When Jesus ascended back into heaven in Acts 1:11, angels said to His disciples,
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner.
So we are promised a Blessed Hope of a visible return of our Lord. Scripture elsewhere clearly records it will be in the Last Days, a tumultuous period of martyrdom, destruction, and rapture. But a huge question is still debated: Do Christians get raptured and escape all the terror, as I hear some people say? I have a theory, based on Scripture, of course, that I will lay out for you, and it will hopefully be as clear as anything you’ll read. The End Times scenario is not as confusing as some make it out. The answers are surprising.
Fact #1: From Joel 2:30-31 and 3:15 we learn that a particular cosmic disturbance will precede the day of the Lord.
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth… 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD…15 The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness…
What’s noteworthy about this cosmic disturbance is that (1) it gives us a blood moon and (2) it blackens the sky—which has a specific purpose (more on that on a later blog). And, these cosmic events are before the Day of the Lord.
***The order thus far: Cosmic event, then Day of the Lord.
Fact #2: Well, what is the Day of the Lord? Is it the same as the tribulation? From Isaiah 13:6-9 we understand that the “day of the Lord” is primarily God’s wrath on men
Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as from the Almighty.7 …Every man’s heart will melt…8 And they will be afraid… They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth… 9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger… And He will destroy its sinners from it.
The tribulation, on the other hand, is Satan’s wrath on men. Revelation 12:12, 17:
Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time…17and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Thus, the Day of the Lord is not the same as the tribulation. This will be further proved soon by the chronology. They also have different descriptions. The Day of the Lord is not God’s Final Judgment either, when He decides eternity on our souls.
Fact #3: On the Day of the Lord, there is a surprise event just before God’s wrath breaks loose: namely, the return of Christ. He will rescue saved, righteous men who are being hunted down. Scripture promises this will occur immediately before His wrath—in fact, the rescue and the wrath happen on the same day. Proof for that is in Luke 17:26-30. There, Jesus cites Noah and Lot as the pattern for His return. The pattern is: (1) the rescue precedes the wrath, and (2) both happen on the same day:
And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all (there’s the pattern: in the same day, there was rescue of the righteous, then a cruel Day on the disobedient). 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate… they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom (i.e, was rescued), it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all (then wrath, same day). 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
“Revealed” speaks of His visible return—note that His return is a single event, not two returns. So from Facts 1-3 we have the following order of events:
***The cosmic disturbance, then, on the Day of the Lord, Jesus makes His single visible return for rapture of the righteous, and then the Lord’s wrath on evil men and women.
Note that the cosmic event occurs BEFORE God’s wrath.
Fact #4: From Mark 13:24-25 we learn that our cosmic disturbance (see #1 above) occurs AFTER an event known as the tribulation:
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; 25 the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Now we see the following necessary order of Last Days so far:
***Tribulation, then cosmic disturbances, then, on the same day: Jesus’ visible return for rescue/rapture, then the Lord’s wrath begins. Note how the rescue/rapture is after the tribulation. Thus, genuine Christians do not escape the tribulation. Note also that the Lord’s wrath and the tribulation are NOT the same thing because the tribulation is BEFORE the cosmic event, but God’s wrath is AFTER the cosmic event.
Scripture gives lots more information on the tribulation. Let’s look at events happening around it.
Fact #5: Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse, describes three important trends in Matthew 24:5-31 BEFORE the tribulation, then gives two more trends DURING the tribulation. Here’s the relevant passages we will draw from in today’s installment (more study on His Discourse in our next blog):
For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake... 15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place”… 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. …21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. …
a.Summarizing events from above highlighting: In order, they are: In verse 5, the key word is Deceive. (Keep in mind: the tribulation has not begun yet.)
b.Then we have Wars in verse 6.
c.In verse 7b, there is Famine. These first three are called the “beginning of sorrows” in v.8.
d.THEN the TRIBULATION BEGINS, as verse 9 clearly points out, with two trends: Death (they will...kill you) and Martyrdom (you will be hated…for my name’s sake). Thus, from my words highlighted, there are five important disastrous events, in the order given. Three before the tribulation begins, two after.
In verses 15, 16, and 21 above, Jesus breaks away from straight chronology, with some details, that flesh out our events: For one thing, He gave an important “tip-off” as to when the tribulation begins: The tribulation begins when they see the “abomination of desolation” (that’s the name given in Daniel to the last-days antichrist) standing in the holy place, in Jerusalem. They are urged to then escape as fast as they can, because the antichrist will begin the tribulation by starting to kill two groups of people. He strikes out at the Jews first, but he doesn’t spare Christians either. Note Revelation 13:7 on that:
It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Note: The “saints” referred here are all genuine Christians living at that time. Nobody got raptured away from this, as we proved at the end of Fact #4 above, from Scripture. Christians living then will have to endure the tribulation. Rescue doesn’t come til’ after the tribulation, just before God’s wrath.
***Now the order of End Times is: Deception, wars, famine (the 3 called the beginning of sorrows), then the “abomination of desolation” (antrichrist) in holy place, then tribulation begins with the widespread death and martyrdom of Jews and Christians. Later there is the cosmic disturbance, and then on the same day, Jesus appears, rescues/raptures His people, and then the Lord’s wrath.
My next two blogs expand further on this chronology.
I would like to take our final minutes on Part I to address two arguments brought up by the pre-tribulationists (those who believe saints are raptured before any of the five terrible events in Matthew 24. Their idea is, rapture is before any of the above disasters).
First is their insistence of “imminency,” that there are no signs preceding the rapture. Under their scenario, with no signs, the rapture can occur at any time: today, 50, 500 years from now. Under the scenario I’ve laid out, however, clearly there are signs preceding the rapture.
So, are there signs? Matthew 24:31-33 says yes: it connects rapture events with signs preceding:
And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (this happens in the rapture/rescue). 32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it (the rapture,his subject matter) is near—at the doors!
As you can see, when you see all these things, these signs, you know that summer (harvest, the rapture) is near. Thus, Scripture blows the “no-signs-imminency” idea away.
“Pre-tribbers’” second argument: They believe that I Thessalonians 5:9 says that Christians will avoid the tribulation, since they think the tribulation is God’s wrath, and God will not bring down massive suffering on their bodies:
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ
To argue this, firstly, does the word “salvation” in Scripture usually mean saving our bodies? Not likely—it usually means saving our souls. Pre-tribbers assume (1) the five disastrous events above are all tribulation, and (2) the tribulation is God’s wrath, and (3) To them, avoiding God’s wrath means that God wants to save our bodies from suffering. But these are three wrong ideas. They then conclude Christians won’t go through any of the above sufferings. But the tribulation is not God’s wrath, they’re two separate events, as we have shown and pointed out above. Wrong assumptions, wrong conclusions.
But we still have to ask ourselves, will God allow massive suffering and death to His children? The simple answer is, yes, consider all the martyrdom that has gone on. Another perspective on that question, ask yourselves, what’s more important, the body or the soul? The soul, of course (Matthew 5:30 and 16:26). Christians WILL endure intense persecution of their bodies during the tribulation. Our bodies may be sacrificed for Him, but thank God, our souls won’t be touched by His wrath, whereas most souls go to hell. THAT’s what I Thessalonians 5:9 means when it says we’re not appointed to God’s wrath. We need to take the long view, thinking about our eternal souls, not our temporary bodies. Also, if we are martyrs, we go immediately to be with the Lord—which is a blessing!
I’d like to plead a word of exhortation to today’s pre-tribbers: What if all this happens while we’re alive? With the wrong mindset, pre-tribbers are terrribly unprepared for the End Times. They will feel deceived when they’re surprised by one more disaster after another and they are still around and haven’t been rescued yet. We’re talking about a lot of people who believe this theory--most evangelicals have been swayed by popular teachers like Hal Lindsay, movies and books like the “Left Behind” series, people like John Hagee, and any teachers from Dallas Theological Seminary. But the earliest church fathers (closest to Christ and the apostles) felt Christians someday would go through tribulation. It’s clearly taught in Scripture—not only in my above chronology, but look also at II Thessalonians 2:1-4:
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him (Paul is getting ready to answer their question about the timing of the rapture) we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come (called the “day of the Lord” in NIV, it’s the same thing.) Note how he’s implying that the rapture is at the same time as the day of the Lord. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day (remember, Paul is answering their question about the rapture) will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Scripture clearly points out that the rapture, the Day, cannot come until after the antichrist is revealed! But that means they’ll still be around, and have to run for their lives, as death and martyrdom are coming. And they have to suffer the Deception, the Wars, and the Famine, as well.
Sure, it would be great to whirl off and avoid suffering. It’s easy to see how such a theory, even if it had no real Scriptural basis, would become VERY popular. But popularity is not truth.
