Latest / The Living Waters Podcast / Ep. 412 - Can Anyone Be Too Far Gone?

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Ep. 412 - Can Anyone Be Too Far Gone? · The Living Waters Podcast

• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, over and over again in the New Testament, Peter denies Christ.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is basically a terrorist.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: The thief on the cross.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, over and over again throughout church history.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Jonathan Edwards a slave owner.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: George Whitfield tried to legalize slavery in Georgia.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Martin Luther was anti-Semitic at the end of his life.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: John Calvin was complicit in the murder of a of a uh of Michael service.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Augustine spent years in sh sexual license.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: John Newton was a slave trader.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: This the story of history of God saving people is God saving wretched, wretched people for his glory.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody is too far gone because it's not up to you.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_04: Listen, gentlemen, something that you're not accustomed to doing.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_04: I hit the sack early last night because I was discouraged.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_04: I had to break the ice with someone about a difficult topic and it didn't go so well.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't want to do it in the first place, but I just bit the bullet and did it anyway.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_04: Had to do with the fact that I betrayed this friend's trust and spilled the beans to someone about a secret they had told me.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_04: It uh had happened a long time ago, but I wanted to make sure I confessed it to them before I kicked the bucket.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know why I left the cat left the cat out of the bag, but I really regret it.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_04: So that's why I'm feeling so emotionally spent and under the weather today.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_04: I think I'll burn the midnight oil tonight and write my friend a letter asking for forgiveness.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_04: I'll do my part, and then I guess a ball's in their court.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_04: Man, life is far from being a bowl of cherries.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_05: Well, this made me feel down in the mouth.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_04: Ah, you picked up on it, Mr.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_04: Comfort.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_05: Do you know where hit the sack comes from?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_04: Tell me.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_05: From the military about uh and during wartime, you know, Cowboys Indians, those times, they used to hit the sack because it had straw and then line it.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, like gutter snipe.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_05: That's it.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yes.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_05: A few more origins of quocalisms, come and see me.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_05: I know I'm not sure.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: But guys, how crazy is that?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_04: Seriously, right?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_04: I I crafted this today, but we totally understood that.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_04: No, he really didn't.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_04: That is pretty.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_07: That's a total pride.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_04: Don't make me pull that out of here.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, don't do that.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_04: Ray loves it.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_04: But guys, we listened to that and it fully made sense to us, right?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_04: I'm thinking of someone who's just learning English to begin with and how crazy this is.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_04: Hit the sack, break the ice, bit the bullet, spill the beans, kick the bucket.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't even realize you were using those maxims.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_04: And that's what I wondered if that was something that would happen to any of you.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_04: So you really did it?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_04: It didn't even dawn on me.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_04: Boom.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly my point.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I was wondering what your point was when you were going through all that.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_04: Soon you open your mouth.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: I I knew what you were doing.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_04: You knew company.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but that's I love them.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_05: I think they're just wonderful.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I love stuff like that.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_04: Except there's one I don't understand.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe Ray, you can explain this when someone says he or she flew the coop.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Do you chickens fly, right?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_05: I think that's probably what it means.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_05: Chicken coop.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_05: Chickens don't fly.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_05: And you lose the chip.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Chickens don't fly, right?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, they do.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_04: They do not.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_05: They do.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_05: They've they just bounce around and flap their own.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_05: They have they hicc, they can fly.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_05: They've got wings.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_05: That's how they go out in their perch each night.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_05: Our chickens perch about ten feet in the air.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_05: They fly up to the top of them.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they're limited.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_05: They don't go like an eagle.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to imagine an ostrich flying.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: They can fly for a while if you drop them from the Empire State Building.
• 4:29
  unknown: Ah.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Prove it.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_04: No, seriously, if you did drop a chicken from that height, would it get to the ground safely?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you think the flapping would be enough?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_04: Of course.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_05: It'd be cooked by the time it got there.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: I'd love to try it with all your chickens, right?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_05: Let's try it with an egg first.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_06: You did with one of your chickens.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_05: France today! Oh Mark, you killed Did you put it over the fence of a chicken?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_05: A couple of chickens.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_05: I was on ready chickens.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_05: You gave me Betty.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_05: Killing raised chickens?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_05: Betty.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Betty the demonic chicken.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_05: Oscar gave me Betty that was a chicken that was a cross between Jezebel and Judas.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_05: It's true.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_05: It was the nastiest, horrible chicken you could imagine.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_05: And I we had to get rid of it.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_05: It was attacking all the other chickens.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_05: So thanks, Oscar.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_05: You're awesome.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_05: So Mark, did you send it to heaven?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_05: Did you send it to heaven or not?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: Let me tell you the story.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Mark couldn't kill a chicken.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think easy's right because I tried to and it wouldn't die.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, Betty was possessed.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was told that you could wring its neck, so I grabbed the neck of the chicken.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: I kept on trying to swing it.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't know what for real.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Until I just threw it over the fence to the farmer.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: It went away like kind of like this, but it I couldn't kill it.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't figure out how to do it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, once this airs, we're gonna get a PETA invasion here.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_05: That's where Legion went.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_05: Into the chicken, 100%.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_04: In the Betty.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, France, today we have some guests in the studio, Luke, Jessica, and Gary.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome, Franz.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_04: Avid listeners of the podcast.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_04: It's a miracle they're here, but we'll see what they think afterward.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_04: Time for a cool classy comment.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_04: This is from Jake Andres.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_04: Hello, it's Jake Andres on episode 400.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_04: You guys discussed if there was anyone that had listened to all the episodes.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_04: I have listened to them all, a lot of them, two or three times over.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_04: Matter of fact, I was listening to your podcast that helped me come to saving faith exactly a year ago tomorrow.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_05: That's wonderful.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_04: Between your show and Ray's Mario video, I seen my need for a savior.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for everything.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_04: I want to be better at evangelism.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_04: So tonight, for the first time, myself and a group of men from our church that I got together are going out to share the gospel.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_04: I'm also going to be at the Ambassadors Academy, Niagara, Niagara this fall.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_04: I know I picked up on that.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_04: For the last year, I've been meaning to write to you guys that we need living waters in Canada.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_04: So I was ecstatic to see the announcement of the London location, which is only an hour from where I live.
