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In this enlightening episode, listen as Steve Gregg addresses listener questions ranging from biblical interpretations to practical Christian living. Key discussions include Christian freedom, the transformation into Christ’s image, and the struggle with sin and repentance. With thoughtful explanations and scriptural references, Steve provides clarity and guidance on living a life that reflects God’s glory.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Good afternoon and welcome to the Narrow Path Radio Broadcast. My name is Steve Gregg and we’re live for an hour each weekday afternoon taking your calls. If you have a question on your mind about the Bible, about the Christian faith, Maybe you have some problems with the Bible, objections even. Maybe you have objections to Christianity, something you’ve been taught about that you’d like to challenge. I’d be glad to hear from you today. We have a couple of lines open at the moment. The number to call is 844-484-5737. That’s 844-484-5737 if you’d like to be on the program today. Our first caller is John in Austin, Texas. John, welcome to The Narrow Path. Thanks for calling. Thank you, Steve.
SPEAKER 08 :
I appreciate you taking my call. I just want to say before I say what I want to say, I appreciate all your teaching. I’ve benefited from it tremendously, actually. But you always welcome people to call in if they disagree with something. And the other day I was here, I heard something you said about a couple of verses. And I have a different way of interpreting those verses. So I thought I’d bring them up and see what your thoughts are on this. So the two verses in question were Romans 3.23 and 1 Corinthians 10.31, which you used as a co-text to support your interpretation of Romans 3.23. So Romans 3.23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And you seem to interpret that by us failing to glorify God, we’ve sinned. Now, I don’t read it that way. The way I read it is saying we failed to be like God. And by failing to be like God, we can’t be with God. Because in Paul’s theology, as I understand it, immortality and glory are God’s. And if you’re going to be one with God and share in that, you have to be like him. And the incorruptible can’t put on the corruptible. And he’s saying, look, because we fail to be like God, we can’t be with God until in life we’re going to perish, basically. But then he goes on to say, but we can do it through grace, because we’re going to share in Jesus’ glory, basically. We’ll be justified in glory, and he’s going to make us glorious. Now, the three co-texts, I see it throughout all theology like this, but I’ll just use three co-texts that I think give this idea, and then I want to go to your co-text and say why I think your co-text from 1 Corinthians 10-8-1 isn’t even about the subject of sinning. So, one of the co-texts would be Romans 2-7, which it says this, For those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. Another one in the same context of the book is Romans 8.18-19. It says this, I consider our present suffering are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Oh, sorry, and Romans 17 before that about if we share in his suffering, we’re also sharing his glory. And then… 2 Corinthians 3.18, which says this, And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. So that’s basically the context I would use in terms of, I think, that’s the subject he’s talking about. It’s not that we fail to glorify God as well. He’s saying we fail to be like God, so we can’t be with him. And I want to go to your co-text and say, well, I don’t think this is about sin. So the co-text you used was 1 Corinthians 10.31, which says this. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Now, to me, this is not about personal sin. This is about you’re an ambassador for Christ and why you’re here. Don’t put a stumbling block in front of someone. Because, for example, if I live with Jews or Muslims, I wouldn’t eat a ham sandwich. But it’s not a sin for me to eat a ham sandwich in my house. He’s not saying, I’ve failed to glorify. He’s saying just, this is not about personal sin. Whereas Romans 3.23 is, I’ve personally sinned and fallen short of being like God. Whereas this is not about personal sin. It’s about being an ambassador for God, and it’s a public issue. So if you’re in the public, don’t put stumbling blocks. So that’s how I take it. So I’d like to see your take and see why you agree or maybe disagree.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I don’t disagree. Like you, I believe that God has made us to be like him. And becoming like him is being changed from glory to glory into that same image, as it says in 2 Corinthians 3.18. It is a glory that will be revealed in us, according to Romans 8.18, because when we see him, we’ll be like him, the Bible says in 1 John 3. So becoming like Jesus is the goal, and that is when we share in his glory, that is in his image. We have verses that are kind of similar to each other in this in Romans 9.29, which says that whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. to be transformed or conformed into his image, that he might be the firstborn of many brothers. So we’re to become like Jesus, transformed into his image, so he’d be the firstborn of a large family of many brothers. In Hebrews, I think it’s chapter 2, if I’m not mistaken, it says that God wanted us to be, he wanted to be the father of many brethren. And he wanted to bring many sons to glory. Now, in Hebrews, it says he wanted to bring many sons to glory. In Romans, it says he wants us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. I believe the image of Jesus and the glory of God are interchangeable in terms of what our destiny is. It is the hope of the believer to be like Jesus, and that is the hope of glory. Christ in you is the hope of glory. It’s the blessed hope. It’s the appearing of the glory, according to Titus 2.13. So, I agree with you that the glory of God is the likeness of God. And that is what we are called to. Now, you’re saying