KHCB Broadcast – Pastor’s Q & A – August 17, 2023
• Dr. Andy Woods • August 17, 2023 • KHCB RadioKHCB – 08-17-2023 – Full Program Transcript
Announcer: [00:00:08] Good evening and welcome to our weekly Question and Answers program. This is a program where you can call us with your questions about the Bible, Christian way of life or Scripture. And our guests will answer that question for you live on the air. Tonight’s guests are Dr. Andy Woods. He’s a Senior Pastor at the Sugar Land Bible Church, located at 401 Matlage Way in Sugar Land, Texas. Pastor Woods is also the president of the Chafer Theological Seminary. Dr. Woods has authored and contributed to many Christian books and theological journals. He speaks on a variety of topics at Christian conferences and churches. Tonight, he’s joined by Dr. Jim McGowan, Associate Pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church. The church website is SLBC.org. You can find them also on Pastor’s Point of View with Dr. Andy Woods and Dr. Jim McGowan, where they discuss current issues and prophecy updates. You can find them on YouTube and Rumble or Andy Woods Ministries.org. I would encourage you on the YouTube channel to look them up. Andy Woods Ministries and watch my favorite video from there called One second After the Rapture. Also, we’d like to announce a prophecy conference.
Announcer: [00:01:59] It’s coming up February 23rd and 24th in 2024. While this may seem like a long way off, there have been a lot of people that have registered for this. And last time we announced this, they filled up pretty quickly. Guests for the conference will include Oliver Melnik, Russ Miller, Dr. David Reagan, and of course, Dr. Andy Woods. You can get more information and updates at the church website SLBC.org. On the Question and Answers program, if you’re calling from the Houston listening area, you can reach us at (832) 922-4444. That’s (832) 922-4444. If you’re calling from around the KHCB network outside the Houston area, you can dial (877) 999-5422. Or if you’d rather email your question to us, you can send that to questions. That’s plural Questions@KHCB.org, and it will appear in a computer screen here in the studio, and we’ll forward it to our guests. We ask that you not mention any denominations or personal names, because our aim tonight is to answer questions relating to the Bible. And now to get us started here, our pastors, Dr. Andy Woods and Dr. Jim McGowan.
Pastor Jim: [00:03:49] Well, thank you for that wonderful introduction, Brother Noah and welcome once again listening friends. We want to thank you for tuning in this evening as always. We always say we’re so very excited to take your questions because we want to see what God is going to do this evening, because we know that as we open up the Word of God, which is the only inspired authoritative revelation of everlasting truth and is the only one and only divine source encompassing all things that pertain to living a godly life. Well, when we know that’s true, we can expect great things and we believe that God is going to do something marvelous this evening just for you this evening. And we expect to hear from God through his word. And we hope you expect the same. And when you do get your answer from God, would you please remember to thank him for that? So we’re going to be going to the phones here momentarily. So please remember our three guidelines. First of all, please keep your on air time to one question only. And we ask that because we do have many people trying to get in on the air with their questions.
Pastor Jim: [00:04:53] And you might be able to call back and get your question back, your second question back on the air. So please keep that in mind. One question only. And secondly, please remember to turn the volume down once we bring you on or actually before we bring you on the air so we don’t get feedback. And then once you’ve shared your question with us on the air, if you’d be so kind to just go ahead and hang up so that the next caller will have a free line to call in. And so with that said, I think that we can go right to the phones. We have one caller waiting. So hello. Caller Thank you for calling the program this evening. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods? All right. Are you there? Caller Hello? Hello. I know you’re there. Well, I’ll tell you what, while we’re waiting for that, let’s do this. Let’s go ahead and go to Are you there? Caller Hi. Hello. Yeah, we finally got you. Sorry about that. What’s your question this evening?
Caller: [00:05:51] Yeah, looks like the call was dropped. But anyways, um, hope you guys are doing okay.
Pastor Jim: [00:05:58] Hey, we’re doing great.
Caller: [00:05:59] Yeah, I’m glad to hear that. Um, just have a question regarding Mark chapter 16, if I’m not mistaken, verses 9 to 20. And I think many of the scholarships would say that, you know, it is the long version. It was not part of the original or the early manuscript. So can you explain a little bit if should we consider it as inspired or doctrine versus chapter 16, verses 9 through 20 when it comes with. Right. The the last words of Jesus, of course, His commandments. So anyways, that’s my question.
Pastor Jim: [00:06:40] All right. Excellent question. That’s a good one to kick the program off. So, Pastor, what about this passage there at the end of Mark chapter 16?
Pastor Andy: [00:06:47] Well, this gets us into an area called textual criticism. And basically what we have is we don’t have the original writings of the New Testament. What we have are copies. And by the way, it’s a good thing God didn’t let us keep the originals because if they got damaged, all of Christianity would suffer. And beyond that, we know what people do. You know, when they have something that they think is like a splinter of the cross or something, they start to worship it. So God in his providence did not allow us to keep the originals, but we come out way ahead than any other work of antiquity because what we have are many, many copies of the originals and our copies. The earliest are closer in time to the original, the date that is, than any other work of antiquity. And we have more copies than any other work of antiquity. So don’t let the fact that we don’t have the originals bother you and the copies that we do have, you know, they happen to agree with each other probably 99.99.
