understanding the scriptures

What Kingdoms Could Satan Offer to Jesus?

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. 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 Scriptures segment, we are in the gospel of Matthew 4, and we are going to pick up with verse 9. “And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” And of course, this is Satan addressing Jesus.

Dave:

Let me comment on that verse, Tom. You’ve got a number of things involved. First of all, he’s showed Him the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and I would say he’s not just showing them to Him at that point, but this is what it’s going to be look how magnificent this will be. Jesus doesn’t say—and he says, All of these will I give thee, you fall down—Jesus doesn’t say, Wait a minute, Satan, it’s not yours to give! No, he is the God of this world. 2 John Chapter 5:21, somewhere around there, the Bible says, The whole world lies in the wicked one. I know we love to sing the song of the chorus, “He’s got the whole wide world in his hands” but that’s Satan, that’s not Jesus. Well, you could say, Tom, I’m going to elaborate just a little bit here. You see, one of the things I hear all the time, and it really bothers me, Well, God’s in control. Well, shall I go back over it? Was He in control when Satan rebelled? Of course He was. Was He in control when Adam and Eve rebelled? Of course He was. Was He in control of the universe when Hitler slaughtered all those people and Stalin, and so forth? It doesn’t mean because God is in control that He is responsible or approves everything that happens. He has given men the power of choice. So, we’ve got to be very careful saying, Well, God’s in control. I would say Satan controls an awful lot of people.

Tom:

And of course we know that idea is promoted by the teaching that God has determined everything, predetermined how you’re going to be, how you’re going to act, what you’re going to do, and there are some people who believe that.

Dave:

Well, that would be Calvinists, many of them, this is what John Calvin believed, but that is a horrible doctrine.

Tom:

Extreme Calvinists, I would say, in many cases.

Dave:

That means that not “the devil made me do it” but God made me do it. I can stand in front of the judge and say, “Wait a minute, I mean, this was all pre-determined, pre-ordained by God, how can you put me in prison for doing what God pre-determined that I would do?”

Tom:

Well, Dave, there’s another side to that. It amuses me, it shouldn’t because the teachings really bother me, but I remember a newsletter article that you wrote, What a sovereign God cannot do. That made quite a few people upset until they thought it through. You know, is there anything that God can’t do? Well yes, there are some things God can’t do. Uh-ho, here we go again. Now what might that be, Dave?

Dave:

Well, He can’t lie.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

He can’t sin, He can’t be wrong, He can’t contradict himself. There are many things that God cannot do.

Tom:

He can’t save us against our will.

Dave:

Right, exactly.

Tom:

Which bothers a lot of people, but—

Dave:

He cannot make us love Him.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

Well, let me mention something, I may have mentioned it before, and whenever I do I say to people, You will never forget this, but they do forget. Here I was in Canada, my wife and I came into the hotel room late at night after a meeting, just going to search the channels to see what happened that day. I am rooted to an interview with a Canadian man who had been working in Saudi Arabia, arrested, falsely accused of being a terrorist, tortured. He said he learned two things—Now I’m saying to you, you will never forget this, but I might have to remind you. But this is a very important understanding to reach into our hearts and minds. He said he learned two things: 1) I don’t care how strong you are, he said, they can make you hurt so bad, they can make you confess to anything they want you to confess. They can make you confess you killed your mother. They can make you confess you killed God! Then he said something very profound that I had never thought of before, but it’s very biblical. They cannot make you believe it! There is a place inside of every person, the Bible calls it the heart. Give me your heart, believe with all your heart, God says. He’s not going to force you, He didn’t predestine you to believe. They cannot make you believe it! We have to willingly submit our wills to God.

Tom:

And Dave, just something you’ve mentioned in this regard, God cannot do anything that is contrary to his character. So, those who were taking issue with what we’ve been saying, think about that for a minute. Can God go against his own character? He’s perfect in every way, it can’t happen! Well, let’s pick up with verse 10: “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Now Dave, that reminds me of the many times I think of Thomas worshipping, the Doubting Thomas worshipping Jesus and Jesus accepting worship. So, Jesus couldn’t contradict himself here, so he must be God if only God can be worshipped. That would be an example, wouldn’t it?

Dave:

Well yes, but they did it again when He stilled the waves, and there was a great calmness. It says those that were in the boat fell down and worshipped Him. Tom, if I can just refer to the New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It’s not a translation, in fact, they had the so-called translators on the witness stand and they were being prosecuted in England, this was in court, and they asked them: Well, here’s a little Hebrew, here’s a little Greek, would you translate it. They couldn’t translate it, they didn’t know anything about this, okay, these were the translators. You will notice that we have a word for worship, and you referred to it, and I referred to it. They in the boat fell down and worshipped Him. Okay? And Doubting Thomas fell down and worshipped Him. You know what the New World Translation, the Jehovah’s Witnesses translation says? It uses the word “ obeisance” same Greek word for worshipping God is used for worshipping Jesus, a number of times in the New Testament, but the New World Translation dishonestly translates it, obeisance, like you would give to a king or a dignitary. Now that is wrong, that is dishonest, and they are not following the Greek, they are not following what the Bible says because they don’t believe that! So then they translate it to make it agree with their beliefs.

Tom:

Dave, we have the example, I think it was Peter, and maybe even Paul at one time in which he performs a miracle, and they want to worship him, and he corrects them right away. But you never find Jesus making that correction because there is no need, He is God, and deserving of our worship.

Dave:

Right. Now you have some verses, Tom, that cause confusion. A young man comes running to Jesus and says, Good Master, what thing must I do to inherit the kingdom. And Jesus responds: Why callest thou me good? There is none good but One, and that is God.” Then people will say, You see, He’s denying that He is God. No, He is not, He’s saying, “If I am good…” and there’s no doubt about it as you acknowledge that I am, then I must be God, because none is good but God.

Tom:

Well, to finish this up, we’re out of time here. Verse 11, “Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.” So, again, this is God’s Word, this is an example of what Jesus experienced and how he was tested by Satan and he dealt with it, perfectly.

Dave:

Amen.

Dave and Tom will take up 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 #2808, 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, Is faith found only in Foxholes? In Religion in the News, Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Jesus. We’ll take a look at that story and address the question: Is it okay to paraphrase 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 a 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. 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.

Why Did Satan Quote Scripture?

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 Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Now 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 4, and we left off with verse 5, so I am going to read verse 5. If you have your Bibles and you’re home it would be great for you to follow along with us. Matthew chapter 4, verse 5: “Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Interesting, the devil is quoting Scriptures to Jesus.

Dave:

Oh yeah, he’s already quoted it twice and this is the third time. The consistency of the Bible is another one of the proofs that this is the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation. This is a particular theme that goes from Genesis to Revelation. You would get it laid out for you in 1 John chapter 2, where John says, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he says: “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world, the world passeth away…” and so forth. Okay, the lust of the flesh, what was the first thing that Satan said to Jesus? Well, you’ve got to be really hungry 40 days. If you’re the Son of God why should you be enduring this torment? You can turn the stones into bread, and that’s when Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8. He says, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Okay, so we’ve got the lust of the flesh and you have the same thing in the Garden of Eden when she looked at this and saw that it was good to eat, lust of the flesh. The lust of the eye, well, she looked at it, a thing to be desired, and then now we are going to get the pride of life. We’ve already had both of these because Satan took Jesus on a high mountain, shows Him all the lust of the eye shows Him all the kingdom of the world. I give these to you this if you just bow down and worship me. Now Satan, he must be the god of this world, it’s what the Bible says. In other words, he could deliver on this! Jesus didn’t say, You don’t have those kingdoms to pass on to me.

