Why Miracles Don’t Guarantee Faith

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

Greetings to the brightest audience in the country and welcome to Bob and Yart Live. Today we begin with some bittersweet news. Our time here with KLTT Radio is sadly coming to a close. We’ve been on radio here for decades and we’ve been so thrilled to have you all as listeners all of these years from the earlier days of Bob and Yart Live with Bob and Yart Pastor, Bob and Yart My Father in through his passing until now with me, Dominic, and you’re his son. And it’s been such a joy to be on the station with you all. I say it’s bittersweet. The bitter part is clearly leaving the station. The sweet part is Our ministry is not ending, but it’s accelerating. We’ve slowly been transitioning away from broadcasts more towards a newer, more digital audience with the YouTube channel, with the social media platforms, with the kgov.com website. I have a ton of nostalgia for the radio programs. so many incredible years we’ve had here and tens of thousands of listeners who have blessed us, who have listened to us, who have supported us on the radio with prayer or finances or encouragement. But as for the sweet part of the bittersweet, our ministry here at kgov.com, Enyart Theology, Real Science Radio, we are continuing to reach millions of believers and unbelievers alike with the gospel of jesus christ my youtube channel and your theology is coming up on 5 million views that’s a bit hard for even me to believe the real science radio youtube channel with science confirming the bible is nearing 3 million views and they started only recently our podcasts have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times and in all of this we glorify christ we thank him that he has blessed us with this success and so with that said our ministry we are not slowing down not even a tiny bit We intend to grow and to reach millions more in the years to come. All of that, of course, Lord willing. But with that said, at this stage in our ministry, we will be leaving KLTT Radio after these many years, after decades, we’ll be leaving. And we have absolutely nothing but love. for KLTT and its listeners. In fact, I felt led to give a parting gift to you all, to all of our listeners who have supported us on the station either by listening, by prayer, financially, whatever it is. And so we’re going to start with that today with this parting gift. We will be broadcasting our all-time number one best Bible study that we have ever produced. We have kept this behind a paywall for the entire life of our ministry, and we’re going to continue to do so everywhere but right here on KLTT Radio these last few weeks as a thank you, as a parting gift. And this is the life’s work of my father, Pastor Bob Enyart, The Plot Bible Overview. The Plot has changed so many lives, literally tens of thousands of lives, perhaps even hundreds of thousands. It’s helped people to truly understand the Bible, and not just to understand the Bible, but to understand grace. And in understanding grace, overcome sin and overcome temptation and and grow closer to christ the plot right the bible overview it’s a textbook which gives an overview of the entire bible and bob enyart pastor bob enyart my father he taught through it in five separate seminars right each seminar having multiple segments and today we’re going to begin the first segment of part one the plot bible overview We have about two and a half more weeks here on KLTT Radio, and we’re going to cram as much of the plot we can into those two and a half weeks as we can. This will not be available anywhere else, anywhere online, any podcasts, anything like that. only right here live on KLTT Radio, so you do not want to miss these segments. If you want to get the entire thing so you can listen in your own time, you can find that by going to www.enyart.shop. If you want to find me on YouTube, just go to YouTube and search Enyart Theology. I’ll be the first channel to pop up. My email is enyarttheology at gmail.com. If you want to share any fun memories from KLTT, if you have any questions about this, transition, enyarttheology at gmail.com. Again, for the entire plot study, you can get that by going to www.enyart.shop. With that said, let’s jump right into the greatest Bible study, certainly, that I’ve ever heard, the plot Bible overview.

