[Music] In the cities, in the countryside, wherever people roam, there's a hope that's found in Jesus Christ that can lead them safely home. Share the gospel far and wide. Let his love be our guide. From the mountains to the sea, spread the truth that sets us free in every heart and every land. Let the world come to understand the grace that flows from Calvary. Share the gospel far and wide.

Hey everyone, welcome to our stream today. This is ngod.net. Great to have you here and we are going to be live for the next number of hours. We're going to be talking about God, faith, the Bible, and Christianity. So, it's great to have you guys here. Please do say hi in the chat. Hit the thumbs up button as well if you haven't. But we're going to get the team that's here to say hi to you. So, it's a hello there from Ryan. Hello from Edson. Hello from Brennan. It's a hello from Prince. It's a greetings in Christ from Paul, but also a greetings in Christ from Harmony.

All right. Well, Brennan, do you want to pray for us?

Sure. Dear heavenly father, we thank you for this time that we get to um gather together. It's a online community, but it's a community nonetheless, Lord. And we just thank you for this time, and we thank you for um the privilege to share your gospel far and wide, Lord. So, we just pray as the gospel goes out today, Lord, that you soften the hearts that are hearing it and bring as many as you are willing to yourself in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. What a great prayer. Thanks for that. and we are going to get into your questions. Great to see you guys saying hello there and uh welcoming one another which is really good be that warm welcoming community. If you see new people as well definitely make sure that you welcome them in too. All right, love that Christian fellowship. It's really good. Let's get into your questions now.

We'll share God's word. Make it clear. Make it clear. Check it with the Bible. Your chapter and verse. It's a Q&A. The pages of scripture will traverse. Patient listen. Your time will come. Let's learn and grow in God's kingdom. Needgod.net. We're here to say, ask your questions. Don't delay. Together in truth, we'll walk this road. Learning from God. His love bestowed.

Muscles are sore today after carrying a bunch of soil yesterday. Downloading couple trailer loads. But, uh, God is so good. God is kind. Now, I see some good questions coming in. I'm going to start off with this one from Dom because it was about the video, the short video I put out last night about the tight rope analogy. So in the tight rope analogy would some would something who only took the expert hand I think means someone would someone who only took the expert's hand to help them be trusting themselves and the expert not fully the expert. Yeah, obviously every analogy does break down but if you want to make it even so for those who didn't get to see the video it's like the tightrope you go to get across if you don't get across lions will eat you. Um, if you try and get across, you won't make it because you know you can't walk across a tight rope over a massive gorge. And so someone an expert tightrope walker says, "Look, I'll carry it across. I'll get a wheelbarrow. You sit in the wheelbarrow. I'm going to carry it across. Do you trust me?" And so if you trust him, you get across. If you don't trust him, you don't get across. If you trust him only half, you don't get across because you got to trust him entirely. And so, um, if you wanted to kind of even some people say, "But what about getting into the wheelbarrow and stuff like that?" Well, guess what? We can even change the analogy a little bit to say that if you trust the tightrope walker, he'll carry you into the wheelbarrow. He'll put you there. You're unconscious. You're Yeah. you're literally unconscious and he's just carrying you across like in a way that's if you want to make it that change the analogy a little bit. You could say that. But in terms of how this relates to salvation, do we trust entirely in what Jesus did to bring us across from here to heaven? Or do we trust partly in ourselves? If so, we we don't make it to heaven. Or do we not trust him at all? We won't make it to heaven either. So, we have to put our full dependence upon Jesus to save us. Don't put some trust in your commandment keeping, your good works to get you in. You won't make it in otherwise.

Hey Rob, thank you for your super chat to start us off uh for today. For the word of the cross is falling to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

The best way to spread the gospel in comment sections. Yeah, I made a mention of this yesterday. Um, this is another good opportunity to try and reach people because some comments, it could just be reaching the one the individuals or some comments sections you could reach potentially hundreds maybe even thousands of people who might be reading your comments and you can spread the gospel there. How do you do it? Well, like even on our videos and other Christian videos you can see on YouTube, TikTok, other platforms like that, people say some things like a sound works space gospel. Some people ask questions there and you could be someone who's like, "Oh, I'm going to give a good biblical answer to that question, which could be pointing to Christ." But then some people, yeah, make comments like, "Yeah, you know, rely on your baptism, rely on your works to save you." And and you can be like, "Well, actually, the Bible doesn't teach that." Put a verse like Ephesians 2:8-9 in there. Um, explain why good works do not play a part in saving. But then maybe if you want to have like an interaction back and forth with that person where you go back back and forth, ask a question. Maybe don't have a massive long thing because otherwise they won't read it. But make a point and then ask a question and see if you can go back and forth. That could be a way of sharing the gospel in comment sections.

Jamie, thanks for your question. He's asked, "What does above reproach mean in 1 Timothy 3:2? Practically, how do we draw a line between being above reproach or not?" Okay, so yes, this is in regards to being an elder of a local church. Above reproach basically means that your behavior hasn't been so wayward as a Christian. Obviously before you're a Christian that's different, but since the time you've become a Christian, are there things that um the world would even say whoa, you know, like you did that as a Christian, like even things that the world like that's really really bad. And so classic example is obviously committing adultery. Um, even the world recognizes that's really really evil. Someone should not be doing that. It could be like things that land you in jail, murder, things like that would be make you no longer above reproach. It could also just be embezzlement. Uh, things that the world say, yeah, that's terrible. You're not above reproach and therefore you would not be eligible to be an elder if you have done those things as while being a Christian. Now, some people might say, but there might be a bit of nuance here in such as okay, what about things that are not so if something's well known, yeah, you're not above reproach, but what if something's not known by the community? Now, this is where it can get a bit more blurry and this is where I guess the eldership would discuss to what degree was it serious and how well known is the action would determine whether you're above for a preacher or not. You'd basic The whole point of that one is so that the world can't say you're a preacher, but you did this and therefore not listen to you or bring reproach upon the name of Christ. Now, if you are a Christian, there is forgiveness. Jesus has paid for all of your sins if you're trusting in Jesus to save you. So, God accepts you warmly or your sins are taken away from you as far as the east is from the west. So I just wanted to make that really clear. But there are still a set of criteria which if you want to be an elder or pastor of a church, there's a certain strict criteria, character qualifications that you need to meet as listed in 1 Timothy 3.

All right. Are you saved? As this question? Hi Ryan. Do you have any suggestions on evidence to support that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written by those authors and not written later on by other people? Thank you.

Okay. Yeah, there are some reasons why we we think that. So, you've got outside evidence. First of all, you've got Papias. He was a guy who was a disciple of John and he affirmed Matthew wrote um Matthew and Mark wrote what Peter taught basically wrote his gospel on behalf of Peter. Uh, Irenaeus, he explicitly mentions there's four gospels like there are four points on a compass, there are four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Um, and the reason why so so you got you got that first of all. Second, you've got the manuscript evidence. What we have so manuscript copies we have of these books have those titles of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Thirdly, you've also got kind of internal evidence showing who the authors are. The one whom Jesus loves. So you kind of can do a bit of deduction to see, okay, that seems to be John. John seems to be the one whom Jesus loved. Uh, and so there's a bit of internal evidence you can use there. And so combining all these factors together is why we can know Matthew wrote Matthew, Mark wrote Mark, and so on.

All right, this one from Rammon. Thanks for your question. What is our defense as Christians against evolution? And how old would you say the Earth is?

Okay. So, when someone brings up evolution, first of all, in a gospel chat, like let's say an atheist brought it up in a conversation. I actually won't spend much time arguing against evolution with the atheist because it is a huge can of worms and can just take so long and you may not really get anywhere with him. I usually just like to pull the rug underneath him by saying, "Okay, evolution requires atoms and molecules to exist in order for them to evolve and life to form, things like that. So where did the atoms and molecules come from? Where did the universe which had a beginning? We know it had a beginning. Where did that all come from? There clearly would need to be a creator for that." So that's usually what I would do. I would just go one step further back. Now, let's say you actually wanted to deal with the topic of evolution. How do we deal with it? Okay, this is what I would do. Um, if someone's like specifically asking, hey, do you believe in evolution? And if not, why not? Like, let's say they ask you that. I would say because of the lack of evidence for evolution. I actually think there's a lack of evidence for evolution. Now, many people think there's a massive lot of evidence for evolution, but having looked at the evidence personally, I would say that it's quite lacking in many regards because we can agree that okay, we can dig up stuff and we can see different fossil, the fossil record, but it doesn't prove that we came from these simpler organisms. In fact, in the Cambrian layer, quite low down in the fossil record, we see some of the most complex organisms. Why is that? That doesn't seem to go line up with evolution. Similarities in DNA doesn't prove evolution because similarities in DNA can equally just show a common designer rather than a common ancestor. And really, the missing links are still missing. And because different organs of our body are irreducibly complex, they can't be formed that have no use until the entirety of that organ is functional. And so therefore, things that are not functional like that won't be propagated because there's no purpose for it. You know, things best suited to the environment survive and reproduce. So if you have like an eye without the nerves connecting it to your brain, then it's a useless feature and so therefore it's not a positive contribution to that animal or that organism and so therefore likely that animal won't survive, but the one without this useless feature will survive. So there are so so many different examples of how different organs of your body are irreducibly complex which then wouldn't seem to line up with evolution. So I'd give a I'd give these sort of examples. They can be helpful. Now, you asked how old would you say the Earth is? In terms of how long ago did God create the Earth? We can work that out based on the genealogies described in. You've got some in 1 Chronicles. You've got some in Luke chapter 3 and Matthew chapter 1. Luke 3 actually goes all the way back to Adam. So that's quite a helpful genealogy. Goes from Adam all the way down to Jesus Christ. And so then if you can we have we know some of the ages specifically of these people, but then for others that we don't know the ages, we just have to guess estimate. And so people who have done the estimations of those gone through the genealogies, they get between 6,000 to maybe up to 10,000 years ago is when God made the Earth. Now, you might say, but sometimes scientists say it looks older. Well, those dating methods are notoriously unreliable, relying on assuming that the rate of decay of those elements have stayed the same and also assuming that the initial starting decay amount of that um substance. Um, they assume that they know what the same decay amount was, which they can't do. Now, can God make the universe even if it looks older than it really is? Yeah, that's also possibly God can do that too. Just like he created Adam and Eve as fully grown people, not as babies. And so that implies a history that they didn't actually have. Hopefully that's helpful. Good question.

All right, Kyle, thank you so much for your super chat. Great to have you here today. Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence and bring us with you into his presence.

All right. Cal says, "I trust and love Jesus more than anything else." Awesome. I love that. I love to hear that. Yet I willfully sin in terms of smoking or vaping. I've asked him to take this away. What's your opinion to or take from the Bible about willfully sinning?

Good question. Jesus pays for all the sins of those who would believe, not just the accidental sins that you do. Colossians 2:13 tells us, "And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us what? All our trespasses, not just the accidental sins that you do, he pays for your willful sins, even the ones you do as a Christian." Now, that doesn't mean, therefore, let's keep on sinning so that grace may abound. Paul says, "By no means." How can we who died to sin still live in it? So, we definitely want to try and avoid sin because sin is terrible. Sin offends God. And we're not made for sin. We're made for righteousness. We've been born again. We're new creations in Christ. The old is gone. The new has come. And so, you as a Christian, let me just tell you, Christian, you have died to your old self. You you're no longer a slave of sin. Even though you still struggle with sin, you're actually not a slave of sin anymore because God set you free from slavery to sin. And so in your mind, Paul says in Ro in Romans 6, consider yourselves dead to sin. So don't say, "Lord, I've got to obey my old slave master." No, you don't. You're set free from him. Why would you obey your old slave master when you've been set free? You now have a new gracious, loving heavenly father who's your master, who's your lord, who you want to now obey. Now, people might say, "What about Hebrews 10:26? It talks about willfully sinning, doesn't it?" It says, "If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." This deliberately sinning here is not just talking about, oh, you chose to sin willfully in some way. This is talking about the sin of rejecting Jesus. If you know Jesus is the only sacrifice who can save you compared to the animal sacrifices which the Hebrews are feeling tempted to go back to. And you say, "Yeah, I'm going to go back to the animal sacrifices. I don't want the final sacrifice of Jesus." Well, then guess what? Then there's no sacrifice left for you because the animal sacrifices, he's made clear, do not make atonement for your sin. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Impossible for the blood blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. So that's what he's talking about. Um, so just know that Kyle who asked this question, if you're trusting in Jesus that Jesus took the punishment for your sin, even if you struggle with sins, you sometimes go back, even regularly, maybe there's a habitual sin which you mentioned that you're struggling with, God's not going to reject you because you're still struggling with that sin. If your trust and confidence is in Jesus, Christianity is not performance-based. Like get rid of that out of your mindset. We often want to go back to we just so naturally want to go back to performance-based because that's what everything else in life seems to be. We think it is at least except our whole our life is a gift from God. That's not performance-based. But like yeah, if you want to get a new car, you got to buy it. You got to work for it, right? But going to heaven's not like that. It's not performance-based. It's not based on how many times you've sinned. Was it willful? Was it accidental? No. Christ has got your back. All of your sins credited to him. All of his perfection credited to you. Remember that. Remind yourself of that every day. And this will actually make you not want to sin. Rather than this being an excuse to say, "Okay, great. I can sin." No, it's not going to lead you to that. It's going to be like, "Wow, that's how much he forgives me. He forgives me even though I still struggle. I do the same thing as what Paul did. Look at this. Romans 7:19. I do not for I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." This sounds like he's continually doing this. Keep on doing seems to be a regular thing. He's doing stuff he knows he shouldn't do. This is the Apostle Paul, saved Apostle Paul going to heaven, securing Christ. And isn't this all of our struggle as well? We hate sin. We wish that we'd be perfect. But at different times, we give into sin. We do the things we shouldn't and we don't do the things we should. And yet, does he say, "Okay, well, there's condemnation for you because of that." No. He joyfully says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus." And so, that can help you to be, okay, wow, God loves me that much. I've been forgiven so much. And because you've been forgiven so much, doesn't that make you want to then love much? It does, doesn't it? Makes you want to love much. And that will help you to avoid your sins and flee from them. Flee from those youthful passions as Paul says. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. Along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

All right, Mr. King, thank you so much for your super chat, your generosity. What's your response to Colossians 2:12 in regards to baptism being necessary? Let's bring up the verse. Appreciate your question. The verse says, "Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised them from the dead." Just remember whenever you see the word baptism in the Bible, don't assume automatically it must be referring to water baptism. That's and that's what Joe made the mistake of doing in the debate. He never proved that the passages he brought up refer to water baptism. And this is what many people do when they read different passages. See the word baptism, oh, it must be referring to water baptism. No, there are numerous examples where baptism doesn't refer to water baptism at all. The word baptism just means immersion. Literally, that's what it means. The word baptism means immersion. And so, having been buried with him in immersion in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. In fact, let's go to the verse before because you're going to see that he talks about circumcision here and yet it's not actually talking about literal circumcision. And so you're going to see a connection that when it talks about baptism, it's not talking about water baptism, but immersion, immersion into Christ. It says in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. Now, is that physical circumcision then? No. If it's made without hands, it's not some sort of physical. This is a spiritual circumcision by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Again, that's spiritual, not physical. And so, if this is spiritual, it makes sense. The next part is spiritual as well. Having been buried with him in immersion, baptism, spiritual, it's a spiritual baptism, not a physical one, not water baptism, in which you were also raised with him. So when you became a Christian, you died to your old self. You were immersed in Christ's death and you are also immersed with him in his resurrection. Paul makes that point in Romans when he says, "If you have been united with him in a death like his, as in you died to your old self, you will also be united with him in a resurrection like his." That's all he's saying there. Not referring to water baptism at all. To figure out if it is referring to water baptism, see if the context is talking about water and it's not here in this passage.

Also want to say thank you to real D for your super chat. I'm not sure if you had a comment along with it, but appreciate that. I want to say well done to Horafan who said he's been preaching the gospel at my school. Good on you, bro. Love that. Love that you guys have been trying to reach the lost. That's so good. And I had people who said to be quiet even though they claim they're Christian. And I had a conversation with an atheist and he was very respectful. That's quite interesting, isn't it? Sometimes the biggest opposition to preaching the gospel you'll get from professing Christians, not from atheists, not from um the others who are unbelievers, but usually from professing Christians. That's kind of sad a little bit, but it could be because one, I'll give you a couple reasons why. One, they may not be Christians at all and they hate hearing the true gospel. That could be what it is. Two, they could be Christians, genuine ones, but they just feeling guilty that they're not sharing the gospel. For some reason, Christian like human beings just in general, but it can carry over to it's just a sin that can carry over to even in your Christian walk. Christians can be jealous of what other Christians are doing for God. And so therefore they it's like the tall the tall poppy syndrome. Basically if you see someone kind of excelling in a certain area, sinful human beings pride is going to make you want to try and chop him down. Chop him or her down. And that can sadly carry over into the Christian community as well where you have people serving the Lord in great ways, but then others are like they feel guilty that they're not serving the Lord or something like particularly even in evangelism. And so therefore, they'll criticize anyone who does evangelism and be like, "No, you're doing it the wrong way." And well, how do you do it? Well, I don't do it. Okay, well then why are you why are you complaining? You know what I mean? So I would say don't be discouraged. Sometimes people get great discouragement even from fellow Christians in how when you evangelize and they get discouragement. Don't let that stop you evangelizing. That could just be the a de the devil's way of trying to get you to be silent. Don't be silent. Instead, see if you can have a conversation with these professing Christians. Hey, you say don't want to talk about it. Okay, but isn't God the most important topic to talk about? Do you guys love God? And ideally, if you are finding that when you're trying to share the gospel, people are trying to shut it down, maybe try not share with big groups. Try share one-on-one or one on two, and then you'll have less chance that someone might try and shut down the conversation.

Ah, here we go. Here's the comment from the real D. Thank you for your comment and your super chat earlier on. Thank you for sharing clarity on this grace and sin thing because I always condemn myself. Hey, I'm so glad that was helpful. Great to have you here. God bless you.

All right, there was a question from nobody who's asked, "So Ryan, what do you think about when people think that first John 5:16 is referring to blasphemy or the Holy Spirit?" Yeah, I'll tell you my thoughts. Let's bring up the verse first. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death. I do not say that one should pray for that.

So this is the verse that Roman Catholics often use to justify mortal versus venial sins. They think that certain sins make you lose your salvation. And the thing is why I don't think that's a good interpretation. Nor do I think this refers to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Well, let me let me tell you why I don't think it refers to mortal sins first. The reason why I say that is because if someone does a mortal sin, shouldn't you precisely pray for them? Like they literally need your prayers more than someone who's just done a venial sin, would you? They mortal sins make you lose your salvation, which is not biblical, but that's the Roman Catholic view. Then exactly, you should be praying for that. You absolutely should be praying for it. Paul's saying don't pray for someone who does this. And so I think clearly the best interpretation of this passage is that it's just some sins will physically kill you, some sins won't. If and if a sin has killed a brother, don't pray for him. Once he's gone into the next world, there's no need to pray for them because he's with the Lord. If he's a Christian or if he's an unbeliever, he's he's in a place of punishment. Like some sins can kill you. Like abusing the Lord's supper was an example in 1 Corinthians 11. God killed some of them, made some of them sick. Or another example would be Ananias and Sapphira. God killed them for lying. Doesn't mean they went to hell. Because God can just take people out of this world for whatever purposes and say, "All right, I'm taking you up to headquarters, up to glory. That your use here on this earth is done. Come to heaven." Um, now you said, "What about people who interpret this verse as referring to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?" I just don't see this lining up with the biblical description of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Uh, so how would you know? It says if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, how do you know if someone's blaspheming the Holy Spirit or not? Right? That's this seems to be quite obvious. Okay, we see someone committing a sin that hasn't killed them. Oh, I saw someone who did a sin that killed them. Like that's a very clear way you can tell if someone's died or someone hasn't died. But in terms of has someone blasphemed the Holy Spirit has or has someone not done it? That's very hard to figure that that out. So I don't think that's what it's referring to. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as referred to in uh Matthew's gospel and Mark's gospel is speaking uh well basically seeing the miracles of Jesus in his day and ascribing those miracles to Satan. So I'll bring up the passage that makes it clearest. If we go to Mark chapter 3, we'll go to verse 28. It says, "Truly I say to you, all sins be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. For they were saying he has an unclean spirit." So to do this sin, it seems to be that you had to see Jesus. And you then had to ascribe his miracles that he was doing to the devil, to an unclean spirit. And by saying that, you're calling the Holy Spirit Satan. That's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 22. The scribes are coming down from Jerusalem were saying he is possessed by Beelzebub. Wow, it's crazy. And by the prince of the demons he casts out the demons. This is what they were doing. Now, even if someone was to make those same sort of lines today, those same sort of statements today, that wouldn't necessarily carry car carry over as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit because they're not doing it with the same full knowledge that these guys are doing because these guys are witnessing the miracles of Jesus and they're still ascribing the miracles to Satan. And so, they're doing it with full knowledge rather than someone today who ignorantly may say that line because the one who's been entrusted much much will be required. The more knowledge somebody has, the more accountable they are for that knowledge.

All right, Nathan's asked this one. Hey, I see so many Catholics and at times I doubt my faith and if I'm following the truth, how can I overcome that? Let me explain to you. Good question. This is a great question. I'm glad you're here, Nathan. But let me explain. Truth is not based on popularity. Just because something may be popular, there's 1.3 billion Catholics out there, whatever approximately, that doesn't make them true, just because there's a large amount. Truth is not governed by popularity. In fact, in a way, if something is popular, it could be a sign that it's false. It could be a sign, not always, but it could be a sign that it's false. Why? Because the Bible makes very clear, narrow is the road that leads to eternal life, and few there be that find it, compared to the wide, broad path that leads to destruction, and many there be who are on that path. Matthew chapter 7. Um, even Jesus was asked the question by his disciples, will those who are saved be few? And what does Jesus say? Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many will seek to a to enter but will not be able. So if they got this massive wide load of people who are like going through this broad path, probably it's the wrong way. All right, that's just the wrong way. Why is it so narrow though? It's not because it requires good works. It's because it requires humility that you trust only in Jesus to save you and not what you do. You chat to the average Roman Catholic. We we chat to Roman Catholics quite a lot on um on the stream when we went to the Philippines. It's a Roman Catholic country. You ask them, "Why do you think you'll go to heaven?" And what's their response? Because I'm a good person. Cuz I pray, cuz I go to church. I go to mass. I do go to confession. I I I I. It's always I stuff. I stuff. And that's not the truth. It's not the way. It's all the Bible says it's by what Christ has done. It's not about what we do for him. Yeah. It might be a bit dark now, Beck. So yeah, Nathan, that'll help. So don't worry about the popularity. What matters is what conforms with scripture. Scripture alone. Now, the Catholic Church will say, "Well, we don't really hold scripture as ultimate authority. We hold whatever the church says." And that's already a massive like that should be a huge red flag. If a church says, "We're not going to hold to the Bible as being our ultimate authority. We're going to hold to whatever a church says," big red flag. That should already make you say, "I don't want to believe that. I want to check everything with the Bible." Yo, check it with the Bible. Yo, and then Nathan, just remind yourself, what could you ever do that could make you right before God by your works? Could you ever be good enough? Anything you contribute, is it going to be perfect? If you make it 80% Jesus, 20% your cooperation to get to heaven, is your cooperation going to be perfect? No, it's not. So, wouldn't it just be better to put 100% dependence on what Jesus did and 0% on what you do, 0% how well you cooperate, 100% what Jesus did and then just say, "Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Christ has got my back."

