Latest / The Mark Driscoll Show / Pastor Mark Answers Your Top Questions of the Week (May 22nd, 2025)

Transcript

Pastor Mark Answers Your Top Questions of the Week (May 22nd, 2025) · The Mark Driscoll Show

• 0:00
  All right, theological nerd question.
• 0:02
  I'll be your your nerd friend today.
• 0:04
  What is the difference between justification and
• 0:06
  sanctification? Actually, and this is a great
• 0:12
  question and not to be critical, but you missed regeneration.
• 0:17
  So justification, this is the language of the Bible.
• 0:21
  The heart of the Protestant Reformation was justification by
• 0:24
  faith alone, through grace alone and Christ alone.
• 0:27
  Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer, said this
• 0:30
  is the issue on which the church rises or falls.
• 0:32
  So justification and justification is a is more of a
• 0:36
  judicial legal concept that God is holy and a judge and we are
• 0:40
  sinners and guilty. Well, how can we be justified or
• 0:45
  declared righteous in the sight of God if we are guilty?
• 0:49
  Well, then what we're going to need is imputed righteousness.
• 0:53
  We have no righteousness of our own.
• 0:54
  The Bible says that our righteousness is like filthy
• 0:57
  menstrual rags, so not good. And so if we don't have inherent
• 1:03
  righteousness, we need imputed righteousness.
• 1:06
  Therefore Jesus comes. He lives without sin.
• 1:09
  The life we have not lived, He dies the death we should die,
• 1:12
  the death for sin, He rises to conquer the enemies that we
• 1:17
  could not conquer, and that is Satan, sin, death, hell, and the
• 1:20
  wrath of God. And then Jesus on the cross took
• 1:23
  our place and put us in his place.
• 1:26
  Said Corinthians 521 says God made him a no, no sin to become
• 1:29
  sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
• 1:33
  So Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer called this the great
• 1:36
  exchange. Jesus took my place, put me in
• 1:37
  his place. What that means is he takes
• 1:39
  condemnation, I get salvation, he endures the wrath of God.
• 1:44
  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
• 1:46
  He gives me the grace of God. And what that means now is that
• 1:51
  my righteousness is Jesus Christ.
• 1:54
  OK. God made him a new no sin to
• 1:57
  become sin so that in him we might become the righteousness
• 2:00
  of God. So my righteousness is not, it
• 2:04
  is not in me, it is in Christ. And then it is imputed or
• 2:09
  reckoned or granted to me, meaning when I stand before God
• 2:13
  and he's like, why should I let you into my heaven?
• 2:15
  I'd say because I'm here with Jesus Christ.
• 2:17
  Jesus is my God, Jesus is my savior, and Jesus is my
• 2:22
  righteousness. I come before God not with my
• 2:25
  performance, but his performance.
• 2:29
  And I come in Christ positionally inheriting the
• 2:34
  righteousness that he has given to me as a gift of grace.
• 2:37
  That's justification. Regeneration is now.
• 2:43
  So justification is God's work for you.
• 2:48
  Regeneration is God's work in you.
• 2:50
  This is where Jesus is to Nicodemus.
• 2:53
  You must be born again. The Bible calls this the new
• 2:56
  birth. The Bible calls this the new
• 3:00
  heart. The Bible calls this the new
• 3:02
  covenant. Paul says, you know old things
• 3:05
  are passing away and all things have been made new.
• 3:07
  This is regeneration. It's the new birth, being born
• 3:10
  again, born of the Spirit. And regeneration is where God's
• 3:16
  work for you then begins to work in you.
• 3:20
  This means you get a new mind. You no longer conform to the
• 3:24
  pattern of this world, but you're transformed by the
• 3:26
  renewing of your mind. You get a new heart, you get new
• 3:30
  emotional life, you get new desires.
• 3:33
  The apostle Paul says in Galatians, he says that the
• 3:36
  Spirit is against the flesh and the flesh is against the Spirit
• 3:39
  to keep you from doing. And this is this brilliant line,
• 3:42
  what you want to do. So if you were regenerated, born
• 3:46
  again, you've got new desires. You're like, I want to know
• 3:50
  Jesus. I want to learn the Bible.
• 3:52
  I want to become more like Christ.