Pre-tribbers, think about this, too: Wouldn’t this pre-trib flight of yours abandon unsaved relatives and friends to go through the world’s worst hell-on-earth without you? So, are you saying that you want to leave your unsaved friends and relatives without the Holy Spirit in us to bless them, and reduce their fear? You want to leave them without evangelism, you don’t want to try to get them saved before they die in countless numbers in God’s wrath? If you ask me, that’s “absent without leave,” or AWOL thinking! The pre-trib theory recommends an irresponsible “AWOL” mentality. It seems hard-hearted, to say the least. Not Christian. Now I ask you to probe yourself: What behaviors do you have (not counting the number of appearances in church) that prove you’re a Christian? When we consider that only a minority of people on earth make it to heaven (Matt 7:13-14), it is really possible that you’re deceiving yourselves, assuming you’re Christian. Do you have the fruits (Galatians 5:22ff) and obedience (John 15:6) necessary? Pray, confess sin, get baptized, make Jesus your Lord and follow His commandments; repent, seek a new life daily abiding in Him. Be ready to suffer or die for Him if necessary, rather than this ruthless desire to run away. He did it for us. We may have to do it for Him.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Is Baptism a Necessary Part of Salvation? Summary of Bercot's CD: "What the Early Christians Believed about Baptism"
1. Every Bercot CD looks clearly and honestly at relevant Scripture, clarifying things that, I confess, get clogged by denominational colorings. I see Scripture in its simplicity that I never saw before. As a result, I have radically changed my theology, changed how I view God, and my attitude toward sin. I suspect Mr. Bercot believes that denominational differences, when our Lord pleaded that we may be united (John 17:21), are not good, and can be overcome the way the early church did, by honest Scripture analysis. Too often, we twist it because we want it to tell us something—something comfortable about God, that doesn’t demand work or thinking, something that will allow us to continue to hang around friends and family at the same church. But denominational differences are not all about little nuances that fit different personality types—they’re too often differences between being lost and being saved. If you doubt that, take another look at the summaries on “Paul vs James.” Would you be willing to give up tradition, give up your friends, because you’re finally convinced that you’ve looked at Scriptures wrong over your entire life? Are you willing to be confident enough in your own thinking ability to look at a Scripture and say, “My favorite theologian or denomination has been wrong on this—I trust my own judgment more than theirs.” Most people would NEVER do that. But it’s also true that most people don’t care a rip about theology, or show any worries about entering heaven. The only time they get excited is in a discussion, if they smell that you’ve got a different belief than what they’ve been trained. No further thinking will happen. They shut you down.
2. But didn’t Jesus say, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. This clearly suggests that you have to be willing to do anything to escape hell, to make it to heaven—even separating yourself from family, friends, your church, your denomination. You should be on a quest for truth, you have to feel your eternal life depends upon it—and it often does.
3. Mr. Bercot in this CD, takes a clarifying look at what Scripture has to say about baptism, which has an important role in salvation.
4. I must add an important note: when Mr. Bercot sees doctrinal controversy between denominations (such as baptism), he resolves the issue by looking at what the early church (pre-Nicea, or pre-325 AD, after which the church was corrupted by joining with the State) believed about it. Of course, they had to be backed by Scripture—and they always were. And they had to agree with one another—and they always were. His feeling is, the men who were taught by the apostles, or apostolic students, had a better idea than men today about what was correct. Read about their surprising conclusions below.
5. He starts by personal biography—“I grew up believing that baptism was a symbol of one’s dedication to God and Jesus Christ. ..it wasn’t connected to salvation.” That’s true of most of us.
6. But the early church believed that in baptism (1) “all of a person’s prior sins are washed away.” (2) “in baptism, a person is born again through baptism of water and the Holy Spirit…(3) through baptism, a person becomes a member of Christ’s church…the salvation process is not complete without baptism.” He then reads many quotes from the early church fathers proving that’s what they believed. All of them--Clement, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, etc.—agreed on these facts 1-3 above. These were giants in the faith, thinkers, many of whom became martyrs for the cause of Christ.
7. But of course, what does the Bible say on this topic which has now seemed to take on a higher importance than most of us thought? Let’s start with John 3:5: Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Regardless of what twisties some teacher said otherwise, does this not say, literally, that “born of water” is water baptism? No tricks in the Greek—water is physical water. Does it not clearly say that water baptism is essential in being born again?—and even with a threat next to it (we don’t like to think God does threats).
8. Mark 16:16 says: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Again, this clearly requires baptism as a part of salvation.
9. Acts 2:36-38: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit In verses 37-38, Peter has the ultimate evangelistic opportunity. Does he say what we’ve all been taught, to pray to let Jesus into their heart? No; after they’ve been shown who Jesus is, what they need to do to be saved…is…(1)repentance and (2) baptism. (He emphasizes the importance of baptism, saying “every one of you” needs to do it). These two steps will give them remission of sins.
10. Acts 22:16 was when Saul was saved, becoming Paul, and was told: …And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’ Baptism washes away our sins. That’s very important, is it not? Without it, how can you get to heaven? (I’m assuming allowance is made for those who cannot be baptized.) The early church fathers felt that this is important enough that they still insisted that a man who was saved, immediately imprisoned, then martyred had a baptism—a baptism of blood. Note the urgency associated with being baptized right away.
11. Galatians 3:27: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Putting on Christ, when you also read Romans 13:14, means wrapping yourself in godly thoughts and not thinking about sinful ones. It’s also “clothe yourself with Christ,” associated with Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve being clothed with skins, protection from the dire effects of sin. Baptism is the means to these desirable and necessary goals—without which we’re not saved.
12. Titus 3:5: …but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. This duo obviously has connections with John 3:5 (see #7 above), and the early church made that connection—the washing of regeneration speaks of baptism. Baptism is regeneration, becoming a new creation. And, as Jesus put it (John 3:3), that’s essential go to heaven.
13. Hebrews 10:22: let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. “Pure water” is baptism. Baptism gives us a full assurance of faith and enables us to draw near to Him.
14. I Peter 3:21: There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This bluntly points out that baptism saves us. Of course, in context, and thinking of my “Paul v James” blogs, to be saved, you need baptism combined with true faith, repentance, and obedience. Paul is also saying, you need the inward baptism too (see #20 below). Baptism gives you a “good conscience toward God.” The antitype (Old Testament prefigure) it refers to is Noah, whose ark saved eight souls.
15. There are other types in the Old Testament. I Corinthians 10:1-2: Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Was crossing the Red Sea merely a “symbol” of their salvation from the Egyptians? No, it WAS their salvation! Then why do most evangelistic churches use the word “symbol” for baptism? If the type is true, it IS our salvation. Keep in mind, though—context—other things of faith were involved. They had already stepped out in faith to follow God’s leader Moses, when they believed the ten plagues were a message from God, when they obediently protected themselves from death at Passover, and when they packed their belongings and marched out into the desert—which a sensible man would never expect to stay alive, it couldn’t possibly support 3 million people. All of it was their salvation, but the baptism of passing through the sea completed the job.
16. Another Old Testament figure of baptism—mentioned several times by early Christians—was Naaman, the leper. Naaman was purified of leprosy when he was baptized in the Jordan. This was a symbol of what baptism can do for us regarding the leprosy of sin. We are cleansed through it.
17. If you’re thinking, “surely there was some group who didn’t hold to this view of baptism, who thought it was just symbolic,” and you’re right—the Gnostics. Of course, you also need to know what else they believed--that the creation of the earth and mankind was done by an inferior god, a second god, so his creation was flawed and beyond redemption (hmm, a Calvin principle), so they concluded the flesh cannot be saved. They did not believe in the resurrection of the body—you can’t get a perfect result from an imperfect body. Jesus couldn’t have come in the flesh, since He wasn’t imperfect, as all flesh is. Thus, there was no God Incarnate. No one can be “reborn” through physical substances (since all such are evil)—like water. So baptism has no power to save, it’s just a symbol of what’s happened in the spirit. Isn’t it great that what most of us believe about baptism is supported by such a deviant bunch? We’re also saying all the church fathers, as holy a group as you ever want to meet in heaven, men who were taught by the apostles, were dead wrong. Which group do you want to follow? I should also mention: The Gnostics were excoriated by early church fathers, saying they were “instigated by Satan…heretics…the antichrist.”. They said they were totally wrong on baptism, and they re-defended these baptism views. The big question, though, is this: Can we argue against all the above Scriptural passages? Not without doing twisty reasoning, instead of simple, literal reasoning.