Tom:

Dave, how many, down through history, how many have actually made this pact with the devil, received what he offered, and of course their lives have been destroyed?

Dave:

Many, many. Now we come to the third one, the pride of life, and in the Garden of course it was you would be like the gods, this fruit will make you wise. So here we are, the pride of life. Well, he’s on the pinnacle of the temple, I’m sure he must have been visible. Maybe nobody looked at Him at that moment or saw Him there, but if He threw himself down, this is what Satan is counting on, you will, I mean, people will see you falling and then the angels will catch you and let you settle down very gently, and they will say, O, this must be the Messiah. So, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life, that is everything that Satan has to offer and he never changes it, he cannot get beyond that. And so we have it right here.

Tom:

Dave, this isn’t anything that we don’t see today. There are those who would take the scriptures and use them in a legalistic fashion to try and control the situation, or manipulate things. This is exactly what the adversary is doing here.

Dave:

This is what he is doing, but you can twist the Scriptures also, and we have a little confusion on “tempt” and “test”. Here it means to test or to try, like trying someone’s patience. God cannot be tempted with evil, James 1 says. God cannot be tempted with evil, neither “…tempteth he any man.” Now tempting means to try to get someone to do something. Jesus was tested in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He was not tempted. In other words, Jesus didn’t say, “oh, I would really like to do that, I mean, just get away from here, Satan.”

Tom:

That’s what you said, the lust of the flesh, that wasn’t a part of Jesus’ character, He was perfect.

Dave:

So you can’t tempt God to do evil.

Tom:

Because there is no attraction there for Him.

Dave:

Right. So Jesus was not tempted, He was tested. We need to get that clear, but we can be tempted: Lead us not into temptation, we pray, but deliver us from evil. Now, in the Old Testament God says, You tested me, you tried me, the waters of Meribah, and so forth. Here’s another way of looking at it, Tom. I think a lot of the charismatics, or other people, they are testing God. There are some people who think that, well, if I’m going to really follow the Scriptures it says you go without clothes or you go without anything to eat or, I mean, any provisions, you have no money in your purse and so forth, and you’re going to trust God. Now, there’s a distinction we’ve got to make. If you have money in your pocket, you’ve got money in the bank and you say well, I’m just going to go off on a faith journey and I’m not going to rely on any of that. I have friends who would take me in, but I’m just going to go out there and walk and see what happens. I think you are testing God. In other words it like saying well, Lord, in order to really demonstrate the faith that I have I’m just going to close my eyes and I’ll walk across the freeway at high noon in the midst of the traffic and I will just trust You not to let me be knocked down and killed. Now there you are testing God. In other words, you are putting God in a position where he has to come through in order to back you up.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

I wouldn’t want to do that. But anyway, Jesus was not tempted at all. It was not a situation where He wanted to be known, in fact, He said to his disciples in Matthew 16. They are telling Jesus what people say. Well, some say you’re Elijah, and some say you are this and that, and Jesus says: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter says, “You’re the Christ, the Son of the living God.” “…flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.” We have to make a distinction here, a very important one. I can’t just recklessly launch out and God is going to have to come through to rescue me. But if He has led me to do something, and I’m certain that this is His leading, then you can walk into the lion’s den. Now of course Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, but there are those who—for example, let’s take the snake handlers back there. That was popular in the Southern states.

Tom:

Dave, I grew up in Southern Ohio and across Brush Creek there was a Hallelujah Church and they were, you know, I mean, I was a Roman Catholic at that point but I used to be fishing and listen to those guys. There was yelling and snake handling and the whole nine yards, it was unbelievable!

Dave:

See, it says, if they take up serpents, it doesn’t say when they take up serpents, and I don’t know exactly what that would mean. If, is it some occasion where you’ve got to take up the serpent? But it’s not you’re going to demonstrate now and I’m going to—now you are testing God. Oh, God has got to come through now for me. No, that’s very dangerous business.

Tom:

Verse 8: “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.”

Dave:

In another gospel it says, “In a moment of time,” and that’s all they will last.

Tom:

Verse 9: “And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”

Dave:

I’ve already commented on that before we got here, but we had better come back to this. Jesus is not going to worship Satan, “thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.” Now He quotes Scripture, “at any moment shalt thou serve.” But why does Jesus want these? He wouldn’t want these kingdoms, furthermore they all belong to Him and they will all be His through the death that He will die in payment for our sins. But He doesn’t want the kingdoms in the world and if there are Christians who think we’ve got to set up the kingdom for Jesus then He’ll come back, not biblical!

Gary:

Dave and Tom will continue 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. 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. 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 is prophecy a more sure word? In Religion in the News, Not so secret problems with The Secret. We’ll take a look at that story and address the question: Were Job’s counselors good or bad? 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. 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 1-8—0937-6638, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org.

The Doctrine of Salvation

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 the future “Contending for the Faith,” stay with us. We’ll have 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 1999 with Dave and Tom.

Tom:

In our segment of “Understanding the Scriptures”, and that’s what we hope that we can really convey here, that we’re exploring the Scriptures. We want our listeners to explore the Scriptures with us. We hope that we’re addressing doctrines versus teachings that are important--important in the faith and really worth while. Our topic has been for a while and it will be, the gospel of salvation. And, we want to look at the Scriptures. We want to ask questions related to the Scriptures so that we can really understand what the gospel of salvation is. The thing I would like to talk about today, Dave, is what does the gospel do? We are to preach the gospel, to proclaim the gospel but what does it do? There are people out there who have said gospel, I don’t even know what the term means. Well, it means good news. What is this good news and what does it do?

Dave:

Well, we go to the Scriptures, Romans 1:16. Paul said: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes it.” So, when you believe the gospel, you are saved. The Philippian jailer said, cried out in distress, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved...” and Paul and Silas said, “...believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” So, first of all, what the gospel does: if I believe it, it will save me. 1 Cor. 15, Paul says “...this is the gospel that we preached unto you by which you are saved.” So, the gospel saves the soul, if you believe.

Tom:

Right. It delivers from sin. I mean, here’s a word that we hear too little of today even in churches. Sin separates me from God.

Dave:

It delivers me from the penalty, for sure and then as I understand and I grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, I am being delivered from the power of sin as well. It certainly delivers me from the penalty.

Tom:

Right. I was thinking about Isaiah 1:18. “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” I mean, God cleans us out through faith in Him, through receiving the gospel. One other aspect of the gospel that’s important is that it’s for all humanity. John 3:16, people have heard it, I mean, it’s one of the most proclaimed Scripture verses. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It’s for all who will, who will come to him.

