Search the Scriptures Daily Program #3002d:
Gary:
Please stay tuned and at the end of the program we will let you know where to send your questions for Dave and Tom to address in a future “Contending for the Faith.” You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Now our final segment:
UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES
We continue our exploration of the doctrine of salvation. Here again are Dave and Tom.
Tom:
We are continuing with the Gospel of John and Dave there is so much here, and we are going to start chapter ten today, but we would encourage our listeners to if they haven’t read the Bible—we’ve said this over and over again, but it bears repeating. It’s important to repeat it, that if they haven’t read the Bible, this is the place to start—the Gospel of John. And become Bereans. Search the Scriptures, learn to question, have a healthy, not skepticism, well skepticism a little bit, but not cynicism certainly. But if people are interested in truth Dave, if they really want to know God, they are going to have to read his Word. Or else all they are left with is not just their opinion, or somebody else’s opinion, but this doctor that we quoted in our earlier segment. But you want to know God’s Word? That’s how you get to know him. Starting with John:10:1Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber., “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.” Dave, this is speaking figuratively here of the metaphor of using the sheep and the shepherd. It really says a lot, doesn’t it?
Dave:
Yes, and it is a practice that the Lord uses throughout. He uses physical things to teach spiritual lessons. And the tragedy is that people then focus on the physical. We just talked about transubstantiation for example. And the Catholics says we take Jesus literally when he says except you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you, but you take him figuratively. Well the fact is you take Christ figuratively when it should be taken figuratively. And every time he spoke to the multitude he spoke in parables it says. So when he says to the woman at the well, and he’s even doing it to the woman at the well. He says, “You drink of this woman you’ll thirst again, you drink of the water that I give you, you will never thirst.” Well he’s not talking about H2O; he’s not talking about holy water, he’s talking about spiritual water of life. So in John 7 as we saw a few weeks or months ago, he says if any man thirsts let him come unto me and drink. Well what does he mean? Does he mean physical thirst? No, he doesn’t mean that. Is he going to give us physical water? That’s not what he’s talking about. And then it says, “Out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” What is that? When Jesus says I am the bread of life, does he mean he’s a loaf of bread? When he says I am the door in this chapter as he will a few verses later, when he says he’s the shepherd and he calls us sheep does he literally mean we are baaa—sheep and he literally is our shepherd? Obviously not. He’s teaching us a very important spiritual truth and I don’t want to hammer away on it, but going back to when Jesus says, “Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you,” he’s speaking spiritually and in the Old Testament the priests had to eat the sacrifice. He’s saying you must believe. In fact, he goes on to say that eating and drinking is a symbol of believing and he says, “You must believe that I am a real flesh and blood man. That I as God, the eternal Son of God became a man, a real man. I didn’t cease to be God. I’ll never cease to be man. I am the one and only God-man. You must believe this, you must believe on me to have eternal life.”
Tom:
Dave, let me go back to you mentioned Roman Catholicism transubstantiation. You are speaking about that right now, the differences between taking something literally that was meant to be taken figuratively. And that can be a huge mistake as we’re pointing out here. But I think about St. Augustine. As a former Roman Catholic, my esteem for him was just incredible. He was a doctor of the church. Yet he didn’t believe in transubstantiation. I can quote him that he said that when you come upon something (I’m paraphrasing here) that you know it’s evil and in this particular case, eating somebody’s flesh, I mean that’s cannibalism. You can’t get around it. When you know something is obviously evil, you cannot take it literally, you must take it figuratively. Yet the church didn’t do that. Some years later transubstantiation, they just brushed by this doctrine of the church and came up with this dogma.
Dave:
Yes, because this was the great distinctive they had that made them the true church. One of the distinctives, as you know and that Mass is the heart of Catholicism and their priests could turn this wafer into the body and blood of the Lord. This was a miracle. Well now Jesus is giving us spiritual truth by a physical example, the shepherd, and his sheep. Sheep are very foolish. Sheep easily go astray. Isaiah 53 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray.”
Tom:
And many led astray. Verse one. I think it relates to what we were talking about with regard to denomination in our earlier segment. Here we have somebody coming in, not doing it God’s way. Having another idea, another way of going about something and in effect they are a thief and a robber because they’re robbing the person of truth, of God’s truth, God’s way.
Dave:
So he’s presenting his followers as sheep; he’s presenting himself as the shepherd. He says there are false shepherds and they climb up another way. He’s going to say in this chapter that he is the door of the sheep, but those who climb up some other way are thieves, robbers, hirelings. They are trying to take advantage of the sheep. They are trying to take the sheep as their own to follow them, instead of they themselves following the Lord. Paul puts it very clearly to us. He says, “Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ.” So we only follow, whether it’s Paul or whoever it is, we follow human beings to the extent that they follow Christ and that they are teaching us the true Word of God. Well he says the sheep hear his voice. Tom, that’s a telling expression. As I travel around the world, so many people don’t seem to recognize the voice of the Shepherd. Why do they go off into so many strange doctrines? Why do they follow men instead of the Lord and his Word? They don’t hear his voice and that troubles me. Because Jesus said, the sheep here his voice. “He calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out.”
