Bibleline Radio Show – 2006-08-08 – Contemporary terms that are not the Gospel

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Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Coming to you from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, declaring God’s love through radio and television, providing real answers to an ever-searching world. Got a question? Dial toll free at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here’s the host of Bibleline, Dr. Hank Lindstrom. Good morning and welcome to Bibleline great to be with you today. Thanks for tuning into the broadcast. We look forward to being with you each and every day. Monday through Friday as we come to you live from Tampa, Florida from our studios at the Calvary Community Church.

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You know, the message of the Gospel is being corrupted every day by the use of terms or phrases that Christians use. Jews to invite the laws to be saved. These terms demand or imply that human works or human effort is a part of the part of salvation. Biblical salvation is holy of the Lord. It’s according to Ephesians 2-9 not of works, lest anyone should boast or brag Ephesians 2-9. The unsaved listen carefully to every word that we say when we present the gospel.

Therefore, we need to be careful of what we say, because what we say is what the lost will hear. You might say, well, I don’t believe in salvation by works, but use of some of the terminology that people find popular today, add works to the plan of salvation. And I believe that you and I are going to be held accountable for what we say, because that is what the lost will hear. And obviously there are many. I have a list here on a sheet that you’re welcome to call and we’ll mail it out to you.

Twenty-two terms that are popular today that add works to salvation. One of those is commit your life to Christ. You might hear that many times, but actually the phrase commit your life. You will not find that in the Bible anywhere to be saved that you commit your life to Christ. But what it really means is you’re promising to live your life from now until you die for Christ and then you’ll be saved. And then of course that’s works. And we’re not saved by works.

I know that when I was pondering over that many, many, many years ago as to what was wrong with that phrase, I discovered over in Matthew chapter 22 something very interesting. You know those who generally present this phrase, commit your life to Christ, generally develop a little bit further and say that you’re to commit your total emotion and will and intellect to Christ. And that’s a popular evangelism tool by certain evangelistic groups in this country. But I was reading in Matthew 22 in verse 36 where a lawyer comes and tempts Christ saying, Master, what is the great command that is in the law?

And Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and immediately all of a sudden I said, Oh my goodness, look how clever the devil is. You see, love is a commitment. And notice it says here with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And that compares to the emotion, the will, and the intellect in this presentation that many groups use where you commit your total emotion, will, and intellect of Christ.

And I said, you know, in reality, the devil has used semantics to get us to say to keep The first commandment is the great commandment, the first commandment as a means of salvation. We know we are not saved by the commandments. Romans 3, 28 says, therefore we conclude, that’s the conclusion of the first three chapters of the book of Romans. And it says we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. So we are not saved by the deeds of the law.

Colatians 2 16 says knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Yet the devil is clever enough to take a phrase, commit your life or commit your total emotion will an intellect of Christ. And people just miss the connection here, because it’s identical, saying, you have to keep the first commandment.

And we know that nobody’s ever been saved by the commandments, and nobody can ever do thisFebruary. But this verse says, thou shalt love or commit, basically. Love is a commitment to meet the needs of that person that is loved. And it says, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, comparable to the emotions, with all thy soul, the will, and with all the intellect which is all my mind and there you have it the devil is a clever devil is me Now, once a person becomes saved, then it’s legitimate to ask a person to commit their life to Christ because as a believer, we ought to live for Christ.

We ought to totally commit our life to live for Him all the days of our life, but we don’t live for Christ to be saved. We trust Christ in what He did for us. You see, it’s not what we do for God that saves us. It’s what God did for us in Christ at the cross that brings about our salvation. And it’s so important to make that distinction. It’s not what we do for Christ, but it’s what Christ did for us that brings about salvation.

we trust in the finished work of Christ we become saved. Another one is that you have to give your heart or give your life to Christ to be saved. And that’s amazing because again that completely reverses the plan of salvation as it’s given in the Bible. I’ve heard some good Bible teachers when they get to the invitation say it’s not too too late for you to get saved. It’s not too late for you to give your heart or your life to Christ.

Let me just talk about John 1-12, a wonderful salvation verse, and it says, to as many as received Jesus Christ, to them God gave the authority for them to become the sons of God to them that believe on His name. This verse, and almost every verse you see, all of us is on salvation, have this order that God is the giver and that we’re the receivers. John 1.12 says to as many as received Jesus Christ, God gave authority for them to become the sons of God.

