We're looking at understanding and teaching difficult scripture. Remember the whole series has been called Knowing, Studying, Understanding and Teaching Difficult Scripture. The Word of God and an aspect of that is difficult scripture. Continue to lift up Brother Dan for that India would be open to him and your prayers But let's go to the Lord in prayer. Shall we? Oh Lord God, this is your holy word We are your servants Give us understanding that we might know your testimonies You have prayed. Oh Lord sanctify them in truth thy word is truth and Use your holy, eternal, inerrant written word to set us apart to your service and to your glory. Show us now great and mighty things which we do not know. The sower sows the word. Let not your word go out and return empty, but accomplish that purpose for which you have gathered us together and for which you are sending it out. Protect us from Satan who will snatch your word. Protect us from a wrong reaction to the difficulties and discouragements and persecutions which accompany your ministry. which make our hearts hard and unresponsive. Protect us from the world's cares and the delight of wealth and the passion of other interests which enter in and choke your worth. Rather, plow up now the hard ground of our hearts, O Lord. Give us good soil that your sown word would send roots downward and bear fruit upwards. Unshield now the sword of your spirit, O Lord. Cut to the dividing point of bone and marrow, soul and spirit. Judge now the thoughts and intentions of each heart gathered here. Spread your word before us as a banquet table, O Lord. Grant grace that we might eat of the rich meat and drink of the sweet milk of the great doctrines of your word. Give us the heart of the prophet who cried to you. Thy words were found and I did eat them. And thy words became to me a joy. and the delight of my heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. O Lord, we live in a dark and a wicked age. Broad is the way, and many are on it, which leads to destruction. Make your word a lamp to our feet. Make your word a light to our path. Show us that narrow way that you would have us run. And as we run in the paths of your commandments, enlarge our hearts that in loving you, we might be more obedient to your written word. Drop your word against our lives as a plumb line, O Lord. Grant grace that we might see how we deviate from its high and holy purposes. Make your word to us a mirror, O Lord. Grant grace that we might not be as those who look and go away and forget but make us active doers, not forgetful listeners of your written word. O Lord, because of our fealty to you, because of our undying love and devotion to your Son, our resurrected Savior, we pledge to you this day our total submission to your holy, eternal, inerrant written word, and we pledge to you our unquestioning obedience to all of its commands. In the name of our Lord and resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. Well, this I am encouraged more this week on this study than I was last week Like I said, I was not really happy with it, so we're going to do it again. Paul said for me to repeat something is helpful for you and it doesn't hurt me. He said that twice in two different books, so we won't worry about that. And Brother Bishan, I'll give another public service announcement at the noon Bible study which would be the evening Bible study for you so we'll see you again there but I was just sharing with the study that Eleanor and I have been so touched by how faithful Brother Bashan has been in the ministry combined with difficult times in Nigeria that we're going to start supporting him through his navigator portal dollar is very strong now and against the Naira so even a small what seemingly small gift of 10, 15, 20 dollars will go a long way towards blessing brother Gashat so we're going to look at understanding and teaching difficult scripture understanding and teaching difficult scripture So, let me take a peek here. Ah, Brother Matthew, good to see you. How are things up north? Doing well. Well, good. We continue to pray for you, John. So we're praying for Brother Matthew for his job, Brother Dan, for doors to open to India, Brother Bishan, for his ministry during difficult times in Nigeria. Rennie and my sister and uncle John for their health. Eleanor continues to improve and they're very happy with her improvement from her physical therapy. So keep them in mind and now let's look at understanding and teaching difficult scripture. One of the things we're going to emphasize today is the bracket illustration. Now, there are three ways. There are three ways we can approach difficult scripture. We've talked about this before. One is S-Y-I. That's Share Your Ignorance. That's basically we sit around and say, what do you think? What do you think? What do you think? And then we all come to the agreement that it's very hard to understand difficult scripture. Godly men differ. whatever we believe, that must be correct. Of course, saying godly men differ is not correct. Saying theologians differ is correct, but of course theologians differ on whether Christ rose from the dead. When Eleanor and I were engaged, her family has Episcopalian background and I was in an effort to try to honor that. We had agreed to be married in an Episcopalian