Hey, I want to say thank you to smiley face for your super chat. [Music] Today. Distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. [Music]

All right. So, Philippians 2:12 um has someone asked, "Can you please explain this verse?" Yeah, let's do it. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say, "Go and work for your salvation." Which is how people try and abuse this text to say, "Go work for your salvation." No, it's not saying that. Work out your salvation. As in, you've got salvation, now work out, do works in accordance with the salvation that you've got. Knowing that and if you look at the next verse, it's actually God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So God saved us that we might work for him. We're just not saved by those works. We don't work to be saved. We work because we're saved. And God will be the one working in you to do the works for him. So just like if you have muscles, you can't work out muscles unless you actually got them. We had to unload some trailers for some soil put in the backyard yesterday. You can't work out something you don't have. And so if you lift up a big heavy shovel of dirt full of dirt, you've already got muscles. You're just working out the muscles. And so if you're working out your own salvation, you've already got salvation. You're just working out working out doing works in accordance with what salvation you've already got.

Um, also thank you real D who says please talk about the real sorry so please talk about the relationship of the temple in Jerusalem and the return of Christ. Okay. So some people some Christians have the perspective that there needs to be a third temple built before uh Christ can return. And they get that from 2 Thessalonians 2 verse about verse four. I'll go verse three and four. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day, the day of Christ's return, will not come unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship. So that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. So, what these well-meaning Christians will do, they say, "Well, see, it says he's going to take his seat in the temple of God, which means he must there must be another temple that's going to be rebuilt before Christ returns in order for him to do that." And I can see that perspective, but just remember what the temple is now. The temple is no longer a building sitting in Jerusalem. That even got destroyed in 70 AD. But even back in the apostolic era before the temple was destroyed that was no longer technically like how the Bible usually referred to as the temple. If you look in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 about verse 15 or 16 actually 1 Corinthians 3:16 it says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple?" Now, the "you" here is plural. Anytime you see "you" in this verse and the next verse is plural. So y'all, you all are. Do you not know that you all are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you all? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy and you all are that temple. So collectively, the body of believers, the church, not the building, not talking about a building. When I say church, I don't mean building. I'm talking about the people of God are the temple of God. And so that's a fulfillment then I think of that second Thessalonians 2 passage that someone who's going to be a potentially a religious figure will appear in the visible Christian church and will try and say that he is God and will try and lead people astray that way. Now, traditionally, if you look at what how people have interpreted who that man of lawlessness is, some have said maybe it is the Pope, the role of the Pope, because the Pope claims to be what? The vicar of Christ. He claims to be the holy father and he claims that he can speak infallibly. He's called his holiness. All of those things are reserved for God. And yet the Pope claims him for himself. And so that's why some have traditionally said maybe the Pope or the papacy could be that role of the man of lawlessness who sits in the terms of in the Christian community claiming himself to be God. Maybe not sure it may not be. Could be someone completely else. But that's like in the reformers' day like if you read like even the Westminster Confession of Faith it says like the Pope is the man of sin. He is the the Antichrist. So, does there need to be a physical temple rebuilt in Jerusalem before Christ can return? My answer is actually no. I don't think there would need to be, but we'll find out. I I I hold on to my end times view very lightly and loosely. I don't hold on to it dogmatically. I just know that Christ will return and I'm waiting for that. Can't wait for his return. And whatever views people have on about end times, always hold on to it lightly, loosely. Show charity to one another.

Paco has asked, "Why do Orthodox Christians believe different things? I met an Eastern Orthodox and he believes the same things that we do about salvation, no works. It was really surprising." Well, you can have that. You can have people who don't believe what their church teaches. They're going to be a minority, but it's possible. Yes, you could have someone who attends a Mormon church, who doesn't believe any of the Mormon doctrines, but he still attends the Mormon church, maybe because his parents bring him there or something like that. And that can be the same thing in the Orthodox church. But I would ask him the check-in questions. Just make sure ask the check-in questions to reveal if he really is depending upon Jesus. Because someone may know catchphrases like saved by grace through faith, not by works. But then when you ask them, hey, do you have to do good things to go to heaven? They'll say yes. Like h well then you don't believe in not by works. You actually literally believe by works. All right? And so that's why people can know phrases and the checking questions are really good at revealing those sort of things. Ask him if he if he thinks baptism is a requirement for salvation. That's a really good way to determine um if someone believes in works-based salvation or or not.

Okay, this one from Daughter of the King. How can you answer somebody saying you can't use Ephesians 2:8-9, which is the one that says for saved by grace through faith not by works. You can't use Ephesians 2:8-9 alone for salvation. You need to use all of scripture as a whole. I agree. We got to use all of scripture as a whole. But Ephesians 2:8-9 doesn't contradict the rest of scripture. It's actually consistent with the rest of scripture. Because do you think that's the only verse that says not by works? No. Have a look at Titus 3:5. He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. What about another one? 2 Timothy 1:9, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works. You see, this is a repeated refrain in scripture, not based on works. Let me give you another one. Romans 4:5. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. There's a repeated refrain there. What about if we go to Galatians 2:16? Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Because by works of the law, no one will be justified. So I could give you example after example of how scripture says not by works, it's only by faith, not by works, only by believing. And so we don't just rely on Ephesians 2:8 and 9. That's a great verse. I love Ephesians 2:9. But the rest of scripture says the same message. Not by works, but by faith that we are saved.

Okay. James has asked this one. What argument would Catholics use to support having to obey the Ten Commandments to be saved in light of Acts 15:5 through to 11? Yeah, that's a really great question, James. I don't I'll think about what they I think what they would try and say is because I in I've read the catechism about this section and this and they say that Christians are obliged to keep the Ten Commandments to be like as in requirement for salvation. And you know why they don't say because the Bible says so. They say because Vatican II says so. They literally don't go and quote Vatican II which just shows that they don't hold the Bible as the ultimate authority. But yeah, GL, you brought up Acts 15. Acts 15:5 is a really clear passage that talks about how it's keeping the law of Moses is not part of salvation. It's not something that we have to do as Christians. Even some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said it is necessary to circumcise them and and to order them to keep the law of Moses. Wow. So these Pharisees are claiming you got to circumcise them, circumcise these Gentile believers and you got to order them. You got to keep the law of Moses. But that's exactly what the Roman Catholic Church teaches when it says you've got to keep the Ten Commandments to be saved. That's what they teach. That all men may attain salvation through faith, baptism, and the keeping of the commandments. That's in paragraph 2068 of the Catholic Catechism. But yet Paul is very clear in saying in uh Galatians 3:11, "Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law. For the righteous shall live by faith." The law, whether you think it's keeping 10 of the commandments or 613 of them, you're still seeking to be justified before God by the law. In fact, the heresy the Galatians were holding on to, they were thinking just keeping one of the laws, the circumcision one, was a requirement. And Paul says, if you want to be justified by that, you got to be justified entirely by the law. It says here, Galatians 5:3, "I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision, he is obligated to keep the whole law." And this would be the same thing I'd say to my Roman Catholic friends. You think you've got to keep the Ten Commandments to be saved? Well, you got to keep the whole law. 613 commandments. Go for it. Because you don't have Jesus. As soon as you make lawkeeping part of your salvation, you got to be justified entirely by the law because Christ will be of no advantage to you. That's what he said in the verse before. I Paul say to you that if you

accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. So you keep that one commandment being a requirement, you got to keep the whole thing. But since you can't keep the whole thing, you're severed from Christ. You who be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace.

All right, Rel, thank you for your super chat. Great to have you here today. Let's hear another tune.

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Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him.

All right. Ariel D says, "How can I hear the voice of God or him hear me?" Well, he hears you all the time, but you speak to him in prayer. So, you don't wait like you don't need some sort of going to a priest to get to speak to God. You can go directly to God. You got Jesus as your advocate, your mediator. It says in 1 Timothy 2 verse 5, for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men. It's the man Christ Jesus. So you have direct access to the throne room of God because Christ is your mediator. Hebrews 4 talks about that as well when it says here in verse 16, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So draw near to God. He loves you. He's willing to hear you speak to him."

But how do you hear from him? His word. His word. Don't expect a voice in your head. Don't expect some sort of mystical feeling like the Mormon we spoke to yesterday. He's relying on the burning on his bosom to basically get truth from God. That's not how God speaks to us. That's what false religions say. That's not what Christianity says. God speaks to us plainly and very clearly through his word. So read the Bible every day and that's God speaking to you every single day. Don't be envious of those people say, "But God said, I got a special revelation from God." If you really got a special revelation from God, then why aren't you writing a new book of the Bible and giving that to every Christian to enjoy?

Thomas has asked, "How do you respond to those people who claim that Paul's writings can't be trusted?" I'd say, "Okay, you run into an issue. As soon as you get rid of Paul's writings, you got to get rid of Luke's writings as well. You got to get rid of Jesus's words. Why? Because Jesus literally affirms Paul as being an apostle. We see all the apostles give Paul the right hand of fellowship. You can read about Paul's conversion and him being appointed to be an apostle and being approved by the other apostles in the book of Acts. So you have to get rid of the book of Acts then as well. If you want to get rid of Paul, you have to get rid of the book of Acts. But then if you want to get rid of the book of Acts, you have to get rid of the book of Luke as well because Luke wrote both of them. If you can't trust Acts, you can't trust Luke because he wrote those two books to the same guy um giving an accurate history of the life of Jesus and and the history of the church. And then you've got to get rid of Peter's writings, too. Why do you have to get rid of Peting Peter's writings? Because Peter affirms Paul as being writing as writing the words of God. Second Peter 3:15. and count the patience of our Lord as salvation. Just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand which the ignorant and unstable twist their own destruction as they do the other scriptures. So you see Peter is affirming then that Paul's writings are what? Scripture. And so those who want to get rid of Paul's writings therefore are actually messing up most of the New Testament and they want to get rid of Paul's writings because Paul is super duper clear on salvation. So are the other apostles but Paul is like particularly clear and he about half the New Testament is written by Paul. So it's usually Muslims who don't like Paul or those who believe in some sort of form of worksbased salvation.

Oh, there was a comment from Alusa. I asked someone a checking question and and the response was shocking because I thought this person was saved and I had given the talk. Shows the power of the checking questions. They're so useful, aren't they? I'm so glad you got to do that, man. Great work. Great work. If you guys haven't learned the checking questions as we do gospel chats coming up on monkey, try and maybe even write some of them down and then use them on your friends. Use them on your if you go to a church or you're at school, ask them to some of those people. Hey, what what would you say to God if God asked you why I shall let you into heaven? They're really powerful to see if the person knows the gospel all or not.

Eric asked this. Hey Ryan, love all your stuff. Good to have you here, Eric. Do you think that the prosperity gospel preachers like Kenneth Copelan or Joel are saved? Thanks and God bless you. I don't know. I don't I would love to have a conversation with them personally to know the state of what they believe. They distort the gospel by turning it into prosperity when they say look come if you give this money here come to Jesus you give this money you'll be rich prosperous and healthy and nothing or bad happened to you and those sort of things. That's that's not the biblical idea that prosperity gospel. It's basically putting heaven now. Heaven is not now. Heaven is still to come. Yes, we have peace with God now. We have eternal life now in a sense. We have relationship with God. But you're not going to be perfectly healthy now. You're not going to be have no problems here. So those who telling others, oh, you will be and they often link it up with the amount of money you give. That's just not helpful. That's not really that's not good at all. They'll be held held accountable for that. And it could reveal they're not really saved at all. It could reveal that their god is simply money rather than the god of the universe. But I'm not making a judgment on these particular people as to their eternal state. I haven't had a conversation. I don't know specifically what they believe about salvation.

And Bryce, thanks so much for your super chat today. Let's pick this one. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring. Not only to the adherence of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith, the faith of Abraham, the father of us all.

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Yeah, Joel Ostein has got a book called Your Best Life Now. If your best life is now, where are you going when you die? Our best life is not now. Our best life is to come.

Um, okay. Bryce says, "What book of the Bible are you currently reading? Anything new you've learned from recent Bible reading?" I'm reading a bunch of different books actually. But there is something that um I read through second a bit of second Corinthians last night, the first couple chapters and there was interesting verse that even Edson, he actually was reading through it and he sent this to me from 2 Corinthians 2 and he's like, "This might be a good verse you could potentially use to show that we can understand scripture." You know how people say, "Oh, you can't understand. You need an interpreter." And this is the verse he brought up and I thought it's helpful. Thank appreciate this Edson for pointing this one out. For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand. Do you see that? We're not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand, which shows you can read scripture. The church in the in the first century could read Paul's letters and understand them. Could read Paul's letters and understand them. There you go. So, this destroys the idea that, oh, you can't interpret it. You need someone else to interpret it. You need a pope to interpret it for you. No, you don't. You can read it just like the Corinthians. They could read it and understand it. It's similar to the other passage I like bringing up. First Corinthians chapter 10:15, which says, "I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say." He's saying, look, you can just judge what for yourselves what I say. Whatever he's writing here, they can just judge for themselves what he's saying. They don't need an infallible interpreter like a pope to tell them what it means. They can just read it for themselves. So, I thought thought that was really cool. And I like in second Corinthians how much it talks about comfort. If you read the first number of chapters, this is like comfort. God's going to do this for your comfort. Comfort. It's really interesting. Quite a theme there.

Hey, you guys got so many good questions. What we're going to do now is do some Bible trivia with you guys. Are you ready? Trivia. Here we go. Test your knowledge. Let it show. Right here ongod.net. Who can get it first? Are you ready

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yet? Bible trivia time. So, please type your answer in the chat if you think you know the answer to any of these questions.

First question, how many days did it rain with Noah's flood? How many days did it rain? All right. What do you think their harmony? Was it 40 days and 40 nights? It was 40 days and 40 nights. Perfect. All right.

Who complained that he was not an eloquent speaker back when um God had commissioned him to do a task and then God says, "Who made man's mouth? Don't I make people mute or blind or seeing? So, who was that who said that he's not an eloquent speaker? Let's go to Brennan. I think that was Moses. That was Moses. Well done. And then God even allows Aaron to come along with him to be a spokesman.

Okay. What was thrown into the bitter waters at Meabba or Mara to make them sweet? What was thrown into the bitter waters to make them sweet? All right. What do you think, Prince? Um, I'm thinking it was a branch. I don't know if I'm getting right. Like a tree branch. Yeah, you are correct. Let's let's check it with the Bible though. So, Exodus 15 verse 25 is the reference. It says here, "And he cried to the Lord and the Lord showed him a log. And he threw it into the water and the water became sweet." There you go. So, there was a bit of water. Threw some log in there and then supernaturally it became sweet water. That's great.

All right, next question. Now, there was a lady who poured expensive ointment on Jesus's feet. What did she wipe his feet with? What did he wipe his feet with? Uh, let's go to Edson. Her tears. Well, that's maybe how she moisturized like wet them. But what does she wipe her feet with? Um, ointment. No. Good try. An alabaster flask. I'm I'm not sure. That's what's lubricating it. Maybe that's what's making it smell pretty nice. Yeah. Good job, man. Good job.

Now in the Bible it uses the word abba. What does the word abba mean? Harmony. What do you think? Abba means father. Yeah, good job. That's why when you see it in the Bible, it often is directly followed by the word father. It's like abba, I think, is in Aramaic and then father as in Greek. So he said, "Aba, Father, all things are possible for me. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." And how you guys doing in the chat? Is Harmony selecting the ones? Good job. You guys getting this. You guys are doing great.

Okay. How many spies did Rahab hide in Jericho? How many spies did she hide? Brendan, what do you think? Two. Yes, it was two spies. Great work.

What mountain did Moses receive the Ten Commandments on? What do you think, Prince? I think that would be Mount Si and I think it's also called Horb. I think yes, correct. Mount Si or Mount Horeb. They are both correct answers. They then two names for the same mountain.

Okay. What animal did Jesus ride on when he entered Jerusalem? What do you think, Edson? It's a donkey. Yes, it is a donkey.

And what book comes straight after proverbs? Okay. What do you think, Harmony? Ecclesiastes. It is Ecclesiastes.

Okay. Who was the father of Seth? Who was the father of Seth? Brennan, what do you think? be Adam. Yes, it is Adam. Good job.

All right, now, if you guys have any bonus questions, trivia questions that you want to ask everyone, do put them in the chat. I'm going to ask Brandon, have you got one for us? Sure. In what city were the disciples first called Christians? Harmony. So, yeah. Do you want to pick Harmony? Yeah, I'll pick Harmony. Yeah. She raised her hand first. Was it Anto? Yes. Yep. Good job. Does anyone know just for bonus points? Where does it mention this in the Bible? Now, you can either say the book name or if you know the exact reference, let us know as well. How many The book of Acts. Yeah. Anyone know the exact reference? Yeah. Edson. Acts 11:26. You are correct. Acts 11:26. Good job. I'll bring it up for you guys. Acts 11:26 says here, "In Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians."

All right, Edson, what's your bonus question? So, how many times did Paul receive the 40 lashes minus one, friends? Um, I think that should be five. Yeah. Wow. Good job, you guys. Oh, that's awesome. All right, let's see what bonus questions you guys have said in the chat. Oh, that's a good one from Shogi War. Thanks for this. When Elijah thought he was the only Christian, how many Christians did God say they were still alive? So, I guess how many people who had not bowed the knee to Bal? Just more specifically, he's like, "Hey, I'm the only one." And God's like, "No, I've got this amount of people have not bowed the need." It's mentioned also in Romans 11. Anyone know the number Edson? 7,000 which would be less than 1%. True. It would be probably less than 1%. So the passage mentioned in Romans 11, it's also in the Old Testament, but it says here Elijah says, "Lord, they've killed your prophets. They've demolished your altars and I alone am left and they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to bow. So too, at the present time, there's a remnant chosen by grace. So notice it's a there was only a smaller amount of people who actually had genuine faith in Israel. And it's the same thing today, even amongst professing Christians.

All right, let's do another one of your bonus questions. Oh, okay. Stephanie's got one for us. When the Jews didn't like the inscription above Jesus on the cross, how did Pilate respond? Ah, yes, is a good question. Harmony, what do you think? What I have written, I have written. It's like too bad. Yeah. What I've written, I have written.

Okay, this one from a math boy. How many days did Jesus go into the wilderness for? What do you think, Brennan? Was it 40? It was. Yep. 40 days without food. That is a staggering amount of time without food.

All right, let's pick now. R's asked this one a couple days in a row, so we might ask it. And this might be a tricky one. We'll see. Mention an instance of cannibalism in the Old Testament. And is that ringing a bell for anyone? It's not for me at the moment. Edson, what do you think? Um, I know that at times when God prophesied, he said he's going to send a famine and people are going to be so hungry that they would be willing to eat their own. True. Child. Yeah. So maybe that's the one he's thinking of. Uh, when the Y is so hungry. Second Kings, I believe, might talk about that.

All right, and what else have we got? This one from Teacup who's asked, "Who was Esther's cousin?" All right. What do you think? Anyone answer that one? Okay. Harmony, what do you think? Morai, what's it? Yeah, I I think they they're looking for Morai. Was it the cousin or like wasn't he the uncle? I believe he was the uncle of Esther. But we should check it with the Bible. Let's have a look. So Esther 2 verse 7. He was bringing up um Hadassa that is Esther the daughter of his uncle for she had neither father nor mother. Esther was the daughter of his uncle. So does that make what is that? What's that relation? Can anyone help me out with that? It' be cousin, right? So that is cousin. Yeah, there you go. Appreciate that question. Teacup. That's good. Cousins. Nice.

Um, all right. And one more. What should we do? We'll do Charles's one. Who held the title mighty hunter before the Lord? Who held the title mighty hunter before the Lord? Do you remember this one? Anyone? Okay, Prince. I think you you're saying you've got that one. I think that would be Nimrod. I don't know if Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Yeah, Nimrod. Yeah, that's what I had my mind. Let's go to the passage. Genesis 10 verse 9. It says, "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord." Great job, you guys. You guys did awesome here. contestants on the stream, but also everyone in the YouTube chat. And there was some tricky questions there. So, don't be afraid if you didn't get everything right. That's okay. You'll learn stuff. Learning more about God and his word.

All right. Harmony, you're going to edify us with a song. And then let's pick um let's go. Edson, can you then pray for us after that? Thank you. Sounds good. May God be glorified. My hand. There you go. him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God ouravior through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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be glory, majesty, dominion and glory before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude versus

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Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us a day that we don't deserve. Um, thank you for all the laborers that you brought into the stream today, Lord. Um, please continue to raise up more laborers everywhere, Lord. Um, give us a desire to continue to share the gospel, Lord. And I pray that you help us be patient, kind, Lord. Help us speak boldly, Lord. Um, and make us ask checking questions to the people at our church. And yeah, because we want everyone to go to heaven, Lord. Um, thank you so much for saving us. Please continue to sanctify us. Amen. Amen.

Great work, team. All right, we're going to go share the gospel with some people. We're going to maybe use some of those check-in questions as we have these chats. Let's do

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this. Lord, please save this next person if this be your will. May this encourage everyone who's here tuning in in Jesus name. Amen.

Hey, can I ask you a question? Huh? Yeah. Got a question for you and that is, do you believe that there is a heaven after we die? Yes, of course. Awesome. I do as well. And so, what do you think we've got to do to get to heaven?