18. How did the church move away from this doctrine, if it’s correct? I think partly because the church reacted to people’s desire for convenience—people wanted to feel assurance of salvation, wanted the “formula.” So eventually they got it—do the sacraments, or ordinances, and you shall be saved. Infant baptism came about because of the high infant mortality rates; people wanted assurance that their baby was saved. Also, when an entire nation was defeated by a “Christian” nation, it was required that the entire nation’s children would be baptized. None of these changes were Scripturally based. This “mechanical” religion requires no relationship with Christ and no day-to-day holiness, as Scripture demands (see the “Paul vs James” blogs). The idea as Jesus said that “few would find” heaven (Matt 7:14) was thrown out when they wanted a whole nation of “Christians.” Expanding “the kingdom of God,” as they called it, by sword, by expansion, by alliances with pagans, came naturally to them as well. Scripture became hidden, in an impossible language, and darkness reigned.
19. When pietism (late 1600s, beginning in Germany) and the Great Awakening revival (1700s, in England and New England) came along, they placed their emphasis on the conversion experience. They called the spiritual awakenings the “new birth.” In their countries’ state churches, everyone had already been baptized—but dead spiritually. Rather than preach on the difficult topic on “why what you did wasn’t good enough now,” the revivalists wanted to see people saved. They saw the idea of requiring baptism a second time (as was done once in Acts) as confusing, and it would slow the people’s spiritual awakening down, mixing a difficult intellectual topic with their wonderful emotion. Was a second, and real, baptism important enough to trump that? They decided No.
20. Keep in mind this extremely important caution (read the “Paul v James” blogs): The early Christians believed the above-mentioned Scriptural benefits of baptism were not “automatic” at baptism. A saving relationship with Christ, following His ordinances (and baptism was one of them) are necessary. “Inward” baptism—of the Spirit—was essential to strive for, not just “outward” baptism. When you want to submit to the Spirit AND when you are dunked in the water, then your sins are washed away. You need both. Doing the outward baptism without the inward desire for submission and cleansing? You’re still dead—you’ll just look nicer in hell.
2. But didn’t Jesus say, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. This clearly suggests that you have to be willing to do anything to escape hell, to make it to heaven—even separating yourself from family, friends, your church, your denomination. You should be on a quest for truth, you have to feel your eternal life depends upon it—and it often does.
3. Mr. Bercot in this CD, takes a clarifying look at what Scripture has to say about baptism, which has an important role in salvation.
4. I must add an important note: when Mr. Bercot sees doctrinal controversy between denominations (such as baptism), he resolves the issue by looking at what the early church (pre-Nicea, or pre-325 AD, after which the church was corrupted by joining with the State) believed about it. Of course, they had to be backed by Scripture—and they always were. And they had to agree with one another—and they always were. His feeling is, the men who were taught by the apostles, or apostolic students, had a better idea than men today about what was correct. Read about their surprising conclusions below.
5. He starts by personal biography—“I grew up believing that baptism was a symbol of one’s dedication to God and Jesus Christ. ..it wasn’t connected to salvation.” That’s true of most of us.
6. But the early church believed that in baptism (1) “all of a person’s prior sins are washed away.” (2) “in baptism, a person is born again through baptism of water and the Holy Spirit…(3) through baptism, a person becomes a member of Christ’s church…the salvation process is not complete without baptism.” He then reads many quotes from the early church fathers proving that’s what they believed. All of them--Clement, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, etc.—agreed on these facts 1-3 above. These were giants in the faith, thinkers, many of whom became martyrs for the cause of Christ.
7. But of course, what does the Bible say on this topic which has now seemed to take on a higher importance than most of us thought? Let’s start with John 3:5: Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Regardless of what twisties some teacher said otherwise, does this not say, literally, that “born of water” is water baptism? No tricks in the Greek—water is physical water. Does it not clearly say that water baptism is essential in being born again?—and even with a threat next to it (we don’t like to think God does threats).
8. Mark 16:16 says: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Again, this clearly requires baptism as a part of salvation.
9. Acts 2:36-38: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit In verses 37-38, Peter has the ultimate evangelistic opportunity. Does he say what we’ve all been taught, to pray to let Jesus into their heart? No; after they’ve been shown who Jesus is, what they need to do to be saved…is…(1)repentance and (2) baptism. (He emphasizes the importance of baptism, saying “every one of you” needs to do it). These two steps will give them remission of sins.
10. Acts 22:16 was when Saul was saved, becoming Paul, and was told: …And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’ Baptism washes away our sins. That’s very important, is it not? Without it, how can you get to heaven? (I’m assuming allowance is made for those who cannot be baptized.) The early church fathers felt that this is important enough that they still insisted that a man who was saved, immediately imprisoned, then martyred had a baptism—a baptism of blood. Note the urgency associated with being baptized right away.
11. Galatians 3:27: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Putting on Christ, when you also read Romans 13:14, means wrapping yourself in godly thoughts and not thinking about sinful ones. It’s also “clothe yourself with Christ,” associated with Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve being clothed with skins, protection from the dire effects of sin. Baptism is the means to these desirable and necessary goals—without which we’re not saved.
12. Titus 3:5: …but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. This duo obviously has connections with John 3:5 (see #7 above), and the early church made that connection—the washing of regeneration speaks of baptism. Baptism is regeneration, becoming a new creation. And, as Jesus put it (John 3:3), that’s essential go to heaven.
13. Hebrews 10:22: let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. “Pure water” is baptism. Baptism gives us a full assurance of faith and enables us to draw near to Him.
14. I Peter 3:21: There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This bluntly points out that baptism saves us. Of course, in context, and thinking of my “Paul v James” blogs, to be saved, you need baptism combined with true faith, repentance, and obedience. Paul is also saying, you need the inward baptism too (see #20 below). Baptism gives you a “good conscience toward God.” The antitype (Old Testament prefigure) it refers to is Noah, whose ark saved eight souls.
15. There are other types in the Old Testament. I Corinthians 10:1-2: Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Was crossing the Red Sea merely a “symbol” of their salvation from the Egyptians? No, it WAS their salvation! Then why do most evangelistic churches use the word “symbol” for baptism? If the type is true, it IS our salvation. Keep in mind, though—context—other things of faith were involved. They had already stepped out in faith to follow God’s leader Moses, when they believed the ten plagues were a message from God, when they obediently protected themselves from death at Passover, and when they packed their belongings and marched out into the desert—which a sensible man would never expect to stay alive, it couldn’t possibly support 3 million people. All of it was their salvation, but the baptism of passing through the sea completed the job.
16. Another Old Testament figure of baptism—mentioned several times by early Christians—was Naaman, the leper. Naaman was purified of leprosy when he was baptized in the Jordan. This was a symbol of what baptism can do for us regarding the leprosy of sin. We are cleansed through it.
17. If you’re thinking, “surely there was some group who didn’t hold to this view of baptism, who thought it was just symbolic,” and you’re right—the Gnostics. Of course, you also need to know what else they believed--that the creation of the earth and mankind was done by an inferior god, a second god, so his creation was flawed and beyond redemption (hmm, a Calvin principle), so they concluded the flesh cannot be saved. They did not believe in the resurrection of the body—you can’t get a perfect result from an imperfect body. Jesus couldn’t have come in the flesh, since He wasn’t imperfect, as all flesh is. Thus, there was no God Incarnate. No one can be “reborn” through physical substances (since all such are evil)—like water. So baptism has no power to save, it’s just a symbol of what’s happened in the spirit. Isn’t it great that what most of us believe about baptism is supported by such a deviant bunch? We’re also saying all the church fathers, as holy a group as you ever want to meet in heaven, men who were taught by the apostles, were dead wrong. Which group do you want to follow? I should also mention: The Gnostics were excoriated by early church fathers, saying they were “instigated by Satan…heretics…the antichrist.”. They said they were totally wrong on baptism, and they re-defended these baptism views. The big question, though, is this: Can we argue against all the above Scriptural passages? Not without doing twisty reasoning, instead of simple, literal reasoning.
18. How did the church move away from this doctrine, if it’s correct? I think partly because the church reacted to people’s desire for convenience—people wanted to feel assurance of salvation, wanted the “formula.” So eventually they got it—do the sacraments, or ordinances, and you shall be saved. Infant baptism came about because of the high infant mortality rates; people wanted assurance that their baby was saved. Also, when an entire nation was defeated by a “Christian” nation, it was required that the entire nation’s children would be baptized. None of these changes were Scripturally based. This “mechanical” religion requires no relationship with Christ and no day-to-day holiness, as Scripture demands (see the “Paul vs James” blogs). The idea as Jesus said that “few would find” heaven (Matt 7:14) was thrown out when they wanted a whole nation of “Christians.” Expanding “the kingdom of God,” as they called it, by sword, by expansion, by alliances with pagans, came naturally to them as well. Scripture became hidden, in an impossible language, and darkness reigned.