John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave. God is the giver. We’re the receivers as far as salvation is concerned. God has made the provision. We simply receive it. To tell somebody this loss that they have to give their life to Christ or give their heart makes us the giver and God the receiver. Do you follow me? It’s the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches in salvation without exception that God is the giver that we’re the receivers.

But when you say that you have to give anything to God to be saved, that makes you the giver And God the receiver, that is 180 degrees out of phase with the plan of salvation that’s given in the Bible. God is the giver, every place. The gift of God is eternal life. Romans 6, 23 says, it’s God’s gift. God purchased salvation by Christ’s death at the cross, and we simply receive it. But to say that we have to give our heart or our life to Christ to be saved doesn’t make any sense.

It’s the exact opposite. And I always wonder why do they say give your heart? Why donArgs they say give your liver or your pancreas or your thyroid or maybe your adnoids? Why? You know, God doesn’t want any of your body parts. He’s not asking for you to give your toe or your leg or your arm to be saved. Jesus Christ gave his whole body. He gave his life at the cross. He’s the one that’s the giver. He gave his life.

He gave gave his blood at the cross. It was shed there to pay for your sin and mind. And when you trust in what Jesus did for you and what He gave as He gave His life for you, God gives you eternal life. But to say that we have to give something to God is the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches. You know, it’s amazing. And I have listed here, and I’m sure I could make the list grow because there are so many things that preachers evangelist and teachers and lay people are using and saying that are popular but are wrong because they add works to salvation.

The simple message of the gospel is corrupted every day by use of terms and phrases that Christians use to invite the laws to be saved and these terms often demand or imply human works or human effort is a part of the penance salvation, but we find that biblical salvation is all of God, nothing of self. We simply receive the finished work of Christ, trusting that He made the full payment for our sins at the cross, and when we trust Him as the one who did that, God saves us.

I hope you’ve done that. I hope you’ve trusted Christ as the one who died for you and received His gift of eternal life. There’s nothing you can give gone to be saved. He’s the giver. We’re the receivers. I’m Dr. Hank Lindstrom. This is Bibleline. We’re going to go to the phone lines. I hope if you have a question, you’ll call. The phone number is 1-800-576-3771. We have Karl. He’s driving right now in a truck in Sarasota, Florida. And Karl, welcome to Bibleline.

You are on the air. Wow hello. Hey, I have kind of a twofold question. I know you can’t lose your salvation He even wants your say that’s it, right? You are you believe in Christ you’re stuck you have to go to heaven with you like it or not What’s that you’re stuck? You’re good I have the second thing that even made me doubt it was the part in the Bible where it says even warmongers and Well, what it means is that any sin, and those are some of the big ones, but any sin, even a single lie, Revelation 21, 27 says, not even a lie can enter into heaven.

So the The point is that that any sin unpaid for uh… would take you to help but jesus christ paid for all of them Once you trust Christ, God sees you as righteous. He doesn’t see you as a sinner any longer. He doesn’t see you as a hormonger or as a liar or a thief or whatever, because he’s already paid for the sins. According to God’s word, the Bible says that a believer is seen by God as righteous as God.

2 Corinthians 5, 21 says that God made Christ to be sin for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. So we are seen by God as righteous once we trust Christ. Now that doesn’t mean we can live as we please or that we have a license to send. God will discipline or spank the delinquent believer and will also stand accountable for our works one day and rewards or also reward in heaven is gonna be based upon what we’ve done.

But salvation is a gift and there’s nothing that we can do to gain an earn it, except receive it from the hand of God based upon what Christ did for us at the cross. So we’re safe forever. But that’s awesome because I want to know, but every now and then there will be people who act like they know a lot. And like, there’s some people that say that unrighteous people will not get into heaven. I’m like, once you’re born again, you’re going, period.

Exactly. The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, the Bible says. But when you trust Christ, you become righteous in God’s sight, not because of your deeds, but because of the righteousness of Christ that is credited to your account. When Calvary took place, he took our sin. When we trusted he paid our sin dead and full, he exchanges his righteousness for our sin so that the believer is seen as righteous as God. Great. Thank you so much. Okay, Carl.

Thanks for calling in. Okay. That was Carl down in Sarasota, Florida driving right now as we speak in a truck. We have Brian in Tampa, Florida and Brian welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air Maybe I don’t have the right line here. Let’s see here. How about Brian welcome to Bibleline Yes God bless. How are you good? Good morning. I was just I just got so much out of your answer to the man’s question I was wondering the same thing he was wondering.

