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TH E R I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
OR. TALBOT'S
Q
The beloved President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles an swe r s your Bible Questions.
^ QUE.: Was Judas saved be* fore he was lost? There is not the slightest suggestion in any portion of Scripture to intimate that Judas was ever a saved man. In fact, the very contrary is taught. In John 6:64, 65 we read: "But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should b e t r a y him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it' were given unto him of my Father.” Here we learn that Judas, with the others who rejected Him, was an unbeliever. And then the Lord Jesus added these Words, recorded in the same chapter: “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of-you is a devil? He spake.of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve” (John 6:70, 71), Here we learn that Judas is called “ a devil.” There fore, it is altogether contrary to sound doctrine and plain scriptural teaching to say that Judas was ever a saint, and that he became a sinner, thus losing his salvation. Such a position is taken by some Christians who deny the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer. Judas never sought par don from the Saviour; therefore “he went to his own place” ; apart from Him, there is no salvation. ^ QUE.: What if a person has been truly converted, but goes back to the world, and never seems to repent o f his backslidden state? Will he be eternally saved? Let me answer your question in three statements: 1. Many so-called backsliders have never “slid forward” ; that is, they were never regenerated. We call them mere professors, not possessors of salvation. A real Christian will be chastised, will confess his sin, and live for Christ, however falteringly it may Be. 2. Such Christians as we call back sliders are carnal Christians. They will be losers at the judgment seat of Christ, in so far as their rewards for service are concerned. (See 1 Cor. 3:1-4; 11-16.) 3. A real Christian may become a backslider, but he can never become an apostate—and an apostate is one who denies the old faith, the Bible, even the Lord Jesus, who is the only Saviour.
^ QUE.: Why are our prayers not always answered, even after many years? Two things might be said in answer to your question: 1. God tells us in James 4:3: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts [or pleasure].” If we pray for selfish purposes, then we need not expect God to answer our prayers. 2. We must remember that, when we pray according to God’s will, He either gives us what we ask, or He gives us something better. His ways are not our ways; and He makes no mistakes. There are m a n y things about God’s ways with us that we shall not fully understand until We get to Heaven; but we know that we can safely pray, then leave the issues with Him. ^ QUE.: How would you har monize Mark 13:32 with the doc trine o f the deity o f Christ? Speak ing o f the time o f His return to , earth, the Lord Jesus said, “ But o f that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” Modernists have used this verse in a futile attempt to prove that Jesus is not eternal God. Our Lord here seems to disclaim omniscience, but the reference is perfectly clear when one bears in mind the purpose of Mark’s Gospel—to portray Jesus as the faithful Servant of Jehovah. Christ says in John 15:15, “The s e r v a n t knoweth not what his Lord doeth.” How significant that Mark, who pre sents Jesus as the perfect Servant should record this statement about the hour of His return as King of kings and Lord of lords. M a t t h e w also makes a similar statement in Matt hew 24:36; likewise, Luke,. in Acts 1:7. In the aspect of His ministry as a Servant, our Lord made a voluntary surrender of certain knowledge, in order that He might walk the walk of faith, and thus be an object lesson to all believers. While He ever re mained the eternal Son of God, co equal and co-eternal with the Father; yet as a Servant, He chose a limita tion of His knowledge, bounded by the Father’s will. In like manner, we may trust God with perfect confidence, however dark and mysterious the way may be.
^ QUE.: Did Jesug ever claim to be God? Yes; very many times—by direct statement, by accepting worship as God, by doing the miracles that only God can perform, by His sinless life, by foretelling future events that only God knows, by rising from the dead by the power of His own Holy Spirit, by applying Old Testament prophecy to Himself. Would you read for yourself some of the many passages where He def initely claimed to be God? Then read - all of the Gospel according to John, noting particularly such verses as these: “I that speak unto t h e e am he [meaning the Messiah, or Christ]” (John 4:26; cf. v. 25). “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). “Moses . . . wrote of me” (John 5:46). (Read all of this wonderful discourse in the fifth chapter of John for the Lord’s irrefutable proof that He is God.) “I am the bread of life . . . which came down from heaven” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51). “I proceeded forth and came from God” (John 8:42). "Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). "Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee . . . And he wor shipped him” (John 9:35-38). These are only a few of the many passages that might be given, not only from John, but also from the other Gospels; indeed, from all thé Word of God, on this important sub ject. Either Christ was eternal •God-f or we have no Saviour, no life eternal, no hope in this world or in the world to come. If you will read Colossians and Hebrews under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you will be amazed at their overwhelming testimony to the ¿fiviour’s deity, ^
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