Oct. 8, 2024

Mental Assent vs Saving Faith Pt 2

Mental Assent vs Saving Faith Pt 2

Can we miss heaven by 14 inches?

Can we miss heaven by 14 inches?

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central? Who knew that

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you could end up with an entire series of podcast

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episodes as you try to figure out what is the

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difference in fourteen inches? Well, obviously the difference is fourteen inches,

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But how does fourteen inches make an internal difference? How

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does fourteen inches determine your destiny in either heaven or hell?

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Who knew that fourteen inches could become really a I

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don't know how many episodes can We don't know. I

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guess we could probably go a very long time, because

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it's a very important subject when you think about it.

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If fourteen inches determine if I'm going to spend eternity

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in heaven or spend an eternity burning in the Lake

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of fire, yeah, yeah, then I need to understand what

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is the difference in fourteen inches more than just well

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fourteen inches, because it seems to have an eternal difference,

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at least in the minds of some. So that's what

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we're going to be talking about. But before we do,

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let me say welcome everyone. It is Tuesday, October the eighth,

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twenty twenty four. It is currently two fifty two pm

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Central Time, and I am coming to you live from

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the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas.

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In Abilene, Texas, we've yet to receive the memo. We're

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yet to receive the notification that it's fall right someone,

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at least in Texas, we still think it's summer, okay,

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because it's like ninety degrees outside right now, and so

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it's going to get very hot here in the studio.

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So we need to see what we can accomplish now.

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Not only is it going to be hot here in

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the studio, I know a lot of people are going

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to get very hot under the call because they're going

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to strongly disagree with what we've been discussing. But let's

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just remind you this is not my fault, all right.

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Someone emailed me and asked me this question about what

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we refer to as mental ascent, salvation and mental ascent,

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and the idea went something along these lines that many pastors,

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many maybe even Christian podcasters broadcasters will say something along

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these lines, don't miss heaven by fourteen inches, and what

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they mean and they're kind of just using kind of

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an illustration is that hey, there is fourteen inches separating

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your mind from your heart, and if you just believe

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with your mind, you are not saved and you're going

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to go to hell. You've got to believe with your

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mind and you have to believe with your heart. You

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need both. If you only have one, it's a fragile

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at faith and you are not saved. So we've been

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trying to work on this. I told everyone it was

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going to be, you know, kind of tedious. It's gonna be.

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We're gonna be covering a lot of different issues. I

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don't think I've received an email back from the original emailer,

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so hopefully they have listened to part one and they'll

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they'll kind of tell me where they're still struggling or

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what they're trying to figure out, and we see if

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we can address it in a more specific way. But

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the way my approach was this is that let's kind

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of just start maybe from a biblical perspective. Let's try

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to just see what the Bible says. Does the Bible

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draw this major distinction between the mind and the heart,

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between mental assent versus some other kind of faith. And

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what we determined is I think it's very fair to

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say if we go to the Old Testament, if we

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take Hebrew thought in the Old Testament scriptures, it makes

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the mind and the heart synonymous. I think that's very

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fair to say. It views it as a synonymous thing,

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like as a man thinketh in his heart, that means

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the heart is the center of not only emotion, but will, thinking, thought, intellect.

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We would refer to that as the mind and many aspects.

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So the Old Testament seems to clearly it's and Hebrew

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thought it's synonymous. You don't have what the mind this

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and the heart this, and there's somehow a distinction between

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the mind and the heart. It's more grouped together. And

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when you start trying to divide this what we have

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seen over and over and over, and we've been dealing

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with this in a number of you know, in our

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other series. I'm kind of placing this with the other series.

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I may make this its own separate series, but they're

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very much linked together. Where we're talking about the secrets

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of the Christian life and why do Christians continue to

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send in a lot of that discussion, it's very much

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related because you get in there, you're like, wait a minute,

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do we have a new mind? Do we have a

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new heart, old heart, old mind. Well, this is more

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about okay, when you believe, right, are you sure you're

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make sure you're believe is in the right place, because

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if the belief is just in the mind, you go

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to hell. Well wait wait, but I believe, Yeah, but

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your belief is in the wrong place. It's got to

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go from the mind to the It's got to travel

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fourteen inches or you burn. I mean like just seems

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so like, oh, how do you draw that distinction. A

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person is sitting their way? Well, I think I believe,

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but maybe my belief is only in my mind, and inevitably,

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what does this turn into. It's not really about mental assent.

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It's not really even about that once again, it's about

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Christians trying to determine why Christians continue to sin. So

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we've always got Inevitably, what it comes down to is

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if you continue to sin and you commit big sins

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because your everyone's already living in perpetual sin. I mean,

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I stated all the time God tells you to be

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holy as He is holy, no one as holy as

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He is holy. Therefore you're in perpetual sin. Right, And

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I could add a lot more scriptures to show you

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your in perpetual sin. But the issue really well, you

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can be in perpetual sin, but you can't commit this

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sin because if you commit this sin, then we throw

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you out of everything because you're not really a Christian.

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This really just is not even really an issue about

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mental assent. It's really about who we can throw out

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of the Kingdom of God and determine who is saved

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or not saved. And already there's a problem with that

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because now we're determining salvation based on what we do

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or don't do, versus basing it on the finished work

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of Jesus Christ. So but we determined that the Old

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Testament scriptures, it doesn't have this weird separated now, you know,

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separated into these two. There's the mind, there's the heart.

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When we got to the New Testament, we acknowledge there

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are some scriptures that try to maybe offer some separation,

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but it's very nuanced, and there are clear scriptures that

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still once again links them together and sees it as

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a holistic a holistic unity. Right, that the heart contains

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the thoughts and the intents or the emotions or the will,

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but it's all within the heart. So what do we do.

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I mean, I guess we could go through every scripture

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in the entirety of the Bible and go, okay, wait

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a minute, guys, does this verse speak of heart and

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mind the same or do they separate it? I guess,

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I guess we could look up all the verses that

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uses the word heart, all the verses that use the

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word mind, and see. I think you'll I mean, if

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you want to do that, be my guess. I think

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I think you'll probably lose your mind. I may, I

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may do some work and see if I can find

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some kind of a summary. Maybe maybe we'll do that

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before this, I guess this is going to turn into

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a mini series is over so so. But from the

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biblical perspective, just from scripture, we don't have we don't

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even have the phrase mental assent. And I don't know

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if we can really cut someone into two parts and say, well,

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there's the mind, there's the heart, and the two are

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completely separate. So you, in a sense, can I don't

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know what do you do with your mind? You acknowledge

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with your mind that Jesus is the eternal so of

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God who died for your sins, But then your heart says,

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but I don't believe it. Well, if your mind accepts it,

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then isn't that a form of belief? If your mind

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knows it and your mind gives some assent to it,

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is that not faith? But some people say, well, faith

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needs really the knowledge, the assent, and the trust. I

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can't remember the three Latin phrases. I can't remember the

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three fiducia. I can't remember that there's three Latin phrases.

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Maybe we could get in I guess you could try

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to break it down that way. I think you just

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start drawing all of these distinctions, and at some point

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I think you just left with a confused mess. Right,

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if my mind says Jesus is the eternal son of God,

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he was sent by the Father, died for my sins, buried,

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raised the third day, ascended to the right hand of

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the Father. It's coming to judge the living and the dead.

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How can you say, well, your mind knows that, your

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mind gives assent to that, but it's not trusting in it.

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What is mind doing with it? Then? Well, it's got

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to get to the heart. Then the heart, see, well,

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then grab onto it and then and what is it

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inevitably going to come to we'll see when your heart

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grabs onto it, then there's going to be transformation. Because

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Christianity is obsessed with this concept that we're transformed, even

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though well we're not really transformeding we're transformed. We claim

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we're transformed, but then we admit we're not perfectly transformed. Well,

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then is that a partial transformation? Is that a twenty

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percent transformation? Thirty percent? And then and how is the

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transformation occurring? Is it occurring because of imputed righteousness? Well,

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imputed righteousness doesn't transform, It just transforms my position. And

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then we just get into all of these same issues.

