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Matthew 17:5 "This is My beloved Son, In whom I am well pleased. Hear Him."
John 14:23,24;
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him
and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words, and the word which you hear is not Mine,
but the Father's who sent Me."
. Jesus gave hundreds of teachings, and each is important in our discipleship to Him. We are not to be
hearers only, but doers of His word. Going back to the early history of the Reformation movement, when Latimer
was threatened with death for his efforts to preach what Jesus taught instead of Catholic doctrine, Latimer is reported to
have said to his accuser, the Reverand Master Redman, that he heard none of the words of Jesus Christ in the charges against
him. He died rather than deny the teachings of Jesus Christ. The early reformers and restorationists had great
desire to hold to the faith of Jesus Christ as delivered by Jesus Chirst and His chosen apostles. It is
my discovery upon study of the teachings of Jesus that most issues that divide the faith are better addressed by focusing
our faith in what Jesus taught, rather than what has been added over the centuries. What is said here is with highest
regard for the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the faith of abiding in His word be restored upon the earth - that
the bride of Christ make herself ready for His return, as is told us in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. No matter what
church fellowship we find ourselves in at this time, now is the time to re-discover the original teachings of Jesus and seek
to be His disciples in word and deed. John 8: 31,32; "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." What does Jesus mean by 'If you abide in My word'? In my dictionary the meanings of abide are: to wait for; to endure without yeilding; to bear patiently; to accept without objection; to remain stable or fixed in a state; to continue in a state; to conform to; to acquiesce in. Faith is far more than a profession out of your mouth, or the system of religiousity that you practice. We need to be prepared to answer this question: Are we really abiding is His words - all of them?
"That prophet" spoken of by both Moses and Peter is Jesus Christ *Acts 3:22,23. The apostles were, according to the words of Jesus, to be enabled by the Holy Spirit to remember all that He had taught them and they were told to preach and teach whatsoever He had taught them and be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. The command to not add to or take away from the commandments of God is equally, if not more applicable, than the command given to Moses. In fact, it is a more fearful thing to trifle with the words of the Son of God than the words that God gave Moses. (Hebrews 1,2) The
Testimony Of Jesus Christ John 7:16,17; "My doctrine is not Mine,
but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or
whether I speak on My own authority." In this teaching Jesus equates the personal testimony of His truth from God (the gospel of the
kingdom) is to be found in our willingness to do what He said. The mercy of God is evident in that it is found in our
will to obey, not in our actual ability to do it all. We need to be honest with both ourselves and God, so that, as
John said, if we confess our sin, God is faithful to forgive us our sin. Yet by our growing in doing what Jesus said
we find the personal testimony of the gospel of the kingdom of God, and the process of maturing in Christ, that we might "have
the mind of Chirst" in us. John 14:23,24;
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him
and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine
but the Father's who sent Me." If
we love Jesus we keep His word. How can we grow in our love for Chirst except by doing this? And how can we grow
to the stature of the fullness He desires except by willingly seeking out His words to do them? Pure doctrine
is simply to teach and observe all of the teachings and commandments of Jesus Christ. Matthew 4:4; 'It is written, "Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." John 6:63,64; "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits
nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are
some of you who do not believe." Revelation 22:12-16; "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me,
to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the
Last." Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to
the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually
immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify
to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and
Morning Star." "This
is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" (Matt. 17:5) Jeremiah 7: "Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall
be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed
the counsels and dictates of their evil hearts, and went backwards and not forward." God has given to each the freedom to come to His Son. We can also
use our freedom to do just as Jeremiah recorded, but should use the examples given to see that 'falling backwards' has no
good reward of God. Jesus commissioned
His disciples to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:19-20) As He said to Nicodemus, "And
this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed.
But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen; that they have been done in God." Matt. 11: 27-29; "All things have been
delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for
I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
As John said in one of his letters:
"This is the commandment, that
as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess
Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti-Christ. Look to yourselves, that you do not lose those
things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses
and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine
of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive
him into your house nor greet him, for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds." So what do the gospel accounts say is His doctrine? Is the
doctrine of Christ that He came in the flesh, or is the doctrine of Christ what He taught? Matthew 7:28 is a comment
made by the people who heard Jesus immediately after His teaching of building our life upon hearing and doing what He said.
This record says: "And so it was, when Jesus had ended these saying, that the people were astonished at His teaching
(KJV uses 'doctrine'), for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Matthew 22:33, just
after His saying 'God is not the God of the dead, but of the living' is 'And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished
at His teaching (KJV uses 'doctrine'). To make the point further are addtitional accounts from the gospels that you can look
up if you want to verify the fact: Mark 1:23,27; 4:2; 11:18, 12:28; Luke 4:32; John 7:16,17; John 18:19. Consider the
translation you are using for study. The KJV uses 'doctrine' and the NKJV uses 'teaching', and these mean pretty much
the same thing. The issue is the importance of what Jesus taught as being authoritative, and He claimed it was not His
teaching, but the words God gave Him to give to us. John 17 is a good focused study about 'the word' which Jesus gave
and His disciples kept; 6-24:
"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were
Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me
are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known
surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for
those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in
them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father, keep through Your
name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in
Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture
might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as
I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from
the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your
word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify
Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth." "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through
their word, that they all may be one, as You Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world
may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just a We are
one. I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent
Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." John 1:1-5; "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made
that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not comprehend it." We
need to know the teachings of Jesus Christ to know the doctrine of Christ, which He said is the doctrine of God. In Matthew 12, Jesus said; "Who is My mother
and who are My brothers?" And He stretched out His hand towards His disciples and said, "Here
are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."
We need to come to terms with the
doctrine of Jesus Christ - what Jesus said His doctrine is. Many have taken the 'doctrine of Christ' to mean the
Trinity doctrine, that so long as you believe this doctrine all is well. The doctrine of Christ is not
merely the identity of Jesus Christ, but also the words He gave. We believe His word because we believe He is who He
claimed to be. Jesus clearly directed teaching disciples whatever He had taught the apostles as elemental to His Church
in the 'great commission'. He plainly and profoundly asked; "Why do you call me Lord
and not do as I say?" The grace and truth of Jesus give reason to obey from faith because we
believe Him and because of His love and sacrifice for us that we might have abundant life and hope - in this world and
the one to come. "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." I John 3:24; "Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and
He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit He has given us." I John 4:6; "We are of God. He who knows God hears us;
he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." 1. Who did Jesus claim
to be? 2. What did Jesus say about
His words? 3. What is the truth He
taught? 4. What does He expect from
His disciples? 5. What does Jesus say
about those who don’t believe in Him? 6.
What are His commandments, precepts and judgements? 7.
Who did His disciples say He was? Jesus came that we might have abundant life, healing, purpose and wholeness in Him- all to the glory of
God. If we call Him our Lord we should be doing what He said.
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