church, but as we prayed about it, the bottom line was, though, for it to be a Christian wedding, at least the pastor had to, the priest, had to believe that Christ rose from the dead bodily. And we visited every Episcopalian church at that time in the city of Austin, and not one priest believed Jesus Christ rose from the dead. So let's say theologians differ over the interpretation of a passage as no meaning at all, because there are theologians who are not Christians. Most are, but there are. Second way of dealing with it is the mother bird method. That's where everybody just sits there like a little baby bird with their mouth open. And the mother bird, the teacher, tells them what to believe. Pre-digested Bible study. And you agree with it or you leave. Or the third method is the Berean method, Acts 17.11. Now these Jews were more noble than those of Thessalonica, for they studied the Scriptures every day to see if these things were so. And from Acts 17.11 we know that the Word of God is understood and interpreted by the Word of God. so when we're dealing with difficult passages that we learn to ask ourselves what does the word of God say about this difficult passage not what do we think it means what does the group consensus think it means what does the mama bird tell us it means but what does the word of God say by God's grace These four points have been burned into your frontal lobe. You keep this in the hard drive. It's like when people ask me, you have nine grandchildren? I say, yes, I can tell you all their names. They say, well, when are their birthdates? I say, well, I'm sorry, I don't keep that in the hard drive. I can access that information for you. It's in a separate hard drive on my computer but the hard drive in my brain doesn't have room for all that. So I know you cannot keep every verse in the Bible on your hard drive in your brain or every point from this study but please if you have to delete some information in order to add this just go ahead and do that. This is very important. When dealing with any passage, we have learned to ask ourselves, one, the definition of the key words in the passage. Interpretation is subject to the definition of the key words in the passage. If you look at a verse in John 3.16, For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. So there's some key words in that. God the Son, not perish, everlasting life, only begotten Son. Well, your definition of your interpretation of what that verse means cannot exceed The definition of those keywords, it is bracketed by those definitions. You cannot simply say, well, that's not my interpretation. Simply because you don't, do not like what the verse says, or simply because the verse collides with a previously held conviction. When the Word of God collides with our belief system, the Word of God judges our belief system. Our belief system does not judge the Word of God. Second question we ask ourselves, is it Old Covenant versus New Covenant? Not Old Testament versus New Testament, but Old Covenant versus New Covenant. Third question we ask ourselves, is it historical revelation versus doctrinal revelation. We've studied all of these so you know these terms. The last question we ask ourselves, is it secret or revealed? Well actually we could include the word higher in there also. So if you want to add to your notes, is it secret, higher, or revealed? Deuteronomy 29.29 says the secret things belong to the Lord. If the result of our inquiries discover that the truth, event, or knowledge which we are seeking is secret, then we are satisfied with the answer the Scriptures do not say. If the result of our inquiries, if As a result of our inquiries, we discover that the truth, event, or knowledge that we are seeking is secret, then we are satisfied with the Scriptures do not say. And in my seminary class in St. Petersburg, Russia, I would tell the students that the single most difficult statement that any pastor or Bible teacher has to say is, the Bible doesn't say. The Scriptures are silent. The second most difficult thing is, I don't know, but I'll get back to you. If our inquiries are spoken to as a result of Holy Scripture, we may say with confidence that is revealed. There are multiple layers of revealed scripture. Deuteronomy 29.29 states, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever that we may observe all the words of this law. In this case we ask ourselves in terms of revealed scripture, is it higher, is it difficult, or is it clearly revealed? In the latter case, it is simply a matter of studying the scripture. Higher Scripture, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. Parables are an example of higher revelation. In Matthew 13, 16, And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? Jesus answered and said to them, To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For to whoever has, to him more shall be given. and he will have an abundance but whoever does not have even what he has shall be taken away from him therefore I speak to them in parables because that while seeing they do not see while hearing they do not hear nor do they understand in your case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled which says You will keep on hearing, but will not understand. You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull with their ears, and they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they would see, and their eyes hear, and their ears understand, with their heart in return, and I would heal them. So parables are not given to make things clear. Parables are a judgment on our mind. Now, the parable of the sower is then explained to us. And he was teaching them many parables and was saying to them in his teaching, listen to this, behold the sower sows without to sow. and then that's in Mark 4, 2 and 3. But in Mark 4, 14 and 15, it begins with, this sower sows the word. So, God the Holy Spirit allows us to listen in as Jesus explains the parable of the sower. So we can teach that with confidence. On the other hand, the parable of the mustard seed is not explained. He presented them another parable saying the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. And then he goes on. And many pastors have embarrassed themselves by seeking to explain the parable of the mustard seed when it is not explained. Thus, we are left with the judgment of the Word of God on our finite mind. When a parable is not explained, we are left with two responses. One is, does the Word of God teach us what it does not mean, that which is clearly given in the Word of God always brackets that which is obscure or that which we cannot understand. And then the second thing we can say is the Word of God does not explain this parable but as a devotional thought I would like to share this. You can do that. Prophecy is another example of higher revelation. 2 Peter 1 20 and 21 clearly teaches but know this first of all that no prophecy is a matter of one's own interpretation. What could be clearer? Christ clearly says parables are given as a judgment. They cannot be understood unless Jesus explains them. He explained them all privately to his disciples. God the Holy Spirit only chose to reveal a few of them to the church. What's an example of this and why pastors and Bible teachers embarrass themselves? Well, let's look at Jeremiah 31 15. Standing by itself, this passage is almost impossible to interpret. Thus says the Lord, a voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children because they are no more. Now, if the only books of the Bible you had were from Genesis to Jeremiah, that's it, could you interpret this passage? I'll take it beyond that. You now have the complete written revelation of God, Genesis to Revelation. Can you interpret this passage as it stands alone by itself? See, from this we can see the frustration of the prophets. 1 Peter 1 10-12 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquires, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating, as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. So Isaiah, when he gave us Isaiah 53, he did not understand it fully. He was praying, when will this happen, Lord? When will the Messiah come? When will the substitutionary death of Christ occur? It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you. That's us, the church. in the things which have now been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things in which the angels long to stoop and look." So, with our born-again minds, because of the doctrine of regeneration, The veil that covered the eyes of mankind before Christ's resurrection has been lifted for those who are born again. We can understand these things and we understand them as taught by the Apostles and by the New Covenant Scriptures. God the Holy Spirit, therefore, gives us the interpretation of this prophecy. and no one apart from the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit would come to this conclusion. Matthew 2, 16-18 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the Magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the Magi. Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted because they were no more." Now, without the interpretation of God the Holy Spirit, could you read Jeremiah 31 15 and say, oh yeah, that's really clear. Jesus is going to be born of a virgin, three magi, not three magi, but the magi are going to come to worship him, the scribes will do an investigation, they will send them down south to Bethlehem, they will worship him, but they will be told in a dream to not return and report to Herod, so Herod is enraged, he is going to try to kill the newborn king, An angel appears to Joseph and sends Joseph, Jesus, and Mary to Egypt. Meanwhile, the soldiers come up and kill every baby two years old and younger in Bethlehem. Would you get any of that? No. And in fact, as a young Christian, in my pride and arrogance, I would read Matthew 2, 16-18 and say, that is the fulfillment of this, verse 18, is the fulfillment of 16 and 17. Nah, that's kind of contrived. But that was in my pride and arrogance. God the Holy Spirit tells us that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation and this is a good example of why and that is why over the last two thousand years Bible teacher after Bible teacher after Bible teacher has embarrassed themselves by teaching prophecy that is not explained by God the Holy Spirit and then time has passed and their interpretations have proved false. Over the last 2,000 years Gog and Magog have been presented as innumerable different kingdoms and cities. And now we have even more books on prophecy coming out with new interpretations of Gog and Magog. The fact is God the Holy Spirit does not tell us where Gog and Magog are, what those cities are, And no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. So, through all this time, when Gog and Magog was Berlin and Rome, Leningrad and Stalingrad, Leningrad and Moscow, Tehran and Baghdad, all these different cities and people have been continually been embarrassed when their books though great sellers prove to be false. I have been unembarrassed because I simply said the Bible doesn't say. So we have secret things, higher things, then we have difficult things. And we should understand that, that some passages, God the Holy Spirit says very clearly, that some passages are indeed difficult. They are not easy to understand. 