19. When pietism (late 1600s, beginning in Germany) and the Great Awakening revival (1700s, in England and New England) came along, they placed their emphasis on the conversion experience. They called the spiritual awakenings the “new birth.” In their countries’ state churches, everyone had already been baptized—but dead spiritually. Rather than preach on the difficult topic on “why what you did wasn’t good enough now,” the revivalists wanted to see people saved. They saw the idea of requiring baptism a second time (as was done once in Acts) as confusing, and it would slow the people’s spiritual awakening down, mixing a difficult intellectual topic with their wonderful emotion. Was a second, and real, baptism important enough to trump that? They decided No.
20. Keep in mind this extremely important caution (read the “Paul v James” blogs): The early Christians believed the above-mentioned Scriptural benefits of baptism were not “automatic” at baptism. A saving relationship with Christ, following His ordinances (and baptism was one of them) are necessary. “Inward” baptism—of the Spirit—was essential to strive for, not just “outward” baptism. When you want to submit to the Spirit AND when you are dunked in the water, then your sins are washed away. You need both. Doing the outward baptism without the inward desire for submission and cleansing? You’re still dead—you’ll just look nicer in hell.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Escaping hell: Summary of Bercot's CD "Paul v James--Disk 2"
CAUTION: Read my Summary of Disk 1 before reading this.
2. Here’s the big question we’re looking at: Did the three leaders of the early church, and Paul, get the gospel right—which means, is it the same as Jesus’ gospel? Let’s read and see.
Peter
3. We’ll begin with Peter’s gospel. Acts 2:36-38 is his clear word about “how to get on the Vine” (see Part I summary last week): “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. What do they do to be saved after they were told to accept the identity of Jesus as the Christ? Repent (have a change of heart), and be baptized—the normal way to get on the Vine.
4. Now let’s see his gospel presentation at Acts 10:34-35: Then Peter opened his mouth and said…35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. Again, this doesn’t jibe with Luther’s “just have faith.” But it does agree with Jesus.(Disk 1)
5. Keep in mind that God so believes in Peter’s accurate presentation that He has him open the door of the gospel to the Gentiles. Acts 10:43 says, in part:…whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” Since that’s only 8 verses away from “fears him and works righteousness” being the key to remission of sins, this means either you have contradiction in only 8 verses, or else… the word “believe” means that you will do whatever obedience that person you believe in says. Let us never forget the monarchical system they were under when I say, Jesus is Lord! Bow and obey Him! Peter isn’t going to contradict himself to the same group. So you harmonize v. 35 and 43, take them together.
6. I Peter 1:13-17 says: Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear Does that fit Luther’s model of salvation—or Jesus’ model? Note that grace, simply meaning kindness or favor, is awarded to those who are obedient—and God judges us on our works in doing that. Remember what we said in Summary Part I: If you don’t obey Christ, you don’t love Him—and that means you’re not saved. He extends favor to those who abide on Christ’s Vine—those who are faithful and obedient. (Getting on the Vine, as we saw in #3-5 above, involves faith and repentance—it’s just that now he’s talking about staying on the Vine.) These works are not “trying to earn merit,” they’re works of faith, works of obedience. Which everyone on the Vine is doing.
7. I Peter 4:17-18: For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
8. II Peter 2:20-21: For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. As we said in Part I, Luther didn’t like II Peter. You can see why—no verse speaks more clearly about the possibility of losing salvation—but that idea is not in Luther’s “gospel.” But Jesus said if we don’t bear fruit, we’ll be cut off from the Vine and thrown into the fire (John 15: 6). There are many more verses, lots more proof of Peter’s gospel, but space restrictions.
John
9. Moving to John, consider John 1:16-17, And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Mr. Bercot is reminding us that God’s abundant grace, allowing us on the Vine, giving us the Spirit to live a conquering life, and finally, beautiful heaven—at no time do we earn any of these things. But nowhere does it say that we do nothing. Scripture doesn’t make grace and works as mutually exclusive; but it does contrast grace vs the Law of Moses (there should be a capital “L.”) You can have grace and works.
10. I John 2:3-5: Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. Note the last sentence. We are in Him, we know Him intimately (or, we are saved), how?-- by keeping His word, which perfects the love of the Spirit. And then we know that we are saved.
11. I John 3:10: In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
12. I John 5:2-3: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. What is the love of God? Not an emotional thing (though it will be there too, at times)—but keeping His commandments.
James
13. Now let’s go to James 1:12: Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Note that “approved” (a salvation word) is not past and guaranteed by your once expressing faith—but it is conditional on our enduring temptation, our practicing righteousness, as well as our faith in the work of the Lord on the cross.
14. James 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves How do we deceive ourselves? By thinking we’re saved when we’re not doing the word—by not practicing obedience.
15. James 2:12: So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. The phrase “law of liberty” is not an oxymoron, not self-contradictory. Good laws give liberty to people. Lawlessness in society is scarily restrictive on those who want order. Being freed from the bondage of Satan is freedom indeed. Note also, in his speaking to saved people, that he says WE will be judged. Many folks actually believe that Christians will escape judgment. Not the case, as this verse indicates. Our judgment will be based on whether we are speaking and doing what we are told, in Scripture. Agrees perfectly with Christ in Matthew 25:40ff.
16. James 2:14: What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? The last question is rhetorical, answered by the implication in “what does it profit.” The answer is “No.” Clearly, James is arguing that faith not followed by works does not gain us heaven. This is made clear in James 2:24-26: You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Dead means dead—no life, no heaven. We need to be justified by God to be saved. God’s justification needs the follow-through of works. The “works” are actions that stem from a living faith, or obedience to God’s commandments, when taken in context with Scriptures above. Note that James nowhere implies that faith guarantees proper works (an idea that lends itself to eternal security--what many theologians believe). No, it takes effort, striving, words that are elsewhere in Scriptures. Not a guarantee.
17. James 5:19-20: Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Yes, if you were on the Vine, you can wander away—to death of the soul (or, hell).
18. ALL THREE of these prominent Christian leaders—who were closest to Christ—agree in total to Christ’s gospel. An obedient love-faith relationship with Him is necessary to maintain salvation. James, under attack from Luther, should be particularly defended here—he had a leadership role in early Christianity—as Acts 15:13 and Galatians 2:9 show. The main point is, he praises works as essential--as how his half-brother Jesus preached it.
Paul
19. Now Paul. Despite what you hear from others, he also taught that you maintain salvation by an obedient, love-faith relationship with Christ, not “faith only.” Mr. Bercot reminds us that because of time limitations, we only again get a “taste” of him. if you want ALL the verses that teach the proper gospel, buy Disk 3 (from scrollpublishing.com), put it in your computer and read it—or print it for further study or to mark up your Bible. Folks, the right gospel—from Scripture—is critical to our eternal life. Let us never deceive ourselves so as to be one of the “believers” in Matthew 25 who go to hell.
20. Luther insisted that obedience has nothing to do with salvation. But read Paul in Romans 2:3-11: And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
He is clearly saying, doing ungodly works and not repenting, will not escape God’s judgment; eternal life are for those who continue to do good, or “works what is good.”
21. Romans 8:1-6: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Unlike what you may have heard, there are no “carnal Christians.”(whoops, exception Scripture: I Corinthians 3:1-15. Somebody want to comment?) And not walking in the flesh is a condition to those seeking “no condemnation.”
22. Romans 11:20-23: Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Yes, God is good—but also severe. We must endure, we must continue in His goodness.
23. I Corinthians 6:9-11: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. Some sins are viler and will throw you off the Vine and on the way to hell—unless you repent (covered in other verses). After you’re saved-avoiding certain sins means something. There are no conditions here on the fact that you lose salvation by participating in these acts.
24. I Corinthians 7:19: Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. Paul is saying, we’re not bound to this aspect of Mosaic law. We’re bound to Jesus’ law.
25. II Corinthians 5:15&6:1:…and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 6 We, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. How do you “receive the grace..in vain”? By losing the grace you got--losing salvation. The purpose of His death? To live for Him, not for self. That necessarily involves obedience to Him.
26. II Corinthians 13:5: Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. The eternal security person doesn’t have to examine himself—they preach that he must feel certain that “you have it all made.” But isn’t that self-righteous thinking? But in this verse, the real gospel is that he should examine himself for sin. Doesn’t sound like much eternal security in this verse. And there is something which can disqualify us. Disqualify is not the same as unqualify. “Unqualify” means you never got it in the first place. Disqualify means you got it, then got yourself turned out. A big difference in a little prefix.
27. Galatians 6:7-9: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap IF we do not lose heart. A condition on ultimate salvation; the word “if.” (A study should be made of the word “if” in Biblical gospel presentations.)
