The Doctrine of Salvation

Gary:

If you have a question for Dave and Tom to address in a future Contending for the Faith, stay with us. We’ll provide contact information at the end of the program. You’re listening to a special presentation of Search the Scriptures, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Now, our final segment,

And, we return once again to 1999 with Dave and Tom.

Tom:

Thanks, Gary. Dave, what we hope to do in this program--yes, we are going to deal with issues that are controversial, issues that the church is facing, we want to take a look at what’s going on in the world, we’re going to see the world in the church, the church in the world, but what we want to do as best we can, is to help people in their understanding of the scriptures. This segment we’re going to take a look at a particular doctrine, a major doctrine of the church and then try and explain it as best we can from the scriptures. I think the most important thing, the greatest thing that we have is the gospel, the gospel of salvation. So lets take a look at that--what is the gospel? Romans 1:16 says: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation." What does that mean?

Dave:

You didn’t finish the verse--the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes. The gospel is that declaration from God, from his Word which, if you believe it, you are saved. And Paul defines the gospel, he tells us what it is. 1 Cor. 15:1-4, he says: This is the gospel that I preached unto you by which you are saved and wherein you stand if you bear in mind what I said unto you. You know, he’s not saying that you can be lost but he says if you remember what I taught you, you understand that this is how you were saved and then he tells you what it is. How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried, that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and that he was seen of Cephas, Peter, and then he goes on---there were witnesses to the resurrection. So, this is the gospel. This is a simple message, when the Philippian jailer, for example in Acts 16, cried out: "Sir, what must I do to be saved?" Paul said, well you’ve got to get baptized, you’ve got to join the church, you’ve got to go through the sacraments--No, he didn’t. Paul was asked a straight forward question: What must I do to be saved? He said: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." That doesn’t mean just believe that there was somebody named Jesus, you know. That includes who He is, what He did, the redemptive work on the Cross that He accomplished for us and you believe this and you are saved. This is the gospel. It’s not about works, it’s not about anything else. Jesus said in John 3:36: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." So the gospel is just a simple declaration of who Jesus Christ is. The fact that He died for our sins, He would have to be God in order to do that but He paid the penalty that His own infinite justice demanded and that He rose the third day--He’s alive and that we can have eternal life, pardoned and forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift and that we have to accept it as a gift. We can’t pay for it, we can’t earn it. This is the gospel.

Tom:

And this isn’t something that man made up. We look at other religions throughout--there’s nothing like this. Paul writes, but I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. This isn’t something that these people who follow Jesus, the first century--this isn’t something that they decide, Oh, lets make a religion here. Paul writes again, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. That’s who taught him the gospel.

Dave:

He didn’t even hear it from Peter, James or John. His statement there, and I’m a CPA so I’m kind of partial to what he says there in Galatians 1. He says, "I certify you, brother, the gospel that I preach is not of man. I neither received it of man neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. " He goes on and says, I didn’t go up to Peter, James and John. I learned what I learned from Jesus himself. But he says, he’s very careful, it is according to the Scriptures. Paul, in Romans chapter 1, says that he is preaching the gospel of God which God promised before by His prophets in the holy Scriptures. What Jesus did--He is the Messiah that was promised. If he did not fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures then he is not our Savior and we’re not going to believe it all, but in fact He did and the fact that the prophets foretold centuries before Him that He would be crucified for example, centuries before crucifixion was known--where He would be born, when, the very day that He would ride into Jerusalem on that donkey was foretold and so forth. That is evidence, that is proof to us that He--but you know there is an element in the gospel, Tom, that, I think is generally, well quite to a large extent overlooked, and without it a person isn’t saved. You see a lot of people who can get very sentimental about Jesus because of his sufferings on the Cross but they are thinking only of what men did to him, his physical sufferings and they are not thinking of the fact that God made him a sin offering for us. Isaiah 53 says it pleased Yahweh to bruise him; thou hast put him to grief for thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. And the physical sufferings of Jesus on the Cross would not save anybody. That’s what we did to him. That would only add to our condemnation but the fact is, that as He hung upon the Cross, He became the sacrifice, the sin sacrifice and He paid the penalty that His own infinite justice required and when He said: It is finished, that’s an accounting term in the Greek, the debt is paid in full and if that were not the case there is no salvation for us.

Gary:

We hope you have enjoyed this special edition of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of the Berean Call. Israel, Islam and Armageddon, the video by Dave Hunt, is now available from the Berean Call. Is the stage being set for the grand finale? Jerusalem, mentioned an astonishing 800 times in the Bible is prophesied to play the key role in world destiny. Scores of Biblical prophesies concerning Jerusalem have already come to pass, as well those yet to be fulfilled. Discover exciting insight into what will transpire in the days to come. Israel, Islam and Armageddon shows how the current peace process is fraught with peril and will ultimately lead to Armageddon. How the anti-Christ will lead the world’s armies to destroy Israel. The truth about the Vatican’s intentions, and the Palestinian myth. Video host, lecturer and author, Dave Hunt: "We tell the truth about Arafat, who he is, about the PLO, what that is, about the so-called Palestinian people, where even the word Palestine is commonly used today, comes from. I think we clear up a lot misunderstandings." Jerusalem’s history spands more than 3000 years, but this city’s most significant and critical days are yet to come. Join Dave Hunt for a fascinating and challenging presentation, showing how today’s headlines mirror Biblical prophesy. Israel, Islam and Armageddon. Information on how to order in just a moment. We offer a wide variety of teaching materials that will help you expand your knowledge of God’s Word from books and tracts to audio and video recordings, CD-ROM, our website and much more. And, during this special representation of our first radio series, we are making a limited number of copies of Dave and Tom’s controversial classic, The Seduction of Christianity available at a great price. Only $7.50 each, including shipping, while supplies last. Just ask about the radio special when you contact us. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast, write to us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us at our toll free order number 1-800-937-6638, that’s 1-800-937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program #2408, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And if you would like to watch Dave and Tom, our weekly broadcast is available on DVD, ask about a subscription when you contact us. You can also download both audio and video podcast at our website. Get a pen or pencil ready, we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment. Next week we continue our series of programs from 1999 based on Dave and Tom’s classic book, The Seduction of Christianity. In Religion in the News, an interesting statement of faith from Jimmy Carter. We’ll take a look at that story, and address the question, "Do Dave and Tom violate Matthew 18?" 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 joining us and invite you to tune in again next week. Until then, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. You’ve been listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. For more information about The Berean Call contact us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call our toll free order number 1-800-937-6638, that’s 1-800-937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. Join us again next week for Search the Scriptures Daily, featuring Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon.