KHCB – 01-26-2023 – Full Program Transcript

Announcer: [00:00:08] Good evening. Welcome to the Question and Answers Program. The program where we will be answering your questions about God’s word.  If you have a question about the Bible, please call one of our numbers in the greater Houston area. You can call 832-922-4444. Outside the Houston area, you can reach us at 877-999-5422. That’s 877-999-5422. You can also email your questions at Questions@ KHCB.org. Again, that’s plural Questions@ KHCB.org. We respectfully ask that you avoid mentioning specific people or denominations. If your question is about a certain passage of Scripture, please have the Scripture ready. Tonight, we’re honored to have Dr. Andy Woods, senior pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church. The church is located at 401 Matlage Way in Sugarland, Texas. That’s right off of Highway 90 and Highway 6. Dr. Woods is also president of the Chafer Theological Seminary. He’s authored and contributed to many Christian books and theological journals. He frequently speaks on a variety of topics at Christian conferences and churches. Tonight, we’re also joined by Dr. Jim McGowan, associate pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church. The church website is SLBC.org. And now we’re going to turn it over to Dr. Andy Woods. And Dr. Woods, can you tell us about the prophecy conference coming up?

Pastor Andy: [00:02:14] Prophecy Conference at Sugar Land Bible Church, February 24th and 25th. The 24th is a Friday evening. It’s a Shabbat dinner at Sugar Creek Country Club. We are unfortunately don’t have any spaces left for people to come to that, but they could call the church and get on the waiting list. But that event is going to be followed. Saturday, February the 25th, with an all-day conference on Bible prophecy starting at 9 a.m. and ending with a question and answer session at 6:30 p.m.. The speakers will include myself, Dr. Andy Woods, and also prophecy experts Olivier Melnick and Don Perkins. And we’re going to basically be covering a lot of different prophetic subjects from the Rapture to the Eternal State. So topics will include the Rapture, Premillenialism, the Jewish Wedding system, Daniel and the Tribulation Period, the Mark of the Beast, Satan’s Agenda for the Jews, the Messianic Kingdom, the Eternal Order, and much more. We’re going to be having special music by Corry Keeler and Lev Shelo throughout the conference. And if you’re interested in going you need to register. Just go to the Sugar Land Bible Church website and right there on the home page, you’ll see an icon for the conference and an easy way to register. And then the following Sunday morning, February 26, two of the conference speakers will be speaking at the two services at Sugar Land Bible Church. The first session will be taught by Olivier Melnick, and the second session will be taught by Don Perkins. And we are going to be doing free live streaming also throughout for the entire conference. So if you’re interested in Bible prophecy and you want to come live and register for the conference, we would love to see you there. There’s there’s some spots left, but they’re going fast. So as the Bible says, today is the day of Salvation. So get in there and get your spot reserved and come for a wonderful time of edification in God’s Word as we teach the subject of Bible prophecy.

Pastor Jim: [00:04:40] Amen. Well, let me take a quick moment to just welcome all of our listening friends. Thank you so much for tuning in this evening. And let me give you our three housekeeping rules and then we’ll go right to the phones. Number 1, be sure to keep your on-air time to one question only. Number 2, please by all means, turn the volume down before we bring you on the air. And that way we won’t have to deal with echoes and strange noises. And number 3, once you’ve shared your question, please be so kind as to go ahead and hang up so that the next caller can have a free line to call in. It’s as simple as that. So having said that, let’s go to the to the phones and take our first caller. Hi. Caller, thank you for calling the program. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:05:23] Hi. Good evening, gentlemen. I have a question about what I perceive as the Yahweh Jehovah controversy. There’s some pretty divided opinions on it, and I’m wondering if you can give a little background about it and does it really matter?

Pastor Jim: [00:05:40] Thank you. Thank you so much for that question. I’m not sure what he’s talking about. Pastor, are you?

Pastor Andy: [00:05:47] Well, Yahweh Jehovah controversy, you know, I’d probably have to look that up. So I hate to start the evening flatfooted. I do know this much that God is expressed through different names in the Bible. For example, in Genesis 1, he is called Elohim, meaning he’s the creator. In Genesis 2, you see that he has the name Yahweh, which is more of a covenantal personal relationship as you go through the Bible. He’s called El Roi, the God who sees.  He’s called Jehovah Jireh, the God that provides. He’s called El-Olam, which basically means the eternally existent God. So these are just different facets of God’s character that are brought out by his different names. And so, you know, that’s probably about as far as I know, about any real controversy. As far as the specific controversy he’s asking about, I’m embarrassed to say I’m not really up to speed on it.