Dave:

Yes, it’s an offer that is made to the whole world. I believe that Christ paid the penalty for everyone’s sins, not just for the elect. I don’t believe in limited atonement and the Bible seems quite clear on that. 1 John 2:2 says: “And he is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” So yes, the gospel is for everyone. Whosoever will may come, “...whoever believes in him, it says, shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Tom:

In our helping to explain and understand the gospel, sometimes we as evangelicals, we don’t explain. I mean, we’re so comfortable with words we assume that people understand the meaning of words that we have learned to use as evangelicals. So, I just want to make sure that when we’re communicating this, that when we are teaching basically, that people understand what we are talking about, that the gospel as we said, it is for all humanity because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Dave:

It’s not only for all humanity, I mean, that’s true, but if any part of humanity does not believe the gospel, they are lost forever. So, Jesus said it 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 itself doesn’t do anything unless you believe it. And, believing in the gospel delivers me from the wrath of God because God’s wrath is against sin. He is a holy, righteous God and when man has rebelled against Him and taken his own way--all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way as Isaiah said in

Chapter 53--the consequences are serious.

Tom:

Condemnation, John 3:18.

Dave:

Eternal.

Tom:

Right. “He who does not believe is condemned already.” But this is a gift and this is one of the points that we want to drive home. Some people say; Well, look, it’s an exclusive club, we used that term before. No, it’s not. It’s for all. We quoted the Scripture--all who will come and it’s a free gift.

Dave:

Well yeah, we can develop the thought of the gift but first of all, you say it’s an exclusive club. Some people object. They say it’s too narrow minded, dogmatic--why should I have to believe that? Well, it’s like saying, why should I have to believe that 2 + 2 = 4. Well, the fact is, it is four. Why should I have to believe? This is truth--we’re talking about truth. We’re not talking about ideas; we’re not talking about philosophy; we’re talking about what God has said. First of all, God has said the wages of sin is death. You sin against me, you have forfeited the very life that I have given you. God says, look, I gave you life and existence for a purpose. Don’t you think that the Creator has the right to determine what life will be? That sounds maybe oppressive but it’s not when, as we mentioned earlier, the Creator loves us and His way is best. So, when man rebels against God and takes the life and existence that God has given him and presumes to live it for himself--In other words, he has literally robbed God of the very life--you could say he has taken a life, he has committed murder. When I take the life that God gave me out of His hands and I insist on living it for myself the way I want to do it--Of course, that’s the whole problem in the world. We have 5.8 billion people doing that—well then I have forfeited the right to be in God’s universe. There’s very serious consequences. Now, God loves us and Christ died for us; he paid the penalty for our sins, were that not the case, we couldn’t be forgiven and now God wants to forgive us. Well, if He offers this to everyone, how stubborn do you have to be to say, that’s too narrow minded, why should I have to believe that? Well, that’s the way it is in life. You don’t get on a United Airlines jet to New York with a ticket to the Matterhorn in Disneyland, you know. There are rules and regulations. You can’t even play checkers without rules.

Tom:

The pilot doesn’t come out back through the airplane and say; which way would you like to go?

Dave:

Yeah. What button do you want me to punch next? and see where it gets us. The God of the universe has the right to lay out the rules. And, wouldn’t we want to follow the rules? Well, we haven’t so we’re going to have to come back to Him on His terms and that’s what the gospel is. It explains the terms for being forgiven, for being reconciled to God, coming back to Him on His terms. And, I’ve got to be careful. See, unfortunately Tom, the gospel is often presented as--well, you alluded to it earlier--we’ve forgotten about sin. It’s not sin anymore, its: I kind of messed my life up, you know and things aren’t going well for me and now I come to Jesus and He’ll make everything work out just the way I would like it to. That is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is, that I am a sinner and the wages of sin is eternal separation from God and I’d better come to him in repentance and I had better believe the gospel. Not because it’s going to make me happier or bless me or make me prosperous; that’s the sort of thing that’s being offered now, but I had better believe the gospel because it’s the truth. And, if I don’t believe the truth, I will be seduced by the lie. I believe the gospel because when I believe the gospel, I am honoring God. I’m saying, God tells the truth. God really loves me. If I don’t believe the gospel, then I’m saying God is a liar and I can do better than God. That’s a horrible thing for human beings to reject the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Tom:

The very idea that God would pay the penalty for our sins--that God himself would become a man to die in our place. Some people think, maybe in the selfish mode, well, wait a minute, I have to confess my sins and I have to do this in order to--what’s God’s part in this? They don’t recognize that he paid a penalty that’s staggering. I mean, just think of it, God becoming a man and dying. If that doesn’t motivate somebody to understand His love and to move into wanting what He wants, the desire that let Him take control of our lives, I don’t know what does.

Dave:

It’s not just a physical death, of course, but as He hung there on the Cross, I mean, what men did to Him would only add to our condemnation, but He paid the price that His own infinite justice required for sin. It’s only on that basis that we can be forgiven. The gospel, when I believe it, brings forgiveness. Forgiveness of sin and eternal life is a free gift from God.

Tom:

You know, I wasn’t just thinking about the physical side, I was thinking about the humility, the humiliating aspect of the whole act. That’s, you know, sometimes we don’t like to be humbled and for God to humble Himself, wow!

Dave:

One of the hardest things, Tom, I’m sure you’ve experienced it, if you’ve ever been falsely accused and you realize that there is no point in responding--I mean, there’s nothing you can do. Jesus was falsely accused, misunderstood, belittled, betrayed, humiliated and He didn’t respond, He didn’t strike back. If He had, there would be no salvation for us. I think that is one of the most wonderful things about the Cross because, Jesus, it says, “...as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, he opened not his mouth.” He didn’t say, you idiots! I mean, I’m God, I could destroy you in a minute but I’m going to die for you anyway in spite of your evil. No, He didn’t retaliate, He didn’t respond. Peter tells us, 1 Peter chapter 2, when He suffered He threatened not. He didn’t respond but he committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. And, Peter say in that, He gave us an example that we should follow His steps as well. But we have a tendency to want to defend ourselves, retaliate, get a little revenge and so forth. But the gospel--what does the gospel do? Well, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe. What does it save us from? It saves us from the eternal judgment that we deserve because of our sins.

Gary:

We hope you have enjoyed this special edition of 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. 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 in the U.S., 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 #2608, 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 return to our series of programs based on Dave’s book, Seeking and Finding God, and “Can the Bible’s Claims be Substantiated?” In “Religion in the News”, “Celebrating Calvin’s Birthday.” We’ll take a look at that story, and address the question, “Can Finite Beings Understand Infinite Truth?” 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.

The Doctrine of Salvation

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 the future Contending for the Faith, stay tuned. We’ll have our 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,

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

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

Tom:

Our topic for this segment, Understanding the Scriptures, is the gospel of salvation and Dave, I think this is wonderful. We’re going to be dealing with this, not just this week but for the weeks to come because it’s such an awesome doctrine. All the aspects of it are just so wonderful because it’s what Christ has done for us. Last week we talked about the gospel, where it came from. Some say today well, this is just an idea of teaching that these people made up who followed Jesus and it’s basically man made, man produced. But we know from scripture that’s not true. 1 Peter 1:20-21 tells us: “He that is Jesus indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world.”

Dave:

That is, foreordained to be the sacrifice for our sins. He is also called the Lamb, slain from before the foundation of the world.