SPEAKER 01 : 5:05

Every story has a plot. The main storyline in a narrative forms the plot. To understand any storybook, drama, or movie, you must recognize the plot. If you don’t understand the plot and perhaps any unexpected plot twist, then it’s going to be real difficult to know what the book was about or the movie. If there’s a plot twist in a story or in the Bible and you don’t understand it, you miss it, then you’ll be confused about the whole point of the story. Now, not only do books have plots, but life itself has a plot. In fact, many plot twists in life and in our understanding of life. We often hear, for example, that Hollywood cares only about money, the almighty buck, and that they make movies and they don’t care about the influence the movies have on families. Well, then we find out there’s a little plot twist that goes along with that. Because G-rated movies, family movies, often are the biggest money makers. They make a fortune. But yet, Hollywood almost never makes family movies. A couple weeks ago, my two teenage boys and I, along with a couple friends, went to see a movie, which we almost never do. It was the weekend that Time Warner had released a new Madonna movie called The Next Best Thing, that homosexuals are great and fine and wonderful. And that was supposed to be the big hit. Well, we didn’t go see that. We saw My Dog Skip. And we brought our little boy, Zachary, who was two years old. It was his very first movie. And it wasn’t our choice, but we sat right in the front row. Everything was huge, you know, and the dog looked like Godzilla. But we didn’t want to sit in the front row. Here’s little Zachary, first time ever in a movie theater, and there’s this monster in front of him. But it was packed out. And there were media reports that that weekend, my dog Skip did better than Madonna’s movie. But Hollywood, they don’t like to put out G-rated family movies because there’s a little twist in there. It turns out they do care about the influence on families. They want it to be immoral. They promote a worldview. So when you look at a big picture, then you have to figure out, do you have the whole big picture in mind? Because if you don’t, you’ll be confused about what’s going on. On that movie, my dog Skip, little Zachary, two and a half years old, he was wonderful through the whole movie. He loved it. But then partway through, he got a little uncomfortable sitting for so long still. So I took him out to the lobby to stretch his little 14-inch legs. We took a little walk and then went back in. In that movie, if you miss just the wrong moment, you might be confused. Because a young boy has a neighbor who is a local sports hero. And everybody loves this guy. And he’s this young boy’s best friend. But then he goes off to World War II. And he comes back and the whole town hates him. It’s like, well, what happened? Why? And then later, he’s the family’s hero again. Why? What’s going on? If you miss some of the details, you’re watching a story, you’re reading a book, you’re getting the plot, and then there’s a plot twist. You miss it and you’re confused. The first year I did this seminar, quite a few years ago, the movie had just come out, Air Force One, with Harrison Ford. And he’s the president up on the president’s plane. And if you go to the concession stand to buy juju beads and milk duds, right at the wrong time, you come back and the Secret Service agents are trying to kill the president. You think, what’s going on? What did I miss? So when we look at the Bible today, we want to focus on the plot. and the plot twist, so that we can understand the details of the book. I’ll give you an example from the Bible itself, the story of Jonah. God takes a prophet, a Hebrew prophet, and says, go to the city of Nineveh and tell them that in 40 days, Nineveh will be destroyed. Now imagine an observer who’s back then, and he’s watching this, He’s overseeing it. He’s looking and listening. And he hears God tell this prophet to speak to Nineveh 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed. So he sees that and he thinks, wow, Nineveh’s a big city. This is going to be dramatic. 40 days, I’m going to check this out. Then he goes off and he journeys and he heads toward Nineveh. And he gets there 40 days later and he gets a seat right outside the city. And he’s watching and he’s got his watch on and he’s got the right day and nothing happens. The city is not destroyed. What is he going to think? Well, he was sort of following the story carefully, but there was a plot twist that he missed. And as a result of missing the plot twist, he ends up very confused and he doesn’t understand. And either he’s going to think, well, I can’t trust my own perception because I thought I heard God saying that the city would be destroyed and then it wasn’t destroyed. Or maybe he’s going to think, I know what I heard. This God is unreliable. He can’t be trusted because he said he’d do something, then he didn’t do it. So if you don’t get