• 3:54
  I want to find a church. I want to get to know other
• 3:57
  Christians. I, I love them like brothers and
• 3:59
  sisters and family. So you know that you have been
• 4:03
  justified when your regeneration kicks in and you're like, man,
• 4:08
  I'm thinking different. I'm acting different.
• 4:10
  Like I was talking to somebody recently and they're like Pastor
• 4:13
  Mark, I, I, I don't know what's going on.
• 4:15
  I'm like, OK, what's going on? They're like, I don't know, I'm
• 4:17
  thinking about Jesus all the time.
• 4:19
  I'm feeling really bad about some things in my life that need
• 4:21
  to change. And I've started reading the
• 4:24
  Bible and I really have this desire to learn the Bible.
• 4:27
  And in worship, I'm crying and I'm like, it sounds to me like
• 4:30
  you got born again. Like I so that's God's work in
• 4:34
  you. There's change, not perfection,
• 4:36
  but progress. So there's justification, God's
• 4:39
  work for you through the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus.
• 4:42
  There is a regeneration, God's work in you through the person,
• 4:45
  the presence, the power of the Holy Spirit, and then
• 4:47
  sanctification, which is God's work through you.
• 4:51
  Now your life starts to change. Why?
• 4:54
  Because you've been changed by God.
• 4:57
  And so now your behavior starts to change you.
• 5:00
  You live a life of repentance like, oh, I'm not going to say
• 5:04
  that, not going to do that. Not so that God will love me,
• 5:07
  but because he does and I love him.
• 5:10
  And that's who I used to be, but that's not who I am now, and
• 5:14
  that's not who I'm going to be when my God is done with me.
• 5:18
  And so justification is God's work for you.
• 5:22
  Regeneration is God's work in you.
• 5:24
  Sanctification is God's work through you.
• 5:28
  The Bible calls that spiritual fruit, right?
• 5:31
  The fruit of the spirit is Lovejoy, peace, patience,
• 5:33
  goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
• 5:37
  Jesus says a good tree bears good fruit.
• 5:40
  And So what it is, is it's God's work through you.
• 5:44
  And so these are the three elements and aspects of the
• 5:47
  Christian life. We are saved by the work of
• 5:50
  Jesus, justified. God's work for us begins a brand
• 5:55
  new birth in US, regeneration. And then our life begins to
• 6:00
  change as our life is saturated with the power and presence of
• 6:04
  God. And that is sanctification,
• 6:06
  which is growing and maturing and learning and repenting.
• 6:10
  And it is in the process of getting to the point where
• 6:14
  perfection is the inevitable goal when we are risen from the
• 6:18
  dead and God's salvation work is completed and ultimately we are
• 6:23
  fully redeemed and healed and restored and right relationship
• 6:27
  with God. So I hope that encourages you.
• 6:29
  And for those of you who are wondering, like, am I really a
• 6:32
  Christian? The question is, what is God
• 6:34
  changed in you and what is God changing in you in so far as
• 6:38
  desires and beliefs and behaviors?
• 6:41
  That is an indication that you were born again and now you're
• 6:45
  in the change process because you've trusted in the finished
• 6:48
  work of Christ for you. All right, next question, you're
• 6:52
  ready. What is the best way to practice
• 6:54
  Sabbath? I want to grow closer to Christ,
• 6:56
  but I don't know what to do. So the whole concept of Sabbath,
• 7:00
  it begins with God. So in the opening chapters of
• 7:04
  Genesis, it says 6 days God created, he worked, and on the
• 7:08
  7th day God rested. In the original Hebrew it
• 7:12
  literally says for six days God breathed out and on the 7th day
• 7:18
  God breathed in. And so the Sabbath is the day
• 7:22
  where you catch your breath. It's literally what it means
• 7:25
  when somebody says, man, I am exhausted.
• 7:27
  I need to get a day off and catch my breath.
• 7:30
  They're literally using the biblical language for Sabbath.
• 7:33
  So the Bible then establishes A7 day week, and atheistic
• 7:39
  communistic nations, including the Russians and the French at
• 7:43
  various points have tried to do something different and never
• 7:45
  works were made by God for seven days.