Tom:

So, last week we talked about prophets, how that was a testimony, a testament to how the gospel, the Word of God, had to be exactly that, had to be His Word because of prophesy. These are proofs to that effect, but it’s awesome to consider that the gospel of our salvation was in the mind and the heart of God before creation. What we want to do is to explore as much about the gospel that we can and some very basic things. Before humanity was created, it was in the mind and the heart of God. This wasn’t something he was trying to solveOops, we made creation. In Genesis it tells us it is good, it is good, it is very good and then something went awry and now he’s got a problem of how to figure it out. That’s not what the scriptures testify to. The other thing is, what does the gospel do? Now, we want to get into the practical aspect of what God has done for us and how that affects us eternally, temporally. What does the gospel do in terms of our lives?

Dave:

We quoted last week, Ephesians 2: 8,9,10: “For by grace are you saved,...” so it brings me into the grace of God and creates a real gratitude on my part that God would forgive me, that he would save me. “By grace are you saved through faith, and that...” you know, it causes me to believe God, now I am trusting him-- “...and that not of yourselves, it’s a gift of God.” So again, I am very grateful to God because he has given me a gift that I couldn’t pay for. “By grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves is a gift of God--not of works lest any man should boast.” So, I’ve been humbled, I’ve come to realize that there is nothing that I could do and I’m not trying to please God in order to get to heaven. I’m not trying to prove to God, you know...sometimes people when they pray and we don’t really confess our sins and say Lord, I’m sorry I did that but it’s almost like we are thinking, but just give me another chance, Lord, and I’ll show you that’s not the kind of a guy I am, you know. No, I’ve been humbled. It’s by God’s grace and by God’s mercy, it’s a gift that I couldn’t earn it, but it says we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. “If any man be in Christ... 11 Cor. 5:17...he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, all things have become new.” I can remember--Oh my goodness, sixty years, coming up sixty years since I opened my heart to Christ and I can remember like it was yesterday. There was a transformation in my life. I had been--well, I’m almost ashamed to admit it over the radio but--I was kind of a difficult person. I had been in at least a thousand fights, probably more, and this was the summer before I entered high school. I mean, my life was completely changed. I remember when I stood there and let some guy hit me because I just couldn’t, in my heart, it was my fault and I couldn’t double my fists and go after him and the guys that saw that were just absolutely astonished. I remember the night that I was saved, for the first time in my life I wasn’t afraid to die, in fact, I almost wished that I would so I would meet the Lord that I now loved and I had just met. He had come into my heart. So, when we are born again there is a transformation that you can’t escape with—you have new hunger for the Word of God and new understanding of the Word of God and a desire to tell others. It’s a complete transformation when we really meet Jesus.

Tom:

We quoted this last week. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for all those who believe.” And even the “believe” part of that, I mean, it’s another demonstration of how God has to be involved because if this is something that truly we can’t do, God has to do for us, then even the way in which we receive this has to be so unique that it covers everybody from the youngest, from those with learning deficiencies, those with brain damage, those--it cuts through all that. All they have to do is believe and only God could bring that. One of my favorite examples out of the scriptures is the thief on the cross. What could he do tied to that cross, what could he do?

Dave:

Nailed to that cross!

Tom:

The thief was nailed?

Dave:

Right, I think he was.

Tom:

Do you? Okay.

Dave:

Well yes, that’s what they did, that’s what crucifixion was.

Tom:

But what could he do?

Dave:

Well he certainly had nothing to offer to God. He didn’t even have a life, he couldn’t do any good works, but he could receive as a free gift salvation from Jesus Christ and he apparently understood who Jesus was and that he was dying in his place for his sins.

Tom:

And what does Jesus say to him: “This day...” I mean, the promise of salvation from the lips of our Lord and Savior right then and there. Absolutely incredible. “This day you will be with me in paradise.” The man believed. To me, only God could come up with a solution, not just the solution of salvation in Christ but the method of receiving the solution, to me is miraculous.

Dave:

Not a word about purgatory, by the way.

Tom:

Not a word about baptism, by the way or good deeds, or church attendance or a thing...well I’m going to do better.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

There is nothing we can do except receive Him.

Dave:

The slate was wiped clean. He was forgiven of his sins because Christ paid that penalty and we have to come back to that and keep coming back to that and we can become very sentimental about the physical sufferings of Christ on the cross. But thousands were crucified, suffered on crosses. That wasn’t what Jesus wept, by the way, and sweat as it were drops of blood in the garden...”Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me.” Thousands were crucified and I’m sure a lot of them gritted their teeth. They wouldn’t give those Roman soldiers that were pounding those nails into their hands and feet, they wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of a whimper. They were going to go down in defiance. Jesus could bear the physical pain, that wasn’t what He was concerned about. It was that He would be made--the Bible says... “that He who knew no sin was made sin for us”...that He would become the very thing that He hated. He would be as though He were sin itself. He would be punished for the sins of the whole world and pay the penalty that His own infinite justice demanded. That’s what His holy soul shrank from and that’s where salvation comes from is through His pain and the penalty. It is not through the physical sufferings that He suffered. And again, we have to get back and hammer at that, because otherwise God can’t be just and forgive us.

Gary:

We hope you have enjoyed this special edition of 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. 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 in the U.S., 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 #2508, 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 complete our series of programs from 1999 based on Dave and Tom’s classic book, The Seduction of Christianity. In Religion in the News, “The Church of England Turns to Crytals.” We’ll take a look at that story, and address the question, “Does The Seduction of Christianity Cause Division in the Church?” 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.

The Doctrine of Salvation

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 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,

Understanding the Scriptures

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.

How Could Satan Tempt Jesus?

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 . A transcript for this program is currently being prepared, and will be posted here in 2-4 weeks

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

We take up 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. We are in Matthew chapter 4, and I’ll start with verse 1: "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil."

Dave:

Now that’s the Holy Spirit, is leading him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And you know part of the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. It’s called the Lord’s Prayer, but he never prayed it. Lord, teach us to pray after this manner. So I would say it’s a pattern of prayer, and part of it is: Lead us not unto temptation. But now, Jesus is being led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. Now Tom, this verse raises some questions I’m sure--well, in anyone’s mind who reads it, Jesus is led of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to be tempted of the devil? Well, the word tempted, doesn’t that Jesus is going to be given some alternative that it is just going to, Wow, he’ll be so desirous of falling into this sin that he will just have to really grit his teeth. No, in Him there was no sin, he did no sin, he knew no sin, but it’s a test, a different word, to see whether he is really God, whether he is the Son of God, whether he’s worthy to be our Saviour, it’s a test. Lead us not into a test of our faith--not that that would be wrong, nothing wrong with that, God will test us, but we are not...okay God, you know, it doesn’t matter, I can’t fall. Let him thinketh that he standeth take heed lest he fall. So I at least have enough humility to say, Lord, I’d sure rather not, and be led into a test of my faith, but if that’s your will, okay.

Tom:

Verse 2, "And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered."

Dave:

Well Tom, I’ve done a little fasting, but nothing like that, fasting for the purpose of prayer. But this is a specific test, and he must have been very hungry.

Tom:

And Dave, Jesus fasting forty days and forty nights, as we understand that we are to fast, that it’s for our strengthening spiritually, isn’t it? Isn’t that why I would fast?

