Dr. Louis T. Talbot, B IO LA Chancellor, will be happy to answer your question concern- ing any portion of the Word of God which may be perplexing you. A free question and answer booklet is available upon request.
DR TALBOT
D O C T R IN E OF E L EC T IO N Q. What does the Bible teach about predestination and election? I have been brought up to believe that God chose for salvation before the foun dation of the world; and that, whether they want to or not, they have to be saved; or if God did not choose them, no matter how much they try to trust Christ, they can not be saved, because God did not choose them. Is this the real doctrine of election? A. There is no such teaching be tween the covers of the Bible! God’s predestination is according to His foreknowledge. I Tim. 2 :3 ,4 tells us that “ God . . . will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Mr. W il liam Kelly translates this passage in this way: “ God . . . w ishes all men to be saved.” Since our Saviour does wish all men to be saved, then how could He, from before the foundation of the world, condemn some to eternal perdition, so that they have no power to accept Christ and be saved? M y friend, God has predestined; but Rom. 8 :29 says that we are pre destined according to H is fo re know ledge. The same truth is plain ly stated in I Pet. 1:2: “Elect ac cording to the foreknowledge of God the Father,” — so the apostle ad dresses the Christian Jews of the dispersion. God knows whether a man will love Christ; He knows whether a man will spurn Christ; and God has chosen from the foundation of the world — but whom has He chosen? All who will believe unto eternal life. The Lord Jesus Christ died for the whole world; and if every man in the world would come to Christ and trust Him, all would be saved.
M y friend, if you come to Him, He will in no wise cast you out. (See John 6:37 .) A FT ER D E A T H — W H A T ? Q. Do the saved go immediately to heaven when they die? A. The Scriptures teach positively that a true child of God goes imme diately to heaven at the time of physical dissolution of body and soul. II Cor. 5 :8 gives us that assur ance: “W e are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (Cf. Phil. 1:23 and other passages of Scripture.) Luke 16:22 tells us that the angels receive the s p ir it s of the departed saints — a comforting thought, that they take our spirits home to heaven and the presence of God. They are our “ministers,” you know, “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Heb. 1 :14 ). They guard us here on earth, and take us to heaven when we die. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” (Psa. 3 4 :7 ). “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Psa. 9 1 :11 ). L IV IN G W IT H O U T S IN ? Q. Does Matt. 5:48 teach sinless perfection in this life? A. Matt. 5 :48 reads as follows: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is per fect.” The word “perfect” here and in other similar New Testament passages means the mature and complete Christian experience. It
means that “ the babe in Christ” should “ grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” giving an ever-in creasing evidence to the world of His saving and keeping power. Nowhere in the Bible are we taught that we can become sinless in this life. Yet we are constantly exhorted to grow more and more like Him who is “ altogether lovely.” Only when we get to heaven shall we be freed from the very presence of sin. R E C O G N IT IO N OF C H R IS T Q. Since all secular history centers about the birth of Christ— B.C. and A .D ., why do men not realize that He is God and the only Saviour? A. W e wonder, “W h y ? ” And yet Satan has blinded their eyes to this silent testimony to the deity of our Lord. Every unsaved man, even the infidel, must unconsciously bear witness to the recognition given Christ every time he dates a letter or a check or a legal document. The poet was taught with wisdom from above when he wrote: “ In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering o’er the wrecks of time!” E V E R L A S T IN G FIRE Q. What is the meaning of the ex pression, “ . . . everlasting fire, pre pared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 2 5 :4 1 )? Would this not imply that hell is not for man? A. It does imply that hell was not “ prepared” for man. Hell was “ pre pared ” for the devil and his angels. When man fell into sin, God “ pre pared” salvation for him. But it is clearly stated that, if man rejects that prepared salvation, he will find himself in the place prepared for the devil and his angels.
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