Hour 2: Weekend Bible Study

If you have a question about something you read in the Bible or just want to learn more about the Scriptures, listen to Open Line. You can ask Dr. Michael Rydelnik your questions and join our weekend Bible study.

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Teaching to Change Lives by Howard Hendricks

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:09):
Hello, friends. It's time for the second hour of Open
Line with Doctor Michael. Right. Moody Radio's Bible Study Across America.
We're talking about your questions about the Bible, God and
the spiritual life. My name is Michael Melnick, and we're
live sitting around the radio kitchen table taking your questions.

(00:29):
So give me a call. The phone number, about half
our lines are open always at the beginning of an hour,
so now's a great time to get through. If you
have a question, the phone number [phone]. If you can't call,
just go to our website open Line radio.org. There's a
link there that says Ask Michael a question. You can

(00:50):
click on that. And uh, you can post your question there.
Trish will put it in the mailbag. Uh, if you
have a second cup of coffee, we're almost ready to
go I hope so. Hope you have your Bible still
open because we're going to go right to the scriptures.
We're going to talk to Leola in Florida, listening on
the Moody Radio app. Welcome to Open Line. Leola. How
can I help you today?

S2 (01:11):
Hi. Thank you so much. Um, I have a question
about Psalms 119. It's like a general question. Um, he's
asking God to teach him and help him learn. But
in some of the verses, uh, say Psalm one 1987,
he says, they almost destroyed me on earth. But as
for me, I did not forsake your precepts. And one

(01:34):
more I'll give you 1 or 2. I have not
turned aside from your ordinances, for you yourself have taught me.
Is he saying that he doesn't mess up? Is this
a promise?

S1 (01:45):
What do you think, Leola?

S2 (01:48):
I think he goes back and forth like he does
every time I read those verses. I feel guilty and
that I shouldn't read them because it's not me. I
mess up.

S1 (01:59):
Well, yeah, but what do you think? Doesn't he? Doesn't
the psalmist say he messes up, too?

S3 (02:05):
Yeah, but then he says he doesn't know.

S1 (02:08):
He doesn't say he doesn't mess up. He says, uh,
that I keep your commandments. I think what he's saying
is a general statement that he is doing his best
to obey, that he is, uh uh, I mean, if
I asked you, uh, do you seek to obey and
do you mostly obey God's commandments?

S2 (02:31):
Yes.

S1 (02:31):
And I'm not asking. Uh. You try. Right. Do you
ever mess up?

S3 (02:37):
Yes.

S1 (02:38):
Okay, there we go. Same as the psalmist, you know.

S3 (02:43):
Okay.

S1 (02:44):
Uh, it's it's his passion to obey God's word, but.

S3 (02:48):
Right.

S1 (02:49):
Uh, I'm sure he. You know, I read all these
verses in the book of Psalms about even in Psalm
119 about being forgiven.

S2 (03:01):
Uh, right.

S1 (03:02):
So, uh, I don't think it's the psalmist is saying
I'm perfect. Uh, but but, uh, you know, he's he's actually, uh,
he's thanking God. Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light to my path. Uh, right. I am resolved,

(03:23):
verse 12 112 I am resolved to obey your statutes
to the very end. I think this is the kind
of stuff that we want to say. Uh, it also
talks about how, uh, in Psalm, for example, Psalm 130,
the psalmist says, out of the depths I call to you, Lord,
hear my voice. Uh, right, right. And then it says, uh, Lord,

(03:47):
if you considered sins, Lord, who could stand? But there
is forgiveness with you. There is forgiveness so that you
may be revered. The psalmist recognizes, and the Book of
Psalms recognizes that we all mess up, including you, Leela,
including me and including the psalmist. But there is forgiveness

(04:08):
with God. So. And that's why we're resolved to keep
his statutes. Okay.

S4 (04:14):
Right. So thank you so much.

S1 (04:17):
Sure. Be like the psalmist, Leela. Be resolved to obey God. Okay.

S4 (04:22):
I will resolve to try. Okay.

S1 (04:25):
By the power of the Holy Spirit. Right? Okay. Thank you. Leela.
Thanks for your call. We're going to talk to Janie
in Hartsville, South Carolina, listening on. Welcome to Open Line. Janie,
how can I help you today?

S5 (04:41):
Hi, doctor. I thank you so much for taking my call.

S1 (04:45):
It's my pleasure. How can I help?

S5 (04:48):
Um, I was wondering what your stance is on eternal security.
I believe in eternal security, but I am under a
pastor right now who believes that you can choose to
walk away from your faith, um, and deliberate sin and
continually falling away. Um, I guess just by choosing to

(05:10):
walk away from your faith. And I don't believe that.
But I know that there's some verses like Hebrews six
four through six and Hebrews 1026 through 27 and a
few others. And I was just wondering what, based on
your study of the Bible, what your stance is on that?