Pastor Jim: [00:07:55] Oh, yeah, that’s right.
Pastor Andy: [00:07:56] Percent of the time. And the disagreement really doesn’t have to do with any major doctrinal area in which Christianity would suffer. But it is true, that sometimes the copies in the minute sense will disagree with each other. And so, you know, it kind of depends upon what study Bible you’re using. If you’re reading from the let’s say – what I’m reading from the New American Standard Bible, it follows a philosophy of text criticism. And let me just define text criticism. Text criticism is basically, you know, and people devote their whole lives to this, the science and art of text criticism. When there’s disagreements amongst the copies, which one do you go with that better reflects the original that we don’t have? And so it’s kind of a complicated area. But if you’re reading out of the New American Standard Bible, for example, it goes with the idea that the earlier the better. If there’s a conflict, you go with the earlier. So that’s why it will put a bracket of some kind around the verses that the caller just mentioned. And there’ll be a little note at the bottom and it’ll say this was not found in the better manuscripts. And what they mean by that is the earlier manuscripts. When you come to the woman caught in adultery, you know, in John 8, you have the same issue. This story is not found in the earliest manuscripts. And so the New American Standard Bible says earlier is better. But if you’re reading out of the King James Bible, it goes with the majority of manuscripts. In other words, you go when there’s a conflict which prevails, the one that shows up in the majority of manuscripts.
Pastor Andy: [00:09:56] And so, if you’re reading this in the King James Bible or the new King James Bible, you’ll notice that little note is not there because the stories are found in the majority of manuscripts. And so that’s just a little bit about text criticism and why you get, you know, in some of your study Bibles these little notes that say, you know, this is not found in the better manuscripts. So is Mark 6:16 – What did he say? Verses 9 and following. Is this authentic? Well, the new American. In standard Bible would say maybe not because it’s not found in the earlier, but the King James Bible would say maybe it is, because it’s found in the majority. I’m sort of a majority text guy. I’m not an expert in text criticism, but I’ve never really felt comfortable, particularly with new believers, to be using a study Bible where it’ll say this is not found in the earlier manuscripts. I think if it’s in the majority, it’s probably authentic. And so I’m of the view that Mark 16 verses 9 and following is authentic. The woman caught in adultery. John 8 is an authentic story. But other people would disagree with me on that because it’s not found in the earlier manuscripts. Again, this is an area where good people disagree with each other. And whatever view you take on this doesn’t affect any Cardinal Christian doctrine. So I hope that clarifies. Would you add anything?
Pastor Jim: [00:11:36] The only thing I would add there is that if you do go to that passage in Mark chapter 16, what you’ll discover is there isn’t anything there that that in any way is contradictory to anything that we see revealed in the rest of the New Testament. So I don’t really see a problem with it. All right. Thank you so much. That was a great call. We do appreciate that. And I see we have another caller waiting. So thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?
Caller: [00:12:01] Thank you for taking my call. I appreciate your show because I’m a visually impaired person, but I thank God for ears to hear. My question is this – Could you explain the story of the Pearl of Great Price and I’ll hang up and listen. Thanks.
Pastor Jim: [00:12:15] God bless you. Thank you so much for calling. All right, Pastor?
Pastor Andy: [00:12:18] All right. Explain the story of the Pearl of Great Price. I believe that’s over in Matthew chapter 13. And of course, this has to do with that interim age. You know, the offer of the kingdom has been rejected by the nation of Israel. So we’re going to have a new age of time when the kingdom won’t be present. And so what’s life going to be like in the inner advent age while the kingdom is in a state of abeyance? It’s outlined in eight parables, and one of them is the Pearl of Great Price found in Matthew chapter 13, verses 45 and 46. And it says this and again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Now, a lot of people take that to mean this is how salvation is going to occur in the interim age. If you really want to be a Christian, you’ve got to sell all you have and follow Jesus. The problem with that is the man in these all of these other parables, there’s eight of them, is not the individual believer, but it’s God. And if my salvation is based on me selling everything I have to sell to follow Jesus, then guess what I just taught works. Salvation. Salvation is not a free gift of God via grace. So I think what this is speaking of here, is not the individual sinner getting saved, but it’s God seeking out those who are to be saved in the Age of the Church.
Pastor Andy: [00:14:07] And so it’s Jesus. They’re giving up all that he has to seek us out and, I hope that helps a little bit. I mean, actually, we are the pearl of great price. He’s the one that sold everything, gave up everything. Look at what he did for us on the cross because we were of great value to him and so he purchased us. I really recommend to you the Matthew 13 Parables by a man named Arthur Pink. Arthur Pink in his later life kind of drifted away from dispensational free grace theology. But in his earlier life he didn’t. And he gives in his earlier life tremendous. It’s the best treatment I’ve ever seen of these Matthew 13 parables anywhere. I quote Arthur Pink in his little book on these Matthew 13 parables over and over again in my section dealing with Matthew chapter 13 in my book, The Coming Kingdom. So I recommend my book, The Coming Kingdom, gives an explanation of these parables largely drawn from Arthur Pink, who wrote a book earlier in his ministry entitled to Matthew 13 Parables. A lot of people are confused on these, but this is not talking about individual salvation. What we do. It’s what He did for us and our value to Him. So I hope that helps.