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So we looked at a lot of things, and I

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could go back through a lot of it, break it

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down a little bit more. But what I want to

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do in this episode is what we had is it

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seems that a lot of the discussion about mental assent

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versus saving faith, well a lot of it centers on

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Jams two seventeen. Even so, faith, if it have not works,

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is dead being alone. And so what they seem to

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argue is that there's a faith that works, that's our

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saving faith, and a dead faith is just mental assent. Well,

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there's already all kinds of problems with us. But let

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me just remind you that this idea that even so faith,

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if it hath not works, is dead. Remember, there is

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not agreement in two thousand years of church history of

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exactly what that dead means. Some people means, well, your

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faith is dead. Basically, well, it's not doing anything. It's

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not doing it. Maybe it's saving faith. In other words,

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positionally your faith has saved you. You're declared righteous by

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faith alone, you're declared purpose perfect. But practically your faith

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is dead from doing anything. It's not loving anyone, it's

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not helping anyone. So it's dead from a practical perspective.

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This is not necessarily saying it's dead from a position

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ditional standpoint, right. And we talked about that in the

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last hour and are the last hour long broadcast that

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we did wasn't an hour ago, but whenever, it was

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a little over an hour ago. So so we looked

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at that we can do some more work on that.

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But at the very end of the last broadcast I

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mentioned James two nineteen because some of the things I

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was referencing reference to James to nineteen Thou believest that

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there is one God, thou doest well the devils also

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believe and tremble. The devils also believe and tremble. The

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devils also believe and tremble. So now the idea is okay, wait, okay,

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mental assent therefore equals the faith of demons, because demons

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just have mental assent, but they don't believe in their heart.

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This is kind of it kind of used to to

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try to justify this or look at this, and I'm like,

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wait a minute, wait a minute, I think we got

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a major issue going on here. I don't think that

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this verse. Just please note James two seventeen and James

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two nineteen never mentioned mental assent or tries to draw

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some distinction. We're trying to draw these distinctions, right, So,

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how do we understand thou believest that there is one God,

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Thou'll do us well? The devil's also believe in trimble.

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How do we understand this? Well, let's look at this

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in this context of trying to draw this distinction. Using

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James two nineteen to basically draw a distinction between mental

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assent and saving faith is very problematic. And I'm not

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the only one drawing that distinction. All right, And here's

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some ideas. Let's first look at the context of James

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two nineteen. James two nineteen states you believe that that

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God is one, and you do well. Even the demons

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believe and shudder. The verse is often cited to argue

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that mental assent to truth, believing that God exists or

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that He is one, is not enough for salvation, since

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even demons acknowledge this truth without being saved. However, this

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interpretation has potential weaknesses when applied to human beings. Now, immediately,

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we just have to know we're dealing with two completely

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different categories. Here's demons, here's humans. There's going to be

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some clear distinctions here, all right. Here are some possible

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reasons why there's problems or potential weaknesses. The text itself

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specifically references that to the belief in the oneness of God.

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This is very important, all right. This is specifically referencing

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the belief in one God. I cannot express to you

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how that's like your textual cue. That's your hermoneutical key.

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All right. You believe that God is one, which was

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a core tenet of Jewish monotheism, all right, which comes

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from Deuteronomy six ' four. Here O Israel, the Lord,

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our God, the Lord is one. This is a statement

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of basic belief, not a comprehensive a comprehensive affirmation of

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Christian faith and Christ's redemptive work. So, in other words,

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all the text is saying is, hey, the demons believe

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in one God and they tremble, so belief in one

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So what this text would be saying simple belief in

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one God or a belief in monotheism or a mono

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theistic belief is not sufficient for salvation. This is not

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about oh wait, well you say you have faith, Well,

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demons have faith and they're not saved, so you've got

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to have a right kind of faith. Now, this is

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simply saying faith in one God is not sufficient. And

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why is this important? Because look, it's the context. Look

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at the who James is written to James, a servant

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of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the

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twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. This is being written

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to Jewish readers, to Jewish believers. Hey, if you're Jewish

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and you're just saying, well, we believe in one God.

