Key Life Network

Steve Brown: What has Adam done to us? Let's talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew: This is Key Life, dedicated to the message that the only people who get any better are those who know that if they don't get any better, God will still love them anyway. That teaching raises a lot of questions. So here's author and seminary professor Steve Brown along with Pete Alwinson from Forge Truth with answers from the Bible that will make you free.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. Hi, Pete.

Pete Alwinson: Hey, man. How you doing?

Steve Brown: I'm doing really good.

Pete Alwinson: Good. Good. Good.

Steve Brown: I hope you feel good. You finished your book.

Pete Alwinson: I did. Yeah, I feel good. I mean, you know, but I was watch I stayed up too late last night. So I'm tired.

Steve Brown: Doing what? Praying and fasting?

Pete Alwinson: No. No, I went to my grandson's baseball game on a Tuesday night. And I have to get up early the next day. I was I was great down. Yeah.

Steve Brown: Oh, are you do, man? I tell you, I didn't I did an interview yesterday at at 7:00 in the morning.

Pete Alwinson: Yeah.

Steve Brown: And I don't I'm we're both early risers. That's the problem. It's having to do something

Pete Alwinson: Try Try

Steve Brown: religious at that time before you've had time to repent adequately. Uh that makes it difficult.

Pete Alwinson: But we're here and we're repented up. We're ready to go.

Steve Brown: We'll be talking about your book as that progress of its publication continues. Uh by the way, we love your questions and we spend every Friday uh answering those questions. Um you can at any time, 24/7, you can call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE, 1-800-539-5433 and ask your question. And sometimes we put you on the program. Or you can send your question to Key Life Network, Post Office Box 5000, Maitland, Florida 32794. And in Canada, it's Key Life Canada, Post Office Box 28060, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J8. Or you can email your question to steve@keylife.org. And if you can help us, include a gift.

If you can't, we understand. But if you do include a gift, I promise we'll be as faithful with that gift as you were in giving it. And we'll squeeze every dime for the glory of God. Pete, why don't you lead us in prayer and we'll turn to some of these questions.

Pete Alwinson: You got it. Let's pray together. Our Father, we do come to you at the end of this week and are how thankful we are that we belong to you. How thankful we are for your your grace, your glory, your majesty. God, you have revealed yourself to us in scripture, in creation, preeminently in Jesus, whom to see is to see you, our Father. And so we worship you. We praise you for your your works and for your nature, for what you have done. And ask that Lord Jesus, at the end of this week, you would enable us to turn to you.

We We've got issues. We've got problems. We've got many requests. And we come to you and ask that you would lead us and guide us in the way we should go. Counsel us with your eye upon us and use this weekend at church as we worship with your people and be with our pastors and teachers and priests and leaders and worship directors and all those who will sacrifice to bring us as the community, the new Israel, into your presence. We honor you. We praise you and we commit this time of Q&A now to you. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Steve Brown: Pete, this first question is an email. Why did Adam's fall impact our being created in the image of God? What changes, if anything, did it bring?

Pete Alwinson: It changed everything, didn't it?

Steve Brown: Yeah, it really did. I'm I've never forgiven Adam for that.

Pete Alwinson: I know. In fact, if the rapture happens right now and we all go home, let's let's find him.

Steve Brown: I and beat him up.

Pete Alwinson: And well, I mean, at least get I would say, what were you thinking?

Steve Brown: Yeah. Do you realize the damage that you caused?

Pete Alwinson: I mean, he does now. You know, RC Sproul used to say, everybody's all uptight about predestination. The big question is why did Adam sin? How could he have done it? That's a huge theological question.

Steve Brown: Well, I that's the supra infralapsarian controversy.

Pete Alwinson: Boy, it is. Yeah. Which we're not going

Steve Brown: Are you infra or supra?

Pete Alwinson: I'm I'm super super Yeah.

Steve Brown: Me Me too. I got to have God in charge of every part of it, or he's not in charge of any of it.

Pete Alwinson: That's right. That's right.

Steve Brown: All right, what happened?

Pete Alwinson: Yeah, well, I mean, you know, theologians talk about the fall.

Steve Brown: Mhm.

Pete Alwinson: So our human nature fell uh number one, and we were cursed, all of us. Uh we fell out of a relationship with God potentially forever if God doesn't do anything.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: Destined to be separated from hell, from him, in hell forever. That's and our nature fell. So eternity and temporality all affected.

Steve Brown: It And when you start looking at a human being, it affected our minds and our hearts and our thoughts.

Pete Alwinson: That's right.

Steve Brown: And so the only way And then we become dead.

Pete Alwinson: Yep.

Steve Brown: And dead people don't do a lot of good stuff.

Pete Alwinson: That's right.

Steve Brown: And so uh so the fall really impacted us deeply. But because Pete and I both believe that God was in charge of even that, there must have been a plan.

Pete Alwinson: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Brown: And it must have included Jesus.

Pete Alwinson: Oh, I love that. And the the protoevangelium talks about that, Genesis 3:15.