Pastor Jim: [00:06:59] Well, maybe we could get you to call back and give us a little bit more information and perhaps we can do a little bit better job. But thanks for calling anyway. We do appreciate it. And back to the phones. Thanks for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:07:14] Good evening Pastors. My question is out of the Book of Acts, chapter 2, and I’m trying to understand the “whosoever”.

Pastor Jim: [00:07:25] What verse are you in.

Caller: [00:07:27] Starting with 5.  Well, it says they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. So from 7 all the way to 19, it’s only talking about the Jews. These from 7 to 19. It’s only talking about the Jews from every nation under heaven. So when it gets to the Chapter 21, it says, and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  Chapter 22 says Ye men of Israel, hear these words. So my question is, how is it that it appears that Christianity says the “whosoever” is every nation. When it simply says in 22, the Ye men of Israel, the 12 tribes. That’s my question. How is it that we think that everybody because it’s not mentioning no other nation but the Israelites. So how do we take that “whosoever” is everybody? That’s my question.

Pastor Jim: [00:08:45] All right. Thank you for calling the program. And I think maybe context might help us out here, Pastor.

Pastor Andy: [00:08:50] Yeah, I mean, when you study Acts 2, this is the day of Pentecost and it mentions there, remember they were commanded to for 3 feasts. They were commanded to show up at the central Sanctuary to celebrate 3 of the 7 feasts. So this was mandatory. And so you have Jews in Jerusalem at that point from the land of Israel. And then as you drop down to verses, oh, let’s see, 9, 10, 11 and a little bit there into 12, basically what it’s talking about is people – Jews in the Diaspora or in the dispersion. And it mentions all the different areas that they were from, some from Crete, some from Rome, some from Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), some from Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). But these were basically Jews out of the land in what’s called the Diaspora. And they came to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost to the central Sanctuary, in this case, the temple, to celebrate that particular feast day. And so that’s the audience that Peter is preaching to. And basically he’s telling them to repent or to change their mind about Jesus Christ. In other words, go from being a Christ rejecting Jew to being a Christ accepting Jew.

Pastor Andy: [00:10:22]  And so in this particular context, it’s not a whosoever calls in the name of the Lord will be saved, although that is quoted. This is Old Testament texts aimed at, as Peter is using them in his sermon, a particular audience. And so, you know, I wouldn’t develop whosoever calls in the name of the Lord will be saved from this chapter without looking at the context.  You can go to other passages to develop whosoever calls in the name of the Lord shall be saved. I’m thinking of John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. So when we say whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, we’re not just going to take it from Acts 2, which is aimed at a particular audience. Of course, the message preached here would be available to all people, but we’re not just going to take everything from Acts 2 to which is aimed at a particular audience. You’ve got to develop it from other scriptures which are aimed at the whole world. You know, like John chapter 3, verse 16. I hope that helps.

Pastor Jim: [00:11:28] Yes. All right. Again, thank you so much for calling in. We appreciate that. Let me just take a moment. We have free lines. Let me give the phone numbers out. Again, If you’re in the local Houston area, you can call 832-922-4444. And if you’re outside the local area, you can call toll free at 877-999-5422.  And if you don’t have access to a telephone or a cell phone, you can certainly email the station here with your question at questions@KHCB.org. And while we’re waiting for the phones to light up, I do have one email here, Pastor. We could take a look at. This Individual writes “You’ve taught that Jesus came first to Jews with the offer of the Kingdom, and if they had accepted him, the Kingdom would have been set up in Israel then. But how could that be when Jesus had to go to the cross to pay for the sins of the world, He could not have set up the Kingdom before the cross, right?”.

Pastor Andy: [00:12:29] See that’s a great question, and that’s a classic question for the viewpoint that I represent, which is the offer of the Kingdom to Israel. In Matthew 3, verse 2 and chapter 4, verse 17, and in chapter 10 versus 5 through 7, there’s a expression that says Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It’s first taught by John the Baptist, then by Jesus, then by the 12, as they were sent out by Jesus. And when you look at the Matthew 10 passage versus 5 through 7, you’ll see that that offer was only given to Israel. There, Jesus says, do not go to the Samaritans, do not go to the way of the Gentiles, but go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, saying, Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So we believe that Jesus came into the world to offer this kingdom to Israel. In fact, Matthew 11, verse 12 – It’s Jesus, I believe it is, speaking and answering the questions of John the Baptist. They want to know, you know, who is the Elijah to come? And Jesus there says of John the Baptist that if you’re willing to accept it, he is the Elijah to come. In other words, had the Nation of Israel embraced the offer of the kingdom, then the prophecies concerning the coming of Elijah, the prophecies concerning the coming of the Kingdom would have manifested right there on planet Earth.

