Today we come to consider one of the most beautiful words in the Christian's vocabulary- one of the most important words in all of scripture.--And yet, sad to say, it is also a word that has often been neglected in the modern Christian conversation.--When B.B. Warfield presented his study of this word, he noted what a prominent place it held in the earliest hymns. He noted how often the earliest Christians rejoiced in the Lord Jesus in this name - -Jesus our Redeemer-.--Today we usually speak of Jesus as our Lord, or we speak of Jesus as our Savior, but should also remember that He is our redeemer, and it is only because of redemption that He can be our Lord and our Savior. --The verse we concentrate on this morning tells us that we have been saved through His work as Redeemer.--THE MEANING OF SALVATION--Again, we are reminded here of what salvation is.--There are experiential aspects to our salvation, and thank God that there are, but before we deal with people concerning their experience, we must address people concerning their guilt before God.--And Salvation, from the standpoint of our guilt, is to have our sins forgiven and to have God's own righteousness put to our account before God.--Justification is a DECLARATION.--It is a legal declaration. It is God, the judge Himself, who has declared the saved person to be right in His own sight.--Justification is not about God MAKING a person righteous. That is the work of sanctification, and future glorification. --And everyone whom the Lord justifies, He sanctifies and from the standpoint of the sureness of our final salvation, has already declared us glorified in Romans 8.---But justification, considered alone, is a

Would marriage to someone of a different race constitute an unequally yoked marriage- Does the Bible condone interracial marriage as sin- What does the Bible have to say about marrying and mixing races---This week on the Straight Truth Podcast Dr. Richard Caldwell and Dr. Josh Philpot discuss the questions asked related to interracial marrying and further comment on what race is and what it is not. Dr. Caldwell gives us the biblical perspective on marriage and the standard set forth for the people of God.--Dr. Caldwell says the simple answer is no. The Bible doesn't teach that a marriage made up of two different ethnicities is an unequally yoked marriage- it has nothing to do with race. The Bible doesn't address interracial marriage in terms of what we think of when we think of identifying people by their -race-. While Deuteronomy 7-1-3 seems to imply this, it doesn't mean this at all. We need to keep the commandment of verse 3 in its context and continue reading to verse 4 where the reason for the commandment is given. 2 Corinthians 6-14 is where we find the words -unequally yoked- used by the Apostle Paul. Depending on the translation of the Bible used, this verse may read slightly different. Nevertheless, the full statement by Paul, within its context, is about believers being bound to-with unbelievers just as Deuteronomy 7-1-4 infers. So the Bible does not address the issue of marrying someone based on their nationality, ethnicity or skin color. What it does speak about for marriage, relates to our spiritual relationships and unions. An unequally yoked marriage would be a believer married to an unbeliever. Therefore, the Bible does not speak of marrying someone of a d

How should a Christian who is looking for new employment consider those companies that celebrate, endorse, support and encourage sinful lifestyles- Should a Christian even work at a company that supports sinful lifestyles- Can a Christian work for a company that promotes and encourages sinful choices and behaviors-- In this episode of the Straight Truth Podcast Dr. Richard Caldwell and host, Dr. Josh Philpot discuss the topic of work and how it relates to the Christian. Specifically, as it relates to a listener who is currently searching for a new job. The listener as a matter of personal conviction has avoided applying to companies that blatantly support homosexual issues and gender-neutral ideologies. The listener recognizes that this decision narrows down his or her opportunities and would like to know how they should proceed, given that they are being impacted and constrained in this by their conscience.- God never calls us to sin. To violate our conscience would be to sin because whatever is not of faith is sin -Romans 14-23-. Therefore, says Dr. Caldwell we don't violate our conscience. But we can and should inform our conscience, and we do this by informing it with the truth. He gives us a brief history of Christianity for the last 2000 years. He reminds us that most Christians have lived in situations where what they believed morally was not the common viewpoint of society. Christians have had to navigate through this and sometimes suffer for it. --Since The Day Of The Fall--This is the environment we find ourselves living in, and increasingly so in the United States. He also reminds us that it's not just the environment or society that's the issue, but it's an im

I've witnessed someone correcting another with harsh and unloving correction, what should I do- Isn't this a sinful way to approach a brother or sister in Christ- Don't the Scriptures teach us to do this gently out of love so that the person would be able to see their sin and receive the correction-- -In this episode of the Straight Truth Podcast Dr. Richard Caldwell and host, Dr. Josh Philpot talks about the difficulties associated with confronting others with their sin. Dr. Caldwell says it is hard to go and confront others when we see their sin. We have to be mindful of Galatians 6, and we have to practice Galatians 6 over and over, every time we go to others to reveal a sin issue or sinful issues we see that are detrimental to their Christian walk, and to that of others.- -Dr. Caldwell says that as we go to the brother or sister that has sinned, we are reminding ourselves of Galatians 6 as we go to remind them of Galatians 6. He takes us to Galatians 6-1-2, and says that we are to remind ourselves of this before we even go to the person we saw dealing with another harshly. We approach that brother or sister without condemnation, knowing that we have been here before- we have all been guilty at one time or another of confronting others without humility and gentleness. So we are to go, confronting them in humility and gentleness, taking Galatians 6 along with us and say, -Brother-Sister can we talk--. We bring before them what we have witnessed, we assure them that we believe the best about them and that we believe this is not something they desire to do. We explain to them that what we want to do is remind them that when they confront others in matters of sin, or about