Message 46 - By
Leroy Surface
“The
Doctrine of Christ”
Introduction
Whosoever
transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.
II John 1:9
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because
he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
I John 5:10
In this message, Brother Surface seeks to shed light on the most
important doctrine of the Bible; “The Doctrine of Christ.” Our soul’s salvation hinges on what we
believe about Jesus Christ; so, make sure you “know the truth,” which Jesus said, “will make you free (He was, and is, speaking of sin.).”
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What
is
“The
Doctrine of Christ?”
It
is the “The Record” God Gave of His Son.
Whosoever
transgresseth, and ABIDETH NOT IN the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that ABIDETH IN the doctrine of Christ, he
hath both the Father and the Son. If
there come any unto you, and BRING NOT this doctrine, receive him not into your
house, neither bid him God speed: For he
that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
II John 1:9-11
What is the “Doctrine of
Christ?” It is a doctrine of such
great importance that the apostle John writes this entire second epistle to
specifically warn “the elect lady” and
her children against
receiving anyone, or bidding “God speed”
to anyone who does not bring the “doctrine
of Christ.” To even bid them “God speed” (wish them well in their
endeavors) is to become a partaker of their evil deeds and of all the evil they
do with their erroneous doctrines.
Surely we can see that John indicates a great difference, a great
separation, between those who “abide in
the doctrine of Christ” and “have
both the Father and the Son;” and those who “…transgress, and abide NOT in
the doctrine of Christ,” and “have NOT God.”
What
then, IS The RECORD God Gave of His Son?
He that
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not
God hath made him a liar; because he believeth NOT the RECORD that God gave of
his Son.
I John 5:10
The “record” God gave of His Son was given hundreds of years before
Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary. It is
a record that is given in both the Law, and the prophets. It is the record of a “redeemer” that would “come
to Zion” (Isaiah 59:20). In
Isaiah 53:11, it is the record of a “righteous servant” who would “bear
their iniquities.” The Law
foreshadows “the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world (John
1:29)” as a baby goat, a “scapegoat,” to carry the iniquities of
the people into the wilderness, there to be devoured by the beasts of the field
(Leviticus 16:21-22). Foremost among all the prophecies of the Son
of God is that which was delivered to Daniel by the angel Gabriel straight from
the throne of God in heaven. It is a prophecy
of one who was to come, who, in Daniel
9:25, is identified as “The Messiah,
the Prince.” This revelation of “The Messiah (The Christ)” is the greatest and most wonderful
message ever given from God to man. So
important was the message that it was not given in a dream or a vision, lest it
be misinterpreted. It was not revealed
in a “shadow” as were so many things
given by the Law of Moses. This “revelation” of “Messiah (the Christ)”
came straight from the mouth of God, delivered by His messenger angel, Gabriel,
and its message is crystal clear in spite of every effort by Satan to hide it,
twist it, and thus destroy it from the understanding of man. It is a message from God concerning His Son,
the Messiah (the Christ), that every Jew, from the days of their childhood,
understood. Even those who rejected
Jesus and demanded His crucifixion understood, according to the prophecies, the
things “The Messiah” would do when he
came. They simply did not believe that
Jesus was the “Messiah (the Christ),” because He did not fit their image of
what the Messiah would be.
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city, to finish the transgression,
and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to
bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall
be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks:
Daniel 9:24-25
For the person who understands this prophecy, commonly called the “Seventy Weeks of Daniel,” there can be
no remaining question about the “mission”
of “the Messiah (the Christ).”
The prophecy in its entirety (Daniel
9:24-27) reveals the exact year the Messiah would appear in Israel and
speaks of His crucifixion (cut off, but not for Himself; Daniel 9:26), which happened three and a half years later. The very first verse of the prophecy tells of
six things which would be accomplished by the Messiah within four hundred and
ninety years from the time a “commandment
to restore and to build Jerusalem” was given by King Artaxerxes of the
Medes and Persians in 457 B.C. All of
these things would, in fact, be accomplished in the middle of the last “week,” which was the last seven years
of the four hundred and ninety year prophecy.
The following is the “record” God gave of His Son (the
Messiah; the Christ) over five hundred years before Jesus was born. According to the message of God that was
delivered by the angel Gabriel, the Messiah (Christ) would…
1. “…finish the
transgression…” This is a reference to the duration of the Law of Moses upon the
people of Israel. In Galatians 3:19, Paul says the Law was “added because
of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.” According to Paul in Galatians 3:16, the “seed”
who was spoken of in God’s promise to Abraham “is Christ.” When Jesus died
on the cross, the Law of Moses was fulfilled and abolished. Paul says that Christ “took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross” (Colossians 2:14). It was the “transgression” of the children of Israel against God at Mount
Horeb (Exodus 20:19) that brought
them under the Law of Moses until the time that God would “send forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them which were under the law” (Galatians
4:4-5). That “transgression,” and thus, the Law of Moses, was finished when
Jesus lifted up His voice on the cross and cried, “It is finished.”
2. “…make an end of sins…”
John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for the Messiah who
was yet to come. The entire Jewish
nation was excited about the coming of “The
Messiah,” because the prophecy of “Seventy
Weeks” in the book of Daniel had revealed the exact year of His appearing (Daniel 9:25). In John
1:29, John sees Jesus coming toward him and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Upon hearing these words, some of John’s own
disciples left John to follow Jesus (John
1:35-37), because they understood very well what the Messiah would do
according to the words of the prophecy; He would “make an end of sins.”
A number of years ago I was visiting a Jewish friend of mine in his
office in Houston. I had witnessed to
him for many years that Jesus is His Messiah, and sometimes he seemed open to
the idea, and at others he was definitely “closed.” This was one of those days. At my first mention of Jesus, he told me, “Leroy, I do not believe that Jesus is my
Messiah. If Jesus had been my Messiah,
he would have ‘made an end of sins.”
I was absolutely amazed at this reasoning in my friend. Whether he knew it or not he had quoted from
Daniel 9:24, giving the exact reason for the coming of “The Messiah.” I know today
that his understanding of “the Messiah
(the Christ)” was, and is, greater
than that of most “Christians” of
this generation. He simply was not fully
persuaded that Jesus of Nazareth was “He
that should come” (Luke 7:19). I was unable, that day, to tell my friend
what I am convinced he has discovered for himself these fifteen years later;
that Jesus did “make an end of sins”
when He gave His life on the cross for us.
There is glorious freedom from sin in the heart and nature of everyone
who knows and trusts in Him as “…the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world” (John 1:29).
3. “…make reconciliation for iniquity…” The
Hebrew word “kaphar,”
which was translated as “reconciliation,”
means “to cover.” This does not speak of a “covering” to cover sin in those who believe in Jesus so the Father
can receive them. Instead, this is a
prophecy which the fulfillment of, is revealed by the apostle Paul in Romans 3:24-25: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to
be a propitiation (a Passover Lamb) through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness (His death on the cross to
save sinners) for the remission
(passing over) of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God.”
Notice that it is not “sinners”
that are covered, but “sins that are
past.” This speaks of “pardon” for the past, to be “remembered no more” (Hebrews 10:17). Let’s recall the wonderful words of Paul in II Corinthians 5:19, “…God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself….”
4. “…bring in everlasting righteousness…”
Eternal life belongs to all those who have “Christ” as their “life.” The apostle John says in I John 5:11-12, “…this is the
record that God hath given to us
eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life; and
he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” No one, in whom Christ is not presently
living, has “eternal life,” because
eternal life is only in God’s Son. The
apostle Paul says, “I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me…” (Galatians
2:20). Paul explains and strengthens
his words in the remainder of the same
verse when he says, “…the life which
I now live in the flesh (in this
mortal body) I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” For Paul, eternal life began when he
surrendered to Jesus of Nazareth (Messiah, the Christ) on the Road to
Damascus. That was when “everlasting righteousness” came to the
one who had been “…a blasphemer, and a
persecutor, and (an) injurious (person)” (I
Timothy 1:13).
5. “…seal up the vision and prophecy…” Every prophecy and vision of “The Messiah” is fulfilled in Jesus
Christ. In His death on the cross He
fulfilled the promise of every lamb that was slain from the foundation of the
world. When Jesus walked the Via
Dolorosa, carrying His cross from Pilate’s judgment hall to a place outside the
walls of the city called “the place of
the skull (Calvary),” He took the
place of the “scapegoat,” which, in Leviticus 16:21-22, was a “baby goat” which (from one year to the
next) would “…bear upon him all their
iniquities unto a land not inhabited.”
As He hung there on the cross, bleeding away His lifeblood, He took the
place of the “Passover Lamb,” of
which God had said, “When I see the
blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus
12:13). After He breathed His last
breath and died on the cross; after the “blood
and water” poured from His wounded side (John 19:34); when they took Him down from the cross and placed Him
in a borrowed tomb, which was outside the gates of the city, He took the place
of the Old Covenant sin offering, whose blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat
in the holiest of holies, and whose body was burned “outside the camp” (Hebrews
13:11-12). When Jesus cried from the
cross, “It is finished,” what He
actually said is “It is accomplished.” Everything that was prophesied of Him in the
Law and the Prophets had been fulfilled.
He “sealed up the vision and
prophecy.”
6. “…and to anoint the Most Holy.”
This last of the six things which were spoken of in Daniel 9:24, was the first to be accomplished. It happened the day Jesus of Nazareth came to
John’s baptism at the Jordan River. The
scriptures say in Matthew 3:16-17, “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up
straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he
saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a
voice from heaven, saying, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Before John the Baptist introduced Him with
the words “Behold, the Lamb of God…,”
the Father had introduced Him from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It is significant that after that time, the
unclean spirits which possessed many among the people began to cry out, “We know who you are, the ‘Holy One’ of God.”
These six things which
were clearly given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel are the “record that God gave of His Son” (I John 5:10). I will list
them once more; 1. He would “finish
the transgression;” 2. He would “make
an end of sins;” 3. He would “make
reconciliation for iniquity;” 4. He would “bring
in everlasting righteousness;” 5. He would “seal
up the vision and prophecy; and 6. He would be “anointed the Most Holy.”
