The Baptism with the Holy Spirit [podcast]
Powerless Modern Hirelings who Pose as Christ’s Representatives!
THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD ARE VITAL, NON-NEGOTIABLE COMPONENTS OF OUR LORD’S NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. ARE YOU BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT? DARE WE TAKE AWAY FROM THE LORD’S STATED, NEW TESTAMENT PROGRAM? See REVELATION 22:18-19
GOD wants you to be anointed with His Holy Ghost so He can use you to preach sinners and backsliders into His eternal kingdom! (See Acts 1:8; 2:38.) If you are going to follow Christ fully, you must do things HIS way. If you will be used mightily of Him you must ask Him to baptize with His Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
We must be empowered by our LORD to do HIS work (Acts 1:8).
Jesus came and died and rose again for you and that wasn’t so you could steep yourself in this fleeting world but rather to be His ambassador to participate in pouring forth His Word into the hearts of saints and lost souls alike (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-20). Are you walking in the Great Commission beloved of the LORD? Do you desire to walk in Christ’s will?
HOW many people know that you and I have never once had the “problem” of having too much of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives?
Are you ready to be used to shake hell’s foundation in the power of the Most High?
It all begins at the foot of the cross, bowed down low in repentance and then Jesus’ command in Luke 24:49 and at Acts 1:8. As a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit, you are His temple. Yet, the LORD desires to give you the full measure of his spirit to be Christ’s witness. He’s calling you to tarry before Him till baptized with the Holy Ghost (Matthew 3:11-12; Luke 24:49). Are you willing to do things His way? That is, are you willing to humble yourself, forget the teachings you may have learned against this, and simply listen to Jesus speak to your heart from His own Word? That is, to learn the way prescribed by the unchanging LORD and Savior you claim to be serving? (See Hebrews 13:8.) Do you truly desire all that God has for you? Will you allow anything to stand in your way?
Just after Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon God’s people in the earliest days of Christianity, the LORD’s children were bold, divinely-empowered witnesses of Christ (Acts 1:8; 4:33). The lame man at the Gate Beautiful was healed of a lifelong ailment and the city of Jerusalem was in total pandemonium. The religious establishment was losing the control they had wielded over the people. Their Nicolaitan witchcraft was being broken, and why? Because the name and power of Jesus Christ were present in God’s people. In fact, of those who were instrumental in turning the world upside down, the Bible records something interesting of them – “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).
Has God changed? Is Jesus Christ no longer “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”? See Hebrews 13:8.
LOTS of people attempt in vain to do God’s work without God’s power (Acts 1:8).
Jesus is always the same – divinely supreme and divine perfection. His Gospel program has not changed. It’s those pretending to be representing Him who are not enacting His pure Word and the instructions thereof. They are robbing Him and His people by their lives. Instead of humbling themselves in repentance and begging Him to break them to the core of their being, these hireling wolves go to seminary and learn all kinds of techniques as to farm (fleece) their communities and building their church business.
The Jewish leaders sought to stop the Holy Ghost-empowered ministry when He was poured out on Jesus’ disciples. Jesus had foretold that “the promise of the Father” would be given to His disciples, which is the baptism with the Holy Spirit that John had spoken of (Matthew 3:11-12; Luke 24:49; Acts 1-2).
The children of God were filled and began to have the boldness Jesus promised would come upon them “AFTER that the Holy Ghost” was “come upon” them (Acts 1:8). As Jesus foretold, they were endued or clothed upon with the power of God (Acts 24:49). THIS is exactly how and why so much divine power was in that city and Jesus has not changed one bit.
What’s the difference?
Why so many lame, powerless leaders?
Why so many pansies behind pulpits?
You see, many modern organizations draw upon the desire of Christians and well-meaning people. They seduce souls to join in while sacrificing the Savior for self – to make self feel and look good. However, those who truly serve the Savior, obey the Savior. Jesus Christ is the unchanging and only Savior from sin and hell, and He commanded His people to “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
The Apostolic New Testament Program
“Apostolic” simply refers to Christ’s apostles who were carrying forward His Gospel. After Jesus rose from the dead and had returned to His seat at the right hand of the Father, Christ’s apostles made sure when Jesus saved souls, that those newly saved saints had the opportunity to receive the full measure of the Holy Ghost – an integral part of New Testament Christianity and without which the believer cannot and will not be powerfully used of God:
“Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God (got saved), they sent unto them Peter and John: 15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: 16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” Acts 8:14-17
Here is Paul, the apostle of Christ in Ephesus:
“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, 2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. 4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” Acts 19:1-6
These last days are littered with feel-good, politically correct messages and organizations that cater to the whims of sinful, unregenerate mere men while defying Christ. Some of them do so while claiming or feigning to be Christian. This is absurd hypocrisy and deceit.