• 6:51
  unknown: P.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_04: S.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_04: Oscar Story walking away from a high praying, high paying career, high praying career.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_04: High paying career.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_05: It went from a high paying to a high paying.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_04: To serve has inspired me.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_04: I work a very time-consuming job and I'm in the process of selling my home and downgrading my lifestyle so I can change careers and serve God more faithfully and be more present for my wife and three children.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you and God bless you guys for all you do, Jake Andres, Ontario, Canada.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_05: Praise the Lord.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_05: So he's going to the Canadian Messers Academy.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: So when we say London, we're not talking about England.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_04: We're talking about London Canada.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_04: London, Canada.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'll be out there with uh all of our Canadian agents.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_04: We have a Canadian agent.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_05: That's right, Corey McKenna.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_05: So you can get to it by clicking on the Canadian flag on livingwaters.com.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_04: On the home page.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: So how awesome, guys.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_04: Saved, and then now going out to preach the gospel.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, point is that save a normal biblical question.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks, right now, Jake, and uh we're excited about what the Lord's done in your life.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_04: You've just entered the quality questions section.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: This is from Adam Hank or Hank E.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_04: I just I enjoy and try to listen to the podcast.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_04: Keep up the great work.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_04: Could you address the prayer of freedom, a book and technique for healing by B.D.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_04: Carmichael?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_04: Uh questions around spiritual laws, et cetera, being confused have been confusing, at least to me.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_04: Not sure if you're aware of it, but would be interested in hearing some commentary thanks.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Adam Hank, your brother from Wisconsin.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, you know, I'll I'll take a shot at this one.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_04: Um I haven't read the book, not familiar with with the content, but it it sounds like something that is uh in the vein of a lot of Christian, quote unquote Christian Christian books that um that really have a lot of worldly or new age or cultic sort of garb uh wrapped up in them.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_04: So you want to be careful that name of the book?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Spiritual Laws.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_04: And where can you buy it?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you, Ray.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, you have a lot of things like that.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, I was watching a video by our our brother Justin Peters, and uh he was talking about Kenneth Copeland, and he and his granddaughter were talking about different things.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: And she said, I don't understand, you know, like all these things, uh uh law of attraction, manifestation, visualization, uh, these are all things that we do, but they're biblical.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_04: And she starts citing different uh verses out of the Bible that are totally out of context.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_04: So you gotta be careful of that.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, just because a Christian label's slapped on it, you gotta look at what its origins are.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_04: Ray covered in a nice new jacket.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_04: This doesn't qualify as all why would you give that's a nice actually nice?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: Why would you give that up?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, girl.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_04: Sentimental value.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, don't say it.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_05: I think the gray looks like you want to be a little bit.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: What is the line?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sentimental value attached to that?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Your uncle was buried in it.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's really touching.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_05: I'm very moved.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_05: What's it?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Get ready for a shout-out from the Sheik of Shawarma.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_04: This is now the number 16 top Christian podcast on Apple in Japan.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_04: That's cool.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_04: Number 51 in religion and spirituality.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_04: It's a big deal.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_04: It says.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Japan is not a very religious country at all.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_04: It's overseas.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_04: And uh praise God.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's on the top three lists of places I want to visit.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Japan.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, top.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to feel tall, go there.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: What are the others?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Croatia.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm serious.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Are you serious?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Afghanistan.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Japan, Croatia.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_05: Film while you're there.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Huh?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_05: Take your camera.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: I will.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: I ran.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Mark and I have been in Japan.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: I ran.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Our Japan trip, Mark.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: We did.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: We went to uh Disney.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: And we had sushi an hour and a half.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Terrible sushi.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: The sushi's better here.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: We had good sushi last night.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, don't even go there.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_04: And now a radically revolutionary resources podcast is branding.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_04: This is a little self-serving.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_04: Fight like a man.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_04: Study guide.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_04: The study guide.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, it's out, finally.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_04: It's out.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_04: It took a while.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_04: So for those of you that have gone through the book or desire to, uh, whether individually or with a group, uh, we have a study guide now.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_04: It's almost 100 pages.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_04: It's really thorough and deep.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_04: So make sure to check it out.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_04: Don't forget the Living Waters mod from which you can chug.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_04: And they have a study Bible, which is liable to bring about revival.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_04: Living Waters TV also.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_04: All that Living Waters.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_04: And don't forget the podcast YouTube channel, tens of thousands of subscribers.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_04: Let's get us to trillions.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_04: Are you contemplating?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_04: You're the one who's always thinking big, Mr.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I'm thinking big.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_05: Why would I think big?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_04: Now idea.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_04: All right, friends.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_04: Today we are talking about can anyone be too far gone?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you for joining us.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_04: See you here.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_04: See you next time.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: So there's an implication inside there.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Too far gone for what?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_04: Anyone too far gone for the Lord?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, anyone who is beyond the reach of God, anyone who has crossed the line, and we'll get into some of the passages that I think terrifying.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_05: You've just gone to a metaphor once again.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_05: Did I?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I crossed the line.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_04: Mark, you seriously didn't pick up.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_04: I love that.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_04: That's okay.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I dozed off for a bit.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Usually when you talk, I doze off of it.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So to be fair, you can't have a lot of people.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: One of the hardest writing classes I ever took was they wanted you to write, not using any common English idioms because they called it lazy writing.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like put it in your own words.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's shocking how easy it is to just depend on the internet.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but why would it be cool as lazy lazy writing?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's wonderful.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_05: It gives you a picture in your mind.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_05: It's like parabolic.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not good for a translator though.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you've gone to a foreign country interpreter, and they're just like, wait, what?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_04: Speaking of translators in Japan, Ray, how would you like to go?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_05: Oh boy, that was the worst moment of my life.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_05: I forgot about that.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks for bringing up.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_05: My interpreter burst into tears and ran out of the church.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_05: What'd you do?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_05: Talking about doing hell's best kept secret.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_05: It gets very complicated.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_05: Two men are seated in a plane and he burst into tears.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I started laughing in my seat.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you were there.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: You laughed.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Why it was so crazy.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_05: Well, the thing is in Japan, that's a big deal.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_05: He lost face in front of this whole congregation, yeah.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I was very um I was very sad for him.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_05: And then another interpreter came up, a guy from India didn't speak English.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_05: No, it was the senior pastor that interpreted it.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's just one more life you've ruined, right?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: Nothing new.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_04: With the whole church.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, you know, this is something that I think uh a lot of believers have lost a lot of sleep over.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_04: You know, am I too far gone?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_04: Have I have I crossed the line?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_04: Even even Christians thinking, have I blasphemed the Holy Spirit?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_04: That's one of them.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_04: Uh another one would be Hebrews 6, 4 through 6, which is, you know, can you be restored again if you've sinned with you know willingly or with knowledge?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_04: So we want to get into some of those.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but then there's the other angle of that, and that is what about those that are just so entrenched in sin, people that are murderers and and wicked, evil blasphemers of God, not per se blasphemers of I get I get white.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_04: I couldn't do that for the second one.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_05: He could do it for murderers.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_05: Mark's pointing pointing at me for murderers, but blasphemers, he drew he drew the line.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_04: So idiom.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_04: So guys, um this is yeah, this is this is a serious topic.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_04: I'm glad we're gonna tackle it.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_04: Um, have you guys ever gone through that, like early on as a new believer?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_04: Did you ever feel like, man, have I lost my salvation or have I gone too far maybe in a I think I know for me for sure.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um what what has helped me is Ephesians 2.10, right?