S1 (05:27):
Well, uh, I believe in the security of the believer. Uh,
and it's not because of perseverance of the saints. I
really believe in the perseverance of the Savior. His his
grip is a lot better than my grip. Um.

S5 (05:41):
Amen.

S1 (05:43):
And in John six, one of my favorite passages about
this and and this is the words of Jesus in
John 637, and I'm not telling you to disagree with
your pastor, but.

S5 (06:00):
No, sir, I'm not. I'm just trying to get a
handle on it myself.

S1 (06:04):
Yeah, but I do disagree with your pastor. It says
everyone the father gives me will come to me. And
the one who comes to me, I will never cast out.
So what that's saying is, the Lord opens the hearts
of people, and the person who comes to Jesus will
be received by him. Right. And then it says, verse 38,

(06:28):
I have come down from heaven not to do my will,
but the will of him who sent me. So the
Lord Jesus says, I always do the father's will. And
now look what the father's will is in this case.
This is the will of him who sent me, that
I should lose none of those he has given me,
but should raise them up on the last day. This
verse is really clear. It's saying that if. If Jesus

(06:51):
always does the will of the father, the will of
the father is that he lose not one of us.
Think about that. Uh, and and I think that that
is crucial. If Jesus could lose you, or if he
could lose me, then frankly, he's not who he claimed

(07:12):
to be because he's not doing the will of the father.

S5 (07:15):
And so in verses like.

S1 (07:20):
Let's talk about Hebrews 1026, okay. Is that okay? Is
that what you're talking about? I lost you there, Jenny.
Are you there still? You mentioned Hebrews 1026 before. Uh,
I hope you're still listening, Jenny. It says, uh, if

(07:40):
we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth,
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. I believe
that that's referring to a sin of apostasy. An apostasy
is this as someone who doesn't know the Lord, who
gives lip service to believing in Jesus, maybe even think

(08:01):
they believe in Jesus, but they have not really come
to a full mind, heart and will faith maybe just
a head knowledge, maybe just an emotional experience, but not mind,
heart and will. And then when the going gets rough,
they say I don't need this and they bail. It's
not that they lost their salvation. They never had it

(08:21):
to start with. Uh, when the Lord Jesus sees these
people in Matthew seven, it says that they'll say, look
at all the great things we did in your name.
And he says, depart from me, you workers of iniquity,
in Matthew seven, I never knew you. And that's the
kind of apostasy that he's talking about here. People who

(08:42):
made a show of their faith but didn't have a
genuine faith, they abandoned it. And then, uh, That's what
Hebrews 1026 is talking about. I hope that helps you
a little bit. We're going to talk to Mary Jo
in Chicago listening on WNBA. Welcome to Open Line, Mary Jo.
How can I help you?

S6 (09:01):
Good morning doctor. God bless you.

S1 (09:03):
Thank you. You too.

S6 (09:04):
I have. Thank you. I have a question that, um.
I'm afraid it's probably going to sound silly or trivial,
but it's something that's, like, perplexed me for a while,
and I have never heard anyone talk about it. And
it's about the, you know, the creation story, right? And
on the second page of the Bible, when it talks
about how the serpent started a conversation with Eve, and

(09:28):
it's described in a way that's just like, this was
an ordinary thing, nothing outrageous, nothing miraculous about an animal talking.
And and no one has ever discussed that. And it
sounds so crazy to me. And it makes me wonder
if before the fall, if mankind and the animals could communicate.

(09:50):
And if part of the fall was to. Have you
ever thought about that to begin with?

S1 (09:55):
Oh, sure. Uh. There are those who want to say
that before the fall, it was like Doctor Dolittle. And,
you know, if you could talk to the animals. I
think that's not true. There's only two places in Scripture
where animals talk. The other place is in numbers 22. When, uh.

(10:19):
Balaam's donkey spoke, remember? And it says that God opened
the mouth of the donkey to speak. And and so
that was a supernatural event, I think, here in Genesis three.
It's a supernatural event as well. But it's not. Obviously,
it's not God opening the mouth of the serpent because, uh,

(10:43):
God wouldn't encourage Eve to rebel. Who would? It's the enemy.
In revelation 12 it says, the serpent of old, the devil, Satan.
It defines him that way. So, uh, this is a
passage where it never mentions Satan here in Genesis three,
but it's the enemy who opens the mouth of the

(11:06):
serpent supernaturally to speak to the woman. You say, well,
she's not surprised. Well, we don't know that the Bible
doesn't address it. Uh, when the Bible gives a narrative,
it doesn't give everything that happened. It's not a videotape
of the event so that we can say, oh, this
is a video recording, and now we can see exactly

(11:26):
what happened, what it is. It's giving us the data
that we need for us to understand it. And it
seems to me that it's saying, hey, look, the enemy,
because it's obviously the enemy, a supernatural enemy opened the
mouth of this serpent to speak, uh, and convinced Eve
maybe because it was supernatural and shocking to her, but

(11:48):
to disobey God. Nevertheless, this is not Narnia. It's not
Doctor Dolittle. What this is, is that there is a supernatural,
powerful enemy of God that opens the mouth of the serpent.
And that's that's what we should remember. The only two

(12:09):
places here. And numbers 22. Numbers 22. Obviously. God working here,
the enemy. Satan. Revelation 12 tells us that that it
was Satan who did it. Okay.