when Paul, in Romans 3.23, said all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, what Paul is saying is that it’s not that we failed to glorify God in our behavior. It’s that we failed to be like God. Now, see, I don’t see those as two different things. I think God is glorified when we are like him. And I think when we’re unlike him, we’re not glorifying him. So, I mean, I think sin is falling short. The word sin in the Greek means to miss the mark. Well, what is the mark? The mark is to be like Jesus. And when we sin, we are not like Jesus. We’re falling short of his image. We’re falling short of the glory of God. Because Jesus never sinned, and he is righteous. So I don’t see… I don’t think that Paul is saying that sinning is by definition falling short of the glory of God. I believe what he’s saying is the failure… To glorify God is what sin actually is. It’s kind of the same way. In other words, we’re not defining glorifying God as sinning or not sinning. We’re defining sinning as not glorifying God. I don’t really know that there’s that much of a difference or any difference in what you and I are saying. You may be emphasizing a different side of the coin. To me, it’s one coin. If I’m sinning, I’m not being like Christ, and I’m not bringing glory to God. If I’m living like Jesus, I am being like Christ, and I am glorifying God. So, to me, I don’t see these as disattached ideas. For almost all my whole ministry, I’ve taught that becoming like Christ is the hope of glory for us.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you. I see what you’re saying. There’s no conflict. I just think it’s what Paul’s saying really. Basically what I’m trying to say, I don’t get out of that verse that our purpose in life is to live for the glory of God. I don’t think that’s what Paul was trying. You could probably extrapolate that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, yeah, I mean, you can, because you mentioned that I mentioned 1 Corinthians 10.31. That certainly is saying that we are to glorify God. When it says, what do we eat, drink, do all to the glory of God, he’s not saying we should eat or drink in such a way that we are like Jesus in our eating and our drinking. He’s saying we’re doing it in order that God will be glorified rather than that God will be, you know, diminished in the sight of those who don’t believe we should eat meat sacrificed to idols in the context. He says, well, you know, we have liberty to eat meat sacrificed to idols. But, you know, as a testimony to people who have a stricter conscience about that, we should probably restrain our eating of such things so that God will be glorified. Not so it would be like God, as if God restrains his eating. or even as if Jesus restrains his eating. He’s talking about doing things for the glory of God. That’s what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, where he said, Let your light shine before men, so men will see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Now, your light shining before men is, in a sense, the glory, the light shining, the glory of God shining from you in your behavior. And men will then see the good works you’re doing because you’re like Christ. And as a result, God will be glorified. They will glorify your Father, which is heaven. So I just see being like Christ is the glory of God in us. And then, of course, the behavior of someone who’s like Christ is going to bring glory to God. So these are simply two parts of one thing.
SPEAKER 08 :
I can see, I think for me, and I don’t want to keep this call too long, but for me, I see it as this whole undertone of Paul’s theology that if you’re corruptible, you can’t be glorious. Something that has glory is incorruptibility. And I think what Paul’s just trying to say is, hey, because you’ve sinned, you’re going to be corruptible. You’re destined for death. You’re destined for perishing. So it has to be a free gift. because you can’t share in the eternal glory of God in that state.
SPEAKER 01 :
I think you’re missing one of the scriptures that you mentioned. We are certainly corruptible until the day that we die and are resurrected in glory, because our bodies are sown in dishonor and they’re raised in glory, it says in 1 Corinthians 15. So at this present time we are corruptible, but we are still being changed from glory to glory into the image of Christ. As you quoted, 2 Corinthians 3.18 tells us, as we behold him unveiled as in a mirror with an unveiled face, we are being changed from glory to glory. So the glory of God is being manifest in us. The path of the righteous is like the dawning light that grows brighter and brighter until the full day, it says in Proverbs. So, you know, I believe that we are glorifying God by being more and more like Jesus. His glory is being manifested. If somebody is around you and feels like, well, I feel like I’m around Jesus when I’m around you, well, then that’s probably because you are a lot like Jesus. It’s probably because you have, you know, that degree of Christlikeness that God’s working in us all, maybe to a greater degree than the other people they’ve been around. Anyway, I’m not going to debate that because I don’t feel like I’m on the other side of the aisle from you on this. No, no.
SPEAKER 08 :
One more thing and then I’ll go. So I think there’s a distinction between the incorruptible and corruptible. The outer shell is corruptible. What Paul’s talking about, he’s saying there’s a hidden work inside that we can’t see, but one day it’s going to be revealed. It’s ontological. It’s not just like metaphorical. There’s something… That’s being made immortal, but it’s inside. It’s veiled. It can’t be seen until the outside, which is corruptible, gets taken off. And I think for him, that’s the Spirit with the Holy Spirit in it. Something ontologically is being transformed. I tend to agree with annihilationists. I think the soul will be destroyed. But for us, we have a soul that’s being made immortal. And the same way Jesus was resurrected through that Spirit, we’re going to be resurrected. It’s going to show itself.