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So belief in one God is not sufficient. Salvation requires

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not only belief in the one God, but belief that

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the one God. And now at some point we would

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argue maybe some trinitarian belief is required, We could get

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into whole discussion. But that that one God sent his

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eternal son, one God, three distinct persons, father, Son, holy Spirit. Okay,

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but sent his son as a substitutionary sacrifice to die

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and pay for your sins and salvation is found in

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faith in what Christ did, not just in the belief

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that there's one God. So already you can't just say, well,

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see you can believe and still not be saying no, no, no, no,

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no no. This is if you believe simply that there

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is one God. This would be referencing the thiological content

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of one's belief. This statement of basic belief not a

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comprehensive affirmation of Christian faith in Christ's redemptive work. James

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isn't saying that demons believe the full scope of the Gospel, death, burial, resurrection,

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and the need and the need for salvation. Rather, they

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acknowledge the reality of God's existence and his sovereignty, which

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they cannot deny. This acknowledgment doesn't encompass trust, obedience, or

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relational faith in God. This is just simply they can't

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deny this. You can't compare this demons to us and

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do something with This is just telling Jewish believers, you

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believe in one God. Great, there's got to be more

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than just the belief in one God. And we would

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all agree with that. This is not talking about mental

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versus hard believe that. The fact is that the demons

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simply believe, and this is just simply acknowledging, well, they

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believe in one God. You believe in one God. Believe

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in one God is not sufficient. Now number two. According

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to some demons, beliefs are limited. Demons may believe in

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the existence and oneness of God, but there's no indication

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that they believe in or accept the Gospel message. Demons

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might intellectually assent to certain truths about God's existence, power,

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and authority, but demons do not have the capacity for

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trust or salvation in the same way humans do. They

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are spiritual, spiritual beings who have rejected God and are

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an active rebellion against him. Their belief in God is

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purely an acknowledgement of a fact they cannot escape. It's

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not the same kind of belief humans are capable of exercising,

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which includes trust, reliance, and submission to God. Now, of

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course I would say we're incapable of it as well.

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God has to give us the belief right, I mean,

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not the whole concept. I mean, I guess unless you

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believe in if you believe in free will, then you

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can just freely choose to believe. But then that goes well,

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are you to pray? Okay? That gets that gets into Pelagianism,

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semi Pelagianism. That just leads to a million other theological issues.

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The belief, the belief described in James two nineteen is

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more akin to fear or recognition of God's power, rather

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than a saving faith that trust in God's promises. This

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highlights that mere acknowledgment of God's existence without trusting him

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for salvation is not the same as saving faith. Now,

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some will say, well, see this is this is drawing

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the distinction between mental assent and trust in Him. But

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I would argue it's just simply saying belief in one

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God is not sufficient. It's not about whether it's mental

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assent or trust. It's just just belief in when God

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and the demons have no choice but to believe it.

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There in this idea that this is describing some kind

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of a mental assent versus heart believe. There's an implicit

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assumption in this interpretation that demons share a similar cognitive

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and spiritual makeup as humans, having a separate mind and heart. However,

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demons are fundamentally different than human beings. Demons are fallen angels,

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spiritual beings who do not have the same moral and

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spiritual capacities as humans, especially in terms of redemption. They

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do not experience salvation or sanctification. They're irreversibly condemned. Therefore,

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the way demons believe cannot be equated with how humans

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are called to believe in trust in God. Human faith

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involves relational trust in God and a turning of the

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will towards him, something not available to demons. It's problematic

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to assume that demon's intellectual acknowledgment of God's existence is

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equivalent to the faith a human being is capable of having,

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which includes both mental assent and the heart's trust in Christ.

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So you can't just go with hey, they're just like, no,

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this is just I think we can make things so complicated.

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The simple thing is, to Jewish believers or to Jewish readers,

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you believe in one God, You quote Deuteronomy, great demons

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acknowledge the belief are the existence of one God. That's

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not sufficient for salvation. All right, James's overall point isn't

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to create a sharp distinction between mental assent and saving faith,

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but rather to emphasize that genuine faith will naturally result

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in works. Now, this is where I'm going to disagree

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with this completely, but okay. He is addressing people who

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might claim to believe, but whose lives show no evidence

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of belief through action. James uses the example of demons

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to show that simply acknowledging God's existence does not mean

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once faith is real or sufficient. However, the issue isn't

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about the cognitive dimension of faith versus the effective dimension

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mind versus heart. It's more about the evidence of faith.

