Hello and welcome in to Bible Line. I'm your host, Pastor Jesse Martinez. I want to thank you so much for tuning in today. Wherever you are, wherever you're listening, give us a phone call. 813-565-3771. 813-565-3771. Got a good show planned for you today. It's all about taking your call, so if you have one, give us a call. Our phone lines are open. If you'd like, you can send an email to our off-air questions, questions, at bibleandministries.org. You can also support the ministry, bibleandministries.org slash donate. And the best way to help out right now is to subscribe, like, and share this live stream. And make sure when you subscribe that you hit the notification bell so that every time we do anything, you get notified. Want to welcome you in, hope you're doing well. We are on episode number 13, I believe, either 12 or 13. Yeah, episode 12, which is just crazy. And we are roaring to the finish line here. So make sure that you're getting your calls in. We are in season two. Got a couple already loaded up. So we are going to go across the country from our perspective here to Oregon. Marlon, thanks so much for holding and you're kicking off the show tonight. How can we help you? You know, I had a guy who I was witnessing to a few months ago, and I gifted him a Bible, come to find out he is a registered sex offender. And he came to me, because I just saw him yesterday. And he brought the verse Mark 9, 42. And he was, you know, really saddened. And he's like, does this mean I should drown myself? I said, no, I didn't even know he was a sex offender. And I never, when reading that verse, thought that that's what that was referring to. I thought it was talking about the babes in Christ, not basically leading them astray. But I didn't know what answer to give him, and I looked at Tom Cacuzza's commentary, and I saw he kind of took the same approach that it was, indeed, talking about predators as well as people leading astray. So how would that work for people? Would that be the people who don't have Christ covering them? Yeah, well, that's actually a great distinction. So there's... the important thing to recognize here is what is being offered in the person and work of Christ is the forgiveness of all sin. So this man that you spoke to, registered sex offender, obviously he's a sinner, just like everybody else, but on man's level he is much more of a sinner because he's a registered sex offender. But when he trusts in Christ as his Savior, He has experienced, you know, buried in the likeness of his death, raised again to walk in newness of life. I would tell him, of course, there's a severe warning there in Mark 9 42. Anybody who causes a child to stumble, whether it be a literal child or a child of God, you know, there are severe consequences for that. And those consequences are listed here. But what's beautiful about the work of Christ is you can be forgiven from all things. And much more than that, the old things have passed away, behold, all things have been made new. And that's from 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, and that man that you talk to, If he biblically repented, which just means to change his mind, resulting with faith in Christ, if he put his trust in Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ has covered him, he is now in Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, Philippians 3.9. This verse, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. There's a lot of discussion on what the old things are, but if we look Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 7, it's pretty clear that the old things are the consequences, the judgment that came on the old man. Christ took that. Those things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And what's the new thing in that registered sex offender? The new thing is the new nature, which is born of God and cannot sin, which we see quite clearly in first John chapter three in verse number nine. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now, what this does not mean is he can go and do the things he did before. That would be, I mean, that would be terrible. No one is endorsing that. However, those sins are covered. And this is where I think people wrestle with grace the most. Because it's very easy for us to look out in society and pick the worst and say, well, they can't be saved. Well, let me be very clear. If they can't be saved, you can't be saved. Neither can I. Because if we're honest people, if we're all honest people, which is incredibly rare nowadays, people are not honest, they're just advantageous to their own benefit. All of us are guilty. Every single one of us are guilty. As a matter of fact, this was brought up tonight in the service, and I think it's a great verse by reminder. For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. So just because the world has not condemned you as a sinner doesn't mean that you are not a sinner before the eyes of God, requiring a substitutionary atonement for your sin. So what I would tell that individual is, even though you have this mark against you, God can still use you to get praise, honor, and glory. You now walk as a new man. That doesn't change your status with the world. And we're not trying to change our status with the world. The one thing I want the world to know about me is I believe in the risen Savior Jesus Christ, that He is the only begotten Son of God, and that anybody who puts their trust in Him, they pass from death to life. That's what I want the world to know about me. But think about it from all the different angles, right? Well, people look at you and they say, well, because you say homosexuality is a sin, you're not loving, and don't you know God is love? And so you're a—I don't know if I can say this word, so I'm just not going to say it—but you hate people, and you're just—all of these things that the world will say doesn't make it true. What the Bible says about me is what's true, and I'm a born-again child of God. So is that individual that you witness to. So there are limitations that come with that sin, 100%. You know, if you're a murderer, and you get convicted of murder, you're a murderer for life. That cannot change. And those are the consequences of sin. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. So, I think it's important to recognize the emphasis for that man is, look at how you are now in Christ, and choose to walk in that new nature, that spirit nature, every day, knowing you are justified from all things for when you could not be justified by the law of Moses, Acts 13, 39. Yeah, I mean, I felt for the guy, because though my sins aren't as grievous by man's standards, you know, I mean, still, in the eyes of God, I'm guilty as that guy, right? That's what I've tried to lead with, and I think that that maybe brought him some humanity that he's not gotten. Yeah. And here's another thing, too. We have to remember, every single sin that we committed was paid for by Jesus' shed blood, which required His lashings, which required His fatigue to collapse under the weight of His own cross, which required the thorns to be depressed into His brow, which required Him to be beaten beyond recognition, I mean, sometimes I think we forget how serious sin is, and how great the sacrifice of Christ is. So I would never want to come into a position where I look at somebody just because they're a registered sex offender and say, well, I'm so much better of a sinner than they are. My sins put Christ on the cross just as much as his did. And I think the more people look at it that way, as you have rightfully said, the more profitable we're going to be, the more successful we're going to be to be able to reach people for Christ. I'm