“Will I answer for every careless word?”

Hi, I'm Dr. Andrew Farley, host of The Grace Message. Got a Bible question, struggling with a personal issue, wondering about a tricky verse? At BibleQuestions.com, you'll get clear, grace-based answers in 10 seconds or less. No fluff, no confusion, just practical, biblical truth. Ask anything, anytime, and experience the power of God's love. Visit BibleQuestions.com. That's BibleQuestions.com, your go-to for biblical clarity. Jesus plus nothing, 100% natural, no additives. Andrew Farley is celebrating your freedom in Christ. Call in and ask your questions at 877-655-6755. That's toll-free at 877-655-6755. By a satellite from Texas, it's The Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley. Hello, everyone. Welcome to The Grace Message. I'm Andrew Farley. So glad you're joining us tonight. That number to call, 877-655-6755. We got open lines, room for you right now to get in with your question tonight. Maybe you've got a question about a scripture passage or something you heard in church or maybe chatting with a friend in a coffee shop. Whatever it is, whatever's on your mind tonight, join the conversation right now. We got open lines, room for you, 877-655-6755. Three open lines right now, so tonight's your night. You'll be sure to get in. Maybe it's something going on in your life, in your marriage, with your kids, in your church, and you're looking for that grace perspective. Well, that's exactly why we're here for you every single weeknight at this time. Go for it. Make the call right now, 877-655-6755. Well, we're going to go to Georgia real soon.

In about 60 seconds, we'll head out to Georgia for our first call of the evening. But first, I do want to remind you of what we're doing this month. For each and every donor, we're giving away copies of our book, Gospel Zero. It's all about reclaiming the radical message of God's grace. Here's a bit about it. What if the apostles were alive today? And what if they wrote letters to the church of today? What would they say about us, our beliefs, the way we relate to God, the way we do church? Well, that's exactly the question I'm asking in the book, Gospel Zero. And this month, we're giving away copies of Gospel Zero to each and every donor as our way of saying thank you for your support. This book is a lot of fun. It's going to be encouraging, but also clarifying. It's witty and powerful. I wrote it together with my great friend, John Lynch. We had a blast. You're going to love it. So make sure to request your copy of Gospel Zero. It's all about reclaiming the radical message of God's grace in today's world of churchianity. What would the apostles say to us today if they were writing us now? Find out in Gospel Zero. And thank you so much for your support. Yes, thank you for your support. We can't do it without you. We absolutely love doing it with you. And we're reaching people all over the world. I just got news that, you know, we don't always know what's happening in people's lives. We get testimonies. We get emails. We get, you know, some sort of feedback in terms of response.

Just looking back this past month, we've already, we've seen 12 people that came to Christ through the grace message. And you know, we're talking about the gospel night in, night out. We're helping believers grow in Christ. We're helping believers see the message of God's grace in a deeper way. But also people are coming to Christ. They're getting saved through the grace message. And that is because when you focus on the message, the singular message of the cross and the resurrection, and you're always coming back to that, it's going to appeal to those who are in Christ and also those who are seeking, and they want the real thing. They want salvation. So we're jazzed about that, that we get to be a part of that. And you get to be a part of it too. And we're so, so grateful for you. Thanks for your support. When you give your gift this month, don't forget to request your copy of Gospel Zero. All right, we're going to Georgia. We'll talk with Juanita. Hi, Juanita, what you got for us tonight? Hi, Andrew, this is Colin. I wanted to find out what your definition of fight the good fight of faith. and what does that look like, to fight the good fight of faith. All right, yeah, to fight the good fight of faith. Well, that comes from 1 Timothy, and it's chapter 6. It says, fight the good fight of faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. So, fighting and taking hold, it's basically, you know, the context of it here is stand your ground. I mean, you got 1 Timothy 6, it's about false teaching. I mean, look at this chapter. It's really about people that are coming in with some sort of unhealthy greed and unhealthy religious thinking, and then Paul is telling the young pastor Timothy, keep your focus, Tim. Keep your focus. Fight the good fight. Stand your ground against the lies and the distortion out there that threatens faith,

