Righteousness Dwells

Transcription

1 Righteousness Dwells (Sermon Notes) By Warren Zehrung 3/19/2016 Who is a Christian? In today s sermon I will address our perception of what a Christian is. How can someone know if he has fully and completely yielded himself to God, and totally submitted his own will to that of Christ above everything else? If we haven t personally and individually done that submitted our own will to Christ - then we are Christians in name only. There are many aspects to the concept of true Christianity. I want to explore some of the ways we find Christianity being expressed in the Scriptures. To get started, we will briefly look at five descriptive phrases that help to express what Christianity is. You may wish to put these in your notes as I will be referring to them. Putting on Christ, #1 Bringing forth good fruits, #2 Abiding in Christ, #3 Sowing to the Spirit, #4 Dwelling in Righteousness. #5 Let me start at the end with Dwelling in Righteousness #5 Dwelling in righteousness as the title of today s sermon attests is our ultimate Christian goal. It is what we seek for to dwell in righteousness. We see that the time setting of Peter s concern is yet future: We read in: 2Peter 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God 2Peter 3:13 In keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, wherein righteousness dwells. Notice the King James Version: 2Peter 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. This is an inclusive / exclusive statement of fact. Make no mistake about it those who have not come to the point of having the righteousness of Jesus Christ in this life will not be wherein righteousness dwells in the new heaven and new earth. 2Peter 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. Let s talk about being diligent Put on Christ #1 Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is only one way to put on Christ and that is to know the Bible well and then trust that God still works only as He always has. Never assume that the issues addressed in the Scriptures are one time scenarios that are interesting to read. No, we are given God s counsel and God s word so that we can always live according to the way that leads to Christ living in us. That is what Putting on Christ means. A bit of news: This week Secretary of State John Kerry finally admitted that ISIS, the Islamic State, is waging genocide against Christians in Syria and Iraq. 1

2 That means that the U.S. admits that ISIS is killing and eradicating people because they are Christians. Christian groups in the U.S. have been pressuring Congress and Washington for such a statement, and a commitment to stop the massive carnage on Christians. Secretary Kerry listed numerous cases of slaughter by the Islamic State. It has long been known that Christian persecution has been extreme throughout the Middle East and parts of Africa. I looked up how many people consider themselves to be Christians. This is what I found: Christianity is by far the world's largest religion, with an estimated 2.2 billion adherents, nearly a third of all the people on Earth. I put Christianity in quotes because, according to the Holy Scriptures, they are not true Christians at all. The question of this sermon becomes, are we true Christians according to God the Father and Jesus Christ? Brethren, you and I would not set the number of Christians that high, 2.2 billion, would we? We would make a distinction between True Christians and worldly Christians. So the number of True Christians would be substantially smaller. The world s Christians say, I believe in Jesus Christ, I have faith in Jesus Christ. when we say that, we are not talking about believing that historically Jesus existed. But, brethren, The world believes that there was a man in Israel, and His name was Jesus, and He existed. They say, I believe in Jesus. That is not what the Bible talks about when it says, Believe in Jesus. Believing in Jesus is believing what Jesus stood for, who He was, what He taught, what He said that you must do. Being a true Christian means dying daily for the Truth of God and the People of God as Jesus did. The world could not care less about that what Jesus represented, but we are to believe the way of life that Jesus represented. That is what would bring salvation. Romans 5:8 says that Jesus Christ died in our place in our stead. We brought the death sentence on ourselves, through our sins. Jesus Christ in His love, and in the Father s love, died so that we did not have to die, and that we might have eternal life. Jesus was righteous so that we who have the mind of Christ can share in His righteousness NOT our own righteousness. Romans 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be [future tense] saved from wrath through Him. This is a freedom; we do not have to die. That again brings up the important question: Just who is a Christian, and who thinks that they are a Christian but are mistaken? We understand the principle that Jesus gave us. He said, Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? Jesus says that many are Christian in name only. Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. What is it that makes a difference between True Christians and Christians in name only? Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: Jesus is saying here that hearing His words and preaching Christ is insufficient for salvation. There is more to being a Christian. We see it all the time: The President of the United States says that he has adopted Christianity as his own but his every action demonstrates that he is antichristian in favor of Islam. 2