SPEAKER 01 :
So I’m trying to understand what we see differently. It sounds like what you’re saying is different than what I’m saying. is I believe that as we are growing in Christ and growing more like him, this is visible. This is manifested in our behavior. We actually become inwardly more like him, and we behave more like him as a result because we’re changing from glory to glory into his image. It sounds like maybe what you’re saying is there’s this invisible changing going on from glory to glory, that it won’t be manifest until the resurrection when our bodies are glorified. and that Paul is not talking about any transformation in our present life that can be noticed or seen. I may be misunderstanding you, but that sounds like the distinction you’re making between what you’re saying and what I’m saying. Anyway, you know, I appreciate you sharing that. I have my lines full and very little time to take them, but I appreciate you sharing with us, John. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. God bless you. Bye now. Okay, Greg in Sonoma, California. Welcome to The Narrow Path.
SPEAKER 02 :
Listen, Steve, I thought I heard you say that the Romans 9.29 was the passage about being predestined to be transformed to the image of Christ.
SPEAKER 01 :
Did I say 9?
SPEAKER 1 :
8.29.
SPEAKER 01 :
Did I say 9.29?
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s what I thought I heard.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I may have misspoke. It’s very possible. Yeah, I meant 8.29. All right.
SPEAKER 02 :
The passages I’m going to read are from Matthew chapter 22. verses 23, 31, and 32. The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. They came to Jesus. Jesus said in 31, But about the resurrection of the dead, have you not heard what God said to you? I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And along with that, John chapter 14, verse 6, that Jesus said he’s the way, he’s the way, the truth, and the life. So that’s how to get to God the Father. What do you say to an atheist that says there’s not going to be a resurrection and I’m not accountable to God? How would you explain that to an atheist?
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I was trying to figure where you’re going to go with the verses you cited. Then you came up with a question that seemed to be independent of him. I would say if an atheist says he’s not going to be resurrected or stand before God or answer for his deeds or pay any penalty for his sins, I’d say, well, you certainly are disagreeing with what Jesus said about that. You’re certainly disagreeing with what God says about that. So you better hope that on the Day of Judgment, it turns out you were smarter than Jesus and God about these things. And I wonder where it is that you got your expertise about it. You know, if someone says, well, there is no resurrection of the dead on the last day. Well, since the last day hasn’t come yet, you’re making a prediction that something will not happen. And, you know, the prophets of God, Jesus, the apostles of Jesus, all made the opposite predictions. I mean, I know what their credentials are. What are yours? You don’t know any more than I do from internal knowledge or from personal experience what will or will not happen on the last day. But we do have a word from some individuals who actually did have divine knowledge about that. And to my mind, divine knowledge stands up against speculation of an atheist. So I can’t prove to you that you’re wrong. But I would think that you’d be rather desperate to prove that you’re right, because I’m not in any trouble if you’re right, but you’re in a lot of trouble if I’m right. So I would say if you’re going to tell me that you’re right, that there’s no resurrection, there’s no judgment, I’m just wondering, wow, where are you getting the confidence in that? Who’s your source on that? Where’s your evidence of that? You know, Richard Dawkins said, the next time somebody tells you that something is true, ask them, what is the evidence for that? And if they don’t have a good answer, don’t listen to them. That’s Richard Dawkins’ direct quote. So I’m going to go with Dawkins on this. If you say there’s no resurrection, no judgment. I can say, okay, what evidence is there for that? If you say, well, what evidence is there that there is? I’m going to say, well, the evidence is that Jesus rose from the dead. There’s plenty of evidence from that that historians, you know, will attest to much of the evidence for that. And so Jesus is the first alive from the dead and said that he’s going to raise the rest of us too. He’s got some credibility. What credibility does the atheist have? He’s got his wishful thinking. You know, he thinks Christians are the ones… who are living in a wish-fulfillment fantasy. I think the atheist sounds like he’s living in a wish-fulfillment fantasy. He’s got no evidence at all for what he’s saying. But he certainly better wish that it’s true. But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. All right, let’s talk to Jim from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hi, Jim. Hi, Steve.
SPEAKER 09 :
My question is, you know, I constantly feel like I’m not worthy of
SPEAKER 10 :
and yet it says that it isn’t in works for grace. Can you clear that for me?
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, if you did feel that you’re worthy, you didn’t say worthy of what? You mean worthy of God’s love, worthy of salvation? I’m not sure what you’re feeling unworthy of. Some people just walk around feeling unworthy of anything. You feel unworthy of salvation? No.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, worthy of salvation, just not doing what’s right, you know.
