Are we destined to live sin-free lives? Can believers stray from their path and still find their way back to God? In this episode, Dr. McGee addresses these pivotal topics with his trademark wisdom, emphasizing the boundless nature of forgiveness and grace. Whether you’re curious about the Catholic priesthood as understood in biblical terms or ponder the mysteries surrounding life after death, this episode promises thoughtful reflections grounded in scripture.
00:00:00 Introduction and Listener’s First Question
Paul the Apostle wrote to the church at Corinth, We are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. So does this mean that we are spirits in heaven waiting for our new body at the resurrection? Or will we have a temporary body? Well, stay with us as we deal with these questions and more. A foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. This is Steve Schwetz for the Through the Bible Radio Network, welcoming you to another edition of the Question and Answer program with our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, who for over 30 years answered the questions of his listeners. Without further delay, let’s get to those questions and Dr. McGee’s answers. Today’s first question comes to us from a listener in St. Charles, Illinois. She says, You mentioned that all sin is against God and criticism about a believer is a sin. Would you please explain what you meant by criticism?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, may I say to you, when I mention the fact of criticizing a believer, is actually to say something that is untrue about the believer. That is criticism. If you circulate a report about a certain preacher or a certain Christian worker, I had a man in the East that circulated a report. He said that I was a liberal, and the reason was because I cooperated with Billy Graham in his crusade out here. May I say to you, I think that’s sin to do a thing like that to begin with. I’m not a liberal. Those that know me think that I’m a fundamentalist that leans over backwards. In fact, the liberals out here in California They won’t have anything to do with me at all. They totally ignore me, which suits me very well, by the way. I sort of ignore them too. But these things that are said about a person, that’s sin. Now, that’s criticism. Now, there’s criticism when we say something to somebody to correct them. That’s not criticism as the way I look at it. That’s attempting to correct people. A schoolteacher. I always had trouble with them. The school teacher wrote me about my pronunciation of a certain word, and the school teacher was absolutely correct. And she wasn’t criticizing, she was correcting me. The fact of the matter is, I still use the same pronunciation because I come from a section of the country. We’re all country down there, and we mispronounce quite a few words. but I’ve got it pretty well down now to one that I mispronounced. But she was accurate, and that’s not really criticizing. She wanted to be helpful, and she was. So there’s quite a difference between criticism and correction. saying something that is true about a man. Now, if I’m a liberal and they said it, then that would be accurate, you know. You make sure that the man is a liberal if you call him one, by the way, or you say anything about a Christian. All kinds of reports get out about Christians. I called a friend of mine in the East. I heard something about him, and I want to know if it’s true. Wasn’t true at all. The person who told me told to me as if he’s quoting from the fourth chapter of Hezekiah in the Bible. He thought that he was telling the truth. Well, he should have checked in a little bit better before he criticized this friend of mine.
SPEAKER 01 :
Throughout the four Gospels, Jesus would often tell those whom he had healed to not tell anyone who had healed them. So this listener in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania says, why did Jesus not allow these people to speak about their healings?
SPEAKER 02 :
May I say, first of all, that if you would go back to the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, you will read the story of him healing a leper and he told him not to tell anyone. And that leper disobeyed Christ, went out and told everyone. As a result, the crowd came upon him to such an extent that he was not able to perform his ministry. That’s one of the reasons that the Lord Jesus did not want them to tell because it interfered with his ministry. And then primarily, the second reason, which should be number one, as far as priority is concerned, he did not come to this world as a thaumaturgist, that is a wonder worker. He came to this earth. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. He came to this earth to work out your salvation and my salvation by giving his life yonder on the cross. when he took your sin and my sin, and that cross became an altar on which the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world was offered. So that all of this other interfered with his primary purpose, therefore. And he was moving all the time to the cross. Therefore, A great many people get bogged down by talking about the fact that Jesus healed and that we should heal today. And if you’ll notice that all of these healers today, they say, well, we preach the gospel. But what comes first, the healing or the gospel? Well, my experience has been the healing takes the place of the gospel. And the gospel is just thrown in as a sort of a sideshow. The main attraction is the healing service. And that’s the reason that the healer draws the crowds that they do, is because healing comes first. And I don’t care how humble they are about saying, oh, I’m not a faith healer. And some of them prove they’re not a faith healer because they die, just like the rest of us are going to do. And I notice that when they get ready to die, they die just like the rest of us. They go to a doctor and they get all the medical attention they can. I don’t blame them. They’re using good sense when they do that. So that the thing is, the Lord Jesus didn’t come to this earth as a healer. That’s the reason he said, I don’t want this publicized. It interfered with his ministry.