Pastor Jim: [00:15:39] Yeah, and I highly recommend Dr. Wood’s book on the Kingdom to all of our listeners. I think it straightens out a lot of misconception with regards to the Kingdom. So excellent question and wonderful answer. Back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods?
Caller: [00:15:56] Yeah, coming from Acts 27, when they’re having fixing to have that shipwreck in in 27:10, Paul says, I perceive that this is going to be a bad trip. And then in 23, he starts talking about an Angel of the Lord has appeared to me and told me that we’re going to be okay. So my question is, is perceiving the same thing as an angel appearing to a person. If I am giving you advice and I say I perceive that you should do this, this and this – which he that’s what he did. Versus if you ask me something, I say an angel of the Lord appeared in me and told me, you ought to do this. Is there a difference? And it seems like there is. And then the adjunct question that goes along with that is this in our Christian life, how much of our daily walk in the spirit is perceiving and how much is an angel appearing to us and telling us what to do? Exactly what happened in this story in verse 23, an angel appeared unto Paul and exactly told him how it was going to go down versus he didn’t know that when he perceived it. So blah, blah, blah. Hey, that you got the essence, I’m pretty sure. And that’s my. Question. Thank you.
Pastor Jim: [00:17:28] All right. Thank you so much for calling. Pastor, how are we going to handle this question?
Pastor Andy: [00:17:33] Well, Acts 27:10, it says – said to them men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be attended with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also our lives. And then verse 23, he says, For this very night, an angel of God or an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom I serve, stood before me, going down to verse 24, saying, Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you. So in verse 10, he had sort of a perception it probably was the Holy Spirit inside of him telling him that there’s going to be some difficulties on this journey. And it got difficult. I mean, a storm broke out and, you know, everybody’s in a state of panic, but an angel of the Lord appeared and basically told Paul, look, you’re going to testify before Caesar. So if you’re going to testify before Caesar, you’re going to get out of this storm just fine. So that’s what I think is happening here. Now, how much of this relates to our daily Christian life? I mean, I’ve never personally had an encounter from the Angel of the Lord. I have had premonitions about things. Sometimes they’re accurate, sometimes they’re not. And so I’ve just sort of learned to live my Christian life, not so much on subjective experiences, but rather on the ironclad promises of God’s word. I’m not an apostle. I don’t write books of the New Testament. I’ve never had an encounter with the angel of the Lord. So I’ve got I’m left with what God has given me. He’s given me the Holy Spirit inside of me. I got to pay attention to that. But ultimately the Holy Spirit inside of me is not going to propel me, impel me to do something that contradicts God’s written word, God’s written word – at the end of the day, the completed canon of Scripture is my final authority.
Pastor Jim: [00:19:48] Yeah, well, if I may interject here. I love something that you say often from the pulpit is when you’re teaching, you’ll mention a verse and you’ll say, Now keep in mind that these verses come before that verse and we’re starting with verse with 27:10. But if you back up to the beginning of the chapter and read down, you see in verse 7 says, We had sailed slowly for a good many days and with difficulty, had arrived at Cnidus since the wind did not permit us to go farther. We sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salomone and with difficulty sailing past it, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea, when considerable. Now this is verse 9, when considerable time had passed and the voyage was now what? Dangerous. Since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them. And then he goes into verse 10 and he says, I perceive. Now, may I just make a suggestion? If you’re on a ship and you’re not getting where you want to go, and there’s winds that are contrary to you and you’re seeing the weather and all the waves, it doesn’t take a lot of perception, special perception to be able to say, you know what, it looks like this voyage isn’t going to go the way we had anticipated. And then it seems significant to me that what you have happening later is the Holy Spirit now confirming to Paul what he’s seeing visually. Physically, he’s saying, yeah, that’s going to happen. But guess what? I’m going to keep you safe. So anyway, just my take on that, I hope that’s maybe helpful. All right. Thank you for that call. And thank you, Pastor, for that great answer. Let’s go back to the phones and thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods?
Caller: [00:21:44] Yeah, hi. Good evening. I have a question regarding John 1:1. So I’m not going to mention any religions, but there’s another religion that has they have their Bible translation and they claim that it’s a correct translation. And their translation says that in the beginning was God and the Word was with God and the Word was “a” God. So I know that’s different than our Christian Bibles. How is there any other verb to contrast this? Them or contradict them. You know, their or to affirm that that translation is not correct.
Pastor Jim: [00:22:38] That is a wonderful question. Thank you for calling the program, Pastor.