SPEAKER 01 :
Okay. Well, we are supposed to live lives, walk a walk worthy of our calling, so we should endeavor to live as much as possible in a way that would justify God’s choice of us. But God doesn’t choose us because we’re worthy. He doesn’t choose us because we did a number of right things. We could never do enough right things. There’s too many things we do that aren’t right, and you don’t… You don’t cancel out a bad deed by doing a good deed. You can do a lot of good deeds, but all the bad deeds you did, you still did. And you didn’t change anything by doing good deeds. So you can’t be worthy if God’s standard is that he wants us to stand before him clean and sinless. Well, yeah, then you and me are both unworthy. And so does everyone else. Don’t take it personally. You know, everybody’s unworthy. Everybody has sinned. And therefore, we are unworthy. And if a person feels that they are worthy, that probably is the most, maybe the most dangerous spiritual condition a person can be in. Because if a person thinks he’s worthy, it means he’s delusional or has no idea of what being worthy looks like. So, I mean, if you know you’re a sinner, then you know you’re not worthy. However, the Bible says that God makes us, as it were, worthy. He makes us acceptable in the beloved, in Christ, it says in Ephesians chapter 1. What it says in Romans chapter 3, right after it says in verse 23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, which is, of course, what you’re saying, I think, about yourself and all of us could say about ourselves. We have sinned. We have fallen short of the glory of God. So what hope is there for any of us? Well, Paul goes on. We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, grace in Paul’s context means God’s benevolence, God’s love for us. Now, if you say, well, I don’t feel like I deserve God’s love. Now, I don’t know if you have family or not. I don’t know if you have children or not. You might not. I mean, I don’t know anything about you, but I will say this. If you have children, you know that your children do not have to earn your love. They don’t even have to be good. They should be. But even when they’re not, you love them. I mean, any parent that’s worth their salt. I realize there’s some pretty horrible parents in the world today, probably because most people have lost sight of even the whole goal of family and parenting and things like that. So this isn’t true of everybody, but it’s true of everyone who’s a decent parent of any kind. Not a perfect parent, but a decent one. Anything less than this is simply horrible. A decent parent would die for their child. They love them so much, even if their child is spitting at them, because that’s what love is. That’s what parental love is. Anyone who knows this about themselves and their child knows what it’s like for God to look at us when we’re sinning. He loves us, too. We’re prodigal children. When we come back to him, we’re not prodigals anymore, but we’re still imperfect. And we are sons that he accepts in Christ. Now, we should be very much conscientious about wanting to do the thing that pleases a God who’s so merciful and kind to us, who loves us regardless of what we do. The fact that somebody loves us no matter what we do doesn’t translate into license to do all the things that that person finds obnoxious because they’ll love us anyway. Anyone who thinks that way is such a jerk. I don’t know. I mean, I guess being such a jerk is its own punishment. How could anyone live with any self-dignity if they have that kind of attitude? If you know that someone loves you even when you hurt them, and you have a modicum of decency, you think, well, I don’t want to hurt them. I don’t want to hurt them. I mean, how could I do that to somebody who’s forgiven me so many things? But, you know, so we have it in our hearts that we want to live pleasing to God. Every Christian who’s born again has that in their heart. If you’re not If that’s not in your heart, you’re not born again. When you have a heart that doesn’t care about God, that doesn’t care that I wrong God every day, even though he forgives me and I can get away with it maybe, I might think, you know, if I don’t have a desire to please God, to give back to him as much as I can of my life in place of the amount of it I’ve wasted, You know, to serve him with all my heart. If that’s not my heart, I don’t know if I’m a convert. I mean, how am I different than an unbeliever? Except by that standard. What’s the difference between me and an unbeliever? Well, I might sin scandalously less than they do. But that could be based on my temperament. That could be based on my circumstance. That could be based on religious ideas quite apart from God. Lots of religions make people behave better. But let’s just say, let’s talk about an unbeliever who’s behaving pretty well, and I live my life, I behave pretty well. So what’s the difference between them? Well, the main difference is I want to please God. I have a heart toward God. My life is devoted to serving and pleasing God. That’s my whole goal in life. How do I get to be in that state? By being converted. Converted. By having the heart of stone taken out of my chest and a heart of flesh put in there. By having God’s law written on my heart. That’s something he does. He changes me. And when he changes me like that, I am changed. And I’m changing my orientation. Now, if a person has not been changed in that particular respect, what respect? Instead of wanting to serve myself and who cares what God thinks, I want to please God. And who cares what I think? That’s the change. Why should I please me? What did I ever do to earn the right to be pleased? God doesn’t have to earn that right to be pleased. He made us, so he’s got that right inherently. Plus, he’s given us all kinds of benefits we don’t deserve, so he has earned it. But, you know, what have I ever done to deserve to have my way in the world? Who am I that the universe or God or any human being should take note of me? Nobody. So, you know, I’m unworthy. But if I’m really born again, I have a new heart. And my new heart is I don’t want to keep doing the things that offend God. But even if I fail, even if in weakness I stumble, God still is merciful. God is gracious. And so, you know, if you read Romans 3, verses 23 to the end of that chapter, I think you’ll get an answer to your question you’re asking there. We’re not saved because we’re worthy. We’re saved because God is. has decided that in Christ, who is worthy, we are accepted in the Beloved. But we do, nonetheless, regret sinning against God and desire to live a life that’s pleasing to Him. That’s the change that takes place when you are regenerated, when you’re born again. If you haven’t gotten to that point yet, of course you need to find God and repent and give your life to Christ. But if you have done that, Just rejoice in the fact that God accepts you even though you’re not perfect. Hey, I need to take a break. We’ve got another half hour coming up. Our website is thenarrowpath.com. I’ll be back in 30 seconds. We’ll take some more calls.