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: That we are his workmanship creating Christ Jesus for good works, that we should walk in them.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking, all right.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: But he didn't ask me about these works that I'm called to do, right?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's like he only chose these works before I was born.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then I heard a quote from a man named Larry Taylor back in 1994.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um you kill me.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is that Ann Taylor's hasn't?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_05: I do not kill you, Mark.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_05: That's an idiom, and I I don't understand.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_04: A bell should go off every time we use an idiom, seriously.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_04: As long bell rings a bell.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_04: I used one.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: As long as you are still alive, God's not done with you.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you'll know when God is done with you, right?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because you pass from time on into eternity, and then it's just too late.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: So is I'm awake, I'm alive.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: God's not done.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: He wants to do a work.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, here am I, send me.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm done saying, Here am I, send him, right?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: So here am I, send me.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I think for me, yeah, that that verse alone, Ephesians 2.10, along with that quote from uh Larry Taylor, it just blew my mind.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_04: Mark, I've heard you say that that saying uh so many times, you know, how do you know God's not done with you, that you're still breathing, that you're still alive?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_04: And even as a believer who loves the Lord like that gives me hope when I hear that, you know, because man, you know, we we focus on the fact that we don't use different benefits of the faith or fruits of salvation as a draw card.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_04: That's really important.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_04: But we can't forget the fact that one of the greatest benefits we have in Christ is hope.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_04: And and one of the biggest things that people in the world don't have is hope.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_04: And so there are people that when they they hear that who in their hearts and minds think it's just too late.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, again, it's rare that we come across someone who will recognize they're not a good person.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_04: But you do have those who who are so schooled by the law, such violators of the law externally, outwardly, they know that, that they do feel that hopelessness.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_04: And what a joy it is to bring them that hope, right?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_04: But no, listen, there's forgiveness for you.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_04: You can your sins can be totally wiped away.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: That's what happened to me on August 15th, 1991.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_04: When I heard the gospel, it was like, I could really be forgiven.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_04: I can know I have everlasting life.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's exactly what happened last night.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Oscar and I we went down to the beach and there was this young man, his name's Escaping.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he was this was his issue.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we talked, we went from light to darkness, the sun had set already, and Oscar's pouring into this man, and this kid, and this kid just starts welling up with tears.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, this is exactly what's happening.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: We cannot forget the idea that people are going through their journeys, and how gracious and kind is God to bring people alongside to be able to discuss.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Ray, you wanted to say something about it.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, we're talking about hope before.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_05: Hope makes not ashamed, and we have a hope that's an anchor of the soul, sure, and steadfast.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_05: But have you ever seen hope die in front of your eyes?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_05: Ever seen it?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Every season when the Lakers play.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_05: That's exactly right.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_05: That's where I was going.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_05: Go to a football game where one team has got like four minutes to go.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_05: They need one point, and you can see the whole crowd just hope, hope, hope, and the clock goes and hope's dead, it's gone, and everyone's just depressed.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_05: But that's what the world is like.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_05: They have a hope that isn't an anchor for the soul in a storm.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_05: They they tossed about with every wind wind of doctrine.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_04: That's a great illustration, Ray.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_04: Uh really.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's it's a good way to capture that uh sentiment of what it's like, you know, for the world to lose hope.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um and and so often hope is placed in so many things, but the problem is that those things are transient in nature and they're uncertain.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_04: And so your hope is as good as the object in which you're placing your hope.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: So Edward Welch said if you've if you've lost hope, it's because you've placed your hope in something that cannot give you any future, any hope, right?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's something along the lines of you realize that Christ died on the cross and he resurrected, but you live as though he's still in the grave.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you've placed your hope in something that cannot save you and it's let you down, and it will always let you down.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we can only put our hope in Christ.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you think about the difference between that kind of hope.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I've heard it described as hope is usually described as wishful thinking.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: I hope the Lakers are gonna win championship, I hope I'm gonna win my game Monday night, I hope I'm I win the lottery.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's wit blind hope.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Wishful thinking, hoping for the best, knowing the probability is likely and often against you, versus that, so that's wishful thinking versus the living hope, the confident assurance we have in a resurrected savior.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: The difference between wishful thinking and confident assurance is the confidence that we have in the gospel.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say there's also, I think, I think ultimately that question, are we too far gone for the gospel?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a category mistake.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a misunderstanding of the gospel.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, I think it's rooted in self-righteousness.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: We think that somehow it's up to us, you know, that I need to prove it, that I need to clean myself up, that I need to not be too far gone.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you think about the way Jesus frames the gospel and the parable of the prodigal son.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: The one that made his life into ruin, that was furthest from the father, that is the one that the father is running towards.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the one most in danger of missing out on the love of God is the moral one, is the older brother that stayed home, that did all the religious and right things, that followed the father's rules, that never put himself in a pick sky, that never slept with prostitutes, that didn't squander his lot.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, I think that the category error is thinking that we have something to do with our salvation when it is not our salvation, it is not about us.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's about what God is doing for us.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just in preparing for this, I was reflecting on the scriptures.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, think about, I think often, especially if you grow up in the church and you go to you go to you know Sunday school with Sunday school teachers.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: God bless Sunday school teachers, they have to deal with those shin kickers.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um but uh Ray was one of them, still is.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_04: Imagine trying to check Ray into a children's mentality church.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_04: Can we do that?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_04: I think it would work.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_05: If we put a mask over his beard, it might work.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_05: I'm also a knee biter.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a knee biter and a shinker.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I think one of the challenges is that when we talk about the Old Testament, we talk about quote unquote heroes of the faith.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: And we often turn these stories into Aesop's fables where we focus on the good.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, just look, hero, okay, like think about Hebrews 11.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: The hall of faith, Rahab, a prostitute, Abraham a liar, Jacob a deceiver, Moses a killer, Samson was reckless and sexually compromised, he was vengeful, David is an adulterer and a murderer.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or think about uh Manasseh.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Manasseh is arguably the worst king in all of Jesus' or in all of God's people's history.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was a murderer, he brought false worship into God's temple.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: He erected statues to false gods in the temple.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: He sacrificed children, he sacrificed his own son.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: He was a vengeful murderer king.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the worst of the worst, not only that, but he was king, which means he led others into this false kind of worship, an entire people.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: He was bad.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: He was bad.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what happens?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: God has to send a pagan king to imprison this man, and in the deepest moment of despair, he turns to the Lord.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and the scripture says the Lord was moved towards him.