Tom:
Now Dave, do we take that literally or do we take it figuratively? “Hear his voice….” Is he talking about hear his truth, recognize his truth, understand what he says? How far can we go with that?
Dave:
He’s not telling us that we are supposed to hear an audible voice from God. Otherwise why would he give us his Word? We go to his Word for direction. In some circles they’re always getting a new word from God, new prophecy. I’ve had so many people come up to me and say, “Let me tell you want the Lord has just told me about you.” Or “Let me give you a word from the Lord.” Wait a minute; I’ve got a word from the Lord. I’ve got the Bible. I haven’t even begun to understand the Bible yet, but it would—
Tom:
Dave, there are guys who have a word from the Lord for everybody, every time.
Dave:
I remember a gentleman named Dick Mills back there.
Tom:
Right, that’s who I was—
Dave:
It was almost like a fortune teller. He had a ready word for everybody. He could just tell you what God’s will was for you. No, we don’t follow men. We follow his Word, but as a pastor or a preacher speaks, I know the Shepherd’s voice. If he is not giving me what the Bible says, I recognize this is not the Shepherd’s voice. If I know the Lord, I know his voice, I know his truth, I know his Word and I follow him. And we don’t follow strangers. We don’t follow someone who comes up with some new doctrine. This is why we call this search the scriptures daily. This is why we call our ministry The Berean Call. The Bereans searched the scriptures to see whether what Paul said was true. Now it didn’t say they were getting a message from God in audible words or some sign, or symbol, or some feeling within themselves. Very dangerous, people out there, whoever’s listening. Don’t go by your feelings, you go by the Word of God. So the Bereans searched the scriptures, that’s where we hear the voice of the Shepherd.
Tom:
Dave, it’s just so important and it’s what we want to encourage our listeners. You’re new to the—maybe a brand new Christian. Certainly there are great teachers out there and people who can guide you in a certain direction. But I like what Tozer said. He said he wanted to be nothing more than a signpost. You don’t sit at the foot of a signpost. Yes, you get some direction from them, but then you check the direction they’re pointing with your map which is God’s Word. This is how you learn to walk by faith. But it’s faith based on the content of THE faith which is found in the Word of God.
Dave:
Amen.
Gary:
Dave and Tom will resume their discussion on the topic of salvation next week; we hope you can join us. This is Search the Scriptures daily a ministry of The Berean Call. And now, to tell you more about our ministry, here’s TBC Executive Director, Tom McMahon:
Tom:
The name The Berean Call is taken from the Book of Acts:17:10-11 [10] And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
[11] These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
, where we find the Apostle Paul entering the synagogue in the Greek city of Berea, after he had just come from Thessalonica. To these Bereans he preached that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah sent from God. They were commended for being noble or fair minded, not only for their willingness to hear what Paul had to say about the matter, but more specifically, because they “searched the scriptures daily” to find out whether or not what the apostle was saying was found in God’s Word. That’s what we hope to encourage through this ministry. Our mission is to alert believers in Christ to unbiblical teachings and practices impacting the church. We want to exhort believers to give greater heed to biblical discernment and truth regarding what they are accepting as spiritual. We hope to supply those who profess to be biblical Christians with information and materials that will encourage the love of God’s truth. Hopefully, we can help mobilize believers in Christ to action and obedience to the scriptural command to “earnestly contend for the faith,” found in Jude 3. And finally, our prayer is that we can be used of God to stimulate Christians to look to the Bible alone as their rule of faith, authority, and practice in living lives pleasing to our Lord and Savior.
Gary:
If you are a serious student of God’s Word, we offer many materials that you’ll find helpful. From books and tracts to video and audio tapes, CD-ROM, our internet website, and much more. And don’t forget about our special offer: A free copy of our new video “Should Christians be concerned about Harry Potter?” (no longer available) to all new subscribers to our free monthly newsletter. Just mention Search the Scriptures Daily when you call or write. If you would like a copy of this broadcast, ask for Program #0732 and please be sure to mention the call letters of this station. Next week, Dave and Tom will continue their series of programs based on Dave Hunt’s book In Defense of the Faith . And, “Why would God create Satan?” In Religion in the News, “Pentecostals patch up old divisions,” we will take a look at that story and examine the question “Is doctrine really worth fighting over?” We hope you can tune in. If you have questions or comments about this program, we urge you to contact our offices. Search the Scriptures Daily Radio Ministry is made possible by God’s grace, your prayers, and your financial support. I’m Gary Carmichael and for Dave, Tom, and everyone here at The Berean Call, I would like to thank you for tuning in and invite you to join us again next week. In the meantime, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. For more information about The Berean Call and a free subscription to our monthly newsletter, contact us at PO Box 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call us at 800-937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org .