The apostle John says, “…he
that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son” (I John 5:10). Will you believe the record God gave of His Son?
Many will not, but will choose to continue in the traditions and fables
of this modern generation and stand one day before God as one who “made Him a liar,” because they “believe not the record that God gave of His Son.”
The
Doctrine of Christ
When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he
asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And
they said, Some say that thou art
John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias,
or one of the prophets. He saith unto
them, But whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 16:13-17
When Jesus asked His disciples the question, Matthew 16:15, “…but whom say
ye that I am?” it was Peter who answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter, along with all the Jews of his day,
knew very well the prophecies of the Messiah that were given through
Daniel. He knew the year He should
appear, and he knew what the angel Gabriel said that He would do. When Peter said, “Thou art the Christ,” he was saying, “You, Jesus, are the Messiah; you are the one who will ‘make an end of
sin;’ you will ‘make reconciliation for iniquity;’ you will ‘bring in
everlasting righteousness.’ You are the redeemer whom our God has promised to
send.”
Again the next day after John stood, and two of his
disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of
God! And the two disciples heard him
speak, and they followed Jesus.
John 1:35-37
One of
the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have
found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
John 1:40-41
John the Baptist had introduced Jesus as “…the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” For those who believed the Law and the
Prophets and looked for the coming of the Messiah, this was all they needed to
hear. They rejoiced one to another, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the
law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John1:45). All this rejoicing came upon them because
they had found the one they had heard of all their lives as their teachers
taught the Law and prophets every Sabbath day.
They had studied the prophecies of Daniel which tell of the one called “the Messiah, the Prince” who would come
to Israel as a redeemer and a savior.
Mother’s would rock their babies to sleep, singing songs about “the Messiah.” Young children grew up hearing stories from
the mothers that always began with the words “When Messiah comes….” Most
of these were simple “fables” that
described how wonderful and bountiful life would be in Israel when the Messiah
came. Some looked for a great warrior
who would drive the Romans out of their land.
Others looked for a great king that would lead them to world dominion
and prosperity. A study of the miracles
Jesus did, according to the gospel of John, reveals that they were done to
confirm to believers that He was indeed the Messiah. The first miracle Jesus performed was at the
wedding feast at Cana of Galilee, where He “turned
the water into wine.” For many
generations, little children had heard their mothers say, “When Messiah comes, one cluster of grapes will produce five firkins of
wine.” According to the text in John 2:6, Jesus produced between twelve
and eighteen firkins of wine from nothing more than water. Many of the expectations of the people were
actually unrealistic, which later led to disillusionment among many who thought
Jesus would declare himself to be “King
of the Jews” and proceed to drive the Romans out of their land. Yet, the message of the prophets
remained. “When the Messiah comes, He shall finish the transgression and make an
end of sins. He shall bring in everlasting
righteousness.” They had absolutely
no idea as to how He would do these things, and no one, including His own
apostles, would have believed it would be accomplished on a Roman cross instead
of a palace throne, and that it would be in the hearts of man and not in the
world at large.
The Jewish people had kept the feast days and holy days from their
youth up, all of which foreshadowed the “redemption”
and the “redeemer” who was to
come. For over fifteen hundred years,
the faithful in Israel had offered the appropriate sacrifices at the times
appointed. Millions of lambs, bullocks,
kid goats, and turtle doves had shed their blood to “cover” the sins of the people, but never was a sacrifice found
among them whose blood could “take sin
away.” There was, however, a Lamb
that was promised, whose blood was of such virtue that it would “take away” the sins of the people. Every year on the Day of Atonement, they had
seen two kid goats brought to the High Priest.
One of them would be slain, and its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat in
the Holiest of Holies, and its body would be burned outside the gates of the
city. The High Priest would lay his
hands on the head of the living kid goat and place the iniquities of the people
upon its head. That little kid goat
would then be led far out into the wilderness, far from the city, and there be
abandoned to be devoured by the wild beasts along with the “iniquities of the people.”
Over and over, day by day, year by year, the priests of Israel would
offer these same sacrifices that could never “take away sins” (Hebrews
10:11), but did give the promise that “…when
Messiah comes, He will offer a lamb which will take our sins away.”
These young disciples of John the Baptist knew they were “forgiven,” but they were not “free.”
They still had sin working in their hearts. Imagine their “joy” at learning “He”
had come. The Messiah, the Christ, who
would “make an end of sins;” the
Lamb, who would “take away” their
sin, and they would be free. They had no
understanding of what it would cost the Son of God to fulfill the prophecies;
they only knew the “joy,” of knowing,
“we have found Him.”
Believing
that Jesus is “He”
Then said Jesus again unto them,
I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins:
(because) whither
I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself?
because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.
And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are
of this world; I am not of this world.
I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he,
ye shall die in your sins.