“We must line up with the Word and stop attempting to relax or ignore the scriptures that we find ‘offensive’ so to speak.” Carol Zingale
Pentecostal Power is New Testament Christianity!
In the hours that ensued Pentecost, Jesus was being magnified and 8,000 souls were saved! (See Acts 2:41; 4:4.) Oh, and they were truly saved! They didn’t “make a decision” or “accept Christ” as so many false leaders speak of today concerning their altar calls. No, these souls were moved by God to genuinely repent and put their faith in Christ alone. This also happened because repentance, the very first word of the Gospel, was preached (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30). Repentance is nearly never heard today and anyone not preaching it is false. Osteen and seeker friendly emergent church wolves refuse to preach on sin and the necessity of repentance. Rick Warren wrote a book entitled “Purpose Driven Life” which sold tens of millions of copies and never calls men to repent. This alone makes Warren and anyone not preaching the imperative of repentance “accursed” for preaching another or false gospel (Galatians 1:6-9).
What’s the Difference?
In this first hour of the Gospel and New Testament church of Jesus, the religious pressure, persecutions, and attack were largely from without (from the Jewish religion). Now, perhaps much more subtly, the insidious persecution and desecration of oracles of God, are largely from within as we were warned of later in Acts 20:29-31 and Psalms 74:4, 7.
Because they were truly in a relationship with Jesus and full of the Holy Spirit as He ordained, in the pressure cooker of severe persecution, the earliest believers stood boldly. Today, many who claim to be Christ’s cower to Satan’s whims to stop the incorruptible, soul-saving Word of God from going forth. No Word, no salvation! (See James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23).
Modern attempts to stifle true Christians from communicating the Law of God and Gospel truth include terms such as:
-Bible Basher
-Proselytize
-etc.
This is the enemy’s attempt to hinder the transmission of God’s Word into the hearts of those He holds captive in their sins and has dominion over until such a time as they hear God’s Word and repent.
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:4
It’s the Son of God alone who makes men free as they obey His truth and yet, if they don’t hear it from God’s people, they will not hear it and will perish (John 8:31-32, 36; Book of Acts; 1 Thessalonians 1:8).
Today we have lame, cowardly denominations and organizations which deceitfully claim to be Christian and yet refuse to follow and obey Christ. For example Compassion International refuses to give the soul-saving message of the Gospel of Jesus. Habitat for Humanity claims to be Christian and builds houses for people while making a home in hell for them by not preaching the Gospel to those very same people (Proverbs 24:10-12). The blood of guilt is upon their hands (Ezekiel 33). God will judge His people for such an atrocity. Jesus came and bled and we refuse to tell those we claim to be helping? Really?
One reason for this evil omission is the refusal to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Such leaves even true believers powerless to make Christ known as they war against the evil spirits who oppose Jesus and His blessed Gospel. If the twelve disciples, who literally walked with Jesus and heard His teaching and saw His miracles first-hand, were not fit to minister before being filled with His Spirit, why would anyone today be? That’s right, Jesus told them to “tarry” or wait till they were baptized with the Holy Ghost before they attempted to go forth (Luke 24:49). This Bible truth is covered up by Satan’s false ministers in today’s false church system (2 Corinthians 11:12-15). Satan loves this attack!
Why were the earliest Christians successful in serving their LORD? Due to obeying Him and refusing to lean on their own feeble, depraved understanding (Proverbs 3:5-7). They simply sought, served, and obeyed what their Savior said. They tarried or waited until He poured out His Holy Ghost on them. They didn’t seek some other way like the beguilers today who circumvent Christ for seminary sickness.
Watch this and wonder why not today?
Acts 4
“But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
21So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.
…29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.”