SPEAKER 01 :
The same listener has a second question, and she says, I once heard you say that it was possible to find Jesus in every chapter of the Bible. Can you tell me where you can find allusions to Jesus in the book of Ecclesiastes?
SPEAKER 02 :
And I still say that. But I also add, and you forgot to add, that I also make the statement that it doesn’t mean that I can find him, but I believe he’s in every chapter. Now, you’ve asked, comparatively speaking, a very easy question, and that has to do with Ecclesiastes. Now, very frankly, I can find him In every chapter, if you want to know that, well, let’s turn to the last chapter and see if we can find him here. The chapter opens with, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Now, who is the Creator? Well, let John tell us, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Now we’re told, remember, now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. What is that but a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ? And if you wanted to go down in the chapter, why you will find that he’s mentioned again in the chapter. We’re told to fear God and keep His commandments. And what is His commandments? We love each other, but first of all, that we are to trust Him and God will bring every work into judgment. Who is going to be the judge? The Lord Jesus, my friend. You can find Him in Ecclesiastes and you can find Him in every book of the Bible. I think I could do that, but I don’t say I can find him in every chapter of the Bible, but I could find him in every chapter of Ecclesiastes, but don’t ask me to do it because we don’t have time on this program.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, this listener in Commerce City, Colorado, would like clarification on a statement Dr. McGee made. He says, would you please explain what you mean when you say you’re a Catholic priest, but not a Roman Catholic priest?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I made that statement, I think, in 1 Peter. And when I said I’m a Catholic priest, the word Catholic means general. It has to do with anything that is Catholic, actually, means anything that is general. And I am a priest in that sense because Peter says, he speaks of the priesthood of believers. And I belong to that priesthood of believers. You do too if you’re a believer. Now, Roman means specific, a specific priesthood. kind of priest. And it refers to the church, the Roman Catholic Church. Now, I’m a priest, and the priesthood of believers, and you are too if you’re a believer. Therefore, I’m a Catholic priest, but not a Roman Catholic priest. Because you see, Roman is specific and Catholic is general. And it’s pretty difficult to have a specific general or a general specific anything. So I just have to say I’m a Catholic priest.
SPEAKER 01 :
If you’d like to hear more about Dr. McGee’s position on being a Catholic priest, you may want to order his sermon on cassette tape that’s called, You Are a Catholic Priest. I’ll provide you with ordering information at the close of today’s broadcast. Now, the same listener also has a second question. Would you please provide scriptural support, if any, for the belief that someone can live without sin?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I think it was Dr. Schofield who used to put it like this. He said, God has made every arrangement for us to live without sin. But Dr. Schofield added, I never met anybody like that. And may I say the same thing. I think God has made every arrangement. And the basis for making a statement like that is, of course, found over in 1 John. And I think probably I ought to read that verse to you. And it’s found in the second chapter. My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. He’s made every arrangement that we can live without sin. But he adds this, And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. And again, I repeat, I believe God has made every arrangement He’s made all the arrangements for us to live without sin. But I’ve never met anybody like that so far. I’ve met some that thought they had reached this grandiose plane, but I didn’t think they had. And most of them hadn’t impressed people around them that they had reached that plane.
SPEAKER 01 :
From Gilroy, California comes an important question about our bodies after death, but before the resurrection. I know the Bible says that the dead in Christ shall rise first. And it also says that when believers die, they go to be with the Lord. Does this mean there are spirits in heaven until the resurrection when their bodies will rise?
