Mental Assent vs Saving Faith Pt 2

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:06.040
Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

2
00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:12.720
the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central? Who knew that

3
00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:16.280
you could end up with an entire series of podcast

4
00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.199
episodes as you try to figure out what is the

5
00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:25.000
difference in fourteen inches? Well, obviously the difference is fourteen inches,

6
00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:30.920
But how does fourteen inches make an internal difference? How

7
00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:36.039
does fourteen inches determine your destiny in either heaven or hell?

8
00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:40.159
Who knew that fourteen inches could become really a I

9
00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:43.880
don't know how many episodes can We don't know. I

10
00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:46.039
guess we could probably go a very long time, because

11
00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:49.039
it's a very important subject when you think about it.

12
00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:52.439
If fourteen inches determine if I'm going to spend eternity

13
00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:55.479
in heaven or spend an eternity burning in the Lake

14
00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:59.560
of fire, yeah, yeah, then I need to understand what

15
00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:02.840
is the difference in fourteen inches more than just well

16
00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:06.519
fourteen inches, because it seems to have an eternal difference,

17
00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:10.400
at least in the minds of some. So that's what

18
00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:12.879
we're going to be talking about. But before we do,

19
00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.959
let me say welcome everyone. It is Tuesday, October the eighth,

20
00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.480
twenty twenty four. It is currently two fifty two pm

21
00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:23.840
Central Time, and I am coming to you live from

22
00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:28.959
the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas.

23
00:01:29.959 --> 00:01:35.200
In Abilene, Texas, we've yet to receive the memo. We're

24
00:01:35.319 --> 00:01:40.359
yet to receive the notification that it's fall right someone,

25
00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:43.599
at least in Texas, we still think it's summer, okay,

26
00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:46.200
because it's like ninety degrees outside right now, and so

27
00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:48.359
it's going to get very hot here in the studio.

28
00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:52.480
So we need to see what we can accomplish now.

29
00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.480
Not only is it going to be hot here in

30
00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:57.640
the studio, I know a lot of people are going

31
00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:01.239
to get very hot under the call because they're going

32
00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:03.920
to strongly disagree with what we've been discussing. But let's

33
00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:07.239
just remind you this is not my fault, all right.

34
00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:11.039
Someone emailed me and asked me this question about what

35
00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:17.599
we refer to as mental ascent, salvation and mental ascent,

36
00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:22.800
and the idea went something along these lines that many pastors,

37
00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:28.000
many maybe even Christian podcasters broadcasters will say something along

38
00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:33.240
these lines, don't miss heaven by fourteen inches, and what

39
00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:35.159
they mean and they're kind of just using kind of

40
00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:38.800
an illustration is that hey, there is fourteen inches separating

41
00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:42.319
your mind from your heart, and if you just believe

42
00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:45.840
with your mind, you are not saved and you're going

43
00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:47.840
to go to hell. You've got to believe with your

44
00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:50.759
mind and you have to believe with your heart. You

45
00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:54.520
need both. If you only have one, it's a fragile

46
00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:59.159
at faith and you are not saved. So we've been

47
00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:01.599
trying to work on this. I told everyone it was

48
00:03:01.639 --> 00:03:05.360
going to be, you know, kind of tedious. It's gonna be.

49
00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:07.960
We're gonna be covering a lot of different issues. I

50
00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:11.400
don't think I've received an email back from the original emailer,

51
00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:14.159
so hopefully they have listened to part one and they'll

52
00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:16.840
they'll kind of tell me where they're still struggling or

53
00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:18.759
what they're trying to figure out, and we see if

54
00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:21.639
we can address it in a more specific way. But

55
00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:26.360
the way my approach was this is that let's kind

56
00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:29.039
of just start maybe from a biblical perspective. Let's try

57
00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:30.919
to just see what the Bible says. Does the Bible

58
00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:35.000
draw this major distinction between the mind and the heart,

59
00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:40.280
between mental assent versus some other kind of faith. And

60
00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:42.639
what we determined is I think it's very fair to

61
00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:45.520
say if we go to the Old Testament, if we

62
00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:50.000
take Hebrew thought in the Old Testament scriptures, it makes

63
00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:54.159
the mind and the heart synonymous. I think that's very

64
00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:56.639
fair to say. It views it as a synonymous thing,

65
00:03:56.719 --> 00:04:00.680
like as a man thinketh in his heart, that means

66
00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:07.879
the heart is the center of not only emotion, but will, thinking, thought, intellect.