• 7:50
  And then it is codified in the 10 commandments, Exodus chapter
• 7:55
  20. It says because God worked for
• 7:57
  six days and rested on the 7th day, you should work for six
• 8:01
  days and rest on the 7th day. And the Sabbath day is holy unto
• 8:06
  the Lord. That's what the Bible says.
• 8:09
  What day should the Sabbath be? Well, you go to the New
• 8:12
  Testament, Paul says somebody picks this day, somebody picks
• 8:16
  that day, doesn't really matter, just pick a day.
• 8:21
  So it's a seven day week. Now the Jews, they, they, they,
• 8:24
  they practiced the Sabbath, honored the Sabbath on Saturday.
• 8:28
  But then for the Christians that they shifted because Jesus rose
• 8:33
  on a Sunday, it's called the Lord's Day.
• 8:36
  And so Christians stopped meeting on Saturday and they
• 8:40
  started meeting on Sunday because with the resurrection of
• 8:44
  Jesus, all things were made new. Should it be Saturday?
• 8:47
  Should it be Sunday? Maybe you got to work on the
• 8:49
  weekend, so you take Wednesday. Paul says just pick a day and
• 8:54
  and honor the Lord one day a week.
• 8:56
  What do you do on the Sabbath? Well, what Jesus says is don't
• 9:00
  do what the religious people do and they turn a grace into a
• 9:04
  law. They turn a gift into a burden.
• 9:08
  And all of a sudden the Sabbath becomes a day that you do a lot
• 9:11
  of religious work. So you don't do your secular
• 9:14
  work, you do your religious work.
• 9:15
  And so Jesus says man was not made for the Sabbath.
• 9:19
  The Sabbath was made for the man.
• 9:21
  And So what that means is that the Sabbath isn't over us like a
• 9:26
  a domineering boss. The Sabbath is under us to serve
• 9:30
  us and to help us. And So what do you do on the
• 9:33
  Sabbath? Well, first of all, it's a day
• 9:35
  for you to rest. So don't work and don't be
• 9:41
  pouring yourself out, but instead allow God to pour into
• 9:44
  you. In addition, what are the things
• 9:47
  that help you to get closer to the Lord?
• 9:49
  Those are good things to do on the Sabbath.
• 9:51
  Go to church. You should do that and be with
• 9:54
  God's people. And don't run in and run out and
• 9:56
  check your phone, like turn your phone off, turn your soul on,
• 9:59
  show up early, serve, meet God's people, sing, pray, take the
• 10:03
  sacraments, which are means of grace, partaken communion,
• 10:07
  listen to the Word of God, sit under the preaching of God's
• 10:10
  Word. All of that is good for your
• 10:12
  soul. And then get some time with
• 10:14
  God's people. If you got family, friends, make
• 10:18
  memories, right? Practice for heaven.
• 10:21
  One of the one of the concepts of heaven in the Bible is an
• 10:24
  eternal rest or Sabbath. So what do you do on the
• 10:27
  Sabbath? Will you hang out with the
• 10:28
  people you're going to hang out with in heaven and you enjoy
• 10:31
  them? Like if you got a wife, kids,
• 10:33
  husband, grandkids, hang out with them, make memories, have
• 10:39
  fun, have a meal together, go for a walk, take a nap, enjoy
• 10:44
  God's creation, read your Bible, not because you have to, but
• 10:47
  because you get to maybe turn off the technology for the day
• 10:52
  and and cause it to be a day of of doing things differently.
• 10:56
  In the concept in the Bible of holiness is something is
• 10:59
  distinct. It is unique.
• 11:01
  The concept of profane is, you know, this is what everybody
• 11:05
  does. Holy is this is this is for the
• 11:07
  Lord. And so like for me, some of the
• 11:10
  things personally I like to do, I like to go for hikes.
• 11:15
  I just do. I like to go outside and I like
• 11:18
  to go for long prayer hikes. And I just talked to the Lord on
• 11:22
  the way in. I tell them everybody and
• 11:24
  everything I'm thankful for on the way out.
• 11:26
  I'm praying for people and things.
• 11:28
  And that's usually a couple hours, just me and the Lord.
• 11:31
  And I find if I get that time, that is really good for my soul.
• 11:36
  Sometimes on the Sabbath, I'll go for those hikes and I'll go
• 11:39
  with my wife and we're visiting and praying and talking and just
• 11:42
  hanging out together. And I'm enjoying God and my
• 11:44
  wife. What I like to do on the
• 11:47
  Sabbath, I'll be honest with you, I like to take a nap.