The earliest believers were full of the presence and power of God and therefore refused to cower to Satan’s plea. They refused to compromise and be traitors. They used the persecutions as springboards for more boldness, forged by their conviction to worship and obey their LORD and Master, Jesus. They cried out for more of the Holy Ghost and more of His power to give witness to the risen Savior!
If we refuse to obey the LORD’s New Testament program, which includes the baptism with the Holy Spirit, there will be feeble results at best. Look at the modern, so-called “evangelical” church world and you will see a powerless, lame, social club that entertains its members.
Now, read Acts chapters 1-4. Submit your life to Jesus unreservedly and seek His face for the baptism with His Holy Spirit.
Now, if you go to a church that isn’t preaching repentance and the baptism with the Holy Ghost, you are not going to a New Testament church. Run for your life!
Do things God’s way or suffer defeat as a rebel. There will never be breakthrough in your life until you reckon with and obey divine truth.
“Buy the truth and sell it not.” Proverbs 23:23
“Let God be true and EVERY man a liar.” Romans 3:4
Make no mistake: The withholding of this essential truth (the baptism with the Holy Spirit) is a conspiracy of Satan and his false leaders who pose as and hold positions as “Christian” leaders (Ezekiel 22:25-27; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 11:12-15). Satan’s most effective ministers are operating within the professing church. This is exactly why that which calls itself “evangelical Christianity” displays no resemblance to that Christianity seen in Acts and on the pages of the New Testament Scriptures. There is no holy boldness or power in the modern church which alone shows its apostasy (Proverbs 28:1; Acts 1:8, etc.). Church members today are not disciples – because those leading them aren’t disciples (Isaiah 9:16).
Jesus says simply: “Follow me.”
Who are you following?
“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Mark 8:34
We need the divine Person of the Holy Ghost to make us holy as Jesus is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). We must have more of Him!
Are you ready to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? Holy Ghost Baptism (thorough study guide for individual or group use) | Holy Ghost Baptism (audio)
MESSAGE RECEIVED:
“All modern day pentecostalism is witchcraft.”
REPLY:
So Peter and all of Christ’s apostles and the whole 120 on the Day of Pentecost were under witchcraft? Repent sinner. Jesus hasn’t changed (Hebrews 13:8) and the promise of the Holy Ghost is to ALL under the New Testament era (Acts 2:38-39).
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Abiding
What Church is Jesus Coming Back for? [podcast]
ETERNAL SECURITY DEATH NAIL. CASE CLOSED!
Are you personally, intimately familiar with the words of Holy Scripture found in Ephesians 5:25-27?
“Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:21-27
Jesus is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing but one that is “holy and without blemish.” So this speaks of those who were His and yet presently have spotted garments, sin they haven’t repented of (Ephesians 5:25-27).
“Be ye holy”
“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16
“NO MAN shall see the Lord” without “holiness”
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” Hebrews 12:14
Regrettably, most preachers today are so busy making excuse for sin that they refuse to disclose this preeminent, self-evident New Testament truth.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” 2 Peter 3:10-12
As this fallen world system and its inhabitants spiral unalterably downward in darkness and disarray, it becomes even more essential for the wise virgin saint to be anchored in the LORD in private prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and Bible reading. No man shall withstand the darkness of this late hour who is not seeking the LORD diligently, daily, relentlessly – demonstrating perpetually that they love the LORD supremely more than self or any other (Matthew 24:10-13, 22). Memorize 1 Chronicles 16:11; Psalms 57:7; 63:8.
IF he’s not hastening you to the holiness of God, he’s playing you for your allegiance to him, and perhaps your money! are you a gullible pawn? Read 2 Peter 2 and 3.
SO, the sinful seminarian wolf you call your “pastor” isn’t preaching the return of Christ, the cross, the necessity of personal holiness, hell, the essential of repentance, or Christ, the Messiah….. and you still sit under that darkness? Repent.