67
00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:11.080
We would refer to that as the mind and many aspects.

68
00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:15.520
So the Old Testament seems to clearly it's and Hebrew

69
00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:18.519
thought it's synonymous. You don't have what the mind this

70
00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:22.319
and the heart this, and there's somehow a distinction between

71
00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:26.439
the mind and the heart. It's more grouped together. And

72
00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:28.600
when you start trying to divide this what we have

73
00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:30.920
seen over and over and over, and we've been dealing

74
00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.120
with this in a number of you know, in our

75
00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:37.279
other series. I'm kind of placing this with the other series.

76
00:04:37.639 --> 00:04:40.000
I may make this its own separate series, but they're

77
00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:43.079
very much linked together. Where we're talking about the secrets

78
00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:46.360
of the Christian life and why do Christians continue to

79
00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:49.040
send in a lot of that discussion, it's very much

80
00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:51.079
related because you get in there, you're like, wait a minute,

81
00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:52.360
do we have a new mind? Do we have a

82
00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:55.079
new heart, old heart, old mind. Well, this is more

83
00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:58.639
about okay, when you believe, right, are you sure you're

84
00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:01.920
make sure you're believe is in the right place, because

85
00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:04.680
if the belief is just in the mind, you go

86
00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:08.439
to hell. Well wait wait, but I believe, Yeah, but

87
00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:10.480
your belief is in the wrong place. It's got to

88
00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:12.639
go from the mind to the It's got to travel

89
00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:15.759
fourteen inches or you burn. I mean like just seems

90
00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:21.120
so like, oh, how do you draw that distinction. A

91
00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:23.199
person is sitting their way? Well, I think I believe,

92
00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:26.279
but maybe my belief is only in my mind, and inevitably,

93
00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:29.040
what does this turn into. It's not really about mental assent.

94
00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:33.360
It's not really even about that once again, it's about

95
00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:38.480
Christians trying to determine why Christians continue to sin. So

96
00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:42.040
we've always got Inevitably, what it comes down to is

97
00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:45.000
if you continue to sin and you commit big sins

98
00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:48.319
because your everyone's already living in perpetual sin. I mean,

99
00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:50.480
I stated all the time God tells you to be

100
00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:53.040
holy as He is holy, no one as holy as

101
00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:55.959
He is holy. Therefore you're in perpetual sin. Right, And

102
00:05:56.040 --> 00:05:58.079
I could add a lot more scriptures to show you

103
00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:00.480
your in perpetual sin. But the issue really well, you

104
00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:02.959
can be in perpetual sin, but you can't commit this

105
00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:05.639
sin because if you commit this sin, then we throw

106
00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.279
you out of everything because you're not really a Christian.

107
00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:11.040
This really just is not even really an issue about

108
00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:13.720
mental assent. It's really about who we can throw out

109
00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.000
of the Kingdom of God and determine who is saved

110
00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:18.399
or not saved. And already there's a problem with that

111
00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:21.079
because now we're determining salvation based on what we do

112
00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.120
or don't do, versus basing it on the finished work

113
00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:26.800
of Jesus Christ. So but we determined that the Old

114
00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:32.319
Testament scriptures, it doesn't have this weird separated now, you know,

115
00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:35.839
separated into these two. There's the mind, there's the heart.

116
00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.519
When we got to the New Testament, we acknowledge there

117
00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:42.000
are some scriptures that try to maybe offer some separation,

118
00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:46.360
but it's very nuanced, and there are clear scriptures that

119
00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:48.839
still once again links them together and sees it as

120
00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:53.959
a holistic a holistic unity. Right, that the heart contains

121
00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:57.680
the thoughts and the intents or the emotions or the will,

122
00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:01.519
but it's all within the heart. So what do we do.

