Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the community behind Islam, atheism, politics, logic, quantum physics. I am thinking about a new plot for the second novel and I got this good idea. We have five open lines, why don't you give me a call?

877-207-2276. Now, one of the things I do is, of course, teach biblical theology. It just occurred to me that I need to give you guys a lesson on what the essentials of the Christian faith are. What makes a belief Christian or not Christian? And there are variations of things, what we call essentials and non-essentials.

The non-essentials, there's a word for that, adiaphora. Adiaphora deals with things like, is the rapture pre-tribulation or post-tribulation, that's adiaphora. If you believe you're the one, man, no big deal. If you believe that you can worship on Saturday or Sunday, that's fine. You believe in the continuation of the gifts or you don't believe in the continuation of the gifts, that's fine too, not a big deal. So, what I have done, and I've taught this many times over the years. What I do is I go through and over the years when I studied the Bible, reading, I started taking notes. I started taking notes on what were the essentials of the Christian faith according to scripture. Any hints about what the Bible said, what the Bible says is essential. I've been working on it for years and it's not like eight hours a day research on this every day.

It's like, oh, four months later, hey, you know what, it might fit over here. And so what I want to do is give a lesson on what are the essentials of the Christian faith according to the scriptures. And I've got six of them. Now, I'll explain something else in a sec here. But what I mean is this is the fence that if you're outside this fence, you're no longer talking Christian theology.

If you're inside the fence of these doctrines, you're inside of Christianity. Now, another thing is that I'm going to go through what I call primary and secondary essentials. Primary essentials are the verses that are explicitly stated as being essential. There's actually a warning in the statement. And the secondary essentials are essentials of the Christian faith, but there's no warning attached to it. And you'll see what I'm saying when I get here. And I've even gone in and done primary non-essentials and secondary non-essentials.

And that's a whole other study because I break things up into all kinds of categories. But I want to get through this on what the essentials of the Christian faith are. So I'm going to do this here.

Here we go. This is a primary. Jesus is still both God and man. Now, we know that John 1 and verse 14, In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, etc., and the Word became flesh. Now, the verse that makes us a primary is in John 8, 24, Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. So you see, that's a warning. It's a statement with a warning. Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.

So it's a primary essential because it has a statement attached to it with a warning. Now, here's another one, the second one. Jesus rose from the dead physically in the same body. Because Jesus prophesied his own resurrection in John 2, 19-21. But Paul, he says, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. Your faith also is in vain.

So there's a warning. And if he's not been raised, then everything, it's useless. So why preach? Why teach if he did not rise from the dead? And so that's a second out of the primary essential.

Here's another one. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Now, I've recently been challenged to, we're going to work out the details to a debate on faith and works and stuff like that.

And I'll be using the same kind of information that's on my website. I talk about this with Catholics and stuff. All false religions, all false religions add works to salvation, period. Now, in Romans 3, 28, it says, we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Now, justification is a legal declaration of righteousness. Romans 5, 1 says, having therefore been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we go to Galatians 3, it's really interesting, 1 and 2, Galatians 3 verses 1 and 2. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before, whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

This is the only thing I want to find out from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Now, here's where the essential nature comes in. And this is in Romans 5, 1 through 4. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold, I, Paul, say that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

Now, I'm going to unpack this just a little bit. Circumcision was a symbol of the law, of doing anything. And he says, if you get circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit. Because what you're saying is, you know, Christ, he did his work on the cross, but I need to do something.

Well, then it's either all of your trust in Christ or it's not all of your trust in Christ. And he says, and I testify again to everyone who receives circumcision that he's under obligation to keep the whole law. You've been severed, and notice the pun, severed and circumcision. You have been severed from Christ. You who are seeking to be justified by law, you've fallen from grace. So that's an interesting verse, and there's a warning in that.

All right, here's another one. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus according to the scriptures. Now, that's defined in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 4. But in Galatians 1, 8, and 9, here's the warning, just like the previous one.

He received circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit. There's that warning. Here's a warning, Galatians 1, 8, and 9. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. There's a warning. If you preach a different gospel, accursed.

Now, wait a minute. What is that gospel? Now, that's a topic because Mormons don't have it. Jehovah's Witnesses don't have it. The Muslims don't have it. The Roman Catholics don't have it.

The Eastern Orthodox don't have it. They don't have the gospel. They think they have the gospel, but they don't. They think it's just an affirmation of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

They think that's all it is. Not so fast. But nevertheless, if they preach a different gospel, let them be accursed.