SPEAKER 02 :
That is a question that has occurred again and again because it’s a misunderstanding, I think, of 1 Thessalonians, the fourth chapter, where Paul says, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. Sleep is a very interesting word. It really means to lie down. And to lie down and sleep, the soul or the spirit of man could not lie down. I mean, that is just something that couldn’t apply to them. And it refers to the body. The body is put to sleep and death of a believer. And it is the body that’s raised from the dead. There’s no resurrection of the soul or spirit because the spirit of man does not die. We hear a great deal today about personhood. Well, the personhood goes to be with Christ, of a believer, absent from the body, present with the Lord. Now, a very real question does arise out of this, and are we just spirits that are floating around in heaven? and many of us just believe that’s not the way it is. And I think Paul makes clear in 2 Corinthians 5, for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, that is this earthly body we live in, it’s dissolved in death, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Now we are put in A great many believe a temporary body. Others believe that the body is the eternal body. I don’t think necessarily this passage has to be taken in that light, but that’s the way they do take it. And the fact of the matter is, I believe there is that intermediate body that we’ll occupy until the resurrection of our bodies, sown in weakness, raised in strength, and we get our new body, and that takes place at the rapture when the living are caught up, changed to meet the Lord in there, but those that die, they are raised from the dead in newness of life.
SPEAKER 01 :
Believing he understands Christ’s teaching on forgiveness, this listener in Billings, Montana is confused about a statement another Christian made to him. He says, I have been told that we can’t really forgive someone until we have forgotten what they’ve done. I don’t think it’s possible for this weak, frail human body to completely blot them out of the mind. I would appreciate your thoughtful answer.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, my thoughtful answer is that you are right. We cannot blot them out of our minds. To forgive does not mean to forget by any means. Now, God says that he remembers our sins no more. And I do not believe that they are so blotted out that God couldn’t even think of them. I think that he could really think of, but he’s not going to remember them in the sense that he intends to do anything about them. They’re not held as charges against us anymore because Christ has paid the penalty. Now, in our forgiveness, it should be that kind of forgiveness where we forgive the person. Sometimes you hear parties say, I’ll forgive you, but I can’t forget. Well, that’ll be true. They won’t be able to forget. But they can say, let bygones be bygones. We start over again. I don’t hold this against you. I’ll not be trying to get revenge against you. And that’s what it means to remember it no more. You don’t remember it in the sense that you’re waiting for a chance to get even. But to say that you can put up a roadblock are a psychological block whereby you’d never think of it again. That would be, of course, an impossibility, and only God could perform that. Yet God says that’s what he does, and he says he remembers them no more. But I understand that to mean something just a little bit different.
SPEAKER 01 :
Spurred by Dr. McGee’s teaching on Acts chapter 1, this listener in East Detroit, Michigan asks, What is or what was Shekinah glory?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Shekinah, I think the scholars agree that it’s an Aramaic word and that it simply means residence of God. And it’s a word actually that does not occur in Scripture, but it means the visible presence of God. And only the nation Israel ever had the visible presence of God. The term is used, I think, wrongly today when it’s applied to some type of meeting that is held today, that you have the very presence of God there. Well, if you see it, I’ll tell you this, it wasn’t the presence of God because he made it very clear. The Lord Jesus said that you don’t worship God in this mountain or in Jerusalem today, but you worship God in spirit and in truth. And if you do, you don’t see any Shekinah there at all. If you do, you’re in the wrong place. I think that I would get out of there myself if any kind of presence appeared, because it’s not supposed to today. You worship God today in spirit and in truth. But the word Shekinah is not really a Bible term at all, but it does mean the visible presence of God, and that is something that does not apply today.
SPEAKER 01 :
In John chapter 10, Jesus quotes Psalm 82 when he says, Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods? So this listener in Los Angeles, California says, It seems clear from studying both passages that the term gods is a reference to a teacher, a judge, or a prophet. Am I right in my understanding of this word?