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True faith, James argues, should produce visible actions that align

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with that faith. His concern is practical faith and does

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not result in a changed life for good works is

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dead and the sense of being ineffective, not that it

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is completely absent. Now, please don't they they do correct

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that even though James's point here is you believe in

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one God, so what the demons do? Do? You have

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a dead faith? Dead not in the sense of not

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saving or salvific, but dead and being ineffectual. It's not

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doing anything, it's not moving anything, all right, So dead

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does not mean it does that it's not salvific. It

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just can mean it's ineffective, which many throughout church history

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have understood. Right. James two nineteen is particularly tied to

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the Jewish belief in monotheism. For a Jewish audience, the

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belief in one God was central to their identity. However,

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James challenges the idea that simply holding to this belief

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is is not enough. He's challenging their belief that it

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is enough. His point is more about the quality and

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completeness of faith, not the distinction between intellectual and saving faith.

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Belief in one God was foundational, but saving faith and

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false trust in Christ involves trust in Christ. Demons believe

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God's existence, but they don't trust, obey, or align themselves

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with God's purposes all right. Using James two nineteen to

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make a distinction between mental assent and saving faith is problematic.

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Number One, it assumes that demon's belief is directly comparable

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to human faith, despite the fact that demons are fundamentally different.

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The verse refers to specifically to belief in the wellness

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of God, not the full scope of Christian faith. It

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is not saying that demons believe the Gospel. They simply

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acknowledge God's existence and power. James point is that genuine

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faith again should produce works. This is an ongoing concept, right.

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Thus these verses do not provide a sol foundation for

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distinguishing mental assent from saving faith. All right now, I

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could go through here a far more into this, but

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I could go far more into this, but you get

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the basic idea. The concept of James two nineteen is

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simply that, hey, you believe in one God. That's not sufficient,

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all right? All right now, then it goes on. But

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wilt thou know, o vain man, that faith without works

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is dead again. A faith that does not work is

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dead in the sense of it's being ineffectual, it's not

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being it's not practically doing anything. Does not mean it's

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dead as far as saving is concerned. You have to

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infer that. And if you infer that faith will produce works,

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you're gonna end up in a problem. Let me explain, right,

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and a system of imputed righteousness, which is what we

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claim to believe. True faith calls us to a transformed life,

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but it is not our transformation that saves us. Rather,

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our standing before God is transformed because we are credited

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with christ righteousness, not because we become inherently righteous in ourselves.

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Imputed righteousness versus infused righteousness. Imputed righteousness is the idea

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that when a person puts their faith in Christ, God

401
00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:28.799
credits them with righteousness of the righteousness of Christ. This

402
00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:33.240
righteousness is external to the believer and is a legal

403
00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:39.039
declaration that changes those believers standing before God. This doctrine

404
00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:42.839
is Foundational and Reformed theology and reflects the idea that

405
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we are justified by faith alone, not by any intrinsic

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00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:56.079
righteousness or good works. Infused righteousness and contrast, refers to

407
00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:59.319
a gradual process which righteousness is infused into a person

408
00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:03.960
over time, leading to an inner transformation. This is Roman

409
00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:07.680
Catholic theology, where salvation is seen as both a legal

410
00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:11.759
declaration and a moral transformation. And this view, sanctification and

411
00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:16.160
justification are closely linked, and the system of imputed righteousness

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00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:19.400
are legal. Standing before God is transformed, but we are

413
00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:25.839
not immediately or completely transformed in our character. We remain

414
00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:29.559
sinners who are continually in the need of God's grace.

415
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Let me state that again, and in the imputed righteousness system,

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we remain sinners. We are not transformed. Our position is transformed,

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not our practice. All right. In the imputed righteousness system,

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our standing before God has transformed in the sense that

419
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through faith in Christ we are declared righteous based on

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Christ's perfect obedience. This means that when God looks at us,

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he sees the righteousness of Christ, not our sinful state.

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This is the essence of imputed righteousness. It is Christ's

423
00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:10.200
righteousness applied to us, not our own. We remain sinners.

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Although our legal standing before God has transformed, our personal

425
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:18.400
nature is still subject to sin. We are still imperfect

426
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and incapable of keeping God's law. All right, that's so important.

427
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Well justified, we continue to experience the effects of the

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fall and our inability to meet God's standards. In the

429
00:26:32.359 --> 00:26:36.079
imputed righteous system, we're still sinners. We're still going to sin.