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Yeah. I think try not to do as many sins. Okay. Yeah. Like be a good person. Is that what you're thinking? Live your life but do it in a good way. In a good way. All right. So, would you say you've been a good person? No. I appreciate your honesty. I don't think I have either. I think I've seen many times as well. So, let me give you an example. Um, have you ever told a lie before? Of course. I'll do. Yeah. Sorry. Like I do it for dumb reasons. Okay. Yeah. Or have you ever used bad language? a few minutes. So, yeah, bad language. Have you ever done that before? Yeah. Um, what about this? Everybody has. Everyone has. Or have you ever been rude or disrespectful to someone before? I've been rude to somebody, yes. But it's only if they actually did anything like really bad to me or if I like simply don't like you. Disrespectful. No. Okay. I'm a nice person. Yeah, because God God, I guess, tells us to be kind to everyone, even our enemies, things like that. And we I know I've failed at that, too. But if God was to judge you based on these things, do you think that you'd be innocent or guilty? I want to be Baby Yoda. Most definitely guilty. Yeah. So, if you're guilty, should you get a reward or a punishment? A punishment. And does that sound like heaven or hell? Hell. Yeah, we don't want to end up in hell because we know it's a lake of fire. So, what do you think we could do at this point so we don't have to go to hell? Always be nice to the people around you cuz you don't know what they're going through. True. It's that's a good thing to do. And let's say you did that from now on. Be nice to everyone. Would that get rid of all the bad things you've done in the past? No. You have to do a lot more other things. Okay. But even if you did, let's say you did 10 billion good things from now on, would that remove the past bad things you've done? Yes. Because on judgment day, God brings up all the sins that we've ever done. So even if we did good things, he's not actually going to bring up the good things on judgment day. He's just going to bring up our sins, the times that we've broken his law. And so that's why good things are good to do. I encourage you to do that. It just won't fix our problem. It won't fix the sins. Does that make sense? Um, I totally clip that. So, what we need, we need a solution that comes from outside of us. We need someone who could actually take our punishment on our behalf. And that was Jesus. And that's why he died on the cross and rose from the dead. Have you heard about that? Mhm. So, if Jesus Oh, sorry. Go ahead. My grandma's and my little sister. Oh, cool. Yeah, that's awesome. So if Jesus takes 100% of your punishment, then how much punishment is left for you to still get? If like if he if he took all the punishment, every bit of it, how much is left over for you? None. Right. So if you got zero punishment left over, then where do you get to go when you die? Free. Be hell or heaven. If he's taken the hell for you, you don't have to go to hell anymore. So where do you get to go? Oh, you go to heaven. You go to heaven, right? So, why do you get to go to heaven? Because he took it all for Yeah. on the cross when he died for our sins. Exactly. Right. And then he rose from the dead. And so, so he offers this as a gift to you. You just have to accept his gift by trusting that you're going to heaven not because of what you've done, but because of what Jesus has done for you. That he's already died for your sins. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. And so what would happen if you today trust that Jesus died for your sin, but then tomorrow you do five more sins and then you died. Would you go to heaven or hell? I would probably say no. Okay. But with Jesus, do you think he only died for your past sins? We'll see a future. No, you'll go you go to heaven, right? And why? because he bless you because of what you said earlier like he like Yeah, I forgot but he died for your sins. Yeah, he he got the punishment that we should be getting. That's so amazing. As long as we're trusting in what he's done, he's covering us. Now, that doesn't mean we want to sin. Sin is still bad, but he does protect us even when we fall. But what if you don't trust that he died for you? Where would you end up still in heaven? Probably. Okay. Wait. Go ahead. Probably not because you always have to trust in God. Yeah. I was probably say because if if you don't trust in Jesus, then Jesus actually won't pay for your sins. And if he won't pay for your sins, you got to pay for your own sins then. Do you see that? Yeah. So basically when when should you start trusting that he paid for all of your sins? Like when should when should I start trusting him? Yeah, I always do trust him. Yeah. But in terms of when I say trusting, I mean when are you going to trust that the reason you're going to heaven is only because he died for you? Because at the beginning of this chat, what did you think was going to get you to heaven? Being good, right? Yes, we So, so notice you're trusting in yourself, your actions to get to heaven rather than Jesus' actions. Do you see the difference? Yeah. Because if we trust in our actions, we don't have Jesus saving us. We end up in hell. If we trust in what he did to save us, he protects us, we go to heaven. So, are you going to trust that from today? Yeah, that's good. I'm glad to hear that. So, then are you I have a question. Are you a teacher? I do like to teach this. I like to teach people about just how to go to heaven because I care about people. I want people to spend eternal life with God and it's such a joy to talk about it. So, what would you say to God if God asked you, "Why should I let you into heaven?" I feel like it's a bad thing to say, but like honestly, I've done good and I've done bad. So either if he sent me to heaven, I would know why. If he sent me to hell, I would know why he sent me there. But I did most bad than good, so I will understand if he sent me down there. Yeah. And and even just doing one sin is enough to send us to hell. It says in the Bible, all liars will have their part in the lake of fire. So one lie is enough to send us to hell forever. So we know we should be in hell, but based on this conversation, what was the reason why we get to go to heaven even though we deserve hell? Cuz God died on the cross. Yeah. So then if God asks you today, why should I let you into heaven? What should you say to him? Cuz you died on the cross. Boom. Perfect answer. Yeah. And if that's what you're trusting in, he can say, you're right about that. Welcome to heaven. All of your sins been paid for in full. So then based on this, does doing good things play any part in getting you into heaven? No. You're right. Plays no part. Now, we do good things still to say thank you to Jesus for what he's done, but we just don't do it to go to heaven. We do it to show gratitude to him. Oh, no, her phone disconnected or connection shut out or whatever it was. That's okay. Hopefully, she might find um find the channel even and look up further. I saw a comment from somebody who said, "I was speaking to you on like Monkey or one of these platforms and the our connection cut off and I was like, I want to find out more." And so I searched preacher who's got a platypus who's got Perry the Platypus and it came up with the channel and that's how they were able to find it. So that's pretty cool. So you never know what God can do with that. But we're going to pray for her. I think she was getting it uh which was really good. I'm so encouraged by that. Heavenly Father, we do pray for that young lady. Uh I think her name might have been Miracle. Lord, I do pray that you would be um opening her eyes. Lord, thank you that you seem to be opening her eyes even through that conversation. We know that we know that faith comes by hearing, hearing through the word of Christ. So, thank you that we got to share your amazing gospel with her today. Lord, we leave her in your care. May you save her, keep her, strengthen her. May she get into the word, the Bible to find out more and even find other content that we put out to help her be encouraged further in Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right, I'm going to put this in as during check-in questions. Praise God. Ever be for him says Perry is an integral part of this ministry. That's funny. Dan says, "Thoughts on putting Perry in the chair and Ryan speaks off camera." No, I haven't thought about that. That's funny though. People be like, "Where are you? Where are you?" Yeah. Prince says, "That was going so well. Seed planted." Amen. No chat in vain. Okay, let's have another one. Let's see where else God sends us. Lord, please connect me with wherever else you want to speak me to speak with today in Jesus name. Amen. All right. So, we're taking off from Iowa. Looks like Iowa in the US of A. Let's do it. Hey, Cashia question. Hey there, cash a question. Hey, cash a question. Hey there, cashier a question. Hey, cashier a question. Um, your is your sound coming through? Couldn't hear your sound for a moment there. Do you have sound? Yeah, it's not like it looked like I can't hear your sound. You can you are speaking. Oh, no. Your sound's not working. Um, unfortunately. Hey there. Can I ask you a question? Hey. Hey, guys. Can I ask you? Yo, you like sucking? You like sucking? Can I ask you Can I ask you a question, bro? I got a serious question, man. Um, yeah. Do you believe there is a heaven after we die? 100%, bro. God's real. Yeah, I agree, man. So, what do you think we've got to do to get to heaven? You need to die. in a way that wasn't like I don't know committing suicide. Maybe if a World War II broke loose, you died from a nuclear explosion, you're going to heaven. Okay. So, so you're saying based on how you die, as long as it's like what if you died naturally, you kill yourself, you if you die in your sleep, you're going to heaven. If you die randomly, you're going to heaven. If it wasn't on purpose, you're going to heaven. If you did it on purpose, you're not. Okay. Okay. So, you'd say that's the only sin that would send you to hell. But what if someone's done a whole lot of bad things in their life and they die naturally in their sleep? That might come back at them and haunt them. I'm not sure. But do you agree that God will judge us one day based on how we've lived? Yeah, probably. Yeah, I would agree. Honestly. Yeah. Yeah. And so, because God's going to judge us based on how we've lived, would you say you've been a good person? Yes. Okay. So, in your life though, have you ever told a lie before? I have. Yep. Yeah, I've told lies, too. Have you ever used bad language? I have. Yeah. What about this? Ever been angry or rude to someone? 100%. Right. So, I appreciate your honesty there. So, if God was to judge you, then based on these things, would you be innocent or guilty? It's iffy. It's iffy, man. Okay. Okay. I'd say innocent. Innocent. Just keep in mind innocent means you've done nothing wrong your whole life and guilty means you've done at least one bad thing. So which one would you pick? Yeah, probably a little guilty and innocent. Mix mixed if you can pick two. But well cuz innocent means you've done nothing wrong. So we're definitely not innocent at all. And if guilty you've done at least one bad 100% guilty then, right? Nobody's really innocent. I agree. I agree. 100%. All of us have done sin. Oh, what? He skipped on me there. Maybe he got a Felix moment. That's okay. God wanted me to speak to him for 2 minutes. 13 seconds. Let's pray for him. Heavenly Father, do pray for that gentleman. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege it was to speak to him. I do pray that as he thinks about his own sin, how he's broken your law, may he then be terrified of the fact that he deserves your wrath. But may he find then out about what Christ has done that there's forgiveness available through Jesus. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Get an interesting idea. Hey, can I ask you a question? Hey bro, which game you playing by the way? Call of Duty. Okay, I'm busy. My question for you is um do you believe there is a heaven after we die? I ain't going to lie, I believe in that but I don't know for real. Okay. Yeah, I believe in heaven and hell as well. So, do you think um you've been a good person throughout your life though? I'm a bad person, little bro. Okay, I appreciate honestly I think I'm a bad person too. I think we've all sinned. Like, have you ever told a lie before? Duh. I'm a I'm a black folk. Well, you lie, folks. Okay. All right. But yeah, obviously lying is not a good thing, right? Cuz we deceive people. All right. Um, have you ever disobeyed your parents before? Bro, you asking too much question, bro. You getting into detail. Well, the reason why I'm asking these questions is because God is going to judge us one day based on how we've lived. And I think it's good to admit like I've I've done these things too. So I'm not judging you or anything like that. And God is going to judge us based on what we've done. So if you had to count how many sins you've done in your life, how many sins do you think you've done? I really don't know. Little be too many to count, right? Cuz sins aren't just like murder. Sins are also things like bad thoughts about someone, hating someone. Talking too much. quit talking too much, bro. But man, isn't this probably the most important subject to talk about about how we go to heaven? Like, isn't that the most important thing ever? Damn, you can't talk that damn much, bro. You You getting annoying. So, but do you want to know the way to get to heaven or what? Hey, you you made me die, gang. Yeah, this is more important because guess what, man? You will die one day. We're going to die in real life one day. And this is more important than a video game. Right. My bad. My bad. Maybe if you can pause your game or something so we can actually have a serious and reasonable chat about this important subject. You said pause the game, I can't pause Call of Duty, Well, you can quit the game. You don't have to stay in there cuz it's not the end of the world to quit the game. I'm not quitting. But man, cuz you're I'm listen talk. I'm listening. Okay. So, God says you only have to do one sin to end up in hell. any sin at all, whether it's lying, whether it's swearing, whether it's looking at a girl with sexual desire and thinking lustful thoughts about her, hell forever. Did you know that? Right. Yeah. And so you and I though, we've done many sins, haven't we? Right. And so therefore, what do we deserve for our sins? I don't really know. I like I don't really know about that. Well, well, think about If one sin is enough to send you to hell and you and I have done countless amount of sins, then where do we deserve to go to? To heaven, little bro. I think little bro. But but this is why I think you're not maybe focusing on what I'm saying because the game because it's hard to focus on two things at once, isn't it? You right. You right. I'm I'mma stop talk. Okay. So, how many So, based on what I've said before, how many sins do you have to do to end up in hell? Uh, I think like four, right? No, one. One. Just one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The Bible actually says all liars will have their part in the lake of fire. So, one sin is enough to save. I heard I heard of that. Okay. Oh, good. I'm glad you heard that, man. And so then, how many sins have you done in your life, do you think? So many. I can't even count. Right. So if one sin sends us to hell and we've done so many sins, then where do we deserve to go to for our sins? To hell. Yeah. And we I don't want you to be sent there. I don't want anyone to go there. It would be terrifying place to go to. So what do you think you could do so you don't have to go to hell? Go to church, read the Bible, do good Look, bro. So try not swear, by the way, cuz swearing is not a that's just another sin. But you mentioned doing good things. If you did a whole lot of good things from now on, does that erase the bad things you've already done? Yeah. No, it doesn't, right? Because God doesn't judge you on your good versus your bad on judgment day. He just looks at, have you broken his law? And if so, hell forever. So, the good deeds aren't going to fix the bad. Does that worry you a little bit? Hell yeah. It should. It should absolutely worry you cuz man, there's no respawn time or anything like that. There's no respawn opportunity if you die and end up in hell. You're just there permanently. So, do you want to know the way to get to heaven? Hell yeah. Okay, good. So, try focus cuz this does it does kind of require a bit of concentration and focus on this if it's possible. Right. Okay. Thanks, man. So what we need is we need someone who could take our hell punishment on our behalf because if someone took 100% of your punishment, how much punishment is left for you to still get? No. Right? So then if you don't have to go to hell anymore, then where do you get to go to him? Right? And that person who's willing to do that for you was Jesus. It's why he died on the cross and rose from the dead 3 days later. And so if Jesus does that for you, where are you going to end up when you die? To heaven, right? Right. Correct. So why do you get to go to heaven? Because you did good No. No. Because remember, that's why I'm trying That's fine. That's why I'm I'm helping you out. I'm helping you out. In fact, I'll show you a picture. This will help illustrate it. Have a look at this picture right here. So if this is you over over here and this is your hell punishment that's coming straight towards you. What's Jesus doing there? He's stopping that Right. And try not swear if you can. Appreciate it. So yeah, he's stopping your punishment. Oh, my bad. My bad. My bad. My bad. That's right. So if Jesus takes the punishment for you, where do you go when you die? To heaven. Yeah. So based on the picture, why do you get to go to heaven? Because Jesus saved your life. There you go. Jesus saved you from hell by him dying on the cross to pay for your sins. So notice, is it based on you doing good things then to go to heaven? Yeah. Really? Was that was it based on the you doing good things or based on Jesus taking your punishment? No. Jesus taking Yeah. So your good things played exactly zero part in getting you to heaven. Right. Good actions do not save you. It's just about It's just about Jesus and what he's done. And you just have to trust that he's already done that for you and your sins are paid for. Is that making sense? Yeah. And he dies for your future sins, too. So, I got a question for you, man. If today you trust in Jesus that he died for you, but tomorrow you do five more sins and then you died, would you go to heaven or hell? Wait, say that again. Yeah. So if you trust in Jesus today that he died for you, tomorrow you do five more sins and then you died. Would you go to heaven or hell? I think tomorrow. Hell. Okay. But with Jesus, did he only die for your past sins or also your future ones? Damn. I don't really know. It was all of them. It was 100% of your sins, wasn't it? Right. Which would include just past or also future? Huh? Would that just be your past sins you died for? Or did he also die for the ones you do tomorrow? I think the past, right? It was all of them. It was 100%. So that means past, present, and future. So that means any sins you do tomorrow, Jesus has already covered them, cleared them all if you're trusting in Jesus to save you. Do you see that? So then if you're trusting in Jesus, you do five more sins tomorrow. Where do you end up? Heaven? Why still heaven? I don't know, bro. I'm confused. I'll help you out, man. Don't worry. Don't worry. I'll help you out. So, with this picture, I'm confused. What is saving you from the fire again? Jesus. Yeah. So, even if you did another five sins, well, that's just part of this punishment that he's already taken. He's already taken the punishment for those five sins. So, how much punishment is going to reach you? How much of that fire is going to reach you if Jesus protecting you 100%. Probably like like how much like like what you mean you got to how much of that fire you see the fire which represents your hell punishment. If Jesus takes 100% of it for you, how much is left for you? How much is going to reach you then? Zero. Right? So therefore, even if you did five more sins tomorrow, none of that punishment is going to reach you because Jesus still got that. He's paid it for the five sins you do tomorrow, too, right? So therefore, it would be heaven. If you trust in Jesus, you sin five times again tomorrow, it would be heaven, wouldn't it? Yeah. And why why do you get to go to heaven? I did. Because he took all that punishment, right? You got it. Well done, man. You're getting I like it. Now, this doesn't mean this doesn't mean we want to sin. We now want to avoid sin because we love Jesus. He's our new master. We want to honor him with our life. But even when we stumble and fall, Christ has still got our back and covering us if we're trusting in him. But what if you don't trust in Jesus that he died for you? Where would you end up? I ain't going to lie. I would say heaven. You say hell. Heaven. Heaven. Okay. But if you don't trust in Jesus, this is your scenario. You got no Jesus protecting you. It would be in hell, wouldn't it? So, you actually have to trust in Jesus to be saved. So, are you going to trust that Jesus has paid for all of your sins? I'd be in trees, bro. Well, you've known about Jesus. You've known that he died on the cross, but you haven't been trusting in him to get you to heaven. Because remember at the beginning of this chat, what did you think was the way to get to heaven? It was you thought you thought basically doing good things, right? Mhm. So therefore, notice what your trust was in not Jesus, but yourself, your actions, right? And so therefore, are you from today going to trust that you're going to heaven only because Jesus died for your sins? For sure. Good. I'm glad. So then if you stood before God today and he asked you, "Why should I let you into heaven?" What would you say to him? Uh Think back to the picture. This will help. Back to the picture. What's the reason you get to go to heaven? Because he protect me. That's the reason. Yeah. So you say you can let me into heaven because what? You protect me. Yeah. Cuz Jesus died for me. He took all my punishment. I should be in hell. Jesus got it for me. Is that good news? Yo, it's the best news you're ever going to hear, bro. So, definitely don't forget this. Put your trust in Jesus today and that it's going to change your life for the better. So, does doing good things play any part in getting you into heaven? For sure. Probably. Or maybe. I don't know. Think back to the picture. How many good things are you doing to get to heaven based on this picture? A lot. No. How many What are you doing? You're not doing any good deeds.

In this picture. You're just standing there. See that? Yeah. Just standing. Who's doing the protecting in this picture? God. Yeah. Jesus is doing 100% of the work. You're doing 0% of the work. So therefore, do you have to do good works and good things to go to heaven? Yeah. All right. Back to the picture. Think about it. You see this guy here? This is you. I'm confused. You're just standing there in this picture here. He Jesus is doing a 100% of the work to get you to heaven. If he's doing a 100% of the work, how much work is left over for you to have to do to get to heaven? Zero. Right. So therefore, do you have to do good works to go to heaven? No. No. That's the right answer. Does that make sense to you? Yeah, it pretty much do. Thank God. Yeah. Because heaven's a gift. If something's a gift, you have to pay for it yourself. No, you you just accept it. You don't work for it. You just accept it. So Jesus gives you heaven as a beautiful free gift. You just accept it by trusting his promise that he's died for you and he'll take you safely to heaven. And now we still do good works. We now want to like do lots of good works, but not to get to heaven. Just out of gratitude to God for what he's done to save us. Does that make sense? Right. Yeah.

So, how sure are you now out of a 100 red that you're going to heaven? I ain't going to lie. Uh, I think zero. You're 0% sure. Okay. Appreciate the honesty. But are you going to now trust that Jesus has paid for all of your sins? For sure. Yeah. Okay. So, then if Jesus pays for all of your sins, where do you get to end up when you die? Heaven, right? So then how sure are you out of a 100 red that you're going to heaven? How sure? Like what you mean how Like between zero and 100%. Uh I think 100%. Yeah. Why are you 100%. For sure. Yeah. Why are you 100% is the question? Because Jesus bet me. Boom. You're getting it, man. I like this. See you. This is good. You're getting it, bro.

So, let's say a friend tells you that he's going to heaven because he's a good person. Would that friend go to heaven or hell? Okay. Now, based on what he said, was he trusting in Jesus to go to heaven or was he trusting in himself? Jesus. Well, he said, "I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person." So, what's he trusting in to save them? Himself. Yeah. Himself. So he doesn't have Jesus dying for him. And if he doesn't have Jesus dying for him, where does he end up? Heaven. If he doesn't hell, it's hell. You're right, man. Yeah. So basically, if you trust in your actions to get you to heaven, you end up in hell. You trust in Jesus to get you to heaven. Where do you go? Heaven, right? But what if you trust in both Jesus and your good actions to go to heaven? Where do you end up? Yeah. Which one did you say? Heaven. Said heaven. But by trusting in two things to get you to heaven, are you trusting then 100% in Jesus or any 50%. 50. So God be like you going to hell. But yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it would actually be hell. You know why? Because you're not fully trusting in Jesus. As soon as you think, I've also got to do this as well to go to heaven. I got to be good enough. I got to keep the commandments enough. You're actually not going to make it to heaven because you're not putting your full trust in Jesus to get you there. You're thinking that you're making up the difference. And that's then a rejection of Jesus and what he's done. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Good.

All right. So then I want to ask you, bro, remember at the beginning this beginning of this chat, you thought being a good person was the way to get to heaven, right, before we talked. So if you had died before we talked, where would you have ended up? I ain't going to lie, probably here. It would have been definitely definitely hell. But what if you died now? Where do you think you'd end up? In heaven for sure. Yeah. If you're trusting in Jesus, are you now trusting in what he's done to save you? forever. Wait, say that again. What are you trusting in to get you to heaven now? Jesus, right? Wow, that's good, man. I'm encouraged. This is like super duper encouraging um that you've come to understand this message for yourself. And does this make you really love Jesus so much? For sure. Yeah. Yeah. And because you love Jesus, do you want to now do more sins against him or less sins? less. Yeah. Cuz you're like, "Wow, Jesus, you died for me. I love you so much. I just want to live for you." That's just the overflow of your heart is that that'll be what you want to do. And that's what's going to help you to try and not swear anymore or steal or lie or look at people with lust or do other things that God doesn't want you to do. Now, what's God what God has given you to help you in your walking in holiness and things like that is actually reading the Bible. That's actually a really good thing that will help you. So, do you have a Bible at home? You know, that's fine. You can just download one. They're free on your phone. It's really easy to get a Bible these days. So, I encourage you to download a Bible. Start in the book of John. you find that the second half and it'll give you a great summary or introduction to the life of Jesus. How often should you read the Bible, do you think? Probably like I'm going to say every day when you go to sleep for real or like when you get up. Yeah, great great answer, man. Either way before you go to sleep or before you wake after you wake up, you can say no Bible, no breakfast, no read, no feed. And so, do you think you'll start reading your Bible? for sure. Yeah. You know what Christ has done for you, man. He's given you everything. And this will make you want to live your life for him and get to know him better.