28. II Thessalonians 2:11-12: And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. These verses are on the Last Days. The idea that God would “send” strong delusion is outside the realm of this paper. But I ask: What is “the lie?” Could it be the self-deception into believing that you can live for the flesh, and still gain heaven? Then you’ve turned away from the truth.
29. I Timothy 5:8: But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. “Denying the faith” isn’t restricted to verbally denying Christ; it seems to have a broader, dangerous meaning that includes a particular work (actually, in this case, “non-work.”) Also note: This person was once a believer, since he is contrasted to an unbeliever. And note that an act of unrighteousness made him lose his salvation.
30. II Timothy 2:12-13: If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. We would like to interpret “if we are faithless, He remains faithful” to mean, He is faithful to save us. But it doesn’t say that—it’s your id talking again. How could He have meant that and in the same paragraph said He “will…deny us?” Here is the answer, a troublesome truth, the only one possible: Look to the phrase “He cannot deny Himself.” It’s speaking of Him remaining faithful to His own words and to His perfect holiness. As we learn in context, “He remains faithful” simply means He will fulfill His promises to the letter. And if He said elsewhere, and in context, that living for the flesh, denying Him will mean hell, then that’s it. He did of course also say elsewhere that real repentance (change of behavior, not just sorrow) will bring grace. Note the conditional “IF we endure, we shall reign with Him.” Denying Christ obviously means we didn’t endure. So you’ve lost your salvation.
31. Thus, Paul and James really agree: We maintain salvation through faith and an obedient relationship with our Savior. And it is possible to lose salvation.
32. If you accuse Mr. Bercot of “proof texting,” ignoring the verses that emphasize faith (see Disk 1), and you prefer to believe Luther’s gospel, Mr. Bercot asks you to look at all the verses in these two disks—what they say and what Luther says, if all true, give us a messed-up gospel. Try to reconcile these verses with those you cherish; be honest with the term “context,” try seriously to bring them together. And look at the historical context in which the Scripture was written: When Paul disparages works, he is arguing against the Judaist believers who wanted the Gentile new believers to be circumcised and forced to follow Mosaic law—their works. So he’s saying that law’s works are not essential to Christianity. Consider these verses below, some of Luther’s favorites, in light of this true idea—wherever you see “law,” re-write it as “Mosaic Law.” Changes its meaning, doesn’t it? Do that with Romans 3:20-31: Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law (got that one right) and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law (this one is supposed to be a small letter).
33. He continues with Luther’s favorite verses for quite awhile. We only have space for a few. First, Romans 4:1-17, how Paul disparages the work of circumcision, how Abraham was not saved by circumcision, but by faith. His circumcision came later, after God declared him righteous. We have no problem reconciling that into our gospel, Jesus’ gospel. Paul was talking about a different meaning of “works” than James. Please note, however, how Abraham’s faith was followed by incredible works—leaving his home to follow God’s instructions, at great personal sacrifice.
34. Romans 10:3,5: For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God… For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them. Verse 3 is NOT about people trying to establish works as a basis for their righteousness, as some believe. It’s about the Jews continuing Jewish practices to obtain righteousness—which is not of God. God’s righteousness we have spelled out. In verse 5, Moses (and Paul) were saying it’s impossible to deserve heaven by works, by trying to never sin. Living by this attempt means you’re dead for sure. We agree—initial salvation cannot be based on works. We have, however, argued that in maintaining salvation, works play a part.
35. Romans 11:2a, 5: God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew … 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. Again, by disparaging “works,” he is not talking about ignoring obedience to Christ. He’s talking about Jews who have been saved did not get there by the works of the Mosaic Law.
36. Galatians 2:3-5 is about circumcision (see vv 14-21, using capital “L”), Galatians 3:2, same story, Law of Moses. Ephesians 2:8-17 has two favorite verses (8,9) BUT Paul is AGAIN disparaging the Mosaic Law, capital L, particularly circumcision (v 11, 15). Philippians 3:2-5 disparages “confidence in the flesh” but he’s talking about circumcision, the Mosaic Law. Colossians 2:11-17 same story.
37. As you can see, this “ammunition” used by some to disparage the real meaning of our obedience to Christ are clearly out of context. In most cases, he is talking about how wrong it is to try to live the Law of Moses as the basis for salvation.
38. Mr. Bercot also talks about the other corrupt methodologies (see Disk 1). He has some interesting remarks about the “updating” of King James in 1769 (striking large “L” and making it small in Romans 3, above, for instance). He also talks about how the words “grace” and “justification” have lost their original simpler meaning. They were given a theological meaning that supports a false gospel.
39. In summary: getting on the Vine requires belief, repentance, washing the water of regeneration. Abiding on the Vine requires obedience. You can lose your salvation by living by the flesh. Examine yourselves, readers! Read Disc 3—or the NT looking for verses on salvation.
2. Here’s the big question we’re looking at: Did the three leaders of the early church, and Paul, get the gospel right—which means, is it the same as Jesus’ gospel? Let’s read and see.
Peter
3. We’ll begin with Peter’s gospel. Acts 2:36-38 is his clear word about “how to get on the Vine” (see Part I summary last week): “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. What do they do to be saved after they were told to accept the identity of Jesus as the Christ? Repent (have a change of heart), and be baptized—the normal way to get on the Vine.
4. Now let’s see his gospel presentation at Acts 10:34-35: Then Peter opened his mouth and said…35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. Again, this doesn’t jibe with Luther’s “just have faith.” But it does agree with Jesus.(Disk 1)
5. Keep in mind that God so believes in Peter’s accurate presentation that He has him open the door of the gospel to the Gentiles. Acts 10:43 says, in part:…whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” Since that’s only 8 verses away from “fears him and works righteousness” being the key to remission of sins, this means either you have contradiction in only 8 verses, or else… the word “believe” means that you will do whatever obedience that person you believe in says. Let us never forget the monarchical system they were under when I say, Jesus is Lord! Bow and obey Him! Peter isn’t going to contradict himself to the same group. So you harmonize v. 35 and 43, take them together.
6. I Peter 1:13-17 says: Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear Does that fit Luther’s model of salvation—or Jesus’ model? Note that grace, simply meaning kindness or favor, is awarded to those who are obedient—and God judges us on our works in doing that. Remember what we said in Summary Part I: If you don’t obey Christ, you don’t love Him—and that means you’re not saved. He extends favor to those who abide on Christ’s Vine—those who are faithful and obedient. (Getting on the Vine, as we saw in #3-5 above, involves faith and repentance—it’s just that now he’s talking about staying on the Vine.) These works are not “trying to earn merit,” they’re works of faith, works of obedience. Which everyone on the Vine is doing.
7. I Peter 4:17-18: For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
8. II Peter 2:20-21: For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. As we said in Part I, Luther didn’t like II Peter. You can see why—no verse speaks more clearly about the possibility of losing salvation—but that idea is not in Luther’s “gospel.” But Jesus said if we don’t bear fruit, we’ll be cut off from the Vine and thrown into the fire (John 15: 6). There are many more verses, lots more proof of Peter’s gospel, but space restrictions.
John
9. Moving to John, consider John 1:16-17, And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Mr. Bercot is reminding us that God’s abundant grace, allowing us on the Vine, giving us the Spirit to live a conquering life, and finally, beautiful heaven—at no time do we earn any of these things. But nowhere does it say that we do nothing. Scripture doesn’t make grace and works as mutually exclusive; but it does contrast grace vs the Law of Moses (there should be a capital “L.”) You can have grace and works.
10. I John 2:3-5: Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. Note the last sentence. We are in Him, we know Him intimately (or, we are saved), how?-- by keeping His word, which perfects the love of the Spirit. And then we know that we are saved.
11. I John 3:10: In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
12. I John 5:2-3: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. What is the love of God? Not an emotional thing (though it will be there too, at times)—but keeping His commandments.
James
13. Now let’s go to James 1:12: Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Note that “approved” (a salvation word) is not past and guaranteed by your once expressing faith—but it is conditional on our enduring temptation, our practicing righteousness, as well as our faith in the work of the Lord on the cross.
14. James 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves How do we deceive ourselves? By thinking we’re saved when we’re not doing the word—by not practicing obedience.
15. James 2:12: So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. The phrase “law of liberty” is not an oxymoron, not self-contradictory. Good laws give liberty to people. Lawlessness in society is scarily restrictive on those who want order. Being freed from the bondage of Satan is freedom indeed. Note also, in his speaking to saved people, that he says WE will be judged. Many folks actually believe that Christians will escape judgment. Not the case, as this verse indicates. Our judgment will be based on whether we are speaking and doing what we are told, in Scripture. Agrees perfectly with Christ in Matthew 25:40ff.