• 11:51
  Once you become a certain age, God gives you this superpower
• 11:55
  where you can take a nap and it's fantastic.
• 11:57
  So I like to take a nap. What I like to do on my Sabbath
• 12:01
  day is why I like to sleep in and not set my alarm and so I
• 12:04
  wake up by the crack of lunch or whenever I happen to get up.
• 12:07
  I do read my Bible and pray and study.
• 12:10
  I find on the Sabbath sometimes I really like to get on my knees
• 12:13
  and humble myself and just spend some time before God repenting.
• 12:18
  I really like hanging out with my grandkids.
• 12:20
  It's like next level joy bonds and, and so get extended time to
• 12:26
  just play with them and enjoy them and set up activities for
• 12:29
  them and water slides for them and bouncy houses for them.
• 12:32
  And and it's just a time to enjoy the people that God has
• 12:36
  given me. And so, yeah, for you, a Sabbath
• 12:40
  is whatever causes you to get a break before you break and to
• 12:46
  enjoy God's people and God's presence and for that day to be
• 12:50
  different than every other day. Don't let religious people give
• 12:54
  you a lot of rules. Instead just ask the Lord, hey,
• 12:59
  you know, what would you like me to do on this day?
• 13:02
  And if your heart is pure, then you will get to do the things
• 13:06
  that you want to do. I'll close with this.
• 13:08
  The Holy Spirit brings the scripture to mind from Psalms.
• 13:11
  It says delight yourself and the Lord and he'll give you the
• 13:14
  desires of your heart. What that means is repent,
• 13:18
  worship, pray, surrender, submit to God, enjoy Jesus Christ.
• 13:24
  And then what happens is he will put desires on your heart.
• 13:27
  He will give you the desires of your heart.
• 13:30
  You're like, you know what, I want to go for a hike.
• 13:32
  I want to take a nap. I want to have everybody over
• 13:35
  and have a big meal together. I want to go see my friends.
• 13:38
  I want to go hang out with my grandkids.
• 13:41
  I want to read the Bible. I want to study the Bible, I
• 13:45
  want to serve at church. I want to spend some time
• 13:50
  literally with worship music on praying to God.
• 13:53
  If you delight yourself from the Lord, He'll give you the desires
• 13:56
  of your heart. And then on your Sabbath day,
• 13:58
  you do those things that He has put on your heart as you were
• 14:02
  delighting in Him. And then that'll be a day that
• 14:05
  is glorifying to God and a day that's really good for you.
• 14:08
  All right Question Time, will some people receive greater
• 14:15
  rewards in heaven than others? And will some people have
• 14:18
  greater punishment in hell? Or is it the same for everyone?
• 14:21
  Great question. Yes, this is the doctrine of
• 14:25
  eternal rewards. And the Bible says that everyone
• 14:31
  will be judged according to their deeds.
• 14:34
  So there will be greater degrees of reward in heaven and greater
• 14:39
  degrees of punishment in hell. But let me just say this, a bad
• 14:45
  day in heaven is still a good day, and a good day in hell is
• 14:48
  still a bad day. But God is just.
• 14:53
  And the Bible, it uses this language that God is a judge and
• 15:00
  that He knows every thought of our mind.
• 15:02
  He knows every word, He knows every deed, He knows every
• 15:07
  motive that he sees and knows all and that there will be two
• 15:11
  judgments. Paul to the Corinthians talks
• 15:14
  about the judgment of the believer and, and it is not the
• 15:19
  judgment of heaven or hell. It is the judgment of eternal
• 15:22
  rewards. Some will refer to this as the
• 15:25
  the Bema seat of the judgment seat of Christ.
• 15:28
  So the the judgment of the believer is you live your life
• 15:32
  and then you stand before God and you are given a sort of a,
• 15:36
  an eternal rewards. The Bible uses the the language
• 15:42
  of like servants that are given talents and then how they
• 15:48
  invested those talents or spent their life is then a return on
• 15:52
  investment and eternal reward. Meaning for those who in this
• 15:57
  life they suffer for Christ, there's going to be eternal
• 16:02
  rewards, right? Well done, good and faithful
• 16:04
  servant. There will be eternal rewards.