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Moved towards him.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, over and over again in the New Testament, Peter denies Christ.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is basically a terrorist, the thief on the cross, you know, over and over again throughout church history.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Jonathan Edwards, a slave owner, George Whitfield tried to legalize slavery in Georgia, Martin Luther was anti Semitic at the end of his life.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: John Calvin was complicit in the murder of a of a uh of Michael Service, Augustine spent.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Years in sexual license.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: John Newton was a slave trader.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: The story of history of God saving people is God saving wretched, wretched people for his glory.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody is too far gone because it's not up to you.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_04: And I think Paul painted this picture for us with himself, right?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_04: He said in 1 Timothy 1, 12 to 16, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_04: Although I was formerly a blasphemer, persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_04: And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_04: This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_04: However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlastingly.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, the model is not just an unbeliever, not just a guy who uh was a blasphemer, but a man who was putting Christians to death.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_04: Remember, it was at the feet of Paul that everyone laid their garments when Stephen was getting stoned.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_04: And and he he was hunting Christians down like animals, and he says, I wasn't just a sinner, I was the chief.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_04: I was the worst, so I'm the pattern for anyone else, which means what?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_04: There is hope for everybody.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: And what was the progression of the apostle Paul, right?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh the worst of sinners, or no, the least of the apostles, uh, worse of sinners, the chief of saints, uh, the chief of sinners.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: So something something along that.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: So he starts off, hey, I'm of all the apostles, I'm probably the worst.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Until at the end of his ministry, he says, No, no, no, I'm the chief of sinners.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: And not by virtue of the fact that he's just sinning more than everybody else.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's just a greater glimpse of God and his holiness, and you begin to realize it has nothing to do with me.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't come to call the righteous to repentance.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: If he's going to rebuke someone, he rebuked the religious elite people who think that they can fit in or they can make it on their own.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's not going to push somebody aside who's struggling, who's having issues, who's just saying, Lord, I don't know which way is up.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, help.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Jesus didn't wait for Peter to give a three-paragraph dissertation on the perfect prayer possible when he began to sink inside the water.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, help me.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Help.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: And how many times have we echoed the same prayers because we did not have the words to say in that time?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we think that by our many words that were heard.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've said this before and I'll say it again because I find it to be extremely true.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: You'll see, uh there's hyperbole attached to it, but you'll see what I'm saying.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: That I believe that God doesn't even speak English to some degree, right?
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Or Spanish or German, whatever it may be, that he's over the words and the showmanship that you're trying to bring to him when you're when you're praying.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: That he cuts through all of that jive, cuts to the chase, and his hears, his ear's not up against your mouth, but it's up against the heart.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: So he doesn't speak English, he speaks heart-ish, right?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what what is you what are you really trying to say?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we do this when we're evangelizing.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody asks a question, we want to get to the heart of the matter.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why do they ask this?
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even think they're they're they're meaning to ask that question, but they don't even know how to ask their question because they're not thinking about spiritual things.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: So then we retort back with another question.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: We utilize maybe the secretic method.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's like God's like that.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Are you done?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we think that by our many words that we're heard, but we need to let our words be few.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, how many times have we had prayer times with God where words didn't even come out?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: There's just groaning and yearning before God because the thing that is before us is so overwhelming.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: What am I supposed to say?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: How do I put this into words?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I say, Lord, search me, try me.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: You see what is going on inside of me.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: I need your help with this.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, beautiful scripture here in 1 Timothy 1.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's all beautiful.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost, but I received mercy for this reason.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: That in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: Paul is saying that he is the perfect example, that nobody is too far gone.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: He's the perfect example that no matter what you've done, no matter who made your bed, no matter what drugs you've taken, no matter what wake you've left as you have trekked through this thing called life and the damage that has happened, you're not too far gone.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Your redeemer is bigger than your past, and one drop of the blood of the King of Kings is enough to wash you clean, no matter where you've been and what you've done.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_05: So many idioms.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_05: I just love them.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, did you ever?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, we've got to cut to the chase.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_05: That comes from Hollywood.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you cut to the chase.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_05: You you've got to get to the chase, the fast-moving thing in the movie, cut to the chase.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_05: Um The heart of the matter.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_05: The heart of the matter?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_05: The heart of the matter is who made your bed?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_05: All that sort of stuff.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_05: It's all idioms.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_05: But anyway, he's able to save to the uttermost.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_05: The uttermost.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_05: Uttermost.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_05: Them that come to God by him.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_05: So where does a reprobate mind come in when God gives them over to a reprobate mind?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_05: Does that mean shut door?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, uh the Romans 1 reprobation dynamic, that's a reality.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, and and I think that, you know, conservative commentators will will take difficult passages like the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit or Hebrew 6, and and they'll highlight the the fact that in in some of those instances, especially Hebrews 6, it's not so much an issue of someone who, or it's not an issue of someone who was saved and regenerated and then they lost their salvation, but but it's those that that have tasted of, those that have been exposed to, and then to such a degree that in God's estimation, whatever that is, or according to God's um uh standard, there's something that happened to where they've gotten to a point where they will no longer repent.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_04: So Judas could Judas would have been a reprobate mind.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_05: Copper Smith.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, could have yeah, that could be an example of that as well.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and and so so these are man, these are important things.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_04: But remember, Ray, back in the day, uh uh people that were doing videos blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yes, yeah, the blasphemy challenge.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_05: Did we do something on that?
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_05: I'm trying to remember if we I can't remember, but that freaked me out.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_05: I was horrified of what they were doing.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_05: Um, they came on and they deliberately blaspheme the Holy Spirit, but they didn't really, they didn't know what they were doing.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_05: They just thought they were blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_05: Um they were just saying nasty things about God or something like that.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_05: And saying, I've just blasphemed the Holy Spirit, so take that God sort of thing.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_05: And how foolish.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_04: And so, Oscar, there's someone listening now.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of times we'll do this near the end, but I don't want anyone to drop out of this podcast episode today without hearing this.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_04: Someone who's sitting there going, Man, but you you don't, man, you don't know.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_04: The things that Mark referenced the heart, right?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_04: There are times when it's so hard to pray, our Christ, Lord, just read my heart.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_04: But the flip side is of that is a person knowing God has heard my heart and the things that have come out of it have been filthy, uh, blasphemous, wicked, uh, accusatory toward God.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_04: The things I've done.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_04: What do you say to that person right now?
