The Salvation Experience

I've been doing my "Chuck tracks" this winter break. Chuck Tracks are audio sermons by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. The tracks take you through the entire Bible, chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse. In order to graduate from CCBC, you have had to listen to every single track and have taken notes on them. So every semester, we have to listen to about 100+ audio tracks (roughly seven a week). They range from about 30 minutes to an hour long. Since this is my last semester, I am listening to sermons on every book from Romans to Revelation. The feat sounds impossible but once you start getting into them the first semester, you're so blessed by Chuck Smith's teaching that it becomes almost a part of your life. Students like to joke and say they have a "date with Chuck" when they leave you to go listen to them.
Anyways, this portion that he spoke about in his message on Titus was very interesting. It was about the importance of the hope we have in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you want to listen to the tracks yourself, they're free and can be found at Blue Letter Bible. Click on Audio/Video --> Chuck Smith

"Paul said that if our hope were in this world only, we would be miserable. But I have a hope that sustains me, that keeps me going when things are dark. I have a hope that sustains me when things are going against me, and I'm discouraged, there is that hope that keeps me going. Hope is so vital and hope is so important to existence to keep you going, and it's amazing how hope can just keep you going.

We've mentioned before the experiments done with the Norwegian wharf rats. There are some corollaries. They put them in these tubs, and they spray these tubs constantly with water so that they couldn't roll over and float. And the rats drowned in an average of seventeen minutes. Then with an experimental group, as they were about to drown, they would take some of the rats, lift them out of the tub, dry them off, put them back in their cages, feed them, and let them live a normal life again. And then later on after they had recovered fully, their health, they put them back in the tubs under the same conditions. And these rats that lasted an average of seventeen minutes, now were able to survive for thirty-seven hours. Interestingly enough, the psychologist who conducted the experiments contributed it to the fact that the rats had experienced a salvation experience; that is, they had almost drowned when they were saved, so they kept hoping for salvation again. That kept them going, not just seventeen minutes, now it kept them going thirty-seven hours. The hope made that much difference.

Oh, what a glorious hope we have. Don't let anybody take it away from you, that hope that is in Jesus Christ of eternal life that is made by God, the promise of God, something so sure. God, who cannot lie, God's Word that cannot fail, has given to us the promise of eternal life, and thus the hope of eternal life.