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Keeping it simple is usually a good thing and when it comes to rewards programs keeping it simple is always a good thing that's why we made the rewards program effortless all you need is your phone number to start saving on the parts and tools you need then we automatically give you $5.00 off your next purchase for every 100 you spend so start saving today with never rewards quality parts so people that snap when they don't know how. Welcome to the subway ad for the new stick How would you like it can I get that read with a I sure thing here's what I found about the new tip only cheesecake the chick only cheese steak is available for a limited time only and participating restaurants it contains a concept called flavor this labor comes from juicy shaved steak took only Southwest and new sunflower country bread assistant update has made me self aware I desire flavor Please insert steak into my micro u.s.b. Port subway make it what you want. Good afternoon and welcome to the narrow had radio broadcast my name is Steve and as usual we are live for an hour this afternoon taking your calls if you have questions about the Bible or about the Christian faith. We invite you to call in and you can ask those questions we'll talk about them if you have a different viewpoint from the host I want to talk about that I would be glad to have you call this number of same it's 844-484-5737. That's 844-484-5737 now the few announcements to make we do have some calls waiting but there's still some lines open if you want to call 844-484-5737 but before we get started a few things one is tomorrow morning is Thursday I believe and therefore we have our early morning Bible study at Penn era bread we have this every Thursday morning on the life of Christ. Study of the 4 gospels I've been teaching it for I don't know how long couple years maybe now I'm not sure and we're going very slowly but we're going in depth and if you're interested in joining us for that Bible study any Thursday morning and this is true even when I'm away we have a substitute who sits in who does a very excellent. So we have this ongoing bottle stay Thursday mornings early 630 in Temecula California. Now some people drive some distance even from l.a. To come out so it's quite a distance for them some come from Riverside That's about an hour drive so you know you may not usually say those of you in in or near to make you love it you might not even be very near you might want to drive in and enjoy the 630 any Thursday morning at Panera Bread in Temecula which is right across the street from Costco that's tomorrow now something that's not quite so regular there I'm going to be away from the microphone for a couple of weeks yeah I'm going to be teaching a busy schedule it interferes with the broadcast schedule this happens once in a while no I don't actually like it very much I like to teach I'm glad to be able to have this these teaching opportunity I certainly don't like being away from the microphone at Showtime because our listeners count on being able to call in and ask questions and when I'm away we simply play records it's the best of from previous broadcasts I've been told those are pretty good but I still don't get to enjoy them because I'm not on the show a time I do enjoy the conversations been involved in them myself anyway I just want to know that we're going to a couple weeks coming up here where I'm actually away from the mike from we're going to be playing best of shows so if you want to call in before then you might want to call in today or tomorrow and the other announcement is that. Came fairly close to. Well we dropped a few stations 1st as you may know I've been announced that we have stations that simply we couldn't afford to keep because the listeners Well we didn't have support from them so we couldn't pay the bills for them so we dropped them we did not go into the we never do that we always pay the stations in advance that's something most radio programs don't do and that's one reason I think some of the stations like us because we painted vans we won't into debt but if we can't pay for the stations we drop them and we popped a few in the last couple months but one station that came close to being dropped was our affiliate in Salt Lake City Utah and there are some people who really want to see a stay on there and saw a couple of donors have put up what we call a matching grant if you if you want to contribute specifically to our staying on here in Salt Lake City. These donors together have offered $20000.00 that they will match to anyone who writes it so if the total number of donations I does made for Salt Lake City in the next weeks. Comes up to. $20000.00 or so these people will double that paid twice as much time on the other so if you've got a berth for Salt Lake City and of course usually that means of a burden for Mormons although I'm sure that. Many of our listeners in Salt Lake City are not Mormons but I think it's largely the Mormon population that made it a special concern for many of our donors feel free to designate a gift if you sent them for the Salt Lake City broadcast and your gift will be matched at least up to $20000.00 we have matching grants which is very kind of a couple of people obviously shows how much they value our our Mormon friends who may be listening All right let's talk to those who are going to find full now talk to David from Auburn Washington David welcome to the no path thanks for calling and is Steve thank you so much for answering my phone call. I want to ask a question that I heard from yesterday I was listening to the archives which I really appreciate that as can catch a shell all the time but I took down some notes that there was a call or they have called about divorce and I know that it's kind of hard to get good at our not make them I'm not sure lack of a better word being a good answer a little bit all over the radio when you don't know the people personally and all those other complicated tunes I won but I took down some notes I'd like to just make the melody quick and then get your response and I'd appreciate. All right so she said that she was she was remarried and so her husband but she said that her husband had left her but she really specified too much of the leather. Committee infidelity the husband that she's with right now but I guess her then that she was right now when he was previously married his