Pastor Andy: [00:14:05]  So now the question becomes, well then if that had happened and if it was a bona fide offer, and I think it was, then how could Jesus have died on a cross and paid for the sin debt of the world? Well, the thing to understand is that Jesus is the lamb crucified from the foundations of the Earth. In other words, God always knew that the nation would reject the offer and they would turn the King over to the Romans for execution. And God, the father would use that transaction to pay the sin debt of the entire world.  And so although the offer was bona fide, the offer of the kingdom was legitimate. God knew what would happen, it would be rejected. And he took a tragedy and turned it into a triumph. He took lemons and turned them into lemonade. And so that’s how it would all work out in real time. You know what if Israel had accepted the offer of the of the kingdom, how could he have died on the cross? That’s kind of like asking, what if Adam and Eve had never sinned? You know, how could Jesus have been the sin bearer for the whole world and the one who was the lamb slain from the foundation of the earth? I mean, that’s a question that we really can’t answer.

Pastor Andy: [00:15:29] Some people have tried to speculate on this. Dr. Pentecost, in his book The Words and Works of Jesus Christ and Arnold Fruchtenbaum in his work, Israelology – The missing Link in Systematic Theology have sort of speculated that had Israel accepted the offer of the kingdom, then the Romans would have come and tried Christ for insurrection and he would have died on the cross that way. But that’s just speculation. I mean, we just don’t know. We just know that God knew what would happen and they would use their own free will to reject the offer. And God took a tragedy and turned it into a triumph because he used that terrible ordeal of the Jews handing Christ over to Rome for execution to pay the sin debt of the world. And as they were using their own free will to reject the offer of the kingdom, they were actually fulfilling a blueprint where the lamb would be slain from the foundations of the earth. Hopefully that helps a little bit.

Pastor Jim: [00:16:37] All right. Thank you so much for calling the program. And back to the phones we go. Thanks for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:16:45] Dr. Wood? Dr. McGowan, how are you? This is Dave from Pennsylvania.  Hi. So I wondered. Okay, there are some there are some who say and maybe you guys too, that God is in control of like, everything. Like. So my question is, okay, like maybe a car accident that he put those two cars in the same place or. And I’m not trying to be sassy, but like I dropped my pen on the kitchen floor. So that’s kind of part A of the question, like how much is God or does or does God kind of like, does he kind of like move things forward kind of thing? Like, you know, like on a higher level? And then secondly, it just comes into Dr. Woods and your message last Sunday where. Esau Well, you know, Rebecca tricked Isaac into thinking that Esau was there when it was Jacob with covering of the skins. So, like, didn’t God kind of, like, use her anyway, because that kind of moves the genealogy forward. So those are kind of my two questions.

Pastor Jim: [00:18:07] All right. Two very good questions. And I’m sure that you’re going to get very two very good answers here in just a moment.

Pastor Andy: [00:18:13] Well, concerning the first one, you know, we believe God is omnipotent, meaning he is all powerful. But very sadly, people have turned the doctrine of God’s omnipotence into what is called omnicausality, meaning that God causes everything. Well, that can’t be. Because if God causes everything, that makes God the author of evil and the author of Sin, which would violate his character, I mean, he’s in light, clothed in unapproachable light.  Within him, the book of James says there’s no variation or shifting shadow. And so what we believe actually has happened is God created people, human beings and angels with free will. And unfortunately, God’s creation has decided to use its free will to rebel against God. And so that’s where car accidents, earthquakes, you name it, you know, ultimately come from. So we don’t really blame those things on God in the sense that he caused them. He has allowed them to happen. And in the midst of all of this evil and depravity, He’s actually using it to accomplish some higher purpose.  So the book of James chapter 1 versus 2 through 4 says, Consider it all joy, brethren, when you encounter various trials. It doesn’t say that God has caused the trial. It’s basically saying God has allowed the trial and he is going to use it for the development of our character.  And you know, the Bible in Romans 8, it says for God, it doesn’t say all things are good. That’s very important to understand. It says God works together all things for good to those that love Jesus and are called according to his purpose. So he will he will use suffering that he didn’t cause. He’s allowed it, but he didn’t cause it. And he’ll use it for the development of Christ’s likeness in his own children. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Pastor Jim: [00:20:31] No. I just think it’s a wonderful thing to understand what you just said, because no matter what, you know, we’re in the position we’re in because of sin. We live in a sin cursed world. And we need to understand that, that there are consequences for sin. And those consequences are felt by believers and unbelievers alike. But as you just said, if you’re in Christ, we have we can take joy in the midst of that knowledge because we know that everything that’s happening God uses in our lives to conform us to the image of his Son.

Pastor Andy: [00:21:03] Yeah. So it’s not saying God caused everything. He didn’t cause it and it doesn’t say everything is good, but he’ll use it.

Pastor Jim: [00:21:08] He’ll use it, yes. Right.

