What Does the Word Say?

To say that the Bible is clear does not mean that all of it is easy to understand. It means that the basic message of the gospel can be understood by young people, people with very little education, and people who aren’t very bright. But, the Bible is the most important thing you will ever read and should be carefully studied to understand it correctly. Pastors and teachers are God’s gifts to the church to help us understand the Scriptures. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/uncategorized/25-the-clarity-of-the-bible/

The Bible is absolutely necessary for salvation and to live a life please to God. It is necessary for salvation because there is only one way to be saved, through faith in Jesus Christ, and the Bible is the only place where we are told of the real meaning and significance of the life, death and resurrection of Christ. It is necessary to live a life pleasing to God because he alone has the authority to define what it is sin and how he is to be worshiped. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/24-the-necessity-of-the-bible/

The Bible provides sufficient knowledge for salvation and Christian life, but a person must be born again to respond in repentance and faith. The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture tells us that we don’t need any additional revelation, so, for example, the Book of Mormon is false. Dr. Spencer makes a number of recommendations for reading. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/23-the-doctrine-…-god-sufficiency/

God reveals himself both in creation (general revelation) and in the Bible (special revelation). The Bible is a Christians ultimate standard and is our only infallible, objective guide salvation and living the Christian life. It is sufficient, necessary, authoritative and perspicuous (i.e., clear) for teaching us what we must believe to be saved and how we must live to please God. General revelation is sufficient to leave men without excuse. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/22-the-doctrine-of-the-word-of-god/

The fact that Jesus of Nazareth really lived, was crucified, and raised from the dead is critical to the Christian faith. There are multiple extra-biblical references to Jesus Christ within 100 years of his crucifixion. The Roman historians Josephus, Tacitus and Suetonius all mention him, as does Justin Martyr. The first century letter from Mara Bar-Serapion to his son also contains an almost certain reference to Christ. His life and death are solidly attested historical facts. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/21-why-we-should…he-new-testament/

The Black Obelisk tells us about Jehu, a king of Israel, a carved mural from Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh tells us about the siege of Lachish, and the Taylor prism gives us an extra-biblical account of his failed siege of Jerusalem. The Babylonian Chronicles corroborate the biblical account of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Biblical prophecies made about Christ were in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are known to have existed well before the time of Christ, came true. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/20-why-we-should…ies-about-christ/

Extra-biblical evidence is presented for Israel’s King David. In addition, some of the extensive evidence available for the period of the divided monarchy is presented. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/19-why-we-should…ewish-monarchies/

Dr. Spencer answers a listener’s question about how to examine the validity of our faith without getting caught in unproductive introspection. He then examines evidence for the Israelite conquest of Canaan. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/18-why-we-should…nquest-of-canaan/

Dr. Spencer examines extra-biblical evidence for the biblical exodus. There is more than you might think! http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/17-why-we-should…-the-exodus-real/

Why does the Bible say we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling? This week Dr. Spencer discusses what this means, and why we cannot give ourselves an easy pass when it comes to being certain about our salvation. But, if we find evidence that we are born again, this brings about great assurance and confidence. We can have joy even in trials because our confidence is in God’s eternal promises, not in ourselves. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/16-the-nature-of…nd-election-sure/

Natural man is hostile to God. He cannot please God and will never seek him on his own. He is completely unable to accept God’s offer of salvation because of his hostility toward God. Paul says that he is dead in his transgressions and sins (Eph 2:1). He must be born again to be saved. Therefore, if Christ only died to make salvation possible, but our salvation depended on our accepting this offer, we would be utterly without hope. But, we have hope because God causes those whom he has chosen in eternity to be born again, and those who are born again will respond in repentance and faith. If you cry out to God for mercy, it may be that he is drawing you to himself, don’t resist, but seek God! God then grants to us all the grace necessary to live out the Christian life. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/15-the-nature-of…st-be-born-again/

The most important thing we must know about living in union with Jesus Christ is that he is Lord. He is Lord in the ultimate sense; in other words, he is the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer and Judge of the universe. When we become Christians, we proclaim “Jesus is Lord” (Rom 10:9), but that is simply our acknowledging the truth, it does not affect reality. Jesus is Lord, whether we acknowledge it or not. But, on the Day of Judgment, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. As people who have been born again, Christians will live in obedience to Christ, although they still have sin dwelling in them and must fight against it every day. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/14-the-nature-of…nion-with-christ/

True Christianity is not just moral renovation and it is not primarily focused on this life. A true Christian is looking forward to his reward in the next life, in the new heavens and the new earth. True salvation is based on a double imputation (or transaction); namely, our sins are imputed to Jesus Christ and his perfect righteousness is imputed to us. Because our sin is against God, it is infinite and no mere human being is able to pay for it except by spending eternity in hell. But, because Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, he was able to pay for the sins of his people, and further, because he was a perfect sinless man, he has a perfect righteousness to give to us. This double imputation occurs because believers are united to Christ by faith. Union with Christ is “the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation” according to John Murray. True Christians will walk in obedience to God’s law out of love and thanksgiving to God. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/13-the-nature-of-true-saving-faith-part-ii-which-jesus/

Salvation is by faith alone, but just saying that you “believe in Jesus” does not guarantee that you are saved (Matthew 7:21-23). You must believe in the Jesus presented to us in the Bible, not one of the counterfeits presented in many modern churches. There are many so-called gospels being preached, but Paul called them “no gospel at all” in Galatians 1:7, those who believe in them are destined for eternal hell. The true gospel requires that we recognize we are sinners in need of a Savior; that is the bad news. The good news is that Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior. He died to pay for the sins of everyone who will repent of his sins and trust in Jesus Christ alone for his salvation. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/12the-nature-of-…rt-i-which-jesus/

The idea that Christianity is the result of an evolutionary process is nonsense. God has not changed; he is every bit as gracious in the Old Testament as in the New, and he is every bit as wrathful in the New Testament as in the Old. Continuing with our presentation of extra-biblical evidence to corroborate the Bible, we have one possible bit of direct extra-biblical evidence for Abraham, and we have much indirect extra-biblical evidence for the patriarchal narratives. The names, geopolitical situations, prices of slaves, forms of treaties, social customs and so on are all correct for the period and location. It would not have been possible for someone writing significantly after the time of the patriarchs up until very recently to get all of this information correct, so we conclude that the biblical narratives are genuine historical narratives. The few places where there are clear anachronisms are easily explained as later changes introduced by copyists for the sake of clarity. http://www.whatdoesthewordsay.org/podcast/11-11why-we-shou…rating-the-bible/