123
00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:04.279
I mean, I guess we could go through every scripture

124
00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:07.319
in the entirety of the Bible and go, okay, wait

125
00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:10.720
a minute, guys, does this verse speak of heart and

126
00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:14.639
mind the same or do they separate it? I guess,

127
00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:16.199
I guess we could look up all the verses that

128
00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.079
uses the word heart, all the verses that use the

129
00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:21.800
word mind, and see. I think you'll I mean, if

130
00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:24.319
you want to do that, be my guess. I think

131
00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:26.519
I think you'll probably lose your mind. I may, I

132
00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:28.279
may do some work and see if I can find

133
00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.680
some kind of a summary. Maybe maybe we'll do that

134
00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:33.959
before this, I guess this is going to turn into

135
00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:38.600
a mini series is over so so. But from the

136
00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:42.759
biblical perspective, just from scripture, we don't have we don't

137
00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:45.000
even have the phrase mental assent. And I don't know

138
00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:48.519
if we can really cut someone into two parts and say, well,

139
00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:51.360
there's the mind, there's the heart, and the two are

140
00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:55.879
completely separate. So you, in a sense, can I don't

141
00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:58.040
know what do you do with your mind? You acknowledge

142
00:07:58.040 --> 00:08:00.240
with your mind that Jesus is the eternal so of

143
00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:03.240
God who died for your sins, But then your heart says,

144
00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:05.639
but I don't believe it. Well, if your mind accepts it,

145
00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:08.480
then isn't that a form of belief? If your mind

146
00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:12.720
knows it and your mind gives some assent to it,

147
00:08:12.759 --> 00:08:15.480
is that not faith? But some people say, well, faith

148
00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:19.439
needs really the knowledge, the assent, and the trust. I

149
00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.319
can't remember the three Latin phrases. I can't remember the

150
00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:27.800
three fiducia. I can't remember that there's three Latin phrases.

151
00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:29.720
Maybe we could get in I guess you could try

152
00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:32.840
to break it down that way. I think you just

153
00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:36.279
start drawing all of these distinctions, and at some point

154
00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:39.440
I think you just left with a confused mess. Right,

155
00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.720
if my mind says Jesus is the eternal son of God,

156
00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:47.639
he was sent by the Father, died for my sins, buried,

157
00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:49.720
raised the third day, ascended to the right hand of

158
00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:52.120
the Father. It's coming to judge the living and the dead.

159
00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:55.080
How can you say, well, your mind knows that, your

160
00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:58.600
mind gives assent to that, but it's not trusting in it.

161
00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:02.639
What is mind doing with it? Then? Well, it's got

162
00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:04.679
to get to the heart. Then the heart, see, well,

163
00:09:04.679 --> 00:09:07.039
then grab onto it and then and what is it

164
00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:10.240
inevitably going to come to we'll see when your heart

165
00:09:10.279 --> 00:09:13.320
grabs onto it, then there's going to be transformation. Because

166
00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:17.399
Christianity is obsessed with this concept that we're transformed, even

167
00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:22.759
though well we're not really transformeding we're transformed. We claim

168
00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:25.960
we're transformed, but then we admit we're not perfectly transformed. Well,

169
00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:29.320
then is that a partial transformation? Is that a twenty

170
00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:33.639
percent transformation? Thirty percent? And then and how is the

171
00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:36.559
transformation occurring? Is it occurring because of imputed righteousness? Well,

172
00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:40.080
imputed righteousness doesn't transform, It just transforms my position. And

173
00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:42.879
then we just get into all of these same issues.

174
00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:47.279
So we looked at a lot of things, and I

175
00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:48.799
could go back through a lot of it, break it

176
00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:51.120
down a little bit more. But what I want to

177
00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:54.039
do in this episode is what we had is it

178
00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:58.519
seems that a lot of the discussion about mental assent

179
00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:01.480
versus saving faith, well a lot of it centers on

180
00:10:01.559 --> 00:10:05.159
Jams two seventeen. Even so, faith, if it have not works,

181
00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:08.480
is dead being alone. And so what they seem to

182
00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:12.559
argue is that there's a faith that works, that's our

183
00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:16.279
saving faith, and a dead faith is just mental assent. Well,

184
00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.960
there's already all kinds of problems with us. But let

185
00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:22.840
me just remind you that this idea that even so faith,

186
00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:25.879
if it hath not works, is dead. Remember, there is

187
00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:29.120
not agreement in two thousand years of church history of

188
00:10:29.159 --> 00:10:33.080
exactly what that dead means. Some people means, well, your

189
00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:37.399
faith is dead. Basically, well, it's not doing anything. It's

190
00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:40.600
not doing it. Maybe it's saving faith. In other words,

191
00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:45.120
positionally your faith has saved you. You're declared righteous by

192
00:10:45.159 --> 00:10:50.159
faith alone, you're declared purpose perfect. But practically your faith

193
00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.159
is dead from doing anything. It's not loving anyone, it's

194
00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:57.639
not helping anyone. So it's dead from a practical perspective.