3 Also, we ve seen recently, presidential candidates wave their mother s Bible in the air and profess Christianity while sleeping with other men s wives and declaring that they ve never had anything to repent of. That is not Christian in any way, shape or form. And worse than that, we see within the halls of God s Church those pastors who profess to be ministers of righteousness, casting the faithful brethren out of the assembly for purely political reasons. Now, all these men profess Christianity, but God is not mocked. Those men are fooling no one but themselves. Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Let s look at the phrase, Sows to the Spirit #4 on our list. We are speaking of how a true Christian lives his life. Galatians 6:8 For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Who is really a Spirit led saint who will be in the first resurrection? What does it mean in verse 8, He that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting? Sows to the Spirit that is a very interesting concept! Jesus says in Matthew 7:15 that we are to: Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. False ministers - ravening wolves do not sow to the Spirit, as we read in Galatians 6:8. Rather, they sow to the desires of the flesh. Bring forth good fruits #2 Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew 7:16, 20 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do we leave hurt, pain, destruction and divided lives and families in our wake? Is that the fruit of our actions? Ministers live by the same tenets and principles of Christ that we do. God never permits ministers to run roughshod over member s lives. Jesus tells us to look at their fruits how do they treat the brethren? Every one of us must submit to Christ in our life by obeying every tenet and precept of Christianity. Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Jesus is speaking of how we live our entire Christian lives and what are the results. As we saw a moment ago: Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man. We come to #3 in our list of phrases: Abide in me #3 Jesus says: John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 3

4 John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. I think that all too often we overlook the fact that without me, Jesus says, you can do nothing and we set about doing things differently than if Jesus were a part of the process. I want to move on to some history of the Church of God and show that at any time in the past, present or future for that matter there have always been true Christians and worldly Christians side by side in the assemblies of church-goers. And for sure, God only knows which ones were His. Think about how the Church began and grew at Jerusalem, and then on to Greece and Macedonia, Corinth even on to Rome, Italy, And many places that did not make it into the Bible. We find the doctrine of Jesus Christ being taught by the apostles. Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Let s jump ahead a few days Acts 4:1 And as they spoke unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, Acts 4:2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Acts 4:3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. Acts 4:4 Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. The same thing happened in the ministry of Paul. But, brethren, understand this. True Christianity is not an easy path - it never has been. It is difficult to be an overcomer and easy to be a Pharisee. Paul told Timothy how his work among the gentiles had been devastated just like we saw ours devastated in Worldwide. 2Timothy 1:15 This you know, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; But the true small flock prevailed but not without terrible opposition and persecution. Acts 8:9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: Simon Magus appeared as an as a heretic against true Christian doctrine and of the Apostles teachings. Irenaeus wrote of having to oppose Simon Magus in Rome. Irenaeus stood strong against the encroaching heresy and Gnosticism of his day. But as Constantine established the great false Catholic Church, the True Church of God disappeared to historians though it existed throughout Europe underground and unseen as though it were. 4