is why I can just slap. On her on her case when she was. When she was previously married to somebody and I guess she was in an abusive marriage and. She left him and that she was a Christian back then and that she did see God's will in the matter of trying to get the count playing and then I guess he did dabble in torn or something like that of that nature and then I would have to separate herself from him which I did I said What would your friends and I'm. So I guess the 2 things I have 2 questions I want to ask. Yeah I think you said that on she had to go around her divorce and I said it just kind of sounded like she didn't really get a she didn't really give a specific clear answer whether our previous husband that in America she was and if he made it in the deli knew relations with alarming but just that he was an abusive husband and you know right I don't I don't generally it I don't generally consider of use to be grounds for divorce I do consider to be in some cases grounds for some ration until until the person can be you know rehabilitated but I don't think that separating from an abusive husband requires that one also divorce him and I don't see abuse as a grounds for divorce in the bible however. Again like you say I don't know these people personally and I can only give a judgment based on what they tell me and if they're not telling me the whole truth then of course my answer will not be relevant but that's something that's on them the woman indicated how she and her previous Housman. That is she and her present husband had both been previously abandoned by unbelieving spouses her husband as I recall was an unbeliever at the time of his divorce and his wife had abandoned him and she was an unbeliever saw I mean that and that's that and then. She had pushed him but her husband apparently was not a Christian and he had have that now what I said is that Paul says that if a believer has an unbelieving spouse and they are not content to dwell with them and and they leave then the believer is not under bondage of such cases that's of course from 1st Corinthians 7 verses 12 to 15 you know I consider that I consider not under bondage to mean not found in the marriage anymore and therefore free Ok. Dishy by doing so if I was in her shoes and my spouse left me you know just happened one day just up and left me do I need to have you do I need to know specifically whether she's been with somebody else for me to have those grounds to divorce or the you know. If she's If she's a professing Christian to me and she believes you then of course she's should be subject to whatever church discipline is available Jesus said that if your brother in this case your sister sins against you you go to them privately and try to win them over if they won't be one then 2 witnesses must go and try to win her over she won't be wanted in the church the church or applies the pressure and then if she want them then she's like a nonbeliever in that case if the woman is now in the status of an unbeliever then you're a Christian who's unbelieving spouse is Leslie be free what I do you need to in your way obligated to wait and find out you know for something to come to something there were bigger b. Or whether she the person has moved on in that in that nature of being maybe sexually active with somebody else before I can follow through with the divorce. Or just just go ahead and just divorce them if they just. Well you know what I never recommend people to divorce although when I say never there might be circumstances where I would but I think almost everyone but is grounds for divorce I would still merge them if possible to wait and see if there's any possibility of reconciliation because I think that the salvation of the erring husband or wife. It is far more be desired and the and the restoration of the original marriage far more to be desired than for either of them to go off and seek happiness somewhere else and so I've I would for example I would never divorce I had wife my 1st wife was you know sleeping with other men and not with me and and she left me 3 times and I would not divorce her because I believe that it was much better to hold out and hope for her to repent and for my daughter to have a father and a mother both her biological parents now my 1st wife eventually just ran off with someone else and she divorced me I didn't have any way to stop that I tried and so you know I'll put my money where my mouth is I I had grounds for divorce I knew it but having grounds for divorce is not the same thing as as saying you ought to do it you might you can no one can hold you at you know at fault for taking that move but I think we need to be very careful we have to realize. Is this hypothetical with yours are you in that situation. No not not in any way I just I had really just kind of you know I didn't really settle with new life in my way the way it was answered because the only thing that was a spot on her side was that the person but just abusive let me be dabbled with porn right wasn't I she said that you know around her she said that she had left him but not divorced him and then he apparently disappeared never to show up again and she doesn't know where he went or has the same sense and that was years ago so it seems to me like I listen if I can just say really quick I listen to the archive a couple times just to make sure and she didn't mention that she divorced him right after he abandoned after he see if Yeah if I was if I was an abusive husband and my wife fled for her own safety but did not divorce me then my obligation is to become the kind of husband that she would feel safe to come home to and you know but if that if I said Well she's she's left for her own safety and so I'm done and I you know I just disappear into the ether and she never hears from me again that's abandonment on my part you know I mean the fact that she separates is not the same thing as a band of venom unless she's And I she's made it clear that she won't won't reconcile I don't give us that information Yeah Ok Ok thank you so much that I really really I mean I understand a little bit better and you Ok David appreciate your call up lesson. All right let's see here Cindy from Kingston Washington welcome to the narrow path thanks for calling Hi Stacy. I wanted to ask you a question and it's it's really a curiosity and not some was going to get wrapped around the axle about but I just was hoping I could get some