I mean, I know we’re safe and that’s it But when God said, you know, no liar and no, you know, murderer and this neck would enter I Had a question come up my mind and you answered it once you’re once you pay for that then, you know, you’ve been saved So You may have been those things but you’ve been delivered and you’ve been covered by the blood Exactly, you’re no longer seen as a as a as a liar anymore.

You’re seen as righteous in Christ And though we continue to sin we repent and we really truly in our actual There’s a difference between our standing in our state as a and our standing where we’re righteous before God in our actual state We still have a sinful nature and still sin and we need to deal with that and and allow the Lord’s Holy Spirit to give us victory over sin in our life but no doubt about it we are seen by God positionally as righteous as though we were God himself according to the Bible at the moment you believe in forever thereafter.

Thanks and two things and I make you quick so I just can get in. As far as repentance I’ve heard you speak about it before. You know when the Bible talks about when the Lord repented, we know that he says, I am the Lord, I do not change. Does repentance mean to actually change your mind or does it also mean both that and turn from sin or just one of the others? It just means change your mind. It does not mean turn from sin.

The English word repent means that, but that was a bad translation in 1611. in sixteen eleven. But does he say that he doesn’t change? Well what it’s saying is that the Lord does not change his mind, he does not repent. And although the word is used for God repenting in the Old Testament, sometimes it gives the appearance that he repented. For example, when Jonah preached to Nineveh and he spared the city, it appeared that God had changed his mind because he was going to destroy the city.

In reality, he was going to destroy them if they didn’t respond to the message. So it basically got repented of the evil that he was going to do to Nineveh. But in reality, God never really changed his mind. But he would have destroyed them had they not responded to the message in the preaching of Jonah. But because of their change exactly to not go through that’s exactly right one more thing I’m a little curious on where you What do you believe about the day of Sabbath whether it’s a seventh day or I don’t believe that?

First day, okay, the Sabbath has always been a Friday night sundown the Saturday night sundown That’s Saturday But this Sunday is the worship day as Christ set that for for us by coming back from the dead on the first day of the week His next major appearance was on the eighth day and this present age where God has turned to us Gentiles the church age began on Pentecost which was a Sunday and then if you read in the book of Acts and in the Epistles of Paul the early Christians met on the first day of the week So the first day of the week is when we worship but the Sabbath is still Saturday and the Jews observe the Sabbath I agree with you about the first day he was written, of course, is a day for worship.

That’s awesome. Yes. You’re still agreeing that the Seventh Day remains the seventh. Absolutely. Okay, that’s wonderful. I heard you the other day and I came in the middle and I wasn’t sure what you were saying, but I’m glad to hear it because the Seventh Day is the day he rested and was refreshed and that’s forever. You know, absolutely. You created the heavens and earth like you say and the status doesn’t change but like you said the first day that there was sunlight and he was risen, yeah you’re right that’s an awesome day to worship.

Amen. Amen. Thanks for your time. Alright thank you Brian that was Brian in Tampa Florida. You know the first day of week is a commemoration every time we worship on the first day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ again from the dead. We’re now going to go to Rob in Largo, Florida. Rob, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air. Good morning, Pastor Hank. Brother, I just wanted to call it to tell you that I love you with my whole heart and I love your ministry and this day you came on the air and your faith, you know, in your little town over there in Tampa and you have just spread all over the world, you know.

Well, we’re absolutely He may as to it’s just been five years and we started off with a little fifteen minute program but God has blessed his word which I believe that is the key to what God has blessed about this program is that we just focus on the word of God all the time and honor his word and God is going to bless his word I’m sure. Amen to that. It says that the word of the Lord is proven.

I hear people calling in and they talk about being saved, putting their trust in Jesus the Savior and that’s so true because once we become born again because of that, we become born again. And now you talk about going on to having faith for work and we gain rewards. Yes. Galatians chapter 5 just explains this so well. The first verse in 5 says, stand therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not and be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Amen. There’s two things that we can work in we can work in this in the fruit of the flesh or we can work in the fruit of the Spirit You know and if we bring every hidden sin to the throne and Confess it as which one it is other by the flesh or by the Spirit We are empowered for the spirit to go on by faith to make investments into that kingdom You know and at the end it says on verse 26 let us not become conceited, provoking one another, and being one another.