• 16:08
  Jesus says do not store up your treasure on earth where moth and
• 16:12
  rust destroy. Store up your treasure in
• 16:15
  heaven. That's the doctrine of eternal
• 16:17
  rewards. And so if you are someone who
• 16:20
  grew up in a Christian home and you met Jesus at a young age and
• 16:23
  you got to go to a Christian School and you know everybody's
• 16:27
  been for you and you have just sort of squandered your life.
• 16:31
  You know the Lord, but you don't.
• 16:33
  You don't give, you don't serve, you don't evangelize, you don't
• 16:37
  sacrifice. You're on the team, but you're
• 16:40
  lucky to get a participation trophy because you're up in the
• 16:43
  stands and you're not down on the field.
• 16:46
  You may still go to heaven, but you're not going to get a big
• 16:50
  reward. The Bible says some will be
• 16:51
  rulers of cities and some rulers of 10s of cities.
• 16:54
  And so the story of the Bible is that when God created everyone
• 16:59
  and everything, it was good and very good.
• 17:01
  And God's original divine design was be fruitful, multiply,
• 17:04
  increase the number, fill the earth to do it, exercise
• 17:07
  dominion. We sin against God.
• 17:10
  Jesus comes, lives, dies, rises. He's coming again to lift the
• 17:14
  curse and to raise the dead. But God's plan is to go back to
• 17:17
  Genesis 1 And two. God's plan was perfect.
• 17:21
  Now we weren't. But God doesn't need to deviate
• 17:24
  from his perfect plan just because of imperfect people.
• 17:27
  So what will heaven be like? It'll be a lot like Genesis 1
• 17:30
  and 2, people in their physical body ruling and reigning with
• 17:34
  dominion, creating culture and creating cities and creating
• 17:38
  artwork and enjoying food and all the things that you and I
• 17:42
  probably aspire to. The doctrine of eternal rewards
• 17:45
  is for those who've served well in this life, they're going to
• 17:48
  get more leadership, opportunity and the life to come.
• 17:51
  Then there is the White Throne judgment.
• 17:54
  This is in Revelation chapter 20.
• 17:56
  This is the judgment of the unbeliever and there will be
• 17:59
  varying degrees of punishment in hell according to their quote UN
• 18:04
  quote deeds. That's what the Bible says.
• 18:07
  So let's say you're just a a nice happy Pagan who rejects
• 18:11
  Jesus, but you're decent to your neighbor and pay your taxes.
• 18:14
  You get a certain judgment and a certain sentence if you're a
• 18:18
  person who is a cult leader, if you are a a Christian leader who
• 18:24
  is abusing women and children sexually and you're a predator.
• 18:29
  Well, there's going to be a a whole nother level of divine
• 18:32
  judgment and punishment for you that that the punishment will
• 18:37
  fit the crime. And this is where God is all
• 18:39
  together, just and, and the sentence it fits the crime.
• 18:45
  And the Bible says that the hell was created for the devil and
• 18:49
  his angels and that if we are unrepentant, we join them there.
• 18:54
  Well, Satan and demons are going to get a certain level of
• 18:57
  punishment. Those who are most satanic and
• 19:00
  demonic will get a higher degree of punishment.
• 19:02
  And so think of it this way. No one is getting away with
• 19:06
  anything. It says in Romans that we're
• 19:10
  storing up wrath for the day of wrath, OK?
• 19:14
  What that means is that the unrepentant habitual sinners
• 19:17
  aren't getting away with anything.
• 19:18
  They're storing up everything, meaning all of their iniquity is
• 19:23
  going into a case file that'll be opened at the White Throne
• 19:27
  Judgment, and then their sentence in hell will be
• 19:30
  commensurate and consistent with their life of transgression and
• 19:34
  iniquity. And so for those of you who are
• 19:37
  serving Christ and suffering for Christ, know this.
• 19:40
  You're making an internal investment and there will be
• 19:43
  eternal rewards. For those of you who are denying
• 19:46
  Christ and you are Antichrist, there will be a conscious
• 19:50
  eternal torments of hell that await you and the punishment
• 19:53
  will fit the crime. Lastly, some ask, well, what are
• 19:56
  these rewards? You know what, we'll see when we
• 19:59
  get there. I believe that they are
• 20:02
  internal, this sense of meaning, value and purpose.
