Are dreams and visions still relevant for today’s believers? Dr. McGee addresses this vital question with clarity and biblical insight. Learn about the transition from Old Testament practices to the authority of the Word of God in the New Testament. Additionally, explore how familiarity with Jesus might differ from traditional views and where true reverence lies. Don’t miss Dr. McGee’s thoughtful answers to these pressing spiritual inquiries.
Many believe that God is sending dreams and visions to his people today. Dr. McGee gives his thoughts on this issue on today’s question and answer program. So join us.
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How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
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This is Steve Schwetz with the Through the Bible Radio Network, and you’re listening to the Question and Answer program with our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee. We hope that you’ll be able to join us for the next 30 minutes as we learn from the wit and wisdom that Dr. McGee brought to answering the questions of his listeners. Our first question today comes from a listener in San Jose, California, who can’t locate a passage of Scripture. She says, Where does it say in the Bible, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism?
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And of course, you are referring to the epistle to the Ephesians. And I think that probably we ought to turn there. And that’s in the fourth chapter, beginning with verse four. I just give you that scripture so you can turn there. And this part, it says, I take this to mean when you are born again and become joined to the body of Christ, that is called baptism, which is the baptism. Is that correct? I don’t think it’s water baptism. Well, may I say to you that I personally believe with you that it’s not water baptism that’s referred to here. It’s not the ritual baptism here, but it actually is the real baptism, which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is that which is ritual baptism, and of course, that has to be water baptism. But I do think that the ritual baptism should be performed in order to show that this other has taken place. Because the one body is the body of believers, the church. And the one spirit here is the Holy Spirit. And he says, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. Then verse 5 in chapter 4 of Ephesians says, one Lord… and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ, one faith, and that is the faith in the inspiration of the Scriptures, the plenary verbal inspiration, that is the deity of Christ, and that is the redemption, the substitutionary death of Christ upon the cross, vicarious death of Christ for your sins and mine and then he says one baptism now that’s the baptism of the Holy Spirit by one spirit are we all baptized into one body so he’s talking here about one body and he’s talking about one law and one faith and one spirit So it has to be the baptism of the Holy Spirit that puts us into the body of believers. And I think that that’s what the passage of Scripture means. In my book, that’s what it means, and that’s all that it does mean.
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A West Fork, Arkansas listener would like the true meaning of the Lord’s Supper. He says, The way our church has the Lord’s Supper disturbs me. Most of the time is spent in a confession session with only the last portion remembering Jesus Christ. Could you provide your understanding of 1 Corinthians 11, 27-29?
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1 Corinthians 11, 27 through 29. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation or judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. Now, I think that you should have given me two more verses here. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. Now, this means that when a Christian comes to the Lord’s table, he should have everything clear between his own heart and the Lord. That is, that there be no unconfessed sin. that he should come to the Lord’s table, all confessed up, that everything is all right, and he’s back in fellowship and in a sweet relationship with the Lord Jesus. And the Lord’s Supper is no place to emphasize and to dwell upon the sins of the individuals. That should have been taken care of before they come to the Lord’s table. And when they come to the Lord’s table, the sin question should not only have been settled by accepting Christ as Savior, but by confession as a believer of the sins that we commit after we’ve been saved. And when we come to the Lord’s table, that’s the place to glorify and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins, but not to put our sins above the Savior’s death by any means.
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Now, this listener in Springdale, Arkansas, thought she heard Dr. McGee say that it didn’t matter if we prayed for our sins to be covered. She says, I disagree with your position. It was only in the Old Testament that sin was covered. Could you please clarify your position on this issue?
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May I say to you that I must have made myself misunderstood rather than understood. Now in the Old Testament, everything pointed to the cross and the word atonement. back in the Old Testament, actually means to cover. In other words, it was the thought that you have in the sin of Adam and Eve. God covered them with the skins of animals. And that is the thought all through the Old Testament. In other words, everything in the Old Testament pointed to the coming of Christ who would take away sins and remove them. Now the Old Testament made it very clear that that day was coming. And you will find that the writer in the Old Testament says, as far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our sins from us. And then if you’ll read David’s great penitential psalm, Psalm 51, you’ll find that, that this man expected to be cleansed and forgiven of his sin. But in the Old Testament, everything as far as sin was concerned was covered. Whereas today, why your sin is removed when you come to Christ. So that when we come to God in prayer today, we are actually not to ask him to either cover them up or remove it. We just confess our sin to him. We agree with him that it’s wrong. We take his position concerning it, for to confess means to say the same thing that God says about our sin. Now, when we do that, we take God’s position, and that means that we hate it, we turn from it, and then if we do that, Then he forgives us our sins and he cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Now that is the New Testament position today relative to our sins when we go to God in confession.
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When studying the prophetic books, the topic of discussion always seems to gravitate towards dreams and visions. So this San Francisco listener says, Could you please explain your position on dreams and visions as relating to the prophetic? Why can’t it also be for today? And is your position supported by Scripture?
