The Doctrine of Salvation
If you have a question for Dave and Tom to address in a future Contending for the Faith, stay with us, we’ll provide our contact information at the end of the program. You are listening to a special presentation of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Now our final segment:
UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES
We return once again to the year 2000, with Dave and Tom.
Tom:
Continuing in this section, Understanding the Scriptures, the topic is, The Gospel of Salvation. We’re really trying to, I mean, we’re taking a while, but we’re really trying to zero in on exactly what the gospel is. Dave, last week we talked about sin. We went back to the Garden of Eden and we recounted how sin entered in, and our Lord said: The day you eat of it you shall surely die. That’s what I want to talk about this week. What does the death penalty mean? It’s a process of physical death, we mentioned that, but it also involved the wrath and punishment of God, doesn’t it, and separation from God forever?
Dave:
Well, man was separated first of all from the Garden, from God’s presence in the Garden, and from the Garden, and then at death he was separated from his body, separated from his friends, from this world, and if that continued he would be separated from God’s universe forever.
Tom:
Right. Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
Dave:
Yeah, well, it says physical death, we experience it, and there’s really no explanation, I mean there is no scientific explanation why we should die, but we start to die the minute we are born, and we’re going downhill just like the whole universe. In fact, the Bible says, The whole universe groans, the creation groans, it’s all under the judgment of God now. And that means we are cut off from God.
Tom:
Don’t you think it’s important that we get a better understanding of what sin—we have seen what sin has produced? But sometimes we forget about that in terms of the character of God. I mentioned before, sin brings about God’s wrath, and His punishment. Sometimes we don’t want to face up to that, but it’s a fact. And Jesus, I mean, I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here, but Jesus took the wrath of God, didn’t He?
Dave:
Exactly.
Tom:
Matthew 25:41, 46: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:…And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Again, a consequence of sin that is rarely preached today; rarely faced today.
Dave:
The everlasting life, of course, just thinking of it logically, it will have to be in a new universe. So God is going to do away with this entire universe, the Bible says, it will all be destroyed by fire, one big nuclear holocaust. So, only those who have been made new creatures in Christ through believing the gospel will be allowed to live in God’s new universe. So what separation from God means, I think it’s probably horrible beyond our comprehension, the Bible likens it to thirst. Remember the rich man in hell that says, He lift up his eyes being in torment and he asks Abraham if he wouldn’t send Lazarus just to dip his finger in water, put one drop of water on his tongue, I’m tormented in this flame. I believe that his torment was really the remorse for the life that he had lived and realizing that he was lost, realizing that he could have obeyed God. He could have done what was right. He could have believed, you know, he didn’t have to be there because obviously there was another place to go, and Lazarus was in this other place. I can’t imagine what horror would envelope the soul to the hopelessness to realize this is it forever. And when you think of that, some people would say, Well, I can’t believe that a just God would damn people to hell forever. I don’t think God damns anybody to hell, He says He’s not willing that any should perish. We send ourselves there by rejecting the pardon, the salvation that He has provided. But the consequences are eternal for, I think, a number of logical reasons. First of all, we have a physical body and physical things don’t last, but our spirit and soul are not physical and you can’t destroy them, they go on forever, even in heaven or in hell. Man, he’s an eternal being, and if he’s not eternally in heaven, he is eternally in hell. And then you think, well, but they would surely believe if everyone, you know, everybody in hell now, now they know the truth, now they would believe. So then why can’t the gospel be presented to them and they would all believe? It’s a horrible thought, but I don’t think they would believe. Their chance is gone, because their only reason for believing now is to want to get out of hell. They that have such an overpowering desire to leave this horrible place that they could not embrace Christ out of love, honoring God for who He is, submitting to His will and to His justice. They passed the line where they could ever make a rational choice to receive Christ as their Savior. So there are a number of reasons for eternal punishment, it’s biblical but you can think of it logically as well.
Tom:
Well, you know, that’s a sobering thought, I mean, those of us who believe that we’re saved. Do we love God? Do we really want to be with Him forever? I know there are days when, you know, the flesh takes over, but really, that has to be the heart, doesn’t it? Not just for what Christ did for us, but because of who He is.
Dave:
There must be some, I mean, the 1st Commandment is, Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength and so forth. Unless that love is somehow created in me by God himself, who works in me to will and to do His good pleasure, unless I’ve been made a new person, born again in the Spirit of God, into the family of God, and now the love of God dwells in me, and I really love Him and want to respond to Him. Without that I wouldn’t really want to be in heaven. And I can’t really respond to God if I’m just trying to escape hell. I don’t think that’s really responding to the gospel. But there should be some gratitude in my heart. As Charles Wesley said, “…That thou, my God, should die for me…,” that He would love me so much that He would pay the penalty as His justice demanded. See, God is a personal being, a personal God, not an impersonal force, and this isn’t just some cosmic type of energy out there, this is personal love. Well, more personal and intimate and passionate than any love that human beings have for one another. To think that Christ loved me that way, surely that would break my heart, that would win my heart. And so the hymn writer said: “What debt of love we owe thee, love that we can ne’er express. Since we by the Spirit know thee Christ the Lord our righteousness.” Another hymn says “You have bound me by the chains of love to yourself.” So, this final analysis, it’s going to be a wonderful love, experience, and eternal honeymoon. That’s why you have the analogy of the bride and the groom. We are the bride of Christ and He is the bridegroom.
Tom:
I mean, this is overwhelming as we come to understand it better and better, and when I say, overwhelming, I mean, Yes, there is a death penalty. There are the consequences of sin, but God did, I mean, He paid for all of it, and He offers salvation to us, again, as we mentioned before, a free gift.
Dave:
Amen.
Tom:
So, those who would try to undermine these elements the physical death involved, the wrath and punishment of God, separation from Him forever, those are the penalties, but He offers the solution, and at no small price.
Dave:
And it has to be a gift, because you can’t earn it, you can’t merit it, you can’t pay for it, we have already forfeited the right to life. So, if we are going to receive it from God we have to receive it in humility—it’s not even humility, it’s reality, realizing that I can’t pay for this, I can’t earn it and I am going to have to receive it by His grace as a gift.
We hope you have enjoyed this special edition of Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. The Berean Call invites you to make your plans now for our 3rd annual TBC Conference, coming up this November 14 through the 16th, here in Bend, Oregon. This year’s event will be held at the beautiful new Riverhouse Convention Center. The theme for 2008 is Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny, the title of Dave’s soon to be released new book. A feature speaker will be Roger Oakland, author of the controversial expose on the Emerging Church, Faith Undone, from Lighthouse Trails Publishing. TBC also welcomes Dr. Donald Chittick, an authority on the topic of origins and earth history, with a special interest in the 1st eleven chapters of Genesis. Of course, TBC’s Tom McMahon and Dave Hunt will both be there addressing the hotly debated creation/evolution issues. Tickets are just $75 for adults and children under 18 are free with an accompanying adult. For more information go to our website at www.thebereancall.org or call 1-800-937-6638, we hope to see you this November here in Bend at the 3rd Annual TBC Conference, Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny. And now, to tell you more about our ministry, here’s TBC’s Executive Director Tom McMahon: The name, The Berean Call is taken from the Book of Acts, chapter 17, verses 10 and 11, 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 in 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:
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. 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 number 3908, 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’ll continue our revisit to our 2000 series of programs based on Dave’s book, Occult Invasion, and “Can you believe both the Bible and evolution?” In Religion in the News: “Suicide Condolence Cards,” we’ll take a look at that story and address the question: Is the soul really separate from the body? We hope you can join us. 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. Until then, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. 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.