Pastor Andy: [00:22:42] Yeah, I don’t mind mentioning the name. I mean, she’s dealing with the New World Translation. That’s exactly right. Which, you know, is the translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. And all Greek scholars agree that the New world translation, it just adds things that aren’t supposed to be there, or subtracts things that are supposed to be there. It’s not looked at as a real academic, you know, scholarly enterprise. And the reason they do that is they’re trying to turn Jesus the Word into a created being. It’s they’re sort of recycling the error of Arianism – Arius and go back in ancient church history, he taught the idea that there was a time in which he was not. Jesus was a created being, and that’s what the Jehovah’s Witnesses are basically trying to do with Jesus. And that’s why they just add a, a, a, a God. The word was “a” God with no rationale for doing so. Yeah, it’s very clear that the word is speaking of Jesus, because when you go down to verse 14, John 1, it says the word became flesh and made his dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten – Father, full of grace and truth. So it’s very clear. It’s speaking of Jesus. And as you progress through John’s gospel, it’s very clear that Jesus claimed to be not, you know, “a” way or “a” God, but God in the human flesh.
Pastor Andy: [00:24:27] In fact, this same Jesus, when you go to John 8:58, makes an interesting statement about himself. Jesus answered and said to them, Truly, I say to you before, Abraham was, I am. And that’s in the Greek Ego Eimi That goes right back to Exodus 3, verse 14. That’s God’s name that God used to, you know, disclose his identity to Moses there in Arabia, you keep moving and you go to in John’s gospel. John Chapter 10, I believe it’s around verse 17 and verse 18, he says, I and the father are one. Let’s see. Yeah. Help me find that one, brother. Jim. I know it’s I know it’s there in John 10. But that’s just another example of Jesus claiming to be not “a” God, “a” way, but God in human flesh. And from there, if you go to John chapter 14, verse 6, this same Jesus who is disclosed as the word in John chapter 1, verse 1 says of himself, “Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but through me”. So, you know, internally, when you look at the book, there’s no way that the Word is anything other than God incarnate. And when they just add “a” word or “a” God, they’re doing so without any manuscript authority whatsoever.
Pastor Jim: [00:26:14] Yes. I don’t know if this is the verse you were looking for, but John 10:30 Jesus says, I and the Father are one. That’s it. And then very quickly, I’ll just add this comment that pastor mentioned the Greek scholarship in order to come up with the translation that the Jehovah Witness come up with, they have to break all of the established rules of Greek grammar. So there you are. All right. Thank you so much for the call. We do appreciate.
Pastor Andy: [00:26:42] That. And if you want to read more about it, we recommend the Kingdom of the Cults by the late Walter Martin, Dr. Ron Rhodes on his website. I think it’s called Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries, if I remember right. He’s got a book called Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and he’ll explain all of this in layman’s terms.
Pastor Jim: [00:27:06] All right. All right. Back to the phones we go. And we’re coming up on a break, See if we can squeeze one more in. Thank you for waiting. What’s your Bible question for Dr. Woods?
Caller: [00:27:14] I’ll try to be very quick. This only has to do with UFOs. And I was wondering if by chance, these are really, when we talk about whoever’s operating these UFOs or the what’s causing people to see those, could that be demons? And I use as a reference Jude 9:9 when the Archangel Michael was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, I’m not sure a demon has to go into another body to exemplify human being. But anyway, if you would address that, I’d appreciate it.
Pastor Jim: [00:27:55] Thank you so much for the call, Pastor?
Pastor Andy: [00:27:58] Yeah, a lot of people look at UFOs as sort of evolved entities.
Pastor Jim: [00:28:06] Ancient masters.
Pastor Andy: [00:28:08] If evolution happened here, it could happen elsewhere in our big universe. And supposedly the people that are trying to contact us are more evolved than we are trying to kind of lead us in the way of peace and harmony. I don’t think that worldview works. And one of the reasons I don’t think it works is because Adam’s sin – Romans 8, verse 22, caused all the whole creation to groan. In other words, what is happening here on planet Earth is the centerpiece of everything. So if there aren’t, you know, high, high, higher evolved beings trying to speak to us, who are these beings? Well, there I agree with what the caller said. They’re probably demons. And Satan we know masquerades as an angel of light. And he wants people to believe that higher evolved entities are trying to lead us in the way of truth and harmony, you know, sort of into global government. And, you know, maybe they’re the ones that are kind of going to explain where everybody went, the missing people, when the rapture occurs. They’re going to be the ones sort of telling the human race to embrace the Antichrist there. I mean, Hollywood has been preparing us for this for a long time. But the world is going to think that they’re sort of more evolved entities trying to help us evolve further. But really what they are is demons masquerading as these entities. And so that would be my explanation of UFOs. You know, Jesus, it’s interesting. When he warned about the end of the age, he said in Luke 21, verse 11, There will be great earthquakes and in various places, plagues and famines and there will be terrors. And then he says, great signs from heaven. And so, you know, I think we ought to be careful about extraterrestrials showing up, promising to help us.
Pastor Jim: [00:30:16] Amen to that.
Pastor Andy: [00:30:16] They may be malevolent and not benevolent.