Here's number 5. There's only one God in all existence. That's Exodus 20, verse 3. You shall have known of gods before me. Isaiah 43, 10. You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen so that you may believe. Actually, what it says there is Yahweh.

You are my witnesses, declares Yahweh, or Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he before me. There was no God formed. There'll be no one after me. There's no God formed before me, no God formed.

Woo! That's interesting. He goes on. He's the first and the last. There's no God besides me. And he says, I know of none.

Have I not declared it? So the warning is in Exodus 20 because he says if you have a false god, or if you don't serve the true God, he'll visit the iniquity on you and your generations to pass. There's a warning there.

Now here, check this one out. This must be born again. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

He's born again in order to see the kingdom of God. That's a warning. This is what Jesus says.

So I added that one, I think, this year or last year. It's like, you know what? It's right there. There's a warning. Unless you're born again, you won't see the kingdom of God. So those I call the primary essentials, and there's six. I wonder if there's going to be any more. And some say that John 14.6 is a primary, but it's not.

I'll explain why when we get to it later. Now, six is the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day, and so it gets called six, number of men. And so I wonder, I'm just thinking out loud, I wonder, because our six primary essentials, it's concomitant with the issue of the six being the number of man, dealing with man's salvation. I just wonder if it's something God has woven into the scriptures.

I don't know. So now what I want to do is get into the secondary essentials. They're still essential in the Christian faith, but there's no warning attached to these.

So let me get this into this. God exists as a trinity of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so there is no warning attached to this that you must believe in the one God and three simultaneous co-eternal persons. Nothing like that in scripture exists, but we know the trinity is true. And if you deny the trinity, the biblical doctrine of the trinity, we can't call you a Christian. In Mormon state, God is three gods. The trinity is three gods.

They're out. The Jehovah's Witnesses deny the trinity. The Muslims deny the trinity. So they don't have the true God. And so Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. That's the nature of the incarnation right there. Now, nothing says thou shalt believe in the virgin birth or else, blah, blah, blah. But we know that we really can't defend the deity of Christ, that he's both God and man, without that incarnation of being born of the Virgin.

So it's a secondary essential, but it's still in the essential area. And then this one. Jesus is the only way to God, God the Father, John 14.6, where he says, I have the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes with the Father but by me. And so now some say there might be a warning that no one comes to him through me. I could put that in the primary because of that. You just can't come to the Father but by me.

It doesn't quite satisfy what I think is the warning condition. But at the very least, it's a secondary essential. You have to understand and know Jesus is the only way to God. You can't get to the Father except by him.

But we're supposed to go to Christ as Jesus has come to me. And so it's on the border of essentials versus non-essentials. Primaries, that is, at least in my categorization. I'm the only one, incidentally, who's come up with this. I don't know if any other theologian or apologist has come up with the idea of breaking the essentials up into primaries and secondaries.

I am the only one who does that. But I explained why I do it, and I think it's really helpful for us to do that. And in this, if you're interested in following this, you can just go to karm.org and you can look up doctrine table. And they're listed there.

I even have which groups deny what. And so you can check them out. And those are the essentials.

We need to know these things. Hey, there's the break. If you want to give me a call, I want you to give me a call. That's 877-207-2276. Give me a call. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone, welcome back to the show. We have three open lines. If you want to give me a call, all you've got to do is dial 877-207-2276. Let's get to Glenn from North Carolina. Glenn, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. How are you?

How are you doing, man? The question I ask you is spiritual death. I cannot find it in my King James Bible nowhere. That's what I was trying to understand. They reference Adam and Eve spiritually died that day from what transpired in the garden, and that's not true.

Well, it all depends. We always have to define our terms. So if we define our terms, then we can say it happened or did not happen. So what do you think, from what you've heard, what is spiritual death? The spiritual death is not in my King James Bible nowhere. The phrase is not there.

I couldn't find it. Okay, I understand the phrase is not there, but the word Trinity is not there either, but the concept is there. So what do you understand to be the definition of spiritual death?

What do you mean? What do you think it means? Then we can see what's in the Bible. Okay, well, let's say Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, David, they were all walking in a spirit of truth, and they believed God, and David there in the book of Psalms even prayed to God and asked God not to take His Holy Spirit from him. Can you define for me what spiritual death is? Do you know what it is? Well, I mean, Sodom and Gomorrah is full of people they say are spiritually dead, but really they weren't spiritually dead.

Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm asking the same question, what is the definition of spiritual death? What does it mean? Because if we don't know what it means... I don't know, I never looked that up, spiritual death, and I looked up the word in my Bible. Okay, what do you think it means? I'm just curious, you know, it's no big deal. What do you think it means?

Well, one of them, they said they spiritually died that day, but according to the Lord the spiritual death... I got it, glad I got it. But what do they mean by it? What's the term mean? That they say, people often, they'll hear a term and they just work with a term as though they think that both people understand it the same way. You'll find that I'll very often say, well, what do you mean by that term? Please define it so I know we're on the same page. So if someone were to come up to me and say, what is spiritual death? I'd say, well, there's different possibilities of what it could mean. What context is it used?

Who's using it? That's what I'm saying, because the term isn't in scripture that I'm aware of, all right? I get what you're saying. Now, the term they use, they were spiritually dead, in other words, separated from God. What does that mean, to be separated from God? You see, when someone says, well, they're separated from God. Well, hold on, you could be separated from God in hell, you could be separated from God in fellowship.

You could, you know, you have broken your fellowship with God and you're under discipline, you could still be a Christian. It could be used that way. Spiritual death, I wouldn't generally use it that way, but some people could use it that way. I'm not saying it's right. You always have to define your terms, you know? Okay? Separated from God.

Well, the way I took it from where he worded it, spiritual death, they spiritually died. Here's the thing. I tell people, this is what you do when you want to have theological discussions. Just remember three things. First, define your terms, number one. Number two, use the terms in sentences. Three, use scripture and logic to validate or invalidate the sentences.

Simple. Define your terms first. So when I debate someone, say I'm going to debate a Mormon, potentially, on salvation. We have to have salvation defined because salvation in Mormonism can mean forgiveness of sins. It can also mean universal resurrection.

So if I were to do a debate, I would say, you know, what do you have to do, for example, to have your sins forgiven? And that kind of thing. It's just a little bit more narrow and in that way the topic is more defined. And so you get more to the point. It's just simple. It's just defining terms. It's just necessary. I've debated so many, so many people over the years that I've learned, hey, let's just define our terms.

It's not a trap. It's just, what do you mean by that? And then we discuss it.

So I always ask them. When they say spiritually dead, say, what do you mean by that? I've heard that in the church. I've heard that from people and then I finally start, you know, I'm going to open my Bible and read it for myself. And I start digging and I'm looking and I looked up, let me look at the spirits of death.

I couldn't find it. But I had all kinds of instances where they weren't spiritually dead. What does it mean? What does it mean to be spiritually dead? It would sound like it means they're in a state of damnation. They're not regenerate. That could be a definition. If that's what they mean, say, okay. So they're not saved. They're not regenerate.

Right? To say spiritually dead now has to be defined. Most Christians I talk to are not used to me asking them, could you define your terms, please?

And I'll write them down. What do you think this means? What do you think that means? Like, you know, I'm Reformed in my theology and I was, so to speak, impromptu debating a guy who hates Reformed theology.

He just hates like a rabid dog. And he said, essential, he said, irresistible grace is stupid. I said, why? Because I figured he didn't know what it meant. And I didn't ask for a definition right away. I said, well, why is it stupid? He says, oh, because it means you can't resist the grace of God.

People do it all the time. And I knew he didn't understand what he was talking about in a natural sense. He didn't understand the definition. I said, that's not what it means. In Reformed theology it means, you know, I gave it the definition. I said, that's what it means. And he said, no, it's not.

I go, yes, it is. See, it's always necessary to define terms. Always define terms. Okay? So get that first, Glenn. They talk to you, say, what do you mean by that? And get it specific.

All right? What are you talking about regeneration? Regeneration is that thing, is the thing that God does to us where he makes us born again. John 3, 3 through 8 makes us new creatures. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. We're indwelt by the Lord God.

He lives in us. John 14, 23. We're granted faith. Philippians 1, 29. And granted repentance.

2 Timothy 2, 29. It's a package deal in regeneration. A change in us. We're made alive. We're dead.

Now we're alive. We were against God. Now we're with God. We were under judgment. Now we're no longer under judgment. We didn't have the Holy Spirit dwelling us. Now we do have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

Okay? Well, don't the truth, isn't the truth is what regenerates them? No, God regenerates.

