Oct. 8, 2024

Mental Assent vs Saving Faith Pt 2

Mental Assent vs Saving Faith Pt 2

Can we miss heaven by 14 inches?

Spreaker Apple Podcasts Spotify PocketCasts Amazon Music Overcast Audible Castro iHeartRadio Castbox Podchaser TuneIn Deezer Pandora RadioPublic Podcast Addict RSS Feed YouTube Fountain PlayerFM Goodpods Podverse Podyssey Breaker Podurama Audacy JioSaavn
Spreaker podcast player icon Spreaker Spreaker Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify PocketCasts podcast player icon PocketCasts PocketCasts Amazon Music podcast player icon Amazon Music Amazon Music Overcast podcast player icon Overcast Overcast Audible podcast player icon Audible Audible Castro podcast player icon Castro Castro iHeartRadio podcast player icon iHeartRadio iHeartRadio Castbox podcast player icon Castbox Castbox Podchaser podcast player icon Podchaser Podchaser TuneIn podcast player icon TuneIn TuneIn Deezer podcast player icon Deezer Deezer Pandora podcast player icon Pandora Pandora RadioPublic podcast player icon RadioPublic RadioPublic Podcast Addict podcast player icon Podcast Addict Podcast Addict RSS Feed podcast player icon RSS Feed RSS Feed YouTube podcast player icon YouTube YouTube Fountain podcast player icon Fountain Fountain PlayerFM podcast player icon PlayerFM PlayerFM Goodpods podcast player icon Goodpods Goodpods Podverse podcast player icon Podverse Podverse Podyssey podcast player icon Podyssey Podyssey Breaker podcast player icon Breaker Breaker Podurama podcast player icon Podurama Podurama Audacy podcast player icon Audacy Audacy JioSaavn podcast player icon JioSaavn JioSaavn

Can we miss heaven by 14 inches?

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