Pastor Andy: [00:21:09] Now, concerning the second part of his question, you know, concerning the tricking of Isaac and you remember Rebecca, I believe it was, and Jacob kind of hatched a plan to trick Isaac. And, you know, wasn’t that good for them to do. I don’t really think it was good for them to do. I think if they had waited on God, he would have worked it out. Because when you go back to Genesis 25, you have the clear statement from God. You know that the older will serve the younger. And so they should have just waited upon the Lord, and the Lord would have eventually, I believe, given the blessing to Jacob rather than Esau. But they kind of push God’s hand or push their own will. And when we do that, yeah, God still executes His purpose. As you go through the book of Genesis, he’s still executing his purpose. But that doesn’t mean that they didn’t pay terrible consequences along the way. You’ll recall that Jacob had to at the end of that chapter flee to Haran, and it would take several chapters for him to be reconciled to his brother Esau, who was basically in a murderous rage against him. And so that temporal consequence could have been avoided if they had just waited on the Lord, I believe, and the Lord would have worked out the promise that the older will serve the younger. And so, you know, it’s yeah, yes, God used it to advance his cause. But if they had waited on God, they wouldn’t have had to experience the temporal consequences of sort of rushing things along in human strength. I hope that helps.

Pastor Jim: [00:22:51] So, the moral is don’t try to help God. Let God be God.

Pastor Andy: [00:22:56] And you have the same situation with Abraham and Sarah.  I mean, they had a promise from the Lord, from your body. It’s going to come in descendants. And they decided to help God out in Genesis 16 after they got the promise in Genesis 15. And they, you know, Abraham, then Abram impregnated Hagar. And from them, that unholy union came the Ishmaelites which I would argue are still harassing the nation of Israel to this day. So if Abraham and Sarai at the time had just waited upon God, God would have executed his promise and the Ishmaelights would not have come into existence.

Pastor Jim: [00:23:36] Amen. Amen. Well, thank you again for calling the program. We appreciate that. Let’s go ahead and take our station break at this time. So what we’ll do is we’ll take about a 30 seconds or so. We’ll be right back with you. We’ll have our prayer for the nation. And we look forward to see you right around the corner.

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Pastor Jim: [00:24:46] All right. Thanks for staying with us here. And we’re just going to take a few moments to pray for the Nation. And if you’re in a position where you can do so safely, we’d encourage you to join us. So let’s go to the Lord in prayer at this time. Abba Father, your Holy Word tells us in Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. And then in Romans 13:1, every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. And then in Titus 2:1, you tell us to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, and to be ready for every good deed. And finally, you tell us in 1st Peter to 13:14, to submit ourselves for the Lord sake to every human institution, whether to a king, as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by Him.  In Jeremiah 27, you told the children of Israel who had forsaken God and were subsequently carried away by the Babylonians into bondage – You told them, Seek the peace of the city where I’ve sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf. For in its peace, you will have peace. And since we to father, as a nation, have forsaken you, the one true God, and we’ve ignored your perpetual pleas to return to righteousness, we now realize the veracity of your word in Josiah 10:13 which says You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit, the fruit of lies because you have trusted in your way. Therefore, we come humbly before you Abba Father this evening with this knowledge, confessing our national sins, and to offer up our petitions for ourselves, our leaders, and our nation.

Pastor Jim: [00:26:59] Indeed, we come to pray to you for our nation, because in its peace, we will have peace. We acknowledge that you, O Lord, are sovereign over your creation and that there is no greater or higher power than yours. So we ask you, Abba Father, to save, protect, strengthen and fortify our leaders, but also and more importantly, at each level of government, whether it be local, state or federal, please remind and convict them regarding their responsibility to fulfill their sworn duty, to defend and protect the United States of America. Abba Father, please also protect all of our first responders, our law enforcement officers, firemen and women, EMTs, doctors and nurses, the men and women faithfully serving in our military and all those who put their lives in jeopardy to save and rescue others. Please, Father, bless them and bring them home safely tonight to their homes and families. And finally, Father, remind your people that this Earth is not our home, that we are merely sojourners in a foreign land we’re occupying until the Lord Jesus comes to gather us to Himself, and that it is our great and wondrous privilege to not only inherit heaven for ourselves, but to bring others along with us through our personal witness and testimony. So, Father, use us in the days ahead to be light and salt to those who are lost and dying all around us. And we pray these things in the name of Jesus, Maranatha and amen. Well, thank you so much for pausing with us to pray. And so let’s take time now to go right back to the phones. We know we have some folks waiting. So thank you for being patient with us and you’re on the air. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:29:13] Yes, John. 6:32 is the scripture from which the question will be asked. And can I ask two questions, another one or not?

Pastor Jim: [00:29:25] Well, let’s see how we do with your first one.

