KB Biola Broadcaster - 1971-10

prevailed. It was during this period that some liberal theologians proclaimed that “ God is dead.” They lacked faith in a living Lord. God offers salvation today on the basis of a living faith. When the Bible speaks of faith it means a dependence upon what God has done and a confidence in what He has said. When Christ died on the cross, He exclaimed, “ It is finished.” This was a commercial term used in the merchandising of His day, meaning “ paid for in fu ll.” The price of man’s salvation was paid for in full when He shed His blood on Calvary. When man counts upon this and depends upon it as sufficient for his hope of heaven, this is an exercise of faith. I am confident that every problem in the church today would be solved if all Christians understood and put into practice the doctrine of God’s grace. In II Corinthians 9:8 grace may be found as the sea of superlatives. “ And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” For many years Christians have sung their favorite gospel song: “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now / see. ” O n e o f t h e s a d d e s t commentaries on the church today is that Christians sing the last line of that second stanza as L I V IN G B Y G R A C E

been saved.” He wanted to leave no doubt or question in the minds of the Ephesian believers that their salvation was a finished work. Paul was speaking primarily of salvation from the penalty of sin which is death. Each spring in Phoenix there is a two week seminar by professors in va riou s fields from the universities of Arizona. They observed that, in the period from 195 0 through 1965 all the knowledge in the world that had been accumulated since the beginning of man had doubled. When they analyzed the type of knowledge that had doubled so rapidly they noticed that it was in the field of the sciences rather than humanities. This is one of the problems we face today. Science claims it can learn how to do anything it wants to do; but it is looking to the field of humanities, which includes religion and theology, to tell it what to do. How is it that the areas of science grew so fast in knowledge? These same professors explained that the scientists had faith in the theories of the past. There could h a v e b een no p o s s ib le development of atomic energy had there not been faith in Einstein’s theory of relativity. These men had faith in consistency in the universe. They believed it could be counted upon to behave in a regulated fashion. All of their advancement and pioneering in scientific knowledge was based upon the instrument of faith in previous knowledge. On the other hand, they charged th a t the field of humanities had seen a decline in faith during the same period of time. Doubts and skepticism

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