Dave:

Well, to some extent it should also be for prayer, in time of prayer to devote ourselves totally to whatever it is that they are praying about, and so forth. Well, the tempter, I mean, this you would say he’s playing into the devil’s hands. Look at this. Certainly He would be weak, no nutrition, nothing but water, and you could be hallucinating, not Jesus, but a normal person would be hallucinating at that point. So, He’s led of the Spirit to do this, and the devil thinks, "Well, I’ve got him now, I’ll throw out in front of him a temptation that--two-edged sword." So the next verse he says, the tempter came to him and said, "If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread." Okay, so he’s challenging His deity. Okay, look, if you don’t do this it will prove that you’re not the Son of God. So that is like saying--an interviewer on the radio asked me, Have you stopped beating your wife? Well, how are you going to respond to that? I never beat her. Yeah, but have you stopped beating her? That’s a tough one! "Well, if you’re the Son of God command these stones to be made into bread." Yes, but if I do I will be bowing to Satan, I will be following his suggestions, I will be honoring his temptation. Now I’ve got to prove that I’m the Son of God. No, I don’t have to prove that I am the Son of God. So, it’s a very clever ploy on the part of Satan.

Tom:

Verse 4, "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Tom:

Tom, he’s answering him with Scripture. It says, "It is written." Well, where is it written? Well, it’s in Deuteronomy 8 verse 3, and it’s very similar, because God says, in the earlier verses leading up to that, he says, "I have led you through the wilderness to test you, to know what was in your heart so that you would know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." It doesn’t say a rabbi, it doesn’t say a theologian that has a degree in theology, it says, man. So apparently, any ordinary man can live by feeding upon every word of God. Well, that tells us something, you don’t have to be a Greek expert or a Hebrew expert, you don’t have to be a pastor or much less the magisteriam of the Catholic church, I don’t have to look to them. But I can--Wow--I can feed on the Word of God too! Well, that’s good news. And Jesus then quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3.

Tom:

Dave, you know, I wish I was better at remembering verses, the addresses where they come from, it’s getting a little more difficult the more I age, but this one I’ve got wired because this is Matthew chapter 4, verse 4, and it’s also the same in Luke chapter 4 verse 4. So, I have two shots at remembering where it is, so that’s an encouragement.

Dave:

I think we ought to follow Christ’s example, we face temptation from the Word of God. It is written, okay, this is our command, this is what we are supposed to do, and that would relate back to Tom, to what we had earlier about this National Day of Prayer. It is commanded, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And Jesus, you quoted it earlier, Tom, "You deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father who is in heaven." And yet we have this National Day of Prayer. It was started by evangelical Christians for a considerable number of years. Shirley Dobson and Vonette Bright, the wives of two leading Christians, they directed this thing, they headed it up. Well, evangelical Christians, what are you doing? The National Day of Prayer, wait a minute, you know that the vast majority of Americans, they may call themselves Christians, they’re not real Christians. Are you going to lead these people into an abomination, pretending that they know God, or how about all the people that have false gods, are you going to encourage them, we’ll all get together. But this was started by evangelical Christians. I think it’s shocking, but anyway, we dealt with that with a light touch.

Tom:

Dave, let me just read verse 5, and then we will pick up with that, the Lord willing, next week. "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, verse 6, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." You know, Satan works both ways, doesn’t he, Dave? He says in Genesis chapter 3, verse 1, "Yea, hath God said--" to undermine the Word of God, and now we have him facing Jesus and quoting Scripture to him. Unbelievable!

Dave:

He can quote it too, misquote it. Misapply it.

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 #2308, 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 Can the Bible’s claims be substantiated? In Religion in the News, Celebrating Calvin’s birthday. We’ll take a look at that story and address the question: Can finite beings understand infinite truth? 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.

Are You The Chaff Or The Wheat?

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 . The transcript for this program is as follows:

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

Gary:

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

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scripture segment, we are in the gospel of Matthew, we are in Matthew Chapter 3, and we’ve going to pick up with Verse 12. And here we have John the Baptist speaking, he’s referring to Jesus, and he begins: “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Now Dave, unquenchable fire, chaff, he’s not talking about the redeemed here, but those who have rejected salvation that only he can provide, or has provided.

Dave:

Yeah. It’s pretty clear that the fire in Verse 11, is not the same as the fire in Verse 12. Because, Verse 11 he says, “He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire…” Well, if you’re baptized with the Holy Ghost, you must be a believer, you must be redeemed. But they are going to be baptized with fire also? Well, their works certainly will. And there will be some purging, and at the judgment seat of Christ some will suffer loss. They will not lose their salvation, as Paul says…but 1 Corinthians Chapter 3, every man’s works will be tried by fire. I think that’s what it’s talking about there. But now the chaff will be burned up with unquenchable fire, that’s someone else, this is not the redeemed. This is not those who are baptized in fire, but these are those who never were saved, and they are heading for judgment. So this would be the fire, the lake of fire. But we have to be careful that we don’t confuse the subject of these two verses one with the other.

Tom:

Verse 13, “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” Dave, this has always been a puzzlement to me why Jesus would be…why he would even be baptized. John’s baptism was the baptism of repentance, and certainly there was nothing for Jesus to repent of.

Dave:

Yeah well, let’s take a look at that. Jesus comes to John, to Jordan, to be baptized of him. One question you could ask is, How does he know that this One is sinless, because that’s basically what he is saying. Well I’m calling people to repent of their sin, but you don’t have any sin to repent of, I ought to be baptized by you. Well, they were cousins, they were related, and we don’t know how much time they may have spent together as boys, who knows? But surely, John the Baptist knew who Jesus was, and I think he knew in his heart that that was the one to whom he referred when he said, There is One standing among you whom you know not, but He is greater than I, and so forth. So, why then would Jesus—as John the Baptist says, Wait a minute, I don’t want to baptize you, you ought to baptize me…then why would Jesus come to do this? Well he tells you in Verse 15: “Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer [that’s old English], allow it to be so now: [This is not an eternal matter] for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” Well, the Jews were told to repent of their sin and be baptized, and Jesus, he is representing the whole human race. He has come—why would He be on a cross? He didn’t deserve to be up there—because he’s taking our place. So, not only on the cross, but in the baptism…here He comes to be baptized. Well, He has nothing to repent of, He had no reason why He should have been on the cross, but He took our place.

Tom:

As the Son of man.

Dave:

Right. So, as the representative of the human race, He’s being baptized by John the Baptist. But it wasn’t anything the He needed, of course, because He was sinless. In fact, He could say, Which of you convinceth me of sin? They knew He was sinless. But there are some things in the Bible that…a little bit difficult. Well why, why is He being baptized? Well, He is representing the human race. He represents the human race, not just on the cross, hanging there for sin, but in other ways as well.

Tom:

Verse 16: “And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Dave:

Well Tom, as you know, when we get to John’s gospel Chapter 1, John the Baptist says, I knew him not. In other words, I didn’t know He was the Messiah when he said, There is one standing among you.

Tom:

This is John the Baptist.