and so, you know, it's not a fight to earn God's acceptance or anything. It is a fight to defend the truth, and so that's what he means. And even when he says, take hold, he's saying, live like it's real, because it is real. And so, you know, the good confession here, obviously, Timothy and loads of other believers 2,000 years ago have publicly proclaimed what they believe, and Paul is just saying, live like it's true. Live like it's true, because it is true. So that's what it means in our lives today. It could mean standing up for the truth of the gospel. You know, we do that here at The Grace Message. You do it in your own life. Standing up for the truth. Clarifying when clarity is needed. Teaching sound doctrine. You know, continually just helping, you know, iron sharpens iron. So when two people are gathered and you're having a great conversation about the Lord, having that beautiful opportunity to insert something encouraging, clarifying, loving, helpful, all of that is fighting the good fight and standing your ground. And then in your personal life, you can count yourself dead to those lies. Stand your ground to the armor of God. Count yourself dead to the lies of the enemy when he tries to whisper lies to you in your life. So I hope that helps. There's an answer for us as individuals in terms of counting ourselves dead to sin. There's an answer for us corporately as the Church as we teach sound doctrine. There's an answer, you know, even in terms of responding to bad teaching and making sure that people have an opportunity to clarify things and hear the truth. So I think that's the context, Juanita. I hope that helps, my friend. Good question tonight, and reach out to us there near Atlanta any time. We want to hear from you. All right, we're going to Ohio next. Before we go there, though, I do want to remind you we got open lines, so you can be next. Right after Mark in Ohio, you could be next with your question 877-655-6755. All right, we're going to Mark. Hey, Mark, what you got for us there? Hey, Andrew, I got a question. I'm kind of confused about something. You see, I was kind of visiting my old church, visiting a friend. There was this pastor. I know what you said about when we repent, God will remember our sins no more, and that we won't face the wrath judgment, if you know what I mean. Yeah. And there was this thing this pastor said, also like, well, I believe he was applying this to Christians, like, God will remember every careless word that you would say. And I feel like it kind of contradicts that other saying. Yeah, and I guess I'm kind of confused. Yeah, it does. Well, you're confused because the guy that you're listening to there apparently has not thought about what he's saying,

and I hate to say that, but I mean, you cannot stand up in front of a church one week and tell everybody, hey, church, hey, saints, great news. God remembers your sins no more. And then seven days later, stand up on a Sunday and say, church, bad news. God's going to remember every idle word you ever said, and you're going to be accountable for it. Well, pastor, I thought you said seven days ago that God remembers my sins no more. If my idle words are sins, doesn't he remember them no more? Why is he going to remember what he's forgotten? Why is he going to remember what he's forgiven? Why is he going to remember what he's taken away? And this is just classic. It's classic double-talk. Classic double-talk in terms of, you know, just, oh my goodness, saying one thing and then saying the other. And not even recognizing sometimes that they contradict each other. So Jesus in Matthew 12 says, every careless word they'll give an account in the day of judgment. Well guess what? You're not going to be worried at the day of judgment. Why? Because he remembers your sins no more and he who believes in me is not judged. And so what would you be judged for if you're not judged? It makes no sense. So we need the grace clarification there. I mean, we have to bring the cross front and center. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I mean, what Jesus is doing there is he's exposing people's hearts. 2,000 years ago they're sitting there listening and going, oh my goodness, every careless word I've ever said about everybody, I'm accountable for that. Yeah, yeah you are. If you're not in Christ, yes, yes you are. You're accountable for that if you're not forgiven and not cleansed of all unrighteousness. But guess what? You are. If you're in Christ, you're cleansed of all unrighteousness. If you're in Christ, by one sacrifice you've been made perfect forever. So we cannot afford to preach a gospel that makes no sense. We can't tell people they're forgiven and seven days later tell them their sins are going to come up. We can't tell people their sins are removed and then tell people their sins are retained. We can't tell people they're forgiven and then seven days later tell them they're unforgiven. We can't tell people they're freed from condemnation and seven days later tell them that they're under judgment and will appear at the judgment to be judged for their sins. No. What did Jesus do with your sins? He took them