John 8:21-24
Not everyone rejoiced at the advent of Jesus. There were those in Israel who knew the Law and
Prophets best, who utterly rejected any idea that Jesus of Nazareth could be
the promised Messiah. It was these who
began to plot His death as more and more people gathered to Jesus. There was little quarrel about what the
Messiah would do; the prophets had been very clear in their pronouncements: the
“quarrel” was about who the Messiah
was, and if He had in fact, come into the world as the prophets had testified
He would. It was to some of these Jews
that Jesus spoke, in John 8:21-24,
when He made a most astounding statement: “I
go my way, and ye shall seek me, and
shall die in your sins.” What an
incredible statement! How is it possible
that one could “seek Him and die in their
sins?” It is more than the mind
can grasp, but Jesus gave the answer to the “riddle.”
Jesus said in the same text “for if ye believe not that I am he,
ye shall die in your sins.” These Jews knew all about the prophecies of “the Messiah (the Christ)” but rejected Jesus as being “the Christ.” They would “die in their sins” because they rejected the only one who could,
and would, “die” to “take away their sin.” Almost two thousand years later, the
descendants of those Jews who rejected Jesus, still seek their Messiah and pray
continually for His coming. Since June
of 1967 they have come daily to the “wailing
wall” in Jerusalem to weep and cry, seeking for their Messiah to come, yet,
with all their sincerity and devotion, they “die
in their sins” for no other reason than they do not believe that Jesus “is
He of whom Moses in the law, and
the prophets, did write” (John 1:45).
He
That “Should Come”
Now when John had heard in the prison the works of
Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go
and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive
their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be
offended in me.
Matthew 11:2-6
It was John the Baptist who introduced Jesus as “The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world.” To John, whether
Jesus was the Messiah or not hinged upon the answer to this one question; “Is
Jesus of Nazareth the one the prophets spoke of who would ‘make an end of sins,’ or do we seek another?” Jesus did not answer “yea” or “nay,” but
simply said, “Tell John the things that you
see and hear: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised up, and the gospel is preached to the poor.” John could go to his grave in peace,
knowing that the same one, who did all these wonderful works, would also “make an end of sins.” Certainly He is “The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
The
“Sin of the World”
Few people today understand what it means that Jesus is the Lamb
which “taketh away the sin of the world.” The apostle Paul explains this very well in
the fifth chapter of Romans. First, he reminds us of how sin entered “into the world.”
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Romans 5:12
No one is a sinner because they chose to be a sinner. Everyone who has been born into this world
since the transgression of Adam, with the sole exception of Jesus of Nazareth,
who is the Son of God, has been born with sin in their heart and nature. Paul explains that it was by “one man” that sin entered into the
world, and that one man was the first man, Adam. When sin entered “into the world,” it came into the heart and nature of Adam, and
his wife Eve. Through natural
reproduction, their children and all of their descendants are forever born with
sin in their heart and nature. It was
not “sins” that entered, but “sin” that dwells in the heart and
nature of mankind, that rules their lives.
Every sinful thing on this earth today is a product of sin in the heart
of man. Even if a person, through the
strength of their will power, could control the sinful impulses of their heart,
they would still be condemned by sin in their heart and nature. No one can rid themselves of the sin that is
in them by birth. That is why Jesus
says, “Ye must be born again.”
According to the apostle Paul in Romans 3:25, the “righteousness
of God” is declared by Jesus Christ offering his body and blood on the
cross as a “sin offering” for
us. Paul declares in Hebrews 10:4-5, “For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore
when he (Christ) cometh into the
world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.” In John
1:14, the apostle writes, “And the
Word was made flesh (a flesh and blood body), and dwelt among us.” It was
for this one and only purpose that a body was prepared for Him; that he might
have a sacrifice to offer that was sufficient to “take away the sin of the world.”
God is a just God. The
entrance of sin into the world was not God’s plan, as many slanderously
report. Sin entered through Adam’s
disobedience and corrupted man who was made in the image and likeness of
God. Sin was born into every man, and
soon the entire world was so degraded by sin that “…every imagination of the thoughts of his (man’s) heart was
only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). The scripture tells us that “it repented the LORD that he had made man
on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” (Genesis 6:6). God destroyed
every living person except for the household of Noah, and yet, within a
generation, sin was once more rampant in the earth. Multitudes of sinners had been destroyed, but
“sin” survived the flood in the heart
and nature of Noah and his household.
Justice required a better answer than simply to “destroy the sinner.” If sin
entered the heart and nature of man through Adam’s disobedience, justice
required that there be a “second man”
to “take away the sin of the world,”
which had entered through the disobedience of that “first man.” The answer that
justice required is given in Romans 5:19;
“For as by one man’s (Adam’s) disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one (Jesus Christ) shall
many be made righteous.”
Dying
in Sin
If ye
believe NOT that I am he, ye shall DIE IN YOUR SINS.
John 8:24
We do not understand what it means to “die in sin” today. It does
not mean that you are an “atrocious
sinner.” You may not be breaking any
outward commandment of God. You may be
honest, decent, moral, and even a faithful church member, but you will still “die in your sin” if you do not believe
that Jesus is “the Christ” that came
into the world to “make an end of sin;”
and that He is “…the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” Does sin still abide in your heart? Jesus died to “take it away,” that you “have
it no more.”