not trying to reform this man's life. I want him to have life and to have it abundantly, that new life in Christ, which only comes as a result of faith in Jesus. Amen. All right. Hallelujah. What a Savior. I love that. I love that hymn around this time of year. No problem, Marlon. Call back soon, okay? All right. Have a blessed day. You too. 813-565-3771, the phone lines, yes, they are still open, so make sure you give us a call. You know, that actually brings up a good point about making sure when you are going out and doing evangelism, you want to make sure that a person knows that God loves you, what He hates is His sin. And there are some people today that would disagree with that. They say, oh, God doesn't love us. Well, He demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's Romans 5.8. So when I say to somebody, God loves you, I'm not talking about, ooh, God loves you, like, you know, like lovey-dovey puppy love stuff. No, you want to know how God loved you? He loved you by sending His Son to die on the cross. That's how God shows love for you. It's not some, you know, temporal love, some type of, you know, young love. We're talking about a love that came at the expense of the life of His Son. That's how God loves the world, and that's how much He hates sin, that it pleased Him that Jesus was bruised for our transgressions. And so it's important to recognize that when you're talking to people, you and those of you who are soul winners, the more you get out there and share the gospel, the more you're going to run into real people. And what I mean by that is real people with real problems. It's going to do one of two things. You're going to realize, Lord, I'm thankful for what you have allowed me to endure. And second, there is nobody that is too far gone to be reached. There's nobody. But when you are gaining favorable attention, you're in those conversations, you want to make sure that I'm a sinner and you are too. You don't have to go, ah, Yankee did a great job tonight talking about this. You don't have to go like, well, here's all my sins. I did this and I did this and I did this. We don't need to glory in it. We don't need to revel in it. We need to recognize I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. Jesus paid the price for sin. All right. 813-565-3771. We are going to go now to Louisiana, I think. Hang on just a second here. Just a moment, Louisiana, Gem Ham Springs. Marcy, are you with us? Yeah, I'm here. Hey, thanks so much for holding and calling and welcome to Bible Line tonight. How can we help you? Okay, I'm calling about Revelation 22, 18 on. What exactly does that mean? What exactly does it mean? Yeah. Okay. Like, does it apply to X? Okay. Many years ago, I basically tore out of my Bible. Okay. I'm not defending it at all. And it was simply because I wanted to smoke a joint and the guilt of that eats me up. But to be honest with you, I, I, at that time, I remember feeling so horrible and repenting of it, you know, But I really wasn't walking with Christ at that time. So I guess I just pushed that out of my head. And here now, many, like 20 years later, and studying my Bible, I've come across this and it brought up a lot of fear. And I guess I'm wanting to understand what is it and can it be repented of? Is it a disqualifier for salvation? I think what you did is not really what's being discussed in Revelation 22, 18, and 19. I think it's specific to the prophecies that are within the book of Revelation, and all of the deception that's going to be going on around the Tribulation period. Jesus is over here, Jesus is over here, the Antichrist, the false prophet, Babylon as a nation, and there's going to be specific prophecies that are only discussed here in the book of Revelation that I think other people are going to try to mar, and specifically false prophets, unbelievers, are going to try and change what God's Word says, and there's a serious consequence for that. You defacing Scripture is not something that is unforgivable. And I don't think that it's necessarily what's being discussed here. I'm glad that you feel badly about that, but I want you to know, Marcy, if you've put your trust in Jesus Christ, that sin, defacing God's Word, it's been paid for by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Acts 13, 39, you're justified from all things, all things of which you cannot be justified by the law of Moses. And it's interesting, you know. Well, that's another story for another day. But hopefully that gives you a good answer to your question. Well, it does, but it's a little bit more I want to know. Can anything at all remove you from the Book of Life or prevent you from being in the Book of Life? No, once you're there, you're there. Well, I get, yeah, unbelief, yeah. And you already said that, so. I mean, yeah, I understand that. That's a given. So, I mean, that's the absolutely only thing that can either add or prevent, I mean, removing that fact. I'm getting tongue-tied, excuse me. That's okay. That can keep you from ever having gotten there and keep you there, right? I'm having a hard time following that. Could you say that again? Okay. Okay. What I'm asking is, okay, the only thing that can keep you from being put in the book of life is unbelief, correct? I would agree. Now there's several, I want to pull up a reference here. Um, hang on just a second before we go there. Let me, let me pull it up first because I can't really remember where it is. Oh, I think I already have it saved. Hang on. I'll let you know Trent when I get there. There's a, there's a source that I use for, uh, Bible research. Um, Let me see, book of, all right, there's a source here and I'm going to copy this and I'm going to send it to our screener chat. Are you watching online, Marcy? I watch it on YouTube. Okay. Well, I don't know if there's a way to maybe watch it on a computer, but there's a reference, a link that I just... No, I don't have a computer. Oh, no problem. I think you messaged the Bible on Facebook, so we might be able to send it to you that way, but there's a good reference here by Dr. Grant C. Richardson. You can go ahead and transition over now, Trent. and it discusses the Book of Life and all of the different things about it. I've found this to be an incredibly accurate source, so I would refer to that, you know, for any more specific questions. But I think as far as what you've called for tonight, you know, unbelief, denying that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, you know, certainly will disqualify you from everlasting life if you die having never changed your mind, so. Well, I'm good there. I know that much. Okay, well, one quick thing. Okay, I come from a very Catholic family, and my dad, now, they have to have their Bibles, like, blessed by the Pope, and they tear out of their Bibles. And I'm wondering, that is what they're talking about, isn't it? That's all junk. I'm sorry if that sounds crass, but that's all. You don't need a Pope to bless your Bible, and if a Pope does bless your Bible, I don't think it's anything. I know, but that's what... I don't believe that. I mean, I've never... Yeah. That's... My dad has a family. My family's divorced. Well, a lot are. My mom's side was a Baptist, which I no longer really attribute to religion anymore. I'm just King James, that's all I can say. I don't really know what to call myself. Well, you're born again. If you put your trust in Jesus Christ, you're a born-again child of God, of which you have everlasting life. That will never change. I want you to have that assurance. I want you to know that regardless of what may come in the future... I'll be honest with you, though, this has bugged me because I've heard