16. James 2:14: What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? The last question is rhetorical, answered by the implication in “what does it profit.” The answer is “No.” Clearly, James is arguing that faith not followed by works does not gain us heaven. This is made clear in James 2:24-26: You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Dead means dead—no life, no heaven. We need to be justified by God to be saved. God’s justification needs the follow-through of works. The “works” are actions that stem from a living faith, or obedience to God’s commandments, when taken in context with Scriptures above. Note that James nowhere implies that faith guarantees proper works (an idea that lends itself to eternal security--what many theologians believe). No, it takes effort, striving, words that are elsewhere in Scriptures. Not a guarantee.
17. James 5:19-20: Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Yes, if you were on the Vine, you can wander away—to death of the soul (or, hell).
18. ALL THREE of these prominent Christian leaders—who were closest to Christ—agree in total to Christ’s gospel. An obedient love-faith relationship with Him is necessary to maintain salvation. James, under attack from Luther, should be particularly defended here—he had a leadership role in early Christianity—as Acts 15:13 and Galatians 2:9 show. The main point is, he praises works as essential--as how his half-brother Jesus preached it.
Paul
19. Now Paul. Despite what you hear from others, he also taught that you maintain salvation by an obedient, love-faith relationship with Christ, not “faith only.” Mr. Bercot reminds us that because of time limitations, we only again get a “taste” of him. if you want ALL the verses that teach the proper gospel, buy Disk 3 (from scrollpublishing.com), put it in your computer and read it—or print it for further study or to mark up your Bible. Folks, the right gospel—from Scripture—is critical to our eternal life. Let us never deceive ourselves so as to be one of the “believers” in Matthew 25 who go to hell.
20. Luther insisted that obedience has nothing to do with salvation. But read Paul in Romans 2:3-11: And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
He is clearly saying, doing ungodly works and not repenting, will not escape God’s judgment; eternal life are for those who continue to do good, or “works what is good.”
21. Romans 8:1-6: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Unlike what you may have heard, there are no “carnal Christians.”(whoops, exception Scripture: I Corinthians 3:1-15. Somebody want to comment?) And not walking in the flesh is a condition to those seeking “no condemnation.”
22. Romans 11:20-23: Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Yes, God is good—but also severe. We must endure, we must continue in His goodness.
23. I Corinthians 6:9-11: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. Some sins are viler and will throw you off the Vine and on the way to hell—unless you repent (covered in other verses). After you’re saved-avoiding certain sins means something. There are no conditions here on the fact that you lose salvation by participating in these acts.
24. I Corinthians 7:19: Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. Paul is saying, we’re not bound to this aspect of Mosaic law. We’re bound to Jesus’ law.
25. II Corinthians 5:15&6:1:…and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 6 We, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. How do you “receive the grace..in vain”? By losing the grace you got--losing salvation. The purpose of His death? To live for Him, not for self. That necessarily involves obedience to Him.
26. II Corinthians 13:5: Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. The eternal security person doesn’t have to examine himself—they preach that he must feel certain that “you have it all made.” But isn’t that self-righteous thinking? But in this verse, the real gospel is that he should examine himself for sin. Doesn’t sound like much eternal security in this verse. And there is something which can disqualify us. Disqualify is not the same as unqualify. “Unqualify” means you never got it in the first place. Disqualify means you got it, then got yourself turned out. A big difference in a little prefix.
27. Galatians 6:7-9: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap IF we do not lose heart. A condition on ultimate salvation; the word “if.” (A study should be made of the word “if” in Biblical gospel presentations.)
28. II Thessalonians 2:11-12: And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. These verses are on the Last Days. The idea that God would “send” strong delusion is outside the realm of this paper. But I ask: What is “the lie?” Could it be the self-deception into believing that you can live for the flesh, and still gain heaven? Then you’ve turned away from the truth.
29. I Timothy 5:8: But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. “Denying the faith” isn’t restricted to verbally denying Christ; it seems to have a broader, dangerous meaning that includes a particular work (actually, in this case, “non-work.”) Also note: This person was once a believer, since he is contrasted to an unbeliever. And note that an act of unrighteousness made him lose his salvation.
30. II Timothy 2:12-13: If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. We would like to interpret “if we are faithless, He remains faithful” to mean, He is faithful to save us. But it doesn’t say that—it’s your id talking again. How could He have meant that and in the same paragraph said He “will…deny us?” Here is the answer, a troublesome truth, the only one possible: Look to the phrase “He cannot deny Himself.” It’s speaking of Him remaining faithful to His own words and to His perfect holiness. As we learn in context, “He remains faithful” simply means He will fulfill His promises to the letter. And if He said elsewhere, and in context, that living for the flesh, denying Him will mean hell, then that’s it. He did of course also say elsewhere that real repentance (change of behavior, not just sorrow) will bring grace. Note the conditional “IF we endure, we shall reign with Him.” Denying Christ obviously means we didn’t endure. So you’ve lost your salvation.
31. Thus, Paul and James really agree: We maintain salvation through faith and an obedient relationship with our Savior. And it is possible to lose salvation.
32. If you accuse Mr. Bercot of “proof texting,” ignoring the verses that emphasize faith (see Disk 1), and you prefer to believe Luther’s gospel, Mr. Bercot asks you to look at all the verses in these two disks—what they say and what Luther says, if all true, give us a messed-up gospel. Try to reconcile these verses with those you cherish; be honest with the term “context,” try seriously to bring them together. And look at the historical context in which the Scripture was written: When Paul disparages works, he is arguing against the Judaist believers who wanted the Gentile new believers to be circumcised and forced to follow Mosaic law—their works. So he’s saying that law’s works are not essential to Christianity. Consider these verses below, some of Luther’s favorites, in light of this true idea—wherever you see “law,” re-write it as “Mosaic Law.” Changes its meaning, doesn’t it? Do that with Romans 3:20-31: Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law (got that one right) and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law (this one is supposed to be a small letter).
33. He continues with Luther’s favorite verses for quite awhile. We only have space for a few. First, Romans 4:1-17, how Paul disparages the work of circumcision, how Abraham was not saved by circumcision, but by faith. His circumcision came later, after God declared him righteous. We have no problem reconciling that into our gospel, Jesus’ gospel. Paul was talking about a different meaning of “works” than James. Please note, however, how Abraham’s faith was followed by incredible works—leaving his home to follow God’s instructions, at great personal sacrifice.
34. Romans 10:3,5: For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God… For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them. Verse 3 is NOT about people trying to establish works as a basis for their righteousness, as some believe. It’s about the Jews continuing Jewish practices to obtain righteousness—which is not of God. God’s righteousness we have spelled out. In verse 5, Moses (and Paul) were saying it’s impossible to deserve heaven by works, by trying to never sin. Living by this attempt means you’re dead for sure. We agree—initial salvation cannot be based on works. We have, however, argued that in maintaining salvation, works play a part.
35. Romans 11:2a, 5: God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew … 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. Again, by disparaging “works,” he is not talking about ignoring obedience to Christ. He’s talking about Jews who have been saved did not get there by the works of the Mosaic Law.
36. Galatians 2:3-5 is about circumcision (see vv 14-21, using capital “L”), Galatians 3:2, same story, Law of Moses. Ephesians 2:8-17 has two favorite verses (8,9) BUT Paul is AGAIN disparaging the Mosaic Law, capital L, particularly circumcision (v 11, 15). Philippians 3:2-5 disparages “confidence in the flesh” but he’s talking about circumcision, the Mosaic Law. Colossians 2:11-17 same story.
37. As you can see, this “ammunition” used by some to disparage the real meaning of our obedience to Christ are clearly out of context. In most cases, he is talking about how wrong it is to try to live the Law of Moses as the basis for salvation.
38. Mr. Bercot also talks about the other corrupt methodologies (see Disk 1). He has some interesting remarks about the “updating” of King James in 1769 (striking large “L” and making it small in Romans 3, above, for instance). He also talks about how the words “grace” and “justification” have lost their original simpler meaning. They were given a theological meaning that supports a false gospel.
39. In summary: getting on the Vine requires belief, repentance, washing the water of regeneration. Abiding on the Vine requires obedience. You can lose your salvation by living by the flesh. Examine yourselves, readers! Read Disc 3—or the NT looking for verses on salvation.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Proving the Exact Day of the Crucifixion--Part 2 of the "Star of Bethlehem" DVD
Can we know the exact day when Christ died? Yes.
The Sabbath, Saturday, was a day in which no real work is to be done. Jeremiah 17:22 says:
…nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. That means they had to double-gather the previous day, Friday. Thus Friday was the day of Preparation. As it so happens, all four Gospels record Jesus’ death on Preparation day, so He was crucified on Friday. (Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54, and John 19:14). Friday was also accepted by the earliest church fathers and scholars through the ages.*
A second clue: Jesus is crucified on Passover day. John 18:28-29 says:
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”
This is important. Passover is on the 14th of Nisan, a specific date in a Hebrew month. So that means, of course, its day of the week changes year-to-year. But we now know that Jesus was crucified in a year in which Passover, Nisan 14, is on Friday. That narrows the field.