If Jesus did not “take away
the sin of the world;” if “Christians”
are still sinners by nature, and will be received by Christ at His coming, the
only conclusion we can draw is that “the
New Heavens and the New Earth” will become just as corrupted as this old
earth. Sin survived the flood because it
was in the heart and nature of Noah, whom God called a “righteous man.” Sin did not
survive the cross of Christ. It is there
that the “sin of the world” was
nailed for every one that believeth.
Those who are “born of God”
can look back to the cross, and understand the words of Paul, that “…our old man is crucified with Christ, that
the body (not our physical body, but the entire body and source) of sin might be destroyed” (Romans 6:6).
What
the Law Could Not Do
For
what the law COULD NOT DO, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh:
Romans 8:3
Jesus Christ came to “do”
what the law “could not do.” The law could define sin, and it could punish
the sinner, even kill the sinner that disregarded the law, but it could not “kill the sin that was in the sinner.” That is exactly what Jesus came to do. He did not give us a “step plan” to help us put away our sins. Hebrews
9:26 says, “…but now once in the end
of the world hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
Consider closely the wording of Romans
8:3 above. God sent His own Son to “condemn sin in the flesh.” Paul put
these words in the past tense, saying He “…condemned
sin in the flesh.” The word “condemned,” used in this verse, is translated from the
Greek word “katakrino,”
which means, “to judge against, that is,
to sentence.” Note that it was not
sinners that Jesus condemned, but the sin that was in the sinner. He not only passed sentence against sin, but
He carried out that sentence on the cross.
It is there, on His cross that “our
old man is crucified with Him,” and “the
body of sin is destroyed” (Romans
6:6).
Romans 6:10 says of Jesus, “…in that he died, he died unto
sin once: but in that he liveth, he
liveth unto God.” The next verse, speaking to all who desire
to be “free from sin,” says, “Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans
6:11). Understand this verse this way:
if we accept “by faith (believing the
record that God gave of His Son)”
that our old man is crucified “with
Christ,” then we also accept that everything else that happened to Him in
His death, burial, and resurrection, also happened to us, if we can only
believe it. If Jesus “died unto sin once,” likewise (in that
same manner) we know that we are “dead
indeed (in fact) unto sin.” It is the word “indeed,” which was translated from the Greek word “men,” and means “in fact,” that declares this verse to be speaking of the “reality” of a child of God, and not a
mere “confession.” If Jesus, through His resurrection from the
dead, now “liveth unto God,” the
apostle tells us to “likewise (in
that same manner) understand that we are
alive unto God, through (and in) Jesus
Christ our Lord.”
Let not
sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts
thereof. Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as
those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 6:12-13
There are those who claim to preach the message of the cross and
the blood, who believe that this verse of scripture proves that sin remains in
the children of God. Why else then, they
contend, if we are “free from sin,” would
the apostle command us not to let sin reign in our bodies? The answer is this: The KJV translators gave
us an incorrect translation in this twelfth verse. The words, “Let not,” which this verse begins with, are translated from the
Greek word “me,” and in this
particular place, should have been translated as the conjunction, “lest,” connecting the eleventh and twelfth verses in this manner: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord, lest sin therefore (certainly)
reign in your mortal body, that
ye should obey it in the lusts thereof, Lest ye also yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin.” If we do not “reckon ourselves” to be “dead indeed unto sin,” and “alive unto God in Jesus Christ,” sin
will continue its reign in our mortal body, and we will “die in our sin.” Why should
we die in our sin, when Jesus died to make us free?
Worship
that is “In Vain”
This
people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from
me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Matthew 15:8-9
This text contains another “incredible
statement” by Jesus; “…in vain do
they worship me…,” yet this is just as true of multitudes in the modern
churches as it was of the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ day. The apostle Paul warned of such in his second
letter to Timothy:
For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own
lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they
shall turn away their ears from the
truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
II Timothy 4:3-4
The prophet Jeremiah saw a similar condition in Jerusalem shortly
before the city and temple were destroyed.
He warned the people in Jeremiah
7:4 “Trust ye not in lying words,
saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the
LORD….” The false prophets and
priests of that day taught the people that the “Temple of the LORD” was their security. Notice that the prophet repeated the words
three times, placing emphasis on the idea among the people that as long as they
brought their sacrifices to the temple; as long as they worshiped in the
temple; as long as they “adored” the
temple, they would be accepted by God regardless of the lives they lived from
day to day. Obviously the warning had no
effect on the people of the land. They
continued to heed the words of the false prophets and priests; they continued
to worship in the temple; to bring their sacrifices, and to “adore” the buildings of the
temple. Their “worship” was in vain; their sacrifices were unacceptable, and the
prophet told them why:
Behold,
ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn
incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and
stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these
abominations?
Jeremiah 7:8-10
This sounds exactly like the “gospel”
that is being taught in so many churches, and is being believed by millions of
people today. The following is a summary
of the “gospel” that I have heard
expressed hundreds of times during the past three decades. I have heard it from both radio and
television teachers, and from some of the most “preeminent” teachers of “orthodoxy”
in this generation. While believed by
millions of Americans today, the following summary has in it, at least seven “lies” that will damn those who believe
them. See if you can find the lies.