SPEAKER 04 :
Small is the gate and narrow is the path that leads to life. We’re proud to welcome you to The Narrow Path with Steve Gregg. Steve has nothing to sell you today but everything to give you. When today’s radio show is over, we invite you to visit thenarrowpath.com where you’ll find topical audio teachings, blog articles, verse-by-verse teachings, and the archives of all the radio shows. Study, learn, and enjoy. We thank you for supporting the listener-supported Narrow Path with Steve Gregg.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome back to the Narrow Path radio broadcasts. My name is Steve Gregg, and we’re live for another half hour, taking your calls. Looks like we have one line open at this point. If you want to join us, if you have questions about the Bible or the Christian faith, or you want to express your disagreement with the host on some issue, that always makes the show enjoyable. Go ahead and do that. We’ll be glad to take your call. The number is 844-484-5737. That’s 844- 484-5737. All right, our next caller is Ronald from Fort Worth, Texas. Ronald, welcome to The Narrow Path. Thanks for calling.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, I was just thinking how we set a bad example by celebrating Christmas, knowing that it’s not Jesus’ birthday. If we’re supposed to be living in truth, then what we’re supposed to do is find out the truth and go by that. Now, a lot of people want to make their kids happy or whatever, but we’re supposed to be living like God wants us to live. And he said, live by truth. And so I just think that it’s for me.
SPEAKER 01 :
I hear you. Yeah, we’ve got to live by the truth. Now, in other words, if we’re telling people that Jesus was born on December 25th, when we really don’t know if that’s true or not, well, then we’re probably compromising the truth a little bit. On the other hand, if we think there’s very good reason to believe Jesus may have been born on December 25th, as well as any other day of the year could it be, there’s actually a few arguments to be made for it based on some biblical data. Then we could say, well, we think he might have been born on December 25th, but we don’t know. Or we could simply say, I don’t know when he was born. But if I want to celebrate his birthday, I have to do it on some day. I mean, I could do it every day, and frankly, that would be my preference. I think our whole lives should be a celebration of the fact that Jesus was born and that he died and that he rose again and that he’s exalted on high and he’s the king. That should be defining my life every moment of every day, and my whole life of obedience and seeking to please him is my celebration of those facts. But some people like to celebrate special days. Those who do, I don’t care what day they choose to do it. I mean, if they say, listen, I don’t know what day Jesus was born, but we’re going to do it on December 25th. That happens to be a convenient time since people have that day off work. Most people are looking at that day the same way, and so I’m just going to do it that day. That’s not being untruthful. I mean, as long as you’re being truthful. One thing you can say is if you tell the truth, you’re not being untruthful. If I say, and I’m not saying this, but if I were to say, I’m going to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th, although I don’t have any assurance that he was born on December 25th. Well, that’s not being untruthful. In fact, that’s being completely truthful, it seems to me. It’s speaking quite honestly. Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
But the majority seems to think that that’s Jesus’ birthday. We have to let it be known that nobody knows when Jesus was born because that’s the same thing that people who don’t believe use to attack the people who do believe. Y’all say we do this and we do that, and look at you. You don’t even know when Jesus was born. And so I just think that going out all the way with the truth, we don’t know when he was born. I heard he was born in August. you know, because for the sign of the Leo or whatever, and that sounds more conviction than, you know, than the December 25th. But I’m just saying, like, if no one knows, we don’t say. We just say we don’t know, and we’re going to celebrate it. But in other words, December 25th, that was supposed to be some type of other celebration of a pagan celebration or something like that. So it just, to me, it just looks, It doesn’t look good, you know, when we’re supposed to be keeping the truth. All right.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, you said, I think, what I said. If we tell people we don’t know what day Jesus was born, but we’re just celebrating it on December 25th because that’s, you know, I could throw a dart at a calendar of the whole year and say, okay, whatever date this dart hits is the day of the year I’m going to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Or I could do it the same time everyone else is doing it. You know, you said the same thing I just did. You know, we need to tell people the truth. We don’t know what day he was born. I’m not really sure why I would even care what day he was born. The fact that he was born, I don’t even care what day I was born. I happen to know my birthday today. On occasion, it has been celebrated, but it’s just not important for me. It doesn’t matter what day I was born. I’m here now. Every day, every morning, I’m kind of born into a new day. Tomorrow, I might not be. There’s going to be some day I won’t wake up, and then I won’t be born that day. I won’t start a new day then. But who cares? Who cares what day anyone was born? I don’t. So anyway, some people do, and if people do, then they’re going to be disappointed because they won’t know for sure. When Jesus was born. But the fact that he was born is a whole lot more important than to know what day of the year it was. So anyway, it sounds like I’m saying the same thing you’re saying. I appreciate your call, though. Let’s see here. Let’s talk to Barbara from Roseville, Michigan. Hi, Barbara. Welcome.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you. My question is coming from Revelations chapter number two, the church of Tyre, Tyre. and the minister’s name is Jezebel. And is this actual or symbolic? And I guess this has already happened.