Which Jesus Do You Worship? Pt. 1

A lot of people talk about Jesus, pray to Jesus, and claim to follow Jesus—but are they talking about the Jesus revealed in Scripture? In Part 1 of this 3-part series, The Study Boys examine the many competing claims about Christ throughout history and ask the question Jesus Himself asked: “Who do men say that I am?” Join us as we begin separating the biblical Jesus from the countless counterfeits.

Transcript

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We're wondering if you could do us a quick solid and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior on the show. Um personal Lord and Savior, you know it's a quick prayer. Uh the study, the study, the study. Study boys, we back. It's good, it's good. We back, we back, we back. That's what's thank, thank you. We back, my boy. How you feeling, man? How you doing? Oh man, feeling good, man. Feeling good after Trinity Sunday, you know, where we worship God in truth, truth and unity. Bro, in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, bro, the one true living God. In the name of God. Beautiful, man. Nah, it really is. Come on. Come on. The singular name. And it's so important, too, man. It's so important really to care. Number one, because God has revealed himself. He did not have to. He did not have to reveal himself in his own prerogative. He could have made us and kept his distance. You know what I'm saying? But it was, he could have kept it moving. And we could not have known anything about him, nor accused him of being weird or mean, because that would have been his own decision. But in his just and right decision, had he made it, right? But in his kindness, he did reveal himself. He did want to expose his nature to us. And so it's a beautiful thing to slow down, to care. Yeah, man, and then to receive the truth that he reveals to us. And ultimately, in Christ Jesus, we get to know him, bro, as sons and daughters. Beautiful thing, bro. Beautiful thing. And get to know him for who he says he is. So like it's a a lot of things in the world, and this is going on historically, and we'll get into that later on. That we have to we can't pick and choose who Christ is or what Jesus is. Kind of like when uh Jesus directly said then he said to them, Well, who do you say that I am? Peter answered, the Christ of God. Like we have to accept that question and realize that God is who he says he is. It's a lot of times you'll see out here people picking and choosing which parts they want to believe or what they want to go with and things of that nature, which leads to a slippery slope with all these false dichotomies of oh, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, a Christian. Oh yeah, I don't um I don't believe this. And when I say this, I'm not talking about minor things. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, do you believe speaking in tongues is real or not? Things like that. People people won't believe clear things he said. Clear things like the point of the gospel, forgiveness of sins. Or they'll turn things he said and be like, oh, well, you know, God changes and makes rules based upon his people because he loves us so much and hide behind the aspect of love to define God by what their standard is rather than the standard God set forth. Knowing who God is and who Jesus is is of the utmost importance. Utmost importance. Utmost, and it's so real too, because our salvation is tied to Christ. No, definitely, definitely. Because I think for instance, my kids living in my house is tied to me being their father. There is no uh there is there is no if, ands, or buts about it. I might let a friend sleep on my couch for a month or two or things of that nature, but who I am to them is essential. It's essential. You can't play around with those distinctions of, uh, well, I choose this, not this. No, I'm your father. And in God's case, it's even more. I am the creator of all. I am the reason you breathe. I am the reason for the ground you walk on. Yeah. You can't define who I am and change what I state or what I proclaim about the truth of who I am and think that we're still in good standing when you make your own God and dress him up and say that's me. No, that's not. You can't you can't draw on the benefits of someone who's not your father. You can't cash out on anything if you're lying about that person being your father and they're not. You know what I'm saying? I wish some kid would be like, you know, hey, um, what's for dinner? Yo, bro, I don't know you. Why you at my doorstep? You know what I'm saying? Hey, hey, what you got on my college tuition? You feel me? Pay my tuition. Pay my tuition. Bam! Even if I know you, cuz, hey, nah, bro. Nah, we're not on that level. We're not on that level at all. You can't just come claim this. You do not have that. You are not my heir. You are not. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Absolutely. Nah, um, it's a it's a serious thing. We're joking and laughing, but the point we're talking about is serious in regards to that connection and the identity and that relationship that's built upon the religion, the faith that Christ gave us. Yeah. Yeah. It's a huge thing. And it's so huge thing, and it's so important. And like you mentioned, we'll get into it. But this has always been the um the heartbeat of the church. The church has always been centered around Christ. We've always had to defend the nature of Jesus throughout the ages. That's always been priority for us. So there's no period in church history that you can't visit uh and find Christians being nonchalant about who Jesus is. Find Christians settling for any old definition, accepting anyone that drops the name J-E-S-U-S or whatever the language, however they would spell it. You're not going to find that among those who are Orthodox Christians. And in this context, when we say Orthodox, we mean those who understand Christianity rightly. So we're in that through line of biblical Christianity, historic Christianity, where this matters, where we are defending the nature of our Lord because it's only one mediator between God and man. And that is the man Christ Jesus. There are no other mediators. So if by definition you have the wrong definition, you do not have the one mediator, Christ. Therefore, you do not benefit from the forgiveness of sins, the reconciliation with the God of the universe, the triune God of Christianity, the only God there is. So that's why this is important, just as another rabbit trail. I do think it's interesting, though, that out there in the culture among Christians, people are very lit about good morality. And rightfully so, right? They're very good that with making a big deal when they when they sense in the culture some type of straying away. Normally, when it's something dealing with morality. If it's a person who has made a mess of his family, everybody's gonna be talking about it. If it's a person who, um, you name it, whatever the fall is morally, it's gonna get a big reaction and people are gonna have something to say. But the same energy is not present when people begin to distort the image of God. And in this particular episode, the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, there isn't the same energy, there isn't the same interest, there isn't the same uproar among those who call themselves believers. And that is unfortunate that we now sort of think Christianity is just moralism, that it's it's a movement of moralism. But moralism raw, uncut, is not Christianity. That's a different worldview, paradigm, and way of doing humanity. And we have to uphold both good works and sound truth. And that's what's about to happen in this episode. So it's gonna be good to get in this first clip. I think this first clip, bro, really demonstrates the sort of nonchalant, flippant um way in which people think about this in just generic Christianity. It's gonna be interesting, bro. Yeah, let's get in. Avalon B asked Elon Musk if he wanted to accept Jesus on air. Watch this. We're wondering if you could do us a quick solid and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. On the show. Um personal Lord and Savior. It's a quick prayer. Uh I mean, let's just say, like, I agree with the principles that Jesus advocated. Um and that the you know, there's some some there's great wisdom in what in in the teaching teachings of of Jesus, uh, and I agree with those teachings. Um things like turn the other cheek are very important because as opposed to an eye for an eye. Um an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. So forgiveness, you know, is important, and um treating people as you would wish to be treated. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Very important. So it's like a 60-70% as Einstein would say. I believe in the goddess Spinoza. Um, so um. But hey, if um you know, if if if Jesus is is uh saving people, I mean I I I wouldn't stand in his way, you know. Like, that'll be true. I'll be fake, why not? Sweet. We did it? Yeah. I think you just said yes. We got it. We got him. I I really don't get what's so funny. Like, it's as if they ask this as um, I don't want to say a joke because I'm pretty sure they do hope they did wish that he did accept Jesus. I don't get what's so the laughing matter at of the of the topic at hand in that clip. And then the aspect of it's like 60, 70 percent. I think we got it. I think we got it. I think I think he's in. Like, Jesus states that he is the way. There is no, you you know, if you can't remember how to say my name in the Hebrew or spell it, you're in. But if you get one of the letters wrong or go the you're out, like this isn't just some or how, I mean, I can go on forever about this clip, but how he was like, I I believe in some of the principles he advocated. Basically, he agrees with the moralism side of it, right? Not about the identity of who Christ is. You know, oh, I believe in forgiving people. Do you believe in him dying for your sins and rising for your sins? This isn't some abstract thing, and this fallimpet attitude of Christians in regards to this as if that confession isn't of the utmost importance. It's it's something that we have to work through. And this isn't just going at uh whoever was doing, I think the Bible on B or someone was doing the article or doing the the interview. In general, we see this play out in so many ways. And the last thing I say, I know you got things to say also, how he mentioned he's the god he believes in the god of Spinoza. I had no idea what that meant, and that music they were playing was kind of trippy, also was throwing me off. But um for Spinoza, God is not a personal, anthroporphic being, but the single infinite substance that constitutes the universe itself. Kind of like the God of nature in a sense. But to say God is not personal, that's not Christianity. That's not the faith. Like you can look at the aspect of there's people who believe in the creator and they think it's a tree or a sun. Like they literally are outside praying to a big yellow thing in the sky. Our God is personal, our God literally came here to die for our sins, to take on a burden that we could not carry. We didn't even want to carry it. We sin gleefully, and while we were sinners, he came and died for us. It don't get more personal