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_04: You you're always so great at bringing the gospel to bear on these sorts of things.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's it is the great scandal of the gospel that a murderer and a rapist could be in his prison cell on death row, on his knees, and be closer to God than the religious person thinking to themselves, how can a person like that ever end up in heaven?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, I would just say, man, the the beauty of the gospel is is not that you were drowning and you needed a life-saving device.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: The beauty of the gospel is you were dead at the bottom of the ocean, and God reached down and pulled you out and breathed life into you.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it is once you start to grasp the beauty of the gospel, your utter dependence on the goodness and glory of God.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to that younger brother, he walks.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, just go through and read the story of the prodigal son.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: He walks home, and even in his own mind, he formulates a game plan.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to earn my way back into my father's house.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: If only he will treat me like a servant, right?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: That was his goal.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like his ambition was simply to be a servant.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the father runs out to him and he puts a ring on him and he puts sandals on him and he calls him his son.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the most beautiful thing about the gospel is that those who humble themselves before the Lord, God moves towards you in gentleness.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Your weakness and your sin is not the thing that causes God to pull away from you.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: As a child of God, he draws near to you in your weakness and in your sin.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: He is the Father who loves you.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think often we think to ourselves, and I've said this before, often we think to ourselves, we come to the, we come to the Lord and we think we're like the bastard child.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: We think we're the one at the table in heaven where it's like, you know, the angels are looking at us like, don't forget what it took to get you here.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like one step, one wrong move, and we're out of, we're out of his inheritance.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what the scripture says about all of us who are sinners, about Paul and that long list of people that I just read?
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: What does God gain at the cross?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: We gain grace and forgiveness.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know what the scripture says?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: It says that he gains us.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: That we are his inheritance, that out of all creation we are his prized possession.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: He is the Father in heaven who has forgiven you, and you are his inheritance.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is the gospel.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_04: Well, well said, Oscar.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_05: It rem reminds me of a story I I used to share.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_05: I haven't shared this for many years, about a very elegant lady wearing a white fur coat gets out of a limousine and she's wearing a tiara on her head, and every eye is upon her.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_05: And uh she's got a little umbrella with her, and she steps across a ditch and a ring falls from her finger into the slimy ditch.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_05: And she turns around and she grabs the umbrella and goes poke, poke, poke, poke, poke.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_05: Trying to find the ring.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, she can't find it, she just puts the umbrella down, gets on her knees, and puts her hands in that slimy ditch until she comes up with that precious jewel.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_05: And that's what God did for you and I.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_05: The Bible calls us as jewels in the Old Testament.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's good, yeah.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_04: Oh man, that's so moving.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I just that reminds me of a Jonathan Edward quote, which I may have said before in the podcast, but he says, uh, you know, when men, when wit when men steep down and pick up a jewel, it's because they find it unique amongst all other rocks.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: But but he says the Lord picks you and therefore you are a jewel.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, right.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_04: The the value is in the value that's placed in you by the priceless creator of the universe.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, he adds value, right?
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_04: We also hear about the the mindest touch, everything that guy touches turns to gold.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_04: But no, yeah, everything the Lord touches is.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, never.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, I was speaking with a relative recently.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, we were sending voice texts back and forth to each other.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_04: He's a very, very adamant, uh, devoted, dedicated Catholic.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_04: And it as I was listening to some of the things that he was saying, and I love him.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_04: He's very, very dear to me, very sincere man.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_04: But but as as he was saying certain things to me, I I had a hard time believing that it was really reality because he was pushing hard.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_04: Of course, it's by our works that we're saved.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's faith, uh, of course, but then it's our works.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_04: And he says, you know, when when the Bible's talking about uh by grace and faith and not by works, it's talking about the works of the law, you know, being under the law and this and that.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_04: And and I said back to him, I said, so basically you're saying that um the law of God that he himself dictated, right, is not what we're saved by.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_04: But when we come up with new laws on our own, now that I mean it was it was so it was so hard to grasp, but we forget that for the unbeliever, uh the the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_04: Like they can't grasp it, it cannot be disassociated in their hearts and minds from what they do.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_04: And then on the other side of that, they don't recognize how holy God really is and how despicable our sin is in his sight.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_04: So, in one sense, it's well, yeah, I'm a sinner, but come on, what's a big deal?
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_04: And on the other hand, it's I've got to do it, I've gotta get there myself.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and when you're enlightened of the gospel as a believer, it just changes everything.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell It's the law that makes grace amazing.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_05: What it does, the law is it puts the uh chasm that the sinner's trying to leap uh wider than the widest part of the Grand Canyon.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_05: And not only that, it ties your legs together at the same time.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_05: So you're not gonna make it on your own.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_05: You can only be saved by God's grace.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_04: Elaborate that on a little bit, uh elaborate that on that a little bit.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_04: I think a lot of times we take it for granted that uh all of our listeners understand what we mean by the law and and showing people the chasm and all that.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_04: Explain.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_05: The apostle Paul, Mark mentioned it, and there were steps to a salvation.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_05: You read the book of Romans, it's actually basically the testament of the Apostle Paul.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_05: He rested in the law, he trusted in the law to save him, and he said, The commandment which I thought was ordained to life, and it is actually, Jesus said, Do this and you shall live.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_05: The Old Testament says, keep the commandments and you shall live.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_05: So all you have to do is be absolutely perfect in thought, word, and deed, and you'll live.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_05: If you sin, you die.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_05: And Paul said the commandment which I thought was ordained to life brought death to me.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_05: And that's the function of God's law, to show us that we're condemned, we're undone.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_05: And all we need to do is take the time to open up the beatitudes that Jesus spoke in the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_05: It's above every other sermon where he says, You've heard it said by them of old, you shall not commit adultery.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_05: And that was me trusting in the in the law in way back in 1972, seeing that verse.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_05: Was that an earthquake?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_05: There's one during the night.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_05: It was an earthquake.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, how cool is that.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_05: I just love them.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_04: And like typical Californians, we're still sitting here.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I love them.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_05: Um the one in the night was in Lakewood, not too far from here.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_05: It was 2.4, and I was still awake together for prayer time.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, it was just particularly.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_05: I love them as long as no one gets hurt.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_05: Give me that above a tornado.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, horrific.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_05: See it coming towards you and say, which way do I go, Lord, left or right?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_05: Anyway, whatever I was talking about was just wonderful.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_04: Come on, Ray.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_04: Finish.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_05: So um, that's what happened to me.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_05: The same testament of the Apostle Paul.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_05: I was trusting in those commandments to save me.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_05: Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, I didn't realize lust was incorporated in the law.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_05: But that's what Paul said.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_05: He said, I had not known sin but by the law.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_05: I had not known you shall not covet, unless the law said you shall not covet or lust.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_05: And when I when I realized the law is spiritual, that God requires um truth in the inward parts, he sees our thought life, that's when I cried out, that's when I cried out, Woe is me, I'm undone.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_05: And I realized I was worshiping or praying to an idol every night.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_05: My God wasn't the all-seeing God that uh that saw my sin from a point of view of holiness, and that sent me to the Savior to flee from the wrath that's to come.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_05: And I did flee once I understood my sin.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_05: And that's the function of God's law to show us, as Paul said, that sin is exceedingly sinful.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_05: It incurs the wrath of God.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_05: It's like a magnet pulling in God's wrath.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_05: And that'll come on judgment day, and that's why we need a savior, because the Bible says, even Jesus who saves us from wrath to come.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_04: That's so good.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and look for anyone listening right now that is tempted to try to hold on to even the smallest tiny bit of self-righteousness, don't do it.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_04: It's futile, right?
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_04: With God, when you deny your guilty, you remain guilty and incur greater guilt because you're calling him a liar.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, and so don't do it.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_04: Like understand that you're utterly hopeless and helpless.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_04: And don't be like the kid who stole the cookie out of the cookie jar with chocolate chip chocolate all over their face, and they're looking at their parents saying, I didn't do anything.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_04: You're talking about yourself.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_04: God knows, He sees, and so just let it go and recognize that the hope of the gospel is you can't do anything to save yourself.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's all been done.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_05: Comes back to that parachute analogy.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_05: Don't flap your arms, it's not gonna work.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_05: Trust the parachute.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, it's good.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_05: Simple as that.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_04: I never heard that before.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_04: All right, so so blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_04: Let's let's touch on that uh here.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_04: That's the big one.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_04: So Matthew 12, 22 to 32, Mark 3, 22 to 30, Luke 12, 10.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_04: So this is basically where Jesus uh casts out a demon from a guy who's demon-possessed, he was blind and mute.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_04: And the um the Pharisees look and say, Hey, you're doing that by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons, right?
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_04: So Jesus looks and says, Um, look, uh, you have to understand that uh every sin will be forgiven, man, except for the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_04: And so this is where people miss the context and get into, well, I, you know, that's why they did that video.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_04: And they would literally go on there, I blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it was it was tragic, but at the same time, there was almost a comical element to it.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_04: Like they they don't understand what it really, really means.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_04: And so uh there have been a lot of, again, uh good commentary on this, and and these this is kind of the summation of what's uh I think a proper interpretation.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_04: So it's it's could be a deliberate knowing, uh a hardening, a rejection of the clear testimony and work of the Holy Spirit.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, in the context, that's what we're seeing there, attributing the Spirit's power and evidence of Jesus' Messiah uh and savior to a demonic origin.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um something that's not a momentary slip of the tongue, a single angry outburst or doubt or even open rejection of Jesus out of ignorance, um, kind of like you know, Paul's denial and blasphemy.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um but here's what I what I think would be kind of the capstone description of it.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's a settled, willful opposition to the spirit's illumination and conviction, reaching a point of such calloused hardness that genuine repentance becomes impossible.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_04: The person never has forgiveness, because I said, as I said earlier, they will never seek it in true repentance.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_05: Didn't Jesus say what it was in the same portion?
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_05: He says, because, or scripture says, because they said he has an unhe had an unclean spirit.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_05: Doesn't that summarize exactly that?
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_04: That's I mean that yeah, that's that's uh again one of the primary, predominant perspectives on that.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_04: And so so understand that, you know, um you that this isn't something that just happens, oops, I said it, I had this thought, I, you know, it it's it's an ongoing hardness, uh a willful hardness.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_04: And and some believe too that you know it's something that you would have had to have been present for as Christ was was doing those works at that time.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_04: And so uh so that's a perspective on that.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_05: And and man, how that's a good perspective, actually.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I know there are people right now listening that that are having hope breathed into them, like, oh, I thought that was me, I thought I did that.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and look, I love that saying about when when Satan reminds you of his past, your past reminds him of his future.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_04: He's a liar, he's a father of lies, he speaks from that nature.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_05: The accuser of brethren.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_04: And so I so I think I think that's that's key and important.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe the apostle Paul gave his testimony and ended up by saying, This is an example for those because of the what Jesus what Jesus said about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, because that fits in really well.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_05: You ask someone who says, I think I've done I've sinned against God, blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_05: So, how many Christians have been tortured and murdered?
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_05: How many?
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah you know, yeah, and by virtue of the fact that you're concerned that you may have blasphemed.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's conscience.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: You you haven't, yeah, right?
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because it shows that you have the conscience, your heart isn't hardened.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um you think of what is the greatest miracle that we could possibly see?
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the blind scene?
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: Is it if we were to see somebody get hit by a car, get decapitated, to be graphic, right?
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: But then the head comes back and they begin to walk away, we'd begin to think that is the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: But in the eyes of God, that is not the greatest miracle.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: The greatest miracle is that somebody may see spiritually and they get born again.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: Ezekiel 36, 26 says, I will remove the heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Opening blind eyes is amazing.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: We should stand in awe of there.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, right?
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: But seeing somebody have their eyes open spiritually is the greatest thing that you could ever experience.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: I spoke up at um uh Scott Artivanus's church and he wanted me to speak on uh the greatest miracle found inside the Bible.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, it was there each week was a different miracle that different people were speaking on.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, What do you think the greatest miracle was?
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, It's the miracle of salvation.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Great, teach on it.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: Didn't even think about that, right?
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: But that really is.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: The greatest miracle is when somebody's eyes are opened, right?
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: Every conversion is spiritual in nature.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if you think you've committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, you haven't.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: You repent.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: Today, today's the day of salvation.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I've I've said before, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will be the last thing you ever do on this earth and the thing that you will do for the rest of eternity if you don't repent and put your trust in the Lord.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you have breath in your lungs, if you have more blinks in your eye, if you're thinking about it now, the Lord is not done with you.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's chasing after you, willing you towards repentance and faith in him.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_04: I love that, Oscar.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_05: I think the great example is he is able to save the uttermost that come to God by him as the thief on the cross who blasphemed Jesus.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_05: The scripture says that they both, the thieves, blasphemed him.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_05: And yet God's grace was sufficient for him.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_05: Amen.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, okay, so let's jump into Hebrews 6, uh, four through six.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_04: It says, For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tested, tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_04: And again, let me just say how important it is that we look at the the full context of scripture, right?