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, yeah, I mean, it’s writing, it’s a letter to a church in a town that existed when John wrote it. The whole book of Revelation is an epistle to seven churches that were contemporary churches at his time. Actually, most of them are not there now. They were all in what we call Turkey today. I believe one of them might exist, maybe two. Smyrna is modern Izmir. I think there’s a church there. And Philadelphia, I think there’s a little church nearby there now. But the other five churches are just gone. I mean, the seven churches are not there anymore as seven churches. So it’s obvious he’s not writing to any churches there today. He’s writing to the churches of his time, just like Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in his time, and Peter wrote to the churches of his time, and so forth. So, yeah, but this church, Jesus said one thing he really has against them is they’re allowing a woman named Jezebel to prophesy there. Now, her real name almost certainly was not Jezebel. I mean… I guess there’s a remote possibility it could have been, but there’s no reason to suggest it. He also calls Jerusalem Sodom, and he calls Jerusalem Egypt. He calls some entity Babylon, some city he calls Babylon, which probably isn’t literal Babylon. There’s those who have the doctrine of Balaam there, but Balaam is long dead. Jezebel is a famous false evil queen of Israel who corrupted Israel. and led them into idolatry and immorality. Well, that happens to be the very thing this woman in this church is doing. So she’s given code name Jezebel. What her real name was, no one knows, but she was leading the people to commit idolatry and immorality. In other words, she’s kind of the the new edition of Jezebel, what Jezebel did in Israel, this woman’s doing the same thing in the church. And so Jesus is saying you’ve got to make her stop doing that. Don’t tolerate that. Jesus is obviously making it very clear that the church should be practicing church discipline, and they’re not. So that’s what that’s talking about. The woman there was leading people into immorality, into idolatry, Her real name, I’m going to argue, almost certainly was not really Jezebel, but that was the name that she was stamped with because of her activities being identical in the church to those which Jezebel did in Israel. All right. Thanks for your call. Let’s talk to John from Gainesville, Florida. Hi, John. Welcome. Welcome.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, thanks for taking my call, Steve. I’ve got to ask you a question. Is there any hope for salvation for me if I commit the same sin over and over again before I finally get a grip on it and I’m able to quit? I repent every time I commit the sin, seek forgiveness for it, only to do it again, just like the alcoholic that falls off the wagon, only to get back on the wagon and fall off again, finally gets on the wagon before he stays on. In this case, we’re talking about fornication. I see a beautiful woman in a store and I have an image in my mind. that take that image home with me and fornicate to it. Is there any hope for me, Steve? I mean, I repent. I finally got a grip on it, but I’ve repented every time, and I hope there’s hope for salvation for me. That’s all I want to know.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right. But Jesus said to us, if your brother sins against you, In one day, seven times, and seven times says, I repent, you shall forgive him. Now, he’s telling us how to forgive other people, but the reason is because we’re supposed to forgive others because God forgives us that way. Jesus never asks us to be more gracious than God is. to be more loving than God is, to be more patient than God is. If he tells us to be patient, to be forgiving, then it’s because he is patient and forgiving. He wants us to resemble him. Obviously, we know another passage where in Matthew 18, Jesus said you should forgive your brother not seven times, but 70 times seven. And we know that that’s not a literal number. It just means keep doing it until you lose count. Just keep doing it. There doesn’t seem to be any end to the times that you would forgive somebody if they repent. And God’s that way. We sometimes think that God is like religious people. And that’s a shame. Because really, Christian people should be like God, that we’re supposed to be like him. Instead, we are not like God. And so people get the impression that God is like religious people. Religious people, many times, they’re judgmental. They’re unloving. They’re holier than thou. You know, they become impatient if you don’t change fast enough. We have to remember that God wants you to stop sinning, of course, and that’s why you do repent when you fall to sin. And, of course, you should never lose your desire and your commitment to live a holy life and to overcome sin in your life. But when you fall, the question is, do you say, oh, well, I guess there’s no hope for me, so I guess I’ll just live in this sin. Or do you say, oh, no, I hate this sin. Like Paul said, I hate the things I do. You know, in my mind, I agree with the law of God that is good, but I find there’s another thing, another law in my members that brings me into bondage of sin and death. And he calls himself a wretched man because of this. Now, I realize that some people say, well, he’s talking about his life before he’s a Christian. Well, he doesn’t say that’s the case, and he certainly talks as if it isn’t the case, because earlier in Romans 7, he was talking about his life before he was a Christian. And he used past tense verbs. But when he began to talk about this struggle, he abandons past tense verbs and uses present tense verbs. I do the things I hate. Who will deliver me from this body? And it was Paul, like every other Christian, desires to live a holy life, but also has struggles with the flesh. Now, it’s not as if there’s no cure. But it’s not a cure that’s like a one-time cure. It’s not like you say a magic prayer and suddenly you never have temptation again. Temptation will afflict you as long as you have a flesh to be tempted. But Paul said in Romans 8 that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus had made me free from the law of sin and death. And he says that what the law could not do through the weakness of the flesh, God has done. he gives us his spirit and if we walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit we gain victory step by step it’s not a one time does it all it’s not like you get saved and then you don’t sin anymore or even and I’ll say this without without desiring to offend my Wesleyan friends but Wesley seemed to believe that after you’re saved you can still have a second work of grace that will eradicate the sinful nature. This is called entire sanctification in Wesleyan theology, and that once you do that, you won’t sin anymore. Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t say that. I can appreciate that desire to believe that, because who wouldn’t want to believe that? But I don’t think the Bible teaches that. I think the Bible teaches that this is a battle. We wrestle. There’s always the danger of losing a match, but that doesn’t mean we give up on the whole sport. You can lose a battle, but it doesn’t mean you give up on the whole war. you know, we’re fighting against, you know, lusts that war against the soul, Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 2. He says, as strangers and pilgrims, I urge you, abstain from worldly lusts that war against your soul. Okay, so you’re in a war like the rest of us. And yes, you know what your besetting sin is because it keeps happening. Now, what do you do about it? Well, first of all, you realize that God is not as shocked about this as you are, nor is he as impatient as you are. God sees good people stumbling every day millions of times over. God sees everything going on, and there’s millions of godly people who fall short. in one way or another every day. Is he disappointed? I’m going to say yeah. I’m going to say he’s disappointed. But he’s not shocked. He’s not surprised. This is the world he has reached out to. This is the world he came to save. And this is the world he is saving. These are the people he’s saving. And he’s saving them from their sins, but not all at once, apparently. This is done through their warfare. against the flesh, against the world, against the devil, and his assistance of them, giving them grace in the fight, forgiving them when they fall down, and saying, hey, okay, get up on your feet. Let’s try that again. Let’s try not to do that next time. And that’s your whole life, it may be. Now, when I say it’s your whole life, it doesn’t mean that the struggles you’re having right now will be as intense for your whole life as they are now. Because most people, I think, who walk with God consistently, although they do find that there are certain sins that they really fall into repeatedly, at least earlier in their life, and sometimes maybe for years it’s a battle they fight, yet as you get older, eventually if you keep up the fight, you begin to find that you’ve conquered some ground. You begin to find out that you’re not… weak in that area in the same degree as before. Now what does the fight mean? Well the fight certainly means desiring to walk in the Spirit, to mind the checks, the conviction of the Spirit about things. If you’re starting to do something and the Holy Spirit says, hey, that’s not the right thing to do, then you turn the other way and go away from it. Every time you can, ask God to help you. Ask God to give you the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome that in your life. Now, will you be perfect? Well, you will be while you’re walking in the Spirit, but you won’t be walking in the Spirit every moment. I mean, it’d be good if you do, I shouldn’t say you won’t be because, you know, I don’t know anything that would necessarily make it impossible, but I just don’t know anyone who walks in the Spirit every moment. And therefore, when you don’t walk in the Spirit, you succumb. But when you walk in the Spirit, you don’t. But in the meantime, when you do stumble, there is grace. John wrote this in 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2. He said, My little children, these things I write unto you so that you don’t sin. Okay? So that’s the norm. Don’t sin. That’s why I’m writing to you telling you don’t do it. Don’t sin. But he said, but if anyone does sin… So he’s kind of living in the real world here. You know, you’re not supposed to sin, but frankly, sometimes you do. He said, if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he’s the propitiation for our sins. That means he atoned for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. So, 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2. Don’t sin, but if you do… All is not lost. Now, the fact that, again, that all is not lost when you sin doesn’t mean that you should lighten your approach to it and say, well, okay, if all is not lost, I might as well just give in to it. If you don’t fight it, it will consume you. It will destroy your life. It will destroy your walk with God. It will become an addiction. I mean, maybe it’s already an addiction. God can break you free of it, but not without your participation in the struggle. And if you say, well, I just feel too weak even to struggle against this. Well, maintain the desire to stop at a high level. In other words, don’t ever say, well, I guess I’ll never beat it, so I won’t try to beat it. No, you determine to beat it. And if you fall, don’t get discouraged. Just say, God, forgive me. I need more strength in this area. I need to stop doing this. And over time, if you do not give up on that battle, you will win it. At least you will see ground gained. You may not be perfect. It may not be something that you never have again in your life ever after a certain point, but it is something that you will habitually defeat. But you shouldn’t say, well, I keep falling, therefore I’m not saved. Well, I mean, frankly, I will say this. In some cases, maybe people do keep falling because they’re not saved. I’m not going to say that I know you’re saved. All I’m saying is the fact that you keep stumbling and repenting is not proof that you’re not saved. It’s proof that you need to have patience and fight the good fight and depend on the grace of God and be obedient to God. And this also means, of course, avoiding those things that happen, that you do. I mean, you look at things, you watch things, it may be, and you might say, well, everybody watches these movies. Well, maybe they can handle it. Maybe you can’t. You know, let’s face it. I’m not even talking about pornography. I’m not even talking about, you know, sexually explicit movies. As you say, if you see a beautiful woman. You take her home with you in your head. Well, yeah, I think that’s a fairly male thing to do. But if you find that