understanding the scriptures

The Doctrine of Salvation

TBC Staff - GC — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

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What Is 'Condemnation'?

TBC Staff - GC — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

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The Doctrine of Salvation

TBC Staff - GC — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

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The Doctrine of Salvation

TBC Staff - GC — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

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The Doctrine of Salvation

TBC Staff - GC — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

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This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above. For more listening options, please see our Radio Page

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 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

and we return once again to 2000 with Dave and Tom.

Tom:

Dave, in this part of our program, what I would like to talk about today, in the segment’s called, Understanding the Scriptures, and the issue that we are addressing is the gospel of salvation. Well, salvation why? What went wrong? I mean, God created, we know from Genesis that what he created was good. And the last thing he says on the sixth day is that it was very good—things were good. What happened?

Dave:

Well, man disobeyed God. You learn a lot from the story of Adam and Eve in the garden. This is not mythology—

Tom:

History, history.

Dave:

It’s history. Some people want to make it out to be mythology but, I mean, we can prove that it’s history. You see the fruits of it today and these were the very lies that came out, you know, from Satan, under drugs, and yoga and hypnosis and so forth—but we learn a lot. One of the things we learn is how easy it is to fall into sin, how gracious God is, how He bent over backwards to make it as easy as possible for Adam and Eve not to sin.

One commandment He gave them—he only gave them one commandment. By the way, this is why there aren’t any extra-terrestrials out there. Because any created beings, being less than God, would make a less than perfect choice and therefore, would fall into sin and Christ would have to redeem them like He redeemed us. The Bible very clearly says: By one sacrifice he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. Okay, I’m getting us off the track here, but in the garden of Eden what command did He give?

Tom:

Genesis 2:17, is that where you are going?

Dave:

It wasn’t difficult—just don’t—look, there’s one tree in the garden, there probably were thousands of trees. I can remember as a boy I could eat my way through an apricot tree or a peach tree, you know, just climb right up in there and go for it and I think this could have been any kind of a tree and there may have been hundreds just like it. I don’t think it was some special tree with magical powers, by any means, but God just designated it. Look, you can eat of all the other trees in the garden—this one right here, just don’t eat it, okay? He couldn’t have given them an easier command to keep and yet they didn’t keep it. Which shows how, well it shows how what a small thing, seemingly a small thing sin is. This is why James says, you offend in one point of the law you are guilty of all. You say, well, I’m not a murderer—I’m not an adulterer—I never stole anything. Well, but did you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your might? If you didn’t do that, you’re a murderer, you’re an adulterer, you’re a thief, and so forth because you are a rebel against God.

Tom:

So the issue is really obedience.

Dave:

Right. Exactly. So we see how simple sin can be, seemingly a small thing and yet the huge consequences. God can’t tolerate it. He can’t have a bunch of little gods running around all wanting to get their own way, and yet unfortunately, that’s the idea you get even from some of the Christian leaders that you can command God, that you can tell Him what to do. So we learn how simple sin is, we learn how serious the consequences.

Tom:

Well, let me talk about the consequences. I mean, Genesis 2:17, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die? Now what does that mean?

Dave:

Well, it doesn’t mean that they would die instantly, physically, but they began to die. I believe that man—the Bible says is body, soul, spirit, and I believe the spirit is the real life that came from God and in the spirit of man the Spirit of God dwelt and when God left a man he was just a physical creature and he began to die, he began to age. Prior to that time Adam didn’t age. But he died in his spirit instantly, so that immediately Adam and Eve realized they were naked. They never realized that before, they never had that moral comprehension. They tried to clothe themselves with fig leaves, they have a sense of guilt, they hide from God and God when He comes walking in the cool of the evening as He did, walking being a figurative term because God is not a man, but He came moving through the garden and He said: Adam, where are you? Well, I hid myself. So, there was a separation that Adam knew, something had happened inside of him, he had died inside and he was no longer in communion with God, he was no longer comfortable in God’s presence. Which is why something has to happen to us or we couldn’t be in heaven. “God dwells in a light that no man can approach unto, no man hath seen nor can see.” God can’t just force everybody to go to heaven, that would turn heaven into hell because they would be miserably frightened, terrified by the awesome purity and holiness of God.