Now, what about your family or friends? If you ask them about why they think they'll go to heaven, what would their answer be? [Music] Probably. I probably say like, [Music] yeah, I don't really know. I don't really Yeah. Do you think that they might point to their good actions to get them into heaven? Probably. Yeah. I I really don't know. You're not sure, but they might be similar to what your answer was. What you thought is based on being a good thing is what gets you to heaven. So, my encouragement is share this message with them. Are you going to Is that a good idea to share what you've learned with with those around you? Right. Yeah. You don't want anyone to go to hell. Well, this is why I'm chatting to you, bro. I care about you. I've um been happy to stick around having this great conversation with you because I care about your soul. I care about where you're going to end up and you can care about those around you and share the same message with them. Yeah. Now, do you have any questions you wanted to ask me? None pretty much. I'm glad that you stuck around. You've been able to focus and concentrate and learn about this. I would encourage you to maybe even find a good local church that can help spiritually strengthen you. Do you go to church at all? Say what? Do you go to church at all? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, great. Well, um, what kind of church do you go to? I ain't going to lie, I really don't know the name. Okay. What I would just encourage you to do is just make sure that you check the teaching of that church just to make sure it lines up with what we've talked about today. Make sure it lines up with the Bible, but importantly how we are saved through Jesus and not through our works. Okay. Um, so just remind me, I just want to double check you've got this. So if God asks you today, why should I not send you to hell for all the sins you've done? What would you say to him? Why should not he send me the L? Yeah. [Music] Damn. Uh, [Music] I ain't going to lie. I do know it, but I can't really think. I got bad. Yeah. Yeah. I hope I help I help jog your memory a little bit. So, remember, we should be you and I should be in hell for our sins, right? Right. But what's the way to get to heaven? Even though we deserve hell, how do we get to heaven? Put us trust in God, right? Yeah. And what has he done to save you? Protect us. Yep. Yeah. He died on that cross to pay for all the sins that we've done. So if God says, "Why should I not send you to hell?" What would you say to him? because he died on the cross and protect us. You got it, man. You hit the nail on the head right there. That's spot on, bro. Now, I want you to now remind yourself of that every single day. Remind yourself of I deserve hell, but Jesus died for me. I deserve hell, but Jesus died for me, so that's why I'm going to heaven. He paid the price. Do you think that's a good idea to remind yourself of that every day? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Good. I hope you do that, man. I care about you greatly. That's why I've spent this time with you. I really want you to be in heaven. And um if you have any questions or you want to find out more, I've got a Tik Tok, Instagram, or a YouTube you could check out. The username is simply needgod.net. And so, we got some helpful content there. This has actually been on our YouTube live and uh the people listening have been very encouraged that you've come to understand this good news today and you can feel free to come into the live chat. They'll welcome you there. They're very warm, welcoming community of people. Okay, I'm I'm going to check it out. Awesome. Yeah, man. Um, this is great chatting. It's been so good talking to you. My name is Ryan. What was your name? Isaiah. Isaiah. Hey, that's a biblical name, man. Oh, very cool. Yeah, that's from the Bible. One of the books of the Old Testament, which is part of the Bible, is named as there. So, that's great. Yeah. Well, it's been a pleasure chatting to you. Hopefully, you can say hi in the YouTube live and the people there will welcome you in. But, yeah, God bless you, man. Thanks for the chat today. You, too. Be safe. Thanks, man. You, too. Oh, wow. We got there. We got there in the end. And I'm glad that he was able to u focus enough on the conversation to be able to get it. And that's why some sometimes we just have to be more patient with certain people and it's worth it. Show them kindness, show them love, show them patience and we'll see what God does with the word that's shared. You know, we're not in charge of the results. All we all we do is just share the message and God does what he does what he wants with the message that is shared. Let's pray for him. Heavenly Father, we do pray that you would be working on Isaiah's heart. Thank you that you gave him the grace of understanding the truth, the gospel today. May he truly believe it for himself. May he cling on to Christ for the rest of his life. Help him to get into your word daily. Thank you that he seemed eager to want to read your word. Help him to have a focus on you. Help uh him not to be too engrossed in uh the things of this world or video games, but of things of eternal value. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Ever be for him, says Ryan undeterred by call of duty. Yeah, it's more important than a video game. With video games, if you lose a game, it doesn't matter whatsoever. You die in a video game, you lose in a video game, doesn't matter. But if you die in real life and you end up in hell, oh, that matters. And that's why that's why, yeah, we we want to share the good news. There's a comment from Patrick. He says, "You deserve hell every day. What an unjust way to think of yourself, not the way God thinks of you." Um, yes, every day we deserve hell, even for the sins that we do in that day. But I, this is just a healthy way of viewing yourself. I'm the chief of sinners. I'm a wretch. I should be in hell, but Jesus has saved me. If you think I'm a good person, I'm a amazing person, then you're not going to be grateful to Jesus. If you think you're amazing, if you're the best thing since sliced bread, then you're not going to think, "Ah, I'm so thankful for Jesus." You're going to be like, "I don't need him." And so that's why it's really important that we remain humble, remind ourselves how bad we are, but then we have Jesus. I'm bad. He's good. I'm nothing. He's amazing. He saved a wretch like me. Yeah, glory to God. Okay, so uh we're going to have some viewer chats. Let's go and do that now. Patrick, if you want to come up for a chat, feel free. Or anyone else, there's an opportunity to come up for a conversation. Here is the Streamyard link. If you'd like to come up, ask a question or even if you disagree with anything that I've said on today's live or any other videos I put out, you would like to chat about it. It's time for some viewer chats. I love having chats with you guys, meeting you. We can talk about God's word and even if you're not religious at all, you can come up. Whatever it is you like to chat about, God, faith, the Bible, Christianity related. It's [Music] time.net. All right, viewer chat time. So, feel free to click on that StreamYard link to come up. I'll make sure I pin it to the top of the chat for you guys. We'll see how many people we can talk to today. There we go. It should be pinned now. Great. Um, there was a super chat that came in from Timmy. He said, "Is stepping over someone a sin or bad luck?" No and no. We don't believe in luck, by the way. We as Christians, like obviously you might, some people might say good luck to someone. They don't mean actually luck. They just me and hope it goes well. But we don't believe in some sort of force of called luck that gives you good things or bad things. We believe in a sovereign God who is in control of the universe and blesses people as he sees fit and takes things away from people as he sees fits as well. But no, stepping over someone wouldn't be a sin unless you're doing it in a bad way. Like unless you're intentionally trying to be annoying to somebody, then maybe then it would be sinful. So maybe the context will determine. We we are called to show perfect courtesy towards all people. And so if it'd be if it'd be violating that then that would be sinful. Wow. Thank you um Carl Wilson for your very generous super chat. Let's press this one. Lord Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. [Music] Hey, thank you Kai um Wilson who sent this comment. God bless. Thank you so much. Appreciate your uh encouragement and super chat. Lovely. Now there is room if you want to come in for a viewer chat anyone. There's still um room for you guys to come on in. There's a bunch of people who were waiting yesterday who didn't get a chance because we ran out of time yesterday to have more of them, but there's room available now. Yeah. Okay. Um James made a comment. He said Ryan said, "You're gonna die for real." Yeah. This was the gentleman I spoke to just before. And you won't be able to respawn. That got his attention. Yeah, I think it did. I think that's what helped get his attention. All right. Now, we should give you guys a while we're waiting for people to come up for viewer chat. So, remember there's room. The link's there. It's pinned up. I'm going to ask maybe another trivia question like I did yesterday. Uh, let's see which I'm going to ask you guys. Here we go. Okay. Um, the question I'm going to ask is, does anyone know what the word Emmanuel in the Bible means? What does the word Emmanuel mean? If you think you know the answer, then yeah, type your answer in the chat. Corbyn's asked this. Did you see did you watch Redeem Zuma's response to your video? I did. And someone else made a comment. Math Boy, you should make a video responding to Redeem Zuma. I am actually going to do that. So, I was thinking about, oh, is it worth responding to? And I was thinking about it yesterday further and I was like, actually, I think there's there is enough in there to respond to. So, I'm going to probably put that one out. Um, for those in the US, it'll be your morning time or our evening time in Australia. Well done, Prince getting that one first. God with us. Well done, you guys. A lot of you guys getting that. Heaps of you. Look at all that. God with us. Perfect. So, good. Okay. Um, yeah. So, if you've been like, "Hey, do I come up for a viewer chat?" Yeah. Well, there's spots. We We're still waiting on people to come up. Um, so if you'd like to come up, there's an opportunity to come up now. Just click on that StreamYard link. Let me give you another one. Actually, Harmony, I didn't ask you earlier on. I didn't ask you what your bonus question was. So, maybe now you could ask your bonus question. Go for it. Okay. Um, let me think. Let me think. Um, true or false? Um, oh my, the word the animal ostrich is in the Bible. True or false? Oh, that's a tricky one. I'm trying to think. Ostrich. I think it's in the answer is true. Is it in the book of Job? I believe it is. I believe it is. Yeah. Yeah. I think Job talks about the ostrich how it like leaves its eggs on the ground and then leaves it unprotected. So, I think it's true, but we should check it with the Bible. All right. So, Sean says false. Steve says true. Keb says true. Um, all right. We got to find out. We got to find out. Ostrich. Let's see where it is in the Bible. Hey, there's a few. Leviticus, the ostrich, the nighthawk, the seagull. I think these saying things you can't eat in the law. Uh, you've got Job. I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches. What else? Yeah, the wings of the ostrich wave proudly. Hey, thanks, Harmony. So apparently, how many times does the word ostrich appear? 10 times. 10 times in the Old Testament. Great bonus question, Harmony. Thanks for asking that one. All right. Uh so there's a couple people have come up now. Um Paul actually wanted to ask one first. Hey Paul, what's your You want to ask a question first? Yes mate. Um, now I've been reaching out to a lot of people that we haven't spoken to for a few years through Instagram and a lot of them have been coming back and I was just hoping that you may be able to give some words of encouragement. But people are tending to feel that they fall away. Then they feel because they've fallen away that they they're embarrassed to come back to God or they don't know how to come back to God. And so it actually puts them off from actually getting into the Bible or getting in the church or getting into prayer. So they think because of this that they're too far gone now and that God's not going to forgive them for how they are. So what words of encouragement would you give to someone that may be in that same boat right now? Yeah, that's a great question, Paul. I feel like, you know, when people have been not reading their Bible as much, not praying, maybe falling into sin, they're like, God wouldn't want me to really kind of get back into those sort of things. I've already failed for the past two weeks or months. I I shouldn't get back into it. I just encourage these people to remind themselves of the gospel. God does not accept you based on what you've been doing for him or how many times you've sinned or not sinned against him. He's accepting you based on the finished work of Jesus. So my encouragement would be to just remind themselves of the gospel every day. I'm saved because of Jesus, not what I do. And that will then get rid of the thinking of God won't like me because I haven't been doing something for a while. God loves me. In fact, I know he loves me. Look at the cross. The best example of the cross is the best example of love. Okay, I'm accepted. I'm loved. Therefore, now, absolutely, I want to get into my Bible. Absolutely, I want to pray. Absolutely, I want to do these things for God to show my gratitude to him. Yeah. And and for some of those people that may be watching that do answer me and they say, "Oh, because I'm too lazy." I always say to those people, "Was Jesus too lazy to die for your sins?" Of course he's not. So don't use that as an excuse or don't use it as an excuse that you can't come back to God because we we read the Bible like Ryan said, but it's having that relationship that we now want with him because God wants us to have that intimate relationship and it can't work if there's no communication going on. So whether we're talking to God or we're listening to God, that communication has to happen for it to be an effective relationship. So, while we're not saying that that's what saves us, but now that we are saved, we want to have this relationship with him because we want to thank him for what he's done and we're grateful for the sacrifice that he's made for us on the cross. So, that's my bit of encouragement as well. Thanks, R. Thanks, Paul. God bless you, man. Appreciate that. Yeah, that's a it's a good point. Like Jesus has done everything for us. It should make us say, "Well, Jesus, I want to do anything for you." Now, people like, "I'm lazy. I don't find time to read my Bible and pray. It's often because we add stuff into our life that just soaks up our time. And it can just be secular entertainment. It can be just extracurricular activities. We can just add on. And so sometimes it may mean taking stuff out of your life so that you have time to read your Bible and pray. You're not Superman or Superwoman where you've got unlimited amount of time in a day. we've only got 24 hours and you've got to sleep a bunch of that time and maybe work or or go to school a bunch of the time. So therefore, it may mean not adding stuff onto your life that will take time away from ways you want to serve Christ or read your Bible, pray, memorize scripture, those sort of things. And I find the phone with social media is the 21st century wins the trophy of the best time sapper that there is in our day and age. How much you can easily just scroll scroll scroll scroll scroll and then half the day is gone, another half an hour is gone. So just be wary of that. Deleting apps off your phone can be helpful. deleting those social media apps that you know sapp your time may be helpful and then you're just like, "Wow, I don't feel like I have to go to them. I got more time. What can I do?" It's going to open my Bible. So, that could be a suggestion for you guys. All right, let's get into some viewer chats. Going to bring up Gavin. You're first. Welcome, bro. What's up? Looks like you're cooking. I'm making some French toast right now. Oh, lovely. Yeah. Tasty. Nice. Yeah. What do you want to chat about? Um, kind of a whim. I watch your channel quite often. Uh, just because I like kind of the apologetics and stuff. Um, but lately I've kind of been struggling just to just to stay in the word and to, you know, pick up my cross daily. And I suppose I wanted some some advice and some good accountability uh from you. Yeah. Well, hopefully even the things that we were just mentioning and Paul was mentioning there that might have already given you some some helpful strategies or tips. Um, we all use our time somehow. Yeah. And so, think about what your go-to is when you're feeling like, okay, I've done my tasks for today or switching tasks. What's your go-to? Is it your phone? Is it something else that just takes time away from what you usually would maybe get into your word during that time? No, it's definitely my phone. Um, okay. YouTube Shorts is like that thing, which I love YouTube for all of the good other stuff it has, but then shorts just like zaps like you're talking about. It is such an attention uh take. What if you What if you did? What if you said, "I won't use YouTube shorts or YouTube even altogether until I've read my Bible in the day." What if you said that as a rule for yourself? Yeah, that would be good. Um, I suppose it's not a real problem reading my Bible because I I defin I read it first thing every morning. Um, okay. But I guess the application is the most hard part for me. Like because it's it seems like it's becoming a checkbox more lately and my my faith has kind of lacked because of that, I think. Yeah. I used to be like sprinting in my faith not long ago and then now it's kind of become more of a drag if that makes sense. Sure. Okay. Yeah. I think when we when we read, we can sometimes make it into I'm just going to do it because that's my habit when we're not really kind of feeling it or getting into it. Yeah. What can help is praying before you read and saying, "God, open your eye. Open my eyes to what you want me to learn today." Yeah. And then while you're reading, think about how you would summarize that passage that you're reading in your own words. And so you set that as a goal. Every time I read, I got to summarize this in my own words and maybe pick out something in the passage that I can praise God for at the end of the my barber reading. So then you can't just be tuning out and thinking about something else while you're reading then because you've got a goal of I need to summarize it and I need to try and find something I can praise God for at the end. And so that'll help you stay concentrated and then pray again after you finish reading and praise God for what you just got to be reminded of or learn in his word. Yeah. All right. Well, that's awesome. Um, awesome. How'd you come to doing YouTube? Uh, co. So, basically back in 2020, the pandemic with the lockdowns, we couldn't go outside where we were in Australia. And so, we're like, well, let's go try to reach people online. for the gospel and then we started streaming some of those conversations, making videos out of them and and been going since then. That's awesome. Well, I've definitely been encouraged um just by your channel alone and I love I love um your passion for good good doctrine and good beliefs and and also not just being a a doctrine of worm, you know, you also go out and evangelize a lot obviously, of course. And that's just that's very awesome. Oh, glory to God. And so, how sure are you out of a hundred you go to heaven? Only by Jesus's word can I could I attain salvation. Um, and so it's just, you know, some days I worry that I don't have my faith in Jesus enough. And that's about that's about the sin I'm most concerned about, you know. Um, and so I just I just try and reaffirm my faith in Christ alone every day. That's the that's the Yeah. Keep keep preaching the gospel to yourself. That's good. Yeah. It's not how strong your faith is. It's not the size of your faith. It's who your faith is in. If it's Jesus promised me eternal life. Well, then I can't be lost. Mhm. I can't be lost because he's got my back. Yeah. Amen. Yeah. Hey, great chatting to you, Gavin. Thanks for coming up today, man. Enjoy your French toast. Thank you. I'll be I'll be listening along as I eat it. So, you have a great day. That's awesome. All right, let's bring up next. We've got uh a philosophy. Welcome. How you doing, Ryan? Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Yeah, great to meet you. What was your name? My name's Ace Philosophy. Ace Philosophy. Okay, great. That's I guess your nickname, not not your real name, but yeah. Okay. What What did you want to ask about today? So, I was listening to your conversation with Isaiah, and you were saying that if we if we trust in if we believe our own works have anything to do with our salvation, it means we're not trusting in Christ. We're trusting in ourselves. Yeah. And I dis I disagree with that. I think that if God tells us that we have to do something then for salvation then believing we have to do it we have to do it is believing in what God taught it's not believing in ourselves okay the reason why I think it is believing in yourself what I mean by when I say believing in yourself is that you're believing that something you're doing or performing is what's getting you to heaven rather than what Christ has already done to get you into heaven. So if we think Christ contributes his sacrifice on the cross and that gets me like 60% of the way, but my cooperation and my works are the remaining 40% or whatever percent you want to say. We're I'm not actually thinking then it's 100% Jesus. I'm thinking it's 60% Jesus, 40% myself. Therefore, we're trusting partly in oursel to save us. Do you see? Um well the way I look at it is that salvation salvation is something that occurs at at judgment at final judgment. And so it's not something that really happens during our lifetime. So God saves God saves in a sense. I agree. But there's also you have been saved like you know Ephesians 2:8-9 for by grace you have been saved. So it's past tense and it's continuing. Yes, there will be a final salvation in terms of like we will be saved from the wrath of God because the wrath of God is still to come on judgment day. But we can because it's like he's already justified us, made us right before God. We can already say that we have salvation if we trusting in Jesus. I believe we can lose our salvation because I don't like I said I don't see salvation as something occurring during our lifetime. It's the moment of salvation is at judgment itself. So that's when people are either saved or cast into or rejected by God. So if you don't persevere to the end, then you won't be saved at judgment is how I view it. I agree. Someone needs to persevere in their faith to the end. The one who endures to the end will be saved. I agree with that. But if you have true faith now, you can already say, "I have salvation now." You know, that's why it says, "For by grace you have been saved." But then that salvation is then going to be ongoing because God will even sustain you in the in your faith and present you blameless and guiltless on that day of judgment. So you got nothing to fear. But I think the reason probably why you think you can lose salvation is because of what you've mentioned already so far that you think your actions, your works play a part in gaining you salvation, right? Absolutely. Yeah. I do believe that our our works are required for salvation. Our obedience is required for salvation. And I actually How many works are required? However many however many it takes. I see. I don't I don't believe in Is there a certain amount or not? Yeah. That's for God to decide. I don't know if I'm going to be saved. Yeah. I terrifying that is. It's terrifying, but it's true. That's how I feel about it. It's not about whether I feel secure or not. So, I live every day as if I might go to hell if I don't do well enough, but um that motivates me to not make mistakes as, you know, as far as I'm able. But that sounds very much like a Muslim's view like they are trying to do enough works to hopefully Allah will let them into heaven in the end. But I don't see I don't see Christianity is based on that. Christianity is more of a grace-based religion. Grace meaning it's undeserved kindness, unmmerited favor. So that's why it's not about me trying my best. Yes, I am going to try my best because I love Jesus and I want to obey him. my salvation. Not resting on that because I know I would fail because do you think that you could for even a single day live how Jesus commands you to live? I do. Really? Because Jesus commands perfection. So you think that you could like live perfectly? Not just myself. I believe all humans can do that if they try hard enough. So, let's say over your life so far, have you lived perfectly over like a whole week span or anything like that? A whole week? Uh, perhaps, but no, I definitely during the course of my life, I've failed at times. Yeah. So, so if if you haven't if you can't even think of a whole week where you've been perfect, let alone a month or a year of your life being entirely perfect as Jesus commands you as much as God. So you may when I when I think somebody says I think I've been perfect for a whole week or even for a whole day. I think they have a too low view of God's standard. You think you're as perfect as God is. So you never so so perfectly loving God, perfectly loving neighbor, never thinking about thought about anyone, considering others needs even more than yourselves all the time. Honestly, I think if you had a good look at your life and my life, I we haven't done this. We haven't done this even for a single day of our life, let alone a week or a month or a year or a lifetime. Well, when you look at the commands given by Christ, so first of all, there's, you know, love God and love your neighbor, obviously, but what does that look like? So, at times, Jesus, such as during the sermon on the mount, clarifies exactly what loving God and loving your neighbor looks like. And I haven't heard anyone point anything in there that's impossible for humans to do for a minute, a day, a week, or however long unless you have not even the Matthew 548 part where he says, "You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect." You don't think that well unattainable for us here? Jesus Jesus clarifies what perfect means and it's perfect according to the commandments. So it's not like you have to be omnisient, you have to know like God has the omniqualities. Humans don't have that. So Jesus isn't saying you have to be God. He's saying you have to obey God perfectly. And as much as your heavenly father is perfect and never sins, right? Perhaps. But is that what's impossible about the commands that Jesus has given us? Which one which one is impossible? The whole point of the commands anyway was to bring the knowledge of sin. It was never to justify a person. It was to make you sh to see how bad you were and that you needed mercy. You needed grace. Um I think even with Jesus giving the commands here in this part, he's he's wanting to people to be like, you know, it's not just good enough you haven't committed adultery. You can't even lust after someone. You can't even be angry with your brother, otherwise you're liable to the judgment. So then if you have not kept the standard, if you've broken God's law at all, then you wouldn't meet the standard of being perfect as much as God is perfect. And so therefore, would that not make you deserving of hell? Well, you you said if I have not kept the commandments perfectly, basically that would make me imperfect. And that I don't I don't agree with that. And I'll explain to you why. It's because yes, I I and I'm not talking about just myself, but anyone, but just speaking of myself personally, if I have sinned in the past, in that time, I was imperfect. But if I repent of my sins and turn away from my sins, then as Isaiah says, God will cleanse me and I will become perfect. So, I will enter a state of perfection. So, turning away from all your sins and obeying all of his law, but you haven't got to that point where you don't sin anymore. Correct. Um, maybe not. But that doesn't mean I can't. It doesn't mean it doesn't mean other people can. So then, okay, then you wouldn't have forgiveness even based on that that verse because you haven't obeyed all of his law. You haven't stopped doing your sin altogether. So then that would mean if you die today, you would be knowing you're going to hell, right? probably and that should worry you and this is where the gospel comes in. I think we should see I don't want to go to hell. I know I can't live perfectly in the future. I've already failed in the past. My track record is not perfect. So then I need someone who is perfect who can swap places with me and bear my punishment. What do you think of that idea? I think it makes God unjust because he's not judging me based on what I actually am, but it's he's judging me based on what I'm not. And the same thing with with Jesus. He's he's the idea that righteousness is imputed seems to me to make God an unfair judge. It's his love. God can choose to pay our fine on our behalf. Jesus volunteered. He says, "No one takes my life from me. I lay my life down. I have the power to take it up again. So, he's choosing to do this. He's willing to give you his righteousness as a gift. That's not unjust if it's voluntary and it's a gift. And yet, he's not letting your sin go unpunished either because at least Christ is still bearing it and paying the fine on your behalf. All right. So, do you because do you believe that Christ paid for your sins or not? No, I don't. Ah, okay. So, you don't hold to the New Testament. Is that what you're saying? I don't believe I don't believe Christ taught that he paid for my sins. I I mean, I know that there are some a couple verses that seem to indicate that, but I think when you take everything Jesus taught in totality, he absolutely taught that we need to be obedient for salvation, which means that he can't have paid for our sins. Interesting. So, do you believe the New Testament is true or not? I believe in what Jesus taught. Absolutely that way. Okay. So, everything Jesus taught you would say is true. Correct. Yes. Okay. And so you'd hold to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They're they're inspired scripture. I believe they're true. They hold truth. Yes. Okay. True. All right. and the rest of the New Testament, you'd say you don't necessarily believe that. I don't see it as authoritative as the words of Christ personally. So, I see it as more like even if Christ appoints the these apostles to write down sacred scripture. He appoints Paul to be an apostle to the Gentiles. You wouldn't see that then as therefore giving those people authority and you should listen to them. Not if their doctrines can't be harmonized with what Christ taught or connected directly to what Christ taught. So if they're teaching actual stuff, I think they do. I think Paul, Peter, James, all those sort of apostles, they all taught the same thing as what Jesus taught. It was not inconsistent. So Jesus taught that Mark 10:45, for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So he's giving his life as a ransom. So that payment to set us free from the condemnation that we deserve. This is the words of Jesus here and this is consistent then with say first Peter. Well let me let's say here let's say I want to comment on this. Doesn't a doesn't a soldier give his life for his country when he goes off to war and dies to defend it? Isn't that kind of like a ransom for his country? He pays he pays with his life to protect his country. So Jesus so Jesus how what is Jesus service? So he so it says here that he's serving not it's not just people want want to focus on him giving his life and I guess they interpret that as he's dying but it can also mean that he's just dedicating himself to a cause but his service is that he's preaching the message of salvation and then he dies for it because he was killed by the leaders of the time. So he gave himself as a ransom to teach that message. So a soldier may give his life for his country. I agree. But that's not as a ransom. So a ransom is like when a a person kidnaps a person and then there's a price, a ransom price that a person must pay, the parents might pay to get the child released. And so we have the law of God and God's justice, meaning that we are in we're enslaved. We're held captive by the law. it's going to condemn us and throw us into hell. But Jesus is like, "No, I'll I'll give my life as that payment for our sins." So that's different to what a soldier does. Um, you see elsewhere Jesus saying that he lays his life down. So you got John chapter 10 verse 11, it says, "I am the good shepherd. the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep. So he knows that he's going to lay his life down. And then he says in Matthew 26:28, "This is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." And he's predicted that he's going to die and he's going to rise. And so he's linking this death to the forgiveness of sins. So clearly a payment of sins. And it's consistent then with the Old Testament which says that he would bear our iniquities. Isaiah 53:5. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. That seems to be consistently what the Old Testament teaches but then also the New Testament teaches as well. Well, you re the Old Testament a lot of people see that as being very law centered. Okay. So to me, the Old Testament, it's the New Testament where you get this apparent idea that uh God doesn't need want us to obey his law anymore. But so when it comes to Isaiah, I feel like it should be taken into consideration that this was in a a dispensation where obviously God was very serious about people obeying his law or being cursed. So shouldn't we view it in that context and interpret everything in that way? So the law is a big part of the Old Testament definitely. Um we see it was given to Moses and then it was in force all the way until Jesus came. But the law as Paul says if we can go to Paul in Romans 3:20 it tells us this that for by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin. The law doesn't justify because you couldn't keep it. So what you should do if you want to try and be justified by keeping God's law, just have a look at it for a moment and see, okay, have I kept it? Have I consistently what God done what God says? And if you haven't, James 2:10 says, "Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." So you're one violation of God's law enough for God to throw you into hell. And so Christ comes along, obeys the law, and says, "Look, I'll bear I'll bear your punishment. I'll get your sins." And so then

You now have a choice, Ace. You can choose to trust in what Jesus did, and he will pay for your sins, or you can choose to say, "No, I'll do it myself." And when you stand before God, God's going to look at all your sins and then have to justly condemn you for them. So, don't you see it makes sense to put your trust in Jesus that he's actually borne your sins for you?