Caller: [00:29:28] Okay. Well, they’re simple. They’re simple. Jesus told well, you can read the scripture for yourself. My question is this Why did Jesus tell the Pharisees Moses didn’t give you anything. Why did he make such a big deal? He told the Pharisees you’re talking about, well, anyway, the verse before that is they’re bragging about the man that they received then in the desert. And then they were they were challenging Jesus to show them to show to show them a great work. But he before he went into that, he says, Moses didn’t give you anything. Can I ask the next one? My question is, why did Jesus make such a big deal? It’s a really a big put down of Moses. Why didn’t he do that? That’s my question. Can I ask the next one?

Pastor Jim: [00:30:26] Yeah, go ahead.

Caller: [00:30:27] Well, the next one is very simple. First Corinthians 10:4 says that the rock that followed them was Christ. Was the rock that followed them from which they drank the water really Christ? I thank you.

Pastor Jim: [00:30:41] Okay. Thank you for calling the program. We appreciate that. All right, brother, brother, pastor, friend and colleague. John 6:32, let me quote that, Jesus then said to them, talking to the Pharisees, truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven. So let’s clarify. He didn’t say Moses didn’t give you anything. It’s very specific. He did not you were not given the bread out of heaven. But it is my father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. That’s important.

Pastor Andy: [00:31:15] Yeah. You know, I don’t think he’s saying Moses, as Jim just mentioned, didn’t give you anything. He’s basically contrasting what he’s offering with Moses. I mean, the point of it is Moses gave you as God allowed him, physical bread that would feed your physical body temporarily. And what Jesus offers is spiritual nourishment with a relationship with him which will feed your soul. So he, in that sense, is higher than Moses. I don’t think it’s so much a put down on Moses. It’s more of the word that’s used in the book of Hebrews about 13 times. I think it’s the word better. And what is this Bread of Life point to? It says in John 6:35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Who comes to whoever he who comes to me rather shall not hunger, but he who believes in me shall never thirst. In other words, come and exercise faith in me. And unlike Moses, who could feed you temporarily, just your physical body, you know, I’m going to feed your soul and your spirit in a relationship with me. So what I’m offering is higher than most.  That’s not disrespecting Moses. Let’s see. The second question was over in first Corinthians 10, verse 4. Do you want to read that?

Pastor Jim: [00:32:39] Oh, let me get over there real quick here. I think I just had it.

Pastor Andy: [00:32:43] I can read it. It says it says that all drink, the same spiritual drink for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them. And the rock was the rock was Christ from a spiritual rock which provided water. In other words, since the rock is mentioned twice and is in different settings, a rabbinic legend held that a material rock actually followed the Israelites. Paul, however, says it was Christ who was with Israel all the way. Now I just read right out of the note from the Ryrie study Bible. And essentially Dr. Ryrie ‘s point is, rather than, you know, attribute it to some lower inanimate thing, like a physical rock, it’s time to see Jesus actively involved in the Old Testament. I mean, after all, Jesus on the Emmaus Road, you know, basically claim to be the fulfillment of everything that was written in the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, which would be the three major divisions of Hebrew Bible, sometimes called Tanakh law, Torah, Prophets (Nevi’im), and Psalms, being a prominent book in what’s called the Ketuvim (the Writings). And when Jesus made that statement, and you’ll find it in Luke 24, verse 27, and also verse 44, he’s claiming to be the complete and total fulfillment of Hebrew Bible that we sometimes refer to as the Old Testament. So Christ is active constantly in the Old Testament.  And Paul says, let’s give Christ his due for being that way. And let’s not attribute things to just a simple rock as rabbinical tradition, you know, had done.

Pastor Jim: [00:34:40] Exactly. All right. Thank you so much for calling the program. We hope that was help. And back to the phones we go. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:34:49] Yes, I just have two questions pertaining to Solomon. He was the wisest man in the world at during his lifetime. My question is, if he was so wise, why did he let all those foreign women turn his heart against God? That’s number one. And number two, he used his own people as slave labor to build the temple and his palace. And I don’t think that was very wise. So I’m just going to hang up have you answer that. Thank you guys for all you do.

Pastor Jim: [00:35:24] Thank you so much for calling the program. Good question. All right Pastor, Solomon was a very wise man, but we certainly see examples in the Bible where that wisdom, for one reason or another, began to not serve him as it should have.

Pastor Andy: [00:35:39] Well, Solomon was a very wise person, perhaps the wisest man that ever lived other than Christ. But he wasn’t wise his whole life. I mean, that’s kind of the point. He as you track 1st Kings, you know, chapters 1 through 11, you see Solomon sort of in the upward ascent. I mean, everything seems to be going his way until you get to what is it, 1st Kings Chapter 11, verses 3 and 4. It essentially talks about Solomon towards the end of his life, and this would be the end of his reign over the united Kingdom. You know, we think Solomon reign from about following standard Bible chronology from about 971 to about 931. But towards the end of his life, he just started to do a lot of things that went directly against God’s command for kings.  In Deuteronomy 17, you’ll see what God says kings are supposed to do. First of all, they’re not to multiply wives. You’ll see that in Deuteronomy 17 about verses 14 through 17. And they are not to amass wealth and they’re also not to get into foreign treaties with their neighbors.