S6 (12:21):
Yes. All right. Well, thank you very much.

S1 (12:24):
Yeah. Thanks. Uh, learning to recognize the voice of the enemy.
Very important. Uh, apparently, Eve didn't get that. That's unfortunate. So. Well,
we're going to take a break here. And when we
come back, we're going to take more of your questions,
so stick around. This is open line. My name is

(12:46):
Michael Ray and we're studying the Bible, God and the
spiritual life as you call [phone]. We'll talk about your questions.
Stay with us. We'll be right back. Welcome back to

(13:14):
Open Line. My name is Michael Riedel. I'm so glad
to be with you today. You know, I love teaching
the Bible. And one of the reasons I went to
Dallas Seminary was I wanted to study with Howard Hendricks,
who is the chairman of the Department of Education there
at the seminary. And I took him for courses in
how to study the Bible and how to teach the Bible.

(13:35):
And he was just such a marvelous teacher. And it's
so important for us to know how to teach. Because
every one of us will teach the Bible sometime. We
should be, uh, maybe in a Sunday school class or
home group. Uh, maybe discipling someone one on one. Maybe
it's just teaching our own kids or teaching our family members.

(13:56):
But we're all teachers, and if we know Jesus, we
have to teach others. And that's where our current resource
comes in. It's called Teaching to Change Lives. It was
written by Master Teacher, my favorite, one of my favorite professors,
Howard Hendricks. Prof. Hendricks did a marvelous job, and in
this book he teaches us how to teach heart to

(14:17):
heart instead of just head to head. And it's your
this book is yours. If you give a gift of
any size to open line. It's our way of saying
thanks so much for giving. Thanks so much for being
part of the team. And, uh, we want to send
you this book as a thank you, and I think
you will love it. It's called Teaching to Change Lives. Uh,

(14:38):
if you'd like to receive a copy, just give by
calling [phone] or go to Open Line Radio. Remember, it's
yours for a gift of any size. And remember when
you give ask for Teaching to Change Lives by Howard Hendricks.
You're going to love this book. And we're talking to

(14:59):
Jeremiah in North Lauderdale, Florida, listening on. I bet it's
a lot hotter there now than it was in February.
What do you think, Jeremiah?

S7 (15:10):
Yeah, it's pretty, uh, pretty warm down here. So. Yeah,
we're getting out together. It's really. It's really hot. Yeah.

S1 (15:18):
How can I help you?

S7 (15:20):
Yeah. Thank you for taking my call. So I was
my question is. So I was just doing a quick
meditation on two verses, um, yesterday. First on John 118,
John chapter one, verse 18, the first sentence where it says,
no man hath seen, nor no man has seen God
at any time. But I was just reading, um, Exodus 24,
verse 10 to 11. In the beginning of the word says,

(15:41):
the beginning of the verse says, um. Then they saw
the God of Israel. So my question is, did, uh,
when the elders went up to, uh, I say, um,
when they saw a picture of God or. So my
question is, uh, yeah.

S1 (15:54):
So a PowerPoint reproduction.

S7 (15:57):
Yeah. So my question is, um, did they saw, um,
a direct, uh, sighting of God's full essence or was
it just a glimpse or appetizer of a manifestation of
God's glory?

S1 (16:08):
Mhm. Well, it seems to me that we need to
see the, the word saw in a special way in
Exodus 2411. God did not harm the Israelite nobles. They
saw him. Obviously this is surprising because he says no
one can see me and live. Uh, God did not
harm the Israelite nobles. They saw him and they ate

(16:31):
and they drank. The Hebrew word for saw is the
word huzzah. And it's used, for example, in numbers 24,
verse four, and numbers 2416. And there it means they
saw in a vision. That's what the verb means to

(16:51):
see in a vision. And so when it says they
saw the Lord, I think it's only saying that they
saw a vision of the Lord, just like Isaiah six,
where Isaiah sees the Lord. I saw the Lord. He
was high and lifted up. And you know, it says
that in Isaiah six, I don't think he saw the Lord.
He saw a vision of the Lord. Daniel chapter seven. Uh,

(17:15):
Daniel sees a vision of the Lord, the Ancient of Days.
But it's a vision. And same thing here in verse 24.
They saw a vision of the Lord. Okay.