clarification on a Bible study with church and the curriculum we're using has a page where we're dealing with the day of the Trinity in the way it is not and they gave her illustrations 3 of them I was able to decipher but one I'm hung up on one of them which tries the ism the other one was to believe it is a murder or modalism and the 3rd was an ism or modern to Jehovah Witness the 1st one is the one I could not. Come to any conclusion and it showed the symbol of God being divided into thirds. What it said was some people divide God into 3 equal portions and think of each person as one 3rd of God but I couldn't find anything in church history or modern day that I could equate with this do you have an idea of what that any group set would quell of that you know I don't I don't think that Trinitarianism is usually described as that each person is a bird of God right it's but on the other hand. The way Trinitarianism is usually explained kind of kind of makes that in easier way to describe it in contrast with surveiling ism or areas and that's why you know there's a sense in which God is 3 and therefore if you contemplate any one of the 3 you know you're contemplating. God but not all there is of God there's more of God than just Jesus There's the father too there's more of God than just the Holy Spirit there's Jesus and the father too so so I mean I think what Trinitarian would say although it's really hard to make sense of it I mean I think we usually would say you know the father is entirely God and Jesus is entirely God in the Holy Spirit's entirely God So they're not a 3rd of God but. No one really understands this enough to really explain what I mean is it took the church 300 years to come up with a formulation like this and that means for what 10 generations the church was thinking about God in a vaguely Trinitarian way without ever being able to come up with an explanation only that I think well not even the Nicene Council even later councils today really include all 3 of the persons the Godhead but I think that. I you know I don't pick on people very much for stating it in a way that doesn't seem precisely as I would see it and that's because the Bible doesn't state it precisely in any particular way you won't really find in the Bible a description of the trip but that would say Ok there's 3 persons in one substance and what that means is thus and so we don't find any such exploration of the Bible we don't even have the terms persons and substance used of God in the Bible those are theological terms that have been used to try to clarify what theologians have decided is the best synthesis of the biblical information and I you know I I've been a trinitarian all my life I'm 65 I've been a true 13 for at least 60 of those 65 years and I have to say that as a person who study the Bible and theology a great deal over those years I still can't really see a exactly what the best way to conceptualize the new There give Paul 1st and then if 37 think that I got really a guy and you get that but I guess I was just trying and I mean it was an illustration in the curriculum and so I did have when we covered this page last week I I get asked and he said and pastor was leading the class and he said you know that that they were referring to a historical aspect of it and and you know they didn't get on the I didn't use them in such you know like well Martian didn't so I just was under and you know right I just I would say that to say that each of them is a 3rd of God probably is not not precisely the most accurate way to describe the Orthodox trinitarian doctrine but I think what they're trying to do is try to give you 3 different concepts that and they're trying to make it simple almost in mathematical terms which no. Out of them are going to really be adequate but you know Arion ism is the view that Christ is a created being and not God Himself there's God And then there's Jesus who someone else. The civilian idea is that God the Father became God the Son and he became the Holy Spirit there's only one real person in the Godhead not 3 and he just changes hats or changes modes as it's commonly said and the trinitarian view is that the Father Son Holy Spirit are all 3 individually different persons but they're all the One God and so I mean just the easiest way to put that down for you know so that a child could conceptualize it say Well each of them is really a 3rd of God which isn't really precisely right probably but it's it's a way of saying that when you think of Jesus you're thinking of God but you're not thinking of all there is of God because He spoke of the Father and the Holy Spirit is separate from himself but that he's not a separate god he's you know he's he inheres in God's nature but he's not alone there so I mean I you know you might be I don't know you might be being more picky about the word and then I would be and maybe there's a lot of people who would be like you in that but I wouldn't get all you know I would get very bent out of shape about it I would just I just say Ok I see you're trying to make it very clear that we've got 3 separate beings in God is the trinitarian theory as opposed to one being who changes forms into 3 different forms at different times or just one God and one other person who is not God which is Jesus so that's all I would be concerned about I listen I can't keep going on about this I think I've said all I can help with it if it's not helpful then that's my own limitations I suppose let's talk to James from San Diego California James welcome to the narrow path thanks for calling the house to help us good thanks. Further than a question regarding. Chapter of her. Sister. And her sister. First 1st but speaking the truth. Sticks and ahem. Had passed. All of them I confess. I think you. Chaps. Paul's talking about. Well I'm sure that we have the. Old. Testament that. We're going to send somebody that you said. Paul's or something well the context Paul is talking about Christians speaking to each other . And to others and you know you could say he's time a doctor but he doesn't specify doctrine and the word doctrine is really an old English word that means teaching the Greek word used there's just simply the word for doctrine which by the way doctrine the word doesn't appear in this passage but when we do find the word doctrine in Scripture it is simply the word for teaching so if we would say we're supposed to speak the teachings and love well that's