Pastor Jim: [00:30:21] I like that. All right. Thank you so much for calling the program. And it’s time for our station break. So hang in here with us. We’ll be back in a few seconds and we’ll have our prayer for the nation. God bless you. See you in a moment.
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Announcer: [00:31:04] Good evening. Time is now one minute after the hour of 10:00 Central time. We have one more announcement for the Sugar Land Bible Church. Mr. Curtis Bowers, an American politician, former educator who served as a member of the Idaho House of Representatives, will be at Sugar Land Bible Church on Sunday, October 20th, 23. He’ll be speaking at the 9:45 a.m. Sunday School service and the 11:15 a.m. Sunday Worship service. You can listen to his podcasts Faith, Family and Freedom with Curtis Bowers or watch Enemies within the Church and Grinding America Down. He’s a film producer. We now return to our program, The Question and Answers.
Pastor Jim: [00:32:04] All right. Thank you for staying with us, folks. It’s time for our prayer for the Nation. So if you’re in a safe place and can do so, we strongly encourage you to join with us in prayer. Abba, Father, we come before you this evening with thanksgiving because you are our Father of Lights, who, according to James 1:17, provides every good thing given and every perfect gift that comes from above. We thank you also because you are unchangeable in your divine attributes and because you are good all the time. We come before your throne of grace also with gratefulness for the gift of our Republic and for the Constitution upon which it was formed and operates. And we ask that your hand of mercy might continue to extend to the United States of America. And over and upon all those who wish her well. Gracious and loving father, you tell us in 1st Timothy 2:2, to pray for all who are in authority so that we might lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. And so we do that now. We come first asking that you might keep our elected leaders from arrogance and pride. For you exalt the humble and bring down the prideful. We also ask that they might acknowledge the certain truth that you, oh Lord, are sovereign over your creation, and that they will certainly give an account to you for their stewardship over this nation. We also ask that those among our leaders who are not believers might see, hear and acknowledge the claims of the Gospel on their hearts and lives and come to faith in Jesus for the eternal safekeeping of their soul. Please also Abba Father, fortify those in our government who know you and encourage them not to grow weary of well-doing.
Pastor Jim: [00:34:00] We pray for the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our federal government, along with our state and local officials, that they might cooperate with your divine plan and will help them as they enforce and formulate new laws and make legal decisions and rulings at each level of government, whether it be local, state or federal. Remind them of their sworn duty to uphold those laws, regulations and principles which they swore with an oath to defend. Please also protect all of our first responders, the men and women faithfully serving in our military and all those who put their own lives in jeopardy to save and rescue others. Bless them and restore them to their families this evening, where possible. Abba Father, help us, your children, to be salt and light to those within our circle of influence who are lost and dying without hope, so that they too might come to place their faith and confidence in Jesus, your one and only Beloved Son and the savior of their souls. And finally, Father, thank you for loving us so much that you continually work within us to conform us moment by moment into the image of Christ. Please help us to continue to grow and develop Christ likeness in our attitudes and actions and remind us that this earth is not our home. And this we pray in the name of Jesus, Maranatha, and Amen. Thank you so much for pausing with us for our prayer time. And let’s go back to the phones. I see we do have one caller waiting. So thank you for calling the program. What is your Bible question for Doctor Woods this evening?
Caller: [00:35:53] Hi. My question is, I believe that the neighbor loving your neighbor, loving the Lord God with all your heart and all your mind and your soul and your neighbor as yourself and the Ten Commandments and what Jesus spoke about in the New Testament about loving your neighbor. Those are the same group of people or whatever. The my question is, what is the difference between loving your neighbor and whom James spoke about in how can you say that you love the Lord whom you haven’t seen and not love your brother and your brother whom you have seen? What is the difference between the brother James spoke about and the neighbor that the Lord spoke about? That’s my question.
Pastor Jim: [00:36:42] All right. Thank you so much for that wonderful question. Pastor, how would we answer this question?
Pastor Andy: [00:36:48] Well, when Jesus ministered, you know, he ministered under the age of the law and he was dealing with you’ll see that, by the way, he was born under the age of law. Galatians 4, verse 4 tells us that. And so when Jesus was ministering, he was ministering within the nation of Israel and there were people within the nation of Israel that the Israelis really didn’t like. Like the Samaritans, for example. And so when Jesus is talking about, you know, love your neighbor, he’s talking about, number one, your fellow Israeli, not just the one that does you good, but the one that does you harm. And also that mixed racial group called the Samaritans. And sometimes you had Gentiles within the land of Israel. You need to love them and so love them as you love yourself. I think that’s what Jesus meant when he talked about the neighbor. James, on the other hand, is writing a book during the church age. The church age had started. It was probably very early on in church history because they seem to be James 2 verse 2 indicates that they were meeting in a synagogue. So it’s sort of a church age body of Christ kind of thing. And so when James talks about your brother, he’s basically talking about your fellow, in this case, Jewish believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. So there’s just a slightly different context between the two ideas, if that helps, slightly, slightly, slightly different definition based on the context between the two areas of Scripture.
