Is One Really Saved By Merely Believing In Jesus?

Repeat Broadcast:

Original Air Date: 8-17-15

Co-host Greg Jarvis joins Bob for a discussion of what it truly means to be a saved, born again Christian.

Questions include:

-Can one merely believe or have faith in Jesus and then continue to live any way they want afterwards?

-If one is called to repent of their sin, does that mean we are not teaching salvation by faith alone?

-Is one even capable of repenting apart from the working of the Holy Spirit?

-How do we explain Jesus’ warning that on judgment day he would reject some people who thought they were Christians? Jesus says He “never knew them” (Matt 7) and yet some of these people  called themselves Christians, prophesied, cast out demons and did other mighty works.

-Why is it that even one who is truly saved still has times of giving into sin?

-Do we serve God out of genuine desire or fear and compulsion?

-If we ask people to repent of their sins are we preaching salvation by works?

-If people are saved by faith alone, should we expect to see works follow as an indication that salvation in fact happened, a sign that the Holy Spirit came into their hearts?

A HUMOROUS YET IRONIC COMMENT FROM BOB SIEGEL:

I had not originally planned a repeat broadcast, but I came down with laryngitis over the weekend. While normally, I select my repeats with care, this time, feeling sick, I did not bother to listen to the older show ahead of time. Generally, I do so to make certain the program isn’t dated. Six months to a year later, I am not likely to remember everything I discussed one week over the air. As for locating dated programs, that is always the case with our news driven editions. Obviously a year or so later, it is old news. But as any of our regular listeners know, this program is very eclectic, dealing with a wide variety of topics. And so, with a repeat, I will usually choose something from the arts or Christianity. I locate the programs off my Website archives and choose by title, but still, I will be doubly cautious and listen first before sending it to the station, just in case I did a little news before getting into the primary topic of the week.

So, back to this week: I was sick and hurried and said to myself, “Hey, whenever my friend Greg Jarvis comes on to co-host, he always brings up theology and I usually give him the entire program. So If I just listen long enough to hear Greg come on at the top of the show, I can rest assured ahead of time, without even needing to listen to the rest, that this program is not dated.”

OK, time for the punchline: True, it was not a political show but what I had forgotten is that when Greg came on back in August of 2015, he had originally been scheduled for the previous week.  Tech issues at KCBQ studio forced me to reschedule Greg and air a repeat broadcast. When Greg came on the following week, the two of us spent a lot of time kidding about what had happened the week before, although in Greg’s defense, he probably would have moved on to the theology discussion much sooner, had I not been enjoying the moment so much.

So, what we have here is a repeat broadcast of a show that went on and on to talk about how we are “live tonight, unlike last week.”  And yet, in present day March 2016 time, the week before (March 6)was the new show and March 13 was the repeat. Great  way to confuse the living daylights out of my audience!

Of course, I realized none of this until Sunday night, sitting at home, sipping tea to restore my lost voice, and listening to my own program on the radio.

Lesson: Fun as it is to listen to yourself on a good old fashioned honest to goodness portable radio, you’d be wiser to listen ahead of time off your computer before you send it in, sick or not sick.

Fortunately, Website archives and podcasts are more forgiving. They offer radio hosts an opportunity to explain ahead of time with programing notes.

Anyway, we do eventually get to the topic and stay there for the majority of the program. Enjoy!

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