Pastor Jim: [00:37:03] I just heard strike 1, strike 2 and strike 3,

Pastor Andy: [00:37:06] Strike 3.  And the reason he had all these women, it says 700 wives and 300 concubines as he was entering into treaties. Yeah. And the way it worked in the ancient Near East, if you entered a treaty with a foreign king, then you got a princess or princesses as part of the part of the deal. So not only did he multiply wives, but the multiplication of wives and concubines had to do with another problem. He was entering into these international treaties and he was amassing wealth for himself. In other words, he was placing himself above the law of God. Deuteronomy 17 specifically warns Kings not to do that 1st Kings 11, verses 3 and 4 concerning Solomon towards the end of his life, it says he had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. Why? Because they came from pagan nations following their pagan deities. And it says in verse 4, first Kings 11.  For it came about when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away from following other gods, and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord His God, as was the heart of David, his father, as it had been. So Solomon was wise, but he reached a point in his prosperity. And keep in mind the nation of Israel under Solomon, he’s the 3rd king of the united Kingdom, it reached a level of geographical expansion and prosperity that the nation had never reached before. That’s true and probably has never reached at any time since.

Pastor Andy: [00:38:46] I mean, this is the height and that prosperity sort of made him forget God. And so, yes, he was wise and he stopped being wise. Solomon wrote three books of the Old Testament. He wrote the Song of Solomon, we believe in his young marital years. He wrote the Book of Proverbs, which is a book on wisdom, wisdom, sayings, probably at the middle, middle of his life when he was following the Lord. But then towards the end of his life, he turned away from the Lord for reasons we’ve already explained, and he regretted it. And that’s where the Book of Ecclesiastes comes from. And that’s why in the book of Ecclesiastes, you know, he’s he talks about under the sun all the time life from the humanistic viewpoint without God, because at the end of his life, he really wasn’t following God. And that’s why he says at the very end of the book of Ecclesiastes, around chapter 12, right in there, you know, the best thing that could happen to a person is that they honor their creator from their youth.  And he kind of lamented and regretted some of the bad choices that he made. So what’s happening in 1st Kings 11, right down to the enslavement that she’s talking about? That’s what we call descriptive. It’s describing what he did. It’s not prescribing something for us to do. It’s his very, very bad example late in his life when he was wise. And here he stopped being wise. So I hope that helps.

Pastor Jim: [00:40:25] Yeah. And if I can just add very quickly a comment there. He got so bad that he began to build high places for Chemosh and Molech. And if you go do a little study on those two gods and how they were worshiped, it would absolutely make you weep. So he really got off into sin bad. And part of the reason he did that was that happened to him was the fact that he didn’t do what the law of Moses said.  He was as king, he was supposed to write out a copy of the law. Every king was supposed to do that. And that wasn’t just something that to do, it was intentional so that they would have to write it, read it and write it and think about it and meditated on it so that they would protect their hearts from evil. And well, he didn’t do that.

Pastor Andy: [00:41:09] Yeah. And they were supposed to do that. These kings and the presence of the priests.

Pastor Jim: [00:41:13] Yes, exactly.

Pastor Andy: [00:41:14] If you don’t mind just Deuteronomy 17:14 through 17, it says when you enter the land, what’s the Lord God gives you? And you possess it and live in it and you will say, I will set a king over me like the other nations who are around me. You should surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses from among your own countrymen. You shall set His King over yourselves. You may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not of your own country. And then it goes on and it says he shall not multiply horses for himself. And then it goes on and it says, neither shall he multiply wives for himself. And then you go down to verse 18 of Deuteronomy 17, which is what you were just quoting, he’s supposed to take a copy of the law and write it out in the presence of the Levites priests, Levitical priests, plural. And it’s almost like Solomon woke up one day, read Deuteronomy 17 and said, I’m going to do the exact opposite. Yeah, because I’m so successful, I can get away with it. And that’s why his life ended the way it did.