Pastor Jim: [00:38:26] Amen. Well, I hope that was helpful for you. Thank you so much for that call, for that call. We do appreciate that. And let’s pause for a moment and go to an email question that’s come in. This individual asks the question, “Was Judas Iscariot saved or lost eternally? A person in Bible study said that we can’t say he wasn’t because we really don’t know who is saved anyway”.
Pastor Andy: [00:38:51] All right. There’s very little doubt in my mind that Judas was unsaved. And the main reason I think Judas was unsaved is something that happened in John 6, verse 64. Remember, Jesus kind of got rid of a crowd.
Big crowd following there in Capernaum. And, you know, Jesus began to sort of give the hard teachings and the crowd dissipated and the 12 left. And, you know, you don’t want to leave, too, do you? Peter says, Well, where else are we going to go? You alone have the words of eternal life. And then he makes the statement, There’s 12 of you left, but one of you is a devil. So really, there’s 11 left. But he says here in John 6 in that context. John 6:64 – But there are some of you who do not believe I mean, if you don’t believe, then you’re not saved. And it says for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe. And it was that let’s see, who it was and who it was that would betray him. So the one that doesn’t believe is the one that’s going to betray him, the one that betrays him according to Christ’s own words in this context, never believed in Christ. Now we know exactly who that is. Because you dropped down to verse 70 and 71. You know, as you pointed out earlier, verse 64 comes before verses 70 and 71 verses 70 and 71 say Jesus answered them that I myself not choose you the 12, and yet one of you is the devil. Now, he meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray him.
Pastor Andy: [00:40:52] So the one that betrays me never believed who is going to betray him. The context tells you it was Judas. So you look at those verses and it’s very clear that Judas never put his personal trust in Jesus for salvation. There are some other clues that Judas was unsaved. He’s called by Christ a man that it would be better for him if he’d never been born. That’s a very strange way of referring to a believer. Matthew 26:25. Beyond that, when Judas committed suicide. Now suicide is terrible. But it’s not the unpardonable sin. Judas didn’t go to hell because he committed suicide. He went to hell because he never trusted in Christ. But when he committed suicide and he died, Acts 1:25, says he went to his own place. I mean, that’s a very strange definition of where a believer would go upon death, Paul said. Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That’s not what happened with Judas. He went to his own place. And beyond that, in John 17, verse 12, he’s called the Son of Perdition. And that title is used of only one other person in the whole Bible. It’s only used of the Antichrist, the coming lawless one in 2nd Thessalonians 2, verse 3. So when you take the data and you put it all together, beginning with John 6, I think it’s an open and shut case that Judas was not saved.
Pastor Jim: [00:42:27] Amen on that one. All right. Notice that we don’t have anyone on the phone just yet. So let me give those phone numbers out again. And here they are. If you’re in the local Houston area, we can call 832-922-4444. Or you can call toll free at 877-999-5422. And also remember, if you would prefer, you can send your question in by email to questions. That’s Questions@KHCB.org. All right. I do see that we have a caller waiting, so let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for calling in the program this evening. What is your Bible question for Doctor Woods?
Caller: [00:43:06] Yeah, this question is coming from three verses, John 14:6 – I am the way, the truth and the life. 1st Timothy 3:15 – The church is the pillar and base of the truth and Ephesians 3:21 – it says You have not. You have not. If so, be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. So that’s Ephesians 3:21, not as popular as the other ones, but in all those verses there is not the plural truth used. And in the New Testament, in my reading of the New Testament, there is no such thing as truths, because Jesus is the truth. A person is the truth. A man who is the embodiment of God is the truth. If so, but I hear, Oh, the truth of the Bible. The truth of the Bible is Jesus Christ. Anyway, would you elaborate on my understanding and speaking about this, and should we speak about truths, plural? Would it be. Well, I’ll just ask you point blank, would it be okay for Jesus to have said, I am the way, the truths and the life and then 1st Timothy 3:15 would be the church is a pillar and base of the truths. And then in 3, 3, you get the point. Hey, thank you very much.
Pastor Jim: [00:44:36] All right. Thank you for the question. We appreciate it, Pastor.
Pastor Andy: [00:44:39] Well, I agree with him. I mean, there’s the ultimate truth. The ultimate truth is Jesus. And of course, we wouldn’t know anything about Jesus if we didn’t have that truth recorded in scripture. So I think scripture is the truth and Jesus is the truth. And I agree with his general point. I think sometimes people use the word truths because, you know, within the truth there are there are levels of truth.
Pastor Jim: [00:45:08] There you go, that’s right.
Pastor Andy: [00:45:08] There might be a truth related to our emotions that were to follow. You know, do not let the sun go down on your anger lest you give the devil a foothold. There might be, you know, truth related to relationships or finances or, you know, our view towards church attendance or whatever, communion, you know, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the habit of some. But it all revolves around the central truth Jesus, which is recorded in God’s book, The truth – The Bible.
Pastor Jim: [00:45:42] Right. Excellent question and excellent answer. Thank you so very much. And back to the phones we go. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question this evening?