“Jesus came into the world
and died on the cross to take the penalty for my sin. I am still a sinner, and I sin every day,
because I live in a body of flesh, but Jesus has forgiven all of my sins, past,
present, and future, and as long as I do not publicly denounce him, I cannot
miss going to heaven when I die. When I
sin, even if I do not repent, I am secure in my salvation because Jesus has
already forgiven every sin that I will ever commit.”
Millions of people attend services every Sunday to “worship” the Lord, but their worship is
“in vain” because, as Jeremiah said
of the people in his day, they “trust in
lying words.” They do not believe
that Jesus is “He” that came into the
world to “make an end of sins.” Instead, they believe an almost identical “statement of faith” as that of the
people in Jeremiah’s day; “We are
delivered to do all these abominations.” God spoke to Ezekiel of the same people in his
day, saying, “They come unto thee as the
people cometh, and they sit before thee
as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but
their heart goeth after their covetousness” (Ezekiel 33:31). What is the
difference between people under the law and prophets that committed the
abominations of the heathen and those in the church today who do the same? Someone says, it’s because “We are under grace.” Are we then to believe that “grace” is a “license” to continue in sin?
All who trust in such a doctrine are trusting in “lying words that cannot profit” (Jeremiah 7:8). This is the “fable” the modern church has given its
ears to. We have once again arrived at
the spiritual condition of Old Testament Jerusalem just before God destroyed
it. Jeremiah has warned the people for
all the years of his ministry, but now it is God who asks the question and
defines the problem. “Is this house, which is called by my name,
become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 7:11).
For we
have NOT followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
II Peter 1:16
It is a “cunningly devised
fable” that teaches the people that “…sin
doesn’t matter, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” The Grace of God teaches just the opposite: “…sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye
are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). “Grace” is the reason that sin has lost its dominion.
Fornicators
in the Church
I wrote
unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with
the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with
idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep
company, if any man that is called a
brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a
drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
I Corinthians 5:9-11
The positions of the apostles of Christ concerning sin are
considered to be too hard and much too harsh by the present leadership of the
churches. An official of a large
denomination once spoke of an adulterer who attended his church, who continued,
“periodically,” to be unfaithful to
his wife. He told my brother, who was
also a pastor in that same denomination, “I
can’t tell that man that he’s not saved!
I think it best to pray for him and love him, believing that some day he
will learn how to be faithful.”
Paul condemns the attitude of the Corinthian church towards a man
who lived in fornication with “his
father’s wife,” when he says, “Your glorying
is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (I Corinthians 5:6)?” Paul was right! A loose attitude towards sin has “leavened” the entire church world
today, and has filled the churches with “sinners”
who are received as “saints.”
In II John 1:9-11, the
apostle John set the basis for fellowship on what a person “believes,” that is,
whether they “abide in the doctrine of Christ.” “If there come any unto you, and bring not
this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.” In I
Corinthians 5:9-11, Paul set the basis for fellowship on what a person “is,”
which is known by what they do; “…if
any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater,
or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.” Jesus tells us clearly, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). It should be noticed that Paul greatly
narrows the field of who he is speaking of in this text when he says, “…not altogether with the fornicators of
this world…but… if any man that is
called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer,
or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with
such an one no not to eat.”
The world is filled with fornicators and always has been. If the child of God was forbidden to eat with
fornicators, Paul said we would have to “…go
out of the world” (I Corinthians
5:10). Instead, he spoke of those
who are “called a brother.” It should be noted that the apostle did not
speak of the man who was also a “fornicator,”
as a “brother;” but, that he was “called a brother.” The man laid his claim to “be a brother” in the church. He may have at one time been a brother, but
he had long since been “moved away from
Christ” to other things. The apostle
Paul speaks of the possibility of sin “reviving”
in the heart of one who was once free if they are moved away from Christ to any
other thing, hence, “sin revived, and I died” (Romans 7:9). When “sin”
lives in the heart of any person who has once “known God,” you are looking at a “walking dead person” (I
Timothy 5:6).
Before I go any further into this message, I must tell you, as I
have many times before, that I was once a “backslider.” I had been saved, preached the gospel (to the
extent that I knew it), and had seen God do many wonderful things through our
ministry; but then, I became a backslider, lost, and on my way to hell. Before God restored me on March 2, 1980, I
had spent many months repenting, with tears flowing down my face night and
day. I was lost! I continued in sin only
because I was a “slave” to sin. If I had not been a “slave” I would never have sinned again, but I could not free
myself. I repented continually of my sins
with no relief until one day the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me and said, “Stop repenting of what you do, and repent of what
you are!” I resisted this
reprimand from God, because I hated the thought of what I was. I was “a
man of God” who, I thought, had only “fallen
into a snare.” At the same time that
I knew I was lost and perishing, I still wanted to believe that I was “a man of God” who was only in a
snare. I saw those “sinners” who were doing the same things I was doing, but surely I
wasn’t one of them. Most people still
called me “brother.” Many comforted me that I was still “a man of God.” There were even prophecies given over me that
explained that God had done this to “deliver
me” from a great hindrance to my ministry.