Tom:

So, this condition that God laid out for Adam and Eve, as you said, it wasn’t a big item but it really affected, I mean, it had to do with obedience and it really was something of the heart, wasn’t it? It was God testing them to see if they truly had a heart for Him.

Dave:

Yes, of course He knew what the consequences would be. The Bible tells us that Christ was a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the earth. That’s not off the topic, Tom, I think it’s on the topic. That is one of the reasons why the doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary and her sinless life and bodily assumption to heaven simply isn’t true, it’s not biblical. Because the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And if God could make Mary sinless—talk about immaculate conception, I mean, Adam and Eve weren’t even conceived, they were created fresh from the hand of God in the perfect environment of the garden—then if it’s just a matter of God being able to keep people from sin, surely He could have kept Adam and Eve from sin and we wouldn’t have all the evil that we have in the world today. If He could keep Mary, He could keep Adam and Eve, but Mary rejoiced in God, her Savior.

So, it’s not possible for any human being, apart from the grace of God, to be kept from sin. Now again, we have to understand—well, sin, I’m not a big sinner—I haven’t done any big things—Pride is a horrible sin, self will, the desire to have your own way, the desire to use God for your own purposes, you know. Like prayer, for most people is a religious technique to get their own way. We set our sights on what we want, we spend the “sweet hour of prayer” trying to talk God into working it out for us. Somebody comes along and offers his technique, you know, like Kenneth Hagin and his booklet, How to Write Your Own Ticket With God. Amazing! Who would want to write their own ticket with God? Again, it’s an indication that, I don’t think God is as smart as I am and I can write a better ticket than He can. The very thought that man would disobey God, that’s horrible. And the consequences are, they have to be severe and now God has a problem. His justice says, the wages of sin is death, man is separated from me forever. But He loves us and he wants to save us. How is He going to do it? That’s the problem.

Tom:

Well, in Genesis we are going to get to that later in Genesis. But let’s go back to the sin. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise,” there’s self, isn’t it? “she took of it’s fruit and ate, she also gave to her husband and he ate.” That’s what sent man into eternal separation from God.

Dave:

Now Tom, you have to be careful. Let’s not be too hard on Eve. You understand, she was raised in a dysfunctional home and her parents abused her, Adam as well, you know—he didn’t get the toys that he should have had and his daddy made him go to Sunday school— See, these are some of the delusions that are formulated today and anybody that has an explanation for aberrant behavior, if you want to call it that, that doesn’t fit Adam and Eve, it doesn’t work. Here, sin began in the heart of the most perfect—they were perfect, they were beautiful, they were freshly created by God, living in the pristine environment of the garden, no pollution— and yet that’s where sin began. It’s like in heaven, it began in Lucifer’s heart.

Tom:

I was going to say we could back it up to an even more perfect environment.

Dave:

Right. In the very presence of God, in Lucifer’s heart...pride. So, sin is powerful, it is innate, it’s one of the—well, I believe God gave us the power of choice and it’s inevitable that man will make the wrong choice. Now, what is God going to do? How is He going to redeem man? That is the big problem that He faces because He really loves us.

Tom:

Well, next time we’re going to talk about Genesis 3:15, which is the first gospel, first time the gospel is offered.

Gary:

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 3^rd Annual TBC Conference, coming up this November 14th through the 16^th 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 Hunt’s soon to be released new book. Our featured speaker will be Roger Oakland, author of the controversial exposé 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 first 11 chapters of Genesis. Of course TBC’s Tom McMahon and Dave Hunt will both be there addressing their 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 here this November here in Bend at the 3^rd Annual TBC Conference, Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny.