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 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; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy 4:2-4
SO MANY have more faith, more confidence in SIN than they do in the SAVIOR who came and died to make us free from ALL SIN! That’s a cross-less false gospel! Just as Jude foretold, these deceivers – “ungodly men” – cover their sins with a false grace message (Jude 3-4). With no exception, the saving grace of God – IFFFF you really have it – delivers you from sin and never justifies you in sin! Time to repent and be changed today! …. These grace abusing tares want to relish a false grace message that erroneously says that God is going to save them IN their sin but the Bible says Jesus came to save us “FROM” our sin – not in our sins (Matthew 1:21; John 1:29; Titus 2:11-4, etc.). SO, God’s grace isn’t sufficient to deliver you from sin? If you believe that you don’t know Him.
Some among us are so enthralled in listening to modern end times teachers as they seek to figure everything out, that they are not abiding in Christ. These are among the foolish virgins.
ARE YOU spending more time engrossed in some supposed end times scenario than you are obeying God by doing the Great Commission mandate? If so, you are not ready to meet Jesus and in big trouble. Isn’t it time to let God be God and to get about the Father’s business?
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How we walk in “Strong Confidence” [podcast]
“In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.” Proverbs 14:26
“Strong confidence” is only found in fearing God, in walking in the fear of the LORD.
“The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” Proverbs 14:27
We are instructed to “forget not all his benefits” (Psalms 103:2) …… In this passage, we are promised benefits from our LORD:
- “strong confidence”
- “a place of refuge”
- “depart from the snares of death”
Our part is to walk in the fear of the LORD.
“Strong Confidence” that glorifies God and not man, comes from walking in the fear of the LORD, which means we are obeying Him.
Like the psalmist, we should pray to God to “unite my heart to fear they name.”
The psalmist prayed:
“Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.” Psalms 86:11
To “unite” in this verse means to combine, to become one…. permeate our innermost being.
When we truly walk in the fear of God, we fear nothing else.
Fearing God means we fear no man.
“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” Psalms 118:6
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32
David and Paul walked in the fear of the LORD, and thereby were possessed with “strong confidence” and consequently feared no man or devil.
We can fear God without walking “In the fear of the LORD.” We should pray and endeavor to live in the fear of the LORD.
“Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.” Proverbs 23:17
So there seems to be the desire of God for His children to be permeated with His fear, to live in the fear of the LORD.
“Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.” Acts 9:31
The members of the early church were “edified” ….
- “walking in the fear of the Lord,
- and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost,
- were multiplied.”
Let us always be grounded in the foundational essential biblical truth of knowing God—that He created us to know Him (John 17:3).
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10
The life of the disciple of Jesus is learning to let God have His way in us, to lay our own will…. to let God be in control.
How many of us are realizing just how much sinful chaos and calamity transpires when we are in control instead of God?
Is this not part of the reason John the Baptist could so readily cry out “He must increase but I must decrease”? (John 3:30)
Are you reading Romans 6 each morning beloved of God?
Are you learning the cross life?
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13
“And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” Luke 12:4-5
“In the fear of the LORD” the born-again believer is “hid with Christ in God” and fully assured, full of divine confidence!
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3
In being crucified with Christ, we are hid not only from the evil of others, but primarily and most importantly, we are hid from the evil of self, the self-life.
Beware of the often-peddled cheap counterfeit, where people are instructed to learn to love themselves. The Bible commands us to love and fear God and love others, not self. In fact, loving self is the root sin that brought the original fall of mankind and remains as that sin which keeps men from God—pride in self instead of fearing God!
Those who walk in the fear of the LORD, live a crucified life. They walk in the “strong confidence” of the LORD (Proverbs 14:26).
You are no longer your own, you’ve been bought with the price of the very and precious blood of Jesus.
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Prayer: Father, in Jesus’ name, please forgive me for the sin of self-idolatry and not fearing You. I now repent. Please forgive and cleanse me of this sin. I here and now declare and choose to trust You with my life. I love You Jesus!
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Abiding
Knowing the Word of God and also the God of the Word [podcast]
The highest priority of the true disciple is knowing God.
So many strive to know God’s will.
It’s only when you know God that you will know His will.
We all know people who are now away from God. They backslid. They no longer serve Him as they once did. Well, were they truly serving Him, or the church? They had some kind of a departure from the local church they were so fond of and consequently have no semblance of a life with Christ presently. Could this be due to them putting their energy and affections into the local church friends they met and the festivities? Yes. They were in love with the externals and not Christ.