than that. I think in John, it's like, what is love? Love is to lay your life down for your brother. The the notion that I can just pick and choose the morality part of it and ignore who Christ is. And we'll delve into it, definitely delve into uh because that dynamic is kind of denying the divinity of Jesus. So we'll look into it and see why that part is so key. You know what I'm saying? But what were we gonna say about the clip? Yeah, nah, nah. Amen to everything you're saying, bro. It is heartbreaking because those gentlemen, and I don't know who they are at all, but just to see how shallow the concern was for the Jesus of Scripture, right? Acts 2, excuse me, Acts 4, 12 says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. I'm like, bro, gentlemen, do y'all believe this? That there is no salvation in no one else? All you did was celebrate some degree or percentage in which he agreed with some name Jesus, some person named Jesus. And then Elon went further, as you mentioned, to name his understanding of a deity, of a divine essence, if you will, a divine sort of whatever. He got very specific with his theology, and guess what? It didn't mean anything to them. They counted it as a win for Christianity. I think we got him. We got him. Bro. And and and and I haven't even looked at the comment section, but I guarantee you, bro, people were celebrating and making in Christ Jesus now. I guarantee you, this has become too common. Even in recently, when I posted some on social media about another false teacher out there who said that Jesus stopped being God. So many people came to his defense. Well, he's just taking um um some some artistic liberty to talk like this in his sermon. Or other people say you just don't know how he means it. Um other people put words in his mouth. I don't think he meant that. I think what he's we understand what he's trying to say. And I'm like, why is it so commonplace to not care about the revelation that God saw fit to give to humanity and to his church, more specifically, with the Christian Bible? And this is this is a scary thing to witness. And nevertheless, we are called to stand and to defend the truth. But they're just starting out the gates, bro. I think this is a good sort of illustration in reality, even not just an illustration, but a good sort of depiction of what's out there in many people that name the name Jesus. And I think that's another thing too, bro. So uh after the pandemic, right? It was a lot of obviously you couldn't go to the divine service or to the gathering. And uh so everybody's online and the just the weightiness of the moment, people starting to feel desperate and lost and confused, what's going on with the world. And then following those years, there became a lot of interest in church, in Christianity. And now there's so much data out there with Ginziers in droves or returning to church. Many are going to Rome, many are going Orthodox, many are looking for more traditional liturgy, which we have in our confession. Shout out to confessional Lutherans. And this has become a big celebration. And it's like the question now is what Jesus are people coming to? What ideas have excited them? What messages did they hear online, on YouTube, on social media that they responded to? And now it makes you want to clarify. Did you come to the Jesus of Scripture, the one who is fully man and fully God in one person? Did you come to the Jesus of Scripture who is the second person in the Trinity, um, who is not the Holy Spirit? He's not the Father, right? He's a distinct person, though the same essence as the Father and the Holy Spirit. Did you come to that Jesus or did you go to someone else who simply carries his letters in English? But Acts 4, 12, and there is salvation in no one else. That's the punchline. That's the punchline. That's why we care. That's why we're having this conversation. And this is just a survey, y'all. This is just part one. We're gonna go deeper, part two, part three, but we won't try to stick around because who do men say that I am? That's the that's the question that Jesus asks, and we have to answer that question according to his revelation. If we have a different answer, we don't have Jesus, and with thus, we don't have salvation, bro. Nah, 100%. That's why we have to look at this because as you mentioned earlier, people are taking the second table of the law and placing it above the first table. And by that, what I mean is is uh Jesus says, he kind of gives a synopsis of the Ten Commandments. Love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul. Second table, love your neighbor as you love yourself. If you look at the commandments, the first, depending on how you number them, the first two, I'm gonna go my way, you know, are about God. The rest are uh neighbor aspects. They're ignoring the first two that God said the first one is love God. You have to know who he is in order to be able to be in fellowship and to love him. And they're placing the other ones above it as if that aspect and identity of who the true God is is not important or relevant. And when it comes to Jesus the Christ, I mean you have to look at it. Look at it from his point of view, and it becomes blatantly obvious when you see. So Jesus was a young Hebrew boy growing up. In the Hebrew culture, we know that only God gets worship. God creates, only God can forgive sins. That's the dynamic of the people of the times, right? We see Christ, this is someone who grew up in this culture, accepting worship. If you're a follower of Jesus, you have to accept this and realize that what this points to. We have angels coming down telling people, whoa, don't