away. He remembers them no more. This is not rocket science and unfortunately we have people with master's degrees, PhDs and more who are standing up in front of crowds and giving contradictory messages and for some odd reason they don't even realize it. I mean they do not realize what the crowd is walking away with and my heart breaks for those situations. I mean that's half the reason I'm doing today because for two decades I sat in church and watched a mixed message. A mixed message of condemnation that is nothing more than you know 80% grace 20% poison and good luck have a great day. You cannot tell people that they're dirty rotten sinners and that they're holy righteous saints. You can't tell people that they're unforgiven and dirty and distant from God and then tell them that they're united with Christ. You cannot tell people that you know they're they're free from the law and not under the law and dead to the law but now they just need to fulfill the law. I mean you know there's so much double-talk in the religious world it's unreal and again you got people with great great heads on their shoulders. They've got some gray matter in there but they got to start thinking spiritual thoughts from the Holy Spirit. They've been repeating what they put in a notebook from the local school they went to and the local school told them well there's two kinds of righteousness heavenly bookkeeping and earthly book there's two kinds of forgiveness you know judicial and parental there's two kinds of being free from the law well let's see there's the moral law and then the other no no no no no stop it stop repeating what's in your notebook and ask the Holy Spirit are my sins gone or are my sins gone ask the Holy Spirit am I under law or under grace and should I just be trusting Jesus for the new wardrobe freedom I have should I just be trusting Jesus to not have to make animal sacrifices in my backyard or should I be trusting Jesus for my lying cheating and stealing problem oh even trust him for that yeah that makes sense because you're free from the whole law and you're married to Christ you're bound to Jesus and he's not going to lead you to sin so there's just so much double talk I mean that quite candidly that's why we exist and every night we're seeking to parse apart these

things when you start recognizing the truth and it sets you free then these errors they look laughable they look ridiculous to tell a crowd of people you're forgiven and then tell them they're not forgiven it's like saying you know the sky's blue and the end the skies is red well it can't be both at the same time you know and so we're telling people they're forgiven but they're not cleansed we're telling them they're forgiven in in heaven but not on earth telling people they're forgiven judicially but not experientially, we're telling people they're forgiven but then they're going to be judged for the very sins that they're forgiven for. What in the world are we doing? We wear crosses around our necks and we have two messages regarding the cross. Number one, it worked. Number two, it didn't work. And that makes no sense. And it is high time we put a stop to this. We have to proclaim the finished work of Christ with clarity and boldness, otherwise people walk away with gray confusion and they can't even tell you what two plus two is spiritually because they're told that two plus two is five. And so it doesn't add up and neither does that double talk. So keeping Jesus front and center and showcasing that it is finished, I would conclude, Mark, like a sensible human being, I would conclude that if Jesus is telling people they're going to answer for every idle word and then he looks around at a crowd of people who is unregenerate, not born again, living before the cross, dead as a doornail, and then you read in the New Testament further that Christians will not be judged, have no condemnation, and God remembers their sins no more, then I'm just going to put two and two together and say my idle words are forgiven. My careless words are taken away. God doesn't remember my careless words any longer.

They have been forgiven. It's finished. And that just means the cross worked and the cross worked. And there's no double talk to it. So I hope that helps, Mark. Reach out to us again anytime. Well, we are going to go to Kentucky next. Before we do that, I want to remind you of this book, Gospel Zero. I got my friend and co-author John Lynch, who talks about it a bit. Here's what John has to say. I cannot believe it is happening. March 18th, the book, Gospel Zero, it's coming out. I can't even believe this happened in my life. Andrew Farley, who's a hero of mine and a dear, dear friend of mine, he said, do you want to write a book together? And I said, well, sure. Now, look, I write books, but they're friendly. They're kind. You can hear birds chirping in the background. Andrew, I call him the prosecuting attorney for grace. Regarding all things new covenant truth, he's the smartest guy in the room. So this book, this book, is wild. It's like unlike anything I've ever been part of. It's part allegory, part love story, and part scathing critique of the 21st century church. It is a call for a revolution, backed to the untamed gospel of grace. I'm so excited. You guys, March 18th, Gospel Zero, buy a bunch of copies because it's going to speak to some of your friends you've never been able to really reach before. I know, because this thing is so radical, I'm going to have to apologize to someone, I'm sure, but for the rest of you, I just want to say, you're welcome. That's John Lynch. Boy, we haven't played that clip for like 14 months or something, but yeah, the book, it has been released, and on top of that, we're giving it away as a way to thank our donors. Something special this month, but that's my dear friend, John Lynch. He's an amazing guy. You can probably tell just from that short clip how encouraging he is and how loving he is. Well, as a co-author, he was fabulous