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_04: I I I shared this in fact with this this relative of mine uh regarding salvation by by works and stuff.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_04: I said, you know, in 1 Timothy We'll name him Ray.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_04: Oscar.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_04: I said, look, I can take you to 1 Timothy 2, and it says, and she will be saved, speaking of women, through childbearing.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_04: So women obviously get saved through having children.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Jesus said, You can't be his disciple if if you don't, you know, give up all things, give up all your goods, right?
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um uh we know that uh biblically uh it says that if you don't partake of his but body, body and blood, you haven't taken communion, then you don't have life in you.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, we we could go down the line with these things and say, oh, look, but what do we do?
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_04: We understand there's context of scripture.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_04: So that's that's key.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_04: It's huge.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_04: When we come across something that's difficult to understand, we look at it against the rest of the backdrop of scripture.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_04: And and one of the most common views on this is that those that are being spoken about here in Hebrew 6 are not truly regenerated people.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so once enlightened, instructed in the truth or exposed to the light of the gospel, right?
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_04: Many receive light without without being saved.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_04: Tasted of the heavenly gift, tasted the goodness of the word of God, a temporary sampling or appreciation, not full reception or permanent possession, shared in the Holy Spirit, proximity to the Spirit's work in the church, witnessing miracles, temporary influence, but not a permanent indwelling or sealing of the Spirit, which we know is part of salvation.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, powers of the age to come, experiencing supernatural signs associated with the gospel.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_04: We've seen that with unbelievers even in scripture, even people who were casting out demons that, you know, weren't believers per se.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_04: And so basically, these are people that have been as closely associated uh with the Christian community.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_04: They understood things intellectually.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_04: There was a form of godliness, right?
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_04: But they weren't uh truly regenerated.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_04: And so, you know, and we look at the the whole uh parable of the soils or the fields, right?
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_04: And that gives us indication.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_04: These are people that appeared.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, look at look at Judas appeared.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_04: No one doubted Judas.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_04: You're looking for Judas, right?
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_04: I was looking at it.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_05: Judas is Judas is here.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_05: Why don't you name one of your kids Judas?
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_05: Let it go.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_05: Easy, you're talking about um looking at the whole of scripture.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_05: Remember that very ancient story that's been around for many years about the four blind men looking at an elephant and describing what an elephant is like by just touching a leg.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, it's an elephant's like a great big tree.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_05: And the guy grabs the eyelash.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_05: I'm taking it in the wrong direction, but yeah.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_05: The gizzard.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_05: He grabs the tongue.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_05: But yeah, the totally different perspective isn't describing a different thing, and that's why you've got to look at the whole elephant of scripture.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: You should have quit while you're behind right now.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't wait for some Nicot easy affirming that women are saved through trouble.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just a little bit of a child.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um yeah, Oscar, I'd love you to speak to the the importance of going back to the word as our consolation rather than our emotions.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_04: Because that's what happens, right?
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_04: I don't feel saved today.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_04: I feel far from God.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_04: I don't feel like God loves me.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_04: How key is it to make sure we're submerged in the word?
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that reminds me of Dr.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: Martin Lloyd Jones when he said uh he sounds a little bit like a psychopath, but if you get what he's saying, you understand.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I need to stop listening to myself and I need to start talking to myself.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: And what he goes on to expand upon is that he needs to stop listening to his doubts, his insecurities, his feelings, and he starts preaching the gospel to himself in those moments of doubt, in those moments of insecurity.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you're actually, you're absolutely right.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, our feelings are so fleeting.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: Our feelings lead us astray.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: Our feelings are not something to build our lives upon.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: They they they are inconsistent at best and they lie to us at worst.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about a little kid who's lying in his bed and who's afraid there's a monster under his bed, right?
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like Ray.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he feels like he's in danger.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: But any rational, sane parent would walk in there going, There's nothing, this is most likely the safest place you will ever be in your bed.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's most likely.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if they're in Compton, that's the least likely, no.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they are in one of the safest spots they can ever possibly be in, right?
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: They're their feelings are leading them astray.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: And what they need is someone to speak truth into their lives.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: And God's word is always going to speak truth into our lives.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: He has given it to us.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel of the is the story of God reconciling the world to himself.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so to read it, to memorize it, to meditate upon it.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the things that one of my first mentors ever did, I think I've mentioned this on the podcast, is he encouraged me to pick a couple Bible verses to memorize, to pull into my mind whenever I am doubting my salvation, whenever I'm fighting temptation.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_00: He called them like these weapons against the devil.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, whether it was like resist the devil and he will flee, draw near to the Lord and he will draw near to you.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: These, these like these, these uh these verses that are just so helpful and true for our own lives, it's important for us to be able to um meditate on his word day and night.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_04: You know, Mark, you you often have this saying about how you know certain things aren't a problem that are stepping stone, right?
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_04: I wanted to ask you, because I think that sometimes when something is outside of us and we're struggling with it, uh that's not, let's say, an internal emotional upheaval.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_04: Uh it can it can be easier to say that.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_04: Not easy, but easier.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_04: But how about when it is internal, when you're like you you feel the dark cloud over you?
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_04: Like it is it possible to still have that outlook?
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_04: Like, you know what I'm saying?
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_04: I I've said to the Lord before in times of sanity, Lord, I'm sane right now, I'm fixated on truth.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_04: If I ever am not, please remember I'm telling you now, don't ever let me go.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's like looking to him.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Romans tells us that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_01: That word nothing includes Mark.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's so good.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: Think about that, right?
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, my sin is no match for the blood of Christ.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it just isn't.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: So when we continually get washed by his word, we continually are being refreshed, we get our marching orders and we recognize that Christianity has nothing to do with us.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, last night when Oscar and I were down at the beach sharing the gospel, I had said to the person who came up to the microphone, I said, Listen, you know, Christianity is messy.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I I I get I get this.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: I know that Oscar is going to sin against me, and Oscar knows that I'm gonna sin against him.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: We still have a relationship.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you permission to make mistakes, right?
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: Christianity, we continually walk forward in confession.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right?
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_01: As Todd Friel says, your your kids should know that you're the biggest sinner in the house.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: Not because you're sinning more than anybody else, but because you're just saying, hey, I'm sorry, blew it, yeah, messed up, shouldn't have done that.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: But God, yeah, but Christ, you know, He He's rich in mercy.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_01: So anything that I've done, no, listen, he remember he saved me.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: What was that?