it called a curse. Yeah. And in the back of my mind, it's kind of been nagging at me. Okay. Well, I want you to just have that assurance, you know, before you get off the call here, I want you to know that you're secured in Christ, regardless of maybe tearing out that page in the past or anything else that you may do in the future. If you put your trust in Jesus Christ, you are eternally secured, okay? Okay. All right. Thank you, Marcy. I appreciate it. That was Marcy in Louisiana. So I was getting a little bit, I was trying to follow there. I think it was getting a little difficult, but I'm glad that she was able to call in. 813-565-3771. We have a first time caller here from Canada. This is Hansel. Thanks for holding and welcome. Hello, Pastor Martinez. How are you doing this evening? Good, good. How are you? Thank you, I'm really appreciative and I just want to thank you honestly from the bottom of my heart because I've been watching your ministry on YouTube now for a little bit, maybe a month or so and it's been so helpful because all the other pastures that I seem to follow on YouTube or even at my local church, they kind of mix works with salvation and I'm just so confused but you've been a light in this dark world that's That's really all I have to say about that. No, no problem. I have a few, if you wouldn't mind. So going back to the once saved, always saved. So there's a few verses that I was wondering if you could shed some light on. The first one is Christ said, if you don't forgive others, then your father in heaven won't forgive you either. And then the other one is also that says, if you deny Christ before men, then he will deny you before the father and the holy angels in heaven. So how does that Well, I think I did a sermon a few months ago on the one on forgiveness, and I think the forgiveness that he's talking about there is the forgiveness that was between the disciples he's teaching an example there. But, I mean, the only position where someone is going to be denied forgiveness is if they deny Jesus Christ. I think as far as the other one that you had mentioned, if you deny Him, He will deny you before the Father. I gotta look those up and look at those references, but he's likely talking to ethnic Jews, maybe even the Pharisees in those contexts, and they are not in any position of faith in him. So that denial may be talking about their eternal separation from God, but the one time that denial is talked about for believers is in 2 Timothy, and it's in a couplet, 2 Timothy chapter 2, and the denial there is in verse 12, if we suffer we shall also reign with him, if we deny him he will deny us. I think that denial is talking about a believer, a child of God who can deny the Lord Jesus Christ, And I think that denial involves a lack of spiritual maturity, walking in the flesh, not walking in the Spirit. And I think that denial is going to be manifested or made known at the judgment seat of Christ, where they'll lose out on their rewards, and ultimately the position they could have had when they serve with the Lord. I think that's why the first part of that couplet is, if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. But verse 13 gives us security, if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. So he's not going to cut us off from himself, but certainly there will be consequences for, you know, not living a life of service to the Lord. I think if people don't take that as seriously as they should, but of course it doesn't have anything to do with losing our salvation, because that can't be done. So here's where I struggle with that also, because yesterday I actually preached the gospel to a person. She was of Portuguese background. She said she used to be a Christian, but now she has become a Roman Catholic and she prays to everyone. And I said, you know, you should only worship the Creator, not the creation, even the angels and all that. And she was very dismissive and very standoffish and didn't want to talk about it. Well, if I were in your position, the first thing, if someone says, well, you know, I used to be a Christian, I want that to be defined. Because I think that there's a lot of different beliefs that are qualified as Christian today. You know, there's a significant portion of people that think the LDS Church is that the LDS church is a Christian church, and I don't think that's the case at all. So that would be my first question. It's like, well, when you say Christian, what do you mean? And ultimately, I'd be trying to bring it back to, do you understand—do you know for sure that you're going to heaven? And if the answer is yes, then I would be asking, what gives you that assurance? But let's say she is a born-again child of God, well now she's just getting that much closer to apostasy, from the impossibility of her mind to be renewed back to the truth, the further and further she goes into that deception in the Catholic Church. But if her faith was, at any point in time, if her faith was placed in Jesus Christ as the only sufficient payment for her sin, then she's saved. Now the question becomes, She's not bearing fruit, she's very close to becoming an apostate, as far as, you know, it's very difficult for her to end up changing her mind again, but she's still a born-again child of God. And the seriousness for her is, the chastening hand of God, grieving Him, disappointing Him, it is severe. What about when Christ said you have to be born again from above to enter the kingdom of God? So does that tie into, basically, I wouldn't say that would acknowledge him as Lord, as Savior. I think what you're referring to is in John chapter 3. Let me see here. John chapter 3 is where he says you must be born. Yep, John 3, 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Yep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And I believe that water is physical, the physical birth, which Nicodemus understood. And as a matter of fact, we kind of see that right there. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born? No, you have to be born of the Spirit, and I think that Spirit birth is down here in verse 16, when you put your trust in Jesus Christ alone. Last question, if you don't mind. In the Old Testament, I struggle with the book of, I think it's Deuteronomy, where God tells the priest to go through the whole ritual of how they can cleanse people who have leprosy. But when Christ came, He just healed lepers. I mean, He just healed them. So why, was that some kind of a test or something? No, I think those sacrifices are demonstrating the coming sacrifice, the only sufficient one. It's funny, did you listen to the live stream this morning? It's funny because we covered exactly that, but it was in Leviticus. It was in Leviticus 14 and a couple of other places about the one bird killed, the other one to be let go. I think those are all pictures of the work of Christ. And so God is setting up that standard. And I think he's also saying, I know he's saying it, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And ultimately, Christ has the ability to forgive sins because of his impending sacrifice being able to do so. But here we are now on this side of the cross, that work is finished, that blood has been applied, and so forgiveness is available. I really want to thank you, Pastor. You've helped me a lot today. I'm going to keep following your ministry. Your ministry is awesome. God bless you, Pastor, and I hope you have a good evening. Thank you. I really appreciate it, Hansel, and it's the Word of God. It will not return void, and I just consider it a blessing to be able to do what I'm doing. 