A third clue: As you can see in the previous paragraph, Jesus was crucified when Pilate ruled. Scholars have no trouble giving the years: AD 26-36.
A fourth clue: Luke 3:23 records that Jesus was “about 30 years of age” when He began His ministry. John records Jesus attending 3 Passovers: 2:23, 6:4, and 13:1. This narrows the field further (assuming birth in 2 BC, see my "Birth of Jesus" blog) to Jesus being crucified in the early 30s AD.
Nisan 14 happens on Friday only twice during this time period: 4/7/30 and 4/3/33. Which is it?
To get the final answer, oddly, we turn our attention to Sejanus, an extreme anti-Semite ruler over Pilate for awhile. Pilate, to conform to his wishes, did terribly brutal things to Jews. He did everything he could to tick them off. But Sejanus was assassinated 10/18/31 AD, along with many of his appointees (but not Pilate). Then, Pilate’s new leader had an opposite approach to the Jews: “Leave the Jews alone.” Pilate, to conform to this, to save his skin, had to be careful not to appear cruel. Here’s the question: Since Pilate was ambivalent toward Jesus (John 19:12), which leader was he under? Pilate couldn’t have been under Sejanus, so it must be that Jesus was crucified after his death, 10/18/31. Of our two possible dates above, we now have only one choice:
Jesus was crucified on April 3, 33 AD
Maybe you’re thinking “That year selection seems sketchy, perhaps it was the other date and Pilate was just feeling good, or he wanted to give Sejanus a hard time.” Well--there are lots more confirming evidence about the date we chose—typical of the Bible’s layering of proofs, its unassailable accuracy. We can nail down the year another way: check Daniel 9:25-26:
Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks… 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off…
First off, the word “weeks” is incorrect—the Hebrew word is “sevens.” But seven what—days, months? If you make a week 7 years, then “seven weeks” becomes 7x7 years, or 49 years, and “62 weeks” becomes 62x7, or 434 years. Then you get “from the going forth of the command…until Messiah there shall be 49+434, or 483 years…and after (that), Messiah shall be “cut off”-- killed.
Then you need to know that the Jewish people had a 360-day lunar calendar, vs our 365.24 day solar one. So from the king's “command” to the killing of Messiah is 483 x 360/365.24=476 of our years. The command to restore and build Jerusalem came under the 20th year of Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1-6). Historical books confirm this as 444 BC. Adding 476 years (there is no year between 1BC and 1 AD), you get 33 AD!
You’re still not convinced? Here’s a proof where the sky comes in. Kepler proved (see, again, our "Birth" blog) that the sky is absolutely predictable. Now note darkness in His crucifixion. In Mathew 27:45:
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.
Changing Roman time to our time, this means darkness from noon to 3 pm—so 3 pm was when Jesus died (Matt 27:46-50), as soon as darkness ended.
Now turn to Acts 2:20, 22,and 31, where Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, only 10 days after Jesus had been ascended into heaven after His resurrection, quotes a prophecy in Joel 2:30 about the Anointed One—and then makes some intriguing remarks:
“The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood…” Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ
He is thus saying this prophecy has already happened--and that they had seen these signs, the darkness AND the “blood moon”—which is a lunar eclipse. In such an eclipse, the sun, the moving earth, and the moon are lined up (briefly while the earth passes by) so that the moon only gets sunlight around the edges of the earth, but refracted through the earth’s atmosphere. The moon, from the earth, takes on an eerie redness. Jesus died when the moon was red. This would’ve spooked everyone (along with the graves being opened, and “zombies” walking about—oh, yeah—Matthew 27:52). So Peter is reminding everyone of this creepy event. Odd that the Gospels don’t record the blood moon, but this quote by Peter definitely proved it happened at His crucifixion. Evidently no one in the audience accused him of lying that those events actually happened.
Well, as it so happens--There was a blood moon on 4/3/33! (For an analysis of how we can know the exact day, see my comments in the "Birth" blog). Thank You, God, for your incredible accuracy. Wise men follow the Lord. At the very same time Jesus died, Jewish priests were sacrificing innocent lambs to be eaten at Passover. This was no coincidence; it was in the plan of God. Jesus was our Lamb, voluntary sacrificed and given to the hand of Satan for our sins.
Also at this time, the moon is back in Virgo (the Virgin), at her foot. But instead of being new, as in birth (see our comments in "Birth" blog), it is full. Jesus led a life fully lived—but then blotted out in blood.
What you can’t miss in all this, is an unassailable fact: from the moment our omniscient God flung the stars out in space, He positioned them knowing that there would be a redemptive plan that we would need to approach Him because of our sin. He knew then that His very own Son would have to die. His power then raised Him in Resurrection like He can raise us again—if we believe and follow His commands. He left His love letter to us, His Word, the Bible. It is perfect in its accuracy, as we have seen here, as perfect as God is in His grace. Let us read His Words to us to learn how we can avoid Hell and make it to Heaven. Scripture says that most people go to Hell (Matthew 7:14). His Word is the way to life in heaven.
(PS: Some of these proofs are not on DVD, but in the “study” section on bethlehemstar.com.
* In case some of you are still scratching your head about Jesus spending 3 days in the tomb, when He was crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday, there is a simple answer. Who said He had to spend 3 days in the tomb? Matthew 12:40 says For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Translators might have failed us here. The phrase “in the heart of the earth” doesn’t speak of the tomb—it speaks of in the core of Satan’s grasp (the word "earth" has been mistranslated). I’m using the reputed W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. The Greek word for “heart” isn’t “inside.” He says “the word (heart) came to stand for man’s entire mental and moral activity…the Bible describes human depravity as in the ‘heart,’ because sin is a principle which has its seat in the center of man’s inward life, and then defiles the whole circuit of his action.” Citing Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Secondly, the word “earth” doesn’t speak of burial. Quoting Vine’s again: “the earth (is) the world..where the context suggests the earth as a place characterized by…weakness.” (Does the crucifixion of this Man suggest our weakness? Definitely.) Remember, Jesus had dodged their capture time and time again, saying “my time has not yet come.” But in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus emphasized something else: Then he came to the disciples and said, “Sleep now and take your rest . . . The time has come! I am into the hands of evil men! (TLB)
This is saying, Jesus gave Himself over to Satan on Thursday at the Garden. He was in Satan’s wicked hands from Thursday until Sunday morning suffering and paying for our sin. (He suffered much before the Cross). Thus He was in the heart of the earth’s wickedness for 3 days…and nights, just as Jonah was under the sway of the big fish for 3 days. (P.S. This lengthy note is not from Prof. Larson, but from Amazingfacts.org).
The Sabbath, Saturday, was a day in which no real work is to be done. Jeremiah 17:22 says:
…nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. That means they had to double-gather the previous day, Friday. Thus Friday was the day of Preparation. As it so happens, all four Gospels record Jesus’ death on Preparation day, so He was crucified on Friday. (Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54, and John 19:14). Friday was also accepted by the earliest church fathers and scholars through the ages.*
A second clue: Jesus is crucified on Passover day. John 18:28-29 says:
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”
This is important. Passover is on the 14th of Nisan, a specific date in a Hebrew month. So that means, of course, its day of the week changes year-to-year. But we now know that Jesus was crucified in a year in which Passover, Nisan 14, is on Friday. That narrows the field.
A third clue: As you can see in the previous paragraph, Jesus was crucified when Pilate ruled. Scholars have no trouble giving the years: AD 26-36.
A fourth clue: Luke 3:23 records that Jesus was “about 30 years of age” when He began His ministry. John records Jesus attending 3 Passovers: 2:23, 6:4, and 13:1. This narrows the field further (assuming birth in 2 BC, see my "Birth of Jesus" blog) to Jesus being crucified in the early 30s AD.
Nisan 14 happens on Friday only twice during this time period: 4/7/30 and 4/3/33. Which is it?