and hilarious. So, get your copy of Gospel Zero. Make sure you request it when you give your gift this month at andrewfarley.org. Again, that's andrewfarley.org. All right, as promised, we'll pop over to Kentucky now and talk with Dennis. Hi, Dennis. What you got for us? Good talking to you. It's been a while. Yeah. Long-time listener, and I just wanted to ask you a question. In Galatians 5-4, it states, if you go back under the law as your basis for righteousness, you've fallen from grace. Well, as a believer, once we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have grace. Yep. We're under grace. Right. We can't lose grace. Right. So, there's, I don't know... I don't quite understand if you don't follow that, because once I have Christ, I have freedom from the law. Right. Yeah, I'm tracking with you. I mean, it's a conundrum if we translate that as go back under. And I don't think go back under is really what's going on there. I mean, first of all, it says that they are seeking to be justified by law. That doesn't mean they've found righteousness and they have righteousness, and now they have no idea where righteousness is. Gee willikers, I think it might be found in tithing, or I think it might be found in animal blood, or I think it might be found in the temple. That's not what's going on here. These aren't like confused Christians. I mean, obviously you write to 5,000 people and some of them are confused Christians, but this verse is addressing people who are, quote, seeking, see, they're still trying to get justified. So these people are confused to the point of missing salvation altogether.

When it says severed from Christ, it means you're cutting yourself off from the message. How can you go look to the temple and say that you're looking to Christ? How can you go look to animal blood and say you're connected to Jesus? You're not. You're cut away. You're cut off. That doesn't mean that you've lost your salvation. The verbiage here is like a cutting or a great chasm between you and Jesus. That's an unbeliever. They are seeking to be justified by law, and so look at them. They have fallen from grace. Well, fallen away from grace back toward the Jewish law. So they've been flirting with the gospel, but they haven't received it. So it's really important, yes, any believer who is a believer is therefore geographically in Christ. I'm talking spiritual geography. You're in Christ, and if you're in Christ by default with that geography, with that location, here's the truth about you. You are not under the law. You're under grace because you're in Christ. Guess where Christ is? Well, Christ is the one that introduced you to grace. So because you're in Christ, you're under grace. They're one and the same. Now you can act like an idiot. You can act like a legalist. You can act like a buffoon. You can act like someone you're not. But if you're in Christ, you're in Christ. And if you're under grace, you're under grace.

So your location doesn't change. The law has no jurisdiction over you. But you can certainly act like it. I mean, I guess, you know, you could escape North Korea. You could escape North Korea and find your way to New Zealand and be having a ball. You got a new life. You got a new perspective. You got a new government. You got new scenery, new landscape. And yet you could run around afraid of the government. You could run around obeying North Korean laws. You could run around trying to avoid the Internet and certain websites because of the punishment and you'll be thrown in jail or killed. I mean, you could do all that, but you'd be acting like a buffoon. You're in New Zealand. You're in a new land. You're in a new location with a new life. So why would you do that? And I think that's Paul's rationale for every believer. Look at you. If you're in Christ, it's permanent. If you're under grace, it's permanent. So enjoy that freedom. For more information on the broadcast ministry of Dr. Andrew Farley, please visit andrewfarley.org. That's andrewfarley.org. Join us next time as we invite you to celebrate the grace message with Dr. Andrew Farley. This program is sponsored by your generous financial support. Hi, I'm Andrew Farley. I hope you enjoyed today's program. And if you have more questions, whether it's about a Bible verse, a personal struggle or

anything on your heart, biblequestions.com is here for you. You'll get clear grace-based answers in 10 seconds or less. No confusion, no judgment, just practical truth that meets you right where you are. Whatever's on your mind, you'll find real answers rooted in God's love. Visit biblequestions.com. That's biblequestions.com.