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_01: The Spurgeon quote.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_01: Good thing God chose me before the foundation of the world, because if he would have if I was born, he never would have chosen me or something to that effect.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's that, you know.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh John Duncan he said, before I became a Christian, I deserved hell.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_01: After I became a Christian, I deserved hell ten times over.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we just we we get messy, our feet get dirty, we walk in places where we shouldn't go, and that's why we need to continually be washed in the word.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: Final thought.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_05: Final thought.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_05: I'll tell you what.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_04: That's my thought.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_04: That's my thought.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_04: But I'll say my thought beautifully.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: What a waste of 10 seconds, boy.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: It really wasn't.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the joke was there, maybe just didn't land on those that were not as smart.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_01: I would say this I had somebody come to me, and I've had it many times since, say, you know, I read God's word, but I'm not getting anything out of it.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm not.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm doing the verse today, I'm reading the chapter today, I'm reading the proverb of the day, but I'm not getting anything out of it.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I say, well, think about it like this.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you grab a hold of a colander, right, that that that bowl that has holes in it that you do noodles, you clean the noodles, right?
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: You take that colander and it's filled with dirt, and you take it down by a riverbank, and the water comes washing through, and now it's has no more dirt in it.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_01: You turn it upside down, now try to carry water back to camp using that colander.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: Will it be able to do so?
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: But what will it be?
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be clean.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be clean.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: So you may not be able to hold on to anything.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, D.L.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: Moody said, fill me with your spirit because I leak, or I've I've got leaks, so I continually need to be filled with the Spirit of God.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_01: So you may not feel like you're getting anything out of it, but what's happening is you're being washed and you're being cleansed every time you meditate through God's word.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: And if remember, if you are not meditating on God's word as truth, you're gonna believe lies are true.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to open up God's word, which is truth, and it we're sanctified by it.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_05: I rejoice that your word is one who finds great spoil.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_05: If someone doesn't get anything out of God's word, they're not valuing it as they should.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_05: It's like someone saying, I eat food every day, but I don't really like the taste of it.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_05: Well, fast for 40 days and forty nights, and you'll like the taste of it.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_05: So realize what you've got in God's word.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_05: There are dark ages where they didn't have what we have.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_05: Catholic Church forbade the reading of the scriptures.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_05: Men were burned at the stake so we could have the scriptures to read.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_05: So we we've got this wonderful, wonderful book that's packed, pregnant with God's promises, and we need to embrace it and realize what we've got.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think of 1 John 2, where it says, you know, these things are written to you that you may not sin.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_04: And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you think of that balance there, right?
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_04: I've I've written to you so that you don't sin.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_04: Of course, sin is horrible.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_04: But if you do, which you will, remember you have an advocate, the attorney, the one who comes alongside to help, who plead your case, Jesus Christ who?
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_04: The righteous, who's given you what?
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_04: His righteousness.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_04: That's why he can do that.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Father, they have my righteousness, right?
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, and they're free.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, imagine you you have sin, you have sinned, and you go before God, you ask him for forgiveness, and then you want to talk about it some more.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_01: And God says, What are you like, what are you talking about?
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_01: As far as the East is from the West, I've removed your sin.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it reminds me of a quote from RC Sproul.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_01: He said, What do you what do you do with the person?
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_01: You guys are insane.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what do you do with a person who can't get past their failures?
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_01: They can't sleep at night, they can't function during the day.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_01: They've gone to God in prayer, but they still feel condemned.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: We know Romans 8, 1, right?
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_01: There's therefore now no condemnation of those who are in Christ Jesus.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_01: He said, but Sproul said this.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_01: He says, What do I do?
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: I tell that person to go back to God in prayer.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_01: But this time, don't ask God to forgive you for the sin that is haunting you.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_01: Ask him to forgive you for refusing to accept the forgiveness that has been given to you.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because he who the Son is set free is free indeed.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_01: What a great, great quote.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh just real quick, reminding me of a quote I um from a book I read a couple years ago.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to this Christ was not sent to mend wounded people or to wake sleepy people or advised confused people or inspire bored people or spur on lazy people or educate ignorant people, but to raise dead people.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_04: Boom.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_04: That's a mic drop quote for sure.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_05: Speaking of mic drop quotes, here's a quote for you got a tip hole in your throat trying to evolve into a frog.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_05: Drown it.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_05: Drain it, don't choke on it.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_05: Make sure it goes in the right path.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, people will enjoy listening to that on the drive to work.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, John Flavel or John Flavelle.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_05: Flavel?
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_05: Is Flavelle?
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_05: I think so.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_05: So there you are.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah, John Flavel Augustine.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_05: Anyway, here's a Puritan.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_05: Spurgeon quoted him, I think.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_05: Might be wrong.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_05: He said this.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_05: I'll read it.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_05: Are you ready?
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_05: You ready?
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_05: Christ is more willing to pardon than sinners are to repent.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_05: Oh.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_04: That was worth waiting for, wasn't it?
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_04: Here's a couple from Spurgeon.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_04: You cited Spurgeon or Spurgeon.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_04: Let not your sense of sin make you think little of my master.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_04: Listen to just listen to that.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_04: Let not your sense of sin.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: I have no idea what you're saying.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_01: Make you think little.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_04: Oh wow.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_05: Let that sink into you.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_04: Is that from his sermon, The Way?
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_04: Stop.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_04: And then he said, Do not say of any district that it is too sunken, or of any class of men that they are too far gone.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_04: The word of the cross reclaims the lost.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's from his sermon, The Word of the Cross.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_04: Don't forget that.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_04: Don't you dare forget that.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_04: So guys, just know that there is more hope in the Lord than you can even imagine.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_04: You think of the person in 1 Corinthians who had his father's wife, who was committing adultery with a stepmother.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_04: And Paul was speaking of the seriousness of giving him over to Satan, right?
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_04: The destruction of his flesh that a soul might be saved.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_04: And then in 2 Corinthians, what do we what do we see Paul saying?
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_04: He says in verses 5 through 7 of chapter 2, but if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent, not to be too severe.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_04: This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, someone that far gone that he he's he's he's betraying his own father with his mother, his uh stepmother.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_04: And Paul's saying, hey, restore him.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_04: Don't let him be swallowed up by too much.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_04: Or why?
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_04: Because he obviously repented.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_04: And so the the the operable uh word today is the word repentance.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_04: That is the greatest word associated with hope.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_04: And uh God grants repentance to his children.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_04: So turn to him, no matter where you're at, how badly you've blown it, what's happened, there is hope in the Lord for you.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_04: Be swallowed up by grace.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_04: There's a book title.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_04: Well put, Ray Comfort.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well, there you have it.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_04: So much more to say.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we'll say a lot more at another time.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_04: But don't forget the fight like a man study guide.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_04: Get it today, along with the book.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like, subscribe, share, and we want to hear from you.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_04: Podcast at LivingWaters.com, podcast at LivingWaters.com with your thoughts, your questions, and your criticisms of Ray Mark and Oscar, your praise of me.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us, friends.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters podcast, where we have no idea what we're doing.