It would feel nice. I'll give you that. But I'd have to be convinced that that's the truth of what's going to happen. I want to ask you kind of a question to get it to boil down to the essence of what it is you're teaching. So, uh, is that all right?

Yeah, go for it. Go for it. Uh, so would you say that obedience to God's to God, let's just say that obedience to God, however that looks, is necessary for salvation? Obedience to God's commands.

If you didn't have Christ, yes. So either you be perfect your whole life and if you are perfect your whole life unless and you have to be born without original sin, which obviously you're not. But if you are perfect and without original sin, you can go to heaven based on your obedience. But the fact that you've sinned, you can't get to heaven by your obedience. You need to get to heaven by the obedience of someone else, Jesus Christ.

So ultimately, the answer is no, in your opinion. Sorry, say it again. So ultimately, the answer is no. In your opinion, obedience to God is not nec— Yeah. Okay. For us who have already sinned, our obedience to God is not part of getting us into heaven. Yes, we seek to be because we're saved, but not part of getting us to heaven.

So, I I don't mean to be excessively confrontational. I'm just telling you how I see it. Satan is the one who taught. Satan is the one who taught we don't have to obey God. So, I'm not, you know, saying that's how you think of it. But this that doctrine strikes me as being, you know, Satan's doctrine. We don't have to obey God.

There's a difference. We— No, no, you've misunderstood what I said. We ought to obey God and we should obey God. God wants us to obey him, but not for salvation. Satan would love for you to trust in your obedience for your salvation. He would love it. Why? Because you're not obedient. And so on judgment day, God will justly throw you into hell for your sins since you're not obedient. What Satan hates is when people stop trusting in their obedience for their salvation and they trust in Jesus instead. Why? Because then they've got a perfect savior who's clothed them in his righteousness. And so it's I'm not saying God doesn't want us to obey. God absolutely wants us to obey, just not for salvation. That's the key point I'm trying to make.

Okay. Well, what that and again, I I have to kind of go, but and I'll leave you the final word, but to me, at the end of the day, what that means is to be in right relationship with God, obedience is not necessary. So, I'd have to square that with the what my concept of God and just the idea I think that God requires that. Um, but, you know, you failed because God requires perfection your whole life and you know, you haven't been perfect. So, therefore, just logically, you cannot go to heaven by your obedience because you haven't been because God requires obedience your entire life from the time you're born to the time you die. So that should make you say, "Okay, well, I can't go to heaven by my obedience. I need someone to swap, someone who can take upon himself what I should get, as Isaiah 53:5 says." And so my hope, um, is that you would believe this and find rest. I've got rest. I've got assurance of salvation. You even said if you died today, you're probably going to hell. That should terrify you. Your belief system is not giving you a way of salvation. It's just providing more condemnation and guilt. Christianity, what the biblical view of Christianity is, there is an offer of salvation. You can rest in Jesus. As Jesus said, "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Rest means it's not about obedience or striving. It's about relying on him. He'll do the carrying. He'll do the work. Just trust in him.

Thanks for coming up. Hey, appreciate you. Thanks for taking me. You have a good one. Bye. See you. Yeah, let's pray for him. I'm glad he came up. And what an interesting view he holds to. He held to. It's like he's read maybe some parts of the Old Testament, but then missed certain parts of the Old Testament about like how Jesus bears our iniquities in Isaiah 53. Missed Genesis 15 about Abraham believing God and being counted as righteous. David just being forgiven without works in this book of Psalms. But may his eyes be open, hopefully even through that conversation. Let's pray for him. Heavenly Father, we pray for that gentleman, Lord. I do pray that you'd bring him into your kingdom if that be your will. Save him. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

All right, so let's bring up the next person. Okay, we got uh Alex. Welcome, Alex. Oh, hello. Uh, hey, great to have you here. Yeah. What do you want to ask about today?

Yeah. So, um, I am, uh, Eastern Orthodox, but, um, I think that, uh, Sola Scriptura is not true. And uh, I was wondering if you kind of if you if you had a view of Sola Scriptura, if it's more like if it's more like everything we believe spiritually and about God and Jesus and everything like that has to be found in the New Testament, uh, like directly, or if it's more of like it just you can believe things about Jesus and God, but they can't be contradicted in the New Testament.

I would say you don't have a reason, someone doesn't have a reason to believe a statement unless it is found in the Bible. So if someone is saying you must believe X, Y, or Z, but it, let's say it doesn't contradict the Bible, but it's also not found in the Bible, well, there's no obligation for a person to have to believe that statement. Do you understand?

Yeah. So I mean like, uh, so like some philosophical beliefs might not be found in the Bible, but people hold to philosophical like interpretations, like, say the correspondence theory of truth, like that might not be found in the Bible, but it doesn't necessarily contradict the Bible.

Yeah. There are other things not found in the Bible that you can believe, like believing the earth is round or something, or believing in gravity. The Bible doesn't specifically mention gravity. You can believe gravity. So the Bible is not the only way of finding out truth. We can know things through observation. We can know things through logic. All those sorts of things. But in terms of like spiritual truth, what truth we believe about what God wants for us, how we should live, we should check everything with scripture. So scripture then becomes your ultimate authority. Okay? And why rather than following something else as your ultimate authority. Okay? Why why would we do why would we do that? Why would we everything that we believe spiritually, why would we check it with scripture? Why is that true?

Well, because we're called to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And so, if scripture is the word of God, then it just makes sense. If someone's saying God is this statue over there, okay, so I'm going to run that through the Bible. I'm going to check it with the Bible. Does the Bible say God is a statue? No. The Bible speaks against idolatry and speaks against people making statues of God. Okay. So therefore, that statue is not God. So it's just it's just reasonable to to do that. Like I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to do that. So is it you listen, you find everything you believe about God. You find it in the Bible because the Bible tells you to and God tells you to in the Bible.

I just I think it's because God is a God who communicates. He reveals information to humans. The way that he's communicated in the past is through prophets. We have their writings. Through his son Jesus Christ, we have writings about him and the apostles' writings. And so then that God who communicates has left us this information. So we just make sure that what we believe about who God is and how he wants us to live, we run it through the filter of God's word and then we don't get led astray as opposed to saying, "Well, every new idea, every wind of doctrine that comes along, I'm just going to believe that, believe that, believe that." If you don't have your anchors fixed somewhere, then you're going to change your beliefs every day just based on new ideas that come along. Okay.

So, it sounds like you're saying, I'm just trying to understand. It sounds like you're saying we listen, we check everything with the Bible. I've heard people say check it with the Bible, yo, kind of a thing.

Yes. Exactly. So, but it sounds like you're saying because historically we just know this is how God worked through the prophets. This is how he worked through, uh, the Gospels. This is how he worked through the apostles. And so historically we know that it's from God and therefore we should check everything with the Bible.

Uh, it's I guess, yeah, you could say historically that's how the people of God have always done it. They've consulted with the prophets. They've consulted. Remember when David and others were like, "Hey, what should we do?" Consult God. Let's consult God. It makes sense. You want to find out how should I live in this universe or whose universe is it? God's. I'm gonna go ask him. If I'm in someone's house and I'm I want I'm wondering if I can do something. I'm gonna go ask the owner of that house if I'm able to do that in their house because theirs, not mine. So, it just makes sense. Consult God in regards to if you want to do something, how you should act. And has God already given us an instruction manual? He has the Bible.

Uh, okay. So, um, check it with the Bible because it because his like historically verifiable that it is the Bible. Is that the main is there any other reasons or is would you say that is the that is like the main reason commanded to like God commands you to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God?

So, so I find, see, that's where I find, I find that circular. I find it where you say, "Check it with the Bible, yo, because God commanded you to in the Bible." So, I feel like that's a circular argument.

Well, it's like this. Go back to my analogy of the house. You're a visitor in someone else's house and someone, the owner of the house tells you, um, these are my house rules. And if you're unsure about if you're able to do something, just go to my written down rules I've got for you here. In fact, I've written that on here. If you're unsure, read this. Read the whole thing. Well, then is it circular? Well, it's just I, if I want to find out what I can do in that person's house, I read the document they've given to me. So, even if the document didn't say read the entire thing, the fact that the owner has given me this document, I'm going to read that to find out if I can do those things in his house. And so, even if scripture didn't say check everything with the Bible, it should already be just self-explanatory. I should check everything with the Bible because this is God's universe, not mine. And yet the Bible does encourage us to go check everything with the Bible, even commanding the Bereans for searching the scriptures daily to see whether what it's saying.

So, following that analogy though, following that analogy, so you say, "Why do I follow these rules in the house?" And then the answer is, "Because the book says to follow the rules in the house." That's because the owner of the house, because the owner of their house, yes, has told me, "Follow my house rules." Through the book. In fact, even if he didn't, even if he did, though, but even if he didn't, even if the owner didn't say, "Follow my house rules." Ought you not to follow the house rules?

Uh, well, yes, you should. It's not your house. If you're in someone else's house, you don't just go and do whatever you want in someone else's house. I think the difference is that in in real life, according to your analogy, the owner did not audibly tell you, did he? I mean, did God audibly tell you to follow his rules? But even if, but even if he didn't, I'm saying you should still obey the house owner's rules.

Okay. So, okay. So, but that that's Yeah, it does make sense. But I I think it's circular because you follow the rules in the house because the book says so. And I think circular arguments are not good. I think I think you've just missed, even if the owner of the house didn't say obey my rules. Yep. But he's somehow even just got a set of rules on the wall or something like that. Yeah. Even if it doesn't say obey these rules, it just lists the rules. Yep. Then therefore you ought to obey those rules. Yeah. But you said he is he, you said the rule book or the rules are saying to obey the rules.

No, but my point is is that even in that example, you know, you should obey the rules. So, even if the Bible doesn't say obey like you must obey these rules, if it just lists the rules in the Bible, then ought you not to obey the creator of the universe since you're living in his— You should. But does the book say that you should obey? But regardless, so let's say, let's just take that off for a moment. Even if it doesn't, you agreed you should obey the rules. So then that's not circular. That gets out of out of the circle.

No, it is circular because you said earlier that the Bible does say that you should obey the rules of the Bible. Did you not? But but I just— You're missing the point. No, I I'm saying even if, even if the Bible just lists the rules, if you just read through Romans 12 or something, which lists a bunch of rules on how we ought to live, in Romans 12, yeah, you knowing this is not your universe, this is the creator's universe, should make you say, "Okay, I'm going to obey these rules." And so therefore, you already have a reason to obey the rules even if the book didn't say you must obey these rules. Now, it also says you must obey these rules. That's another reason why you obey the rules. So, I'm saying there's multiple reasons why you obey what God says. But I agree. I'm answering your question. I agree if even if the rules don't say to directly obey the rules in the house, going with this analogy, you still should obey the rules in the house. But my point is, and I, that's the third time I've answered that. So, but but the point is that earlier in the conversation, you said that, uh, you should obey the Bible because it commands us to.

Okay, that's one of the reasons. Yeah, there's many reasons, but this is just one. One reason, even I'm just saying let's just focus on that one reason as my point here. That one reason is circular, and circular arguments are bad arguments.

Well, except when you're appealing to an ultimate authority. When you're appealing to an ultimate authority, you can't. There's nothing higher that you can appeal to. With an ultimate authority, what can you say? Well, I have to obey because of what? Can you appeal to something higher than God? No. So, when you get to ultimate authorities, it's always going to be circular. But that's not bad.

Well, it's only circular when we're not dealing with an ultimate authority. If we're dealing with just like someone's just making an argument and they're just like relying on themselves, but they're not an ultimate authority. But when we talk about God, there's no nothing greater in power or might or knowledge than God. So, there's nothing you can appeal to that's higher than him.

Well, see, I don't think I don't think that when you're dealing with ultimate authorities that you have to appeal to God to prove God is the ultimate authority. I don't think it has to develop down in circular. Like the Roman Catholic is God the ultimate authority? Well, if I could finish real fast what I was saying, but yeah, God is the ultimate authority. But like Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox would not offer a circular argument. They would offer what's called a spiral argument instead that is based upon history, not circularity.

No, but it's again, it goes goes around to, okay, why do you trust your church? Well, my church says I need to trust my church. No, that's not what we say. Okay, why do you trust your church? You trust the church based upon, start you start with historical evidence. So you look at the Gospels and you say, are they just historically reliable documents? Is the resurrection of Jesus Christ true? And I think it's historically factual, just not looking at the Gospels as divine text, but as historical documents that the resurrection is true. And from there, you find that since the resurrection is true, that Jesus started a church, and then the church started to recognize things that were true. They also recognized the books of the Bible and they recognized the truth of God's word. And so it's a historical spiral argument. And this doesn't show then the hold up. You haven't yet shown that therefore you should trust that you, whatever your church says, you should believe them, even if what they said isn't in line, is in fact— You just asked me, you asked me about supreme. You asked me about the, uh, highest authority or this, uh, because the church says so. And I'm just saying it's not because it's not circular in East. What you just did, your argument, your argument didn't lead to answering what I wanted. I said, "How can you show that your church is is an authority that you must obey?" Um, even if what they teach contradicts or is not found in scripture, why do you, why do you trust them? Why do you trust that they are someone that you must obey and speaking infallible truths? You can't. There's no, it's just when I chat to Orthodox people, when I chat to even Catholic people, they just say, "Look, it's just, I just have to trust them." They don't have a basis for trusting.

No, it's because of it's because of consensus. But you said, did you not say that the Orthodox consensus of who, like— Can I finish? Because you said, "But you say because of consensus." What do you mean by that? I, I know, but I'd like to finish my point that I was saying. So, did you not say earlier, the question that I was asking, did you not say earlier that the Orthodox just trust, trust the church because the church says so?

Well, they do. Like, does the Orthodox Church say that you should trust the Orthodox Church? Uh, well, yes, but that is not the foundational. So there we go. There we go. That's following your argument. Following your argument, then you've just shot yourself in the foot. If you don't like the fact that the Bible says obey the Bible, well, then your church says obey your church. You've got the same problem, my friend.

That's straw-manning the position. That's not understanding my position because I was trying to clarify. Your church, your church says that you should obey the church. Your church there, that's a circular thing. If you want to make the argument against the Bible, you've just shot yourself in the foot about your church.

I feel like I'm getting interrupted quite a few times and I'd like to finish my statements, but, um, I just think you just realized, I hopefully you realize that you've just shot yourself in the foot if you're willing to be honest. If you think you've shot myself, think I've shot myself in the foot by a straw man and misunderstanding me, then so be it. But I would like, again, I'd like to be able to finish my thought. I don't think I've straw-manned you and said you agree that your church says you must obey your church. Yeah, I know. But did you hear the what else did I say? And so, and you haven't been able to show why your church actually has authority that they that God tells us that we have to obey them. God never says that. God never says obey the Orthodox Church. What else did I say? What else did I say? And so, if you haven't been able to show your case, then Okay, I honestly, man, can I encourage you because you're sounding very much like a Muslim who says, "I just trust Muhammad." Okay. So, I've asked what he says. I've asked you three times now and you haven't answered my question. What else did I say? This is the third time. You can you can remind me if there's something that I've missed. But I don't, but I think what you we're seeing is that you just have blind trust in your church without a reason to trust your church.

Yeah. So if I can, if you'll let me remind you what you missed, I would gladly like to do that without being interrupted. Uh, but what I said is that does the Orthodox, you ask me, does the Orthodox Church teach that you should obey the Orthodox Church? And yes, at later times it does teach that, but that is not the foundational belief on why you come to the conclusion that the Orthodox Church is true. That's not the highest appeal. Like I said, it's a spiral argument from history of the Does the Bible tell us— Interrupted me again? I was talking, but so, so we're having a discussion here and like, if you want to, if you've come, if you've come genuinely to come, just wait, Alex. If you've come to actually just not really listen, you want to just try to, you got a point, a point to prove, then that's not the purpose of this. If you've come to genuinely ask, like, "I really want to learn, I want to find out more information, I want to find out what the Bible says," then I'm happy to help you out. But if that's not your intention, then you've Actually, how can I do that? Yeah, I think you've come for the wrong purpose. But how can I do that if you're going to interrupt? So, do you have a question that you want to ask or you just have an axe to grind?

Well, no. I I did ask the question, but I and I'd like and I So, have I answered your question about— Well, yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, you said that it's circular at the highest level in your position. So, you did answer. So, okay. So, so I've answered your question and then I I did ask you, "What do you have a reason to trust your church?" I don't think you've been able to successfully show that God never, like, God never tells us to have to trust the Orthodox Church. Would you agree with that?

Uh, no. I think he does. And also, I would be able to show it if I was not interrupted. If I can finish— Hold up, hold up, hold up. Can you give me, in 10, in 15 seconds or 20 seconds, where God says that we should do that? Well, to listen to the Orthodox Church. He says it, uh, he says it through the Orthodox Church in the confession of Dosytheus.

There we go. So you just relying on the Orthodox Church to say you must believe the Orthodox Church. I said, "Where does God say it?" God didn't write the confession of Dosytheus. That was written by the Orthodox Church. So I'm asking, "Where does God say that you must believe the Orthodox Church?"

Well, that's why you can ask me that question, but that's why I started off with Sola Scriptura because— So, can you answer my question? Can you answer, "When does God say you must believe the Orthodox Church?"

I can and I did answer your question, but you are not accepting the— You pointed to a confession written by the Orthodox Church to prove the Orthodox Church. If that's not circular, I don't know what is. But I asked, "When did God say it?" When did God say this?

I I understand. I understand you're asking of when did God say it? But if we have a different understanding of when and how God speaks, then the answer would be differently correct. So, does God say that he's going to write a confession in what the 1500s or 1600s? Did God say that? I think that God has indicated that he's going to speak through the consensus of the church.

When does God say that? Well, he does it in Acts 15. He does it in, um, Matthew chapter 18. And he also does it through, he does it through, uh, the the council of Nicaea. And so, where, where, where does it, where does God, like, just because you have a council that may define some right doctrines, doesn't mean that they're doing it on behalf of God, that they're speaking God's word by making a statement or a creed.

Well, it's the same thing. It's just the rec, it's like the canon. It's like the recognition of the New Testament. The church recognized the New Testament books and that became certain. And likewise, un things that are universally received become what we would say infallible.

I wouldn't say so. I don't think there's a reason for God to say that because you claim it becomes infallible. You claim these confessions become infallible or something like that. But God never says it. God's my authority. Your church is your authority. I would rather go with God than your church. Why do you claim scripture is infallible?

Well, scripture is God-breathed. And so if this is the word of God, then therefore I'm going to go with what God says. And that's why God— Church, the confession of Dosytheus says we're saved by faith and works. Well, I know the Bible says we're saved by faith, not works. So I'm going to go with the Bible. And that's actually an example of where that confession of your church would contradict scripture, which so therefore that can't be from God if it contradicts scripture.

Why is scripture God-breathed or why, why maybe I should ask, why is 2 Timothy in scripture? It's just in God's providence, God allowed the Apostle Paul to write this letter to Timothy, and as part of that, we, um, we now have access to it. Timothy had access to it, and and so then we check everything with that. So, do you think that God's going to lie? Do you think he's going to say, do you think he's going to say one thing in in the scriptures and then in a confession that came in what the 1500s or 1600s, he's going to say an opposite thing and contradict himself? Do you think that's what God's going to do?

Uh, well, of course not. But if I can get back to the point of God's pro— You say God's providence and that's how Paul wrote to Timothy and so on and so forth. Other people could say the same thing that that answer you just gave applies to Mormons. It could apply to Muslims. I mean, there's nothing unique about your answer that would make why you're why you're infallible. The Book of Mormon, the Quran, those books were not inspired of God. They were not written by a prophet or apostle. They weren't didn't come from the mouth of God. But what I can know, one, one reason why I can know those books don't come from God is because they contradict the Bible. The Book of Mormon, uh, the Quran, those books contradict the Bible. Therefore, they're not the word of God. But so does the confession of Dosytheus that you raise, it literally contradicts the Bible. So therefore, that would be proof that your church is false because their statement which contradicts the Bible. They teach faith and works. The Bible says faith, not works.

Yeah, I don't think it contradicts the Bible. But you said divine providence through Paul. So you don't think faith and works for salvation compared to faith not works according to what the Bible says. You don't think that's contradictory?

Well, I think that, uh, there's obviously biblical passages and you, we could get into them in James 2. But I would like, again, I'm asking nicely and very gently, that I would like to finish my original thought, um, because I do feel like I was interrupted again. So, can I do that?

Well, well, sir, we we've progressed from talking about because we come to realize that you're you're relying on your church because of circular reason, because of a confession which you you claimed is from God, but there's no evidence for that. I'm showing how that confession contradicts scripture. And you said, "Oh, James may go against that." Well, no. Scripture explicitly tells us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Your confession says it's faith and works. This is faith, not a result of works. Yes. I'm going to go with the Bible. And that's actually an example of where that confession of your church would contradict scripture, which so therefore that can't be from God if it contradicts scripture.

infallibility. It's the gospel itself is 100% true. And God's opened my eyes, given me ears to hear, opened my eyes to see the truthfulness of it, and I trust. So you, so, so let me ask you, could you be wrong in your understanding of the gospel message?

It would be. Could I be wrong about the understanding of the gospel? I don't think, based on the on what scripture says, nor the reasons I've already stated, won't say it again, just about how the logic of it, in order for it to be by grace, it can't be based on works, things like that. So it's the only way that anyone can go to heaven by grace through faith in what Jesus has done, right? But that doesn't. My question is, is it possible you could be wrong?

If God's brought me to faith, I think that's the important thing. If God is the one who regen, who's regenerated my heart, granted me faith, he'll keep me. Then no, he'll never let me down. I have no reason for God to, for me to think, "Oh, God's not going to keep his promise." All right. I know he's going to keep his promise. I know he's never going to let you down. But I've, I've asked this three times. Is it possible that understanding could be incorrect?

Well, it's the same thing. Do you think God could ever break a promise? Uh, do I think if I know 100% that it is from God, then no, he cannot break a promise. Okay. So then that same thing. So would you say that you're infallible about that knowledge about God not breaking a promise? No. Correct. That's what. But you said you could not be. Are you saying that you can't? So are there things that you can know about God or not?

Well, certainly. I think, I think, but I, I understand knowledge about God to be what's most likely to be true, which is a correspondence theory of truth, but it doesn't mean I don't, I don't want to get into philosophy and things like that, but I think we can know. There's a number of things that we can know. We can know God exists. We can know God is faithful. We can know God has revealed himself through his word and through his son Jesus Christ, and we can know that we have eternal life.

Well, yeah, but it also sounds. And so then don't worry about. I think you seem to be getting into philosophy with all these questions and stuff like that. Let's avoid the philosophy. Let's just stick to more biblical language. If it says that you can know that you have eternal life, and the reason why that would be is because Jesus done the work, I'm going to rest in that. You want to keep striving and trying to work and think, "I've got to be good enough to go to heaven." You can do that if you want, but just realize you will hear the words, "Depart from me. I never knew you." If you're trying to strive and earn and work when he's saying, "No, take rest in me." So, my hope is that you think about it. But it's been good chatting to you, Alex. I appreciate you coming up today, man. Okay. All right. Um, thank you. God bless you, too. All right. Let's pray for him.

Heavenly Father, do pray for Alex. I do pray that you'd allow him to find rest in Jesus. Lord, the fact that he's not sure about where he's going is evidence he's not resting in Christ. Father, I do pray that he'll see that rest means not working. And so, may he see that his church, who's telling him that he must work to go to heaven, that works play a part, may he see that so contrary to what scripture says. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Yeah, we appreciate the uh conversation with um Alex. There's a comment from Denine. "Stop striving and know that I am God." Yeah, because it, it really does require humility to say, "Wow, I bring nothing to the table." If you think you bring some of your works to the table and that that plays a part in saving you, then you, you've got reason to boast. Even if you just contributed 5% to your salvation, Jesus did 95, you did 5%. You would have reason to boast, would you not? I think you would. All right. Uh, let's bring up who we got. Uh, Sam, welcome Sam.

Oh my gosh. What's up? How you doing? Hey, man. Good to have you here. Yeah. What do you want to ask about? Yeah, I got a question about, I don't know if you remember I put in a super chat. It was probably a while ago about explaining Exodus 21:20-21. Okay. About like about all that. And I was thinking about how it would be if, if somebody were to bring this to me and I, I screen recorded your response. It's basically talking about how slaves have protection. Um, but then I think somebody, something that someone could say is, if they had protection, why would they be able to be beaten at all?

You know what I mean? Same reason why a parent can discipline their child. Right? And it says in the, in book of Proverbs, "If you spare the rod, you spoil the child." Meaning there is actually, under what the Bible says, there's legitimate, appropriate physical discipline that a parent can enact with the child in a loving way. And in the same way that in a master servant relationship, if the servant is being wayward, disobedient, there was, um, option for physical discipline, but it couldn't be in such a harsh way that it's going to kill the person, because that would be murder, showing that that servant's life, or slave's life, is as valuable as a free person's life.

That's solid. I like that. That makes a lot of sense. Um, cool. I guess what would you say to the person that I guess kind of just doesn't really accept that? Kind of just thinks that it still sounds like that, but you can kind of just get away with beating your slave or child slavery or anything like that? I guess I wouldn't know how to answer.

Just ask him the same thing. Does he think it's wrong for a parent to discipline their child in a physical way? Like, obviously, if a parent kills their child, that's evil. But if a parent physically disciplines their child in a loving, appropriate way, there's nothing wrong with that. And so, in order for him to say it'd be wrong for a master to physically discipline, but not in a harsh way, but in an appropriate way, he would have to tell, give a reason for why physical discipline is always wrong.

Mhm. All right. That makes pretty good sense. I like that. Yeah, that that's all. It's part of the. It was basically part of the contract anyway. When you sign the contract to be a servant or a slave for seven years, usually is the length of time. Th this is just part of it, your wayward consequences. It's like at school. I remember growing up at school when I was at school, if you want to be part of this school, and if you're disobedient, the headmaster's got a paddle and he's going to slap you on the hand if you are disobedient. And this is not even like a, this is not your parent, this is like a headmaster. Because one part of the rules of being part of school is that the headmaster can discipline you if you're being wayward. Okay. I never really thought of that. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, that that's all I wanted to ask, bro. God bless y'all. I hope y'all are sharing the gospel. I hope y'all are stepping out of your comfort zone. I know it can be intimidating, but that's, that's an unreasonable fear. You got to do it. Hey, thanks, man. God bless. Yeah. Thank you. God bless. Yes, love that encouragement to share the gospel. That's really good. All right, I'm gonna bring up Tae.

Hey, welcome. Hey, you got my name right, too. Uh oh, cool. So, Ryan, right? Sorry. Yes, Ryan is my name. Yeah, so, um, recently I've been, I actually came from a more evangelical background and recently I've been kind of exploring more Lutheran sacramental theology. I actually got introduced to by Dr. Cooper. I don't know if you saw his video responding. Um, so, I mean, like, I'd agree with you that justification is solid by faith alone, but I'd also submit that the Bible seems to be pretty clear that baptism is a means of God's forgiveness, um, and unites us to Christ in his death and resurrection. Um, and I wonder what you responded. I know you, is it, I, I just don't see how it can be faith alone because if it's, interesting, Lutherans say faith alone. I'm glad they say that. But then they say baptism as well. Well, then is it faith or is it baptism? I don't think it can be both.

I mean, so the way I, and I think I questioned that for a long time, too. And I kind of wrestled with the fact that scripture seemed to teach both. Um, but I guess my first question to you would be, like, whose work do you think baptism is? Um, I just, I think it's a work that we do. Now, you might say, "But it's God working in you." Sure, every good work I do is God working in me. If I'm sharing the gospel with the lost, would you not agree that's God, God's work in me, but yet still my work because I'm still doing it?

Well, well, would you say that your faith is a work? No. Faith is not described as a work in the Bible. In Romans 4:5, uh, it makes the point here that to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Would you not agree that Ephesians describes faith as a gift? Like, do you agree that faith is a gift of God?

Yeah, I have no issue with it being granted by God, a gift of God. Um, that it is a gift of God. That likely is referring to the whole salvation process, not just the faith part. Yeah. But would you agree that faith is, and part, it's part of salvation, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. We, we receive salvation by the means of faith. I don't think the Bible ever says we, means we receive salvation through means of baptism. But instead, it seems to really emphasize we receive salvation through the means of faith. Like Romans 3:23 says, I'll go verse 22 first. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. So if you're of the category of those who believe, then you're going to get this righteousness of God. Now, this couldn't be true if baptism was a requirement, because what about all the people who believe who don't get baptized?

Well, so they don't get righteousness. I'd probably point to Mark 16. I know that you maybe don't dis, maybe there was something I saw recently about you not taking that passage. Would you like, I'm not sure why that's. Yeah, I'm not even sure why that's very controversial. I think it's because the reason why it's being controversial because Roman, like, I'm not being disrespectful, but many Roman Catholics don't read the Bible that much and they don't, I'm not, not all of them, many, some do, but many, they don't, and they don't realize that that section's in brackets if you have a look. So, like, if you look at Mark 16:es 9 through to 20, I'll bring it up on my Bible here as well. Yeah, I, I understand that they're, uh, disputed texts, but I, I think that. Do you think that there's a very clear note as in, and it's in brackets here from nine all the way through the 20? Yeah. Do you, but do you think that like that passage, if it is scripture, even though it's missing from a couple of earlier manuscripts, like aligns with your theology or do you think it? I think it does align, even if it was.

So I would, I don't actually think, I don't think it is part because it's not in the earliest manuscripts. And just because it got added in later on doesn't mean it suddenly becomes the word of God. Just because some scribe didn't like the ending of Mark, he's like, "I'm going to add in an ending." Um, I think that seemed to be what Joe's opinion was. He, I think he seemed to agree that Mark didn't write 9 to 20, as far as I could discern what his opinion was. But he thinks that it's still scripture, even though it's not actually written by Mark. It's written by some other guy, random person later, who we don't even know wrote it. And I would say, I don't think so. I'm going to go with what Mark says. I don't want a later scribe to add on something 200 years later or 100 years later or something like that. Yeah. Um, but I would say what Mark 16:16, and I've made a short on it recently. Even if it was scripture, even if it was, it gives the only requirement for salvation or for to not be condemned is believing. So whoever believes and is baptized would be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And so therefore, clearly the only essential part would be believing. The baptism is just something that naturally and usually happens. If you're a believer, you, you often want to go get baptized. That's just a natural thing. But not adding that as one of the requirements to be saved.

I mean, so I, and I, I'd agree vaguely with your, like, understanding at least of the second part. And like, that's actually what Lutheran confessions would teach too, which is that a lack of faith is what condemns, not necessarily a lack of baptism. And that, right, as believers, we're beholden to trusting in Christ. And usually trusting Christ means we go towards his gifts and baptism and the Lord's supper and whatever else. But we're, while we're beholden to the sacraments, God isn't beholden to those as means of salvation. And he can save in however way he's, he pleases. Um, but like, I guess like going to the scriptures that I would say most clearly teach that baptism does have a salvific role. If we don't want to look at Mark 16. Yeah, because I think because you got a couple things. One, it just because the word, the Bible used the word baptize doesn't mean it's talking about water baptism.

Well, the context will determine whether it's talking about water baptism or whether it's talking about like a spiritual baptism, like immersion into Christ or something like that. H well, let's go to, I think like obvious one is first Peter 3. Uh, yeah, I, that one definitely is not talking about water baptism there. So I, I'd ask why you think that, because of the verse before. So in verse 20, it says, "Because they formerly did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through water." So before we read verse 21, in what we've read here in verse 20, were you saved if you were in the ark or if you were in the water?

I'm sorry. So, yeah, see, in this passage, this verse I just read of first Peter 3:20, it talked about how, um, eight persons were saved in the ark and they were brought safely through water. So, were they spared if they were in the ark or if they're in the water? Well, the ark obviously, right? Okay. So, the, if you're in the water, you're dead. You're drowned. So, you don't want to be in the water. You want to be in the ark. So, that's the analogy he's about to connect it with. So, he says, "Baptism, which remember the word baptism, baptizo, just means immersion. So immersion, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers, having been subjected to him." Okay. So what is the immersion in, in the analogy before? The immersion wasn't in the water. If you're in the water, you drowned. The immersion was in the ark. And so it's seeming to be linking up. We need an ark that can save us. Now, the ark who can save us is clearly Christ. We need an immersion into Christ. And the reason why we have an appeal to God for a good conscience is because our ark of our salvation has resurrected from the dead and he's up in heaven at the right hand of God with all these things having been subjected to him. So the point isn't about water baptism. It's about being immersed into Christ who saves us, um, from the wrath of God. Yeah.

So I, I, I'd maybe read that passage differently. Um, I mean, the way I'd understand, sorry, I also have the NKJV in front of me, so I can just read that one too, real quick. Uh, and it says, uh, uh, "When once the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us, baptism, not the removal of the filth from the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Now, the way I'd understand that is, of course, I, I think we agree that Peter is saying that baptism is an antitype of Noah's ark in the flood, right? Immersion is an anti, or immersion corresponds to this. But just remember, just because it says the word baptism, you're thinking water baptism. Don't think that that's the transliteration of baptiso. But the context will determine whether the baptism is in water, the immersion is in water, or the immersion is into something else. And I think what the context is, Christ is who we're immersed into.

Well, I, I think you're maybe like getting upset with Peter's imagery and not necessar, like, and the word he uses. I'm not getting upset. I'm just not inserting the word water baptism into this text because the text doesn't say water baptism. It just says baptism. And do you realize that the word baptism, numerous times throughout scripture, it can refer to about eight different things. Only one of those meanings can be water. But the other times it can be immersion into Christ, immersion into death, immersion into his resurrection, immersion into one body, immersion into suffering, immersion into persecution, and immersion into the Holy Spirit. So there's different meanings depending on the context. I don't think the context here refers to water baptism.

I, well, I mean, he's literally connecting the waters of Noah's ark, like being poured out against God. Like God's wrath is poured out in the flood, which is what he says. The divine longsuffering waited and his wrath has poured out against sin and wa, uh, in the water of the flood. Or is it connect, is he connecting the water or is he connecting the ark? I, I mean, I think the picture is both, right? His his family, the water didn't save them, the water condemned them, the only thing that saved them was the ark. That's more of the connection. I mean, I would say that what happens in baptism is also kind of similar. Our sins are washed away in the water, just as the sin of the world and the corruption is. I don't think the Bible teaches our sins are washed away in the water of baptism. I think our sins are washed away through the blood of Christ, sac, his sacrifice on the cross, received by faith.

So I, I agree with, I mean, like, I wouldn't disagree with that statement whatsoever. But, but I think in a, if you're saying they washed away in baptism, you can't believe they're washed away through sacrifice received by faith alone. Because let's say someone has faith in Jesus today. They haven't got baptized yet. Are their sins washed away? I mean, potentially, yeah. I mean, like, I, I think that like, if the answer is yes, potentially yes, then you're not actually thinking water baptism washes your sin away if you've already got your sins washed away when you put your faith in Christ.

Actually, well, a, I, I'd mention a couple things because I think oftentimes, and I think this kind of came up at like Mark 16:16, you're like, "Well, he says whoever believes and is baptized is saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." And I think we both agree on, like, the saying that the lack of faith is what condemns. But I think that you kind of have, and I don't try to be, like, disrespectful, I think this is kind of just the way I describe it, is you have, like, a, a stingy view of God's grace, as if because I was forgiven in this one time past event, God's forgiveness can't be freshly applied to me. And I don't really think that that's how scripture talks about justification. And I think one passage that you brought up earlier was Romans 4:5. And I maybe want to go to that, too. Yeah. I think it, I actually do think that if, if someone is justified, I don't think the Bible ever speaks about someone becoming unjustified. Do you agree with that?

Um, well, I, I do think that people can fall away, but that's not really the point I'm making. Um, because you, because I would say that, like, in fact, scripture tells us in Colossians 2:13 that he forgave us all our trespasses. Not like it was just some of them and we need to kind of get more fresh forgiveness every day. It says he forgave us all our trespasses. What? By canceling the record of debt. So we have a record of debt, all of our sins, and that's stood against us with his legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. It doesn't get nailed to the cross every day that we, or like when you get baptized, it's just got nailed to the cross from the moment you believe. And I'd agree that we stand in grace, which is what Romans 8 says, right? So I don't disagree with that. But I, I would go to Romans 4:5, maybe, is where talk about this. Um, so, so because I just want to, and I'm glad you're going to Romans 5, but I just want to just check. So, you think that if somebody believes the gospel today, hasn't got baptized, you said they're potentially going to heaven, or or is, because it's either yes or no. If they have faith, I'm talking about true faith. They trust. If they have true faith, I believe they're saved. Yes. So then, have their sins washed away in baptism then? Or were they washed away by the fact that they believe the gospel?

Well, I, I think that's actually kind of the point I'm about to make in Romans 4:5. Um, okay. Yep. Go for it. So, this isn't a conversion experience that Abraham experiences, um, in like Romans 4:4 and 5. Um, uh, how is it not? How is he not, is he not going from not being justified to being justified? Well, no. He, he believes God in Genesis 12. This references Genesis 15. Um, so, but was he justified in Genesis 12, or was he justified in Genesis 15? I mean, I, I think it would be a hard case to make that he didn't have faith in Genesis 12 when he. I'm not saying he didn't have faith, but that doesn't mean it's justifying faith. What? So, for example, all the people in Hebrews 12:29 who crossed the Red Sea, um, so Hebrews 11, sorry, 29, it says, "By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned." So these people who are crossing, that's two million people who are crossing the Red Sea, as in the Exodus, right? Mhm. They had some faith in God. They had faith that God's going to keep them safe as they cross the Red Sea. But is that justifying faith?

Um, I mean, I, I guess I, I don't know. It depends. Do you think all two million people were spared, like, who were justified before Almighty God because they crossed the Red Sea? Well, not necessarily. But I, again, I also don't think that justification can't be lost. So. Well, I don't think the Bible ever speaks about justification being lost. Never once. But just because someone has faith in something, someone may have faith that there's a judgment day to come. Many people have faith there's a judgment day to come. Does that is that justifying faith? Do I mean, do you think it was an act of like. Just write it. Can you answer that question though? So, if someone believes there's a judgment day to come, is that, is that a faith that's going to justify them just because they believe there's going to be a judgment day to come? I, I mean, no, the demons believe that. Okay. So, therefore, Abraham can have faith in Genesis 12 and even do stuff as a result, and that not be justifying faith. So, I can only go based on what scripture tells me of when Abraham got justified. And we see in Genesis 15:6, it was when he believed the Lord, and he counted him as righteousness in regards to a specific promise that he made, that I'll give you as many offspring as the stars of the sky, so shall your offspring be. Right? That's when he was justified.

I mean, so again, I, I just, I think that he was walking with the Lord before them because God makes a series of promises to him in Genesis 12. And after making those promises, and it's a series of promises, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And the next verse is, "So Abram, hearing the promise of God, departed as the Lord had spoken to him." And I, I find it hard to say that that's not justifying faith. I mean, like he, I've just given you examples though. I've just given you examples of people crossing the Red Sea, two million of them, and they're not clearly not justified just because they cross the Red Sea. I gave you the example of people believing there's a judgment day. Someone may even believe the promise of Jesus that, you know, uh, "Don't be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious about itself." And so therefore, as a result, they're not being anxious about what they're going to eat and drink. But that doesn't mean that therefore they're justified just because they believe that promise of Jesus and they live in accordance with that. So just because Abraham did something as a result of God telling him something in Genesis 12, it doesn't say that God justified him on the basis of that. We just have to go with the text of when was he counted as righteous. It was as a result of this promise here. How would you read Acts 22:16 in like this? That's a different cont.

So, have you dealt with, so, have you kind of, you want to bring up Romans 4:5? Did you deal with this enough, like, that it's "to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, faith is counted as righteousness"? Of course. And I think this passage is like very clearly like a solid, like passage, like, and I don't just, I, like, again, like I hold on to this one very clearly, like it's talking about imputed righteousness, but notice he doesn't bring baptism into it. But I mean, he also doesn't mention the cross, you know, like, I mean, we could talk about like, we could. I, so I think he does actually, he does mention the cross a bit later on in this same chapter in verse 25. And he, and he mentions, he mentions baptism like, no, he never actually mentions water baptism once, not at all in Romans. Not at all. Romans 6 is not about water baptism, about immersion into his death and resurrection, but not into water baptism. But in terms of like, how we are saved, cuz like, this is the point Paul makes. He says that Abraham, in verse 21, "was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised." And that is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. So on what basis was his faith counted to him as righteousness based on these two verses here?

I mean, that he was convinced that God was able to do his promise. Yeah. So not because he got wet, not because he did something for God, but just because he believed God's promise. And then Paul links it up with us. "But the words 'it was counted to him' were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead, Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." So he's literally mentioning the crucifixion and the resurrection here and our just believing. So if you believe him, you're justified. I mean, and I would say that Romans 6 is saying the same thing, which is that our, our faith has an object, right? The man Jesus Christ. And the man Jesus Christ does a number of works. I mean, his whole life is like sinless, and he dies on the cross for our sins, and he rises from the dead. And I would say that scripture and Romans 6 in particular teaches that baptism unites us to Christ's death, and water baptism.

You've just inserted the word water into Romans 6. It doesn't. You're, you're, I think that you're the one. I think it's very clear. I actually think Romans 6 is very clear in showing it's not water baptism because it tells us what the immersion is in. So verse three of Romans 6, "Do you not know that all of us who have been," remember, "immersed into Christ Jesus?" So what's the immersion in? It's into Christ. We're immersed into his death. We were buried, therefore, by with him by immersion into death. That's immersion into death, in order that just as Christ is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. None of these say immersed into water. None of them at all. So, I mean, it's the exact same language as Acts 2, though. I mean, it's even the same word ace in the Greek, I'm pretty sure, which is this like object, which is that we are baptized into Christ. Um, into Christ. He's our ark. He's the ark of our salvation, united by him with faith. Peter says at Pentecost that we're baptized into the forgiveness of sins. Um, so I'm struggling to see. I, like, he doesn't say, like, "Repent and be water baptized." He just says, "Repent and be baptized," and into the forgiveness. And that's why the context will determine whether he's talking, whether the person or the passage is talking about water baptism. And there are definitely passages that do. It says, you know, um, "Here's some water. What prevents me from from getting baptized?" So clearly that's water baptism at that point, or water was plentiful there when John was baptizing. But then what about all the passages about the water like washing away sin? And you didn't say that was about water baptism.

No, because that analogy doesn't link up water saving, because the water condemned them, the water didn't save. Well, I, I think the water is the same thing in that. But you, so you think the water is washing away your sins, and yet I asked you, if someone has true faith in Jesus and then they haven't got baptized, you think that their sins already washed away? Correct. Yes. But I don't think that, again, I don't think that grace is stingy like that. Like God's mercy is stingy. You've already got grace. You got the grace of justification from the moment you believed. Right. Well, yeah. Again, we stand in grace. Again, I don't, I don't think that you have to like rationalize it by like, "Well, I, if I was justified then, then I can't be newly forgiven now." Like, does the Bible ever speak about someone getting rejustified because they lost justification? I, I don't think it's about losing. I think like, again, I think it's fresh. Can you, if you're in right standing before God, do you ever need to keep getting in right standing before God? Well, I mean, I, again, I mean, God's mercies are new every day. And. No, but you, you haven't lost your right standing. If I sin again tomorrow, I've not lost my right standing before God. I'm still justified. I don't need then something extra to get rejustified. Well, I, I'm not saying you are, but scripture teaches that. I, like, again, I think it's quite clear that I don't think scripture. You haven't brought up a passage so far that speaks about water baptism being a requirement. But I think it's really important to see how do we receive this salvation as forgiveness? Romans 3:25 says, um, that, uh, go verse 24 for context. "And we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by what?" How do you, how do you receive that? Received by faith, of course. And I don't disagree with that. So, so then you have faith because faith and baptism don't happen at the same time, generally speaking, right? And so then that's why if you have faith, you've got this gift of Christ being a propitiation, and you've received it as soon as you have faith.

I mean, correct. Yes. I mean, so then why would you need to say, "Well, I need to get baptized to get saved," when you're already saved when you've put your faith in Christ, because God can forgive you again? Because he would mean you've become unsaved. Does that mean you become unsaved? No. No, it doesn't. I So then in what sense are you, in what sense then is it saving you if you're already saved?

Well, I mean, how would you respond to what Ananias says to Paul in Acts 22? Yeah. He doesn't connect baptism to washing away your sins. He says, "Get baptized and wash away your sins." And what does he connect it with? Calling on his name, which is a synonym of faith, relying on Christ. And that's why you'll even have some translations that'll actually make that clear because the Greek makes it very clear. Um, it's some translations like the NASB, for example, will say, um, "wash away your sins by calling on his name." So it's connecting it with faith. And again, I mean, I think that faith and baptism are very linked. I mean, like faith receives God's promises, and one of God's promises is baptism. And again, I think Romans 6 and Acts 22 are the exact same language talking about like baptism and the forgiveness of sins and like being baptized into the name or into the person of Christ, which is exactly what Peter says at Pentecost. He says, "But they are different times." Correct. You said faith, faith and baptism, you think they're linked, but do you agree they're happening at different times? So I can get saved. Someone can get saved today, and they may get baptized in, say, two years' time. But from the moment they put their trust in Christ, they're saved. Correct.

Well, well, yes. So then faith and baptism are distinct. They're not the same thing then. They're distinct because you could, you're saved at faith. You received it by faith. Getting baptized two, two years later is a declaration of your faith. But they're different things. Maybe faith. Where do you get that baptism as a declaration of your faith? I don't see that wording at all in scripture. Whatever, whatever wording you want to use, whether you want to use that sort of wording or it's a sign, like if you want to connect that fulfillment of circumcision, you get it from Romans 4:11. You get it from that. Sorry, say it again. I would, I mean, I would say that I get baptized for the forgiveness of sins, as in to get your sins forgiven. Which means then when you believed before you got baptized, you don't think you had forgiveness of sins?