the plot in any plot twist, you’re going to be in trouble. In Jeremiah chapter 18, there’s a principle that helps us identify the plot twist in the Bible. And the principle is in Jeremiah 18, verses 7 and 8. God says, the instant I speak concerning a nation to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, then I will repent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. Now that’s some real clear words from God in the first person. God says, the instant I speak concerning a nation to destroy it, if that nation turns from their evil, then I will repent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. So there’s the principle that was at work regarding Jonah. God states in his word that he will respond even after he has prophesied something, even after he has clearly stated that he will do something. If the circumstances change, then God said, then I will not do that which I said I would do. Now, as Christians, we’re not always comfortable with that, but we need to assess the biblical material and incorporate it into our understanding of God. Now the plot twist in Jonah shows up in chapter 3, verse 10 of that little book. Then God saw Nineveh’s works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented from the disaster that he said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. So God said he would do it, but he saw that they repented. So we’re told in Jonah that God repented and he did not do that which he said he would do. There’s the plot twist. So someone missing the plot twist would think, well, look at this. God did not follow through with his promise. with this prophecy. So it’s crucial, not that we study every verse of the Bible as though it stood on its own, but that we first get an overview of the whole book. And then once we’ve got an overview, we can look and see, are there any plot twists? Because there are a lot of verses in the New Testament that when you read them, you scratch your head. And you say, this is really different from the stuff I was reading in the Old Testament. And even from some of the things in the Gospels, what’s going on? Why are there so many verses that don’t seem to fit together? Why are there so many apparent contradictions? It’s because we haven’t taken the time to get an overview. And that’s what we’re here to do today. The principle at work in Nineveh also has a flip side to it. Now remember the Nineveh principle that was at work. If I say I’m going to destroy a nation and they repent, then I will not destroy them as I had prophesied. The flip side to that principle is also found in Jeremiah 18, 9 and 10, where God says, if I say that I’m going to establish a kingdom, to plant a kingdom, and that kingdom does evil in my sight, those people, then I will not establish that kingdom. I will not plant it. And then God warns Israel, and through the prophet Jeremiah, that God wants to give Israel a kingdom. But if they are wicked, then he at some point in time, he will not give them the kingdom that he had promised them. And there’s the principles. Often when Christians are shown prophecies in the Bible that fail to come to pass, like 40 days in Nineveh will be destroyed, at first they get upset and frustrated. What do you mean a prophecy didn’t come to pass? Because we know that God is all-powerful and we know that he knows everything he wants to know, everything that’s known, it’s all there before him. How could a prophecy not come to pass? Well, then after Christians worry about it for a while, then they say, well, it was conditional. And then their worrying subsides. Okay, right. It was conditional. And so there’s the principle. And God says, I’ve promised Israel to plant them, to give them a kingdom. But if they’re evil, then I will not give them the kingdom that I prophesied that I would give them. So that principle is like the groundwork for a plot twist. Because you might see, as we go on, we’ll see a number of prophecies in the Bible where God says, I’m going to do this and this and this. And I will, without fail, do this and this and this. And then later he says, I’m not going to do that which I said I would do. So when we understand the overview and the principles, the theme, and the character of God, then the confusing aspects of the Bible begin to make sense. So the Bible tells a story. It’s a storybook, and the Bible itself has a plot. It has a plot. It has a setting, a theme, characters. You know, the theme of the Bible, the central idea is God’s justice and his love. God is just, and he’s a God of love. The characters in the Bible, obviously it’s the Lord, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then created angelic beings and Lucifer, and then human beings, Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, David, the 12 apostles, Paul. They form some of the main characters in the Bible. The setting, the whole story takes place in heaven and on earth. Most of it’s on earth. And the plot of the Bible is basically simple. God created a universe