430
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So if you say, if you turn this into oh

431
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wait wait wait wait wait, if you have faith, you

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00:26:40.759 --> 00:26:44.240
will do this. No, No, imputed righteousness doesn't make you

433
00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:48.759
do this. It doesn't produce works. Imputed righteousness does not

434
00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:52.599
produce works. Imputed righteousness does not produce change because it's

435
00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:55.440
outside of us, and it simply declares us to be

436
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that which we are not. So we can have a

437
00:26:58.519 --> 00:27:02.920
saving faith, and yet we can have works or no

438
00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:06.920
works or lack of works because we're still well, we're

439
00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:14.319
still sinners. Although we're legal standing before God, we still

440
00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:19.519
are sinners. We are not transformed in our nature. This

441
00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:22.960
understanding preserves the idea that salvation is entirely by grace

442
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and not by works. We are saved not because of

443
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an inherent transformation in us, but because of what Christ

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has done on our behalf. Even after we are justified,

445
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we remain unable to perfectly keep God's law. This is

446
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why the concept of imputed righteousness is so crucial. If

447
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we were required to achieve an inherent righteousness by our

448
00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:47.359
own efforts, even with the help of grace, we would

449
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have inevitably fall because of our sinful nature, meaning our

450
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sinful nature still exists. Imputed righteousness assures that our acceptance

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00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:58.480
before God is not based on our ability to keep

452
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the law, but on Christ' perfect film it. His obedience

453
00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:03.799
is counted as ours, which means that we are seen

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as having perfectly kept God's law even though in practice

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we fall short every single day. I cannot stress that enough.

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So when we come to this and we and we

457
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in James, everybody gets turns us all into Hey, how

458
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do you know you're saved? You'll do this and this

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and this and this. Well, wait a minute, what's making

460
00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:29.119
me do this and this and this? Because I'm sayd

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by an imputed righteousness, which doesn't cause me to do

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any of that. So that's already a problem number two. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

463
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So now my salvation is proven by what I do.

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You don't prove salvation and an imputed righteousness system by

465
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works and an infused righteousness system. You judge salvation by

466
00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:55.799
works an imputed righteousness. You judge salvation by the works

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00:28:55.799 --> 00:28:58.920
of Christ, not by the works we do. Now are

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00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:02.759
we called to good work? Work? Absolutely? Does God call

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00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:07.480
us to it? Yes, in a practical sense. If I

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say I have faith in God, but yet I don't

471
00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:13.960
do this or don't do this, then guess what. No

472
00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:16.240
one's going to profit from my faith. It's going to

473
00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:19.079
be useless. It's going to be meaningless. If my faith

474
00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:22.680
doesn't produce some good, then it becomes meaningless and useless

475
00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:27.759
from a practical perspective. From a positional perspective, my faith

476
00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:30.480
saves me because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

477
00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:37.319
So that deals with James two seventeen. Even so, faith,

478
00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:39.559
if it have not works as being dead, and it

479
00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:42.400
also deals with James two nineteen. Thou believest there is

480
00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:45.279
one God Tho'll do us well. The devil's also believe

481
00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:48.839
in tremble salvation requires more than a belief in simple

482
00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:53.119
Jewish monotheistic understanding of God, it believes. It requires more

483
00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:57.519
than monotheism. You've got to believe the finished work of

484
00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:01.880
Jesus Christ. Now, I don't this is anywhere shape or

485
00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:05.640
form being used to say, oh, there's a distinction. There's

486
00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:10.000
the mind, there's the heart. Now inevitably, what people do

487
00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:12.960
with the mind and heart suppose a distinction is they

488
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.319
want to drive home some concept that see wait wait, wait, wait, wait,

489
00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:19.160
here's what happens. Here's what happens. So you believe in

490
00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:21.519
your mind, but in our your heart, how does and

491
00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:24.200
how do you know? Because you're not doing this or

492
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:26.200
this or this or this or this or this, well,

493
00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:28.319
what would be causing me to they say? If I

494
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:31.000
believe in my heart, then that causes me to do

495
00:30:31.079 --> 00:30:37.079
all of this. No, believing in my heart doesn't cause anything,

496
00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:39.319
because I'm believing in the finished work of Jesus Christ,

497
00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:42.359
and his righteousness is accredited to my account. It's not

498
00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:49.200
put inside of me. So we can have this never

499
00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:52.519
ending debate over mental assent. I don't think we're going

500
00:30:52.559 --> 00:31:01.680
to get anywhere with this. How first do you draw

501
00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:05.559
the distinction? What does your mind do? Well, repentance is

502
00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:08.160
a change of mind. So now some people say, well,

503
00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:10.039
it requires the mind and the heart. They got to

504
00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:12.480
be two together. But how how do you draw the distinction?