195
00:10:57.720 --> 00:11:00.000
This is not necessarily saying it's dead from a position

196
00:11:00.039 --> 00:11:03.480
ditional standpoint, right. And we talked about that in the

197
00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:06.919
last hour and are the last hour long broadcast that

198
00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.440
we did wasn't an hour ago, but whenever, it was

199
00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:13.360
a little over an hour ago. So so we looked

200
00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:15.320
at that we can do some more work on that.

201
00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:18.360
But at the very end of the last broadcast I

202
00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:23.360
mentioned James two nineteen because some of the things I

203
00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:27.519
was referencing reference to James to nineteen Thou believest that

204
00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:32.200
there is one God, thou doest well the devils also

205
00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:42.879
believe and tremble. The devils also believe and tremble. The

206
00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:47.360
devils also believe and tremble. So now the idea is okay, wait, okay,

207
00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:53.480
mental assent therefore equals the faith of demons, because demons

208
00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:56.600
just have mental assent, but they don't believe in their heart.

209
00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:59.200
This is kind of it kind of used to to

210
00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:01.879
try to justify this or look at this, and I'm like,

211
00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:03.559
wait a minute, wait a minute, I think we got

212
00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.360
a major issue going on here. I don't think that

213
00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:09.480
this verse. Just please note James two seventeen and James

214
00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:13.399
two nineteen never mentioned mental assent or tries to draw

215
00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:18.320
some distinction. We're trying to draw these distinctions, right, So,

216
00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:23.519
how do we understand thou believest that there is one God,

217
00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:26.080
Thou'll do us well? The devil's also believe in trimble.

218
00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:28.399
How do we understand this? Well, let's look at this

219
00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:33.120
in this context of trying to draw this distinction. Using

220
00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:36.720
James two nineteen to basically draw a distinction between mental

221
00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:42.320
assent and saving faith is very problematic. And I'm not

222
00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:48.480
the only one drawing that distinction. All right, And here's

223
00:12:48.519 --> 00:12:51.720
some ideas. Let's first look at the context of James

224
00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:56.279
two nineteen. James two nineteen states you believe that that

225
00:12:56.679 --> 00:12:59.960
God is one, and you do well. Even the demons

226
00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.960
believe and shudder. The verse is often cited to argue

227
00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:06.000
that mental assent to truth, believing that God exists or

228
00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:08.519
that He is one, is not enough for salvation, since

229
00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:12.200
even demons acknowledge this truth without being saved. However, this

230
00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:18.279
interpretation has potential weaknesses when applied to human beings. Now, immediately,

231
00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:20.200
we just have to know we're dealing with two completely

232
00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:25.559
different categories. Here's demons, here's humans. There's going to be

233
00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:31.240
some clear distinctions here, all right. Here are some possible

234
00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:36.440
reasons why there's problems or potential weaknesses. The text itself

235
00:13:37.320 --> 00:13:42.759
specifically references that to the belief in the oneness of God.

236
00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:47.360
This is very important, all right. This is specifically referencing

237
00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:51.600
the belief in one God. I cannot express to you

238
00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:55.799
how that's like your textual cue. That's your hermoneutical key.

239
00:13:56.519 --> 00:14:00.840
All right. You believe that God is one, which was

240
00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:07.000
a core tenet of Jewish monotheism, all right, which comes

241
00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:11.039
from Deuteronomy six ' four. Here O Israel, the Lord,

242
00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:15.399
our God, the Lord is one. This is a statement

243
00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:19.919
of basic belief, not a comprehensive a comprehensive affirmation of

244
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.919
Christian faith and Christ's redemptive work. So, in other words,

245
00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:26.080
all the text is saying is, hey, the demons believe

246
00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:33.039
in one God and they tremble, so belief in one

247
00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:35.879
So what this text would be saying simple belief in

248
00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:40.279
one God or a belief in monotheism or a mono

249
00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:44.320
theistic belief is not sufficient for salvation. This is not

250
00:14:44.440 --> 00:14:47.600
about oh wait, well you say you have faith, Well,

251
00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:51.080
demons have faith and they're not saved, so you've got

252
00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:52.960
to have a right kind of faith. Now, this is

253
00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:57.919
simply saying faith in one God is not sufficient. And

254
00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:01.240
why is this important? Because look, it's the context. Look

255
00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:05.639
at the who James is written to James, a servant

256
00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.039
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the

257
00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:16.279
twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. This is being written

258
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:22.480
to Jewish readers, to Jewish believers. Hey, if you're Jewish

259
00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:24.759
and you're just saying, well, we believe in one God.