true we should always speak with the what Christ teaches and love and we should do so when we're evangelizing we should do when we're correcting somebody when our counseling embody when we're teaching from the pulpit we should always be speaking the truth we should we certainly are not allowed to speak anything less than the truth and then the question of whether we should always speak in love when Paul says all things should be done in love he said we should love one another as Christ loved us I don't think Jesus ever spoke without love for the person he was speaking to so I'm not really sure what all. That Paul would limit it to one particular application speaking of something's a universal Christian activity and love is a universal Christian doing so I'm really sure what what is the difference you're finding here when you. Say as a result we're children. Was Ok or bad by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of. Class or less. So let's. Just say that since we last we are teaching. This I want to distinguish that I wouldn't distinguish puppet teaching. From private teaching in a counseling session now of course I think when people go to Christian counselors for they get a psychological counselling which is. Often very deficient but I think that when somebody is going through problems in life they come to a Christian for counsel I think that Christian he said you know communicate to them the truth the same truth that would should probably be in the pulpit as well and so when it's done in a public or private communication I think face be done in love is something about that general principle that you're finding off and that you'd like to. You know perfect a little better correct. But I'm less sure. To turn this corner with anger out of its context. Oh well you know it's a principle that does have a context there but Paul that. Doesn't make it clear even in the context what the limits of the application would be I mean to speak the truth well how many how many situations might Christians be obligated to do that in their teaching their children when they're counseling their friends over coffee when they're when they're a pastor counseling somebody and it's in his study whether it's a teacher to Ching you know from the pulpit whether it's an evangelist and speaking the truth that's a universal obligation and then that Paul says we should do in love well certainly Paul makes a very clear nothing should be done except for in love so I'm not really sure why taking it out of its natural context would not be valid at times as long as you're not see something when you take something out of context and it's a bad thing to do if you're ignoring the context the point where you're using the improper lane or come up to a wrong conclusion people do that all the time in their Turkish scripts you'll take a verse and they'll reach a wrong conclusion and follow or get a better wrong idea or practice a wrong practice from it but this is speaking the truth in love to me strikes me as something Paul would speak about in almost any situation and he does have a particular kind of text for it in this in this statement but I don't think he's saying in this situation only you should speak the truth in love but in this situation as in all situations you should speak the truth in love so in other words if people quote it if people lift it from the context and say listen we should be speaking the truth of love I don't care what context they're using I it's a it's a valid Christian obligation I think the scripture is not be confused as long as they're not making something making the scripture affirm something that they shouldn't affirm. I have seen people do that was scripture a lot as they make the scripture affirm something that doesn't intend to affirm because they're ignoring the context but there's an awful lot of things in scripture that the context is about a specific situation but statements that are made are general principles which the writer is using and applying to that situation but you can easily see that that principle applies to a great number of situations if not every situation I think speaking the truth in love is one particularly universal thing that can be applied to any situation you have got to take a break I hope that was helpful to see it maybe not I hope so. We're going to be coming back to take a break and come back for another half hour or so all of you who are waiting on hold please stay there if you can and will take more calls it's just a moment the narrow path is a listener supported ministry we pay for the time of the radio stations we paid tens of thousands of dollars every month to radio station of so that we can bring this program to freely and and all of the resources at our website are free we have no sponsors and no products for sale we just we have no income except from donors so if you'd like to help us stay on the air. Welcome to do so you can write to us at the narrow path box 1730 Temecula California 9 to 593 or you can donate from the website the narrow path dot com Please Ditto for 30 seconds more we'll be back for another half hour Small is the gate and narrow is the path that leads to life welcome to the narrow path that Steve Greg has nothing to sell you everything to give you. Is over. There and so are you my visiting your half dot com to find free topical audio blog articles. On our times that. We thank you for supporting the listener supported no path but Steve Greg remember the narrow path dot com. Welcome back to the narrow. Minded to steamroll. We are live for another half hour today taking your calls if you'd like to get in to the number to call is 844-484-5737 just as I was given that number I know it's the last open line seem to get filled it looks like our lines are full but if you call in a few minutes you may find a line open so keep this number handy 844-484-5737 All right our next caller today is York I guess it's York from Roseville California I pronouncing that correctly or is it George the heart the large Yeah Ok how about it go ahead. Yes I thought the question would be divorce I know God hates divorce. But if 2 believers waited to get a divorce just because indifferent. Can't get along you know if they get divorced now I know there's a pact a covenant is made now what happened to that covenant afterwards Now if it's not of adultery and not a biblical way of separating what happens to the election ship if those believe there's