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 #3708, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. Get a pen or a 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, “Is the Dali Lama really God? In Religion in the News, “Sacramental Psychedelics in the Military.” We’ll take a look at that story, and address the question: “Just Who is the Bride of Christ? 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. In the meantime, 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.

Is There A Way To See God?

TBC Staff - GC — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

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This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above. For more listening options, please see our Radio Page.

Gary:

If you have a question for Dave and Tom to address in a future Contending for the Faith, stay tuned, we’ll provide our contact information at the end of the program. 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 excursion through the gospel of Matthew. Here again are Dave and Tom: This is our Understanding the Scripture segment, we are in the gospel of Matthew chapter 5, and we’re going to pick up with verse 8: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Dave, who would qualify for that?

Dave:

Well, we don’t have pure hearts, we’re sinners. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts adulteries, fornication, and so forth. Jesus says this defiles us. But the Bible talks about a perfect heart also, and what do I really want? We’ve given many illustrations. You can go to Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” We’re not seeking things, we’re seeking God. We’re not seeking His gifts, we’re seeking God, and God said to Abraham, must have been a shocking statement: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward. So, I think when it talks about David, “walked before me with a perfect heart’ but he wasn’t perfect, he sinned. But at least he repented, and in his heart he really wanted to know God and to please God. So, I would say the pure in heart, they have a pure motive.

Tom:

So, it’s more an attitude of the heart than it is the condition.

Dave:

I think so. They shall see God.

Tom:

Dave, do you remember, and help me with this, Wasn’t there a story about the Soviet cosmonauts? Do you know that story?

Dave:

Yes. Well, this is a true story, and this little girl must have had a lot of courage because the teacher—I think she was 8 years old, something like that, the teacher was ridiculing the idea of God and saying, O God, we sent—I think then they called the cosmonauts, Yuri Gagarin, I think was the first one, who got very out of the earth’s atmosphere— well, we sent Yuri up there and he looked around and didn’t see God. And a little girl raised her hand and said, But was he pure in heart? That was probably lost on the teacher and the class, they didn’t even know the verse probably. But anyway, this is a little girl who was obviously getting some Bible study and understanding of the Scriptures, who obviously had become a Christian.

Tom:

Verse 9: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Dave, one of the things that we see with regard to the interpretation application of the Beatitudes is all of a sudden for some people, works. Well, as long as you are out there keeping the peace and doing certain things, these can be channeled into works salvation, can’t they?

Dave:

Well, if you misunderstood it, Blessed are the peace makers: for they shall be called the children of God, and yet the Scripture says, we are the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Tom:

And you can’t really bring peace unless you bring the gospel of peace.

Dave:

Right. Peace with God, there will never be peace among men unless we have peace in our hearts with God. And we should then be peace makers. We should not bring strife, but we should bring peace among—well, in our family, among our friends, and so forth, the best way we can. And that is pleasing to God, it doesn’t get us to heaven, but it is pleasing to Him.

Tom:

Verse 10: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Dave:

Yeah, so it doesn’t say, Blessed are they that are persecuted. Aw, they’re persecuting me, I just can’t get along with anybody, they are just all against me. Well, that’s not what it’s talking about. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and Peter deals with that in 1 Peter 4. He says, What thank have you, what’s the good of it, what would earn you if you are persecuted for what you have done wrong, and you are disciplined for what you have done wrong. But if you are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for the sake of Christ, Christ says there’s a blessing that will come to you.

Tom:

Verse 11: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.” I guess the “for my sake” Dave, is just as you mentioned in the last verse, that’s the qualifier.