Dave:

Right, John the Baptist. I don’t think he knew at that time. I think he must have had some inkling of this, but he hadn’t yet seen the sign that would fulfill it. So, when he comes out—and then John the Baptist says, But He who sent me to baptize with water, and the same said unto me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding upon him like a dove, the same is He, and He will…and so forth. So, Christ is fulfilling all righteousness, but he’s also, he’s coming there because this had to be…how is John going to know who the Messiah is? Well you would say, He aught to have…He was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb, wouldn’t that be enough? He should just know. Well, but you see, as we said earlier, Tom, and I think we emphasize it, and we ought to continue to emphasize it, you can prove the Bible. This is not just a mystical experience, this is not Muhammad, that’s horrible, we won’t even get into that. I mean, he thought he was possessed of the devil, he didn’t know what it was that was happening to him, and so forth. And John the Baptist is clearly told: I am going to show you who this is. When He comes up out of the water the Spirit will descend upon him like a dove, and you will know that this is the One. So, a number of aspects of this that were essential: and the voice from heaven, This is my beloved Son. Well, but if you go to unity (meaning the unity of the school of Christianity), you’re a stranger, you’ve never been there before, everybody recites: I am a child of God. Well no, Paul tells us in Galatians, You are the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, you’re not born a child of God. To become children of God through faith in Christ, and it’s because of who he is and what he has done, and so forth. So John the Baptist, not only does he know his heart, but he is given a sign to make certain. And yet Tom, as you know, and we haven’t come to that…John the Baptist, who had all these signs: filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb…he comes to doubt. And in Luke, he sends some disciples asking Jesus, Are you really, are you the One, or do we look for another? We learn so many lessons, Tom, about…you can be absolutely certain, you know for sure, and yet you can still doubt. And after all the signs that the Israelites saw in the wilderness, and we won’t recite them—wow, they still rebelled!

Tom:

Well Dave, even in this day, how many of us has said, Well, God, why is this happening to me? All of a sudden, the strong faith that we had takes a jolt because God isn’t meeting up to our expectations, that’s a problem.

Dave:

Right.

Gary:

Dave and Tom will take up 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. 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 PO Box 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call us at our toll free order number 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 2208, 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 is Christianity so intolerant? In Religion in the News: Praying without the name of Jesus. We’ll take a look at that story and address the question: Why do Dave and Tom always bring bad news? 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. In the meantime, 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 PO Box 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.

How Can Jesus Baptize With Fire?

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 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. Now, our final segment:

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

We take up 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, we’re in Matthew chapter 3, and we’re going to pick up with verse 11, we read it last week, but let’s go over it again, Dave. “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: (and of course, this is John the Baptist speaking) but he that cometh after me (referring to Jesus) is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”

Dave:

Well, Tom, that’s a controversial verse. Of course, what does “the fire” mean? Well, I think you would get a hint of it in 1Corinthians chapter 3, “Every man’s works will be tried by fire.” You get a hint of it in Revelation chapter 1, where you see Jesus—this is not some cozy Jesus which you crawl up and sit on his lap like some of the people who have you visualize Jesus, this is—ah his eyes are like a flame of fire, his eyes look right through you. Okay? This is the fire of God’s justice, of God’s truth, you can’t escape it, but we need that to purify us and to bring us to bring us to repentance. So, I think that’s what the fire is—He’s not going to drop you in some fire. But “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” Now, I know nothing about Greek, but in Greek the prepositions are a little bit difficult. Does it mean with, or in, or by? Well, the King James translated it with, with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. Now, I’m going to just point out some comparisons here, and I’m going to leave it up to our listeners to come to their own conclusion, I’m not going to try to force my ideas, but they may find this rather interesting. This is mentioned in all four gospels.

Tom:

Dave, even in the gospel of John, John says that this same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.

Dave:

Yeah, so who is baptizing with the Holy Ghost? Well, it’s Jesus, and baptized into, or however you want to say it. So, Jesus is the baptizer, and the Holy Spirit is the one into whom they are being baptized. Okay. Now Tom, as I mentioned, the prepositions are kind of difficult in Greek.

Tom:

Dave, can I say something first. You always say, “I know nothing about Greek.” Some people—I know that you do know something about Greek but you wouldn’t call yourself an expert, but you have the ability to check the experts out and see if what they are saying makes sense.

Dave:

Well, I go to my concordance.

Tom:

That’s right, but the point is that they will say, well, he doesn’t know anything about Greek, why is he even going there, and so on. No, it’s just the way you talk, just for the sake of our listeners and viewers.

Dave:

Okay. Now, the Bible makes it—it is written in such a way that you couldn’t make a mistake about this Greek preposition. Is it “in” or is it “by” or is it “with?” Well, because, not only does it say the same thing in every gospel, it says—I’ll read it from Matthew again where we are: “I indeed baptize you with water.” So, John is the baptizer, and you’re being baptized into water, “but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you.” No, not John the baptizer, but Jesus is going to baptize, “he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” We dealt with the fire, but just take that. So apparently, somehow you’re going to be immersed into the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. All right, now this is the way, it precisely says it that way in every gospel. Okay, now we are showing how this carries through into the Book of Acts, it is precise. Chapter 1, verse 4: “And being assembled together with them, (this is Jesus after his resurrection) commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.” “For John truly baptized with water; (now I’m being very precise, John was the one who baptized into water) but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” So now, as John baptized you in the water,

similarly you’re going to be baptized into the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will be like the water. It’s amazing how it is always said that way. Okay, let’s go down—sorry I didn’t look these things up—let’s go down to, in Acts 10, we have Peter, who is led of the Holy Spirit to go into the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. You’re not supposed to do that as a Jew, so they thought, but Jesus had said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Okay? The disciples couldn’t understand that. So anyway, “As he spake the word unto them”—well, let’s read it here: Acts 10:44: “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.” Well, it sounds kind of like the Holy Spirit is the one in which they are being immersed. “And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God” and so forth. “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.” Now, you go to chapter 11, he comes back to Jerusalem and the apostles and elders are all over Peter: You went into the home of the Gentiles, how could you do that! The Lord had told them that they should, but Peter had a pretty strong reason for it, but God had to let a sheet down, you know, the whole story of unclean animals, and he relates what we just read in chapter 10, what happened in Cornelius’ household. Chapter 11, verse 16, “Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.” In other words, the same as being baptized in the water is being baptized with the Holy Ghost. Then if we go to 1 Corinthians 12, now he is talking about the gifts of the Spirit: Diversities of gifts, same Spirit; Diversities of operations, same God, manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man. So there is going to be a manifestation of the Spirit. And then he goes on and says verse 13: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” Now we had it all through John, I’m sorry, we had it all through the four gospels made very, very clear, I indeed baptize you with water, someone’s coming along and he’s going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And then Jesus repeats it in Acts 1, and then Peter says it, Well, we remember what Jesus had said, as John baptized in water you’ll be baptized in the Holy Ghost, that’s what this is. Then, 1 Corinthians 12:13—I can’t think it’s the same thing—“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” This is not Christ baptizing us into the Spirit, but this is the Spirit baptizing us into the body of Christ, and that certainly happens to everybody. I believe it happens the moment they are saved. Now, is there something else, Jesus baptizing us into the Holy Spirit? Well, I’m not going to try to tell anyone what I believe, but as I said last week, I’ve shown you the differences, I’ve shown you how precise it is stated, I’ve showed you the difference. This is the Holy Spirit baptizing into the body, and 1 Corinthians 12, is that really Christ baptizing everyone into the Holy Spirit? I’ll let everyone come to their own conclusion, and we’ll move on next week.

Dave and Tom will resume their discussion on the topic of salvation next week, 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 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for Program number 2108, 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, Is tolerance today supreme virtue? In Religion in the News, Santadia, growing in Catholic Venezuela. We’ll take a look a that story and address the question: Will the Rapture be pre-trib? 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. You’ve been listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. For more information about The Berean Call, write to us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call us toll free at our order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, 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.

What Happens To Unfruitful Trees?

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 .The transcript for this program is as follows:

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

Gary:

We resume 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’re in Matthew Chapter 3, and I will pick up with Verse 10: “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” What’s that, Dave, is that…somebody would say, Oh, you mean, they’re cast into hell, is that the analogy here?

Dave:

It could be. Tom, John the Baptist is not trying to teach people how to manage a tree farm or something like that. The Bible, Jesus Himself, often used, parables they’re called…there are illustrations that are given. And how can they illustrate heavenly things except with earthly examples? So, it’s not talking about trees, of course, it’s talking about human beings. And if the human being does not bring forth good fruit—in other words, he’s cut himself off from God, he’s cutting himself off of the source of life. A fruit doesn’t come from the apple tree, it comes from the roots. Somehow, it’s not in the branches, although the branches bear the fruit. So, people who…men, women, who cut themselves off from the source of life, and the source of fruit—well, what are you going to do with them? Ultimately they die. I don’t think it necessarily means that they’re going to be cut off instantly, because God is very patient, but certainly, one day they will be cut off. Now I don’t know that this—when Jesus is talking about the true vine, we’re the branches, and they prune. I used to live in Southern California, Riverside, California, where the Ontario airport is now. That land was just part of the largest vineyard in the world. I remember, every spring they’d cut these things back to nothing. There’s nothing but the, you know, the root and the original stalk. This can be part of what it means. But he’s not talking about, I don’t think he’s talking about a grape vine, they’re talking about a tree, probably a fruit tree. It’s good for nothing, if it won’t—look, if you have a peach tree and it won’t produce peaches, what are you going to do with it? You’re not going to just pretend you’re getting peaches from it, it’s going to have to be cut down, and you get another one in its place. So, I think that’s probably the are major meaning; Look out, and when John the Baptist is saying, The axe will be laid to the root of the tree, Look out! You remember, in Daniel, the watchers said, Cut it down. And Jesus says in His parable of the tree, Cut it down, why is it a burden to the ground anymore, get rid of this thing.

Tom:

Mmhmm. And of course Dave, John the Baptist was addressing the, you know, the Pharisees and the Saducees who came to him and they were, in their pride, thinking, Hey wait a minute, you know, we’re sons of Abraham, he’s our father. Yet he’s trying to get their attention that these are serious issues with regard to, as we’ve mentioned in the earlier program, where are they going to spend eternity?

Dave:

We didn’t create ourselves, life comes from God, and He has loaned this to us. You know, the Law of Biogenesis: life only comes from life. That’s the stickler, or one of many sticklers for the atheist. Where did life come from? You don’t even know what life is. Where did the first life come from? Of course, if there was a big bang, which I don’t believe in, but if there was it would have sterilized this entire, everything in this universe a trillion times over. That is what pasteurization is about. It would have pasteurized this universe a trillion times over. You’re not going to get any life out of there, but the atheist, he has no choice. Well, somehow, it happened. Now the Bible tells us in John 1, that Jesus is the Creator of everything, by Him all things made that were made, nothing that was made was made without Him. And interestingly enough it says, In Him was life. Jesus offered to give life. And if we’re going to have eternal life we will have to be—we’ll have to receive it from Him, we will have to be in touch with Him, and if we’re out there wandering on our own and we have turned our back on Christ, don’t blame God if you end up in hell, that’s the truth.

Tom:

Verse 11, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”

Dave:

This is a controversial verse we could get into. What is he talking about? He that cometh after me…well, John is the forerunner, so this is the one he’s preparing his way, and one who comes after me, he is greater, he is mightier than I—I’m not even worthy to bare his…untie his shoes, or whatever. Well he’s talking about the M—

Tom:

Yeah, Jesus, the Messiah.

Dave:

Talking about the Messiah, of course, and that certainly was true. So, John is not trying to draw attention to himself, his whole purpose…he’s a signpost to Jesus, and that’s all he wants to do. So he’s making that very clear, and then this is rather interesting, he says: He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Now what is this fire?

Tom:

Yeah, Dave, we have two fires, we have “cast into the fire” in Verse 10, and now we have “being baptized with fire” in Verse 11.

Dave:

I don’t know if we have time to get into this.

Tom:

Well, we’ll pick up, we’ll pick up with it next week.

Dave:

But is this a physical fire? Well, are people cast into physical fire? Well, the Catholics sure believe it, that’s their purgatory. The Muslims sure believe it, and they have more to say about hell, the Qur’an does, and the Qur’an even says, Allah says, when you’re skin—well, that’s pretty shallow…in the lake of fire everything is gone, you’re burned up totally, completely, more than your skin—but Allah says, I’ll give you another skin back again so I can torture you some more. I don’t think physical fire can really cleanse in purgatory. How is that going to cleanse someone? That’s not the way it works. This is a moral problem we’re dealing with, sin is a moral problem.

Tom:

Plus it doesn’t pay the penalty for sin, Dave, which we know is an infinite penalty.

Dave:

Of course. So, Paul tells us, 1Corinthians Chapter 3: Every man’s works will be tried by fire. Now, there again, I don’t think that’s a physical fire. What are we going to do, you’re going to bundle all your works, all the good and bad things you did, and throw them into a physical fire? I don’t see how a fire could distinguish motives, could evaluate works…a physical fire. It’s, I believe it’s a fire of God’s justice, his truth, his judgment, his eyes are as a flame of fire. So, no trees to hide behind, Adam and Eve, you are naked before God, and your conscience isn’t even going to weasel your way out of this because no more can you make excuses. I think this is what it’s talking about.

Tom:

Dave, so we go back to baptism, John is baptizing with water unto repentance. Obviously, these people were put under the water, there is symbolism here. Baptism with fire, I think we have symbolism here. This is an expression of how God is going to…what?

Dave:

Test everyone’s works.

Tom:

Yeah.

Dave:

And this is mentioned in every gospel, and I’m going to let people think about this for a week. Every time, it says, As I baptize in water. Isn’t that what it says?

Tom:

Mmhmm. I indeed baptize you with water.

Dave:

But He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Now, let me suggest—oh some people are not going to like this—1Corinthians Chapter 12, It is the Holy Spirit who will baptize you into the church. By one spirit have we all been baptized into one body. There the Holy Spirit is the baptizer and you are being baptized into the body. But here, water, he baptizes you in water, and that is like the Holy Spirit. So now, Jesus is the baptizer, and you are being immersed in the Holy Spirit. Every time it’s said exactly like that. You go to Acts Chapter 1, when Jesus says, John indeed baptized with water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Not many days hence when Peter comes back and reports at Jerusalem, he says, We remembered that Jesus had said, Just as John baptized in water, you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Now that doesn’t sound to me like it’s baptized into the church at that point. Jesus is the one who baptizes you in the Holy Spirit. Well, we’ll let people think about that.

Gary:

Dave and Tom will continue 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. 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 PO Box 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call us at our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for program #2008, 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, do you have a rational basis for your faith? In Religion in the News, “Doggie Yoga” we’ll take a look at that story and address the question: How can we prepare the next generation? 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. In the meantime, 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.

Who Was The 'Generation of Vipers'?