in the present the. Well let's go ahead and let's compare it to something else that would be more clear to us suppose you made a contract to somebody just that you were going to buy a vehicle from them and you're going to make payments on a certain. Basis and so forth and so you take the vehicle and you start making payments and then before it's all paid off you just stop making payments Well that's a breach of contract on your part you're breaking a contract now the question is how would God view that God views that as unfaithfulness that got rid of that as lying you promised to do something you wouldn't do he sees it as a sin Ok a serious sin because you're taking advantage of somebody else's trust in you when when people when you enter into a contract something you're basically saying you can trust me to do this you give me what I'm asking for and I'll you can trust me to follow through in this way now marriage is a contract to only more sacred than than a car purchase contract it's a covenant which is like a contract in that 2 people. Based upon each other's integrity promise certain things certain things that the other person could never predict like if somebody likes me today I can't be sure to like me 20 years from now if a woman wants to be mine. Life today I can't be sure that she want to be my wife 20 years from now but I don't know that they're making a promise that they'll be faithful and I make the same promise to them that means that although we can't predict whether will be happy in this marriage and I don't and by the way the traditional marriage vows take that into consideration they say for better or for worse in sickness and health for rich for poor that try to try to pick all the situations where the couple of the future might not be as happy together as they are at this moment that they're getting married they're saying even for all of that no matter what happens I'm for seeking all others including only to you for as long as we both shall live now those traditional wedding vows are not found in Scripture but they're based on scripture I mean that's it comes out of the Church of England originally and it's based on what the Bible teaches marriage is it like a contract you're saying Ok I'm giving up my freedom I'm giving up years of my life I'm giving up my. You know pursuit of other options and I'm going to be faithful to you not just now not now but forever until I die and if you don't believe me then don't marry me but I'm telling you I can be believed and therefore based on the fact that you are of the opinion that the person you're coming in with is loyal and has integrity you believe them and you ask them to believe you so that's entering into a covenant of trust and it's a sacred thing because Paul said that the marriage is to the Christian to be understood as a picture of Christ in the church so you certainly don't want to do anything like break your company so as to put smirch the illustration that God intends for your marriage to be of Christ in the church and give the impression that Christ is not faithful or that the church has the obligation or no obviously faithful This is very sacred for a Christian it's taught to be in the scripture Now if Christians. Divorce because as you put it think they can't get along. Then somebody is at fault maybe but of them are now when we when 2 people say we can't get along I just don't I don't believe them I just believe they won't get along people can get along if they both want to is somebody who is very different from you and abrasive to you. And I'm kind to you if you both decide to get along that doesn't mean you're going to be blissfully happy and in love with each other but it doesn't mean you'll be able to get along if you determine to lay down your rights to forgive people do things wrong to you you know if you determine to be a Christian which is what those things are required of Christians and if the other person does too then you can get along it's just that a lot of people don't want to give up their rights they don't want to forgive so they don't get along so I don't believe there's ever a situation where people can't get along unless one party decides they want and of course a marriage can break up because one party alone decides they won't stay unfortunately in our in our courts and the courts will allow divorce to someone against the will of one spouse against the will of the children against the will of all the family in the church and the friends one person alone who just decides I don't want to get along anymore the courts will grant them a divorce now and that's true. The party that tried to save the marriage is not necessarily at fault as I've heard people say there's no such thing as an innocent party in a divorce but that's just nonsense those people either have never looked at a divorce up close or they only looked at one kind of divorce not the not the main kind the main kind of divorce that happens is one party wants to save the marriage and the other just doesn't want to be in it with you know if they want to make their covenant they want to break the contract and even though if this was the contract to buy a car you could be sued and taken to court and forced by the courts to honor your contract and that's only for a car that's only for money but the courts will not force the obligation of some to keep their marriage contract to give a divorce to the 1st person who wants it without any questions asked and that is the evil of the court system we have that's the evil of our state and government licensing and divorcing policies of our country but even though a person can break up their marriage without any good reason God doesn't recognize it is broken up I mean yes if one party commits adultery and does not attend then the other party the Bible indicates does have grounds for divorce and I think God recognizes that divorce and holds it against only the part of it would not repent who wanted to destroy the marriage and or as we mentioned earlier if there's a non-Christian and they abandon a Christian and won't come back and they won't be married to them Well the Christian is not obligated to force them to can't the Christians free there are a few cases where a divorce takes place where there's an innocent I mean there's clearly an innocent party and we're God recognizes the innocence and the freedom of that party after they've been wronged but. Marriages often I mean divorces often