813-565-3771, 813-565-3771. We have a first-time caller in Wisconsin. This is Trent. Trent, thank you for holding, and welcome to the show. Hey Jesse, how are you? Very good. Can you hear me okay? Yeah, I can hear you fine. Alright, you don't have like an echo or anything? I got you on speakerphone. Oh yeah, no problem. You're good. Okay, cool. So, I don't mean to take up a whole lot of time, so I'm gonna speedrun this. So, I used to have a lot of doubt. Like, one month I'd be ecstatic and then, you know, the next month I'd be uh, just crying, like depressed. And one of the biggest passages that would ruin me was about the willful sin. But, uh, you know, I listened to you and, uh, Norm Diamante a lot and other, you know, good sources. And you guys really taught me a lot about context, which, you know, I thank you guys for, uh, you're very welcome. But when I reread it, Hebrews 10, it really stands out to me less about damnation, more about just security and the boldness to stand in it. It even says in Hebrews 10, 19 through 22, right away it talks about the boldness to enter into the holiest and then talks about kind of like holding one another up to good works and 1023 and on. And then it went into willfully sin. And when I first read that, it always kind of stuck out to me. I'm like, well, why is it talking about, you know, boldness and this and that, and then fall into this strange kind of out of place verse about going to hell. Um, but obviously, you know, when you're already doubting. That doesn't really matter. Well, let me, and, uh, Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry, Trent. No, that's cool. Um, but then, yeah, I'd read on and then I would see, and then this is just my perspective. It seems like these are also Christians who are like me, who would flip, uh, just kind of flip flop back and forth and they didn't really know where they stood. And, I think that's probably is where the fear came in. Like not knowing where you stand, just being scared of all heck, not knowing where you're going to go, how you're viewed and all that. And, um, and then it even talks about, you know, like Paul talks about, or not Paul, you know, whoever it is. And it says, uh, call to remember it's the former days. So he's talking to these people and he's like, well, you know, remember when you were a share of the faith and remember when you were, you know, held fast and... And they suffered for it. They suffered reproach. Yeah. Yeah. So now when I see the verse, it just means completely different than what a lot of people hold it to mean and kind of spread this, uh, It's messages of just damnation. A lot of this doctrine seems to want to hold on to people and just scare the heck out of them, really. Yeah. Well, let me tell you, Trent, you did exactly what I would have done, which is just keep reading. And what I think is so important about the warning in Hebrews 10.26 is the temptation, I think specifically, the sin willfully, It can be applied in many different ways. But I think what's specifically being talked about is these Christians were tempted to abandon the faith and go back into the temple worship system, because that would be physical life. They would not endure the suffering and persecution. But the principle still remains the same. Why is there no more sacrifice for sin? Because Christ is the once-for-all sacrifice, and that is built in verse 10, in verse 12 of Hebrews, chapter 10. And that's the encouragement. The encouragement is, if it's all paid, if Christ has died for it all, why would we return? Why would we go back to the thing that could never save us from the beginning? That was always—that being the law, the temple sacrifices—it is designed to show us we need a Savior. Galatians 3, the law, a schoolmaster to point you to Christ. You've found Christ, you're now placed in Christ, don't come back into the thing that was designed to show you who He is and say, this is where my salvation is. That's why I love that, don't forget the former things. And Paul says, I do believe it was Paul, and it's actually this verse that we're looking at that makes me think it is Paul. But all those things, you know, you suffered persecution yourself, you suffered persecution by association, because you knew me. Don't quit, don't give up. And yes, it is a sufficient motivator to recognize that God will lovingly chasten his children. And I don't want to be in that position unless there's a lesson learned, but I don't want to go back to a former system and say, this is better than Jesus, than what Jesus did. And let me tell you this too, Trent, just because I've been saying this a lot recently, really throughout my whole online ministry, which is not long, just about four years now, maybe five years. We have to make sure that any kind of question or doubt is answered by the Word of God. We put it on trial. The biggest thing that tripped me up as a young man—I'm talking when I was 12, 13, 14 years old—was What if that sin I just did was the last straw and God's mad at me, right? Right? And this is exact It's like in my mind I take that thought and I put it on trial and it stands against the Word of God and the Word of God says and I give unto them Eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand the Word of God says that who can condemn, who can lay any charge? It's Christ that died, yea rather was risen and seated at the right hand of the Father. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Nothing can separate me. So it does two things. Number one, it answers the doubt immediately. That's a lie, so I'm not gonna believe it. And number two, I should be more sensitive to sin because it's been paid for. I stand now, positionally, having peace with God, Romans 5.1. Why would I want to serve the thing that put Jesus on the cross? Why would I want to continue in anything that goes against this new life? It very much is life that I have in Jesus Christ. And I stopped doubting. You're good brother, go ahead. like, and continue on sinning, and it says, God forbid. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And, you know, the interesting thing about that, too, is that is the end of Romans chapter 5, the beginning of Romans chapter 6, where Paul then goes in on the whole emphasis of, you've buried in the likeness of his death, raised again to walk in newness of life, all of that. Why would we want to serve the very thing, you know, that Christ has already died for? And then he goes into Romans 7 about the war between our members, all that stuff. Man, the Bible just, it's almost like it was written perfectly to address these needs. I rejoice in having this scripture. Don't you? Aren't you glad we have a Bible we can study and it's the word of God, not the creations of man? Yes. Yeah. And you know, I hear a lot of people, and this is going to go on to my last point. Like I said, I don't want to keep you, but it's a, you know, I would just, So I would watch all these channels like Fallwasher, Bodybuck, I don't know if you've heard of them. Yeah. Kind of like all these other ones along with you. And I'd be like, you know, just lost trying to figure out what's what. And then I think, thankfully, uh, I found my spot. I found my place in a group home, you know, because of circumstances. And then the woman who kind of led it, she, kind of had to sit me down and really explain the whole grace thing is. And, um, so that's kind of what got me in the past, but so nowadays, you know, I'm, I'm fairly set in stone and I don't really have any doubts to be honest. And which is kind of unusual for me. Uh, but now when I watch these other videos, they like, it kind of, It kind of baffles me when I listen to them. I'll listen to people, and they're like, oh, yeah, you have these Christians that think that you