No, I, again, I, I don't make that distinction, and scripture doesn't make that distinction that if my sins were for, weren't like, I think the scripture does. I think the scripture tells us we're justified by his grace as a gift, and it's received by faith. It never links up this justification. Does it, does it ever link up justification, the word justified, with, um, baptism, or does it always link it up with faith in the Bible?

Well, I, I mean, do you think that justification involves the forgiveness of sins? Like, yeah. Well, how would, yeah. So, so justified, basically, what the word justified means is that you are in right standing before God, which means you have no sins against your name. So, whenever, how do we get in right standing before God? Well, this passage has been very clear. If you read even the next verse, it'll say the same thing. Um, "It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." So you got faith in Jesus, God has justified you. And I, I don't disagree. I mean, I, I, I think that salvation is entirely monergistic. It's entirely the work of God. And I don't think that you've got to get baptized too, right? No. Well, to be saved. No, I, you don't have to get b That's not the wording I would use. It's not the wording that like any of the reformers. You need to get baptized to get your sins washed away. Well, God's promise is available in baptism, and he promises the forgiveness of sins in it. So, I just don't see that scripture, based on all the passages that we're bringing up here, it seems that you have faith, you have faith, you have forgiveness, you're justified. Peter says you're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And I think that again, that passage doesn't necessarily mean to get forgiveness of sins, but it can mean because of the forgiveness of sins. The word ace, at different, different context will either mean to get, or it can also mean because of. And there's some good examples of that. Say, like Matthew 3:9, um, which says here, let me bring it up. Uh, oh, Matthew 3:11, that's what it is. "I baptize you with water for repentance." Now, this is the same word ace in the Greek that's in Acts 2:38. Now, is this for here meaning to get repentance? Does water get you repentance, or do you get baptized because of your repentance?

I mean, I, like, I agree that it can be used differently, but when Peter says, "Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ into the remission of sins," and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for no, but not for, not doesn't mean to get. You're thinking it means to get. The reason why I know it can't mean to get is because of all these other passages that talk about forgiveness is is purely by faith and not by anything else. Because baptism is a work. The reason I don't, I mean, I don't think that's how scripture teaches it. Not, not that. Why do you think, why do you think it's not a work according to scripture? Because it says that God baptizes and not us. Where does it say that God baptizes? Um, sorry, I'll find the scripture real quick. Uh, 1 Corinthians, um, 1 Corinthians 12 says, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized." And also all of the like verbiage.

Hold on, hold on, hold up. That's not, that's not water baptism there. You, you again, this is the mistake that so many people make. They see the word baptize and they think it must mean water baptism, right? So, you're thinking about which verse in, in 1 Corinthians 12? Uh, sorry. Uh, 13. 1 Corinthians 12:13. 12:13. So, it says, "For in one Spirit we were all immersed into one body." This is clearly not water baptism. It's telling us what the immersion is in, into one body. It's telling us what baptism does. No, you've assumed this is referring because it's a mistake that people make when they take the transliteration baptiso and think that must be water baptism. See, I just, I struggle to see where you're making this distinction between water baptism and some other baptism that scripture just doesn't.

Well, actually, it does. Well, let me show you. I'll give you, I'll give you this is Luke 12:50. This is Jesus speaking. "I have a baptism to be baptized with. And how great is my distress until it is accomplished." So what baptism is Jesus talking about here? Is this water baptism? I mean, no, it's like his passion. Ah, hold up, hold up. So you're not taking this as water baptism all of a sudden? Well, no, it's before bapti, like, triumph baptism is even instituted. And of course, like, I'm not saying that like. Hold up. So, so the word, so the word baptism or baptize, you're agreeing, doesn't have to mean water baptism. Well, yes, but in many places that talk about the forgiveness of sins, it does. Well, hold up. The context will determine. And the context of this doesn't link it up with water. That's why we both agree this is not about water baptism. We can see the what the context is talking about. It's about persecution, the cross, things like that. Okay. So then when we go to 1 Corinthians 12:13, does it talk about water? It doesn't. It literally tells us what the immersion is in. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, it tells us that it's into one body. And so therefore, we're not to think that it's referring to water baptism, right? Or I'll give you another one. I'll give you another example of where the word baptized. I mean, I, I, so I, I think the problem is you're like, "Well, it's baptized into one body," which means that it's not water baptism. Immersed. Yeah, it's immersed into one body. That you're thinking the word baptize is talking about water. It's just talking about immersion. When, but when Peter says we're baptized in the name of Jesus, does that mean that we're not baptized in water? Like, but it depends what they're talking about. So sometimes it can just be immersed into Christ. But then other times it, it actually literally says, the, the Ethiopian eunuch says, "Here is some water. What prevents me from getting baptized?" So in that context, like, yes, we can know 100% that's talking about water baptism. But look at Acts, if you look at Acts 15, I'll put on the screen for you. It says, "You heard from me, John baptized with water." Notice that. "But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now." So he's literally making a contrast using the same word, baptize, though John did baptism with water, but they're going to be immersed with the Holy Spirit. And you would agree this is not, this is not referring to water baptism. Correct.

Well, and again, like, I know people like point to the same kind of similar thing when John the Baptist says, "I baptize with water, but like another comes after me that will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire." But again, like, we both agree that Jesus' baptism is with water, right? I mean, we do baptize. No, not in that context. Not in that context. No. When he says he'll, John the Holy Spirit will baptize you with, or Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, he's not talking about water baptism. He's saying you're going to be immersed with the Holy Spirit and with fire, not linking it up with water baptism.

Okay. I guess I have one more question for you then. For the Lutheran or the Presbyterians or Anglicans or whoever else. And again, I mean, I, I really haven't actually changed church membership or anything yet. I've been trying to take a lot of time to discern my thoughts on a lot of these things, prayerfully. Uh, I, I would understand myself to be a firm defender of the doctrine of Sola. But you seem, I don't think you are if you're adding baptism as a requirement. So, do you think that like, I'm like not justified or? So, if, do you think, let me ask, what your opinion is. So, do you think someone needs to get baptized to go to heaven? No. But like, because Christ can save through other means, but I think normatively, like, yes, that is part of the your salvation. Oh, you're saying it's possible. But you're saying the, let's say for yourself, is one of the reasons why you're going to heaven? Is it because you got baptized? Yes. Okay. And that's the issue that shows that your trust is not in Jesus fully. It's in something that you've done. But it's not, I don't think it's something that I, like, like you might think that I'm mistaken or putting, like, but I don't think that it's like salvific because I did something. I think you actually think it is salvific. You think it's getting your sins forgiven. You actually, you cut me off. I, I don't think it's salvific because I did anything. I think it's salvific because God did something. I mean, that's just like saying that I can't believe that the cross saves because that's not believing in, like, that's not faith alone. You're thinking faith plus the cross. Like, faith in Christ's death on the cross. It's actually faith.

In we're talking about baptism into Christ Jesus. No, no, no. The difference is, let me give you an example. So, would you agree that circumcision under the Old Testament was a work of the law? Yes, clearly it is, right? And yet it was commanded by God, and anyone who did it obviously did it by God's strength because we can only do stuff by God's strength at all. But it's still a work of the law, and it was received. You didn't do it to yourself. Someone did it to you. But the Bible still classifies circumcision as a work of the law. And so therefore, the New Testament gives us a whole lot of works as well. Baptism being one of them.

Well, and so then, right? Because the word "work" (ergon) in Greek just means an action that you do, a deed that you do, and it's in contrast to rest. So then that's why if circumcision was a work in the Old Testament law, and you agree with that, and you think probably baptism is a replacement of circumcision, then it makes sense baptism is also a work.

No, I I don't think it replaces circumcision. Not nec- that's not the wording I would use, and certainly that's a type of, like, circumcision is a type of baptism. But I feel like you probably agree with that, right? So why then would be, why would circumcision be a work in the Old Testament for the Jews who did that, but baptism suddenly not be a work? Because baptism is state-like, done by God, according to the New Testament. And because you've yet to give me a single verse that speaks about what a baptism has done to you that you're not doing anything. But you literally are. You have to go and get wet. You have to do the things that needed to get, maybe the classes you need to do before you get baptized. Similar to circumcision. Circumcision, you would have to consent to being circumcised, and someone else would do it to you. And you agreed that's a work. If that's a work, why would baptism not be?

So, well, I'll get to that in a second. But I think going back to my point, I do you think that like every Lutheran or Anglican or Presbyterian or like, I mean, all of the reformers. So Presbyterians, Presbyterians don't believe baptism is a requirement for salvation, except a small minority who do. But the majority of them do because they follow the Westminster Confession. The Westminster Confession does not teach baptism a requirement. I literally looked this up last night. The Anglican 39 Articles does not teach baptism's a requirement for salvation either. It's only the Lutheran who, in their official statements, the Augsburg Confession, um, that teaches that baptism is a requirement for salvation and washes your sins away. Again, I I I think requirement is again, it's well, at least gives you forgiveness of sins. Let's say that language. Forgives you forgiveness of sins, right? It's only the Lutherans that that really have that position, and a small amount of Presbyterians. Most Anglicans believe that. And the Scots Confession teaches it, which is the founding. But that's Scots Confession is with the Presbyterians. Yeah. Right. And it's and most Presbyterian churches today don't hold to the Scots Confession. You realize they hold to the Westminster Confession. Yeah. I but I'm saying like, do you think that all those groups just aren't really Christian?

I mean, like, good question. That's a good question. I would say there can be Christians amongst Lutherans. It's possible. But if they hold to the official teachings of thinking that baptism washes your sin away, faith therefore in Christ is not sufficient without your baptism to be saved, then I would say you're not that person's not resting in Jesus. They're resting in themselves or relying on themselves. And if the person, whether you believe it's falsely or not, believes that it is not at all their work, that God did a work, just as he did in the cross, and whether you believe that they're contradicting themselves or not, if they truly believe that it's Christ alone that's bringing them salvation and only his work, like, you really think they're not saved? The same if someone says, "Look, me getting circumcised was God's work. It was it was his work in getting me circumcised, but I think it washes my sin away." That's still trusting in their works. And Paul says, "If you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you." I think that's a a really hard position to hold when you're condemning like, I mean, like so many Christians for so long. Like it's what it is. I mean, like every Christian for like ever. I like that's what you're doing. I hope you understand that, right? Like that's a mis- that's a misunderstanding. Not every Christian. In fact, even if when you're looking at the early church fathers, half of the early church fathers don't even speak about whether baptism is a requirement for salvation or not. So you can't say every Christian. Half of them don't even speak on about the topic. And if you look at, as I said, even if you look at the Protestant confessions, most of the Protestant confessions do not think it's a requirement, at least the ones that are held to by Protestant churches today. Most Protestant churches don't think baptism is what washes your sin away. And just because a lot of people believe a works-based salvation is not a reason to just say it's fine to believe that. Again, I I I mean, whether like, do you not agree that like in some level, people like because again, I mean, I I think that Paul's like problem in Galatians, I mean, like, is different than believing that baptism is a work of God which brings forgiveness, which is what the Bible says, right? Like, so what was the issue in the Galatians?

Um, I mean, I I agree that like they're trusting in works to save them, and I mean, that's the main issue. But also, I would think of circumcision. I I I think it's two things. One, I think it's that like this problem of not trusting in faith alone. But I think it's also the error of believing that you distinctly had to be Jewish, right? I mean, like the Judaizers like were making the gospel a Jewish. Yeah, that was, yeah, that was a separate issue. But in terms of what actually condemned you, Paul says, "If you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you." And he says it's because you're seeking to be justified by the law, by what you do, your obedience to God. And so therefore, if you make a New Testament command like baptism to be a requirement to be saved, you're also seeking to be justified by the law. Just not the Old Testament law, the New Testament law.

So if I say I believe I am justified entirely by the work of Christ, that I do nothing, that my salvation is entirely passive, I mean, like, you used that wording earlier with the Eastern Orthodox guy, and honestly, you kind of stole it from Luther, who you're now condemning, which is kind of funny, and maybe you didn't steal it. I know, like, but like, like that was honestly like his famous thing was that like we're like beggars, right? Like we hold out our hands and like receive God's forgiveness like entirely passively. It's like it's imputed to us. It's passive. But yeah, if I believe that, if I affirm all of that with you, I think we hold hands on that like as the true gospel. But then why would you add something extra? Because when I asked you, does does baptism play a part in getting you to heaven? You said yes. Because it's not my work. It's God. If someone says the same thing about circumcision, does it make it any less of their work? But God doesn't say that. But you, you, it's exactly what you're saying. If you're living back at that time, you're living back in the first century, even maybe just prior to Christ dying. So, you're still under the Old Testament law, everything like that. And he says, "Look, circumcision is a requirement for me to go to heaven, but it's God's work. God did it. God's work again." Like, is that, does it make it less works-based salvation?

Well, well, the difference is God didn't say, "I circumcise you," or that "you are circumcised into the forgiveness of sins." So, like, it's just a, you're it's a, it's a false, like, it's not really. Because people, there are plenty of verses you can point to in the Old Testament, particularly in Ezekiel and places like that, which does seem to indicate keeping the law can get you forgiveness of sins. So if someone's thinking keeping the law gets them forgiveness of sins, I think they're miss- I think those are law verses to show the inability of us saving us. But if someone reads those verses and says, "Hey, look, these verses seem like I got to keep the law to be saved." And so someone's reading them and believing that, then are they going to be saved? If they believe that works get them to heaven, if they're keeping the law, yeah, gets them forgiveness of sins, as Ezekiel 36 and other passages, Ezekiel 18 talks about. Well, no. I mean, I I believe that salvation has always been by. I noticed there are verses then that you can use in the Old Testament that seem to be lawkeeping gets you to heaven. Just like there are verses that seem like some people can interpret as water baptism saving you, but they're condemned if they think lawkeeping saves them. And someone will be condemned if they think baptism saves them because they're not resting in the finished work of Jesus. I But I think that baptism unites you to the finished work of Jesus, which is exactly what scripture says. Or doesn't faith unite us when it says you're received by faith? I I mean, I think it's a false dichotomy to pit them against each other. They are different. Faith, I can have faith today and not be baptized. So, therefore, faith and baptism are not the same thing. I think you agree with that earlier on. Yeah. And again, but I think the the problem you're making is that like salvation has become like the most like um like most like minor, like this is the only thing, and if you add anything else to it, like it's like so like, you know what I mean? Like it's such a narrow road. Jesus has a narrow road that leads to eternal life, and few there be that find it. That's why I think I I I have no issue with saying, and I I say this on stream quite a lot, about 90% of professing Christians I encounter don't have an adequate understanding of the gospel. They're trusting in the wrong thing to save them. Often it's their obedience, their works, their baptism, those sort of things. And they're not trusting in Jesus alone.

If someone said to you, to go to heaven, you need Jesus. Trust in he, they died for you, but you also need to give to the poor to go to heaven. But giving to the poor, you know, it's not a work because God's really kind of working in you, but you still got to give to the poor to go to heaven. Is that works-based salvation? I mean, depending on how they articulate it. Yeah. Like how say they articulate it the way I just did. How is that? That's works-based salvation, right? I mean, yes. I mean, again, and yet there are verses in the Bible that say you got to give to the poor. And in Jesus links it up with salvation when he says, "You want to have life, sell your possessions, give to the poor." Or he says in Luke's gospel, um, "Sell everything you've got and you'll have treasures in heaven." So there are definitely passages people can use to say, "Look, I've got to do this, this, and this to be saved." And they're misinterpreting those texts. And because those verses are really law verses to bring the knowledge of sin, that they might rest in Jesus. That even if that even if that person says, "My giving to the poor is God working through me," you agreed it didn't make it any less of their work. And so same thing, even if you want to say baptism is God working through me, it doesn't make it any less works.

Well, no, no, that's not what I would say at all. I wouldn't say that baptism is God working through me. I think it's baptism is God doing a work to me. Like I don't do anything. Again, it's it's just as passive. Is there anything that you have to do if you get saved today and you want to get baptized? Is there anything you have to do to get baptized? Whoa. Yes. I mean, but again, that's just like saying, "I heard the word and something I have to do to get like to have faith, which is I have to repent." You hear the word, you hear, and then you just trust the message you heard compared to, okay, I trust the message, but now I've also got to go to this church here, get work, and you're like brain waves sent things to make like you had to like turn away from your sin, like whatever else." Again, like it's all happening in the mind. If it's happening in the mind, it's trusting God's promise. That's different to a work, which are physical actions that you're doing. I agree. You're doing well. Okay, a couple things. I don't think that the meritorious part or is at all on our part. Like I don't think it's I don't think it's earning salvation to go to church or to get like go to the baptismal font. Or if someone says that they have to go to church to be saved, is that works-based salvation? Uh, no. But I think that if someone rejects going. Yes, it is. Absolutely. Sorry. Yes. Sorry that I Okay. Uh, okay. So then if you have to get baptized, go to the church to get baptized. Works-based salvation? Well, I mean, again, like I I would also say that like if someone rejects going to church, it's like, I don't need to go to church. Like I don't need that. Like whatever else, I would question if they had true genuine faith, too. Wouldn't you? Well, it it can be maybe an indicator, but not necessarily because I think Christians can fail in to to obey in different areas. We fail all the time in numerous areas. But God can still be growing us. It's like someone can have faith in Jesus, choose not to get baptized for whatever reason, but they can God can be growing them in their evangelism, in their loving their neighbor, in their generosity towards others and still be saved even though they haven't got baptized, right? And they may be choosing not to get baptized. Well, when you say choosing not to get baptized, is it like an is it just like a I like wasn't really told I like No, they they know, hey, that'd be pretty cool to do, but I never get around to it. They never choose to. Like they never choose like it's a like an active refusal to get baptized. Sure. Let's say it's an active refusal to get baptized. I mean, I would say that's concerning. I mean, again, I'm not final judge, and God works outside of his means. Would you say, would you say if someone knows they should share the gospel, make disciples of all nations, but they never do for their like their whole life, would you say therefore they're not saved? No, but again, like it's the same thing. Same thing. No, it's not because it's exactly the same thing. Both are commands of God. Well, but baptism is also a means of God's forgiveness, which he says in the scripture. This is this is this is where you've you've inserted into baptism something that's not there. The Bible never says the means to gain God's forgiveness is baptism. Instead, it says like this one, "Therefore, since you've been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand." So, how do we get into this grace? I don't disagree with that passage at all. But you do because you agreed faith and baptism are different things. And so therefore, you can have faith, but you never get baptized. But you're already in, you're already justified from the moment you have faith. Yes. But God can give forgiveness to people who are already justified. Just that doesn't make any sense because his whole point is you have forgiveness, you're justified. Well, I I I don't think and so therefore, you're thinking that you'd go to hell if you didn't choose to get baptized. You maybe refused to or something, you'd go to hell. But if you're justified, you have peace. How could you go to hell if Christ has already paid for the past, present, and even future sins of that believer?

Well, okay, a couple things. One, I don't think that scripture needs to make sense to us. Like, I don't think that God like I think scripture does make sense. I I agree. But what I'm saying is like if you're like, "Hey, here's what scripture seems to teach about election, but it doesn't make sense to me. I can't wrap my head around God's sovereignty." Do you believe scripture? Scripture is not going to contradict itself, though. Scripture tells us how we're justified. It never links justification with baptism. Never once links it up with baptism. And I think you agree with that. It never says justified by water baptism or anything. Well, I mean, do you think that just like the word justification like or like is only spoken about in the passages that say the word justification? Well, if you're going to Okay, if you're going to say it needs to another phrase or something, it needs to be saying like made right before God. You have peace with God or something. Your sins are forgiven, maybe. Well, yeah. It doesn't even link forgiveness of sins with water baptism, but it always links it up with faith. It all sinks in faith. Acts 2 and Acts 22. I've already explained Acts 2:38. So, you can't use Acts 2:38 to support your case because the word for there means because of rather than to give. No, you asserted that. You asserted that sometimes that word doesn't mean. But even then, like then therefore, if you agree that sometimes it doesn't mean to get, then why would you insist that it means to get in Acts 2:38? Well, I mean, why would you insist that it doesn't? Well, because I'm because I have to line up with scripture with scripture. That's why I'm insisting that it doesn't. Context will determine, and the rest of scripture will determine if scripture is abundantly clear. Believing it's faith alone that we are justified, not actions, not works. Whether it's giving to the poor, whether it's going to church, whether it's getting baptized, those are works.