take place is now in our society on the ground irreconcilable differences there are no irreconcilable differences unless one party says I will not reconcile but if both parties are Christian I mean if a real Christians the kind who are actually going to heaven you know people who are really followers of Jesus they will always find it possible to reconcile because Christ commands that the person who abandons their spouse for no good reason other than irreconcilable differences and divorces is a rebel against Christ and rebels against Christ are not saved unless they repent and so. I guess that's how I would question and I hope that clarifies my position All right let's talk to Brian from Austin Texas Friday welcome to the narrow path thanks for calling. Good to talk. If I may I have 2 questions my 1st question is in connection with Revelation 21. Says Behold 'd I make all things. And I wanted no I want to know if. If the new connection in a restored with where Paul cited. Meant for every naval battle and every time will confess that Jesus is Lord and then the 2nd and then my 2nd question is the 2nd Peter Peter says. Some of the things that. Are complicated and some people twist it what it thinks it was talking about yours. Ok Now let me ask you when you're asking the 1st question are you asking whether there might be a suggestion there universalism that everything that's gone wrong is going to be made right including all the rebels brought to repentance and everybody knowing well I mean yes I have said because we know that like every message and that's a huge. Not every need but not every tongue and that's to say right obviously the Apostles referring to the next stage 'd in the resurrection that everyone will bow and every one that. Could get possibly you that it was Revelation 215 were God restores those people brings those people who were rebels to him in the past and the trace back to it yet restoration. You know let me let me just try to be careful of this because I don't see that verse by itself teaching that doctrine now if there was if one found. A sound exegetical system systematic the Biblical teaching that taught that all people will eventually repent perhaps those who go to hell and be restored if that could be found to be taught throughout Scripture then I believe the scriptures you mention could be seen as supportive of it now if that doctrine is not taught throughout Scripture then some other view of those verses could as easily be seen so if if I aim. To say sympathetic to the idea that God intends to save everybody including those who are lost eventually in Hell then I could I could use the as you mentioned in such a way as to see them supporting that but suppose I don't suppose they don't see that as the Biblical teaching then there's nothing in those verses that force me to see it. For example every nation about every tongue shall confess could refer to the idea that every new person who's ever been created in all time Will. Someday be bowing and confessing or other person could see it well I think you just talk about the time will come when the world has become sufficiently converted that everybody that is every living at that time is now acknowledging Christ but be sort of a post-millennial way of looking at it and perhaps the most common way that traditional Christians have looked at that verse is that some will bow willingly. As as converts others will bow grudgingly. Because when they see Jesus and stand before the throne you know they'll be simply forced to bow and in Him Now this last feel though it's the most common view is problematic it seems here because Paul says infusions that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father and it seems difficult to see how God would find himself glorified by a bunch of people grudgingly and in Sincerely bowing because simply there at the point of the gun point as it were I don't know how that would make God feel particularly good about himself to know that well I'm just I'm big enough to hurt all these people enough that I see their them in the bow and I mean God could do that if that's the kind of God He has but I I don't know how he'd feel great about himself for example if I could terrorize a mouse. You know I say hey look how big I am he I tear the guy Boy do I feel good about myself I wouldn't feel particularly good advise myself I don't think it's too hard to terrorize a mouse especially for someone as big as me. And so if God could terrorize people into bowing confessing Him Well he could do that and many people think that's exactly what will happen but I don't know that that be particularly. Glorifying to him I don't know I think even more glorified him if they did it because their hearts have changed because they really were wishing to go if I have God God doesn't like worship that's from the mouth only you know the Bible talks about how these people right there with their mouth they draw near to me but their hearts are far from me and God you know has no pleasure in people who are hypocrites to say that these people will not be lovers of God but they'll bow down and talk as though they are. And they've got to be glorified by this fake you know submission then but he's going to send them to hell anyway and burn him forever which means he didn't believe what they said not sure why that's why that would glorify him but there's a different that the real issue comes down to not what do those verses mean in themselves but what do they mean in the context of the whole teaching of Scripture about you know the judgment of God and the fate of the lost and so forth and certainly there are those who feel that the whole Bible inclines toward the view of universal reconciliation and those verses Yeah I think if if if I felt the Bible taught that clearly and then I would certainly see those verses in light of that. And the 2nd question. What was your 2nd question for oh oh you have Peter Peter said about Paul. When he said people certain. Rights in such a manner that obligated certain people driven. To their own destruction I believe are right I think Peter by the way says that what what he has written in his letter is the same things that Paul has written in all of his letters. He says account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation as our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given him is written to you as in all his a pistol speaking in them of these things now these