EPISODE 134: Q&A

Date: 11/1/2022

Questions

Do you believe loved ones in Heaven can see what’s going on down here on earth? And do they only see the good?

The closest description we have to this is in the book of Revelation where we read, “Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Each of them was given a long white robe and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been.” (Revelation 6:9-11 NET)
1. This doesn’t tell us that these saints see what’s happening on earth, but they have some awareness that they’re still waiting for things to be finished down here.
But — other than one parable of Jesus about a rich man and Lazarus, which isn’t meant to describe how things are, but teaches a lesson about salvation.
All that to say, we don’t know what people in Heaven know about things going on here on Earth.

Did people who trusted God, before Christ came to earth, have access to the Holy Spirit.

We see evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in people in the Old Testament, but not in the same way that we see in the New Testament. A few examples from the OT would be…
Numbers 27:18 NLT – The Lord replied, “Take Joshua son of Nun, who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him.
Judges 3:9-11 NLT – But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord raised up a rescuer to save them. His name was Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother, Kenaz. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge. He went to war against King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram, and the Lord gave Othniel victory over him. 11 So there was peace in the land for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
1 Samuel 10:10 NLT – When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, they saw a group of prophets coming toward them. Then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he, too, began to prophesy.
2 Samuel 23:1-2 NLT — These are the last words of David: “David, the son of Jesse, speaks — David, the man who was raised up so high, David, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. 2 “The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me; his words are upon my tongue.”
Ezekiel 36:26-27 NLT — And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
1. This is the promise seen as fulfilled in the New Covenant.
So we do find examples of Old Testament folks being empowered by, influenced by, led by the Holy Spirit. Usually the example in the OT is a leader of some sort — though the Ezekiel passage shows a future time when the Spirit will be upon all of God’s people — which is what we see in the NT.

Inscriptions from Egyptian sites prove that Joseph did what the Bible claims. What’s more, there are texts that mention his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Why don’t we spread this info?

When it comes to apologetics — defending the Christian faith — one kind of apologetics is evidentialism. Where evidence is presented to defend the truthfulness of our faith. Archaeological findings fall into this category.
The difficulty with all apologetics is that you can’t argue someone into believing in Jesus. Some will have their presuppositions challenged and their unbelief will be chipped away at. But no amount of evidence or arguing opens the eyes of a person’s heart or gives life to their dead spirit. God alone does this.
The questioner asks, “Why isn’t the info spread?” I’d suggest that the info has spread because you’re asking about it and we’re talking about it. But some folks get really excited about archaeological evidence, while others get excited about language stuff, and others could care less about either but still love Jesus just as much. So it may not seem to be getting the headlines that you’d like it to, but there’s no conspiracy or anything — in the Christian faith — to hide such evidence.
As a side note, some of my favorite series on Rightnow Media are the history stuff — which very much falls into the evidential apologetics category.

Sanctification vs salvation: Our group often discusses faith vs works. Is it possible to be saved and do nothing but believe? Isn’t that the core mercy and glory and awesomeness of salvation? (Obviously not ideal, but parable of the vineyard workers – Matthew 20:1-16)

Let’s address the parable first. All of the workers in the parable — even the last one’s hired — did some work. The parable doesn’t teach that there are some folks who did nothing and were paid at the end of the day — all of them worked. So I think we have to take it out of the conversation as the parable isn’t answering what the original question is asking about faith vs works.
Can we be saved and have no evidence or change? My answer is no. Well — it’s not my answer — it’s directly from the Bible. Salvation always comes with change. Faith is always accompanied by works.
1. James 2:14-26 NLT – What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well” — but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? 17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. 18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” 19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? 21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. 24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. 25 Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. 26 Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
2. Luke 3:7-9 NLT – When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 9 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”
  1. Only two kinds of trees.
    1. One without fruit (works) = not saved.
    2. One with fruit (works) = saved.
    3. What we want to believe is that there’s a tree without fruit (works) that still = saved. And that’s not biblical.
3. Martin Luther is attributed as saying, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.”
4. Part of the question is about the core mercy, glory, and awesomeness of salvation. So what is the core mercy and glory and awesomeness of salvation?
  1. It’s not that God saves us and then expects nothing of us (no change).
  2. The core of salvation is that God saves sinners. He rescues those imprisoned. He raises the spiritually dead to life. He seeks and saves the lost.
  3. These biblical ideas tell us that there’s a change that takes place in the person. For you can’t be loved by God in Christ and not be changed. Otherwise, you’re saying that your old, spiritually dead, rebellious against God life and behaviors and morals and views had no need of being changed. And that’s not true! That’s exactly why Christ came to earth, lived, and died. Not just to love us, but to change us because of his love.

How responsible are we/individuals at interpretation of the scripture? Historical interpretation of the bible (ie, justification for slavery, etc) is not a science and what happens when we are wrong (which we are bound to be wrong) even with the best intent?

James 3:1 NLT – Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.
You are just as responsible as I am (Josh) for your interpretation of Scripture. Especially if you’re passing on your interpretation of Scripture to others. And not just in a formal way, but even when we say, “Well that’s not what I think the Bible teaches…I think…” or use a similar phrase.
Let our faith history humble us so we strive to know Scripture so well that we don’t fall into temptation where we interpret Scripture unfaithfully — on purpose or not — to justify behaviors or beliefs that are in opposition to Scripture. I mention our faith history, because much of what we believe — that is false or opposed to Scripture — has been dealt with by previous generations of Christians. Knowing our history. Knowing the doctrines of our faith. Knowing the Westminster Confession of Faith, and so on…all help us to interpret the Bible faithfully as we stand on the shoulders of faithful brothers and sisters who’ve come before us.
Having said that, it’s important to know that biblical interpretation is both an art and a science. We believe in objective truth — God means something specific in his Word to us. The goal of interpretation is to get to that: What does God mean here in this text? Yes, whoever the human author is also matters, but ultimately the entirety of Scripture is God’s Word — he is the singular Author of it all — and we’re to seek his meaning of the text.
1. The science of interpretation would be rules like: 1) God won’t contradict himself in his Word. 2) His Word is truth and truthful. 3) His Word is perfect and without error. 4) His Word is clear (the issue isn’t with the Bible; any interpretation issue is due to our falleness and limited understanding). 5) God’s Word is sufficient. 6) God’s Word is authoritative.
2. The art comes in interpretative questions like: 1) The apostles often interpreted the OT through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. But they didn’t give us a commentary on every verse in the OT. So how far can we take their interpretative method of the OT?
  1. Can we only interpret Christ in the OT when it’s explicit in the NT?
  2. Or can we take the principles of the interpretation of the OT in the NT and apply it to verses that don’t have NT commentary?

What is the biggest threat to our church?

Biblical illiteracy
Individualism/anti-authority
Greed
Sexual immorality
Apathy
Fear
Political passion/zeal
Unholiness