Like, if you hear the truth about what I'm saying, it's something... No. Regeneration is an action upon us and in us. Speaking a bunch of words doesn't have the power to change us. God reaches into us and changes us. That's what regeneration is. The work of God.

Not just a formula, not just a sentence. Okay, buddy? They can move on. All right, Glenn, call back another time, okay? Hey, folks, three open lines.

Give me a call, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back with Anthony and then Michael. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Welcome back to the show, everyone.

Bottom of the hour. And if you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Anthony from Virginia. Anthony, welcome. You're on the air.

Hey, Matt. I was listening to your essential Christian doctrines, and you're talking about the deity of Christ. And what I understand essential means is if you do not believe it, you are accursed and cannot achieve salvation. Would you agree with that? Yeah. So a person must believe that Jesus Christ is God.

Correct. Now, can you defend that, where it states in the Bible that one must believe that in order to be saved? Unless Jesus says, unless you believe that I am, you'll die in your sins, John 8-24. In John 8-58, he says, before Abraham was, I am a pick-up stone to throw at him. The next mentioning of stoning is in John 10-32-34. I and the Father are one.

They picked up stones again to throw at him. They said, many good works of the Father I've shown you. For which of these are you stoning me? For we're not stoning you for a good work, but for you, being a man, make yourself out to be God. The Pharisees understood that Jesus Christ was claiming to be God.

The only places you can go to for that are where you claim the divine name, where he says, before Abraham was, I am. And they're not sure exactly what's going on with that, because he's saying, wait a minute. He didn't say, egoi mi haon, which is the Septuagint translation of Exodus 3.14 from the Greek. But he says, I am the being one. But still, the Greek is equivalent to I am.

They're curious. They're not sure, because what he's talking about is being the Messiah to some degree inside of that. And then he moves on and says, before Abraham was, I am. Now he's being clear. So Jesus says, unless you believe that I am, you'll die in your sins.

And we know that that's an essential. Now, some translations have the word he in the italics. And I don't translate it that way, because it doesn't say he, autas. It says, egoi mi, present active indicative first person singular, which means I am.

That's all it is. And there's no he. And so I don't believe the he should even be in italics.

I think people are inserted a little bit. So I just read it for what the Greek actually literally says. So when he says in John 8.58, before Abraham was, I am, they know he's claiming to be God.

That's what's going on. If you deny Jesus Christ as God in flesh, you can't be a Christian. Okay?

Well, I'm going to disagree with some aspects of what you just said. So, in John 8.24... Let me ask you. Let me ask you. Do you believe Jesus is God in flesh? I don't know. It doesn't appear to me. You don't know what you believe? Take, take a minute or a few seconds and ask yourself what you believe and then see what your answer is.

So what do you believe? Oh, probably not, but I'm willing to say you're not a Christian. You're not a Christian. Uh, that's what I'm actually here to discuss with you is whether this is requirement for Christians.

I just gave it to you from scripture. All right. And can I make, can I make an argument that you can use some of what you said? Sure.

All right. So in John 8.24, um, I know that there are varying interpretations of what, of how to translate that. And then NIV and the King James, they put the word he there. But in other interpretations and translations, they don't put the word he there. So I think the fact that some translations put the he there signifies that it's not clear here that he's claiming to be God.

And if you follow the, all right, the word he is not there. If you want to say, uh, it's like Spanish, you know, uh, and is, you know, he, she, or it eats, it's third person, singular, present, active, indicative, third person, singular. So in language like Spanish, the nouns or the verbs conjugate, but they have the same word that is he and she and it in its form. That's how it is in the Greek. It's the same thing, the same thing in English.

We don't do that. He eats, she eats, it eats, he, she, or it is third person singular. So if you were to say he is, it would be the third person singular of the verb, a me, but it's not, it's first person singular I. And so it says, I am, that's the literal translation.

He is what? So I'm just telling you what the literal Greek is. The literal Greek. I understand all that. Yeah, that's true.

But go ahead. So in John 8, 24, he says, unless you believe that I am, and he is in the italics in the NASB, which means it's not there in the original, but it can be used to be an implication or implied that it's there. I could explain more Greek to you, but that's what's going on there.

It doesn't need to be there. I understand that everything you said is true. I know the word he is not there in Greek, but what my point is that you're using it as a, as a proof of what, of your position, where it's unclear what is exactly being said there. And the fact that they are different translations is proof that no one knows exactly. So Jesus says before Abraham was, I am, they want to kill him for that.