2 Peter 3.16 As also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which some things are hard to understand. They're difficult. which the untaught and unstable distort as they do the rest of scriptures to their own destruction. So the first thing, those people who relegate Paul's writings, he's talking here about Paul, all of Paul's writings are inspired by God. They are all, 2 Peter 3.15 says, they are all given by God. though some are hard to understand. Those people who relegate the writings of Paul to culture, to the dustbin of history, to quirks in Paul's personality, to his religious or personal prejudices, those people who say Paul's writings do not apply to you, are untaught, they are unstable. And they don't stop with Paul's writings, they do this to other scriptures. Bible says a woman shall not teach and exercise authority over a man. Those teachers who say that that passage does not apply to you are untaught and unstable. They don't stop with just distorting those passages. The Bible says not to just pick on women, and in the very next chapter in 1 Timothy 3 that a pastor can only be the husband of one wife. Those Bible teachers who say men who have had multiple wives, whether by polygamy or divorce and remarriage, still qualify as pastors are untaught and unstable and they don't stop there. People who don't like the doctrine of election and predestination as clearly taught in Ephesians 1 and 2 Timothy 2 are untaught and unstable and they don't stop there. So if it is difficult, it's going to take more study. But we do not get, we are not allowed by God the Holy Spirit to simply set it aside and say, well, we just don't understand this. Simply because it's difficult. Remember we learned that to the evangelical pragmatist, the word of God is understood and applied by what works. It's understood, interpreted, and applied by what works. And when they come across verses that if they do these things it will affect their ministry or their income, they set it aside. So to the evangelical pragmatists, certain verses in the Bible They just don't make sense to them, not because they cannot be understood, but once they are studied and understood, they do not like the conclusion. So they just say, we don't know what it means, but they do know what it means. They are either difficult and they can find out what it means or they are known. 1 John 5.13 says, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. From the written word of God, we can know that you do not lose your salvation, that you have eternal life. You can know how you get that eternal life, how to lead other people to have eternal life. It is known. Deuteronomy 30, 11 through 14, for this commandment, which I command to you today, is not too difficult, nor is it out of reach. It is not as heaven that you should say who shall go up to heaven for us to get it. and that we may hear it that we may observe it nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it that we may observe it but the word of God is near you in your mouth and in your heart that you may observe it so in the revealed word of God there are higher things there are difficult things but there are some things that are simply clearly revealed and they are not difficult higher because we don't like what they say that is not how we come to the conclusion that a passage of scripture is simply we do not know what it means uh... to the evangelical pragmatist this is true some passages of scripture uh... i mean They just have no meaning. But they do, they just don't like the meaning. Difficult scripture number one. Let's take a, let's do some workshops here. Matthew 27, 46. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachani, that is, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, what are we going to do with this passage? Well, first, are the definitions of the key words an issue? Remember, our interpretation of the passage is subject to the definition of the key words. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It's pretty straightforward. Is this an Old Covenant or a New Covenant passage? Well, I would say it's New Covenant. It's clearly intended for Christians. Though the New Covenant has not been inaugurated, this passage deals with the sacrifice of Christ which makes the New Covenant possible. Isaiah 53-6 is taking place in real time when Jesus made this statement. Is this historical revelation or doctrinal revelation? Well, this is a historical revelation of God the Holy Spirit, of the words and actions of Christ on the cross. So, in other words, God the Holy Spirit is giving us a window of what is happening while Christ in real time is on the cross. Christ is not teaching here. we are allowed by God the Holy Spirit to witness interaction between God the Father and God the Son. Now that tells us right now that it's going to be a lofty passage of scripture. No aside is given to us by God the Holy Spirit to explain Christ's words of actions. Now what do I mean by an aside? Let me give you an example. In Mark 7, verse 18-19, we have the words of God the Son. And he said to them, Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but to his stomach, and is eliminated? Then in that passage we have an aside or expansion by God the Holy Spirit. Thus he declared all foods clean. So we are freed from all the restrictions of the law in terms of our diet. We are free. We don't have to say, well, of course, in the new covenant we don't have to keep the dietary restriction, but God would not have given them unless they were good for us, therefore I'm going to keep them anyways. No, you do not have to be more conscientious than God the Holy Spirit. You do not have to set your standards higher than God the Son. The law was not given for us dietary laws were not given to us for our health but to condemn us to teach us that there are clean and unclean to show sin to show the futility of works based salvation nowhere in the bible does it ever say the law was given for health reasons so but no aside is given here doesn't it Does it say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And then God the Holy Spirit does not say, thus he declared, dot, dot, dot. Perhaps this is a higher thing that we will never understand the meaning of because it is interaction between God the Son and God the Father. man's finite mind cannot even imagine the interaction and counsel between the members of the Holy Trinity. For sure, though, it is difficult, isn't it? Therefore, we ask ourselves, what does it not mean? Remember, we have a question here. And we have the passage, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, we are going to bracket that with 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. We are going to bracket that with eight clear passages and any teaching or interpretation that we have on the words of Christ cannot exceed any of these clearly taught doctrinal passages. They cannot exceed it. So let's look at these. Our first one is Hebrews 4.15. Hebrews 4.15 which says that Christ was tempted in all ways as we were but without sin. So, our interpretation of this passage cannot include Jesus sinning. Let's look at the next passage, Romans 14.23. That passage says that anything that is not based on faith is sin. And Romans 14.23 says that doubt is sin but it goes beyond and expands sin to be anything that is not from faith. Then we have James 1.6 In James 1.6 it says that statements and prayers and interaction with God must be without doubting. That one who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Cannot be sin. Must be a statement of faith. Must be a statement of faith made without doubting. James 2.10 For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point becomes guilty of all. It cannot be stumbling. It cannot be, well, Jesus was doing great and boy, all, you know, his entire existence was one of perfection and he just had this one little stumble while he was on the cross. No big deal. It is a big deal. Whoever stumbled, God the Holy Spirit says that whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles in one point becomes guilty of all. Then we have the next passage that brackets it. That's James 4.17 which says that he who knows what is right to do and fails to do it, to him it is sin. So, this statement of Christ on the cross must be Jesus knowing what is right to do and doing it. then we have the next passage which brackets it which is Philippians 2.8 Philippians 2.8 says that Christ was obedient unto death so everything that Jesus said or did from his incarnation to His death and including His death on the cross must be acts of obedience. They all must be, everything must be interpreted as Jesus obeying the Father in every area and that includes everything that happened on the cross because he was obedient to the point of death, up to and including his death. That brings us to John 5 19. In John 5.19, therefore Jesus answered and was saying, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in a like manner. All statements on the cross must be in concert with God the Father. And then last, John 14 10. Not only His actions on the cross, but also all statements. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak of my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does His works. So we see here, what can this not mean? It cannot be sin. It must be an act of faith. It cannot be doubts. It must be knowing the right thing and doing it. It must be obedience right up to his death, including all of his actions and all of his words. So any interpretation you have of my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? This interpretation must be bracketed by these truths. What could be clearer? Well, let's look at another passage. We'll take a look at the next passage in our Bible study. That is Matthew 25, 29-30. For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he does not have shall be taken away. throughout the worthless slave into the darkness in that place where there be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Does this mean you can lose your salvation? No. What does it mean? Don't do it. Whatever he's talking about here, don't do it. Are the definition of the words an issue here? Our interpretation of this passage is subject to the definition of the key words. No, there are no difficult words here. Is it Old Covenant or a New Covenant passage? Well, these are the words of Christ. I believe they're given to the Church, so it would be New Covenant. Is this historical revelation or doctrinal revelation? Although this is not specifically stated as a parable here in Matthew, in Luke 19.11 it is included as a parable. In other words, remember when we were studying parables we made a differentiation between parables and illustrations. Illustrations are not hidden from us, parables are. Without explanation by God the Holy Spirit, it comes under the classification of higher. In that case, it is important to ask ourselves what it cannot mean before we give any devotional teaching. Remember the exhortation of Christ in Mark 4, 10-12. As soon as he was alone, his followers along with the twelve began asking him about the twelve parables, and he was saying them, to you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables so that while seeing they may not perceive, while hearing they may not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven." So parables are made as a form of judgment. I do not know of anywhere in Holy Scriptures where this parable is explained. Therefore it is a higher thing. As Christian businessman Gene Moore responded to me when I said, if this doesn't mean you can lose your salvation, what does it mean? He said, it means don't do it. Don't find out. Now, there are nine passages which determine what Matthew 25, 29 and 30 cannot mean. So, again, let's take a look at this. Matthew 25, 29 through 30. So, we have this passage thrown out into outer darkness. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. So we're going to have nine passages. What is the first? The first is Ephesians 2, 8, 9. It cannot mean workspace salvation. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by works, lest no man should boast." So we're bracketing it in by Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. We are going to bracket it in by Titus, by Titus 3, 5. He saves us not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but by virtue of his mercy. by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. So it's not going to be works, it's not going to be deeds done by us in righteousness. Then we're going to bracket it in with John 5 24. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my words and believes in him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but passes out of death into life." So, it's not going to be going to hell for people who have heard and believed. Hebrews 10.18 Where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer an offering for sin. It's not going to be the teaching of some sort of purgatory, post-death purgatory experience before you get to go to heaven. There's no more sacrifices that need to be made. John 3.16 For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life. It cannot violate the principle of eternal life. John 6, 28 and 29. Therefore they said, what shall we do so that we may do the work of the works of God? That's a good question, isn't it? Just wanted to know. You keep talking about grace, about believing. Yeah, but what do we do so that we can do the works of God? Jesus said, this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. So, from this point on, whenever in 1st John, whenever in James, whenever in the Gospel it talks about any work that is required by Jesus, we know the definition of that. It means to believe. John 10, 27-29, My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give them eternal life. The only life in terms of salvation known in Holy Scripture is eternal life, not temporal. They will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hands. No one, including you. Including you. You can't pry yourself loose. 2 Corinthians 5.8 We are of good, pure courage. I say and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be home with the Lord. To be absent from the body is to be home with Christ. That's why we know that Luke 23.43 can be taught as universally applicable to all Christians, not just the thief on the cross when Jesus said, this day you will be with me in paradise. So, this parable of the unfaithful servant who is thrown out where there is gnashing of teeth, I will be honest, I do not know what it means Except, don't be unfaithful. I do know what it does not mean. It does not mean we can lose our salvation. It does not mean there is a purgatory. It does not mean that we can pry ourselves loose from the hand of God. It does not mean deeds of righteousness save us. It does not mean works save us. It does not mean there is anything beyond hearing and believing that saves us. What could be clearer? interpretation of this passage cannot include losing your salvation, works-based salvation, God's love for you growing cold, or an after-death purgatory experience. Those decisions are made for us. It is a higher passage. Okay, last difficult scripture. Psalm 5111. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Wow! It's in the Psalms, right? It's a prayer. Should we be praying this prayer? Are the definitions of the key words an issue? No. Unfortunately, it's crystal clear, isn't it? Is it historical or doctrinal? Unfortunately, it is doctrinal. Is it Old Covenant or New Covenant? The good news is that it is an Old Covenant passage. As an Old Covenant passage, which is part of the Temple system, it has been fulfilled and has no direct application for the New Covenant Christian. Where did the Holy Spirit dwell in the Old Covenant? In the Temple. The Holy Spirit would anoint individuals, but under the Old Covenant, the Jews and those who subjected themselves to the law, the righteous Gentiles, were not born again, nor did they experience the total satisfaction of God. Their sins were atoned for by animal sacrifices that had to be repeated year after year after year, unlike the one-time propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus. Matthew 5.17 says, do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets, I came to abolish but to fulfill. Therefore, we continue to, in our reading program, we read the law and the prophets, but we take devotional application, not direct application. People who say to me, you just don't, this says clearly that God will take His Holy Spirit from you. He's praying that it will not happen. you just don't believe the Bible. I say, hey, if you and your church service perform animal sacrifices and burn grain and oil offerings and rip the wings off of doves for the atonement of sin, I have no problem. But if you don't, then you are just being a hypocrite. You are being selective. No, this is an Old Covenant passage. Look at Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, in him you also after, after what? Listening to the message of the truth, which is the gospel of salvation, having believed, what happened? Sealed with the Holy Spirit, Remember John 5, 24, truly, truly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in whom he sent me has what? Eternal life. He who listens to the gospel of salvation and believes is sealed with the Holy Spirit. It's no wonder that those people who believe that you do not receive the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation also believe you can lose your salvation. Because John 5.24 and Ephesians 1.13 go hand in hand. One deals with our immediate salvation and eternal life in our relationship with God the Son. The other deals with our immediate salvation and eternal life in our relationship with God the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3.16 Do you not know that your God, the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you, not in the temple in Jerusalem? Colossians 2.9 For in him all the fullness of the deity the Godhead dwells bodily. This is the New Covenant doctrine. So Psalm 51, 11 has no application to us beyond being thankful that we are new covenant Christians. I shudder, well not shudder, I cannot imagine my embarrassment if Israel were to rebuild the Temple. Already, people who visit Israel go to the Jordan and are baptized. Christians, baptized. But they're not baptized in the Jordan because there is only one baptism. And I'm embarrassed for them when they announced I was baptized in the Jordan as if they've done something. Well, if the temple is rebuilt, think of all the Christians and pastors who are going to go to Israel and go worship in the temple as if it was anything but an obsolete, empty building which God tore down so that we wouldn't do it. People ask me, have you gone to the Holy Land? Well, no, I'm still on Earth. I yearn for the day when I will go to the Holy Land in Heaven. But until then, I'm on Earth. And no one else has been to the Holy Land who's on Earth. Because you don't come and come back. It's a one-way ticket to the Holy Land. So I hope this helps you understand how to deal with difficult scripture. Your interpretation of these and other difficult passages cannot cross the boundaries of clearly known and revealed scripture. Just as the interpretation of a passage may not violate the definition of the key words in a passage, Thus interpretation is bracketed by definition. In the same way, the interpretation of an obscure or difficult passage may not violate the clearly revealed passages in the written word of God. Thus interpretation is bracketed by that which is clearly known and revealed in scripture. The Bible teaches us that there are difficult passages and higher passages. Now this is a lot of work, isn't it? And this is why many pastors, ministers, staff, and Bible teachers would rather just teach off the top of their heads than to go to the Bible and find these passages. Another reason is that they do not like the conclusion. Now, I have learned many things from a Christian businessman who is now with a Lord named Gene Warren. He was divorced and remarried. He was a great Bible teacher. Billy Graham called Gene Moore the greatest lay evangelist of the 20th century. That's high praise, isn't it? He taught at pastor conferences. He taught at Navigator and Campus Crusade conferences. He wrote books. He was a multi-millionaire