Dave:

Well, if it’s not for Christ’s sake, if they are saying all manner of evil against you for your sake because you have done it, it says “falsely” for my sake. I like the next verse: “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” I remember the story of the preacher and someone came to him and said, Do you know the things that people are saying about you, the lies they are telling? And he said, Well, why are you telling me this? You want to see how high I can leap? Be exceeding glad, great is your reward in heaven. And another gospel that says: Leap for joy! So, Great is your reward in heaven—it’s easy for us to forget that. God is going to reward us and it will be a reward, but we are not working for a reward, in fact, I tell the Lord, I don’t deserve any reward at all, it would only be by your mercy and your grace.

Tom:

Dave, you know what we see today that, you know, leaders in the church, they want to be popular. This is so contrary to what we see going on that they want to be on the cover of Time Magazine, or they want to be so impressed the world. As one individual said, To restore the credibility to Christianity. What does that mean?

Dave:

Well, we’re not seeking credibility, and the gospel is foolishness to the natural man. So we are going to restore credibility to the world, thanks for doing well? Then we are not doing well.

Tom:

Well it’s certainly contrary to these verses we’ve been reading, Dave.

Dave:

It certainly is.

Tom:

Verse 13: Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Dave:

This is very simple, these are simple statements, the salt has lost its savor. I don’t know how that happens, but I guess it can, then it’s not good for anything. What can you do with it? Now, we are the salt of the earth. I guess that means we should be like seasoning, we should be something that is needed to give a proper taste, a proper flavor.

Tom:

It also has preserving qualities, doesn’t it, Dave?

Dave:

Right, right, yeah. So, are we going to preserve the world? Well, if they are willing to be preserved. We have the message of salvation, the only way that anyone can be preserved.

Gary:

Dave and Tom will resume their discussion on the topic of salvation next week, we hope you can tune in. This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. The Berean Call invites you to make your plans now for our 3^rd annual TBC Conference, coming up this November 14^th through the 16^th 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 Hunt’s soon to be released new book. A feature speaker will be Roger Oakland, author of the controversial exposé 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 1^st 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 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 3^rd Annual TBC Conference: Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny. 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 #3608, 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 will launch a multi-part revisit to our 2000 series of programs based on Dave Hunt’s book, Occult Invasion, and What is Occultism? In Religion in the News, The Kabalah in Tinsel town. We’ll take a look at that story and address the question: How much education do you need to understand the Bible? 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.

Do You Thirst After Righteousness?

TBC Staff - GC — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

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A transcript of this program will be posted here as soon we can complete it.

How Do The Meek Inherit The Earth?

TBC Staff - GC — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

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This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above. For more listening options, please see our Radio Page.

If you have a question for Dave and Tom to address in a future Contending for the Faith, stay tuned, we’ll have our contact information at the end of the program. You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. We turn now to our final segment:

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

We resume our excursion through the gospel of Matthew. Here again are Dave and Tom: This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the gospel of Matthew Chapter 5, and we’re going to pick up with Verse 4: “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Dave, do you want to take one at a time or do you want to—

Dave:

Let’s take them one at a time.

Tom:

Okay, well, that sounds like a downer, mourn and, there’s much to be grieved over, Dave. I didn’t mean to be a little flippant about this, but there is a great deal to mourn over, because we see what’s going on in the world, just things that we have articulated, yet we will be comforted.

Dave:

Tom, I have to confess in my own life, how much do I feel of the pain of other people. How much do I empathize with them? Everything is going okay for me. Yeah, okay, and to have real compassion—it’s better to go to a funeral, the Bible says, it’s the end of all life, and the living will lay it to heart. But I need to have some sympathy, some empathy with those who are in— Oh Tom, I mean, we get so many prayer requests, and how can we deal with all of them? How can we pray sincerely from the heart? How can we feel with these people, their distress, their anguish, their problems that they are enduring? It speaks to my heart, Blessed are they that mourn. Do I really mourn with those who mourn?

Tom:

Dave, based on some of the things—the last couple of segments we refer to Rick Warren, and I’ve been chided myself for being critical of him, his Global PEACE Plan, what he’s trying to do, solve the problems of the world, poverty, sickness, AIDS, I mean, all of these things. Now, we are to show compassion, we are to reach out to other people, but Dave, does the Bible give a program, a model for solving these issues of the world?

Dave:

No, it does not, there is not way that we can solve them, and they will never be solved until the new heavens and the new earth.

Tom:

But what can you do? What can I do? You know, we talked about compassion, you’re going through some physical problems, okay. You just had a recent surgery on your back, along with some other issues. The same with me, I can tell you this, I’m more compassionate right now than I’ve ever been in my life as I see what I’m going through, and then I’m thinking, Wait a minute! I mean, this has got my attention, but I see people that are my heroes with regard to how they are putting up with the suffering that they are having to go through. But how can we help them, how can we aid them? Is there a peace plan, is there some kind of a global plan to eradicate these problems?

Dave:

The best thing we can do, and it’s not the hospice program, the hospice program, you know, that’s where you go when you are going to die. That’s the final end, trying to comfort you, oh you put your mind on something else. Never about salvation, never about the Truth, never about the reality of judgment, the day of judgment awaits. And Tom, I think I can do it very quickly. I remember, I may have mentioned it before, but here is a young man, it says, this is William Law, he’s dying in his 40^th year, and his friends come to commiserate with him. And he says, What are you trying to do? My thoughts are no more like your thoughts than my condition is like your condition, you can’t even imagine. You come here to comfort me because I’m dying so young that I won’t be able to—he was a merchant—I won’t be able to make any more deals. Our good friend Lepidus died on his way to a feast, do you think it is any trouble of his now that he didn’t live long enough to eat of those dainties? He said, The things of this life are vanity, they are nothing. And then he says: What really troubles me the most is that I didn’t always think this way. That I was so deceived by so much else and I forgot eternity. That’s one of the things we should be mourning about, Tom, that people are going to hell. But what can we do? Well, all we can do, Tom, I mean the best thing we can do, we can comfort them, we can give them medication and whatever, which was all that Mother Theresa ever did, but she gave them inadequate medication. They need the gospel, Tom.

Tom:

Of course, the other is addressing symptoms. Dave, I know what has comforted me going through—you know, the physical issues that I have had. Reading the Word of God, the truth! This is reality, this isn’t just some positive mental attitude thing. And one verse, a number of verses, but what I’m thinking about right now is 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 16, 17, 18. You know these well, but let me read them: “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

Dave:

Tom, sometimes you don’t think it’s a light affliction.

Tom:

No, but we know, in contrast to eternity, it really is light.

Dave:

You know, my father-in-law, a very godly man, never read anything but the Bible, served the Lord all of his life. And as a traveling, itinerant preacher, never got a salary, and no promise of anything except from the Lord. I remember sitting with him by a lemon tree, not under a lemon tree, pretty hard to get under a lemon tree, most lemon tree, and here’s the way he would say it: It worketh for us glory. No, it worketh for us a weight of glory. No, it worketh for us at eternal weight of glory. No, an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory. Wow!

Tom:

Yeah. That’s comforting, and again, it’s from the Lord, and he works through His saints, believers, to minister and He uses us when we are going through these things. “All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” So, we have the comfort of the Word of God, and we’re to minister.

Dave:

There is no other comfort.

Tom:

So, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Going on, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

Dave:

That’s not the way the world thinks of it, Tom. I’m going to bull my way through this world—I’m going to take control of my life. This is one of the things people want.

Tom:

Take a course in self-assertion.

Dave:

Right. I want to have control of my life.

Tom:

The captain of your ship, the master of your fate.

Dave:

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Moses, we are told, was the meekest man on the face of the earth, and God used the meekest man on the face of the earth to confront the mightiest emperor in his palace to deliver his people. So no man would get the glory, only God would get the glory. And Tom, It’s not easy. I’ve been in situations where to be meek just gall you, they are so wrong. We’ve got a whole movement of people making false accusations against me. What am I going to do? Well, I’m not going to defend myself, they have already made up their minds, but to be meek—wow! That is not easy. And I often think of Christ and being led as a lamb to the slaughter. And I think one of the most triumphant things Christ did was, He answered not a word! To hear false accusations, and okay, I’m not going to defend myself, I’m going to let the Lord defend me. That is not easy! Blessed are the meek, they will inherit the earth.