I knew these things were not true; because I knew that I was lost, and a
slave to sin, and to Satan. I knew that
if I had died, Jesus would deny me at the judgment and say, “I never knew you.”
When a righteous man
doth turn from his righteousness, and
commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because
thou hast not given him warning, he shall
die in his sin, and his righteousness
which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at
thine hand.
Ezekiel 3:20
Made
Free
Why do so many of those who profess to be Christians transgress and
continue in sin? Some would say it is
because they have not yet “learned how to
live, through trusting in Christ alone.” Jesus says it is because they have not “known the truth.” Pay close attention to the words of Jesus in
the following text:
Then
said Jesus to those Jews which believed
on him, If ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:31-32
Notice that Jesus was speaking to “those Jews which believed on Him.”
What they believed about Jesus we do not know, but it is obvious that
they did not believe Him to be “The
Christ,” who was promised by God to “make
an end of sins” (Daniel 9:24). They were quick to answer Jesus with much
indignation; “We be Abraham’s seed, and
were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” (John 8:33). The modern church cannot
comprehend freedom from sin any more than those superficial Jews did in their
day. In their “pride” of being the “chosen
people,” they refused to even acknowledge their national bondage to
Rome. They were, in reality, “slaves,” to something ten thousand
times worse than Rome; they were “slaves
to sin,” and “Sin” was their
master. Jesus tells them of their
bondage in the next verse.
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
John 8:34
The Greek word that is translated as “committeth” is “poieo,” which means “to
make or do (a single act).” It does not mean, nor can it be correctly
translated, “practice,” as many
suggest. If Jesus had said “Whosoever practices sin (or habitually
sins) is the servant (or slave) of sin,” then the Greek word would have
been “prasso,”
which means “to practice.” The scripture never speaks in those terms, at
least not in the KJV.
In the next verse, Jesus
explains something about servants in this natural life that everyone who heard
his words would understand.
And the servant abideth not in
the house for ever: but the Son
abideth ever.
John 8:35
From early morning until after the master has retired to his
private quarters, the “house” may be
filled with servants, but the hour comes that the servant must retire to his
slave quarters for his few hours of rest before another long work day. Jesus made the point that only the Son abides
in the Father’s house forever. The
servant, whether he is a servant to sin or to the Law of Moses, is a slave, and
must eventually leave the Father’s house and go to the slave quarters.
If the Son therefore shall
make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:36
There are two different Greek words in this verse which are
translated as “free.” The first,
which is found in the phrase “If the Son
therefore shall make you free,” is “eleutheroo,”
which, according to Strong’s Greek Dictionary, means “to liberate, that is,
(figuratively) to exempt (from
moral, ceremonial or mortal liability).”
Many teachers erroneously read this definition and twist it to mean that
we as believers are “exempted,” by
Christ, from all “moral liability.” In other words, they teach that sin does not
matter if you “believe in Jesus.” Jesus, on the other hand, was telling the
Jews that He would make them “free from
sin,” and “Sin” would no longer
be their master. All of those who “trust in Him (He is ‘the Christ’)” are “exempt from all liability” to their old master, which was
sin. They would be “free,” and they would be “free
indeed.”
The second Greek word for “free”
is found in the words “free indeed.” The Greek word used in this place is “eleutheros,” which means “unrestrained (to go at pleasure), that is, (as a
citizen) not a slave (whether freeborn
or manumitted). Those who Jesus Christ has made “free indeed,” are no longer slaves to
sin, because they have been “born again;”
that is, they are “freeborn sons of the
Father” who will “abide in the house
forever.”
“...He That Believeth Not,
Shall Be Damned.”
Mark 16:16
Many may feel that I am a little harsh in my assessment of the
present condition of the church in America.
I can only say that you cannot possibly understand the pain I feel in my
heart, when I say that millions of people in America’s “Christian” churches are “worshiping
in vain” because of the traditions and fables of religion that have been
given them by their teachers. Jesus was
speaking of these when He said, “…in vain
they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9), and “…ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins” (John 8:21). They “seek
the Lord, and die in their sin,” because they deny “the Christ (Jesus)” who
died on the cross to “make an end of
sins” (Daniel 9:24), and worship
one who (they believe) came only to “take
the penalty” for sin, and “set the
believer free” to continue therein.
The first disciples rejoiced with great joy, shouting, “we have found Him” who “taketh away the sin of the world.”
Those same words will stir anger and strife among many in the churches
today. They hate the thought, which they
consider to be heretical, that Jesus Christ died on the cross to “take away sin.” They love the idea that Jesus died “to take the penalty for our sin,” because
it gives them the feeling of security that they will “go to heaven” when they “die
in their sins.” They trust in an
error that began as a small thing almost five hundred years ago with some of
the “reformers.” While seeking to deliver the masses of people
from the darkness of Roman Catholicism of that day, they formulated doctrines
they believed would correct the errors of the past. “No
reason to do penance, purchase indulgences, or suffer purgatory,” because
Jesus “took the penalty when He died on
the cross.” The doctrine of “Justification by Faith” began the same
way. It was not the “cause” of the reformation.