260
00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:29.200
So belief in one God is not sufficient. Salvation requires

261
00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:32.480
not only belief in the one God, but belief that

262
00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:35.679
the one God. And now at some point we would

263
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.360
argue maybe some trinitarian belief is required, We could get

264
00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:41.759
into whole discussion. But that that one God sent his

265
00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:45.600
eternal son, one God, three distinct persons, father, Son, holy Spirit. Okay,

266
00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:49.320
but sent his son as a substitutionary sacrifice to die

267
00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:53.879
and pay for your sins and salvation is found in

268
00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:57.639
faith in what Christ did, not just in the belief

269
00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:00.720
that there's one God. So already you can't just say, well,

270
00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:04.039
see you can believe and still not be saying no, no, no, no,

271
00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:06.120
no no. This is if you believe simply that there

272
00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:10.000
is one God. This would be referencing the thiological content

273
00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:15.320
of one's belief. This statement of basic belief not a

274
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:18.919
comprehensive affirmation of Christian faith in Christ's redemptive work. James

275
00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:24.519
isn't saying that demons believe the full scope of the Gospel, death, burial, resurrection,

276
00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:27.679
and the need and the need for salvation. Rather, they

277
00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:31.200
acknowledge the reality of God's existence and his sovereignty, which

278
00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:36.600
they cannot deny. This acknowledgment doesn't encompass trust, obedience, or

279
00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:39.440
relational faith in God. This is just simply they can't

280
00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:43.440
deny this. You can't compare this demons to us and

281
00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:47.080
do something with This is just telling Jewish believers, you

282
00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:53.840
believe in one God. Great, there's got to be more

283
00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:57.440
than just the belief in one God. And we would

284
00:16:57.480 --> 00:16:59.919
all agree with that. This is not talking about mental

285
00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:03.919
versus hard believe that. The fact is that the demons

286
00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:07.640
simply believe, and this is just simply acknowledging, well, they

287
00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:09.920
believe in one God. You believe in one God. Believe

288
00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:17.440
in one God is not sufficient. Now number two. According

289
00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:22.319
to some demons, beliefs are limited. Demons may believe in

290
00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:25.480
the existence and oneness of God, but there's no indication

291
00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:29.319
that they believe in or accept the Gospel message. Demons

292
00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.920
might intellectually assent to certain truths about God's existence, power,

293
00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:35.680
and authority, but demons do not have the capacity for

294
00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:38.720
trust or salvation in the same way humans do. They

295
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:42.039
are spiritual, spiritual beings who have rejected God and are

296
00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:44.680
an active rebellion against him. Their belief in God is

297
00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:48.599
purely an acknowledgement of a fact they cannot escape. It's

298
00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:51.920
not the same kind of belief humans are capable of exercising,

299
00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:56.000
which includes trust, reliance, and submission to God. Now, of

300
00:17:56.039 --> 00:17:58.640
course I would say we're incapable of it as well.

301
00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:01.079
God has to give us the belief right, I mean,

302
00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:03.440
not the whole concept. I mean, I guess unless you

303
00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:05.759
believe in if you believe in free will, then you

304
00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:08.559
can just freely choose to believe. But then that goes well,

305
00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:11.960
are you to pray? Okay? That gets that gets into Pelagianism,

306
00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:16.279
semi Pelagianism. That just leads to a million other theological issues.

307
00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:22.160
The belief, the belief described in James two nineteen is

308
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:25.440
more akin to fear or recognition of God's power, rather

309
00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:27.960
than a saving faith that trust in God's promises. This

310
00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:32.200
highlights that mere acknowledgment of God's existence without trusting him

311
00:18:32.200 --> 00:18:34.839
for salvation is not the same as saving faith. Now,

312
00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.160
some will say, well, see this is this is drawing

313
00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:42.039
the distinction between mental assent and trust in Him. But

314
00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:45.839
I would argue it's just simply saying belief in one

315
00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:50.480
God is not sufficient. It's not about whether it's mental

316
00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:55.119
assent or trust. It's just just belief in when God

317
00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.240
and the demons have no choice but to believe it.