You know, 25 says, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. You know, July 27th at 2.22 a.m. in the morning, I had taken my first step in the Spirit. I had been saved for 16 years walking in the flesh. And I was going around being conceited and provoking people and just doing all this crazy stuff thinking that, hey, God, watch this. I am going to go do something for you instead of being there.

be instill and waiting on Lord and him empowering me to accomplish something out of faith for the kingdom of heaven. Amen. Does that sound right? Yeah. Rob, that’s great. You know, there’s a freedom to be had and it’s in Christ and it’s by making a decision to kick off the old flesh and walk in the newness of man. Amen. Thank you so much Rob and Lord of Florida. We’re coming up on our break time and then we’ll come back and do the second part of Bibleline.

Don’t forget tonight if you’re inaution Bay Area or in driving business, we have that class tonight. Class 9 and 10 from 7 to 9. You’re invited to bring your Bible to be my guest and sit in. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t been to the other classes. The way I teach, you can jump in tonight and it’ll be though you’re at the first class as far as understanding you will not lose out on anything. So come on up tonight and join us.

We’re going to take a break. We’ll be back in just a moment with Bible and Part 2. Don’t go away. Bibleline will be back in a moment. Give us a call at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. I’m Dr. Aiklin Stuhrman. This is Bible and it’s great to be with you today. And I hope you’re enjoying the program. By the way, if your station doesn’t carry the second half of Bible line, you can go to the internet and catch the full hour of Bibleline.

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We’re going to do the second half of Bibleline in just one second. Would you like to call and ask Dr. Lindstrom a question? You can. Just pick up your phone and dial 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here again is Dr. Hank Lindstrom. We’re back from that break. This is Bibleline. It’s exciting to be able to be with you. I I want to thank all of you who give the Bibleline to make that possible. We’re coming to you live out of Tampa, Florida, out of our studios here at the Calvary Community Church.

We’re on the pastor and we’d love to have you come by and say, hi, visit our resource center, which is open every day till about 4.30. If you ever come into Tampa from out of town, drop by during the week or come by on a worship day. On Sundays we worship at 10.30 in the morning, 6.00 in the evening with adult education Sunday School at 9.15. And the third Sunday of this month we’re having a dinner. And that’s a great Sunday to come in from a distance because you can come to the 1030 Worship Service and then be my guest and stay for dinner with us.

We’d love to have you do that. This third Sunday, the 20th of August, we’re going to have a baptism at 3 in the afternoon. And if you’ve not been water baptized since you’ve been saved, you’re welcome to be a part of this This might be honored to baptize you, and it’ll be a little lake beautiful setting just north of our church. And so come and then just stay with us. Bring a change of clothes in a towel, and then we’ll follow each other up to the lake after we have the dinner in the afternoon, and at three o’clock we’ll have the baptism.

And you can be a part of that call and ask for information or get your name on the list, And we’ll be expecting you and we can send you a map or tell you how to find it on my map quest and we hope that you’ll be a part of our baptism service. We are going to have the last two class hours of the course on person, second place lonings tonight. We’d love to have you if you’re in driving distance, come out for class 9 and 10.

If you’re not within driving distance, you can order now the 10 hours of teaching, 10 on 1st and 2nd of the Salavians. It’s an exciting, exciting class and we love to have you be able to hear those CDs and learn from the teaching. So thanks again for all of you who give the Bible line and God bless all of you. Pray for us. We appreciate each and every one of you. We’re going to go to Daytona Beach now and we’re going to talk to Mike in Daytona Beach who is waiting patiently on the line michael from the bible on your own ear either doctor thanks for taking my call My question has to do with the parable of the young man that approached Jesus and asked how he could follow him and he had a problem with giving up his possessions.

I think that’s where Jesus said it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven yes my question has to do with with uh… you know in order to get into heaven uh… to live in poverty and uh… to what extent you know must uh… someone uh… okay good question and in math you nineteen you have that passage actually this uh… there are two things going on here in this passage uh…

first of all the rich man comes to him and says what good thing must i do that I may inherit eternal life. Christ, first of all, stops him in his tracks and says, why did you call me good? There’s none good but one, and that is gone. And of course, here we find Jesus Christ is gone, and that everyone else is a sinner. There’s only one person good. That’s God. But when you trust Christ, God’s goodness or righteousness is credited to your account, so that you’re eligible to enter heaven from that very moment.