But I want to ask you this. So if you stood before God and God says, "Why should I let you into heaven?" What would your answer be? Because Christ Christ what? His death, his resurrection, his righteousness on my behalf. I'm a wretched sinner, I deserve none of it, but he gives it to me freely. If baptism washed your sins away, then why aren't you mentioning your baptism? I mean, if I said, "Because I'm baptized into Christ and the benefits of his death and resurrection," I don't think that's any different than what I just said. It's very different. No. Oh, how you answered the question just then was sounding like you don't think baptism is a requirement. To me, you just answered because of what Jesus did, not because of what I've done, because of what he's done. But then to be consistent with your position, you would have to say, "Well, you can let me into heaven because I got baptized." No. Well, no one that actually understood like good, maybe some like poorly like catechized people might say that, but again, like I would never say, "God, you should let me in because I got baptized." Why not? Because because that's not how scripture like uses like talks about. I agree. It doesn't link up salvation with baptism because scripture scripture doesn't make our baptismal identity something that we achieve. It's something that God brings to us. It's God. Well, then if it was apparently if it's God doing it for you, then why don't you mention it then? I could if I said, "Because God." And as soon as you say, "As soon as you because I got baptized." No, no, no. But I would never say that. I would never say, "Because I got baptized." I'd say, "Because God, you united me to your son's death and resurrection, and baptism." So, because you got baptized. So, because you got baptized, not because I did. Like, again, did you get baptized? Did you get baptized? Can I ask you? Did you did you get baptized? Yes, I've been baptized. Okay. So, you got baptized. You chose. No. No. I've been baptized. But you, but you had to consent to that. You chose to get baptized. You had to physically go to church, get all that stuff happening to you. So therefore, if if you make it a requirement, if you make it this is what forgives you of your sins, you're two people. One, both have faith in Jesus. One gets baptized, one doesn't. You'd say, "What the difference of why this guy went to heaven, that one didn't, is their baptism, which then they would have reason to boast compared to the other." No, I I don't I I think that you're making a straw man of the position. I think you really need to read more about like Lutheran teaching on this in particular because if you're going to. And the reason I say that isn't because I think you should become Lutheran. I'm not even Lutheran. I'm just exploring. Um, but I think that one thing that's very obvious is that you keep using the word like you keep making it seem as if Lutherans teach that baptism is our work, and no one does. And again, the biggest thing is that all of the verbiage in scripture is all like passive. It's something that like when it says like it doesn't say get baptized into like like all the especially in the Greek, it's more clear. The like the words are all like something you receive passively that you're baptized into Christ. Being so was circumcision. So was circumcision. And I think in fact, yeah. So I would just encourage you, man, you're not even you're not even like become a Lutheran at this point, but your the I just don't see why you wouldn't want to just trust that Christ is sufficient to save you without you getting baptized, without without you having to get baptized. I think that Christ can save without baptism, and many times he does. But but you. No, but you think that you, in the ordinarily, he will not save you. Ordinarily without baptism. Correct. Well, I I think that that's not how I would say it. Ordinarily, he will not save you. I would say that ordinarily, but you said that you said ordinarily it's a requirement to be have I would say ordinarily, ordinarily he won't save you without it, then. No, no. Ordinarily, it's a means God uses to forgive sins. Yes. And so therefore, if you don't if you don't have your sins forgiven, where do you end up? Well, hell. Again, like what I would say is that God is is not bound to his like the mean. So okay, well, even if we just want to think think ordinarily for a moment, you're thinking you're attaching or your salvation to this act that you're doing. And even someone in the chat made apologetic dog made this point. Acts 22, baptism is not in the passive, it's actually an imperative there. It's an active thing that you must do. Get baptized. So, I actually don't think that that word that verb in the Greek is when he says, "Be baptized and wash away your sins." But baptized is something that's being done unto you. I believe in the Greek in that passage. Um, let's have a look. Acts 22:16. But I'm also, I wouldn't go to the bank on that. No, it's an imperative. It's it's verb aist middle imperative second person singular. So, it is an imperative. It's a command. It's commanding him to be baptized. And so, I I would look at the Greek on that because I actually don't think I actually I am this is this is I'm looking at I'm pausing it here. It says it's a verb error. Um, middle imperative second person singular. So if something in imperative, it's a command. Correct. Uh, yeah, I think Riley's point in the chat. We can't see the Greek. I don't know what you're looking at. Okay. Yeah, it's coming up. I the pausing doesn't come up on the screen, I think, for but but it does for me. Uh, but the Greek itself here, this is this word here. Yep. This is an it's in the imperative mood. It's in the imperative mood here. Yeah. So that would mean if you're like, well, okay, I've obeyed this command to get baptized. You would have reason to boast. You could say, Lord, I got baptized in obedience to this imperative of of Acts 22:16. Therefore, give me heaven. Go to boast. Going back to my point or something I was trying to mention earlier. If I confusingly think that baptism is not my work and it's God's and I didn't do anything to be baptized. Even if I was wrong about that, you're still saying that believing that that does forgive sins is in some way means I'm going to hell. Like I just have to link it up with other examples. So if someone thinks I've got to give a million dollars to charity and it's not my work, but I have to do it to be to receive forgiveness of sins, then I would say that person's not saved. I mean, and I think hopefully you agree with that, giving a million dollars to charity, making that a requirement to have sins forgiven, would you agree that person's not saved? I mean, I'd have to hear more from them, but I Yeah, I gota I got to earn this million dollars, whatever it is. Um, even if you got given the million dollars, but you had to then give that million dollars to charity, still a performance-based gospel. You'd be able to say, "Look, I should be led into heaven. I gave the million compared to the other guy over there. He didn't give the million, but I did." Works. And so, so again, I I think that if you're going to condemn Lutherans, like at least confessional Lutherans in particular, I think that you should read more. I'm not condemning them. I'm not condemning them. I'm just saying you are right. And I'm I'm saying I would encourage any Lutheran I speak to to stop trusting their baptism because I would say cuz I think many some Lutherans don't trust in baptism being a um washing away the sins. But those who consistently hold on to that teaching, I think that yeah, to me that seems like they're not fully depending upon Jesus. But that doesn't surprise me. There are going to be many people who say, "Lord, Lord." They can do all these different things for God, but they'll say, "Jesus, depart from me." And I I don't say this gleefully. I say this because I care about them. And so I think the best way that you can help your Lutheran friends is not to say, "Good on you guys. Just keep believing your baptism gets you to heaven." I think the most loving thing you can do is say, "I'm not going to hold on to that position. I'm going to be firm on thinking it's Christ alone, faith alone, without me having to obey imperatives like getting baptized." I I feel like I mean, like I I really do. And maybe you've seen like I'm like again, I I've been like more evangelical for a very long time and only recently started questioning some of this stuff. And I honestly do think that I've like like honestly and like prayerfully tried to consider what scripture has to say about some of this stuff. And like, do you not believe in like any level of like felicitous inconsistency or like any like it it almost seems like you're making the more legalistic like, I you have to be right about this or you're going to hell. Like the reason why I have to go to I have to base it on scripture. Scripture does speak about how narrow the gate is. How many who seek to enter will not be able to enter will not um enter in. And Paul makes the point, you add anything on circumcision, on Christ, we have no advantage to. It's that serious. You might say, "But what if they're just confused about it? What if they're just like, 'Hey, look, I've got to do it. It's not my work. It's God's work.'" Christ will be of no advantage to you. Paul was so clear in Galatians. He's like, "Who's bewitched you?" Right? Who's bewitched you? What's going on? He was so serious and he actually pronounces an anathema upon anyone who preaches another gospel. What's the other gospel? Add one work on, one extra command on to be saved.

But do you think that like, I mean, I I agree that the gospel is pure grace. Like, do you think that like anyone or like at least a lot of people trust like truly fully in God's grace alone and never like, like, I mean, do you think that sometimes you're like, like you accidentally, I like whether it's your theology or not, put trust in like you being a good person and whatever else. I mean, like, I feel like that's a tendency for. I never well, before I was a Christian, I was trusting in myself, absolutely. I was trusting in my own good deeds to get me to heaven. But then once God's opened my eyes, um, I was like, what could I even offer? I know that anything I offer to God is pitiful. It's not perfect as God requires. Now, at the same time, I agree Christians can think crazy thoughts, but that's why we remind ourselves of the gospel every day. But we never, and a true Christian will ever go to believing in works. Now, the Galatians were being tempted to. It doesn't seem like they had yet accepted the full idea fully, but they were being tempted to. And he's like, "Look, guys, don't do it. It leads you to hell. It severs you from Christ." So again, someone that doesn't that does trust in Christ but sometimes forgets, maybe isn't the right word, but like, you know, loses track of like sometimes like, you know, I think that every I think we regularly need needed to be, we regularly need to be reminded of the gospel because we regularly lose track of the fact that it's not of ourselves, that it is of grace, and that it's of Christ. And I think that basically any human out there, it's hard for you to say that anyone really trusts purely, fully, completely in Christ. Christ says that like faith the size of a mustard seed. You know what I mean? Like I I think yeah, it's not the size of your faith that matters, as you mentioned the mustard seed example. But it's the object of your faith. Like, what is your faith in? So your faith needs to be in terms of you going to heaven, 100% what Jesus did, not what you do. As soon as you say it's 80% Jesus, 20% what I do, you're robbing him of the glory, you're not thinking he's sufficient to save you, and he won't save you. If I say it's 100% Christ, and I did nothing, someone can say that, but then still say, "But I've got to give to the poor. I've got to go to church every Sunday. You got to do this, this to be saved." Then they're actually not thinking it's 100% Christ. So 100% Christ would mean therefore I don't have to do any good works or acts of obedience or anything like that in addition to be saved. I would say that like two years ago, I would maybe not hold that every single thing you hold, but I I would hold not to like the idea that baptism was a means of forgiveness. Actually, I probably didn't know what I really thought about it, but I certainly held that Christ, like to Christ alone, that he's the only one that saves me, whatever else. I've been a Christian for a very, very long time. What am I? You You don't think I'm saved now? Or maybe you do. I don't know. You might be. You might be in the scenario with the Galatians where you're being tempted by these false teachings, but you're still like kind of on the fence. I'm hoping maybe that's your scenario where you're like, I'm I'm dabbling, dabbling into this a little bit, but and this conversation is probably maybe what God's going to use to say, "No, don't go down that course. Keep trusting in Christ alone, maybe." Or you might be someone who said, "No, I'm I'm I believe hook, line, and sinker in this whole idea of baptism being a requirement for salvation." And that would indicate then, if that's you, then you haven't actually ever trusted in Christ fully. If someone abandons trust in Christ, that means they were never truly trusting in Christ, because God will keep those who are truly his. He justifies us and he does glorify us. I So I think one of my problems with that too, and I think this is the last point because I do have to go to bed after this. I appreciate you talking to me, even. Um, yeah. Yeah. Uh, I think that that view like is presented often times as a means of gospel assurance. And I do truly believe that we can have assurance of salvation. But I don't think that this like you can't fall away and if you do, like if you looked like you were saved, but you like you, what sin could you do? What sin could you do? Like not, I'm not talking about unbelief. I'm just talking about like a sin besides unbelief that you could do that could make you lose your salvation. I I I I think that if you were living in like a state of like unrepentant continual like sin, that like that would mean that would mean that you're basing your current salvation on your the fact that you're not doing those repetitive sins. Well, that's another way of trusting in your works. Do you do you agree that repentance is like necessary? Repentance, the Greek word metanoia means to change your mind. It's not referring to praying. Is that what you mean by repentance, praying? No. Well, I mean like like so before I'm a Christian, I'm living in a state of terrible sin. You know, I'm sleeping around. I'm doing this and that and all the other things, right? Okay. Not that I was, but let's say I am. And I say that I have faith in Christ, but I still am like, maybe like intellectually I assent to all the stuff about the gospel, but like I'm still doing all of that. What would you say to that? It's different to like assent. Okay, that message is true to actually trusting in Jesus that he's taken that punishment. You're resting upon him to get you to heaven. So, you're you're defining repentance as stopping sin. That's how you're defining repentance. Well, I mean, I I'd say it's changing your mind from wanting to trust or like wanting sin to wanting Christ, and ultimately that will change your heart and desire, right? Change your behavior. Yeah. So, change your behavior is a fruit of repentance, but it's distinct from repentance itself. Repentance being that change of mind about your sin, about Christ, about yourself. So if you've come to trust in Christ to save you, you have repented. Yeah. And then slowly God does the cleanup work of sanctification from now on. But if you make you doing repetitive sins, let's say you spend the next month doing a bunch of sins, does that mean you've lost your salvation, you go to hell? I don't think so. If your trust is still in the finished work of Jesus to save you, God will discipline you as time goes on. We know that the Lord disciplines the ones that he loves. But it doesn't mean you've lost salvation. Otherwise, your salvation is resting on your current obedience. The fact that you're not giving into repetitive sins. Well, I mean, I I would say that someone has true faith will like truly be changed. And of course, that's up and down, and sanctification is a long, difficult process. Like I I feel like we probably both agree on that. Like how could you lose salvation if you have it? If God's justified you, he he'll slowly, he'll begin the work of sanctification. How do you then lose that justification? If Well, but what if you walk away from the faith? No. No. I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying if you have faith, that's why I made I specifically I said if you still have trust that Jesus paid for your sin, what sin did he forget to pay for that's going to send you to hell? What What if I don't? So, okay. Okay. But if you, but if so, you're saying are there instances if you have faith and you do a sin, you go to hell? No. And not if you have true faith. Okay. So then anyone who's justified, because to be justified, you have to have true faith. Anyone who has true faith will never leave, lose that true faith, and therefore will never be condemned, will never need to be rejustified or something like that. Well, no, I think that people who have true faith can walk away from like. No. Well, I just I just don't see any example where if because if it says in Romans 8, but we can maybe talk about this another day. Yeah. Romans 8. Yeah, I would point to Hebrews 10 mainly. But when it says that for those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. So if you were the category of those he justified, you're also going to be the category of those he glorifies. I mean, I I agree that God called us into eternity past, and those whom he predestined like are the ones who will eventually be the like the elect, the ones who persevere to the end. So, can someone be justified if they're not predestined? I No, I I I think that there are true regenerate Christians who do walk away from the faith. Yeah. Yeah. But it doesn't seem to indicate that when it says if you're justified, if you're predestined, you're called, you're justified, and you're glorified. How would you like some of those justified? How would you reconcile it out with the book of Hebrews that talks about people who like there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins because they walked away from this faith that was they once had. And this is really the last point I So that's Hebrews 10:26. That's simply saying if you leave Christianity, go back to your Judaism, well, the animal sacrifices can't save you because he's made the point in chapter 10:4 that the blood and bulls of bulls and goats cannot atone for your sin. So then if you deliberately reject Christ to the rest of your life, you've got no sacrifice because the one you're clinging on to, the animals won't help you. So it's not saying they were justified, they were saved, but they've lost it. They just don't have a sacrifice if they don't cling on to Christ. Yeah. So, I wouldn't say that's an example of losing salvation. So, I guess my encouragement is if your answer to the question earlier was, "God, you should let me into heaven because Jesus paid for my sin." That's the only reason. And I I guess I would say that. I think any confessional Lutheran could say that too. Well, I just don't know. I don't think a Lutheran is being honest when they say that. They're not actually giving a full sufficient enough answer because if I say if if if I want to give you a medal if you go and wash my car, if if you wash my car, you come back and say, "Hey, um," and I say, "Why should I give you the medal?" You'd say, "Because I washed your car." Okay, here you go. Here's the medal. So, in the same way, if baptism was what washed your sin away and God's like, "Hey, why should I let you into heaven?" Well, because I got baptized and that washed my sins away. You'd have to point to that action, which is what I think makes I don't think it's something I do, but that's which you haven't been able to show biblically. B that's okay. Um, I don't think you have like honestly in this chat you haven't been able to show that you're not doing anything with baptism. And I made the example with circumcision linking that circumcision, it was done to you, but it was still a work. We we both agreed circumcision was a work, even though it was done to you. And so even if you want to say baptism is done to you, still a work. It's still an ergon in Greek, a deed, an action. I agree. In fact, an imperative as well. What what makes it salvific is God's action, not yours. But anyway, it was good talking to you. Great chatting to you, man. Hopefully, yeah, you won't get influenced by Lutherans, but cling on to Christ. God bless you. I do cling on to Christ. Thanks. God bless. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for that chat with Ta. Lord, I do pray that you would just like the Galatian letter, Paul had to really be kind of very clear and firm and saying, don't get influenced by these false teachings of thinking that trusting Christ is not enough without an act of obedience, without obeying something that God said. Lord, I do pray that Ta will not think that an act of obedience is also required for him to have his sins washed away, but may he see that Christ was enough to have his sins washed away without an act of obedience. Lord, we know eternity, his eternity is at stake with this. So, I do pray that you give him eyes to see, ears to hear, but a humble heart. And Lord, I do pray that he would even read through Romans 3, 4, and 5, such a clear three chapters on how someone's made right before you. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Nathan said in the chat, "Cling to Christ only." Amen. Cling to Christ. Amen. All right. We've had some good viewer chats, haven't we? Today, uh, there was a super chat that came in from Timmy. Do boys reach heaven before girls at the same time? Depends on when you die. Yeah, it's not about gender though. I want to say thank you to God is so good for your generous super chat who said, "People resist salvation by faith alone because it kills pride." That's true. It does. And someone can say, "I believe in faith alone," but not actually believe faith alone. And that that's an example of it. He affirmed faith alone but believed baptism is a requirement. That's a denial of faith alone. It overturns religion and leaves them empty-handed at the cross where all they can do is say, "Lord, I believe and trust you. Save me." Exactly. It reminds me of the tax collector and the Pharisee. "God, be merciful to me a sinner." He didn't say, "Well, I got baptized. God, be merciful to me a sinner." All right. Beck has done an awesome job in getting for us. Is this the new song? This is the new song. Let's have a look. Yes, it is. Oh, this is great. This is Ephesians chapter 5. You guys are in for a treat. We got a new song that we're going to play for you guys now. And then after that, we're going to do the Bible trivia Kahoot game. This is Ephesians 5. Let's do this.

A sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. [Music] Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. [Music] Therefore, it says, "Awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Light is found in all that is good. Way to turn right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. [Music] Therefore, it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Therefore, it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Therefore, it says, "Away. O sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on [Music] you."

That's lovely. What a nice song that is. That song will be posted on the needgod.net music channel. I'll put.

The link for that in the chat there. That'll be posted a bit, uh, maybe after the stream. Love it that you guys enjoyed that. Love this song. Exie says, "Praise God." Sheena says, "This song be hitting hard in the fields." Nice. That's so good.

All right, we are now, we have the opportunity of playing a game of Bible trivia Cahoot. And is Glenn our host today? Yes, he is. I think he is. All right, let's get this [Music] started. You're up, Glenn. Sorry, the unmute button was just hidden, so I had to resize the window. Sorry about the delay there. Um, cool. Yeah, welcome to the Cahoot game. The game pin is 9575408 or click the link in the YouTube chat and, um, yeah, just put in your name, pick an avatar and come and join in. Good to have you all here. So, I'll just give you a few more seconds to to get on in.

All right, we're up to 28. Oh, we've just Whoa. What's going on? Someone I think is, uh, joining too many times 'cause it's saying we've got 190. Someone's probably written a script, Ryan, to, uh, inject a whole lot of people to join the game. Uh, yeah, the fun and games that you get with technology. Welcome all you people. Let's see if they win the game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. Oh, we're dropping again. So maybe, maybe Cahoot has detected the, the bots or whatever it is. I'm just going to give it another 5 seconds and we'll just start with whoever's here. Um, and that's about 5 seconds now. Let's go. Oh, can I make it to 64? Oh, two less. One more less. Yay. 64. There we go. Okay. God's word is amazing. Man, you're so popular, Ryan. People want to inject bots into your Cahoot.

What was Jesus's occupation? Was it carpenter, fisherman, Pharisee, or doctor? Or was it some dude sitting at a computer with, uh, coffee and biggies and a little pet underneath the desk? No, not that. Carpenter, fisherman, Pharisee, or doctor? Uh, it was Carpenter indeed. So, well done to the 35 of you who got that right. And well done. Ve, you are in first place. Aubry is in second. Oh, Aubry is my brother's middle name. Uh, Wendy, you're third. Jordan is fourth. And Sha, is that how you say your name? Is fifth. Well done.

Question two, what did the disciples do when the soldiers came to arrest [Music] Jesus? Did they pray for it to stop? Did they start arguing with each other? They ran away or they helped Jesus flee? What did the G disciples do when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus? They ran away. Yeah, 21 of you got it right and they started arguing with each other. 10 of you got that, but it wasn't the right answer. So, let's see if that shuffled up the scoreboard. Ve exclamation mark. You're on 19, 1,948 points. Well done. First place, God is better is in second. Schnapper is third. Weed day. Wednesday is fourth. And Jesus lover is fifth. Well done.

Question three. What is the last book in the Old Testament? Is it one Kings? Is it Malachi? Is it Hebrews? Or is it Genesis? Huh? I would have got this wrong if it was a, um, type your answer. I was tricked myself. I'll tell you about that in a second. I thought the question was, "What is the last book in the Bible?" And so I would have picked Revelation. Um, but just goes to show you should read the care question carefully. The right answer is Malachi. Well done to all you who got that. Ve exclamation mark is still in first place. Wednesday is up into second. God is Better is in third. Jesus Lover is up into fourth. And Schnapper is in fifth. Up five places is Heyi, you are the highest climber. Well done.

Question four. Who ate locust and honey? Was it Paul? Was it John the Baptist? Was it Peter? Or was it Moses? So, I think I know the answer to that one. You've got a 5 seconds left to answer it. But you didn't need those 5 seconds because the right answer was John the Baptist. 30 of you got it right. Well done. Ve, you're holding your first place. Weeden is in second. Jesus Lover is up into third. Schnapper is up into fourth. So there's a bit of a battle going on there. And God is Better is in fifth. And up five places is the House of Eel. Well done.

How many days and nights did Jonah spend inside the great fish? Was it two nights, two days and two nights? Was it three days and four nights? Was it 3 days and three nights? Or was it one day and one night? I think I know what the answer to that is. 3 seconds to go. It's three days and three nights. That's what I would have picked. So, uh, first place, Ve exclamation, well done. Wednesday is in second. Jesus lover is in third. God is better is in fourth, and Cranshaw is in fifth. And forgiven for much has the highest answer streak of five. Well done.

Now, this is a type your answer. Read the care question carefully. The first commandment is have no other something before me. The answer is not something. Replace the word something with the right answer. Have no other something before me. 8 seconds to go. But we don't need those 8 seconds. Have no other gods before me. Let's review the answers. Yep. I'm going to say you accidentally hit P instead of O. Well done. And that one as well. Well done. So, let's see how the scoreboard goes. Ve, you're still in first. Jesus lover is in second. Wednesday third, God is better fourth. And Sophia's dad, well done. You're up into fifth. And you're the highest climber with the answer three or six. Well done.

True or false? Jesus had brothers and sisters from Mary and Joseph. Welled question there. I think I know what I would answer. The answer was true. He did have brothers and sisters from Mary and Joseph. And Wednesday has moved up into second. Ve is maintaining first. Jesus lover is in third. God is better is fourth. Sophia's Sophia's dad is in, uh, fifth. Four participants have reached an answer streak of five. If that is you, well done.

Last question. It's a double pointer. What did not happen in the Bible? Jesus flipped tables in the temple. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus healed every single sick person. Or Jesus walked on [Music] water. I think I know the answer. Took me some time to process, but yeah, that's what I would have picked. Jesus healed every single sick person. He didn't do that. That's not what happened in the Bible. And so, let's see where the p podium ended up. Jesus's lover is in third. Wednesday is in second. And in first place, we have Ve maintain first place through the hulkah hoop. Well done. God is is in fourth. And Sophia's dad is in fifth. Well done.

Thanks Glenn for hosting that one for us and well done everyone in participating, saying good game, being a great sport, whatever position you came on the leaderboard. All right, we're going to now pray and then do the outro question. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your kindness to us. Thank you for your amazing gospel that you do not require us to obey any of your commands for us to be made right before you because we know we've failed. But instead, you do all the work that you just give us a promise. If we trust your promise, we receive that eternal life, permanent forgiveness of sins. And Lord, this doesn't make us lawless, but thank you, Lord, that you change us. You love us enough not just to save us but to change us, to sanctify us. Make us more like you daily, Lord. Continue that in us. Pray for those who got to hear the gospel today. I do pray they'd believe it for themselves. Um, Lord, we pray that you'd give everyone who's here a good night's rest. Thank you for their faith. Thank you for them as people, image bearers of you. Thank you for the great community of people that we get to hang out with each day. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

All right. All right. If you agree with that prayer, please say an amen. And we'll now do the outro [Music] questions. All right. Uh, let me have a look. Uh, Paul had his hand up, but I think there's a couple suggestions from people in the chat, so I might pick one of them, and we'll keep Paul's one for another time. Ever be for him says, "Thought of an outro question earlier today. I'm curious to know who is left-handed and who's right-handed. Type it in the chat. Either one or the other. Are you left-handed or right-handed? Let us know as we do the outros. Uh, I'm right-handed, so goodbye from Ryan. See you from Paul. Um, Oh, I can't hear me. Hang on. Oh, you can. Um, I'm right-handed, but I do a lot of things left-handed, funnily enough. Like I play cards left-handed. I throw a frisbee left-handed. There's many other things I do to the left-handed. I don't know why. So, I'd say I'm a bit of both. See from Glenn? I'm right-handed. Right. And the word I think you're looking for, Paul, was ambidextr, something like that. I'm left-handed. Goodbye from Phil. I am right-handed. Goodbye from Brennan. I'm right-handed, Eevee. Bye bye. It's a Lord rule. We'll see you tomorrow from Caleb, Edson, uh, Jackson, Joshua, Juliet, Nathaniel, Prince, and whoever else that served today. And I am on the right. Yeah, Beck came in and said, "Yeah, Ryan, you're right-handed, but you brush your teeth with your left hand." So strange. I think it may be because I use my mouse when I'm brushing my teeth sometimes and so I'm like, I guess got used to brushing my teeth with my left hand. Um, because I like walking around the house brushing my teeth. Do you guys do that? Do you like walk around the house or do you stay in the bathroom? That's another question. Yeah, it's a bonus one. Uh, Steve says brushing teeth left-handed is crazy. Hey, thanks for hanging out with us, guys. We've had a great stream. We've loved hanging out with you. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow. I'm going to aim to get a another response video out to Redeem Zuma. Um, probably by by tomorrow's stream. So, make sure you do check it out once it comes out. Um, our stream tomorrow does start at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, which is 9:00 a.m. Brisbane time. Until then, go serve your king and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. To the end of the age. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the [Music]

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Lutheran Viewer Asks If He Believes Baptism Saves, Will He Be Saved?

Transcription