that’s happening and you can’t defeat it, stop looking at those women, even if they’re fully dressed and well-behaved. You don’t have to be looking at these women. Now, you might say, but everywhere I go, there’s women. True. But you can avert your eyes if you’re determined to do it. I realize that a lot of times men won’t avert their eyes because they simply don’t have the willpower, and then they condemn themselves for their weakness. And, well, we are weak, but we should never be okay about that. We shouldn’t say, well, I’m weak, so that’s okay. No, we need to say, I’m weak, so I need to keep working at being stronger. And if you’ve been doing this for some months or years, and you find that you’re not defeating it, don’t give up. I know men who’ve gotten over some of that kind of thing after years of struggling. They say, but that’s an awful long time. It makes me tired just to think about it. Well, what else do you have to do with the rest of your life? then fight your sin. What else is there to do with your life? What other goal is more worthy of your time and effort than to become like Jesus? This is the definition of your life as a Christian, is to become more like Jesus. You’ve got nothing better to do with your time than to fight this fight and to overcome these battles. So, I mean, I just want to, I don’t want you to be too discouraged because every person that gets saved is a person who’s had a struggle with sin in their life. And the fact that you’re struggling is not proof that you’re not saved. If anything, it may be more of an indication that you are saved because you’re repenting every time. You know, a person who’s not saved, they do all the same things you do, but they don’t repent because they don’t mind it. It’s not a struggle for them. They don’t struggle against their lusts. They simply run to their lusts. You’re struggling. You’re fighting a fight. That means you’re on the side of God in this matter. You’re not on the side of sin. You may be succumbing to sin, but you’re not on his side or else you wouldn’t be fighting it. See, the fact that you’re struggling or repenting is actually frustrating to you. But it’s an encouraging sign. Because if you didn’t care about God, if you weren’t on his side, you simply wouldn’t continue struggling. You just cave in. Don’t do that. Don’t cave in. You will not be happy if you do. But I hope that’s encouraging to you, brother. There are lectures at my website. called Cultivating Christian Character. It’s a series of lectures at thenarrowpath.com under the tab that says Topical Lectures. Find the series called Cultivating Christian Character. That might be helpful to you. I think it would. So I appreciate your call. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right, brother. Thanks for your call. All right. Let’s see here. Ron from San Diego, California. Welcome to The Narrow Path.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, hi. Nice to speak to you, Steve.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 11 :
Jeremy? Yes, sir. I’m sorry. I was on speaker. I took you off. Hi. So I have a couple of things. Your intro song, did you do it? Because I love it.
SPEAKER 01 :
No, a friend of mine did it. Actually, one of my students, I was teaching at school. He was one of my students, and he wrote it and performed it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, that’s sweet. So give him my best. I love it. Okay, so a couple of things. Enoch. Enoch walked with God for 300 years. God was here before he said his spirit could not dwell with man forever, right? And I’m just wondering what you think. Do they actually take a walk every day, or I know that sounds stupid, but
SPEAKER 01 :
No, it doesn’t sound stupid. It may not be a stupid question, but it also might be something that we can’t answer for sure. In those days, we do read in the early chapters of Genesis of times when God did appear to people, like Abraham, for example, or Noah. Probably to Adam, it would seem. I mean, it appears that God would show up and take on a human appearance and walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the garden or come and have a meal with Abraham and so forth. I mean, this is not God’s normal state. He’s spirit. He’s not physical. But in order to associate with people, he often has, in the Old Testament, taken on a physical form briefly, not permanently. in order to connect with people. In fact, in principle, that’s what he did when he became a human being in Jesus. He became one of us, not in the same way exactly, because Jesus came through the human family line, from Adam and through Abraham and David and so forth, and actually had a genetic history. But these other appearances, what we call theophanies, where God appeared to Abraham and so forth and ate a meal with him, this was not a case of an incarnation where God took on a human nature through the family of Adam. He just kind of took on a human-like form briefly to associate with men. And God did that from time to time. And so when it says Enoch walked with God, I’m willing to believe that God actually did take on a visible theophanic form as he did with some other people. Now, it’s also, of course, the case… that walking with God can be a metaphor. Walking is a common metaphor in Scripture for living. We walk in the Spirit. We walk worthy of our calling. We walk in love. It just means we live that way. That’s how we live. Our life is like a walk. Now, to say that when God said to Abraham, walk before me and be perfect, which I think was maybe Genesis 14 or 15, verse 1, I think it’s 15.1, that he means live before me, live consciously before me. So when Abram’s told to walk before him, it just means live in my sight, under my eye. But to say that man walked with God in those days, like Enoch, I’m okay with the image that he may have actually appeared in human form and walked with Enoch, though it’s not 100% mandatory that we take it that way. I’ve seen no particular drawbacks in seeing it that way. It kind of sounds that way. Anyway, I appreciate your call, brother. We’re out of time. You’ve been listening to The Narrow Path. This is our last broadcast of the year 2025, and we wish you a good new year. The Narrow Path is listener supported. If you’d like to write to us, the address is The Narrow Path, PO Box 1730, Temecula, California, 92593. Or go to our website. Everything’s free at thenarrowpath.com. Happy New Year.