• 20:07
  I believe they could be external, it could be leadership
• 20:10
  position in the Kingdom of God, and they are eternal.
• 20:14
  And so I believe these rewards are internal, external and
• 20:17
  eternal. And we'll know when we stand
• 20:20
  before the Lord Jesus. But at the end of the day, know
• 20:23
  this. If you're suffering for Christ,
• 20:26
  if you're serving Christ, it's not in vain.
• 20:29
  You're just preparing yourself for the day when you stand
• 20:33
  before Jesus and He rewards you eternally for faithfulness in
• 20:37
  this life. Similarly, if you are denying
• 20:41
  Christ, the more opportunity you are given and the more
• 20:45
  resistance that you respond with, the greater the punishment
• 20:51
  you will be experiencing in conscious eternal torment
• 20:54
  forever. And so everything in this life
• 20:57
  matters and it matters forever. All right, one, one question
• 21:01
  here. What are the closed handed
• 21:03
  issues that Christians should be able to explain and what
• 21:06
  resources would help me study them?
• 21:10
  I'm going to ask them to just post the doctrine book.
• 21:13
  It has the 12 big doctrines from beginning to end of the Bible,
• 21:18
  and it's deep and it's thick and it can help you.
• 21:21
  My friend Charlie Kirk recommended it as a book he was
• 21:24
  enjoying just before he died. And so I use the language of
• 21:29
  closed and open handed issues. So closed handed issues are
• 21:33
  issues that you have to agree to to be a Christian.
• 21:40
  So think of it like the United States of America.
• 21:43
  We have States and there are state borders.
• 21:46
  Well, those are like denominational borders, right?
• 21:49
  Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Assemblies of God,
• 21:53
  Pentecostals, Bible church people.
• 21:55
  Different states, but still the same nation.
• 21:57
  We're all Christians. Then there are national borders.
• 22:01
  Well, now if you crossed over this, you're into Canada or
• 22:04
  you're into Mexico. So to be part of the Church of
• 22:08
  Jesus Christ is to know the difference between open handed
• 22:14
  issues, state borders, closed handed issues, national borders.
• 22:20
  And so open handed issues are those things that Bible
• 22:24
  believing Jesus loving Christians could disagree on
• 22:26
  agreeably. It doesn't mean that they're
• 22:30
  unimportant. But to quote the apostle Paul in
• 22:33
  First Corinthians 15, he says what I received, I passed on to
• 22:36
  you as of first importance. First importance would be the
• 22:41
  closed handed issues. Secondary importance are not
• 22:45
  unimportant, but they're they're not first importance.
• 22:48
  Those would be the open handed issues.
• 22:49
  So on the closed hand, this is where a lot of the church creeds
• 22:53
  really were about these issues. This would be the Bible 66 books
• 23:00
  is the perfect inerrant, flawless, divinely inspired from
• 23:05
  the Holy Spirit through human authors word of God.
• 23:08
  There is one Godfather, Son, and Holy Spirit, the doctrine of the
• 23:12
  Trinity. Orthodox, Catholic and
• 23:15
  Protestant believers all agree on that, that human beings are
• 23:18
  sinners by nature and choice. The Jesus Christ is fully God,
• 23:24
  fully man, born of Mary, lived without sin, died on the cross
• 23:29
  in our place for our sins as our Savior and Substitute
• 23:33
  physically, bodily rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, is
• 23:38
  alive today ruling and reigning as King of Kings and Lord of
• 23:41
  Lords, and is coming again to judge the living in the dead.
• 23:45
  And there will be a resurrection and some will go to eternal
• 23:48
  death and some to eternal life, and all will stand before the
• 23:51
  judgment seat of Christ. Closed handed issues most of
• 23:55
  them regarding who is God, how does God speak and reveal and
• 24:01
  how does God save us, forgive us, invite us into relationship
• 24:05
  with him. Jesus is the way the truth and
• 24:08
  the life. No one comes to the Father but
• 24:10
  by him. Closed handed open handed Bible
• 24:14
  translation Bibles in the closed hand Bible translation in the
• 24:18
  open hand open hand would be the the Bible says in the closed
• 24:22
  hand to worship God open hand how you worship God.