worship me. All worship goes to God. But then we have the people who Buddhists, Muslims, um, the spiritual crowd who don't like rules except what they come up with. You have to deal with Jesus accepting worship. And what do I mean by accepting worship? We have in uh John 20, uh doubting Thomas, I hate calling him that, but Apostle Thomas. After Christ rose from the dead, put his hand up saying, Yo, put your finger in my scar. Thomas says, Thomas answers him, my Lord, my God. That's worship. That's worship. And there's other places in scripture too where you see Christ accepting worship. You see Christ forgiving sins. That's part of the reason they wanted to stone him. Only God can forgive sins. Jesus is doing this. You see Jesus stopping storms, walking on water, controlling creation. Only God does that. There's these points when you look at it, especially in the context of the times. Take your I'm so enlightened, postmodern stuff out of it and look at what's actually going on in this era. When these things happened or were being done, the people knew what it meant because they knew that, yo, only God forgives sins, bro. Who do you think you are? As Jesus said, is it harder for me to make this guy get up and walk or to forgive sins? That's a profound question. Because he can't, a regular person, I'll say, can't make somebody just get up and walk. And a regular person can't forgive sins. My man does both. Don't Jesus. You know what I mean? But the aspect of his deity is of the utmost importance because that's the basis of him being able to forgive mine and your sins. So we can't just breeze by this as if it's not important. And we got scripture where it's uh Exodus 20, 5. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Verse 3. Right, same, same chapter. You shall have no other gods before me. I mean, this aspect of worship is very important in identity and realizing who Christ is and who he displays that he is, in a sense. And last one, I'll I'll I'll I'll I'll leave for a second. You know what I'm saying? Um, if we go to Isaiah, Isaiah, I I don't want to quote it, just read it. He basically is prophesying about Christ's coming, dying for our sins. Isaiah 9. For to us a child is born. I mean that right there kind of shows us Jesus, but for us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called. Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. This is part of the identity of who Christ is. You cannot pick and choose Christ and leave this at the doorstep. You can't leave this on the patio and bring everything else into your house of faith and say, I'm still good with the faith, but leave this part of the characteristic of who God is, who Christ is at the door, and think that we're all one, it's all cool, it's all good. No, no, side note, I I have a cousin, right? Yeah, I don't know. His last name is McDaniel. Everybody calls him McDaniel's with an S. And I never got why he would be so furious. Like, bro, you're not talking to me. Yeah. You're like, bro, I mean, I've seen him go bad on kids, like teaching the class, like, bro, like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Stop calling me that. Yeah, it's not my name. It's not my name. And this is to a greater degree than that. Yeah. If you're gonna identify God, and if you're gonna say you're a follower of Jesus, you can't cherry pick which parts that the Lord is. Nope. Nope. You cannot. And it's interesting too because if you do not have the biblical Jesus, he doesn't know you as his son or his daughter. He may know you as his his creature, you're one of his created beings, but you're not in a saving relationship with him. You so uh I heard it's it's a funny analogy uh that I heard somewhere along the way. It's like if right now I went to DC and I went to the White House, and uh and and I tried to walk to the front gate and say, hey, let me in. I know, I know the president. Before I even get close to the front door, it's gonna be some dudes on a roof that's gonna spot me from afar. They see me charging and I'm yelling and pleading, but I know the president. I know the president. Bro, at that stage, it doesn't matter that I say I know the president. The only way I'm getting into that White House is if the president says he knows me. Right. That's how I will gain access into the White House is if the president says he knows me. And that's what we're saying. If you do not have the biblical Jesus, you're not going to get to heaven and be able to barge your way or bumbar your way in, claiming that you know him when you did not. You had an entirely different definition, understanding in your mind as to who is your God. And God is a jealous God. He's not playing. He's not okay with you getting his nature wrong. Like, like you just said in the analogy. We're even offended when people get our name wrong. Especially if we think they, especially if we think it's the amount of time that they should kind of know who we are. We've been hanging out for a little bit. Or you call you the wrong way. Or he gave you a whole book describing who he is and giving you chapter after chapter from 60 authors pointing to me, telling you who I am, and I'm telling you the whole book's about me, and you got these scriptures, and you're still? Still? Now you're disrespectful. Not as disrespectful. We gotta go outside. We gotta go outside. You know what I'm saying? That's a fact. That's a fact, bro. And and yeah, I and to your point, Jesus is not only fully man, but he's fully God. John 1 and 1, I love it. In the beginning was the word, and the word was uh with God, and the word was God, right? Amen. Colossians 2 and 9, for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, right? This this is how God has revealed himself. John 1, 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, right? Galatians 4, 4 through 5. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to do what? To redeem those who were under the law. So redemption is tied to the true Jesus. Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, is tied to the God man. If you do not know him, he does, if if he doesn't know you, you're not safe. And how do you know him? By faith. Right. You you humbly and passively receive his revelation. You don't resist it, you don't fight it, you don't redefine it, you don't take what you like from it and mix it with another thing. Right. It's by faith that we humbly receive the revelation and and beyond just the revelation, the person Christ Himself, who is that revelation, right? So this is good, man. We got more clips though, because it gets it gets more wild. Right before we get to the next clip, I think that I want to highlight one thing you said is the redemption, the forgiveness. That's part of who he is. That's the gospel. So I just want to focus on that part on this next clip we're about to see. Yeah, let's get it. I do not believe Christ died for our sin. Nah, I know. Cut that one out, post it. That destroys the whole message of why Jesus had to come to earth. I've already been labeled a heretic four times this week. People, that's old news. All right? I I actually believe in the first century they believe Jesus died for their sin. But I don't live in a sacrificial culture anymore. So I'm gonna be honest with you. When people are like, I'm just moved by the idea that Jesus died for our sin, I'm not. And I'll tell you why. Because I don't even understand the sacrificial system. I've never gotten up in the morning going, I need an animal. I live in that world. And this is what's so amazing to me. If you remove that construct from it, then this is what I always say to like conservative Christians. Great, wonderful Jesus divers in. That's great. Now, sadistic in many ways, and we'll get there because any kind of God that needs some. He was gonna say some sacrifices. Um that destroys the whole message of why Jesus had to come to earth, why Jesus even had to. Then what's the point of Jesus? Like, what's his idea? For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. It was uh 2 Corinthians 5 21. Yep. So he became sin. Yep, the guy just won't. Well, this is gonna be the fifth time this week he's called a heretic. I hear I might I might be I might be number six and seven. Heretic. Straight up. Add me to that. Add me to that, gang. Sheesh. Let's do a solid 10. But no. And people sit there, like someone should have through a tomato. Something like, you're just gonna. I mean, I'm not saying I love being rude. I'm not. But I have had to get up and walk out of a sermon. Like, I'm not gonna sit here and listen to you slander my God. I'm not like, and he's sitting here being accepted as a pastor. I don't know who old boy is, but the goal and the nerve to get up here and act like you're a follower. Like anyone can get up and say whatever they want to. I I I know that's true. But why even I mean I guess the reason is because the devil wants to lead people astray and works through various means to do that. But to get up there and pretend like like you are a Christian or you are a follower of Christ, and share this message as if you are a follower, like it's literally just a wolf in sheep clothing. I won't even say sheep clothing, it's just a wolf up there telling you, eh, I'm a wolf. Check it out, man. Yeah. Yeah. And this is this stuff that's again far too common, and people are far too lax on these types of things. Yep. They're very comfortable. Ain't that wow how comfortable they are? Uh, again, Paul's words. Swollen with conceit. These people are swollen with arrogance, bro. You have no fear of God. And and and Paul mentioned this that in this space of time that we call the last days, people will not be fearers of God. They will be lovers of self, lovers of pleasure, and the list goes on. And this man certainly fits that. Here's how he's a lover of self. This man made himself the orbiter of what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad. This sacrificial system that has been established by God, he determines that it's sadistic and he judges God. He places himself above God as a judge and says, This is sadistic, which is a very strong word. And it's like, respectfully, sir, I hope you repent. Because I would, I would not want to imagine you having to stand in front of God and say that word in his face, right? That is very arrogant. So again, this is this is this is to the destruction of his own soul and people that are listening. And this is why we have to care. The passage that the guys mentioned, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, says, For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This is why God chose to send his son Jesus, is so that we can be the righteousness of God, so that we can have the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1, 13 through 14. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So God establishes this sacrificial system in the old covenant so that we rightly understand the weight of our sin, what it deserves. The position that we're in is that we don't have any righteousness to offer. God provides the sacrificial system for us. Nevertheless, in the old covenant, they couldn't do it right. They didn't have enough righteousness in themselves, kept falling short, but God keeps his promise and eventually fulfills that entire system in Christ. What a beautiful way for us to get the picture, to get the reality of our creaturliness, our sinfulness, and God who delights to act on our behalf so we can be reconciled with him for all eternity. I mean, this is a good God, not a sadistic one. This is this is the problem, is that we need to slow down and call these people out, right? And then help the saints to recognize the true and living God versus the different definitions of or the different answers to the question, who do men say that I am? These are the various answers to that question out there in a culture that we have to hear, point out, say that they're wrong, and and then defend the true and and living God. That's in. Yeah, I know I'm definitely, definitely. And you got them scriptures lined up today, boy. Hey, hey, I tried to I try to come to I tried to come to play today. You'll say I see you took it over time. I have my bruh, bruh. I still got some I still got a grenade in my pocket, though. You know, turn up, turn up, turn up. The reply to him of him deciding he gets to choose what's good and holy for the standard for sin for Christ or for God in general. I mean, we have passages like in Job that I would love for, I hope it didn't come to this, but that God might look at him and literally say to him, Who is this? Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man. I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determined the measurements? Surely you know, or who stretched the line upon it? Or where? Or what were bases sunk? Or who laid this cornerstone? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Like, bro, where were you? You you think you can determine who God is or what he is and what parts of God's counsel you want to throw out because you don't understand. Where were you, bro? Where were you when when when he said that there'd be like, where were you? Yeah. Where were you when when God gathered dirt and breathed on it? And Adam got up, like, man, what? Whoa, whoa, what's what's happening? Yeah. Bam, you no one's gonna understand all of God's business because it's not our business. That's God's work. But just because you don't understand doesn't mean you get the right to toss it aside and redefine or come up with your own concoction. That's making yourself God. And people have to realize that, like, just because you don't understand something doesn't mean you get to throw away the things that God has firmly established as a key part of redemption. I don't believe Christ died for sins. Good luck, bro. That's the main punchline of the gospel. Yeah. Yeah. And you think by you denying it, change is the reality, right? Right. Go try jumping off a cliff because you don't believe in gravity. Just just go strap some wings on your back and really believe that there is no gravity. And watch the reality of the law of gravity defy your deepest wishes, your most deepest frustrations with such a law, with such a rule. It's ridiculous. So, yeah, we are not the judges over God. We are not um the determiners of right and wrong. That is the prerogative of God. Um, he is the one that uh informs us on what's right and what's wrong. Just like in the in the Genesis uh narrative of creation, God told Adam, Eve, y'all can have all of this, but don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He determined that there was a limitation to what he wanted human beings to taste and to explore. And when the serpent came around, the Bible says the most cunning creature of them all, doing what this dude is doing, calling stuff into question, posing other ways of seeing things, what'd he tell Eve? He says, Look, look at the fruit. Right? You see that it's pleasant to the eye, is it's good for wisdom, you know what I'm saying? And it'll taste good too. And you too can be like God, knowing good from evil. And that's what this man has. He's bitten into the fruit to be like God, to determine for himself what's good and what's evil. And and and and that has always led to trouble. And so it's heartbreaking. And um 2 23, uh, 1 John 2, 22 through 23, it says, who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? Yeah, who is the liar? This is the antichrist. He who denies the father and the son. No one who denies the son has the father. So if you're denying who Jesus is, guess what? You don't have any hope. You can't bypass Jesus to get to God the Father. John 8, 24. Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. That is crazy, bro. 1 John 5, 11 through 12, and this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son of God does not have life. So there is no security in this man's rhetoric. There's no hope. There's no eternal hope. In fact, even in this life, there's no real hope or punchline for this man, lest he humble himself, lest he repents. Yeah. And uh, so yeah, bro, we we can get into another clip, but but he who has an ear, let him hear. Yeah, I don't know. I'll say I have I had one thing, though, is it's not just him, because this plays out in a lot of other types of ways. So people deciding which parts they want to accept of Jesus, where they get to determine God's counsel. It's not just like this guy is a clear-blading example, and with the way society is today, I'll say, not to disrespect people, but it's like it's like a heretic has to say something so clear and so direct for people to actually say, Yeah, that's wrong. They they can f they can do numerous things, numerous things that are definitely against God's word, and that people will just bypass it, and like you mentioned earlier, they'll put they'll come with their own conclusion to give someone a pass. Oh, I'm giving him grace. He must have meant