can get into heaven by faith alone and Christ alone, and then they'll say, that's not enough. And I'm like, well... That's the craziest thing that you could have ever said, that it's not enough. You know what I mean? Exactly what you said. That's the craziest thing that you could say, that it's not enough. And that's why... I remember I was at home when I found out that Vati Bakam died. Listen, I've heard some great... I did a series on Christian nationalism last year, and I sourced a lot of his material, because he did a very good job of mapping some things out, and I thought he made a good case and all that. But with I'm not going to speak necessarily about him, but I will tell you about Paul Washer. one of the most blatant, fear-mongering twister of scriptures. And my desire is for him to change his mind and put his faith in Christ only. And there's a good likelihood that he has, because I've heard a gospel presentation from him that's great. I've heard others where if you do not measure up to the standard of perfection, you're not going in. And I think when he delivers this stuff, he's moved because I think he realizes the standard he sets, he's not meeting. And I think he's frustrated with the culture and what pastors have become today, and I get all that, but that doesn't mean we get to change what God says is the only way to get to heaven. You know where I think a lot of... Yeah, go ahead, I'm sorry. No, I'm sorry. You're good. Well, I think a lot of these guys, they hit this spot in righteousness where they're kind of, you know, so I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, you know, this is all good. whatnot and then I think it gets easy to fall into this trap of setting like an arbitrary bar where it's like alright well this is the bar now I reached it and now everybody below it is obviously not safe. Yeah, absolutely. And that's where the verse in 2 Peter is talking about, like they make merchandise and all that, they steal away assurance. But listen, Trent, I appreciate you calling. I'm really glad to hear that you've found security in Christ and you're learning how to answer these doubts with God's Word. That's where the power is. It's not in a mantra that we repeat, it's not in more self-discipline, it's in the work of Christ is sufficient. Hold on, we got it. Hey, I was just going to say, from Trent to Trent, thanks for calling, man. Yeah, it's awesome. I've been watching your videos lately. You're doing good. Yeah. Thanks. He's a lot nicer than I am. I have to look at the videos before he sends it and I'm like, this guy's being a lot nicer than I would be. But that's good. We have a little bit of balance, a little bit of fire and ice. So listen, Trent, I appreciate you calling. First time caller from Wisconsin. And I just want to say this before we get to our next calls. We've got a few on hold here. 813-565-3771. You know, the problem with real born-again churches today is we're not discipling people. That's the problem. We're kind of just expecting things to go well because we're leading people to Christ, but then we're not challenging people to then become able to do that in someone else's life. We are called to go into the world and make disciples. We preach the gospel and make disciples. My interest as a pastor is to make sure when somebody comes in through my doors, and they trust in Christ as their Savior, that there's a place here at Calvary Community Church where they can grow and impact their families. That's my goal. And I think that is not the goal of many churches today. A lot of churches are not desired in making disciples, they want donors. they want people who are going to give on a regular basis. I was listening to a video a couple of years ago, a guy who used to be a pastor in a mega church. Every Monday they'd have a meeting and review the money that came in in light of his message title, and so the rest of the week he would do a message title that is similar so it generates more funds. That's not biblical Christianity. And I think that's what's happening in church today. I think pastors think, well, I'm just giving the gospel, that's good. Are you training your people? Do your people know why they believe what they believe, or are they just gonna say, well, that's the church I go to? And I think what's going on with like Washer and these other people is they're trying to stir up something from a dead man. You give the man life, which is the gospel, he's filled with the Holy Spirit, go set him on a right path, get involved in that man's life. Pray for him, set the standard, give him a vision. outside of, well, we're going to heaven, so it's all good. Well, great. The church will be dead in 20 years. If that's how it's gonna go, that's how it's gonna go. Of course, I believe God keeps a remnant, but okay, rant over. All right, we're gonna go to Topeka, Kansas, first-time caller here, Andy. Thanks so much for holding, and welcome in. How can we help you tonight? Hey, Jesse, thanks for having me on. No problem. My question, though, I've been a believer for a long time, and I've heard kind of throughout my life, like, people talk about, you know, callings, like, specific callings they have, like, God called them maybe to a certain job or something. I know, like, pastors talk about, like, being called by God, and I was just wondering, do, like, all believers have a specific vocational calling, or, because it just seems like when people talk about it, it seems kind of like, I don't know, mystical to me, or it's just kind of hard to work through that, and I'm just trying to think through what my mindset should be about that. Yeah. Well, the first verse that comes to mind, and I'm sure there's others, but the first verse that comes to mind is 2 Corinthians chapter 5, in verse number 19 and 20. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. I think that's primarily talking about the apostles and the work that they did, but we're doing the same work. We're still giving the gospel and making disciples. So I think the vocation for a born-again child of God is to be a minister of reconciliation, which is just introducing people to the fact that they can have the complete forgiveness of sin. Reconciliation means to remove that which was in the way. So for sake of illustration here. I mean, this is a terrible...okay, I'll just use my mouse. All right, here's the mouse, right? Boop! There he is. This is you and me. This is God. The mouse is our sin. Reconciliation is removing that which is in the way, so this has been removed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Introducing people to that is the gospel. We share the gospel with them. I believe that's the vocation of every single believer. Now, on a secondary level, the way that works in the Church are gifts, and the gifts are given by the Holy Spirit. You can see 1 Corinthians 12 for a further discussion on that. Outside of the ministry of reconciliation, verse 20 of 2 Corinthians 5 says, now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech us, you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. So I am an ambassador. What quality of an ambassador? Am I good? Do I show up for work? Do I say the thing that Christ has said? Am I in unison with him in how to be born again and the Christian standards for life, all that? That's the real question. But, oh man, my mind went somewhere else and I just forgot. It's probably because it's 843. But I'm trying to think exactly of what I was going to say. There was something else there. But now the more I think about it, it's like a dream. Oh, you were saying they kind of mystify it. Yeah, that's what people do when—I'll say this lovingly as a pastor—sometimes people just love