to experiencing union with God a lot of people are tuning in someone saying in relating to what we're talking about with disciplines and really truly being committed and in your walk and journey with Christ someone is saying even the demons believe in each other the demons have a knowledge of God and they choose not to to work in those things and yeah but that's also points out a bigger a bigger issue you know it you know true biblical faith is not just knowledge to that knowledge we have to give assent and then to that knowledge and assent we append living trust dependence on Jesus Christ alone so the demons have a knowledge about Jesus Christ they know that he is Lord they know that he's the creator of all they assent to that truth but knowing and giving assent to that truth is not the same as trusting or the difference between knowing and knowing you can have a cognitive knowledge of something or you can know something like you know your right hand you know like the more I go to a I was just Indian restaurant was my one of my closest friends the other day and he knew curry because he's been and he's tried every different kind of curry it's not just he knows continent he knows like the smell that tastes just how it makes him feel there's a difference between an experience of knowing and knowing that's just almost like book-smart but yeah we have someone that says Dokdo Megha says Amen repentance is not saying I'm sorry or having remorse but changing the way you think by renewing of your mind even Judas had remorse but he fell short I think that's something that we have to remember I want to be on for ya Edgar says listening to the podcast as well or listen to the podcast as well enjoyed it very much especially the minutes when I guess who's talking about Rankin and myself when we spoke about Billy Graham and how we live for an audience of one yeah that's right this is a great podcast I mean if you've never listened to the Hank unplug pod yes I think I'm close to fifty episodes right now and you can find all of them at equipt org you can you can listen to them on iTunes or wherever you consume your favorite podcast but these podcasts are seriously good and they're seriously good because I'm bringing some of the most interesting informative inspirational people on the planet directly to you so I'm having a conversation with them you can listen in to the conversation the last podcast it's up right now Rankin Wilborn incredible insights particularly on the subject that was the focus for today and that is union with Christ it is the enchanted reality that so many people simply don't know about yeah and that's why I recommend his book I'm really excited to recommend his book you know what he said again is I'm not explicate enduring is an excavating something that the modern-day Church has lost sight of that's and then again I mean I talked about this earlier if he just - in the end this the disciplines understanding have God changes us by Dallas Willard it is a classic my book is ripped it is you know it is just marked up everywhere I think it's a fantastic resource I've read it I think every year for a number of years because I think participating in the disciplines or the spirit of the disciplines is as Dallas Willard puts it it is critical and I mean you can tell me what you think about this but I think you know the effort only unforgivable sin is the denial of the Holy Spirit and it's like a continual denial continual rejection of the Holy Spirit and so instead of doing that we must continue affirm and be abiding in the spirit in Christ it's a it's a journey it's a it's a God working in us as we abide in him as we abide in the vine let me take just a couple of other questions I know we got to close this this session but I think some of these are follow-up questions I'm not sure so Matthew 24 30 makes it seem like the Son of Man will come or right after the tribulation is it a different tribulation than the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans the first century no I mean look I think what's important is that we don't always read the same meaning into words or phrases because context becomes determinative so coming God comes on clouds in the Old Testament that calming his judgement language and this is the way in which we read what Jesus Christ is talking about in the Olivet discourse which is given in the Synoptics and then also in manat the Gospel of John but in the revelation the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place that's John's expanded all of a discourse so that coming here is God's coming in judgment the coming of Christ and judgment this is not about the second coming the second coming of Jesus Christ actually is described by scripture as an appearing the second appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ or the appearing of our Lord the Savior Jesus Christ so Christ will appear it's as though he's coming from somewhere Christ transcends time and space when he left in the ascension it wasn't as though he was traveling at the speed of light to get out of our little little galaxy though he was transcending time and space and when he comes back he will appear again in time in space we're looking forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ but the second appearing of Jesus Christ or the second coming is that sometimes called who Jesus Christ it doesn't mean that every time we read that coming word we think about the second coming or the second appearing that word is also used in Scripture in the old and new Testament in terms of judgment language God coming on clouds as I mentioned in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ coming in judgment on the same city and the people that cried crucify him crucify him his blood be on us and our children so this is judgment language that is given in the all of the discourse and of course fulfilled with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem you really have a connection with your listeners because right before you said that about coming on clouds Chad gaily said yes like in Daniels vision coming on clouds that is a study that you inspired me to do so it's really cool that he said that Doug is asking when we will do this again yeah we'll do it again next week Oh Lord willing early next week because I know that I have to do some teaching later on so be teaching three days in a particular place it is not open to the public so I will mention it but but but I'll be teaching and and and so later on next week I think Friday and Saturday I'll be I'll be out of here but we'll see if we can do a Facebook live maybe Wednesday let's simply can chew for Winston actually we came from New York of course and personal on the like we used to do the first couple of ones where we left our heads off I try to get a little more professional since then no more questions there what you feeling we're already at 4:17 so yeah we probably should wrap it up look there are a lot of questions I do see them all over the board but I will tell you what if you want to call me on the Bible in ceman broadcast I'll answer the questions of the Bible in sermon broadcast tonight the number to dial to get your questions answered live on the broadcast and I Triple Eight asking so if you have a question I haven't gotten to it today called me on the broadcast Triple A to ask Hank that's Triple A to ask Hank numerically Triple A two seven five forty to sixty five you can also you know text in your question or yeah Facebook your question we'll try to make note of some of these questions and see if I can handle them on the broadcast tonight that's another way of doing it call me live or we have some scribes in here probably taking down some of the questions I didn't get down I get to and we'll see if we can take them on tonight's broadcast and remember that if you want this resource union with Christ text union all caps two four one four four four if you were intrigued by it also check out Hank unplug podcast once you do listen to Rincon will borns interview with my dad or my dad's interview of him I know you'll like it so she rate it and share it and right now like and share this video because even though we're tuning out so many people can look at this video and check it check it out that when it's not live I don't know what you call that but yeah do that it is supposed to Facebook live and YouTube live so thank you so much for joining us we really loved interacting with you and dialoguing I doing this I'm pretty sure my dad does so it's been a great time so long for now so long for now

Channel: Bible Answer Man

Views: 6,178

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Keywords: Live Broadcast, Live Stream, Facebook, Apologetics, Bible Answer Man, Bible, Christian Research Institute, CRI, Hank Hanegraaff, Christ, Christian, Christianity, God, Gospel, Jesus, Scripture, Truth, Union with Christ

Id: tySfrlZscVA

Length: 79min 47sec (4787 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 09 2018