Why? Well, that's another, that's a different part of the conversation where he's not saying, why did he want, they want to kill him when he says before Abraham was, I am. The same phrase he used in John 8, 24. Why would he want to kill him? Well, you know, that, that follows a part of the conversation where he's talking about how he saw Abraham and the Jews were confused why he said that.

And some people interpret that to mean. Why did they want to kill him? Why did they want to kill him? It could, it could appear that he is claiming to be a God there, but it could also mean something else.

And so in John 10, the John 10, 30 on the father of one, they pick up stones again to throw ahead him. Now they want to kill him again. And then he asked him why. And they said, cause you're claiming to be God.

So tell me what was it he said that would make them think he's claiming to be God. Well, I'd have to go look at that. I don't know if you could help me out here. Sure. John 8, 58. John, John, John, John, 10, 30. I and the father are one. Okay. Why would that upset them so much?

What about John 10, 30 that is such a strong statement that they want to kill him? Well, you know, I and the father of one could be interpreted in a, in a metaphysical manner, not necessarily in equivocation, in an equivalent, but I'm glad you think I'm right. I really appreciate that. That's good.

I'm glad you agree with me. No. When I, when you said I and the father. You just said it again. You just said yes.

You did. Yeah. No. All right.

Well, I misspoke then cause what I'm trying to say. I'm just interpreting your words the way I want them to be interpreted. No. Yeah. No, that's not what I'm doing here.

I'm not interpreting things the way I want them to be interpreted. See, there you go. Admitting it again. There you go. You know, I like when you call up and tell me how right I am. I, I really appreciate that. That's good. Yeah.

All right. You're, you're, you're putting words in my mouth that I say, if it's just a metaphysical interpretation possibility, then anything goes, why would the Jews want to kill him for saying, for him saying I and the father are one, why would they want to kill him? What's he saying in that statement? Well he, they did interpret that him, the Jews did interpret him to say that he was claiming to be God, but that doesn't mean that's necessarily what he was saying. Well, do you agree with the Pharisees that he's not God? I would say he, I would say he's not, he's not equal to the father of, he's not, um, there's only one, not the father creator. There's only one God.

He's clear. They said, you're going to make yourself to be God. You agree with the Pharisees that he's not God because they denied he was God.

They want to kill him for what he was saying. So do you agree with the Pharisees that Jesus is not God? I would have to say that there'd have to be more evidence that he, he is God. I mean, he's a different question. Do you agree with the Pharisees that Jesus is not God? I would say as it is, I'd probably say no, I would say he is God. Oh, so he is.

I did. Yeah. I'm agreeing with the Pharisees on that regard. I gotcha. So you agree with the Pharisees that he's not God, the Pharisees who failed to understand who he was and know what he was doing.

Yeah. Well, if I, if you yield that Jesus did claim to be God, it's still, it may not be a requirement for Christians because there are, well, in the beginning was the word, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory. That's God in flesh. That's Jesus. He says, unless you believe that I am, you'll die in your sins before Abraham was, I am. I and the father are one.

He's claiming it clearly. You, I have to warn you, Anthony, I'm not mad at you. You are not a believer. You are not regenerate. You are not a Christian. If, and may it not happen, but if you're to die today, you'd just go to hell because you have denied the only truant of God in Christ. So I would go to hell for not believing that Christ is God. For denying he is God in flesh.

And my question was, I haven't seen where you've proven that that is what will happen. Even if you prove that Jesus claimed to be God, it doesn't say that someone will die for not, will go to hell for eternity for not believing that. He says, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. You deny he's the I am, you will die in your sins.

You're going to break, so nice talking to Anthony. Call back again. You need to repent. You pray to Jesus.

Ask Jesus to forgive you of all of your sins because you need regeneration. Let's get to Michael after the break. We'll be right back, folks, after these messages. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

All right. Welcome back, everyone. If you want to give me a call, three open lines, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Michael from North Carolina.

Michael, welcome. You're on the air. Yes. I'm going to be praying for the last caller that the Holy Spirit reveals to him that Jesus is God. Yep.

Yep. Amen, brother. But the reason I am calling is I used to work for Truth Radio Networks to Epperson years ago. I've been listening to your program since then, and I think you're one of the great apologists who exists now.