and populated heaven and earth with beings. Certain angels and all men rebelled against God. Their rebellion brought about sin, guilt, and death. And God then worked to reconcile. And this part of the plot of the Bible turns out to be what almost the entire Bible is all about. God worked to reconcile with those men who would trust Him. And then the last part of the plot of the Bible is that God will eternally reward those who trust him and punish all others. So that’s the plot of the Bible. But almost the entire book deals with that part about God not only working to reconcile men, those who would believe, but his effort to communicate that. God has a plan to save men from their sins, those who believe and put their faith in Christ. But not everyone is receptive to that plan. Men resist it. So God wants to communicate it. So he has a few alternatives on how he could go about trying to share that. But to the extent that you’ve tried to communicate the gospel to those around you, you may have observed that it’s difficult. People are not often just ready to say, wow, thanks for telling me that wonderful story. I’d like to be a Christian. That doesn’t always happen that way. God has the same difficulty. He appears to people. He sends angels. What are the first thing the angels have to say? Fear not. God appears to people. They fall down. They’re afraid. They’re resistant. They’re hesitant. So God ends up doing miracles. And you know, the miracles God did to try to establish that he is God and he is all powerful and that he should be trusted and obeyed. He does these miracles, but then it’s somewhat scary to say this right out. But as far as producing faith, they tended to be ineffective. Think of the times in the Bible where God did so many great miracles. The 10 plagues in Egypt. bringing judgment on the land. And did the Egyptians repent and humble themselves before the God of Israel? No. Parting of the Red Sea and daily miracles for 40 years in the wilderness. And did the Israelites repent? Did Israel repent? Because the Israelites worshiped the golden calf after all the miracles that God did. A whole generation rejected their deliverer and died in unbelief in the wilderness. And God said, because of your unbelief, because you have not mixed faith with your experience, you will not enter the promised land. Your dead bodies, your carcasses will fall in the wilderness in unbelief. That’s the generation that saw more miracles on a daily basis for 40 years than we could imagine. And they rejected. Jesus Christ did miracles throughout Israel And on average, the people hated him. Where did Jesus Christ do most of his miracles? Well, it’d be hard for us to guess if the Bible didn’t state it explicitly. Matthew 11, 20 tells us in the cities of Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum, Jesus Christ did most of his mighty works. And those three cities utterly rejected him. We tend to think if you do miracles, everybody will believe. but it turns out the biblical evidence is the opposite. Why would that be? Because of human nature, pride. God did miracles in front of Pharaoh. It’s like God shoving his truth and power in Pharaoh’s face. Saying, now what are you going to do, Pharaoh? Huh? Look at this and look at this and look at this. Pharaoh, how could he deny that the God of Israel was the true God? But because of his pride, he hardened his heart and he rejected God. When Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, that’s when his enemy said, that’s it. We can’t take it anymore. We got to kill him. And then they said, and let’s kill Lazarus too. Jesus said in Luke 16, 31, even if someone rises from the dead, they will not believe. You see the problem God has? God wants to communicate the gospel message. And so he could come himself and and appear to someone in some kind of Christophany or theophany. He could send an angel. He could send a prophet to do mighty miracles. He could send his son to do miracles. And they’re rejected. God said, I sent my servants and you beat them, you stoned them. Now I send my own son and him you killed. So God has that problem. So God is resourceful. He’s not one to give up easily. So he saw this problem of reaching men’s hearts. And he realized that if he developed a relationship with one man, a man who would love him, trust him, that that man could share the truth about God with his family and his neighbors. And that man, not in parting the Red Sea or in calling down fire and brimstone from heaven, but in gently and humbly sharing the gospel with his loved ones and his associates, that man could have some success. And so God had a relationship with Abraham, a man that loved God and God loved him. And God called Abraham to be his spokesman, And God wanted Abraham, and as through the history of Israel, he called men to be his prophets, his spokesmen. And that those men, if they would be faithful and love God, they would be able to share the gospel and get others to believe. But God didn’t want to save six or eight or 12 or 50 or 400 or 30,000. He wanted to restore millions. He wanted to reconcile countless millions to him through salvation. So having a spokesman wasn’t quite sufficient because there’s only so many people one person could relate to. God wanted a whole tribe of people. a whole nation to go out to all the world to preach the gospel. And so that’s why God worked on building a relationship with Israel so that they would become his spokes nation to the world so that they could go out and take the message of the gospel that one of their own, a Jew born in Bethlehem was actually the son of God who lived and died for us, rose from the dead so that you can be forgiven. And if you put your faith in him, Wow, that’s the message that God wanted the whole nation of Israel to bring to the whole world. Now, if you know your Bible, that didn’t happen. That’s what God had prophesied. He wanted it to happen. But when the Messiah came to Israel, his own people rejected him. And even after he rose from the dead, they persecuted his followers. And that’s where the plot twist comes in that this seminar is all about. The spokes nation in the Bible, God called that nation Israel, which means those who struggle with God. They’re also called the circumcision, named after a very strange ritual that God commanded Abraham and all his descendants to circumcise their male children. The plot. Details in the Bible. The Bible’s filled with details. Thousands of them. You can’t discern the details properly without having them in context of the overview of the whole Bible. What if somebody gave you Tolstoy’s War and Peace and you just decided to start reading it so you open to page 467 and start it? That’d be pretty silly, right? A good waste of time. Worse yet, what if you opened up page 467 and read a sentence in the middle? And then you struggled and you were frustrated because you didn’t understand that sentence. Wouldn’t that be foolish? But isn’t that so typical to the way we study the Bible and the way Christians come to the Bible? Often, somebody starts reading the Bible and they start on page 847 right here. You know, that’s where Matthew starts. Other people start with John on page 932. That’s a good place to start reading a book, page 932. Even worse, some people say, you know, it’s really John 3.16 that you need. So start on page 935 and read one sentence in the middle of the page, and then you’ll understand. But that’s not the way human beings learn. That’s not the way we endeavor to comprehend any other topic or issue or discipline other than the Bible. We come to the Bible with less structure and discipline than we come to any other endeavor in life, generally. So we want to undo that today. Ten doctrinal debates divide millions of believers. Ten. I’m going to give you a list of these ten.

SPEAKER 02 : 26:35

Stop the tape, stop the tape. That was the beginning of Bob Inyart’s Bible study, The Plot Bible Overview. We’ve never aired this before. It’s been behind a paywall for our entire ministry. But as a loving goodbye to KLTT Radio, we wanted to air this as a one-time parting gift. It’s bittersweet. We are leaving KLTT Radio, but the ministry is going strong. We want you to be with us for the ride as we reach literally millions of Christians and unbelievers alike around the world. We absolutely adore KLTT, but we’ve noticed it does have a slight problem of there not being any unbelievers who come and listen to this, right? Not too many Unbelievers, just tune into Christian radio, which is a shame. They should. They should experience the awesome power of KLTT, the blowtorch of the Rockies, the power of the gospel, the power of Christian community, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. But with that said, we wanted to be in a place where we could reach unbelievers as well as believers. Of course, we have a wonderful audience of believers here, but we want to reach unbelievers as well. And so we are diving into the belly of the beast. And as the Bible teaches, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. And we hope that you join us for the ride. subscribe to me on youtube just search in your theology i’ll be the first channel to show up you can check out all of our bible studies by visiting www.inyart.shop we’ve got about two weeks left here on kltt radio and we want you to have a parting gift and so we’re going to go out with a bang and give the best parting gift we can we are airing the life’s work of my father Pastor Bob Enyart, The Plot Bible Overview. We won’t have time to get through it all, so to get it all, you have to check out www.enyart.shop. Join us tomorrow for the live broadcast, the next portion of The Plot Bible Overview. My email is enyarttheology at gmail.com if you want to share any favorite memories of our time here on KLTT Radio. If you have any questions about the transition, hey, may God bless you guys. This is Dominic Enyart reminding you to do right and risk the consequences.