Pastor Jim: [00:42:25] Yeah, there’s a moral there for all of us, isn’t there? All right, let’s go back to the phone, shall we? Thank you for calling the program and thank you for being patient. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:42:37] Hi. I had a question to how you would rationalize a couple of verses that seem to contradict the Trinitarian doctrine, one being Luke 18 thru 19, and a ruler asked him, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good, except God alone seems to be a clear denial of Jesus being God. I don’t know how you would rationalize that. It’s repeated again in Mark 10:18 and Matthew’s 9:16 to 17. We also see in Mark 13:32 that Jesus and God have different knowledge, but if Jesus is God, wouldn’t they have the same knowledge once risen back to heaven? And then we also see in Act 7:55 through 56 Jesus standing on the right side of God. But if Jesus is God in the flesh and died on the cross and returned to the glory of God. Why do we see them standing side by side in heaven? That’s two separate things.

Pastor Jim: [00:43:31] All right. Those are excellent questions. And let’s see if we can provide you a good Bible answer. Thanks for calling.

Pastor Andy: [00:43:37] Well, it’s getting into the mystery of the Trinity, the trinity of God. And, you know, basically what we believe is monotheism. There is one God that goes back to the Hebrew Shema, Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 through 7, where it says, Hear O Israel, the Lord, your God is one. I mean, that’s crystal clear. There’s one God. Now, as you move through the Bible, you’ll start to see statements like Genesis 1- Let us make man in our image. Genesis 3:22 – The man has become like one of us knowing good and evil. Genesis 11, I think it’s around verse 7, concerning the Tower of Babel – Let us go down and confound their language so that they cannot cooperate with each other. You have the calling section in Isaiah. I want to say Isaiah 6, verse 8, where it says, Who shall go for us. So what you’re starting to see develop is, yes, there’s one God, but there seems to be a plurality within the Godhead. And then you get into the New Testament and you discover that the Holy Spirit is God – Acts 5 around versus 3 and 4. And then you discover that the Son Jesus Christ is God – John 8 verses 58 and 59.  And there are many, many passages indicating that the Father, you know, is God. So what’s going on here? Well, this is the mystery of the Trinity, that there is one God, but that one God has expressed himself in three separate personages God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is unique in His Spiritness. The Son is unique in his Sonness. The Father is unique in his fatherness.

Pastor Andy: [00:45:38] And although they’re separate personages, they all share in the same essence of deity within the singular Godhead. Now, that’s a concept that you’ll spend the rest of your life as a Christian studying and drowning in. I don’t think a mere man could have come up with such a thing, but that’s what the Bible teaches. And so when you develop the doctrine of the Trinity, you can’t just look at a singular verse. There’s no singular verse that says hey, God is one, but he’s expressed himself in three eternally existent personages. You have to compare Scripture with Scripture and put all the data together, kind of like you put together pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. And when you do that, the church has been very confident over the course of the centuries that this doctrine of the Trinity, you know, is a true doctrine and is a real doctrine. And yeah, we can cherry pick individual verses and say, what about this one? And I was arguing with a Mormon friend of mine in high school, and he would say, you know, well, how can how can they be the same when, you know, God, the son is praying to God the father? Well, the answer to that is there separate personages within the singular Godhead. They have separate personalities. They have their own uniqueness, but they share in the same essence of deity. And that’s what’s meant by let us make man in our image as early as Genesis one, verse 26. So it’s kind of a tough subject to handle in a soundbite, but that’s the best answer I could give you.

Pastor Jim: [00:47:16] Yeah. And then I think we have to keep in mind too, that Jesus was the God man. So when he was walking on Earth, he was walking as a full, complete human being and also God. And he, according to Philippians, we know that he emptied himself of the privilege of using his deity and submitted himself entirely to God’s will. And therefore he would be limited in some degree to his knowledge and would have to pray, and because he was a human being also. So there’s no contradiction there, because we know now that he’s glorified in the full sense of the word, and he no longer has any limitations on him whatsoever because he’s the 3rd or the 2nd person to the Trinity.

Pastor Andy: [00:48:02] Yeah. And as the God-man and he became the God-man at the point of the virgin conception, where eternally existent to eternally exist and deity was added, humanity.

Pastor Jim: [00:48:14] Just added, not subtract.

Pastor Andy: [00:48:15] Not subtract. There was no subtraction, but there was an addition. And consequently, he it will say things about Jesus like in John 4 round verse 6 talks about him being tired.  And then Matthew 4 talks about him being hungry. And in Matthew 24:36 around, he didn’t even seem to know when he was returning because he said not the angels or not even the Son, but only the Father knows when, you know, I’m returning. So when he’s making those kind of statements, he’s not speaking out of his deity, He’s speaking out of his humanity. Now, there are other things Jesus does like in John 1, I think it is. He says, I saw Nathaniel under the fig tree.  There, He’s not speaking out of his humanity. He’s speaking out of his deity. So when you put all the data together, there really is not much of a contradiction. I mean, you know, anybody can cherry pick a verse or two.  But to assemble any doctrine correctly, as I said before, you got to take all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and assemble them. So hopefully that helps a little bit.