Steve Brown: Yeah.

Pete Alwinson: That the seed of the woman's going to crush the head of the serpent and how how What a great promise that is even there, even before Abrahamic covenant got started.

Steve Brown: Yeah. He I'm not doing I'm I'm doing this for a reason and it's a good reason. And it really is. So Yeah, it affected everything. That's a good question though. Let 's go to our phone lines.

Guest (Male): I was hearing Steve Brown say God is not mad at you. Okay, we know that that's kind of a blanket statement you can't really make about everybody according to scripture. Pete Brown, he shouldn't say that really. It's not true scripturally. We know that God is not mad at his children. God's not mad at his people, his children, those that are trying to do his will, uh repenting of their sins, confessing their sins daily, seeking to live by faith, which is the only thing that pleases God is faith, believing God. Must believe that he is. Hebrews 11:6 says and that he's a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

So without faith, it's impossible to please God.

Steve Brown: I agree. I God says that.

Pete Alwinson: Yeah.

Steve Brown: But you should listen to more than one statement that I've made. I used to say what you say, but that sounds so angry and so legalistic that nobody will listen to the gospel after you say it.

Pete Alwinson: Mhm.

Steve Brown: God is not angry at you unless you're not a believer and he's mad as sand at you and you're in serious trouble. You say that and see how that works as a witness. So I've learned to say that God isn't angry at his own. And if you're not his own, if you'll run to him because you know you're not doing so well on your own, you know your own sin, you know your darkness. If you'll run to him, he won't be angry at you either.

Pete Alwinson: Mhm.

Steve Brown: And that's because of the blood of Christ. I get the feeling that our questioner, when he was talking about what we uh what we do to please God and that he thinks if we don't do it, God's going to be angry at us too.

Pete Alwinson: Mhm. Yeah.

Steve Brown: And that's not true.

Pete Alwinson: That's right.

Steve Brown: The lack of anger on the part of God has nothing to do with the kinds of things our questioner ask about. Uh it has to do with two doctrines, justification and imputation.

Pete Alwinson: Mhm.

Steve Brown: And both mean that we always, without exception, all the times stand before a God perfect

Pete Alwinson: Mhm.

Steve Brown: because we have the righteousness of Christ that has been put in our account. So how can God be angry at his own son?

Pete Alwinson: Mhm.

Steve Brown: And that's who we are. And out of that And by the way, I I appreciate what you say and why you said it. Faith does please God. But the interesting thing is that he gives us the faith too.

Pete Alwinson: That's right.

Steve Brown: I mean, it isn't just it doesn't just happen. I 'm going to really work hard until I have enough faith. And the way you do that is read the Bible more and pray more. Doesn't work that way. God gives you the faith. And if we're talking theologically, the ordo salutis, even for our salvation.

Pete Alwinson: Yeah. Yeah. Uh that's so good. And And it's not like this man is overly He's our brother in Christ. It's Yeah, it's obvious. It's not like he he's overly uh unbiblical uh or or at all. What but it but it's subtly undermines the gospel of grace.

Steve Brown: Oh, it's obvious. You can't do that.

Pete Alwinson: You can And you can't do that. And that's why because you've your ministry has been this this focus and this this emphasis that um as we as Christians, we we need to hear that God is not an angry God to us. He's not an angry father like so many of our fathers are

Steve Brown: Never. Yeah, true. Earthly fathers.

Pete Alwinson: I know a guy who wrote a book about that.

Steve Brown: You know?

Pete Alwinson: It was titled Like Father, Like Son.

Steve Brown: That's right.

Pete Alwinson: And Pete was the author and it is a magnificent book. Go ahead. I 'm sorry.

Steve Brown: No, no, but your but I loved how you put that. And I hope he hears hears it in the spirit in the way you said it.

Pete Alwinson: Yeah.

Steve Brown: Is that what we what we do following up what you said is we do sometimes have to emphasize. Of course, God is a holy God.

Pete Alwinson: Oh, God.

Steve Brown: And what does that mean? That's why justification uh and and and faith in Christ have to be put together. All of that.

Pete Alwinson: Oh, they really do. And I And I I I do think we have to be really careful uh in present If you I say often, if you've never stood before God and been afraid, you're worshiping an idol.

Steve Brown: Mhm.

Pete Alwinson: That's not fear that comes because I'm going to go to hell. I'm not. Or that he won't love me. He'll always love me.

Steve Brown: That's right.

Pete Alwinson: Or because I don't have the righteousness of Christ. I do because he big, really big and sovereign. And his thoughts aren't my thoughts and his ways aren't my ways. And sometimes I don't like his ways.

Steve Brown: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I really appreciate what he said and the way he said it. But we need to emphasize that because of the cross, we have uh uh a more clear picture of God that he loves us so much he poured out his wrath on his son and not on us.

Pete Alwinson: Wow. Yeah. And man, I'm glad. So we go by invitation to the throne room of a holy God who created the entire universe. How about that, sports fans? Thanks for joining us. We got to go. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.