Dr. House said, ‘Everybody lies.’ Maybe, but not the Apostle Paul.

Steve Brown:
Dr. House said, ‘Everybody lies.’ Maybe, but not the Apostle Paul. Let’s talk, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life here to let Christians know that God isn’t mad at them. Keep listening, and you’ll hear that because of what Jesus has done, you’re welcomed home into the family of God because of his radical grace, free from the penalties of sin, and never alone in your suffering.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you have your Bible, open it to the 20th chapter of the Book of Acts. We’re talking about what made Paul great. It wasn’t because he was sinless cause he wasn’t. And he said so clearly in so many places. It wasn’t because he didn’t do dumb things, he did do some dumb things and admitted to it. And kept on doing them. It wasn’t because he was big and strong, he probably wasn’t and suffered some significant health problems. So, what was it that made Paul great? We’re seeing The first thing that made him great was his passion, that he had something that he was willing to die for. And since secondly, we’ve seen he was great because of his abundant love and the tears that he shed. Now, let me show you something else that the apostle Paul had that made him great, when it cost him, and sometimes it cost him big, he was honest and he was truthful and he refused to lie. Look at Acts 20:26 through 27.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole council of God.

And then in 20:20.

How I did not shrink from declaring you anything that was profitable.

And so, you see in the apostle Paul, a man who decided that he was going to speak truth no matter what it cost. That’s what we need in our time. There was a day in our culture, and I’m talking to you Canadians too, you’re in the same boat with us. There was a time in our culture when Christians were looked up to and praised for Christian virtues. There was a time in our culture, and I even remember those times when pastors were quoted in the new newspapers in the positive way. That time is not here now, and there are a lot of people who simply don’t like us. It’s called a canceled culture, and we’ve done that too in the past, so we can’t throw rocks, but people are intimidating Christians into hiding. They’re intimidating Christians into causing them to keep their mouth shut. They’re intimidating Christians by making them think they’re in a small minority and nobody will like them if they speak for truth. Tell those people to go to heaven and commit to speaking truth in every place where you have the opportunity. I read recently where somebody said, the best thing that we can do for our culture is to join a church and to support it and be faithful to it. I like that If it’s the right kind of church because every time you enter the doors of the church, every time you hang out with Christians, every time people see you as religious, you’re taking a stand and it’s a stand for truth, and that’s what happened to Paul. You’ll notice at the end of this particular passage, he talks about the prophets who have said that he’s in trouble, that every place where he had gone, those who had the gift of prophecy said he was going to end up in prison and he might die. And Paul, Paul got on the boat anyway. He spoke truth anyway. He didn’t allow anyone to intimidate him because the truth had gotten a hold of him and he wasn’t going to change and he wasn’t going to spin it and he wasn’t going to change it. I don’t know about you, but that’s hard in our particular culture. It’s hard because families get divided, it’s hard because so many people don’t like our truth. They want to be God, and if there’s a God and he’s the God of truth, they’re not it. So, they’re looking for autonomy, they’re looking for being in the place of God himself. What do you do about that? You speak truth. You do it kindly and you do it with love. You say, I know that’s what you believe, can we still be friends if I tell you what I believe? There are disagreements that we have, and if you would prefer, we won’t talk about them, but if you’ll allow me, I’ll tell you where we disagree. Or sometimes you can say, that’s a lie, let me tell you what I believe is the truth. And those are the places where Christians are called in our time. Now, my friend Norm Evans, who played for the Miami Dolphins and then for the Seattle Seahawks, and my beloved friend of so many years said he had a, when he was in college, a lineman came to the coach and said to the coach, coach, the opposing lineman keeps pulling my helmet down over my eyes. What should I do? And the coach Norm said, said to the young man, son, don’t let him. Well, that’s what I would say to you, and that’s what the Scripture says to me. And we have to remind each other that we have a precious commodity and that commodity is truth and we have to speak it every time we get a chance with love and civility, but for God’s sake, speak it. You think about that. Amen.

It’s Wednesday and sometimes on Wednesdays, if I have a little bit of time, I take some time to answer one or two of your questions. Pete, of course, will be in on Friday and we’ll spend the whole broadcast answering questions. I love your questions. I really do. You can ask your question anytime you want by just calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE following the instructions, and sometimes we put your voice on the air. Or you can send your question to

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if you live in Canada, it’s

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or you can e-mail your question to [email protected] and we’ll take your question and you seriously. And I started to say, we’ll take it more seriously if you would include a contribution. But that would be manipulative and it wouldn’t even be true. But if you can help us financially, please do. We are a not-for-profit organization. We will squeeze every dime for the glory of God. And we have organizations, CCCC in Canada and ECFA in the States that oversee our books. So, if you can help us financially, please do. If you can’t, say a prayer for us, we understand. All right, let’s turn to one or two of these questions. Is repentance necessary to salvation? What is your definition of repentance into life? Well, I’ve taught on this a lot and I think that sometimes we get confused about what repentance means, and yes, I don’t think you can be saved unless you repent. And why is that? Because you can’t be saved if you don’t change. You’ve got to be kidding, there’s some areas in my life that are besetting that I haven’t changed. I’m a little bit better, but I’m not totally better. I am after all ordained. And if you believe that makes a big difference, you’re crazy. What we do is we don’t understand what repentance means. The Greek word for repentance, it’s metanoia and it means to change one’s mind, and so is repentance necessary for salvation. Absolutely because you’ve changed your mind, because you have run to Jesus, and he always accepts people who run to him, whereas before you were not running to Jesus, but you repented, you changed your mind and you ran to him, and that’s necessary for salvation. But it’s necessary for our growth too. What repentance means is knowing who you are, what you’ve done, who God is, and going to him and agreeing with him about that. At that point, the ball is in his court. Now, most of the time he begins to change us. Some of the time, he says, not yet. Some of the time we might even be worse than before we repented. Nothing will cause a smoker to smoke more than deciding to stop smoking. And that’s a human quality, but the repentance puts the ball into God’s court. It isn’t change, change is God’s business, change is what God does when we genuinely repent, change is when we go to God and say to him, you’re right, I’m wrong, I’m so sorry, please make me different. That’s the only responsibility you have. And if you try to make more of it or beat people over the head with it, you miss the point of repentance. Now, one other thing that’s really important before I finish, and that is repentance isn’t just a one-time act for each sin. Christians live a life of repentance and that kind of repentance is where our power is, walking, agreeing with, following him. Got to go. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.