S7 (17:26):
Yes. Thank you so much for clarifying that for me.

S1 (17:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the only God we will
ever see face to face is when we look in
the eyes of our Lord Jesus, God the Son. That's
how we will see God forever and ever. And, uh,
thanks for your call, Jeremiah. We're going to talk to
Iris in Augusta. Augusta, Georgia, listening on Wlp. Welcome to

(17:54):
Open Line. Iris. How can I help you?

S8 (17:56):
Uh, yes. Thank you. Um, my question is in Luke 17, 2021.
And when and I'm reading from the King James and
when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom
of God should come, he answered them and said, the
kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, lo, here,
or lo, there, or ah, for behold, the kingdom of

(18:19):
God is within you. Please explain to me what Jesus
meant by saying, the kingdom of God is within you.
Some Bible versions say in in your mix. But yeah,
someone said to me recently, I actually put online that

(18:39):
this that the kingdom of God would never be in
anybody at any time. It was a place where people
could go that had accepted Christ.

S1 (18:49):
Well, I'll try and explain it best I can. First
of all, the verse should. I think the best translation
is that the kingdom of God is among you. And
what is the kingdom of God? It's God's rulership. That's
what the words kingdom of God means. Now it has
various expressions, but it means the rulership of God. And

(19:14):
what Jesus is saying is in Luke 17, there are
many people that believed that there would be a coming
crashing in of the kingdom of God, that the kingdom
of God would crash in and the whole world would
be turned upside down. Now Jesus is saying is it's
not going to be quite like that. They wanted to

(19:36):
know that he was asked by the Pharisees, when will
the kingdom of God come? What is it going to
come crashing in? When will the Messiah defeat the enemies
of Israel? Establish, throw out the Romans and establish a
righteous kingdom on earth? And he said, look, the kingdom
of God is not coming with something observable. It's not

(19:56):
going to come crashing in, but rather, uh, don't say
look here or look there. You see, the kingdom of
God is among you. Wherever the King is, and Jesus
is the King of Israel. That's where the the rulership
of God is. And so he's saying, I'm right here.
And the kingdom of God is among you. The rulership

(20:19):
of God is available right now if you'll obey me.
And one day he will return and it will crash in.
You can read revelation 19. He returns and establishes his
kingdom in a in a very dramatic way. But for now,
we still are following the King. There's the spiritual aspect
of the kingdom of God. He's our king. We're following him.

(20:41):
The kingdom of God is among us even today. Does
that does that help? Iris.

S8 (20:47):
Isn't it?

S1 (20:48):
Not. Not. Well, I would say it's in our midst.
I wouldn't, I don't want to say. It's in our heart.
It's among us. Uh, because as we follow the king,
we are following, uh, his rulership. And it is among
us right now. Okay.

S8 (21:04):
But the Holy Spirit, doesn't it deal with our heart
that the seat of our emotions and our beliefs.

S1 (21:13):
Yeah, sure. But that because we believe in the King,
we believe he's returning and the Holy Spirit empowers us.
The kingdom of God is among us right now. The
rulership of God is among us. Okay.

S4 (21:28):
Okay.

S8 (21:29):
Thank you.

S1 (21:31):
Great. So glad you called. Thanks for the call, Iris. Uh,
we're going to talk to Anthony. Listening in Georgia. Welcome
to Open Line. Anthony. How can I help you?

S9 (21:45):
How you doing, sir?

S1 (21:47):
Great. How are you?

S9 (21:48):
I'm doing well. So I have a question about the
Ten Commandments. Um, I know I'm a new believer. Um,
I wish I would have learned a long time ago,
but the ten commandments. Um, when I always speak to
someone about it, um, it's pretty clear that I should

(22:09):
follow all of them, you know? But the ones that
I see the same people saying that that tell me,
like the preachers or the deacons or whatever, tell me. Yeah,
you should follow all of them. Not just some of them,
but they, uh, the the the one,. Uh. Uh. Keep

(22:31):
the Sabbath holy. You know, um, I guess God said, um,
the ones who didn't go out, they stayed inside the
whole day, and they didn't work. They didn't go out.
They didn't do anything. Okay, they can kind of explain
that one to me.

S1 (22:48):
Sure. Uh, why? I'm. You're the simple question is this.
What about the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments? Romans 15
says this. Uh, I'm not, uh, I'm sorry. Romans 14
verse five says one person considers one day to be

(23:11):
above another day. Someone else considers every day to be
the same. Each one must be fully convinced in his
own mind. And so the Sabbath day, uh, can be capped.
It cannot be capped. But here's the principle we do
need to take from the Ten Commandments, the principle, the
wisdom principle that we need one day for spiritual rest

(23:35):
and spiritual renewal and physical rest. I think it doesn't
matter what day according to Romans 14 five, but we
do need to keep taking a day of physical rest
and spiritual renewal. And that's how we keep the Sabbath.