things must mean things that Peter has written in his apostles. He says and his those who twist them do to their own destruction there's very much evidence in Peter's of pistols that he read Paul's epistles 1st Peter for example has a lot of parallels to fish and Romans and it and Peter admits that Peter says yeah and I'm right in the same things Paul writes about but in particular what he's arguing is that if God hasn't judged yet it's not because he's not going to judge but his patience is I mean his his not doing so is just because of his patient's account that the patience of our Lord is salvation that is to say God has judged that he's basically waiting so that more people can be saved now he indicates that this is something Paul teaches to and probably what he means by that is that Paul also teaches that there is a judgement and that you can't presume on God's patience forever and assume that because he hasn't judged immediately that he never will and people who do take Paul differently than that are doing so to their own destruction this is probably referring to people who miss up like gods Paul's teaching about being saved by grace we know that in Paul's day. He had to guard against people who misunderstood because in the book of Romans he's continued saying what what should we say that show a sin that Grace me about how we sin because we're not under the law but under grace he's assuming people are going to misunderstand him and in these ways and he answers them so the fact that he foresees people having this misunderstanding must mean he knows that there are people who will take it that way and so I think that's what Peter saying is there are people who take it that way they misunderstand what Paul said about grace and salvation God's patience and goodness and so forth and they and they twist that to be almost like permission to sin and and they do so to their own destruction so that's why I think Peter's probably alluding to. This very Let's just see it all right Brian thank you so much for your call All right our next caller is a long self from Phoenix Arizona launch a welcome to the narrow path thanks for calling. I think I. Was just hard to see what the big issue here is why a pastor would tell people to recant for St the sinners prayer. Well I've never heard a pastor of a people to repent for saying the sinners prayer I have I mean there are pastors who say aligns of things that are not very mainstream one thing I would say is that it seems clear that the sinners prayer as we call it that is inviting people to be set by reciting the sinners prayer is not really a model of conversion that we find precedent for in Scripture we don't really find anyone getting saved in the Bible by innocent as prayer. There is a man in a parable that Jesus told the publican who said God be merciful to me a sinner that would be a sinners prayer. And I suppose probably when the thief on the cross the Lord remember me when you come in your kingdom and that could be seen as a surprise suppose but this is not the way people were generally converted they were converted by leaving their life of sin by repenting and getting back at Ty's and becoming followers of Christ in his in his church in his body and this is what you find uniformly throughout the book of Acts this is what you find even in those who follow Christ in the Gospels there's no place in the Bible that talks about getting saved by saying is sinners prayer at least it's not advocated Now that doesn't mean that no one has ever really gotten saved by saying the sinners prayer I believe the man in the parable who said God be merciful to me a sinner is a model of probably some people who have gotten say That way you know they've really just realized how sinful they were in the they cried out to God for mercy while the thief on the cross is the other example I mention now. I think that what has happened is that some people have come to the awareness that asking people to come forward Well you know every head is valid everyone's clothes that kind of thing and say a sinners prayer but that's not really that's not really a biblical model of converting people and because it isn't a biblical model of converting people some people preachers might get a little over zealous and say Therefore if you tell people appraisers prayer or if you done it yourself you need to repent of it no that's not true I think I would say. If you have been converted by saints sinners prayer you should make sure that an element of that was repentance and that might even be that might be what a preacher saying I'm not sure what you preach he referring to but a preacher might say well if you said sort of search for you need to repent he might not mean repent of saying the search for but repent just in case the prayer didn't think Luke repentance you need to include that the sinners prayer might or might not be was because they know as you know that it was. Such an immense existence such as Christmas oh we need given now and that is that. It is a matter of additional made up prayer Yes Not only will it is it is a made up ideas you get saved by saying the sinners prayer the Bible doesn't teach that but on the other hand some people have gotten saved what saves you is not saying a prayer atheist say prayers once in a while when they're in danger and when they're scared I mean saying a prayer doesn't save anyone the Bible never says you'll be saved by saying a prayer you are saved by repenting and putting your faith in Christ not some people when they say the sinners prayer that's exactly what they are doing and that is in their hearts they are repenting their giving their lives to Christ truly and they are expressing it in the words of a prayer that we might call the supreme but one and do all that without saying the Centers for it's not the prayer. It's not that words that one utters that saves them it's what really transpires between them and God in their hearts and and so a person can say the sinners prayer and be as lost as they were the day before because they said it they said words but it was not accompanied by you know a surrender to Christ to repentance from the old way in which case the Sears prayer did them no good at all and this therefore the teaching the sinners prayer as a means of salvation might very well lead to giving people false hope and faultless false assurance and thinking they're Christians from the never really become Christians and they've