Pastor Jim: [00:49:20] All right. Well, let’s go back to the phones. Thanks for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods?

Caller: [00:49:26] Yes, I was wondering.  I’ve been wondering this for quite a while since God was perfect. I mean, he wasn’t not scared of anything. So how can you explain God fearfully and wonderfully made us? Could you just explain that?

Pastor Jim: [00:49:44] All right. Thank you so much for calling the program. What does it mean that God made that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God?

Pastor Andy: [00:49:52] Well, I don’t think fear all the time in the Bible is defined the way we define it, like a, like a phobia, you know, like I’m afraid of the dark or I’m afraid of having another nightmare. A lot of times, fear in the Bible basically means respect. And David, I think it’s Psalm 1:39, if I’m not mistaken. He says I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. And when he says that, he’s not saying I’m quaking, you know, over here, you know, in a state of fear, he’s using fear as respect. I can’t help but respecting God’s power and his creative abilities when I look at the intricacies of the human body and how the cardiovascular system works and the respiratory system works, and, you know, through the DNA, we all have our own sort of separate personality. And, you know, we’ve got eyesight and we’ve got the ability to hear touch, feel, we’ve got the five senses, we’ve got the ability to think, we’ve got physical qualities, we’ve got soulless qualities. And David was sort of overwhelmed and he said, I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. You know, I fear in the sense of respect, I look at the intricacy of my who I am, and I can’t help but respect the God who made me.

Pastor Jim: [00:51:13] Yeah, let me read that passage. Sure. It’s Psalm 139, verses 13 and 14. And this is David speaking. He is he is offering praise back to God for the fact that God made him. He says for you talking to God for you formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother’s womb. And that’s an amazing thing, isn’t it? He says, I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully wondrously, he says, and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well. So he’s glorifying God for having created him when he thinks in terms of the majesty and the magnificence of what it took to create him. All right. Well, we hope that was helpful to you. And back to the phones we go. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question for Dr. Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:52:02] Okay. Are you talking to me? Okay, great. I okay. I was just in response to one of your previous callers about the Trinity. I just wanted to briefly mention Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created I’m sorry, One, one and two. At the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.  Earth was formless and the darkness for the surface of the deep, in the spirit of God, of the water. So the two parts of the Trinity are right there in the first part, the first verse of the Bible and. I to mention that. But that is not really the reason I called. My question has to do with. I’m sorry.

Pastor Jim: [00:53:04] Your cut. You’re cutting out on us.

Caller: [00:53:06] Hold on. You know what? Let me turn off the streaming here.

Pastor Jim: [00:53:12] Okay. Try to make it quick. We’re just about out of time here.

Caller: [00:53:17] My question has to do with I John 2 verse 7 having to do with not giving you a new commandment and yet giving you inducement. It seems to be a proposition, and I don’t understand how someone could explain that.

Pastor Jim: [00:53:38] Okay, let’s see if we can’t find a good biblical answer for you. Thank you so much for calling the program.

Pastor Andy: [00:53:43] Okay. She said first, John 2:7. Yes. All right. That particular verse says, Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had, which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the Word which you have heard.

Pastor Jim: [00:54:03] And then on the verse eight.

Pastor Andy: [00:54:04] And on the verse say 8. It says, On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true. And in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. So John is, I think in context, he’s talking about love. And that’s not a new commandment. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I think you’ll find that in the book of Leviticus. I want to say it’s around Leviticus chapter 19 right in there. So that’s nothing new when John says love. That’s an old commandment, particularly for the Jewish mindset. And then when he turns around and he says, I’m giving you a new commandment. I think he’s referring to John 13, verse 34, where Jesus says, Here’s a new commandment I give you love one another. And I think it’s new in the sense that in John 13, he actually got down on his hands and knees and began to sacrificially wash the feet of the disciples. So it’s an old commandment, but it has a brand new application. And so the concept is the old commandment is love one another as you already love yourself. And the new commandment is walk in sacrifice according to that new commandment following what Jesus just roll modeled for the disciples to do in the upper room by washing their feet.

Pastor Jim: [00:55:33] Amen. Amen. Well, again, thank you for calling the program. And what a great question. And folks, guess what? We’ve come to the end of our hour. It has gone by so fast, I can’t believe it. But thank you to everyone that called in. And thank you for all of our listeners. We hope that you’ll stay tuned next time for the next broadcast. God bless you. Have a great week.

Announcer: [00:56:09] And once again, we’d like to thank you so much for joining us for the Question and Answers program. Tonight’s guests have been Dr. Andy Woods and Dr. Jim McGowan. They’re pastors at Sugar Land Bible Church. You can reach their website at SLBC.org. The church is located at 401 Matlage Way in Sugarland, Texas, that’s right off of Highway 90 and Highway 6. Thank you so much for joining us.