S9 (23:51):
So it ain't necessary. The seventh day of the week.

S1 (23:57):
Pardon me?

S9 (23:58):
I said so it ain't. It ain't just the seventh
day of the week.

S1 (24:02):
No, we have to have a Sabbath, but not necessarily
the seventh day of the week. It's okay if you
want to do it on the seventh day of the week.
I'm okay with that. You want to do it on Friday?
So be it. Uh, you want to do it on Tuesday?
That's good. But, uh, and every pastor knows this. Most
pastors work on Sunday, and, uh, their preaching and meeting

(24:24):
with people and doing all sorts of stuff, and then
they take Monday or Friday off, so. Oh, oh, you know, but, uh,
we need a day for spiritual renewal and physical rest and,
and that's what we should do. And you want to
do it on Saturday? That's great. Uh. Another day. That's
fine too. Um.

S9 (24:46):
So I have one more question. If it's okay.

S1 (24:49):
Um, no, we're out of time. I'm sorry to tell
you that, uh, but, uh, I'm really grateful for your call.
I appreciate it. Uh, we're going to be taking a
break in just a bit. I did want to remind
you about our current resource I mentioned. It's called Teaching
to Change Lives by Howard Hendricks. The way you can
find that is to go to our website, openline radio.org.

(25:12):
Or you can call 886447122. And when you call, remember
when you give a gift of any size, we're going
to send you teaching to change lives for anyone that
has a anyone that gives a gift. We want to
say thanks, send you that. That wonderful tool teaching to
change lives. We're going to take a break here. When
we come back, we're going to have the Febc mailbag.

(25:35):
Trish is bringing it in. Uh, you can always reach
us for the mailbag by going to Open Line radio.org
and leaving a question at Ask Michael a question. We're
coming right back. So stay with us right here on
Open Line. I'll be right back. Welcome back to Open Line.

(26:08):
So glad to have you here with us as we're
talking about the scriptures together. Really appreciate that. It's time
for the Febc mailbag. Uh, the Far Eastern Broadcasting Company
is a terrific ministry that brings the gospel to people
through media and through personal engagement. It's a ministry that helps.
It's one of our partners here on the program. I

(26:30):
recommend it strongly, and you should find out a little
bit more about it by going to their website. And
you'll see their podcast is there. It's called Until All
Have Heard and I check it out. It features Ed Cannon.
You find out what they're doing all around the globe
with bringing people the gospel. And coming into the studio

(26:55):
right now is she's out of breath from running. I
could do.

S10 (27:02):
Laps around the studio. No, I don't, I.

S1 (27:05):
Producer of Open Line. Hey, you were doing laps from
the outer part of the studio to.

S10 (27:10):
The inner.

S1 (27:10):
Part of the studio.

S10 (27:11):
Right. Just going back and forth.

S1 (27:13):
That's it. Uh, so, uh, listen, Tricia, I, I think
that you are doing a great job as producer. I've
always said that, but I think you really improved today
by bringing an associate team member in.

S10 (27:27):
I did, I did she's a cutie. Yeah. I brought
my eight year old daughter into to work today because
she said, I want to see what you do. And
Saturdays are a great time to do that because.

S1 (27:38):
Well, and she asked a great question, how to study
the Bible.

S10 (27:41):
As an eight.

S1 (27:41):
Year old.

S10 (27:42):
Last hour I took notes.

S1 (27:45):
Oh, good. I think you recognized it.

S10 (27:47):
I did, I did, yeah. So. But in case someone
didn't hear it real quick, first, do you understand what
you're reading? Paraphrase it. Explain what happened in one sentence.
See what? What does God want me to learn? And
if you've heard us talk about the specs, those were
the questions that you asked. Um, and then talk to
your mom, which, you know, or talk to a believer

(28:09):
who's further along, who can say, actually, you're way off track, or, yeah,
you've got this, you're growing. Yeah.

S1 (28:14):
Well, when you're an eight year old, talk to your
mom or dad. Exactly, exactly I think. Yeah. So Anyway,
I appreciate her being part of the team today and
I appreciate you being always part of the team. Uh,
people have no idea. Even they think you just bring
in the questions. You know, this this whole before the
radio program began today, you were telling me all the

(28:35):
things I need to do.

S10 (28:37):
And the.

S1 (28:37):
Great reminder.

S10 (28:38):
Yes.

S1 (28:39):
Yeah, yeah. I just love that after about this teamwork.
And I appreciate everyone that listens. You're part of the team.
I appreciate everyone that gives occasionally like for a book
like we're offering right now as our thank you teaching
to change lives. And also I appreciate all the kitchen
table partners, people who give regularly to Open Line every
month so that we can be on weekly. It means

(29:01):
so much to me. I appreciate your participation in the program.
We also like sending you our Bible study moment every
other week. Trisha produces it, even I I've been doing
it a lot with Eva. Have you noticed that I have?
I love it, I.