this, he must have meant this. Even in our tradition, I'll be honest, people use things like best construct, which I do agree with. I should look for the best construction somebody's saying and not look for the negative aspect of it. But by no means am I gonna lie to myself and make some excuse to let evil run rampant or let statements go uncontested that misrepresent God. Like we have to realize sometimes that a s what do you call a snake the the most you just mentioned it, one of the most slicks? One of the most cunning creatures. You're not gonna catch someone cunning if you're willing to overlook all the little missteps that they do along the way. If you're just like, oh no, oh, he just dropped those bullets. He must be clumsy today. No, why does he have bullets? Why is he dropping a full shit 20 pack of shells on the ground? Something's happening. Bam, get in the car, let's go. We're leaving. I'm not staying here. You know what I'm saying? Like, no. Maybe he may maybe he may he works for the gun club and he just took his work home with him. He just plans on taking him back to work tomorrow. No, bro, you have to be discerning and realize that everything is not cookies and cream out here. It's a lot of people who are willing to turn God's word and use it for whatever. And yes, there are misunderstandings in the faith where people have different interpretations. That's different between heterodox and heretic. Yeah. But when someone crosses that line to heretic, we we have to stand on that and say, yo, no, no, no, that's not God. We have to, bro. And I I I love that you like giving a pause for this moment because we had this very thing happen, bro. When we pointed out the fact That Mike Todd thought he was theologizing. And he says, he thinks he has this new revelation. He's like, and when God said, let there be light, that wasn't the sun talking about the S U N. Okay. Amen. God created light without the sun before the sun. Amen. That's fine. That's what the Bible reveals. Amen. We have zero problems with that. But then he goes on to say that that light that God, the Father, created, he says, that was Jesus. You should have seen the amount of people coming to his rescue to say, but he didn't say that God created Jesus. It's like, my friend, I don't know how you did not hear him say that. But for them, they want him to come out and outright say, Jesus is a created being. Jesus was created by the Father. Unless he says it that blatantly, they refuse to believe what he just said in the clearest roundabout way. That is the natural art of deception. This is where people have to move to this stage, to your point, where they realize that the serpent is cunning. You can't keep listening for this surface-level, um, sort of spelled-out way all the time. That's not how deception works. Deception has the skin of the truth, but it's stuffed with the lie. It's going to have enough truth. It's going to have enough sweetness, enough candy that that coats the poison so that you can even entertain the conversation to bite into the poison. If it's just a raw pack of poison, it says poison on the front. It just says poison. Nobody's going to drink that. But if it's poison, come on, bro. So it's like, dear brothers and sisters in the faith, dear, naive, innocent ear, brother and sisters in the faith. I get it. You want to believe that this sort of happy utopian Christendom is out there and that you can trust everybody that bears the name. I remember as a kid, I always want to see Superman, Batman, the He-Man, and all my favorite guys just come together and do one episode. I just thought that would have just been amazing. That's what people want to see in Christendom. Man, I want to see Mike Todd, Flame, Lex, and, you know what I'm saying, this other heretic down the street. I want to see all of them come together and do a concert, do a conference. That would be amazing, right? And it's like, I get it. That's the desire of a child to see that. But when you realize that in the adult world, there are predators out here. There are people who are given over to the devil via false doctrine. They've given themselves over to the doctrines of demons. Then in that way, you have to mature and move to these realities that are hard to accept. But God in his kindness reveals them to us, and we have to care. We have to care, bro. And I don't know if you got something to say, but I think this is a good time just to sort of talk about some of these early heresies that all name the name Jesus. They all name the name Jesus, but they all had different definitions surrounding this name. And the church, those bishops, those theologians, by the power of the Holy Spirit, based on the words of the prophets and the apostles, they heard the lies and they had to defend the truth. Like, for example, um there's this school of thought called uh dynamic minorcheonism. It's also known as uh adoptionism. So, yeah, this thing came about um probably, let's see, around 70 AD to like 300. So these are early false teachings. And adoptionism, basically, in short, this is the view that Jesus was merely a man whom God adopted or empowered. So he's just this regular dude, but God adopted him and empowered him. According to this teaching, Jesus was not eternally divine, but became special because of God's favor. The church rejected this because scripture teaches that Christ is the eternal Son of God who came uh into the world to save sinners. So the church didn't say, oh, that's just, you know, that's okay for him to think that these Christians to fall for that. It's like, no, another one, uh modalistic monarchianism. This is uh this dude named