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:11
“God’s greatest desire is for us to have a relationship with Him. We were created for His great pleasure. Revelation 4:11” Karen Cochran
“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” Philippians 3:10
Kingdom Priority
KNOWING and LOVING, WORSHIPPING God. Read Matthew 4:10; 22:37-39; John 17:3.
Pinnacle Revelation
Knowing God is the paramount divine purpose for which He sent His only begotten ….. and for which He created, made us.
“And this is life eternal (the whole reason, purpose), that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3
Knowing God is the reason He sent His only begotten Son—to bring us to Himself in a present and eternal relationship (Exodus 25:8;Psalms 27:4, 8; Philippians 3:10, etc). One of Satan’s tricks is to get the elders to intercept that heart affection worship.
“It has always been about Jesus. Before Christ came to save us from our sins, the Bible was pointing to Jesus. Now after Christ came, we still look to Jesus. It has always been about knowing and trusting in Jesus. Before He came people just did not know His name, but now we do!” Serena Wagner
It’s not about elders, bishops. or pastors—Christ’s eternal kingdom is all about Jesus and no other. Read John 1; Colossians 1-2; Hebrews 1; Revelation 1.
WHAT will you say to the nail scarred risen LORD on Judgment Day when you made it about something else other than Him?
“Christianity can quickly become ‘Do this and Don’t do that.’ Jesus is quickly forgotten. Instead, repent and fall in love with JESUS, and through the power of the Holy Spirit you will live a life that pleases Him. When You are filled with the Holy Spirit You will hate the sin you once loved.” Alan Brayshaw
WHO is “known of” God as opposed to those He will tell “I never knew you”? (Matthew 7:21)
“But if any man love God, the same is known of him.” 1 Corinthians 8:3
“Those are the most frightening and terrifying words anyone could ever hear! That is why I always ask Jesus, ‘Do you know me?’ I want to be with my Lord and Savior for eternity! But I do not want to be so arrogant and prideful as to believe that God doesn’t have every right to spue me out. Or I that I am safe! I deserve hell. The only reason I have been spared is because of Jesus’ saving work for me on the cross! He redeemed me! But there are many conditions to be eternally with Jesus. We are to have a healthy fear of God knowing He has the power to determine the fate of our very soul! Matthew 10:28 It means nothing to Jesus if all we have is head knowledge of the Bible without any heart. He told the Pharisees they knew scriptures but they didn’t know Him in their heart (John 5: 38-47). It’s not based on what we know it’s based on knowing Him in an abiding relationship (John 15). The cross is the way to a real intimate relationship with Jesus. Through the dying of self He becomes your first love. And you begin to love Him with your whole soul, heart and mind (Matthew 22:37). I ask God daily ‘increase my hunger for Your Word.’ I want the hunger and love for God’s Word that David had! Just read and study Psalm 119. He cried out for more understanding even in the midst of persecution! That was his whole priority in life! David loved God, therefore he loved God’s Word as evidenced in Psalm 119. Every word is filled with love, devotion, respect, rejoicing and delighting in God’s words, pleading with the Lord that He might learn His statues and he might not err from God’s judgements. Psalm 119 is a treasure chest of David’s love for God’s word! If you want to truly fall in love with all of God’s word read, study and memorize Psalm 119!” Karen Cochran
Knowing the Facts and the Father
Recently, in order “to provoke unto love and to good works” I posted the meme above this paragraph and as has happened before, was confronted about how the Pharisees knew God’s Word but rebelled against Jesus (Hebrews 10:24). Let’s cross examine this position against the counsel of Scripture.
While it’s clear that we must know not only the Word of God but the God of the Word, the God revealed in His Word, how does that negate the need for Bible knowledge? It simply doesn’t.
Just because the Pharisees of Christ’s day knew His Word but didn’t choose to turn their hearts to Him, how does that mean that believers today should neglect knowing His Word? Such logic is not only bad, it’s un-scriptural and evil.
“When you fall in love don’t you want to shout it from the rooftops? He, the man you are in love with, is all you talk about! Should be the same with Jesus! You want to tell everyone about this man, the Savior who saved your life! Just as the woman at the well did. She told the whole city ‘Come, and see a man, which told me all the things that ever I did: is this not the Christ’ John 4: 28-29.” Karen Cochran
Beware of anyone who discourages learning God’s Word in any form, including memorizing Scripture. This is a novice error and it could only be coming from the evil one. Because the Jews knew the Bible and rejected Jesus, novices reason that this means that New Testament saints, saved by grace, are not to intimately know or memorize God’s Word. Nonsense!