Caller: [00:45:52] Yes, sir. Good evening to you all. I was listening at your conversation before the call-in a minute ago. In regards to Judas Iscariot, the you mentioned that Judas Iscariot wasn’t saved, but in Book of Revelation, I think the 5th chapter, I understand that the book is sealed and if the book is sealed, how would one know who’s saved and who’s lost if the book has been sealed? I’ll wait on your response.
Pastor Jim: [00:46:22] Okay. Thank you so very much. We appreciate you calling the program. So I guess what he’s asking really is how can anyone know who is saved since, quote, the books are sealed?
Pastor Andy: [00:46:32] Okay. I’m a little confused on what he means by the books are sealed. I guess I’m thinking of the Seven sealed scrolls, which is not talking. About people’s salvation. You know, it’s the title deed to the Earth. I wish she had a Bible reference for me. You know, in the Book of Revelation, the books are sealed. I’m not even sure exactly what verse he’s talking about. But you know, it is true that only God knows who’s saved and who’s not. I mean, that’s a no, that’s obvious. But, you know, in the case of many of the Bible characters, it tells us that they got saved.
Pastor Jim: [00:47:11] Sure does.
Pastor Andy: [00:47:11] And I think with the case of Judas, there’s a lot of, you know, clear, objective statements indicating that he never came to saving faith. I listed four of them, you know, a little bit earlier. So, yeah, the books are sealed until the end and no one knows but God. But, you know, we’re reading God’s book the Bible and God himself in his book gives us clues as to why Judas never believed and trusted in Christ and won’t be in Heaven.
Pastor Jim: [00:47:41] Amen All right. Thank you again for calling the program. Back to the phones. Thanks for waiting. Waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods?
Caller: [00:47:48] Hi. It’s an honor to talk to you. How are you both tonight?
Pastor Jim: [00:47:52] Well, it’s an honor to have you call. We’re doing well.
Caller: [00:47:55] Thank you. I love Jesus. So I’m very delighted to call. My question is about Romans chapter 5, verse 12. So my question is, is I was taking in to the Word stay in my quiet time with the Lord. And what I was wondering was in this verse where it says, therefore, I’m reading the ESV English standard version. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin. And so death spread to all men because all sinned”. So what I was wondering when I read this, I would love to get full clarity from you is does this mean that as Adam and Eve, I know it’s funny to kind of ask it this way, but if Adam and Eve would have continued having children and at that point didn’t rebel, sin against God, would they have lived forever? So would we remain eternal beings and not die? So, my main question is, do they literally mean here that death entered into the world whenever they sinned? So physical death, or do they just mean spiritual death? Let me know if you have any other clarifying questions.
Pastor Jim: [00:49:34] I think we got it. Thanks for calling.
Caller: [00:49:37] Thank you so much. Have an amazing night. God bless you both with great joy.
Pastor Jim: [00:49:41] Well, we can’t help but have an amazing night after your call. God bless you, sister.
Pastor Andy: [00:49:47] Okay. Well, I think part of her question was, you know, if Adam and Eve had never sinned, would death have entered the human race? And the answer would be no. God was pretty clear in Genesis 2, verses 16 and 17, when he said, The Lord God commanded the man saying, From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat for in the day you eat of it, you will surely die. And so death became a reality not just for Adam and Eve, but the whole human race. Because all of us are born into the world now, thanks to Adam and Eve with a nature that rebels against God, all of us rebel against God naturally, because of this inherited sin nature. And since the consequence of sin is death, all die. In Genesis 3, verse 19, it’s talking about far more than spiritual death. Obviously, spiritual death is a big deal. Death just means separation. But more, you know, more happened to them than spiritual death. It says in Genesis 3, verse 19, By the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken. From dust you are, to dust you shall return. So you’re going right back to the dirt you know from which you came. That’s not just spiritual death, that’s physical death. And because of this imputed or transferred sin nature, all of us volitionally sin against God constantly. And since the wages of sin is death, all human beings are born into the world, separated from God and in a dying state. I hope I answered. What is she was asking. Would you add anything to that?
Pastor Jim: [00:51:37] No, I think that was pretty clear. So thank you again for that wonderful question And Pastor, thanks for the great answer. I see we have folks waiting. So let’s quickly go back to the phones. Thank you so much for calling the program. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods?
Caller: [00:51:50] Yes, Thanks for allowing me to ask question. So this is just kind of a general question. Um, you know, in regard to, for example, there’s many times in Scripture that talk about waiting on the Lord, waiting on the Lord. At the same time, it seems to be a tension, you know, when it talks about, you know, walking by faith, like walking. And so, is there a way that you can explain, you know, like, how do you know when to wait and how do you know when to walk? And I’ll hang up and listen.
Pastor Jim: [00:52:37] Great question. Thank you, brother. Pastor – waiting and walking.