• 24:25
  Do you use instruments? Do you sing the Psalms?
• 24:28
  Do you sing the hymns and, and so there's a difference between
• 24:31
  principle and method. Usually principles in the closed
• 24:35
  hand. Method is in the open hand.
• 24:37
  So the Bible says as well to gather together with God's
• 24:41
  people for church. OK, well, what should the
• 24:44
  service order be and what day should we meet?
• 24:47
  And well that that can be in the open hand.
• 24:49
  Secondary issues as well, like the Bible says to train your
• 24:53
  children, right, to educate your children open hand.
• 24:56
  Well, do you homeschool them? Do you send them to Christian
• 24:59
  School or do you send them to private school?
• 25:01
  Well, principal method closed hand is principal open hand is
• 25:04
  method open handed issues as well like speaking in tongues or
• 25:09
  the second coming of Jesus. In the closed hand there are
• 25:12
  some issues like Jesus is returning, the dead will rise
• 25:16
  and people are going to heaven and hell.
• 25:17
  Closed hand, open hand. Will there be a rapture?
• 25:21
  Is the thousand year millennial reign mentioned six times in
• 25:25
  Revelation 20? Is that is that a literal 1000
• 25:28
  years or is that a metaphorical figure of speech?
• 25:31
  Open hand, you know how old God created the heavens and the
• 25:35
  earth closed in? How long ago was it 6000 years
• 25:38
  ago? Was it millions of years ago?
• 25:40
  Open hand, you see how this works.
• 25:43
  And so if you want to know what the closed handed issues are,
• 25:46
  these are the issues that reveal who our God is, how he speaks,
• 25:52
  who we are, and how Jesus is the savior.
• 25:56
  Most of the closed handed issues are going to be around those
• 26:01
  closed handed issues. The open handed issues we can
• 26:04
  disagree about, but we don't need to divide over.
• 26:07
  And so this would be things like Calvinism versus Armenianism.
• 26:12
  So God saves us closed handed. Well, do we choose God or does
• 26:17
  God choose us? If you think we choose God,
• 26:19
  you're an Armenian. If you think that God chooses
• 26:22
  us, you're more of a Calvinist. Well, that's an open handed
• 26:24
  issue. And so these are the, the
• 26:28
  various ways that that we need to be careful because what
• 26:32
  heretics and apostates do they take things that should be in
• 26:36
  the closed hand and they move them to the open hand.
• 26:40
  Well, maybe there's not just two genders or maybe homosexuality
• 26:45
  in the Bible, God means something else or or maybe
• 26:48
  there's other savior. So they take, So what, what
• 26:50
  liberal apostate progressives do?
• 26:53
  They take things that should be in the closed hand and they put
• 26:55
  them in the open hand. What legalistic religious people
• 26:58
  do? They take things that should be
• 27:00
  in the open hand and they move them to the closed hand.
• 27:02
  You have to use the King James Bible.
• 27:04
  It's the only right translation. No, that's not true.
• 27:06
  The earth is 6000 years old. Otherwise you don't believe the
• 27:09
  Bible and you're a heretic and an apostate.
• 27:11
  No, that's not true. I'm speaking in tongues is
• 27:14
  evidence of demonic possession because there was an ancient
• 27:17
  religious group called the Cyberleans and the all Ustinians
• 27:20
  and they had prophetic prayer languages.
• 27:21
  They were unknown and human. OK, now what you're doing,
• 27:24
  you're taking an open handed issue and you're putting it in
• 27:26
  the closed hand. So this is really the art of
• 27:30
  Christian maturity and theology. What goes in the closed hand?
• 27:34
  What goes in the open hand? Don't put everything in the
• 27:38
  closed hand, you'll be a legalist.
• 27:39
  Don't put everything in the open hand.
• 27:41
  You'll be an apostate. And this is where wisdom and
• 27:45
  study and time are necessary to get these issues sorted out.
• 27:51
  And so I don't know if they want to, but I'll just tell them to.
• 27:53
  We'll post the doctrine book and hopefully it'll be of service to
• 27:56
  you. Thanks for the great question.
• 27:59
  Thank you very much for watching.
• 28:01
  And if you do me a solid, go ahead and subscribe and we'll
• 28:04
  get you lots more Bible teaching content.