318
00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:03.720
There in this idea that this is describing some kind

319
00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:07.000
of a mental assent versus heart believe. There's an implicit

320
00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:12.000
assumption in this interpretation that demons share a similar cognitive

321
00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:15.920
and spiritual makeup as humans, having a separate mind and heart. However,

322
00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:20.759
demons are fundamentally different than human beings. Demons are fallen angels,

323
00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:24.079
spiritual beings who do not have the same moral and

324
00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:27.559
spiritual capacities as humans, especially in terms of redemption. They

325
00:19:27.559 --> 00:19:32.119
do not experience salvation or sanctification. They're irreversibly condemned. Therefore,

326
00:19:32.119 --> 00:19:34.640
the way demons believe cannot be equated with how humans

327
00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:37.240
are called to believe in trust in God. Human faith

328
00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:40.000
involves relational trust in God and a turning of the

329
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.480
will towards him, something not available to demons. It's problematic

330
00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.839
to assume that demon's intellectual acknowledgment of God's existence is

331
00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:50.960
equivalent to the faith a human being is capable of having,

332
00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:54.200
which includes both mental assent and the heart's trust in Christ.

333
00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:58.640
So you can't just go with hey, they're just like, no,

334
00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:03.359
this is just I think we can make things so complicated.

335
00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:07.799
The simple thing is, to Jewish believers or to Jewish readers,

336
00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:14.759
you believe in one God, You quote Deuteronomy, great demons

337
00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:20.640
acknowledge the belief are the existence of one God. That's

338
00:20:21.079 --> 00:20:26.880
not sufficient for salvation. All right, James's overall point isn't

339
00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:31.039
to create a sharp distinction between mental assent and saving faith,

340
00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:34.480
but rather to emphasize that genuine faith will naturally result

341
00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:36.319
in works. Now, this is where I'm going to disagree

342
00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:39.799
with this completely, but okay. He is addressing people who

343
00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:42.359
might claim to believe, but whose lives show no evidence

344
00:20:42.359 --> 00:20:45.319
of belief through action. James uses the example of demons

345
00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:47.880
to show that simply acknowledging God's existence does not mean

346
00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:51.640
once faith is real or sufficient. However, the issue isn't

347
00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:56.480
about the cognitive dimension of faith versus the effective dimension

348
00:20:56.599 --> 00:20:59.160
mind versus heart. It's more about the evidence of faith.

349
00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:02.680
True faith, James argues, should produce visible actions that align

350
00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:05.640
with that faith. His concern is practical faith and does

351
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:08.079
not result in a changed life for good works is

352
00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:10.960
dead and the sense of being ineffective, not that it

353
00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.799
is completely absent. Now, please don't they they do correct

354
00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:17.640
that even though James's point here is you believe in

355
00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.759
one God, so what the demons do? Do? You have

356
00:21:20.839 --> 00:21:24.000
a dead faith? Dead not in the sense of not

357
00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:29.079
saving or salvific, but dead and being ineffectual. It's not

358
00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:35.119
doing anything, it's not moving anything, all right, So dead

359
00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:38.000
does not mean it does that it's not salvific. It

360
00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:43.720
just can mean it's ineffective, which many throughout church history

361
00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:48.640
have understood. Right. James two nineteen is particularly tied to

362
00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:52.079
the Jewish belief in monotheism. For a Jewish audience, the

363
00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:55.559
belief in one God was central to their identity. However,

364
00:21:55.720 --> 00:21:58.680
James challenges the idea that simply holding to this belief

365
00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:03.640
is is not enough. He's challenging their belief that it

366
00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:06.319
is enough. His point is more about the quality and

367
00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:09.920
completeness of faith, not the distinction between intellectual and saving faith.

368
00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:13.079
Belief in one God was foundational, but saving faith and

369
00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:18.200
false trust in Christ involves trust in Christ. Demons believe

370
00:22:18.279 --> 00:22:21.119
God's existence, but they don't trust, obey, or align themselves

371
00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:25.559
with God's purposes all right. Using James two nineteen to

372
00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:29.680
make a distinction between mental assent and saving faith is problematic.

373
00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:32.839
Number One, it assumes that demon's belief is directly comparable

374
00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:36.039
to human faith, despite the fact that demons are fundamentally different.