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Yes, I think that it is. You refer back to the Old Testament prophets in ancient days, and they had these experiences. That’s quite true. For you understand then that the canon of Scripture was not complete. And of course, there are those today that believe it’s not complete. And of course, there are several of the cults that have added certain books that have appeared even in recent years to become part of Scripture. You see, until Scripture was completed, then God did speak to man in dreams and in visions. But after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world, and then the apostles had written concerning Him, then God had said by that time all that He intended to say. And His final word is in Jesus Christ. So anything that men have this side of the Lord Jesus today, To begin with, it’s not Scripture, it’s not valid, it’s not authoritative, and it’s not to be believed in. And it takes the attention and the interest off of the Word of God and it puts it on some party’s vision. I see from the news media that back somewhere in the East, why some child saw a picture and the child said it’s a picture of God on a certain covering that was over, I think, the elements at the Lord’s Supper or something like that. And now people queue up outside in all kinds of weather for 100 yards in order to come in and take a look at that curtain. It’s too bad that those people don’t spend that same amount of time in reading the Word of God. And you can see quite easily that the emphasis has been shifted from the Word of God to these things of visions. And that’s the reason that visions today, they’re out. We’ve passed that period. There was a time that God did speak. Now you want a scripture for this. I’d like to give you one. Now in Hebrews, the first chapter says, Will you listen to this? God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets. Now, the writer to the Hebrews says back in the old days, in divers ways and at different times, God spoke to the fathers. That is, to these people, the Hebrews. Spoke to them. By the prophets. They had visions then. And now that’s been changed. Listen to verse 2. He hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds great. And then he goes on to describe the Lord Jesus, and He is the Word of God. He is the last Word of God. He says Himself, He says, I’m the Alpha. That’s the first letter of the alphabet. I am the Omega. That’s the last letter. He says, I’m the whole alphabet now. You can’t make a word. You couldn’t have a vision. the day in which God is speaking apart from the Word of God. The Word of God is our authority today.
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Now this listener in Chambly, Georgia says, Why do so many pastors and evangelists, when giving an invitation, say, Accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, or make Christ your Lord? As I see it, Jesus always used the simplest expressions, like, Whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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Well, he was talking to Nicodemus, and he told Nicodemus that the only thing that Nicodemus had to do to become a child of God was to put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that is true, and it is also true that many evangelists and many of us preachers use that expression. I’m sure that I’ve fallen into the trap And when we say that, we are wrong. In fact, we are dead wrong when we fall into that trap because Paul, following through on what the Lord Jesus said, he says in Galatians 3.26, For ye are all the children, or we us, the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. not by making him your Lord, not by doing something, not by joining the church, not by making a promise, but you become a child of God through faith in Christ. And my friend, you are right in that. And we who use that expression are entirely wrong. I’d like to make that… very clear because I’m sure that many of us do that and we do not mean to do it. I’m sure that there are those that do it that do not know better, but we ought to know better if we’re going to be witnesses for Christ.
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Genesis 1.28 says, And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. So this listener in Jeffersonville, Indiana says, Adam and Eve were the first on the earth, and replenish means to refill again with a new supply. Could you explain how this could be and what this means?
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Well, I’ve never felt like trying to read into that something that may not be there. I agree with you. The word replenish means to refill something. And that means that the earth became without form and void. That means it was empty. And that would indicate that at one time this earth was filled with creatures. I don’t know what they were. I’m almost sure that we’re not what we call human beings today. We seem to be an odd lot in God’s universe. And I imagine that if God did have a zoo of all of his creatures in it, including all the animals, that we probably would be the oddest group that would be in a zoo. There’d be no question about that. And I’m not sure what the evidences are occurring when these folk dig up these things. They say go back millions of years. Maybe they do. I’m sure of one thing, that God didn’t wait till about 6,000 or 10,000 years ago and created man before he started doing anything. That is, from eternity he was just twiddling his thumb. I think that our God of eternity is pretty big, and He’s got a pretty big program going. We’re just part of it, and we’re the part in which God is demonstrating His love. Because he’s saving today man by his grace. Because he loved us enough. I think it’s obvious and evident to other creatures that we are not the proud creatures we think we are. We are very unlovely. We’re sinners. We’re in rebellion against God. I think if it was left to any of God’s creatures out there, they’d get rid of us. But God loves us. And they don’t know these creatures created intelligence, just never knew how much God loved. They knew he had power. They knew he had wisdom, but they never knew how much he loved till man was put down here. Man sinned and then rebellion against God. I do know man is apparently the odd ball in God’s universe today.
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This Mattoon, Illinois listener has two questions to ask. She says, Is it possible to be a born-again believer and never be filled with the Holy Spirit?