5 We are not much different today mostly under the radar and unknown by the world at large. During the first three hundred years of the Christian Church a pitched battle raged against the heresies and Gnosticism. Early Church leaders after the apostle John stood strong for the Truth. One such leader was Polycarp, who John taught. In turn, history shows that Polycarp trained a disciple named Irenaeus at Smyrna, near Ephesus, in what is now western Turkey. We find some groups like the Ebionites, described as a Jewish /Christian movement that existed during the early centuries of the Christian Era. The Ebionites regarded Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, and insisted on the necessity of following Jewish law and rites but they lost some of the truth. Later there were the Albigensians, and there would arise another leader and a work - Peter Waldo - and his followers called Waldensians in France. There were some Christians who went into Poland, Lithuania and Russia and many eventually died out. Those Waldensians rejected politics, and were known to correctly observe Passover on the 14th of Nisan. In all this, some were on track and others were only going through the motions just like in the Church of God today. For centuries a few true Christians hid from the Catholics who wished to exterminate them because they avoided the feasts of the Catholic Church - such as Christmas, Easter, and Sunday. The true Church continued to practice full immersion under water for Baptism. They were against capital punishment, and against oaths of any kind. And they expressed their opposition to bearing arms, and to war in all its' operations..." There was always some of the Church of God that God kept alive and active. the gates of hell will not prevail. My point is that in all those centuries there were some True Christians mixed among those who were not on track. Sabbath keepers have a long history in America. There is ample evidence that Sabbath keepers can be traced to early colonial days even the ship, the Mayflower, that landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts in The fact that the pilgrims were strict Sabbath keepers is a fact that historians and educators like to disregard. Puritans from England sought freedom of expression of religion and some returned to the Saturday Sabbath practice of Christ, the apostles and the first century Church of God. The first Sabbath keepers in America were not organized or incorporated, but small local congregations and a few called themselves, Church of God. Those Seventh-Day Sabbath keepers pre-dated the well known Stephen Mumford who was sent to Newport, Rhode Island by a London seventh-day Baptist group in Stephen Mumford taught that all Ten Commandments, including the Fourth Commandment about keeping the Sabbath Holy, were to be kept. What happened after that was that many splits and reorganizations took place into groups like the Seventh-day Adventists and the Church of God Seventh Day. The Seventh Day Baptists organizations like the Seventh-day Adventists did not adhere to foundational doctrine and became something akin to Saturday Protestants. Others like the Church of God Seventh Day retained much right doctrine and continued to be a part of God s True Church. We have more right doctrine today but that should tell us something. Jesus says to Sardis: Revelation 3:4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 5

6 Revelation 3:5 He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that overcomes??? Is it Sabbath keeping alone that is being spoken of here? The Jews and Seventh Day Adventists do that? Is it baptizing under water the Baptists do that? What makes someone a righteous Christian? Is it a sliding scale? Sardis lacked an understanding of the Holy Days and a full picture of the Plan of God that they portray and yet Christ counts some of them faithful because of their right attitude of Christ s righteousness. They had not defiled their garments. Revelation 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Mr. Armstrong came into contact with a Church of God group with Headquarters at Stanberry, Missouri and then began to fellowship with the brethren of the Oregon Conference. Later Mr. Armstrong formed the Radio Church of God and then the Worldwide Church of God. Through attrition and apostasy, many other fellowships arose to this day. Some followed well known personalities it is a proclivity of men to do so. Some set fourth strange new teachings. Some followed the admonition of Jude. Jude :3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. HWA wrote in his autobiography, The only Church I had so far found which kept the commandments of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and at the same time bore the NAME of the original true Church, was this almost unknown little Church of God with its small publishing house in Stanberry, Missouri (Autobiography 1973 ed., page 312). It was in 1927 that Mr. and Mrs. Herbert W. Armstrong came into contact with the Church of God Seventh Day in Oregon. Over the next three-quarters of a century, many believed and many fell away. In all that history from the first-century Church and before up to today, there were SOME, not all, who were led by God s Holy Spirit, Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. That number is God s Church and only God knows who they are but they are led by the Holy Spirit to have not their own righteousness but the righteousness which is of Christ. When that number comes to the full Christ will return! Brethren, many of us learned a very wrong lesson in the days of the Worldwide Church of God. We were taught that we were the True Church of God. And it is true, we were a part of the true Church. The problem was that somehow we thought that we were so righteous that we could look down our nose at everybody else in the world because they were not as good as us. Jesus never did that and He was truly righteous. Jesus attitude toward the uncalled and unconverted was that He cried for them. He was truly pained in His heart for them. He wept for them He died for them! Luke 19:41-44 And when he was come near, [Jesus] beheld the city [Jerusalem], and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. 6