Sibelius, Sibelianism. This is the view that the Father, uh, Son, and Holy Spirit are not distinct persons, but merely different manifestations of one divine person. And this shows this ugly face in our day and time with the oneness Pentecostals. Those denominations called apostolic Pentecostal churches, mostly in my experience, you see them a lot in the hoods in the black community. Yeah. And they deny the Trinity. Going on, it says the problem is that scripture presents the Father sending the Son and the Son praying to the Father. If there is no distinction of persons, the gospel narrative itself collapses. This is problematic. We don't just sweep these false alterations under the rug to say, well, they name the name Jesus. They still talk about the forgiveness of sins, they still talk about Jesus being God. Right. No, you can't just talk about him being God. If by that you mean he became God, he was adopted to become a special kind of lesser God, whatever the thing is, no, we reject that. Lastly, Arianism. Um, Arius taught that Jesus was the highest created being, but not truly God. His famous slogan was, There was when Christ was not. The church responded that only God can save. If Christ is not fully God, then he cannot bear the sins of the world or conquer death for humanity. So much more could be said about all these heresies and false teachings, but at least what you'll understand, you should understand, is that the early church was vehemently Christ-centered. Yes. They were aggressively focused on Jesus. And they did not budge even with the slightest temperature move to the left or to the right, because they realized that that slight temperature move is consequential. Just like right now, the S-U-N sun. If it was just one degree to the left, we would freeze to death. If it was one degree to the right, we would be scorched. We would be, we would be burned to death. So it is in theology. But even the more consequential, just these slight little movements of, uh, well, he's become God later. Or as Buddy said on the other joint, Tim Ross, he stopped being God. It's like, nah, nah, we can't do that. We can't do that. We don't have that leeway to be able to do these things. So, like, like you said, mentioned before, how people were like, you know what he meant. You he meant this. He meant this. As a pastor, they don't have that leeway. You will be judged more strictly. You are to be clear and not muddle, because if you become a stumbling block, I'm not gonna finish the rest of that sentence. Look it up. Just know it's not good. Like, you don't want to be that person, and yes, there is forgiveness and grace in God. But the the the text actually states that you're judged to a higher degree because it's people's faith, it's people's life, it's people's eternity on the line, and you need to be clear and accurate when you're representing the creator, the God of the universe. Facts. That's simple. That's simple, bro. Look like that. We're gonna have more episodes of this, man. We can do it because we got a lot more. A lot more in the can, bro. A lot more in the arsenal. So, yeah, uh, as we always say, much more could be said. Um, thank y'all for tapping in. Stick around, hit up the comment section. Um, it's a lot, it's a lot out there. So be on guard. Um I I pray that you are tapped into healthy expressions of Christianity. You're always welcome in our space. So get in touch with us if you want to know more about healthy churches and great resources. Um, get your book of Concord. Start reading through. Um, bang. You got my my bro guy here on deck. Start reading through the formula of Concord concerning the person of Christ. Um, I mean, my goodness, where else? I mean, it's just all throughout it. I mean, they're just killing it in terms of the person of Christ. Formula really gets into it though. Um, and get into those ecumenical creeds, apostles' creed. You want to end in the scene? Hit them with the not seen, bro. That's a great way. We're gonna end on that note. Hit them with the not seen, gang. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things, seen and unseen, and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all the ages. God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, of being with the Father, through whom all things were made, for us human beings, and for our salvation. He came down from the heavens, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary, and became a human being. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried. On the third day, he rose again, according to the scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. There will be no end to his kingdom, and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life giver, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets, and in one holy Catholic, meaning universal, church, we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. Amen. Amen. Beautiful, man. It's always a sober thing just to hear that bug, bro. That's the confession. Man, praise God. Praise God, bro. So yeah, make sure y'all, again, like, subscribe, share. Uh, make sure y'all hit up that hype button. That hype button really helps us. It lets YouTube know that you're you're tapped in, you're enjoying what you're seeing. So hit that hype button. And uh, yeah, be back for the next episodes because we just getting started. So yeah, we took a little break. We took a little break. We had things cooking. We got some news for y'all. You know what I'm saying? Oh, we had things cooking. But we back. We back in the kitchen. Yep. Time to go. Let's get it. That part. All right, y'all. The study, boys. You the study, the study, the study.