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I think that it’s possible, quite possible. I’m of the opinion that there are people that are saved. and are never filled with the Holy Spirit, but stumble along in the Christian life for years, and finally end up in the grave and never know what it was to be filled by the Holy Spirit. You see, when you accept Christ as your Savior, you are regenerated. You are baptized by the Holy Spirit. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit that puts you in the body of believers, the church, the real church. And then you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and He indwells you in order that you might exercise a gift, that you might do the thing God wants you to do. And then you’re sealed by the Holy Spirit. Now there is the one ministry of the Holy Spirit that you’re asked to do something about, and you are commanded, be filled with the Spirit. Now that is something that comes later. We need the filling of the Spirit to live the Christian life. We need the filling of the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord, to perform any Christian work. It must be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. If it’s not, it’s not Christian work at all. So that the filling of the Holy Spirit is something that you and I are commanded to do. Now, you and I are, I think, filled with the Holy Spirit. When we are walking in the will of God, when we do not have unconfessed sin in our life, and when we attempt to walk by the Spirit of God. Now, when I say attempt to walk, I mean exactly that. That is the thought of Paul in Galatians. Learn to walk in the Spirit. And that means to start out depending upon the Holy Spirit. And a walk is a very peculiar thing. It’s putting one foot out in front of you and leaning forward and start out, and then put the other foot in front of you. And if you don’t, you’ll stumble and fall on flat of your face. Now, the problem is some of us will start out walking just like Simon Peter did walking on the water. He did it. He walked on the water. Proved he could do it, but he got his eye off of the Lord Jesus, and when he did, he saw the waves. And today, in this mad world in which you and I live, it’s so easy to get our eyes off of the Lord Jesus, and when we do, we start stumbling, start sinking in the mire and muck of this world today.
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Her second question relates to Dr. McGee’s edited messages on Mark. She says, in your comments about Mark 6, 1 through 3, you said, I think there is a danger in getting familiar with Jesus. He is the one with whom we don’t get familiar at all. Could you please explain what you mean?
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Now, what I mean by familiarity is just exactly that. I know that today this doesn’t sound wrong to us today. We’ve heard it so much. But I do not like these names that are being adopted by little groups today, that they are friends of Jesus, brothers of Jesus, things like that. Now, somebody says, yes, but it’s used in Scripture, but it’s used in Scripture in a very reverent sort of way. You know, there is an idea today that somehow or another when we see the Lord Jesus someday, we’re going to be very familiar with Him. Now, I heard a preacher of a certain persuasion one night make this statement. He says, when I get into the presence of the Lord Jesus, I’m going to rush right up to Him and I’m going to pat Him on the back and thank Him. And then he went on to say what he was going to thank Him for. Well, I don’t think that you’re going to pat Him on the back, friends. The thing is that we’re told that when you come into the presence of the Lord Jesus and He’s God, And He is the mediator between God and man. But when you come there, you come reverently. And I think that today that there is this overzealous idea of trying to bring Jesus down into the crowd. Well, you can’t bring him down into the crowd. If you do, you’re wrong. What he wants to do is to bring you up out of the crowd and make you one of his. And have you ever noticed that John, who was very familiar with him when he was here in the body before his death and resurrection and his glorification, Why, John reclined on his bosom. John could rebuke Him. He could ask the Lord Jesus for the place next to Him in the kingdom and all that. But when John saw the glorified Christ in the book of Revelation, after He descended, he says, I fell at His feet as dead. You mean to tell me this is the John that could rebuke Him and recline on His breast? Yes, same fellow. But he’s not familiar with Jesus anymore. And you and I are not going to get familiar with him like that. We’re going to worship him, friends. He’s God. And so that’s the thought that I had in mind. And I hope I’ve made that abundantly clear to you because, very frankly, I think that’s an important truth.
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Jesus is God who was born in human flesh, who walked this earth. He was crucified and rose as the glorious Lord, and one day he will return. If you’d like to know more about the person and work of Christ, we suggest that you purchase the MP3 CD by that name, The Person and Work of Christ. it contains eight sermons by dr mcgee including an old portrait of christ an x-ray of the cross and then we also have a number of other items on the ministry of jesus the person and work of the holy spirit and the subject of the nature and character of god each weekday on this station you can hear dr j vernon mcgee’s five-year through the bible radio program so why don’t you join us on the bible bus as we make our way through the whole word of god in five years Each study is accompanied by notes and outlines, which are available for free download online or by mail. So to place an order for the MP3 CD, to inquire about our other resources, or to have your name added to our mailing list for those notes and outlines, call one of our staff at 1-800-65-BIBLE Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time. You can download the notes from our website when you visit us online at ttb.org. For those of you who would prefer to send your request by mail, you can certainly do that. Just address your letter to Questions and Answers. For those in the U.S., Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. As we close today’s broadcast, we do so with a prayer that our God will answer all your questions and solve all your problems.
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Jesus made it all.
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