375
00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:39.880
The verse refers to specifically to belief in the wellness

376
00:22:39.960 --> 00:22:42.319
of God, not the full scope of Christian faith. It

377
00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:45.039
is not saying that demons believe the Gospel. They simply

378
00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:48.720
acknowledge God's existence and power. James point is that genuine

379
00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:53.680
faith again should produce works. This is an ongoing concept, right.

380
00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:57.279
Thus these verses do not provide a sol foundation for

381
00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:05.559
distinguishing mental assent from saving faith. All right now, I

382
00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:09.359
could go through here a far more into this, but

383
00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:13.599
I could go far more into this, but you get

384
00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:17.599
the basic idea. The concept of James two nineteen is

385
00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:22.599
simply that, hey, you believe in one God. That's not sufficient,

386
00:23:23.720 --> 00:23:27.160
all right? All right now, then it goes on. But

387
00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:30.599
wilt thou know, o vain man, that faith without works

388
00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:34.119
is dead again. A faith that does not work is

389
00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:38.440
dead in the sense of it's being ineffectual, it's not

390
00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:42.079
being it's not practically doing anything. Does not mean it's

391
00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:45.359
dead as far as saving is concerned. You have to

392
00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:50.119
infer that. And if you infer that faith will produce works,

393
00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:54.519
you're gonna end up in a problem. Let me explain, right,

394
00:23:55.319 --> 00:24:00.279
and a system of imputed righteousness, which is what we

395
00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:05.279
claim to believe. True faith calls us to a transformed life,

396
00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:10.200
but it is not our transformation that saves us. Rather,

397
00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:13.519
our standing before God is transformed because we are credited

398
00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:17.640
with christ righteousness, not because we become inherently righteous in ourselves.

399
00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:22.759
Imputed righteousness versus infused righteousness. Imputed righteousness is the idea

400
00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:25.240
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
00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:48.759
we are justified by faith alone, not by any intrinsic

406
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

412
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
00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:33.279
Let me state that again, and in the imputed righteousness system,

416
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:42.559
we remain sinners. We are not transformed. Our position is transformed,

417
00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:50.240
not our practice. All right. In the imputed righteousness system,

418
00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:53.039
our standing before God has transformed in the sense that

419
00:25:53.079 --> 00:25:55.160
through faith in Christ we are declared righteous based on

420
00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:58.119
Christ's perfect obedience. This means that when God looks at us,

421
00:25:58.119 --> 00:26:01.079
he sees the righteousness of Christ, not our sinful state.

422
00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:04.680
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.

424
00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:14.319
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
00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:24.880
and incapable of keeping God's law. All right, that's so important.

427
00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:28.200
Well justified, we continue to experience the effects of the

428
00:26:28.200 --> 00:26:32.319
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
00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:38.519
So if you say, if you turn this into oh

431
00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:40.640
wait wait wait wait wait, if you have faith, you

432
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
00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:58.400
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
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:25.279
and not by works. We are saved not because of

443
00:27:25.319 --> 00:27:28.960
an inherent transformation in us, but because of what Christ

444
00:27:29.079 --> 00:27:35.720
has done on our behalf. Even after we are justified,

445
00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:38.799
we remain unable to perfectly keep God's law. This is

446
00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:42.160
why the concept of imputed righteousness is so crucial. If

447
00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:44.880
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
00:27:47.400 --> 00:27:50.480
have inevitably fall because of our sinful nature, meaning our

450
00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:56.440
sinful nature still exists. Imputed righteousness assures that our acceptance

451
00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:58.480
before God is not based on our ability to keep

452
00:27:58.519 --> 00:28:01.359
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

454
00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:06.480
as having perfectly kept God's law even though in practice

455
00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:14.680
we fall short every single day. I cannot stress that enough.

456
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:18.720
So when we come to this and we and we

457
00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:23.440
in James, everybody gets turns us all into Hey, how

458
00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:25.400
do you know you're saved? You'll do this and this

459
00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.200
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

461
00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:31.480
by an imputed righteousness, which doesn't cause me to do

462
00:28:31.559 --> 00:28:36.240
any of that. So that's already a problem number two. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

463
00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:39.400
So now my salvation is proven by what I do.

464
00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:45.000
You don't prove salvation and an imputed righteousness system by

465
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:51.839
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

467
00:28:55.799 --> 00:28:58.920
of Christ, not by the works we do. Now are

468
00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:02.759
we called to good work? Work? Absolutely? Does God call

469
00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:07.480
us to it? Yes, in a practical sense. If I

470
00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:10.680
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