Pastor Andy: [00:52:41] Well, that’s a great question because we all sort of struggle with that. I mean, what I do is I let’s say I’m praying for something and it doesn’t materialize immediately. And yet the desire for this thing may be an open door or something hasn’t immediately happened. So I know I’m in the waiting game and I say, God, I think you’re the one that gave me this desire. It’s not a wicked desire coming from my own sin nature. It’s a, you know, an honest I believe God planted desire. So, Lord, I’m just kind of waiting on you for the door to open. And so the way I’m making that distinction is I’m looking at my own circumstances. I’m looking at my heart. I feel God has planted a desire in my heart. I’m praying to God, God, please open the door. The door doesn’t happen yet. The desire is still there. So I’m looking at those circumstances and I’m saying it’s time to wait on the Lord. What would you do?
Pastor Jim: [00:53:41] Well, I would say they’re almost synonymous terms, really. You’re waiting. Trusting. You’re walking by faith. Meaning you’re waiting for God to give you direction on how to move forward. And sometimes part of that involves godly counsel also. So, yeah, I think that’s a great answer. And what a wonderful question. Thank you so much for calling the program. Back to the phones we go. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?
Caller: [00:54:06] Hi, Good evening. How are you doing? I just love listening to Adrian Rogers. I listen to him a couple times a day. I’ll listen to the one at 3:30 and then I’ll pull some up on YouTube and listen to them. But he has said to me before that when you’re in hell, you don’t have, or you do have memory of everything, which would make your torment a little worse, I would think. But now in Heaven, I was taught that you don’t have memory of different things on Earth that you went through. Uh, is that sort of true? Because, like, if you had a real good friend who may not have made it, it wasn’t saved, you wouldn’t remember him in Heaven. I guess that’s it. If you wanted to explain a little bit about that.
Pastor Jim: [00:55:02] Thank you. All right. Thanks so much for calling the program. We appreciate it.
Pastor Andy: [00:55:05] Well, in hell, I believe there is scriptural evidence that people have a memory. And I’m getting this from Luke, 16 verses 19 through 31. You remember the rich man that died and went to Hades? And remember he what did he say there? I’ve got five. What did he say? Five brothers. Um, he has a number of brothers that he could remember back on. And boy, if they don’t repent, change their minds about Jesus, then they’re going to end up in the, you know, the same place I’m in. So that, to me indicates a memory. There it is in Luke 16:27 – He said, Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house. For I have five brothers that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment. So remember the father’s house? Remember it? His five brothers. And so if you can have a memory like that in hell, I just don’t see how you can have a faulty memory in Heaven. It’s just when you get to Heaven, the problems that we’re facing in this world are a thing of the past, and we’re in perfect bliss. I mean, obviously there’s going to be some disappointment in the sense that maybe a loved one of yours is not there with you, but you kind of reach a point where you’re standing in the perfection of Jesus and that even that memory starts to it doesn’t. disappear. The memory is still there, but it just doesn’t have the same power that it used to have. And that may be what he means when he says he will wipe every tear from our eyes. Right, Right.
Pastor Andy: [00:56:54] So the memory is still there. It’s just you have a readjusted outlook, which doesn’t make it seem so severe. That’s the best I can do there.
Pastor Jim: [00:57:03] All right. Well, hope that was helpful for you. God bless you. Thanks for calling the program. And let’s go back to the phones. Thanks for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods?
Caller: [00:57:12] Hello, Dr. Woods. How are you doing?
Pastor Andy: [00:57:14] Just fine.
Caller: [00:57:16] That’s good, if you will. Will you help us explain the difference between God and Jesus? Because what they don’t understand, He was all God, but just like He was also all man, you can’t split them up. Will you help us explain that?
Pastor Jim: [00:57:40] Great question. Thank you so much, Pastor?
Pastor Andy: [00:57:43] Well, I guess the way I would explain it is Jesus is the eternally existent second member of the Triune Godhead. Yes, he has always been. He will always be. He’s always been deity. But at the point of the virgin conception, there’s no subtraction. A lot of people look at the virgin conception as a subtraction, or they make it sound like, you know, he took off one coat and put on another. The Virgin Conception was an addition and alongside eternally existent deity was added humanity. And so at that particular point in time, he became the Monogenēs, which you’ll see that expression, it’s translated only begotten. It’s the Greek, you know, the only begotten Son of God. John 1:18, John 3:16. But it’s the Greek word Monogenēs, which means one of a kind. Jesus was one of a kind. Because he not only was he is, was and is 100% deity, but at the point of the virgin conception, there was something added. He became the God man at that point. And so I hope that helps a little bit.
Pastor Jim: [00:59:01] Yeah. And in eternity, before he was incarnated, he was the eternal Son. He became Jesus at his physical birth when he was named by his mother Mary. So there’s a distinction there, but he’s nonetheless fully God and as you correctly said, fully man too. So thank you so much for that.
Pastor Andy: [00:59:21] Yeah, the fancy name for that is the Hypostatic Union.
Pastor Jim: [00:59:27] That’s right. Amen. All right. Well, it looks like we’ve come to the close of our program, so we want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to call in this evening. And we know that God’s provided some wonderful answers. So thank him for that. And we’ll look forward to seeing you next time on KHCB’s Question and Answer program. God bless and good night.