7 When Joe Tkach led the Worldwide Church of God he ushered in a period of confusion with regard to the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. It was a devious assault on the truth of God that was greatly harmful to the brethren. His teaching was that the brethren of the Worldwide Church of God were Old Covenant Christians who did not understand the freedom associated with the New Covenant. Joe Tkach bought into the main Protestant heresy of universal salvation for all. That menacing heresy holds that God in His limitless love will purge all sin in the lake of fire and grant salvation to all men no matter how much they despised the principles of Christ and the Law of God. Please understand that God intended the Old Covenant to prepare His people for the coming of the Messiah. Everything in it, the sacrifices, and so forth was intended to point to Christ. It is clear that at the time of the first century Church of God there was the clear understanding that sin brought forth death. Death was the payment for sin. Protestants hate and blame The Law as though it was the basic cause of death. So the Protestants adopted the teaching that Jesus came to do away with The Law. Never mind that Jesus said, Don t even dare to think that I ve come to do away with The Law, I ve come not to destroy The Law but to perfect The Law to its fullest (Matthew 5:17). Brethren, Jesus magnified The Law as we know. He taught that not only must we not kill, we must raise the standard even higher, and not hate, or hurt, or fight or be angry. He expanded all the Ten Commandments in that way. But Jesus did much, much more. He made eternal life possible for those who, because of sin, could only expect death. Jesus made eternal life possible, not for everyone, but for those who attain to His righteousness. Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. Matthew 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Why do so many Scriptures speak of many being saved and not everyone being saved? The answer is, because all men do not avail themselves of the grace of God. Yes, Jesus died to cover the sins of all men. But for the promise to apply there are the doctrinal requirements to be met of repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Christ, and so forth. What is going? God is not happy with what is going on even in His Church that is why we still find so much testing and sorting out. Where are we headed in our nation and in the overall Church of God? 2Chronicals 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. The people of America and Britain are not God s people having collectively turned their backs on God. They are Israel, but like Israel of old they have rejected their Creator God. We in the Church of God are God s people. We are called by His name. We are the Assembly of God the Children of God. Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Isaiah 46:11 I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Next, we come to a personal warning to us today. 7

8 Isaiah 46:12 Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: We must ask ourselves, are we truly far from righteousness in God s eyes? The answer is that we must be made righteous. 2Corinthians 5:21 For [God the Father] has made [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Certainly, we have our part to perform as well. We must individually go on to perfection in our personal lives. But, how do we do that? It is God who makes it possible. He grants repentance to us none of us decided to go on to righteousness on our own. It is the same with faith, and God gives it to us. It is a precious gift that the world does not possess. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: It is the same with the righteousness of Christ how foolish to believe that we could come up to the righteousness of Christ, or God Himself on our own. Paul says that Christ dwelt in Him through the Holy Spirit. This indwelling of God's Spirit enables us also to be faithful. Christ's faithful mind is imparted to us and becomes part of our mind. Our righteousness comes only through the faith of Jesus Christ. When we learn what it means to follow after righteousness - then the righteousness of Jesus Christ will graciously be imputed to us. If we are following after righteousness, when we understand what is God's intention for us - we implement it in our lives. We demonstrate our faith by our obedience - and when we do, Christ's righteousness in imputed to us. Oh, on our own, we could rise to the level of the righteousness of the Pharisees keep the Sabbath and Holy Days better than anybody else never touch anything unclean be better than everyone else. We can do that can t we? Jesus said: Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Do we have a Church full of Pharisees dependent on our own righteousness? Or, do we seek the righteousness of Jesus Christ. End Righteousness Dwells 8