SPEAKER 02 :
May I say that this man is absolutely right. He’s written to me many times before, and I think in order to bring the other listeners up to date, we better turn to John 10, verses 34 to 38, and let me read that. Jesus answered them, “‘Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods?’ And that is as he said back in Psalm 82.” That psalm was called our attention some time ago in our question and answer program. If he called him God, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemous, because I said I’m the Son of God. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works that ye may know. and believe that the Father is in me and I in him.” You see, our Lord took that passage of scripture and said, why you call them gods, even those who expound the law. Now it’s obvious that he was a teacher way above any expounder of the law and that they needed to, because of his teaching and the works he was performing, They needed to believe in him, and then the Holy Spirit would make it very clear to them that he was the Son of God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Deuteronomy 17.17 says, A king should not have multiple wives. Yet 2 Samuel 5.13 and 12.8 speak about David’s many wives and concubines. So this listener in Lakewood, California says, Was it God’s will for David to have all these wives and concubines, and why?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I don’t think I’ll have to answer the why because it was not God’s will for David to have all of those. Somebody says, yes, but God permitted it. That’s it exactly. It was God’s permissive will. And he lets you and me sometimes step over the bounds. but it’s not His will for us to do it. And you can be sure of one thing, that when we do step over that bound, that if we’re God’s child, we’re going to be punished for it. God will take us to the woodshed. Now, what about David? David didn’t get by with all of that. He had trouble in his house more than any person that I know of. Read his story. You’ve picked out these specific verses. Read all of the story. God punished David. Now, Abraham is another example. He took that little Egyptian maid, Hagar, and even his wife, Sarah. felt like they could get by with disobeying God. God was not condoning what they did. It’s a record of the fact. It doesn’t mean God condoned it. In fact, the record makes it clear God condemned it because that’s what brought all the trouble in the world. And if you want to know what a big hassle Abraham started by disobeying God and not believing God, Then look over yonder today in these oil-rich Arab countries and see the trouble that they’ve brought on the world. Those fellows are the sons of Hagar and by Abraham, if you please. And Abraham caused a lot of trouble in this world, as well as being the means of bringing the greatest blessing the world has ever had. God doesn’t condone sin and the record that you have of it in Scripture. It always reveals that God punishes this. God wasn’t for this. The kingdom was divided, and Solomon played the biggest fool that any man ever played with the opportunity he had. God permitted him to do it. But God never told him to go out and take wives. God permitted him to take the wives of his master, but God did not command him to do it. I think there’s a tendency to want to blame God for these things or try to find some sort of a loophole. If you read it carefully, you’ll find out there’s no loophole here at all.
SPEAKER 01 :
This Junction City, Arkansas listener heard a radio pastor speak about a young man who received Christ, strayed far from God, then returned to God, rededicating his life, and was called into the ministry. The pastor said the young man could not have been saved and strayed. So she says, is this pastor right in his teaching?
SPEAKER 02 :
First of all, let me say that you can hear many things from radio preachers. And you’ll do well to check all of them, including the one that you’re listening to right now. Now, a man can stray and come back. You see, the Lord Jesus gave a parable about a boy that strayed from home, and then he came back home. Now, in all of his decline and straying and falling away, There never was a question about him being a son. He was always a son of the Father. And since he was a son of the Father, he came back home. And his home was not a pig pen. It was the Father’s house. And a child of God can stray, but he’s going to come back home. but he can stray. And that’s the difference between a child of God that gets into sin and the old sinner of the world is that the child of God is going to hate himself, going to come back home because, you know, only pigs like pig pens, sons do not. I think that probably would be the answer that the Lord Jesus at least gave to your question.
SPEAKER 01 :
Have you strayed from God? Do you feel that you’ve lost your confidence in your relationship with Him? If you feel this way, then we’d like to suggest a helpful booklet by Dr. McGee called Confidence, Certainty, and Cheer. This is just one of our booklets dealing with the subject of assurance and comfort. For more options, ask for our resource catalog when you write or call. Of course, the catalog has also a number of items, including books, CDs, and other MP3 albums. The Bible Bus will continue rolling along this week on the Through the Bible radio program with Dr. McGee pointing out the sites. We hope that you’ll be able to hop aboard and enjoy the ride. Because the road can seem a little bumpy at times, we provide notes and outlines to our listeners who have a great desire to study the Bible. Now to place an order for a CD of the sermon, You Are a Catholic Priest, the booklet Confidence, Certainty, and Cheer, or to ask to be on the mailing list for the notes and outlines, give us a call at 1-800-65-BIBLE. To speak to one of our staff members, call Monday through Thursday. from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time. You can also find these items in our online bookstore when you visit our website at ttb.org. There you can also download a free PDF copy of the notes or the Confidence, Certainty, and Share booklet from our free downloads page. For those who would prefer to write, send your letter to Questions and Answers. For those in the U.S., Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. Or in Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Because we can have confidence in our God, we pray that He will answer all your questions and solve all your problems. This program has been brought to you by the faithful friends and supporters of Through the Bible Radio Network.