505
00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:14.400
Knowing that if the two were together or two not together,

506
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:16.519
almost inevitably as as well? You know the two together

507
00:31:16.680 --> 00:31:20.400
is because well you do abcd FG. Well if I

508
00:31:20.440 --> 00:31:25.880
do ABCDEFG, why don't I just do the entire alphabet?

509
00:31:25.880 --> 00:31:27.720
Why don't I just do everything perfectly? Well, you kept

510
00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:29.480
not going to do everything perfectly? Well? What in that

511
00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:34.279
other imperfection? Then call into question if my faith was legitimate, Well, no,

512
00:31:34.359 --> 00:31:36.519
as long as I got some Well, now I'm gonna

513
00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:40.319
base it off some external acts. Well didn't Jesus say, Hey,

514
00:31:40.359 --> 00:31:42.400
in the last there's going to be those who say, Lord, Lord,

515
00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:44.640
didn't we do this, this, this? And he's like, depart

516
00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:46.599
from me. I never knew you. So doing things is

517
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:50.880
not even a guarantee. Doesn't this all become just absolutely convoluted?

518
00:31:54.400 --> 00:31:57.160
And how are you going to draw this queer distinction?

519
00:31:57.400 --> 00:32:03.200
All right, my mind, my mind acknowledge, my mind accepts it,

520
00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:09.279
gives a sent but my mind doesn't believe it. Or

521
00:32:09.559 --> 00:32:12.480
my mind can acknowledge it, give a cent to it

522
00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:15.920
and believe it. But that's not enough somehow, Now my

523
00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:19.599
heart has to step in and give acknowledge it, give

524
00:32:19.640 --> 00:32:25.680
a cent to it, and trust in it. You're just

525
00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:29.359
making these distinctions. That's just going to leave people completely perplexed.

526
00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:39.160
The Bible sees it in a more holistic way. So

527
00:32:39.400 --> 00:32:42.680
faith without works is dead. Does not mean it's dead

528
00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:46.799
in a Salvafic way. It's dead in a practical way.

529
00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:55.160
Demons believe in one God. Believing in a monothys theistic

530
00:32:55.279 --> 00:32:58.519
understanding of God is not sufficient for salvation. And that

531
00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:01.359
would be very practical too. The Jews who would be like, hey,

532
00:33:01.480 --> 00:33:07.559
we believe in one God. Congratulations. Now you have to

533
00:33:07.559 --> 00:33:12.319
go from there. Now there's a lot more I could

534
00:33:12.359 --> 00:33:14.079
get into, but I just wanted to at least get

535
00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:17.039
the James two nineteen out of the way, and then

536
00:33:17.079 --> 00:33:19.240
we'll see if we can circle back and put all

537
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:22.400
of this together at some point, because I'm assuming I'm

538
00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:27.759
going to get some emails on some of this. Inevitably,

539
00:33:27.799 --> 00:33:30.440
what this turns into is if you believe, you will do,

540
00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:35.480
and I will argue if you believe it's already done

541
00:33:35.720 --> 00:33:41.079
in Christ and his works are imputed to me, so

542
00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:45.359
I stand perfect. Whether I do or don't do doesn't

543
00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:51.960
change what He has done. Now it does impact how

544
00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:55.720
practical my faith is. I have faith in God, but

545
00:33:55.759 --> 00:33:58.640
I don't love my neighbor. Within my faith is of

546
00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:01.279
no practical value to my neighbor. It's no profit to

547
00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:04.559
my neighbor. It's no profit to anybody. It leaves me.