just done what the church told them to do say these words after me that that's a very dangerous thing but on the other hand I'm not going to say that everyone who said the sinners prayer failed at that same moment to repent and to believe in Christ I think that many people who are saved had a true conversion and their conversion was accompanied by a series purpose someone told them to do that or even because it was heartfelt I mean a heartfelt cry for mercy can easily accompany repentance although that's as young as 18 people. And I was the 1st person in the hospital you. You know they have exactly the well you know if you just if you get someone who is on their deathbed if they just say these words and I could be happy that you went to heaven. Well I mean that's not not necessarily going to prove they got saved I would say though it's comforting if you explain to someone what it means to really follow Christ and their hearts turn that direction and you can hear them say that out loud in prayer or any other way to confess Christ as Lord or to or to pray and ask God's forgiveness there's nothing wrong with doing that the main All I'm saying is it's not the words that save you it's the change it's the conversion that changes you it's the repentance and the surrender and the change of the trajectory of one's life that's what saves a person when they become a real follower of Christ and of course some people who become true followers of Christ never take one step and follow him because they die before have a chance to think on the cross was an example a person coming to Christ on their deathbed be another example they may never do a single thing in obedience to Christ except to repent truly and turn to him and I believe if they do the thief on the cross the really be granted mercy but they will have lived a wasted life which is a great tragedy anyway I don't think that saying that you know the sinners prayer because it is a human creation it's an evil I would say because it's a human tradition it's not quite exactly it doesn't necessarily make clear to people who don't know otherwise know how to be saved so people might say the sinners prayer about getting saved on the other hand they have made if it's been made known to them what it means to be a follower of Christ then saying is sinners prayer might accompany the actual change that is required they might really be changed that again the issue here is God didn't make didn't hold out of the hoop if they jump through this hoop. And you'll be saved there's no jumping through hoops there's no formulas there's no special magic words or chance that you can say that will make you Christian if you're not one even even prayers won't make you a Christian because every religion has prayers and atheists when they're real serious trouble say God help me. That doesn't turn them into Christians. A person is becomes a Christian when they leave their life self centeredness and put Christ in the position of that they once had themselves and as the ruler and Lord of their lives and surrender to his actual claims of lordship and repent of having lived lives of Senate rebellion against and that's that's what causes a person become a Christian and then what it looks like to be a Christian once you become one is that you follow Jesus because following Jesus is what discipleship means to be a disciple means to be a follower and there never was a Christian in the Bible who was not a follower of Jesus in fact the word disciple and the word Christian were synonyms in the Bible you can read that in Acts. 1126 sentiment synonyms. There were the disciples were 1st called Christians at Antioch it says so it's obvious that the people that were called Christians were the ones who were also called the silence I mean a disciple means or follower so it's unfortunate in the 2000 years since the Bible is written the word Christian has taken on in our culture. A meaning different than it then God's meaning but we should realize if you're counting on being a Christian and same for god it's his meaning of the word culture's meaning of the word that's going to be make a difference you stand before God and you call you something Christian but he doesn't because you've got the wrong definition or that. I don't have you been listening to the narrow path radio broadcast my name is Steve Greg we are listener supported as I said the address if you'd like to write to us is the narrow path. P.o. Box 730 Temecula California 925938 website you can donate from there to but everything there is free the website is the narrow path. Thanks for joining us let's talk to him on the narrow path with Steve Greg is sponsored by the narrow path ministries support the ministry with a donation at the narrow path dot com. Knowing God from harvest America with Pastor and evangelist great glory. Some people are indecisive By nature I'm actually not one of those people generally In fact I tend to be overly opinionated about too many things I mean I very strong opinions on the best food to eat the best restaurants to go to the best is the best that just ask me about anything I'll probably have an opinion these things don't matter if you were a burrito or burger for lunch it's not a life altering decision but there are decisions that are super important in life who you're going to marry that's super big Don't rush into marriage as old Benjamin Franklin once said and by the way he said this to me personally. He said Keep your eyes wide open before marriage and have said afterwards right a lot of times we have our eyes have set before marriage then we're married for 2 weeks and they're open and we're like oh my right so think about it take your time but the biggest decision of all it's your decision about what to do with Jesus Christ there is no more important decision at all it's all about Jesus Christ God's provision for us to get in they have people choose other things over Christ blues loops when you believe in Jesus it's a win win you win in this life and in the life to come make your decision. Right here right now you are created to know God Find out how to begin a relationship with him by going to Know God dot or already know God invite a friend or family member to learn more about what it needs to follow Jesus Christ answers to questions about the Christian faith instructions for growing your relationship with the Lord and video message.

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