But I heard you relate a story years ago. You were at a small church, I think, in the mountains, and you heard an intense message of the Gospel that made you, I think, in your words, something to the effect you were a quivering mass of emotions who did not fully realize how to appreciate what Jesus paid for us. And I'm just telling you that that happens to me a lot in church. That's good, you know, with the presence of God. I wish it would happen like that more often.

I need reminders. It was good worship music and a good Gospel message. That's what happens to me in church, and I'm glad it happened to you. It happens to you, and I'm glad it happens to me. It does. It happens.

I love good worship and the presence of the Lord, and that is just the wonder of his goodness and greatness. It's good. But you used to work with Stu, huh?

Oh yeah, I was in marketing there. What a great guy. What a godly person. Yeah, he is. Stu is a great guy, I have a lot of respect for him, and I don't know if he's listening or not. I know he listens every now and then, but hey, I'd say this behind his back, that he's a good guy. Yeah, I'll send him a text that we spoke.

Yeah, you can. And I could tell people every now and then, I know that he can get more moolah for the time slot that I'm in right now, and he's told me, and I've got a bit of a history about all that, I'll tell the story sometime, maybe have him come on even, but he's arranged it for me to be able to be on the air. Now we want more stations, but we don't have the money, and he doesn't have it either. But let's just say, I met him more than once, and he's a godly man, and wants the kingdom of God proclaimed. So yeah, yeah, he's a good guy. Well keep up the great work, Matt. Well, you too, man. Well, God bless. Appreciate it. Okay. Well, good speaking with you. All right, Michael.

God bless, man. Okay, thanks. All right, that was Michael from North Carolina.

We have four open lines, if you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Martin from Virginia, Martin. Welcome. You're on the air.

Hi, Matt. Hey, God bless. Thanks again for your ministry, and blessings to your program. Hope you keep that funding, and keep it flowing. We work hard. We try. No, yeah, I'm a long-time listener, pretty much every day.

Take my dog on a ride, and listen to a Matt flick. Well, good. So today, you started with, I mean, I have two questions, and one is the kind of intro that you put in with Jesus in God and man, and I think we've kind of butted heads a few times before on this, and I just kind of want to get a little more clarity that, you know, Jesus is God and man, but Jesus isn't man like you and I. Not the same body. Yes, he is.

Yes, he is. He is a man like you and I, but he's in a glorified body, has a complete human nature, just like you and I, but he's glorified, but he's not a fallen nature. A glorified body, who's that? Glorified body, but he's not fallen. And not a fallen nature?

Right, not fallen. So he's like us in one sense, and not like us in another, all right? Right, so in one sense, he's not like us because he won't die physically, he can't die again, right?

Well, when we're like, you and I, yeah, yeah, but that's because he did die, but in his present state, he can't die, we can, yeah, that's true. And he has two natures. Correct. And he's not going to go to the dentist like you and I. Right. Right.

And he's not going to get a haircut like you. So in one sense, I don't know, but probably not, I'm assuming not, well, you know, I don't know. Well, you're right. I haven't been to heaven either, and I have to, you're right, I'm going to assume the same that you are, you know, probably not, but in one sense, probably not, you're right. So in one sense that it's not the same body, but he was, absolutely he was, and that was part of the sacrifice for us, for all.

So that covers my first question. The second question was sort of the, the, the generated nature of salvation and, and once saved, always saved type of thing, if it's possible to lose your salvation for you, just specifically you or, or, or, or me, or, you know, your best friend to lose their salvation. Is that possible?

No. Even, even if you quoted scripture, that it is possible. No, there's no scripture that says it's possible. There's not a single verse that says you can lose your salvation, not a single one.

You show me one else on there. So that you could be in heaven as a sinner. So you could be allowed to be a sinner. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, how could you be in heaven as a sinner? Well, and you've got some crack crew, but I think the scripture in Matthew, where Jesus is talking to his disciples, he's talking about the unforgivable sin of, I don't think it's, is it cursing the Holy Spirit or cursing God?

Matthew 12, 22, 32, and it's saying that the Holy Spirit or that Jesus did his miracles by the power of the devil. That's what it is. Right. But he did say that that's an unforgivable sin.

Yeah. Can a Christian commit it? No. Would you commit it? What kind of a question is that?

Well, it's a question, would you commit it? And I'm going to say, I'll answer for you. No, no, no, no, no. Don't ask me that question. You'll say no. Hold on.