So the man was thinking in terms of works which most people do, and so Christ, of course, brings up the commandments which were given to point out the fact that we can’t possibly work our way to heaven because nobody has ever been able to keep them. And so Christ lists a few of the commandments for him, and he says, all these things have kept for my youth up. Well, he was lying because nobody has kept the commandments. like Jesus said over in John 17 in verse 19, he says, did not Moses give you the law?

And yet none of you have kept it. And the Bible says that no flesh can be justified by the law because nobody has ever kept all of the law. So basically Christ is talking about salvation and then he’s talking about the Christian life and explaining the whole package to him. So Jesus says in verse 21, and this is really a quick explanation, but in verse 21, Jesus said to him, if you will be perfect, go and sell that word perfect, there means mature.

Give or go and sell all that thou hasten not and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. So that is treasures in heaven or rewards or based upon your giving of your time, your talents, your treasures to the Lord. But then he goes on to say, come, and then he says, come and follow me. Now there’s two concepts there. When we come to Christ, when we come saved, when we trust him in his finished work at the cross, we’re saved.

But then he says, secondly, follow me, and that’s the Christian life. And so in rightly dividing the word of truth, you simply come to Christ to be saved, and then you follow him to earn rewards. Now later we find that is explained by Christ when he says in verse 28, I say unto you that you which have followed me in the regeneration, that is the new birth, you will inherit eternal life in verse 29. But then he says everyone that is forsaken houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my namesake shall receive a hundredfold.

What is the degree of reward to receive for your investing after you become saved? Basically, there are two concepts here. Salvation is a gift. You simply come to Christ. You follow Christ and you give of your time and your talents and your treasures and you will receive a hundred full reward in heaven. So I think Tom is, Mike is not there anymore, but I hope that answers your question for you. Salvation is a gift. and it’s still a gift there in Matthew chapter 19, but rewards come by following, by giving, and you’ll receive a hundred full reward for doing so.

We’re now gonna go to Donnie in Port St. Lucie and Donnie, welcome to Bibleline Your On The Air. Yes, thank you, good morning. Good morning. I’m confused by the doctrine of the Trinity, And I say sometimes that the doctor of the church he makes about as much sense to me as the theory of evolution. Can you help me with that? Alright, well anyway, first of all, we’re not talking about addition here. Most people think 1 plus 1 plus 1 is 3, and that’s true, but we’re talking about 1 times 1 times 1 equals 1.

And so the doctrine of the Trinity is that there’s one God, but he eternally exists as three eternal persons. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Right now, you also can be playing different roles in a sense, and that’s a simplistic way of explaining the Trinity, but you can be a father, you can be a son, and you can be a brother, all three at one time. In other words, if you are married and have children, then you’re a father.

If you have any living brothers, then you are a brother. If your mom or dad are living, you are a son. So you can be all three. simplistic but the Bible tells us that the Godhead is freefold and you see that throughout the Old Testament. The word Elohim and Genesis 1-1 in the beginning God. The word is Elohim and Elohim is plural in Hebrew. Hebrew has words that are singular, words that are dual,anguages two only, and then words that are plural which are three or more in Hebrew.

So basically that word which is used over 2500 times in the Old Testament. Elohim is a plural form for the name God or the office of God and God is a plurality. You will notice when God created man, he said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. And we find the Holy Spirit is mentioned right there in Genesis 1-2, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. So there is no that about it that the Bible teaches the concept of course God is greater than we and we’re not going to be able to maybe ever fully comprehend it but we’ll certainly know a lot more when we’re with the Lord and we can get a better grasp on him.

But right now the Bible very clearly teaches that God exists as three separate eternal persons but yet there’s one God. quick question. You mentioned the Old Testament and the Jewish concept of Elohim. Is there a book that you can recommend to a rich foundation of the Jewish? What are the beliefs about God and the Old Testament? Are there views of God and the Old Testament? I’m trying to think with that description. I like the Scofield Bible. The notes are so wonderful.

Even on the names of God beginning right there with Elohim and Genesis 1-1 and so on. We have a soft cover of that for $15. The notes go field Bible. Yeah, and you want to get the old one. If you go to the bookstore, they’re going to try to sell you the new one, which is watered down and it’s not as good as the old. But you can get it from us for a soft cover. Nice, nice printing for…