Gary:

Dave and Tom will continue their discussion on the topic of salvation next week, we hope you can tune in. This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. 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 #3408, 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 based on Dave Hunt’s book, Seeking and Finding God, and Why must we obey God? In Religion in the News, A victory for home schooling, we’ll take a look at that story and address the question: Is suffering good for Christians? 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. 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.

What Do The Beatitudes Really Mean?

TBC Staff - GC — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

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This is a link to our weekly radio program Search the Scriptures Daily. You may listen to the program by clicking on the "mp3" link above.For more listening options, please see our Radio Page.

If you have a question for Dave and Tom to respond to 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 Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Now our final segment.

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

We continue our excursion through the gospel of Matthew. Here again are Dave and Tom.

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the gospel of Matthew. We are going to start chapter 5, Dave, and I want to go back and read the last verse in chapter 4, because it just seems to lead into what we are going to do. So, this is Matthewc 4, verse 25, and then we will pick up with Matthew chapter 5. “And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.” Matthew 5, verse 1: “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And He opened His mouth, and taught them saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Now Dave, these are obviously, the Beatitudes, let’s take a look at them one by one.

Dave:

Well, before we get there—“seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain.” I don’t know what you can make of that, but you had to put some effort into it if you are going to follow Jesus, if you are going to hear what He is going to say. And I don’t want to make too much of this, but you have to put a little effort into it, and is that one reason why He went up there? I don’t know. Or to find out who was really serious? I don’t know if that would be a good way of finding out either. Some people are out for a nice walk, but apparently it was quite a little ways, because there is no way to get food that far away. But it says, “His disciples came unto him.” Now that gives me the idea that possibly He was separating himself from the multitudes. And He went up to the Sermon on the Mount so that only his disciples and he told his disciples where he was going. I think everybody understood this is for those on the inside, the true disciples, and so they remained down below, which could be interesting, Tom. Before we get into what He says, if you go to Luke 6—If I can find it in this Bible of mine that is falling apart—this is terrible--I am so reluctant to give up this Bible, because I’ve got all the—

Tom:

When the pages fly away, Dave that might be a motivation.

Dave:

All the high lighting and the notes and things that I’ve written in here—it’s really dangerous to turn the pages now. Okay, by comparison, because some people say this is also the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes. And, in fact, I learn these things from atheists. They criticize the Bible, You’ve got a contradiction, I mean, you’ve got two different Sermons on the Mount; you’ve got one in Matthew and one in Luke. And I said, Well, I really never noticed there were some big differences, but maybe there are, so then I would get it, and I would say, These guys are right. So then we look at it a little closer, and notice verse 17, “He came down.” He’s just named His disciples. So I think that’s what it’s talking about, his disciples came to Him, that must be where He named them, and the Sermon on the Mount is what He said to them.

Tom:

It indicates that in Matthew.

Dave:

Now He comes down with them, verse 17, in Luke 17, He came down with them and stood in the plain. So this is not the sermon on the mount, this is the sermon on the plain, and it is a bit different. He said different things to his disciples who He expects would have more spiritual insight and understanding. —“and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judea” and so forth, and the sea coast came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. So, I just want to point that out.

Tom:

That’s an important point, Dave.

Dave:

Otherwise, knock you for a loop, you’ve got two different—it’s a contradiction in the Bible. No it’s not.

Tom:

Dave, that is so important, because we get e-mails all the time. I just got one this morning where somebody was trying to explain something to some atheists and they were taking them to task. Many of these things can be dealt with just by reading the Scripture.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

Bu we get excited. How many people, when Dan Brown’s book came out The DaVinci Code, the say, oh wait a minute, this is undermining my faith, this is pulling the rug out from under my belief. Come on! read the Scriptures, you know, read the Word of God. It will blow that right off the table.