It was never mentioned in the ninety three “theses” that Martin Luther published against the Roman
church. The issue that launched the
reformation was the practice of “selling
indulgences for sin” which the church did to raise money for the
construction of “St Peter’s Basilica.” According to the great historian of the
reformation, “Merle D’ Aubigne,” the doctrine of “Justification by Faith” was not the “cause,” but the “weapon”
of the reformation; a weapon that “wounded”
that religious beast with a deadly wound (Revelation
13:3), and delivered millions of souls out of its clutches. The doctrine was very simple in its
beginnings. There was no reason to pay
money for forgiveness; no reason to confess sins to a priest; no reason to do
all the works of penance that were required by the church to receive
forgiveness, and no reason to be slaves to a system that promised salvation
only to those who bowed to its every whim.
“Justification by Faith!”
Oh what a sweet sound in the ears of the multitudes who had been held in
the bondage of a false religion. “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted
unto Him for righteousness.” To be
under the dominion of the Catholic church of that day was just like being under
the dominion of the Law of Moses. The
things it promised were good, but to deliver them to the people it could not do
because it depended on the abilities of the people to bear up under the cruel
yoke that the church had put on them.
Paul said of the Law of Moses, “For
what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh” (Romans 8:3). The Law could NOT take away sin out of the
heart and nature of man, but that is exactly what God sent His Own Son to
do. The scripture says He “condemned sin in the flesh.” This does not mean that he condemned
sinners, which he did not do; instead, He “passed
the death sentence on the sin that was in the heart and nature of man.” That is exactly what Paul means in this
verse, according to the Greek wording of the text. Martin Luther, in his doctrine of “Justification by Faith,” understood
that neither the Law of Moses or the Roman Catholic church of his day, could
make a man righteous without works, but he did understood that “faith” in the one who “loved us and gave Himself for us” would
(Galatians 2:20). The goal of the Law was not wrong, but it had
to be abolished because it could not deliver the sinner from his sin. That is what Jesus did, “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:4).
I will close this message with the words of an old “altar call song” I remember from my
childhood in the “Southside Assembly of
God Church” in Houston, Texas. Hear
the words of this song as many “sinners”
did in those days, and literally ran to an altar to find the savior.
-----------------------------------------------------
Sin
Can Never Enter There
Heaven
is a holy place,
Filled
with glory and with grace,
Sin
can never enter there;
All within its gates are pure,
From
defilement kept secure,
Sin
can never enter there.
Chorus
Sin
can never enter there,
Sin
can never enter there;
So
if at the judgment bar,
Sinful
spots your soul shall mar,
You can never enter there.
If
you hope to dwell at last,
When
your life on earth is past,
In that home so bright and fair,
You must here be cleansed from sin,
Have
the life of Christ within,
Sin can never enter there.
You
may live in sin below,
Heaven’s
grace refuse to know,
But you cannot enter there;
It will stop you at the door,
Bar
you out forevermore,
Sin can never enter there.
If
you cling to sin till death,
When
you draw your latest breath,
You will sink in dark despair,
To
the regions of the lost,
Thus
to prove at awful cost,
Sin
can never enter there.
-----------------------------------------------------
Seven
(7) commonly believed LIES; EXPOSED by the TRUTH.
(Who “...is a liar; and the father of it...”?
[John 8:44])
Lie (1.) “Jesus came into the world and died on the
cross to take the penalty for my sin.
The Truth!
Jesus died on the cross to “take away the sin of the world” according
to John 1:29.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lie (2.) I
am still a sinner, and I sin every day, because I live in a body of flesh,
but Jesus has forgiven all of my sins, past, ...
The Truth!
Paul says, “…the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” Galatians 2:20.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lie (3.)
present, ...
The Truth! Romans 3:25 speaks of “…the remission of sins that are past.” There is no scripture in the Bible that speaks
of forgiveness for sins, “past, present,
and future.” Every mention of sin, concerning
the children of God, is in their past, as in I Corinthians 6:11, “…and such were some of you: but ye
are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified….” Present sins must be repented of with “godly
sorrow,” which no man can produce.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lie (4.)
and future,
...
The Truth!
There is no provision made for a child of God to “continue in sin.” In Romans 6:2 Paul says, “How
shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” He shows clearly, that it is impossible.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lie (5.)
and, as long as
I do not publicly denounce him, I cannot miss going to heaven when I die.
The Truth! Paul speaks of such as these in Titus 1:16, saying, “They profess that they know God; but in
works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good
work reprobate.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lie (6.)
When I sin, even if I do not repent, I am
secure in my salvation ...
The Truth!
Salvation is “from sin;” never “in (or into) sin.” Those who “die in their sin” will also “perish in their sin.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lie (7.)
because Jesus has
already forgiven every sin that I will ever commit.”
The Truth! Such a “doctrine” is not “eternal security,” but “eternal deception” which must
have been hatched in hell.
-----------------------------------------------------
Message 46 - By Leroy
Surface - The Doctrine of Christ
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