themselves, man, and they want you to see how good God has been to them. You know, it's like, look at me. But it's like, I want you to look at Christ. I want you to see the sufficiency in God's Word, and then we can rejoice together as we worship, you know? Right. Yeah. Yep. Okay, so maybe it doesn't matter specifically the job itself as much, but what you're doing in that job to share the gospel, right, and try to make disciples? Yeah, so I think it's worth looking at 1 Corinthians 12, because there's a verse here. Verse 4, now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit, and he goes through all this. But here's the reason why for all that. Why are there diversities of gifts and diversity of administrations and operations? But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. So the whole purpose of, and he goes through a list starting in verse 8 down to verse 11, I think it's listed again in Romans and again in Ephesians 4. But all of that is for profit. And I think that profit is winning people to Christ, discipling them. That's why you got to hear that little rant that I did about, the problem is we're not discipling people. We wonder why people don't have a passion for winning souls, because we're not instilling that in people. You know, I could give you person after person, and this is a testimony to God. I'm almost overwhelmed by this. It has been my specific prayer for months for God to send people to Calvary Community Church who want to serve. But then I realized, I have to equip people. I have to take what God has already given them and then put them where they are. I just can't expect a lost man to trust in Christ as Savior and then automatically be like, okay, I'm ready to serve. I have to teach that. That's active discipleship. That's actively getting involved in people's lives. And as soon as I change my mind on that, God has been sending people here, and then I'm asking specific questions, getting people involved, and lo and behold. Lo and behold. I mean, the Lord is meeting that need. But I believe that a person trusts in Jesus Christ as their Savior, they're given gifts, and those gifts are designed to work in the Church for profit. Souls discipleship. Souls discipleship. Yeah. All right, Andy. I appreciate you calling. Hopefully that was a sufficient answer for you. Yeah, it was helpful. I appreciate it. Yeah, no problem, my friend. Andy in Topeka, Kansas. 813-565-3771. We're in the last 10 minutes. Are you going to call? Are you not going to call? Let's take a look here. Just a moment. We've got a new caller here from Texas. This is Justin. Thanks so much for calling, Justin. How are you? Good. How are you? Yeah. Good. I wanted to ask what your thoughts are on... So, you know, you believe that Christ died for our sins, right? Yes. Right. So, if Christ died for our sins, would it be fair to say that He was dead? As in, like, Ecclesiastes 9, right? Like, Ecclesiastes 9 says the dead are They don't know anything that... Well, no, the Bible tells us in Ephesians 4, he descended into the heart of the earth and led captivity captive. He experienced death for every man. He went down... I think that's out of context, but what I'm asking is, was he dead? Like, was he dead as in, like, according to the scriptures, right? Because the scriptures say that the dead go down to silence, right? And then all the Christians are telling me that only his body died, but that he didn't die. You're talking about spiritual death, right? You're talking about spiritual death. I don't know. I'm, I'm saying that Christ, the subject actually died. He died on the cross to pay for our sins. Yes. Okay. And what about, what about, uh, the rest of, the gospel that Paul gives in 1 Corinthians where he says, even as in Adam all are dying, thus also in Christ shall all be made alive. Is that important too? Because it says the first fruit, Christ, was made alive, right? It's the ellipsis. Then Christ had his presence, and then it tells us when all of humanity will be made alive. And it shows that it's a time subsequent to the book of Revelation. So shouldn't we believe that God becoming all in all is part of the gospel? I think the sufficient belief for the Gospel is exactly there in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3 through 4 or 5, delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and then he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And that does immediately give the person who believes life, the life specifically is eternal life. So I appreciate you calling, Justin, and hopefully that was a sufficient answer for you. 813-565-3771. We are about five minutes away from closing the phone lines. If you're in the queue, we will get to you. Let's go now to Craig in Thompsontown, Pennsylvania. Thank you so much for holding. How can we help you tonight? Hey Jesse, thanks for taking my call. I appreciate it. No problem. Hey, I'm calling. I was doing some studying this weekend in Romans chapter 8. and I'm doing great until I got to verse 20. And I'm trying to understand what is being said in this particular verse. The creation was made subject to vanity or depravity or emptiness, the vanity word. Creation, the creature, creation. But then it says, not willingly, And I'm trying to decide, is the creation, is that just, you know, humankind in their sinfulness? Not willingly, but because of Him who has subjected the same in hope. Who's the Him? And then it says, was subjected, but in hope, or expectation, I'm confused as to what that verse is actually saying there. Yeah, I think this is talking about, well, actually right there in this Bible app that I'm using, it gives a paragraph heading of future glory. I think it's just talking about how everything right now is suffering because of the consequences of sin. So predator, prey, all that kind of stuff, you know, cancer, the second law of thermodynamics, things are always getting worse and not getting better. So I think all of that is groaning, as it says there in 821, and it's going to be delivered when the Lord comes back, rules and reigns. That's the significance of the prophecies in Isaiah, the lion is going to lay with the lamb and the children's going to play with the snake and all that. We would see that today and we'd go, danger, right? But that's all gonna be taken away. I'd have to do some research to see, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. I don't have an answer right off the top of my head for that. If I were to look back in verse 18, that's where I would start. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. But because the creature itself also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groaneth in ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit to the redemption of our body. So ultimately talking about the adoption, I believe, is the glorification, and everything is kind of...we're in progressive sanctification right now. We're walking in the Spirit, we're denying the lusts of the flesh, that is making us more like Christ, we're producing fruit, God is able to use us when we disobey, chastening when we obey, blessings now, rewards later, and of course the adoption is, you know, welcome home. the body, this body I have right now, gone. The new body, glorified, will be forever, and I'll see him and be like him. That could be talking about Adam there, by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, bringing sin into the world, but I'd have to look. None of this, though, questions my eternal security, and I don't want you to have that question either. I think this is talking about... Oh, no, no, not at all. Yeah, I think the header of this is, yes, it's bad now, verse 18, but what's coming is