S10 (29:14):
Love.

S1 (29:15):
It, I need someone to keep me on track. So
I have even there with me, and we have a
great time studying the word together and sending you that
digital Bible study every other week. If you become a
kitchen table partner, it's a special, special thing for those
of us who are kitchen table partners. Anyway, if you'd
like to become a kitchen table partner, the phone number
is 886447122. Or you can go to Openline radio org.

(29:40):
Really appreciate it when you do that. Thanks so much.
Okay Tricia, what questions have we got today.

S10 (29:46):
Okay. Our first question is from Deb in Florida, listens
to Wkez and she is asking about Matthew 27, verse 46,
which is at Jesus crucifixion. Crucifixion says about three in
the afternoon, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Ellie, Ellie,
lema sabachthani? That is, my God, my God, why have

(30:09):
you forsaken me? When Jesus said this on the cross,
did God turn away from him? Was it to make
people think back to Psalm 22? Was there a separation
of the Trinity because I thought the Trinity was always one.
Thank you for always answering questions from us.

S1 (30:28):
Psalm 22 is what Jesus is quoting there in the
very opening words, My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Now remember this that I think Bonhoeffer is right.
He calls the Book of Psalms the prayer book of
the Messiah. I think, and Jesus is expressing the words
of David there to express how he felt. It is

(30:50):
a rhetorical statement, and a rhetorical statement is a or
a rhetorical question is a question that we know the
answer to. And it's not an expression of doubt. It's
an expression of suffering. My God, my God, why have

(31:11):
you forsaken me? Why are you so far from my
deliverance or from my words of groaning. It doesn't mean
that Jesus doesn't know the answer to this question. He's
using it to express his anguish. That's how he feels.
It's a rhetorical question. Now, some people have said the
reason he feels this way is because the Father and Son,
when the Lord Jesus took all the sin of the

(31:32):
whole world on him, that the father and the son
broke fellowship for the first time in eternity. I don't
believe that. I don't think there ever was a time
where father and son had their fellowship broken. On the
basis of saying that the father and son broke. Fellowship
comes from a misunderstanding of a verse in the book

(31:55):
of Habakkuk. And in that book, uh, in chapter one,
it says, here I'm turning to it. Uh, it says
in chapter one, uh, that your eyes are too pure
to look upon evil and, uh. And so they say,

(32:19):
because God can't look at evil when the sin of
the world came upon the Lord Jesus, the father turned
his back on the son. Here's the verse. It says,
your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So verse 13, backup 113 they say, ah, look,
God couldn't look at Jesus because sin came on him

(32:42):
and therefore he turned away. There's even, you know, songs
that people sing that have the father turned away? Mhm. Uh,
that's a misunderstanding of Habakkuk 113. Your eyes are too
pure to approve of evil. You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. It
doesn't mean to look with a. It means to look

(33:04):
with approval. It doesn't mean that he can't see. If
he couldn't see sin. If God can't look at sin,
he couldn't look at you. Trish or me or Omar.
Especially Omar. Right. No.

S10 (33:14):
No. Especially any.

S1 (33:16):
Of us. No, no, I'm just teasing. But, uh, especially me.
You know, I really feel that way, but God sees
me all the time. What this is saying is, in
Habakkuk one, God can't approve of evil. What the Lord
Jesus is saying I feel anguish at the at the
pain of suffering of at the crucifixion. It doesn't mean

(33:39):
that the father turned away from him. The father and
Son never broke fellowship in all eternity and never will.
And so that's how I understand it. It's a rhetorical question,
expressing the anguish the Lord Jesus felt at the crucifixion and.

S10 (33:54):
And how much more, um, encouraging is that? Because if
if you follow that theology that God would break fellowship
with Jesus for taking the punishment of our sin, then
why wouldn't he break fellowship with me every time I sin.

S1 (34:11):
Yeah. That's right. Yeah, yeah.

S10 (34:13):
And so if that didn't happen, then it shows his
faithfulness to us, even when we sin, that we can
come back to him and he will hear our prayers
and see us.

S1 (34:23):
And here's the thing. When I sin, if I stray,
you know who's watching me? God, who can see me?
God himself. Yeah. And he's using that to pull me
back because he sees me. He brings all sorts of
circumstances in my life to remind me to confess, to
remind me to agree with him, to restore me to
fellowship in that sense. So. Okay. Yeah. He sees me

(34:44):
all the time. Uh, by the way, he sees you
and he sees Omar, and he sees every listener. You know,
he's watching us.