Hold on. Don't ask me that question. I kind of find it, just to be a little bit honest, I find it a little bit insulting. Yeah, I know, don't believe you mean that that way, but could, no, come on.

Well, what could you, could you, I'm not going to say would you, could you. Okay. I don't like talking about, wait, hold on, hold on. I don't like talking about those things in that term.

Don't even try and get me close to even talking about it like that. All right. So goodbye. All right. I'm not going to put up with that. I'm sorry.

All right. Let's get, let's get to Reggie from Watford, North Carolina. Reggie, welcome. You're on the air.

I beg your pardon. It's Peggy. Oh, Peggy. Oh, I don't, I can't see all the, the words. I can't see all the words.

All the letters. That's not a problem. That is not a problem. You have, you have a challenge on your hands sometimes. In fact, most preachers, the most dedicated people, whatever, whether they're volunteer or a deacon, whatever, when someone's trying to talk to somebody about Christ, it's so sad that people don't listen or else they just don't, they need more, they need to get more information.

But it's so sad to commit, but I don't want to waste my time on that because I, you and I both know, you know, we just have to forgive people who don't want to look at themselves and try to find answers for themselves. But my major call was, I'm 72, and I was a Lutheran all my life with my parents, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, you know, the Trinity, and I love Jesus Christ so much. He was my, everything as a little girl. And I knew that he was, he was the major, I guess, a major way to heaven. And that might sound silly, but for a little girl, that was what I believed. But yet I knew that God had divinely created, I guess my little question was, some people say, you know, God sent his Son, that's what confuses them, I think, God sent his Son to the earth, to the world, to be saved.

And yet they'll say, God, Jesus was God, in those terms of being perfect. And yet... Do you have a question related to this? My question, I guess, is this, you know, God knew he suffered, and God suffered right along with it. And God suffers when we are hurting. What's your question?

My question is, do people, I believe, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, why do people question the difference between Jesus Christ as a man and God as the Creator? How can I tell people that they're one? I'm not sure what the, okay, you're not very specific for me, so it's hard to kind of understand, so when people, you talk about, that's okay, that's all right. I've got no choice in the matter.

I've given you a life of choice. Hey, Keith, we've got some overwriting on the audio. Keith? Keith? Something's happening.

Audio. There we go. It happens. Well, that's the first time I think he's done that one. I guess it's him. I'll tease him about it later. Okay, so, what was the, what was your actual question? I guess it was something. I've got no choice in the matter. I've given you a life of choice.

Audio overwriting. Okay. This one's mine. We are, hold on. Keith, we're hearing stuff.

At our family dinner. I don't know if he can, there we go, now it's off, yeah, because Keith, we're, go ahead. That's okay, it happens. I just wanted to say that, what do I say to people now and then when they say, well, Peggy, you know, God, God sent his son. Yeah, Jesus is the son of God. Try this. Oh, absolutely.

Try this. So they'll say, you say, so what does the term son of God mean? Okay, always ask questions. Ask them to define terms.

I've told people this thousands of times. Always ask them, what do you mean by that phrase? And sometimes they'll say, well, the son of God means he's not God. And say, okay, if the term son of God means he's not God, does the term son of man mean he's not man? Okay.

Try that. Yeah, I'll see what you're saying. I will, because I love, I just can't, I love it. When I, when I finally changed to the Baptist religion with my husband, because that's, he didn't understand the Lutheran church, and I, so at the time, even people thinking about changing, they're like, well, I can't do that. And I go, I finally said to my minister, I said, mister, I'm 23, and my husband would like prefer me to go to his church, and he said, well, I do believe people should stay yoked together in the faith.

And he said, well, what's your question? I said, but I'm leaving my church. And he said, you're not leaving God, Peggy, God's in every church. And just that simple question, and that simple thing that he said changed my world. And I had a... Well, actually, technically, God is not in every church, just so you know.

He's not in the Mormon churches, he's not in the Jehovah's Witness churches, he's not in the Roman Catholic, oh, there's the music. Oh, hey, come back tomorrow, Peggy, we're just out of time, okay. I will, I enjoy listening to you, thank you, bye. All right, well, God bless, okay. Everybody, sorry about that, we're out of time, and the Lord bless you, and by his grace, we'll be back on there tomorrow. I hope you have a great evening. God bless everybody. Talk to you later, bye. Bye, bye.