better. None of this is to be compared to what we're going to experience. Right, right. I understand that. Yeah. I think I'm just, I'm just doing some really deep dive study in here. And I'm looking at that particular verse and just analyzing every part of it. And when I saw the word him and I was like, well, who's him? And then it says subjected the same in hope. Well, the expectation of course is, is what's coming. I understand that part. I bet it was just that middle part of the verse that was tripping me up. And I'm like, but who's him? who has subjected the same in hope, who is the him that it's talking about? That's confusing me. I'm not sure who that is. I'd have to look. It's not capital H. So it's not a, they don't capitalize the ages when they're talking about, you know, God or Jesus. So it's hard to, it's hard to know. And the other part of the creation, that's us, that's fine. You know, subject to vanity or depravity and not willingly. I mean, Adam was the one that did it. We didn't choose to do it, you know, but we unfortunately inherited his, and inherited the curse from him. But yeah, it was just that verse. I'm not questioning anything else in there. This is my absolute favorite book in the whole Bible. I love Romans. It just- Romans is great. If somebody doesn't understand how to be saved, you gotta read Romans. That tells you exactly how you're saved and why you're saved and the mechanics of it. And I'm just, you know, I love the book. So I was doing a deep dive this weekend, just in chapter eight, and I got to that verse and it just tripped me up. And I'm like, man, I have no idea. what this middle part is saying. I thought, well, I'll call Jesse. Maybe he might know. I'd have to look. This is one of those things where I'm sure I knew it at one point, but, you know, having not been sharp on it for a while, I haven't looked at this particular part of Scripture in a while, so. No, that's no problem. I don't mean to put you on the spot like that, but I thought you might know. This is one of those things, like, one of the reasons why I was like, when I start a call-in show, I want to make sure I know as much as I can, but I appreciate this. So I'll ask my editors to make a note of it. Run through the machine to answer all these hard questions. I'd be nervous all the time. You know what's crazy? Well, the reason why I'm not nervous, brother, is because it's all gods. And if I say I don't know, I say I don't know. But what's crazy now, as I've seen, there's AI videos out there. like these AI videos like you watch them they're like 50 minutes you turn them on it's like bible line exposed and it's some voice like today we're going to be exposing and it's like this is weird this is weird but the roasting does get a little bit hot that's okay though that's all good I will make sure that I get an answer for you. We've got a note of that, so I'll take a look at it. I might even look at it after the show, and that might be something where I can write back to you. All right? That's good. Yeah, no problem. And thank you so much for calling, Craig, there in Pennsylvania. Our phone lines are closed, but we are going to take two more calls here that are on hold. This is now, we're going to go to Kansas, speaking with Alex. Thanks so much for holding, Alex. Welcome in. And how can we help you this evening? Well, first off, I'll just ask how you're doing tonight, brother? I'm doing really good. I'm doing really good. I've enjoyed tonight's show and it's a real pleasure to be talking to you, Alex. Amen, what a blessing. I have a question in 1 Peter 3, 19 and 20. I was just wondering what spirits he preached on to. Is he speaking of the people in Noah's time who were destroyed by the flood and now they're in prison, the spirits in prison there, or is he speaking to like the demons or Nephilim that are in the prison, or I'm just unsure on that. Yeah, I don't subscribe to, like, this is a demon thing or a Nephilim thing. It's likely those who perished without believing in a coming Messiah, and specifically the preaching that was coming from Noah. I mean, if we remember, Noah preached for a hundred and twenty years, 120 years about something that was not really known at the time. The due cycle was different. You can look at that in Genesis on how the earth was watered, rain didn't come from the sky yet. But he still preached it and people rejected it. And I think the emphasis there is eight souls were saved by water, delivered from that judgment Some people have asked me, were those the only people that experienced eternal life? And I don't think we can really say for sure. I think definitely the only eight souls were delivered to life, physical life. and that the ark is a picture of the security in Christ, boom, the door is closed, can't be opened. It's also a picture of when the opportunity, I'm telling you, when the tribulation period comes, it's gonna be, people are gonna trust Christ as their savior, but the deception is going to be strong. You look at every judgment in Revelation, it says that man still did not repent, still did not repent. And repent meaning change their minds. We definitely need to get the Gospel out to as many people as we can. I've got one more question, as well. 1 Peter 4-6, for this cause, was the Gospel preached unto them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but living according to God in the Spirit? people that are dead spiritually or haven't believed on Christ? Yes, that's how I interpret that. Talking about those who are dead and you might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the Spirit. When my uncle shared the gospel with me when I was 12 years old, I was spiritually dead, trusted in Christ as my Savior. Men judge me in the flesh, God judges me according to the Spirit because I'm born again. Yeah, I just didn't know if that was that, or if it was like people that are unprofitable, like in James chapter 2, like dead, like dead face. I would have to look and see if that's what's in the context, but I think verse 5 kind of limits that context to those who are, you know, the quick and the dead. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you much, brother. I appreciate it much. No problem. Thank you, Alex. It's good to talk to you. Last time we talked to Alex, it was in August. Ladies and gentlemen, last call, and I don't do this on purpose. It's Lloyd. It's Lloyd in South Dakota. We're going to bring him on. Maybe, if my iPad agrees. Lloyd, you're bringing up the last part. You've got men on base here. You've got to bring them in. I'm just kidding, Lloyd. It's good to have you. And the last shall be least. Is that how it goes? How you doing my friend? I'm doing fine. Um, I just had one, one, the reason I called was, is there any way that if I emailed you my email address, then I could get some copies of the, of like some of your, um, not necessarily all your notes, but you kind of, some of your Bible verses and things like that from, from your sermons and that, because I try to follow it along when I'm listening to it, but I don't always follow it. And then when I go back, it doesn't always register. And I try to follow everything along, but I just, I didn't know if you, you know, could do something like that. And if you can't, I understand. Cause that's, you, you got a lot on your table right now. Well, it wouldn't, Yes, the short answer is yes. If you email me, then I'll be more than happy to give you my notes. The longer answer is I have... I've been doing a lot of different things recently, and this Mormon series that I'm doing, I've been direct quoting from a little pamphlet. And if I were to put my notes out there in public, I want to make sure that it's properly