548
00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:08.079
It's dead in that sense. It doesn't mean that I'm

549
00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:13.079
dead and my trespasses and sin and not saved, because

550
00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:16.000
now you're going to have to create a very specific

551
00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:20.159
measurement to know whether I've done enough and done it

552
00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:22.840
the right way in order to be saved, and nobody

553
00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:24.920
is all the tests that people have come up with

554
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:27.920
to try to judge this one. It inevitably turns you

555
00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:31.920
from focusing on trusting in christ work to trusting in

556
00:34:32.119 --> 00:34:34.159
what you do and don't do. And all of them

557
00:34:34.239 --> 00:34:36.760
even have to admit, well, you'll do this and do this,

558
00:34:36.920 --> 00:34:39.000
I mean, you're not going to do it perfectly. So

559
00:34:39.079 --> 00:34:44.039
then they argue that imperfect obedience is somehow grounds to

560
00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:50.119
prove you're justified before God. No, perfect obedience is the

561
00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:55.960
grounds of my justification. It's just not my obedience, it's

562
00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:04.000
Christ's obedience. And I don't know how I draw a

563
00:35:04.039 --> 00:35:06.880
distinction between my mind and my heart. I know we

564
00:35:06.920 --> 00:35:12.320
can try to do that. I just think it becomes

565
00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:15.920
a distinction without a difference. I don't know how even

566
00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:22.679
to state it. So all right, we'll stop there. I

567
00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:37.960
want to go further, but yeah, yeah, I don't know

568
00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:41.159
what else to say. I feel like this would be

569
00:35:41.199 --> 00:35:43.559
like if I'm having a discussion, then someone could immediately

570
00:35:43.559 --> 00:35:45.880
follow up and say, well what about this? What about this?

571
00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:49.280
And then I could continue going. But all I can

572
00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:50.960
do is kind of leave some of this there and

573
00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:55.199
then just see how people respond to it. But some

574
00:35:55.280 --> 00:35:57.280
of you are going to get mad and get upset

575
00:35:57.320 --> 00:36:00.360
and try to throw me out of the Kingdom of God. Look,

576
00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:05.920
I'm simply arguing for the historical non Catholic perspective, which

577
00:36:05.960 --> 00:36:12.639
is imputed righteousness, not infused. And modern evangelicalism gives lip

578
00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:16.320
service to imputed righteousness, but they operate in an infused

579
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:21.159
righteous mindset, which is an absolute rejection of the entire Reformation.

580
00:36:21.800 --> 00:36:25.239
Maybe in October we need more churches will actually think

581
00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:27.719
about what happened on the Reformation instead of paying lip

582
00:36:27.760 --> 00:36:31.400
service to it and do less just playing games and

583
00:36:31.480 --> 00:36:34.039
doing whatever people do. And when it gets to be

584
00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:38.119
October thirty first and focus on what the what you

585
00:36:38.199 --> 00:36:40.079
really need to draw the distinction is what is the

586
00:36:40.119 --> 00:36:44.400
distinction between imputed and infused righteousness? On Sunday, walk around

587
00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:46.960
your church and say, hey, what does it mean to

588
00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:50.280
be saved by an imputed righteousness versus being saved by

589
00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:54.079
an infused righteousness? See if they can even explain at

590
00:36:54.119 --> 00:36:58.400
all what that means. But even if they start explaining

591
00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:00.880
that we're saved by an imputed righteousness, wait, they'll say

592
00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:03.119
they'll say, well, we're say by an imputed righteousness. You

593
00:37:03.119 --> 00:37:06.280
can even ask your pastor yes, but they'll immediately say,

594
00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:10.000
but which just negates everything that comes before it. However,

595
00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:12.119
we will do this and this and this, and then

596
00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:14.840
you can ask how does an imputed righteousness cause me

597
00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:21.440
to do this and this and this, and you'll just

598
00:37:21.559 --> 00:37:23.280
at some point you're just like, you know, pastor, you

599
00:37:23.320 --> 00:37:24.679
go ahead and preach. I'm just gonna go to the

600
00:37:24.679 --> 00:37:27.679
liquor store. I'm hoping it's open this Sunday morning, because

601
00:37:27.719 --> 00:37:29.880
I don't know what to do anymore, because it just

602
00:37:29.880 --> 00:37:33.800
gets it'll just it'll just be circular reasoning and insanity.

603
00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:36.199
And it's like, I think we're starting to argue for

604
00:37:36.280 --> 00:37:39.599
the Catholic understanding. Now if you say that everyone loses

605
00:37:39.639 --> 00:37:42.199
their mind. Oh I'm not a Catholic, Well you sure

606
00:37:42.280 --> 00:37:48.239
sound like it. So that's that's the issue. All right,

607
00:37:48.320 --> 00:37:52.159
we'll stop right there. All right, Thanks for listening. Everyone,

608
00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:54.519
have a great day. God bless