Dave:

And read that book, it’s pitiful, and I won’t go into those details.

Tom:

Yeah, you don’t need to read it, but for Christians to get worried, because they are not into the Word of God, they are not thinking, they’re just being chased about by every wind of doctrine, every idea.

Dave:

Thank you, Tom, because I was not contending to recommend the book, recommend that anybody read it. I should have said, If you read the book. It’s pitiful!

Tom:

Sometimes we have to read these things just to be able to respond to them and to say that we had read it, it’s not a fun deal. We just went through a book called The Shack. Boy, is that bad news! And if you have just heard this for the first time, we did a review of it in the August newsletter, The Berean Call, and get that. Okay. So let’s pick up with what Jesus said to his disciples. Verse 3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Poor in spirit, Dave? I thought we needed to build up our self-esteem, we need to be self-confident, we need to—

Dave:

Well, you’re not going to enter into the kingdom of heaven as a person who is building up his self-esteem, and yet that is a weakness. We didn’t need Dr. Dobson to tell us about self-esteem, we didn’t need Carl Rogers or Abraham Maslow.

Tom:

Eric Fromm.

Dave:

This was already in the heart of man, and you don’t come into the kingdom of God as a proud person.

Tom:

God resists the proud.

Dave:

He hates pride, yeah.

Tom:

But He gives grace.

Dave:

Grace to the humble.

Tom:

To the poor in spirit.

Dave:

Right. So you might say that this is kind of a gateway; this is a beginning. You want to be in this kingdom? Then you’re going to have to come humbly. See, that was one of the problems. I won’t name the organization but there’s an organization out there, they have thousands of staff members now around the world. But one of their big goals is: We want to reach key people. Let’s try to get the athletes, try to get the entertainers, and they even have a group meeting at the United Nations in New York because we want key people. See, look at this person, wouldn’t this person make a great addition to the team, God’s team, couldn’t He really use this person? You don’t get that idea here—blessed are the poor in spirit.

Tom:

Dave, we referred to Rick Warren earlier, one of his goals, he stated this that he wants to restore the credibility to the evangelical believers. Credibility? Come on!

Dave:

How are you going to do that? Well, we want academic respectability, okay. So you’re going to have to cater to the academic world. You want credibility? Credibility in whose eyes, Tom? a good point.

Tom:

Yeah, so, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of God. As you said, Dave, this is the doorway. God resists the proud, He gives grace to the humble. And you quoted from Galatians, “I’m crucified with Christ.” That’s emptying me, I’m crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. That’s what Christianity is all about. Dave, we’re going to pick up, we’re out of time right now, but we are in Matthew chapter 5. Let’s encourage our readers to go over the Beatitudes for themselves, and we’re going to pick up next week, the Lord willing, with Matthew chapter 5, verse 4.

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 radio ministry of The Berean Call. The Berean Call invites you to make your plans now for our 3^rd Annual TBC Conference, coming up this November 14th, through the 16^th 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 Hunt’s soon to be released new book. Our featured 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 first eleven chapters of Genesis. Of course TBC’s Tom McMahon and Dave Hunt will both be there addressing their hotly debated Creation/Evolution issues. Tickets are just $75 for adults, and children under 18 are free with accompanying adult. For more information, go to our website at www.thebereancall.org or call 1-800-937-6638. We hope to see you here this November here in Bend at the 3^rd Annual TBC Conference, Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny.

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 #3308, 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 a pencil ready, we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment.

Next week, we continue our series of programs based on Dave Hunt’s book, Seeking and Finding God and “How could one man bring death to everyone?” In Religion in the News, “Who wrote the serenity prayer?” We’ll take a look at that story, and address the question: “Is Christianity really the only way?” 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 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 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.