cited. And since I don't do a work-cited page when I'm just doing sermon notes, You know, I usually give it as a recommendation afterwards, like, these were comprised from this material, you can go check it out for yourself. I don't want something to sit on the internet and then people accuse me of, like, direct plagiarism or something like that. But for your own use, I would definitely—you email me, and I will email you. Now, I have a church email. It's jesse at calvaryoftampa.org. and then we have the questions email. But I just passed 2,500. As a matter of fact, just hang on just a second. You don't have to go to my screen because I'm going to open up my email. I'm just curious because I was wondering. Yeah, 2,550 messages, emails that are now in the Answered Bible Line Questions folder. And if you've got a question, I just got that inbox down to, when I logged out on Friday from doing questions, it's down to 28. It's up to 49 now. Like I said, you've got a lot on your plate. But what I mean is, if you want the notes, send it to jesseatcalvaryoftampa.org. Because if it goes to questions, it just kind of gets in there. I try to look at that at least once a week. And you said it was jesseatcalvaryoftampa.org. That's okay, maybe we can, can we get it on the screen? Trent might be able to put it on the screen, or at least in the chat. Jesse, J-E-S-S-E, at Calvary, C-A-L-V-A-R-Y, of O-F Tampa, T-A-M-P-A, dot org. Okay, all right. My email's gonna blow up now. Yeah, I'm sorry about this. Don't worry, don't worry. It's fine, it's fine, don't worry. Well, I just have one real quick question. And you know, this is something that I was raised with. It's like I explained, you know, when one of the first times I called, I was raised up in first Lutheran church. And then my mother got very involved with the Pentecostal. And one thing was they always now, and I, I guess it's hard for me, you know, being raised like that, but, whenever I had done something wrong, you know, and mother would say something and she'd always say, you have got to immediately go ask God for forgiveness. You know, so I, you know, and it's kind of in my back of my mind, I, you know, I try to do that because sometimes, you know, how words slip from your mouth, you really don't have that intention to, you know, and I always say, God, I'm sorry. you know, I, I try to, I've been doing a lot better cause I did have a very foul mouth. Um, but it was, it was just something I just kind of wondered about, you know, that I needed to, you know, every, you know, cause every night I always ask God, you know, for forgiveness of anything I might've done, you know, referring to remembrance, anything, you know, and, and kind of leave it at that. But I mean, do I need to dwell on, People can get into a real serious paralysis with 1 John 1.9, and I actually think it's why some people recently have made that about an unbeliever. But the whole purpose of confessing our sin, I believe, is to keep us sensitive to it, because our nature, our flesh nature, is disposed to continue. So... Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, so It's not like we have to become paralyzed by every time that we sin, but we need to be aware of how serious sin is and why we're told to walk in the light as He is in the light. And we can't say, I'm walking in step with the Lord and be walking in sin at the same time. I'm not big on hypocrites, I understand. Yeah, so I wouldn't make it like an OCD thing, which I know a lot of people who are disposed to that, but sufficiently, when we sin, we need to acknowledge it, because the likelihood is if we just keep going on and sin, we're only going to go deeper into it. Well, that's why I was asking this, because the way I was kind of And, and like I said, I kind of misinterpreted it in my own mind of, you know, of hearing, well, once you're saved, always saved, you know, and I, I guess I never really listened to whether it was all past, present and future sins that you are saved from that you don't, you know, as long as you pray, you know, everything would be cool and not necessarily have to every time ask for forgiveness for things that you screw up on or mess up on. Yeah. Once we put our trust in Christ, justified from all things. Now the question becomes, are you obedient? Are you walking in step with him or are you walking out of step with him? I'm doing the best I can, Pastor. Truth be told. I mean, I'm doing what it needs to be done, but I still have a ways to go. Well, we all do, brother. I need the Lord Jesus every single day. Every single day. Amen to that. Amen to that. All right, Lloyd, well, thanks for calling, okay? I appreciate it, and you have yourself a very blessed day, and my love to all your church. You and Dr. Cortuza, like others have said, have really opened my eyes up because I was also one of them that went from Pentecostal to following Vodie Bachum and John and Paul Washer and, you know, John MacArthur, that type of thing. And listening to Dr. Sproul. And after listening to you, once I started listening to you and reading the Bible, my being more involved into it and reading it and going, wow, you guys make a whole lot more sense than what they're trying to tell me. Because that, you know, it just, I was just getting more confused every time I'd listen to some of their sermons and that. So, you know, you guys are a very big blessing and I just thank God every day for you guys and I pray for you all, including up at St. Cloud and Yankee Arnold and all of you. That's good to hear, Lloyd. Thank you. I greatly appreciate your support. Okay. So God bless you and take care of yourself. Yes, sir. And just like that, episode 12 is in the books. I want to thank everybody who called in today. You know, without you, this show is not what it is. And I want to encourage you, if you're out there right now and you're listening, and you're not sure that you're going to heaven when you die, you can have that assurance. This is why Jesus came and died on the cross, was buried, and rose again three days later. He shed his blood to pay for your sin. We are not saved by our good deeds or efforts. The Bible says all of our righteousness is filthy rags. We deserve eternal separation from God in a literal fire-burning hell, but God, but God, in His richness, in His mercy, in His grace, He offered Jesus Christ in your place. And if you simply believe, you're justified from all things of which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. You have everlasting life. And I just want to give you assurance, not from my lips to your ears, but from God's Word. Who is going to lay anything against those who are the elect? And you want to know if you're elect? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You're in the elect one. Who lays anything against you? who can say, not saved, the blood of Christ has atoned for you. Yea, it is Christ that died, rather, rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today, and you have everlasting life. I'm your host, Pastor Jesse Martinez. It's been a real, real good time tonight. Until next time, keep looking up. Jesus Christ is coming soon. Thank you, may God richly bless you, and I'll see you here next week. Same time, same place, okay? If you enjoyed today's episode of Bible Line, make sure to subscribe to the channel and share this video with a friend. Do you have a Bible question? Send us an email at questions at biblelineministries.org and we'll do our best to get you an answer. Or you can leave your question in the comments of this video. Be sure to check the links in the description for more clear Bible teaching. Bible Line is a ministry of Calvary Community Church located in Tampa, Florida.