S10 (34:51):
Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you for that question, Deb.
I hope that cleared that up for you. Um, Angela
wrote us from Indiana, listens and said, I believe, absent
from the body present with the Lord for believers. She
wants to know do non-believers souls go to hell and

(35:12):
then later reunite with their bodies? Like, is there a.

S1 (35:15):
Someone asked about that? Uh, you know, people talk about
going to hell. I'm not sure that I think it's
based on the translation of the word Sheol in the
Old Testament was translated by the King James as hell
as the abode of the dead. And when people go

(35:37):
to the dead, when they go to be dead, for example,
in the story of Lazarus and the rich man, Lazarus
goes to Abraham's bosom. It's not a location. It means
he's in the presence of God. And Abraham is there
bringing him comfort for all the suffering that he had.
He's being held and comforted. Uh, then the rich man

(35:58):
can see this, but he is suffering and he is
awaiting judgment. He hasn't been judged yet, but he is
awaiting judgment. And he's in a place of of great suffering.
And he is still in his immaterial body. And not
until the great White Throne judgment described in revelation 20

(36:20):
will he and any other person who doesn't know the
Lord be resurrected face judgment? And then the Bible says,
this is one of the saddest truths of the Bible.
Those who have not trusted in Jesus will be cast
into the lake of fire, which is what I think
most of us mean by hell. And that is yet future. Uh,
but there's a the greatest suffering is being separated from God.

(36:43):
And that happened immediately to the rich man. And that's
what happens to any person who doesn't know the Lord
when they die. They are separate from God. Their immaterial
body goes there, but they will then be resurrected and
face the final judgment, the great White Throne judgment that
will happen before the new heavens and the new earth.

(37:03):
The new creation begins.

S10 (37:05):
Does the Bible say anything about? If they're resurrected, are
they reunited with the physical body?

S1 (37:11):
Yeah. They're going yeah, they're they're going to have a
resurrected immortal body that is cast into the lake of fire.

S10 (37:20):
Okay.

S1 (37:21):
Mhm.

S10 (37:22):
Okay.

S1 (37:22):
It's that's the eternal death. It is heartbreaking. Yeah. You know,
I never want to talk about that without talking about
the way to avoid it, which is trust in Jesus
and believe that he died. Taking the punishment that we
deserved was raised again, proving he's God just in him.
All you have to do is say, I trust Jesus,

(37:44):
that he died for me and rose again. If you're listening,
don't even think about the lake of fire. What you
need to think about is how to spend eternity with God. Uh,
beginning now and forever. To be his child. That's. That's
the great news. Yeah.

S10 (38:00):
And if that's something you want to know more about,
you can go to our website, openline Org, and there's
a link up in the top corner that says something
like Knowing Christ. You can click on that. It'll take
you to a page where this gets laid out a
little bit more, and you can request information, um, about
that and some resources that can help you grow if

(38:21):
you decide to trust Jesus. Um, you can find that
again at our website, openline Radio.com. And in the top
right corner click the button. It says Know Christ. Um,
so yeah, I'd encourage you to do that.

S1 (38:37):
Well, we're going to take a break here. Yeah. Tricia,
thanks so much for bringing these questions in. And mostly,
thank you for bringing Maisie in.

S10 (38:43):
Hi. You're welcome.

S1 (38:45):
I love seeing her. That's great. Uh, we're going to
come back with more of your questions in just a moment.
This is open line. I'm Michael Ray Melnick. That was
Tricia McMillan. We'll be right back. So stay with us.

(39:14):
Welcome back to Open Line. I'm Michael Redlick. You know,
so many times people say that they want to talk
to their Jewish friends about the good news of Jesus,
but they're not sure how. One of the best ways
is to talk about Isaiah 53. If you think I'm
not sure about what that passage means in Isaiah, that
great messianic prophecy, check out Chosen People Ministries. One of

(39:39):
our partners, their current offer, which is a copy of
a free book called Explaining Isaiah 53. All you have
to do is read this book and you'll understand the passage,
and it'll be a great passage for you to talk
about with your Jewish friends. Or you could just pass
the book on to your Jewish friend, explaining Isaiah 53.

(39:59):
If they're interested, they'll be able to read that and
understand that passage much better as it reveals the Lord Jesus,
the suffering servant of God. And if you'd like a
copy of explaining Isaiah 53, just go to our website openlibrary.org.
Scroll down till you see the link. It says a
free gift from Chosen People Ministries. Click on that. It'll

(40:20):
take you to a page where you can sign up
for your own copy of Explaining Isaiah 53. Now we're
going to talk to Meg in Davenport, Iowa, listening on
welcome to Open Line. Meg, how can I help you today?

S11 (40:35):
Thank you for being there. Um, when you told the
lady this morning about, um, the meaning of the word Lucifer,
it means morning star. Um, I was curious, because we
have a Christian school in our area named Morningstar Christian Academy. Um,
I'm sure you can explain how Isaiah 1412 and revelation 2216. Um,

(40:58):
makes sense because Jesus in revelation 22, says he is
the morning star.