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 . The transcript for this program is below:

UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES

We resume 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’re in Matthew Chapter 3, and we’re going to pick up with Verse 7. “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Saducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance….”

Dave:

Tom, I guess those who have been listening are following this, but they would realize what it’s talking about here. John Verse 4, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Verse 4, had his raiment of camel’s hair, and leather girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey. This is—he’s out in the wilderness and people are coming to him. Amazing, he didn’t have a stadium rented, he didn’t use a coliseum there. And I’m not criticizing anyone who could do that, but this is quite an anomaly here. These people are going out of the city out to the wilderness, they’re listening to—

Tom:

And Dave, there are no signs and wonders taking place out there.

Dave:

No, no gimmicks.

Tom:

No—right.

Dave:

And no techniques. He doesn’t say, Now, remember, cross yourself and bring your medals.

Tom:

Or a, you know, kind of a Benny Hinn type approach, you don’t find any of that here.

Dave:

He’s not blowing on people and knocking them over, he’s not asking anybody for money. He’s not telling the great needs of his ministry, he doesn’t even have an airplane to fly. I mean, this guy, he’s something else! And yet they are drawn out there because he was foretold in the scriptures, this is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make strait a path for the Lord. So, this is John the Baptist, and Wow! They are coming to him confessing their sins, Verse 6, but now he sees Pharisees and Saducees come to his baptism. Now of course he’s been studying Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller, how to be positive—

Tom:

How to win friends, and influence people.

Dave:

Right, right, and so he says, Well, let me encourage you guys, he said, You generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Umm, I don’t think you’d get very far on Oprah Winfrey’s show with that, she’d throw you off instantly.

Tom:

Well, this is not the Buddhist way, as we’ve learned. This is not the Dalai Lama’s way, at least according to what we can see he’s promoting, not according to the secret stages that you go through, and initiations stages.

Dave:

Right, and there’s no secrets to this either. You remember when Pat Robertson was promoting the secret kingdom, do you remember that?

Tom:

Mmhmm.

Dave:

I don’t know how Pat heard about this secret kingdom, because I don’t read of it in the Bible. But anyway, somehow he got insights into a secret kingdom, and amazingly God gave him the franchise. And he was charging, I think it was a hundred dollars at that time for his book that outlined the secrets of the secret kingdom.

Tom:

But it was for ministry purposes.

Dave:

Right, right, yeah. And amazingly one of them, one of the secrets—well it went by 8 laws, and I don’t want to go into the details of that. But there again, we’re back into techniques.

Tom:

Sure.

Dave:

Laws.

Tom:

One of them was the Law of Reciprocity: that whatever you gave would come back to you.

Dave:

Ah yeah, that sounds like The Secret!

Tom:

It does, doesn’t it.

Dave:

The secret that now Oprah is promoting.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

But another one was the Law of Miracles. Now, any atheist would criticize us, he would say, Wait a minute, you guys, you believe in the god of the gaps, the only reason for god in your mind is because science hasn’t explained everything, but when science has explained everything we don’t need your god anymore, that’s out. No, that’s not the God we believe in. And furthermore, it doesn’t work by laws. That’s what we’ve been talking about, rituals or whatever. You can’t impress God, and you can’t activate God and make Him, whether it’s doodling or whatever it. So, Pat originally, as I recall, you correct me if I’m wrong, Tom, but it was a hundred dollars for the book to begin with.

Tom:

I don’t remember that part of it, but go ahead.

Dave:

Then it dropped to twelve ninety five of supply and demand, and then you could buy it in the book store for twelve ninety five, as I recall. And how did he get this secret, the secret kingdom? Remember what Jesus said, and I love it because He’s quoting from Isaiah 48:16, as I recall. And Tom, you know, I don’t hold myself to exact verse. I think it’s Isaiah 48:16, It says: I have spoken from the beginning; from the time that it was there am I. Well, you know that’s God speaking. Then he goes on and says, The Lord God and his Spirit have sent me—so you have the trinity. But he says, From the beginning I have spoken, and I have spoken nothing in secret. And Jesus was referring to that and he was claiming to be this One, who I believe is the Word, the God who speaks. So, you’ve got the One who speaks, the Word, you’ve got that God sent me and his Spirit, okay. And when Jesus was before the Pharisees, and you remember—well, it we before the chief priests and so forth—they said, Tell us of your ministry, and your disciples. I love it! Jesus said: I have not spoken in secret, why did you ask those that heard me. So, there’s no secret kingdom, but Jesus was claiming to be this One. And God does not speak in secret, whosoever will, may come. So, I don’t know how Pat kept a lot of people out of that kingdom for a while, but you know about that kingdom, Tom, and I’ll just shut up and let you talk. But we speak to storms and they cease, we speak to money and it comes, and Pat literally said: I have discovered that there are laws, and even the occultists can do this, but they do it for the wrong motive, but we do it for the Lord. So it reduced the whole thing to a system, to a formula. And anyway, we had better get back to John the Baptist. That’s not what he was preaching, this is not a secret kingdom, He’s calling everyone to—and you enter this kingdom by repentance.

Tom:

Right.

Dave;

And these are Jews who are being prepared for the Messiah. They are not to imagine that the Messiah just accepts them the way they are, and He’s going to come and rule over them. Wait a minute guys, you’ve got to clean some things up, you’ve got to repent.

Tom:

And of course, Verse 9, you certainly don’t get the idea that—although they claimed—that they had a badge, they were part of the club. And in fact it says, Verse 9: “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”

Dave:

So, we’ve got a problem right here, because John Hagge says that Jews have a different way of salvation. And, no don’t think you’re something special because you’re a Jew, that’s not going to get you into the kingdom of God. See, people say, Well, don’t Jews have a different way of salvation than Gentiles? No. Well, Tom, I hope I’m not getting off the track, but I think it’s very important. He is declaring something, you’re going to have to repent to be in the kingdom of God. And what does the Bible say? I love the Bible, you know that, Tom, I say that, maybe quite often. Well, it says, The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. And every place Paul went, every city, he went first into the synagogue and preached to the Jews. There is no separate way of salvation for Jews from what the Gentiles must enter into the kingdom by. So, this is what John is saying: Hey, guys, don’t think you’re somebody special just because you’re Jews because God can raise up children of Abraham from stones.

Tom:

Mmhmm. Dave, we have the same problem within Christianity. A lot of children who come out of Christian homes think that they are Christians just because their parents are Christians, but God doesn’t have any grandchildren.

Dave:

That’s right.

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. And now, to tell you more about our ministry here is TBC 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 Saviour.

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 PO Box 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call us at our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk, ask for program number 1908, 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, “Are you prepared for eternity?” In Religion in the News, “Oprah’s new earth,” we’ll take a look at that story, and address the question: Why are so many attracted to The Emerging Church? 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, write to us at PO Box 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us toll free at our order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, 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.

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understanding the scriptures

What Kingdoms Could Satan Offer to Jesus?

Why Did Satan Quote Scripture?

The Doctrine of Salvation

The Doctrine of Salvation

The Doctrine of Salvation

How Could Satan Tempt Jesus?

Are You The Chaff Or The Wheat?

How Can Jesus Baptize With Fire?

What Happens To Unfruitful Trees?

Who Was The 'Generation of Vipers'?

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