who gave generously. He established in his death, he donated his library to Dr. Stanley McCallway and to Tanafor and Peters where they could establish pastoral training libraries as part of their ministries. Greatly used by God. But when asked to be a deacon of his church, he said, no, I am not the husband of one wife. Now, that took a lot, didn't it? Finally, he said it out loud. Well, many pastors, when they study scriptures, a woman that shall not teach or exercise authority over a man, they say, I'm picking on women. Okay, a pastor can only be the husband of one wife. When they study the scriptures, Unfortunately, both those passages are clearly understood. They don't need bracketing. They would just rather say, well, I don't understand it. You don't get to say you don't understand something when you do understand it. You can say, I don't like what people do with this passage. but it can be understood. For instance, predestination is clearly taught in Ephesians 1. You don't get to embrace Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 and reject Ephesians 1. You may disagree with what people do with the doctrine of predestination, which I do disagree with it. They do. Most people who strongly believe in the doctrine of predestination or election, the first thing that leaves their church is aggressive evangelism. And that's wrong. That's sin. But Simply because you embrace aggressive evangelism doesn't mean you get to take a black magic marker and cross through every time the word predestination, chosen, or election occurs in your Bible. But for people who don't like that word, they just say, we don't know what it means. You don't get to say, you don't know what a doctrinal passage means. Eternal life has a meaning. People who believe you can lose your salvation don't like the word eternal life, so they just say, we don't know what it means. Or they redefine it to mean something else. The Roman Catholic Theological Dictionary defines the word grace as the ability to know the works necessary for salvation. In other words, they will say, by grace you have been saved through the Roman Catholic Church, because without the Roman Catholic Church, you'll do the wrong works necessary for salvation. because of the Roman Catholic Church, we can teach you the right works necessary for salvation. So by grace, understanding the correct works necessary for salvation, you are saved. Of course, we know grace does not mean that. Grace means receiving that which is not deserved. It is an unmerited favor. It is an unmerited blessing. And Jesus Christ said clearly in John 6, 28, Therefore they said to him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God? What could be clearer? Verse 29, Jesus said to them, This is the work of God that you believe in him who has sent me. That's it. We do not get to reject grace simply or redefine it simply because we do not like the ramifications in our ministry. And to the evangelical pragmatist, his response to passages will be, it can't mean what it means because if it does mean that, my ministry will be smaller. And people will get mad at me. Divorced people, women in the church, people who believe they can lose their salvation, people who believe there is a second baptism of the Holy Spirit, the list goes on. All these people are going to get mad at me, so it can't mean that. To the evangelical mystic, they will say, well it does mean that, but I have a word from God that frees me from it. To the evangelical liberal, Well, it does mean what it means, but we have to understand in the historical context, in the cultural context, over the years the Bible has been changed, come up with whatever reason you want, we don't have to obey it. Because the Word of God is not the Word of God. To the apostolic Christian, It does mean what it says, but the council of bishops has said homosexuality is now okay. It does mean what it says, but the Pope says priests cannot marry. It does mean what it says, but the bishop or the apostle laid hands on me and now I am a woman preacher. or the organization elevated me to this position, so I do exercise authority over a man. You take your choice. They are all seeking to free us from the holy, eternal, and inerrant written word of God. There is no perfect church, no perfect Christian organization. So, I use the analogy of grocery shopping in America. When we were in Oklahoma, certain grocery stores sold wine and liquor, certain others didn't. And Baptists in Oklahoma would not shop at the stores that sold alcohol. They also wouldn't shop at a store called Safeway, which was owned by the Mormons. But now, 50 years later, virtually all stores, except for small, very small stores, are corporations run by pagans, and they all sell alcohol. So you're either forced to have a garden in your backyard with chickens and goats and cows and vegetables, or shop at stores owned by pagans that sell alcohol. Well, you're going to be faced with that with the churches you choose and the organizations you belong to. But because they sell alcohol doesn't mean I have to become an alcoholic. Because they sell marijuana, does it mean I have to smoke marijuana? And because they believe certain things, does it mean I have to believe them? So, may God add His blessing on His Holy Word. In Christ's name I pray, Amen.