S1 (41:03):
Mhm. Well, morning stars is Jesus is not a morning star.
Just so you know. Nor is Satan. They are not.
These are figures of speech. Uh, the morning star is
the first sign of of, uh, the day coming. It
brings light and and it's beautiful. And so it says of, uh,

(41:27):
Satan shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens.
So if you know Isaiah 1412 and following 12 through
15 and then also, uh, Ezekiel 28, where it talks about, uh,
that the that Satan was the anointed cherub in the

(41:49):
Garden of Eden and he was so glorious. It's saying
that it's just saying that he was a glorious figure
that fell to earth, that was cast out Stout because
of his rebellion and sin. But the true one, who
is glorious and beautiful in the the sense of bringing
light and and in that sense, the that figure of

(42:11):
speech is rightly applied to the Lord Jesus as well. Remember,
it's just a figure of speech. It's not a technical
name and not a technical term. It's a figure of
speech about the one that is this glorious figure. And
was Satan a glorious figure when he was the anointed cherub?
You bet. Uh, and in the same way he, just
as he fell the same term could be applied to

(42:33):
the Lord Jesus, who never fell, who was always perfect
and was glorious. Always. So is that does that help
you at all?

S11 (42:41):
Sure. That makes lots of sense. Just wanted to thank you.

S1 (42:45):
Great. Sure. Thanks for your call. Appreciate it. Meg. Uh,
we're going to talk to Don in Jupiter, Florida, listening on, uh,
welcome to Open Line. How can I help you today?

S12 (42:56):
Thank you. Doctor. My, question is Matthew 14, the parable
of the treasure and the pearl. Some are saying it's
an unsaved man looking for salvation. Others are saying it's
Israel and the church. Your thoughts?

S1 (43:11):
Well, uh, let's read those verses to people so they
know what we're talking about. Uh, beginning with 14, uh,
verses 44 through 46. Matthew, is that what you said?
Matthew 1444 through 46? Uh, I don't think you're right.
I think it's 1344 through 46.

S12 (43:33):
13 should be right. Correct.

S1 (43:34):
Yeah. Yes. Uh, here's what it says. Uh, the kingdom
of heaven is like treasure buried in a field that
a man found and reburied. Then in his joy, he
goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search
of fine pearls. When he found one priceless pearl, he

(43:55):
went and sold everything he had and bought it. The
Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of God. God's rulership,
God's relationship with us in our life. It's not talking
about the church here. Uh, it's not talking about the
hidden church all of a sudden being revealed. What it's
saying is that when a man finds the value of

(44:16):
following the Lord of coming under his rulership, of following
the king, uh, coming to know him, that it's worth everything.
He goes and sells everything, and he has and buys
that field. He goes and sells everything and buys that pearl.
It is so precious, so valuable that it's worth everything.

(44:41):
We have to come to know the Lord. That's what
that's talking about.

S12 (44:45):
Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

S1 (44:47):
Yep. By the way, it is. You know, uh, so
often people say, is it really worth it? I've been
following the Lord Now see, how many years would that be? Uh,
53 years. Uh, and, uh, so there were some costs,

(45:07):
but it was worth it because of the great value
of knowing the Lord forever and ever. And so, yeah,
I want to encourage you. If you've not made that decision,
it is more than worth it. It is the most
glorious thing that God could do for us, uh, to
give us an eternal relationship with the Lord Jesus. So, uh,
trust him. Let's talk to Kelly. Listening on RMB in Florida.

(45:31):
Welcome to Open Line, Kelly. What can I do for you?

S13 (45:34):
Hi. Hi. Um, I'm wondering about the definition, and I'm
reading it as as we're talking. Um, spare the rod,
spoil the child. And I'm just. I'm concerned about someone's spanking.

(45:58):
And I mean, I don't.

S1 (46:00):
Listen, Kelly. We're out of time. But here's the answer.
I think it's just saying we need to discipline our children.
Kids need two things love and limits. Uh, and however
we do it, that's the best way to do it. Uh,
Love and limits doesn't have to be spanking. So, anyway,
thanks for your call, Kelly. Uh, thanks for listening, everyone.

(46:21):
That's the program for the week. We'll be back again
next week. Uh, thanks to the Open line team. Tricia. Omar. Brianna.
Keep in touch with us during the week by checking
out our web page. Open Line radio.org has all the
links you're looking for, whether it's how to become a
kitchen table partner, get our resource, or the chosen people offer.
Keep reading the Bible. We'll talk about it next week.

(46:42):
Open line with Doctor Michael Ray Melnick is a production
of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute. See
you next.

S14 (46:50):
Week.