Is the primary responsibility of the disciple of Jesus to:
A. Follow the instructions of God’s Word? or
B. Don’t be like the Pharisees (false leaders)?
A. is the correct answer.
The fact that the LORD cited the false religionists of His day for not coming to Him, for not opening their hearts to Him, in no way communicates that those who are His should not learn His Word too well. That would be like saying that just because the false leaders of Jesus’ day knew His Word and yet didn’t turn their hearts to Jesus, anyone who learns His Word too well (as if that’s even possible) will automatically not turn their hearts to Jesus.
Let’s look at the passage that is being taken out of context:
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:39-40
“And isn’t that just what Jesus told the Pharisees? You know scriptures but you don’t know me in your heart! John 5: 38-47. It means nothing to Jesus if we only know of Him. We must know Him in Spirit and in truth! John 4:24.” Karen Cochran
Did Jesus rebuke them for knowing His Word? No.
Notice, Jesus says that His people are to “Search the scriptures” and the Scriptures “are they which testify of” (reveal) Him.
“Even the Pharisees knew the scriptures and knew of Jesus, but they did not know Him. Jesus told them they did not have Him in their hearts and therefore did not have eternal life . John 5: 38-47. Head knowledge means nothing to Jesus. We need to know Him in our hearts in a relationship with Him. Digesting His words! Getting to know Him. We should be emulating the sweet savour of Christ. 2 Corinthians 2: 15. How can you be like someone that you don’t know?” Karen Cochran
The Gospel message is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
In fact, it’s the seed of God’s “incorruptible” Word that is the instrument of His regeneration in our lives.
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” 1 Peter 1:23-25
The very way God ordained and orchestrated that we learn about and know Him, repent and believe upon Christ, is through the knowledge we get from “the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Listen to the apostle Paul instruct Timothy:
“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
The man of God cannot be perfected, matured, “throughly furnished unto all good works” without a deep knowledge of the Scriptures which the apostle reveals here is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
So the first of the 4 stated reasons God gave us His Word, the Bible, are for…
“doctrine”
Must know the facts and the Father!
Must know the Word and the God of the Word.
How are God’s people going to learn His Word if they don’t study and memorize and meditate upon it? How are God’s people going to be sanctified by the truth and washed by the water of the Word if they’re not in that Word daily and engaged in learning and obeying God’s Word?
So if the Pharisees did not know God’s Word would they not have also rejected him? How can knowing God’s Word be negative in any way? It’s simply can’t.
Is trying not to be like a Pharisee more important than actually following Christ?
In John 5:39-40 Jesus said nothing negative about the Pharisees knowing His Word but rather about them refusing to come to Him. Let us rightly divide saints and correct those who bear false witness (2 Timothy 2:15). In fact, in another place Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for not knowing His Word: “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God“ (Matthew 22:29). God’s people need to know “the scriptures” and walk in “the power of God.” Only Satan could be behind the attempt to hinder either!
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:39-40
There will be those who come and go who know the words of God but not the God of the Word. Beware saints. Many times they know all the right things to say and yet have not truly repented and are living in sin, darkness, pride, and deep-seated rebellion.
On this note, sister Karen Cochran writes:
“Modern Pharisees know the Scriptures but like the Pharisees of old they don’t know Jesus. Just like Jesus told them in John 5:38- 42. They knew the Scriptures but they didn’t know Him. What good is it if we don’t know Jesus? We can know of Him but not know Him. We must love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Matthew 22:37- 38”
These counterfeits are saying that God’s people shouldn’t know God’s Word too well, we shouldn’t memorize it, because then we may become like the Pharisees and not come to Jesus. Foolishness at best.
To the contrary, the Bible teaches us to read, to “study,” to “retain,” and “meditate upon God’s Word ….
