Bible Lesson 4

In previous lessons we have attempted to show that the “gospel”, which has been accepted as the truth for decades in modern America, is not “the gospel” at all; but is rather a “sop” that has been devised to make the institutional church a great social club. Now, social clubs are fine in their place but they can never take the place of the body of Christ, which is what the church is supposed to be.

When Jesus came to the earth, he came with a message and a mission. The message was, to the established religion (Judaism), “you have it all wrong so repent or perish”. The mission was to save those that would truly believe in the person; and work of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only means of their eternal salvation. Jesus left us the message of repentance and obedience; and the mission of expanding the kingdom; but we have diluted and perverted his message and failed to accomplish his mission.

Good men have been responsible for much of the damage that has occurred to the good news of Jesus Christ; and they did it thinking that Christ had left us to “fend for ourselves in building the body of Christ.” Jesus Christ made it clear that he was the only one who could or would build his church, (Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:47).

So how did we get to the point that not only individual, denominational churches have begun to save people by a mechanical formula, which includes a professing of a belief in Christ and prayer repeated by the supplicant, and baptism; and then the church receives every person who does that, and assures them that they are saved for eternity; and individual preachers, teachers, and laymen make the same mistake.

The institutional church as a whole has loved to preach that God loves everybody, regardless of the way that they live. That is not true and it is false prophesy. No man will ever know the love of God until he has dealt with the wrath of God against his sin.

We have lost the knowledge of God, and his absolute sovereignty over all things. We have imposed our sinful desires over God’s word and will and we are not saved; and it certainly is drawing toward the time of the final judgment. What shall we do? Who can deliver us from this body of death and condemnation?

When Jesus came to the earth, he came with a message and a mission. The message was, to the established religion (Judaism), “you have it all wrong so repent or perish”. The mission was to save those that would truly believe in the person; and work of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only means of their eternal salvation. Jesus left us the message of repentance and obedience; and the mission of expanding the kingdom; but we have diluted and perverted his message and failed to accomplish his mission.

Good men have been responsible for much of the damage that has occurred to the good news of Jesus Christ; and they did it thinking that Christ had left us to “fend for ourselves in building the body of Christ.” Jesus Christ made it clear that he was the only one who could or would build his church, (Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:47).

So how did we get to the point that not only individual, denominational churches have begun to save people by a mechanical formula, which includes a professing of a belief in Christ and prayer repeated by the supplicant, and baptism; and then the church receives every person who does that, and assures them that they are saved for eternity; and individual preachers, teachers, and laymen make the same mistake.

The institutional church as a whole has loved to preach that God loves everybody, regardless of the way that they live. That is not true and it is false prophesy. No man will ever know the love of God until he has dealt with the wrath of God against his sin.

We have lost the knowledge of God, and his absolute sovereignty over all things. We have imposed our sinful desires over God’s word and will and we are not saved; and it certainly is drawing toward the time of the final judgment. What shall we do? Who can deliver us from this body of death and condemnation?

The answer is that God’s hand is not shortened and he has not withdrawn his grace from our age. (Isaiah 59:1). There is hope as long as we are alive; but none of us know when the Lord will call him out of this world. What we must do, if we would know God in the forgiveness of our sin, is to awake from this sleep that we have been lulled into and open our Bibles and our eyes and ears to what the Lord is saying to us from his word the Bible. It does not matter what any man says to you, unless it is what God has said; and the only way you can know what God has said is to know the word of God.

If you are not willing to do that then you are a hopeless case; because most people know that we are saved by grace through faith in the lord Jesus Christ. So how do we gain faith? It is a gift from God in our salvation. (Ephesians 2:8-9). Also the Bible tells us in Romans 10:17, that “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” this hearing is not always what every preacher says but exactly what the word of God, the Bible says. If you are saved, you know it, and you know it by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, that God put in you at the moment of your salvation (Ephesians 1:12-13)

There are certain things that you must come to believe and trust yourself:

  • God is the creator and you are the creature.
  • Because of your inherited nature (from Adam) you have missed the mark; you are not the man God created you to be.
  • You are under the wrath of our holy and just God and you need a savior
  • God the father has provided a savior for those who will believe and obey (John 3:16; Hebrews 5:8-9).
  • You must be willing to abdicate the control of your life completely, to Jesus Christ.
  • You must be willing to see yourself in the light of God as God shows you.

Until next time,

may God bless and keep you

This is Bro. Bob