Did the apostle Paul correct the biblically astute Bereans for diligently, meticulously searching the scriptures to see if he was telling the truth? No! (Acts 17:10-11)
They are saying that knowing God’s Word in your God-given mind will keep you from knowing Him in your heart. Nonsense. By divine design, information is contacted, first enters our minds before it can be processed and received in our heart.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
“Most people in the churches of today prefer to follow and believe the men/pastors and their words over the Word of God at their peril. This is because they are too lazy to study and read the Bible for themselves, sadly. Biblical illiteracy is the norm and not the exception today.” B.
Concerning ruling over the masses that have been kept ignorant of God’s Word, one disciple writes:
“Lacking of knowing God’s Word, memorizing it, is the direct reason the catholic church grew to so much power in the middle ages, and others down the ages. It was only the ‘priest’ that could read the Bible. So it meant what they said it meant and not what God meant. RUN!”
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” Hosea 4:6
Checking your ignorance at the door!
Those who are ignorant of truth are so willingly (Hosea 4:6). They “willingly are ignorant” (2 Peter 3:5).
He gave us His truth, and those who reject His knowledge, His Word, will be “destroyed.”
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because THOU HAS REJECTED KNOWLEDGE, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law (Word) of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Hosea 4:6
“There was a time when churches were teaching the whole counsel of God and most Bible believers in Bible teaching churches could carry on intelligent biblical conversations if they had been saved for five years or so. In the last ten years, I have found that most Christians today have become biblical illiterates. Due to the constant tendency toward all kinds of new experiences ( 2 Timothy 4:3-4), many are influenced to the extreme, and they settle for simply repeating various phrases that they hear without true, biblical understanding. That, then, becomes the focal point of their Christian life rather than conforming to the teachings of Scripture which they are not taught. It is getting harder and harder to find people in a local church who have even a very basic knowledge of Scripture, let alone any in-depth knowledge. The false teachers are going to have a lot to answer for in this area, but so will pastors who have encouraged this in their people rather than taking on the discipline of learning how to do a proper exegesis and expository teaching.” 1980 Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum
To a man who recently sought to discourage God’s people from memorizing His Word due to the fact that the Pharisees knew His Word and yet crucified Him.
I asked him if what the Pharisees did cancelled and negated the need for God’s people to know His Word in their minds and trust and love Him in their hearts? To this man I also wrote:
“Perhaps you should cease discouraging God’s people from learning and submitting to His Word…. there’s NO sense in which learning God’s Word is anything but a good thing…. and of course coming to Him in our hearts via His Word and Holy Spirit ….”
Our GOD-given brain is the passage way to the heart…. is it not? “Come now, and let us reason together…” (Isaiah 1:18).
God gave us a brain to “reason” with and a heart to believe upon Christ with (Romans 10:9-10). “COME now, and let us reason together” He said to His people (Isaiah 1:18).
Did Jesus memorize Scripture? Yes, beginning as a young boy. And this is how He grew in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52). In fact, He knew where things were in the Bible—“He FOUND the place” in the Word He wanted to read—“And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written” (Luke 4:17).
ARE YOU “BLESSED”?
If you aren’t reading God’s Word daily, you are not “blessed.” Read Psalm 1.
“Blessed is he that readeth…” (Revelation 1:3).
See also Psalms 1:1-3.
Set it in your mind today that tomorrow, upon waking, you are diligently devouring God’s Word. Memorize and meditate upon 1 Chronicles 22:19. The message from Heaven is simple: FOLLOW JESUS via HIS WORD. The Bible is God’s truth and our safety. “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield (protection) unto them that put their trust in him. 6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
No way to know the Word Himself outside of His own Word. “They are they (His words) which testify of me” (John 5:39-40).
The written Word is like the tangible standard whereas at times, each of us as humans, can think we are being led by the Spirit but actually not being led by the LORD…. and so the standard is always the written Word, right?… To rightly divide His Word of truth. Right and amen Jesus (2 Timothy 2:15).
The only way we can “rightly” divide the truth from error is by personally, diligently studying God’s Word. Memorize 2 Timothy 2:15.
ALL ministries not getting you into God’s Word are fostering your faith in them!
Stacy Strother writes:
“The true Spirit of God will NEVER discard truth or lead people outside the parameter of the written word of God. The Spirit of God will search out ALL things and even the deep things, and if we are born again, have patience, we can be taught and be led to stay within harmony of His word. Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.”
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