To get the final answer, oddly, we turn our attention to Sejanus, an extreme anti-Semite ruler over Pilate for awhile. Pilate, to conform to his wishes, did terribly brutal things to Jews. He did everything he could to tick them off. But Sejanus was assassinated 10/18/31 AD, along with many of his appointees (but not Pilate). Then, Pilate’s new leader had an opposite approach to the Jews: “Leave the Jews alone.” Pilate, to conform to this, to save his skin, had to be careful not to appear cruel. Here’s the question: Since Pilate was ambivalent toward Jesus (John 19:12), which leader was he under? Pilate couldn’t have been under Sejanus, so it must be that Jesus was crucified after his death, 10/18/31. Of our two possible dates above, we now have only one choice:
Jesus was crucified on April 3, 33 AD
Maybe you’re thinking “That year selection seems sketchy, perhaps it was the other date and Pilate was just feeling good, or he wanted to give Sejanus a hard time.” Well--there are lots more confirming evidence about the date we chose—typical of the Bible’s layering of proofs, its unassailable accuracy. We can nail down the year another way: check Daniel 9:25-26:
Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks… 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off…
First off, the word “weeks” is incorrect—the Hebrew word is “sevens.” But seven what—days, months? If you make a week 7 years, then “seven weeks” becomes 7x7 years, or 49 years, and “62 weeks” becomes 62x7, or 434 years. Then you get “from the going forth of the command…until Messiah there shall be 49+434, or 483 years…and after (that), Messiah shall be “cut off”-- killed.
Then you need to know that the Jewish people had a 360-day lunar calendar, vs our 365.24 day solar one. So from the king's “command” to the killing of Messiah is 483 x 360/365.24=476 of our years. The command to restore and build Jerusalem came under the 20th year of Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1-6). Historical books confirm this as 444 BC. Adding 476 years (there is no year between 1BC and 1 AD), you get 33 AD!
You’re still not convinced? Here’s a proof where the sky comes in. Kepler proved (see, again, our "Birth" blog) that the sky is absolutely predictable. Now note darkness in His crucifixion. In Mathew 27:45:
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.
Changing Roman time to our time, this means darkness from noon to 3 pm—so 3 pm was when Jesus died (Matt 27:46-50), as soon as darkness ended.
Now turn to Acts 2:20, 22,and 31, where Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, only 10 days after Jesus had been ascended into heaven after His resurrection, quotes a prophecy in Joel 2:30 about the Anointed One—and then makes some intriguing remarks:
“The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood…” Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ
He is thus saying this prophecy has already happened--and that they had seen these signs, the darkness AND the “blood moon”—which is a lunar eclipse. In such an eclipse, the sun, the moving earth, and the moon are lined up (briefly while the earth passes by) so that the moon only gets sunlight around the edges of the earth, but refracted through the earth’s atmosphere. The moon, from the earth, takes on an eerie redness. Jesus died when the moon was red. This would’ve spooked everyone (along with the graves being opened, and “zombies” walking about—oh, yeah—Matthew 27:52). So Peter is reminding everyone of this creepy event. Odd that the Gospels don’t record the blood moon, but this quote by Peter definitely proved it happened at His crucifixion. Evidently no one in the audience accused him of lying that those events actually happened.
Well, as it so happens--There was a blood moon on 4/3/33! (For an analysis of how we can know the exact day, see my comments in the "Birth" blog). Thank You, God, for your incredible accuracy. Wise men follow the Lord. At the very same time Jesus died, Jewish priests were sacrificing innocent lambs to be eaten at Passover. This was no coincidence; it was in the plan of God. Jesus was our Lamb, voluntary sacrificed and given to the hand of Satan for our sins.
Also at this time, the moon is back in Virgo (the Virgin), at her foot. But instead of being new, as in birth (see our comments in "Birth" blog), it is full. Jesus led a life fully lived—but then blotted out in blood.
What you can’t miss in all this, is an unassailable fact: from the moment our omniscient God flung the stars out in space, He positioned them knowing that there would be a redemptive plan that we would need to approach Him because of our sin. He knew then that His very own Son would have to die. His power then raised Him in Resurrection like He can raise us again—if we believe and follow His commands. He left His love letter to us, His Word, the Bible. It is perfect in its accuracy, as we have seen here, as perfect as God is in His grace. Let us read His Words to us to learn how we can avoid Hell and make it to Heaven. Scripture says that most people go to Hell (Matthew 7:14). His Word is the way to life in heaven.
(PS: Some of these proofs are not on DVD, but in the “study” section on bethlehemstar.com.
* In case some of you are still scratching your head about Jesus spending 3 days in the tomb, when He was crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday, there is a simple answer. Who said He had to spend 3 days in the tomb? Matthew 12:40 says For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Translators might have failed us here. The phrase “in the heart of the earth” doesn’t speak of the tomb—it speaks of in the core of Satan’s grasp (the word "earth" has been mistranslated). I’m using the reputed W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. The Greek word for “heart” isn’t “inside.” He says “the word (heart) came to stand for man’s entire mental and moral activity…the Bible describes human depravity as in the ‘heart,’ because sin is a principle which has its seat in the center of man’s inward life, and then defiles the whole circuit of his action.” Citing Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Secondly, the word “earth” doesn’t speak of burial. Quoting Vine’s again: “the earth (is) the world..where the context suggests the earth as a place characterized by…weakness.” (Does the crucifixion of this Man suggest our weakness? Definitely.) Remember, Jesus had dodged their capture time and time again, saying “my time has not yet come.” But in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus emphasized something else: Then he came to the disciples and said, “Sleep now and take your rest . . . The time has come! I am into the hands of evil men! (TLB)
This is saying, Jesus gave Himself over to Satan on Thursday at the Garden. He was in Satan’s wicked hands from Thursday until Sunday morning suffering and paying for our sin. (He suffered much before the Cross). Thus He was in the heart of the earth’s wickedness for 3 days…and nights, just as Jonah was under the sway of the big fish for 3 days. (P.S. This lengthy note is not from Prof. Larson, but from Amazingfacts.org).
Escaping Hell: Summary of Bercot's CD "Paul vs James--Disc 1"
Introduction
Polls show that 85% of Americans believe they're going to heaven (ABC News Poll: December 20, 2005). Yet our behavior patterns and specific beliefs often run the opposite of Scripture. According to a May 2013 Gallup poll, 59% of Americans believe gay sexual relations are morally acceptable, 63% believe sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally acceptable, and 42% say that about abortion. In every instance, Scripture, the basis of Christianity, says none of these behaviors are morally acceptable. It seems that American “Christians” are saying fornication, sodomy, and murder are acceptable. We have to conclude that many people are calling themselves Christian, yet feel it’s OK to ignore Scripture and our Lord's commands. The problem is, a belief system that “gets me to heaven” with no sacrifice, no obedience necessary is what I call “easy believism.” But that kind of "believism" is a road to hell.
With that kind of contradiction in people's minds, we need to be most cautious about what Scripture says to be saved. Can we really ignore Scripture, be disobedient and still escape Hell? Have we possibly deceived ourselves into assuming we're good enough for heaven? Have we rationalized behavior that is unsupported by Scripture--and not considered the danger? Jesus, in Matthew 7:14 says:
“narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which ..leads to life, and there are few who find it."
The word "life," here, as any Biblical linguist would tell you, means "heaven." I've taken polls of my friends on the word “few,” without referencing its Scriptural source. It’s interesting how we basically agree on 6-7% of a group of people would fulfill the definition of the word. Thus, on average, only 6-7% of people are heaven-bound. That’s a long way from 85% who profess Christianity in America. Doing a little math, this says that one out of 12 or one out of 14 who call themselves Christian will make it to heaven. Do you like those odds? Another way to express that is, out of 12 people, only one is right--the other 11 are going to hell and don't know it. They are self-deceived. Do you have a desire to know for sure? Then please read this summary and then look for this CD at scrollpublishing.com.
David Bercot is a writer and lecturer on Scripture. His three books are: Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up?; The Kingdom that Turned the World Upside Down; and Will the Theologians Please Sit Down? This series I'm summarizing is eye-opening, and blessed by the Holy Spirit.
Summary of David Bercot’s lecture:
Mr. Bercot is particularly zeroing in on the role of behavior, or works, in salvation; hence the title’s “Paul vs James,” since James seems to emphasize works and Paul seems to discount them and emphasize faith.
Bercot points out that for most evangelical believers today, this contradiction is “resolved” easily: their Study Bibles and commentaries “simply explain James away.” I.e., Paul “has it right” (by ignoring works), so what James says (works are important) is ignored. Thus they cancel out James completely. Bercot doesn’t like the way they pass over the clear plain INSPIRED statements of Scripture in James. He asks, what is the real truth about this important matter of works? He calls this issue “the gospel of Jesus vs the gospel of man.” Let us be drawn into this verbal fight as if our future in eternity depends upon it—as it may be!
Bercot says that most Christian denominations are ignoring Jesus' comments on what it takes to be saved. He even asserts that if we dare to speak out on what Jesus actually says about what it takes to go to heaven, evangelicals will call us “heretics.” They’ll say we’re not saved for believing that, that we’re preaching a “works salvation,” that we’re “trusting our own righteousness instead of the righteousness of Christ.” But do not be intimidated when you read the Truth—you have plenty of Scripture by your side.
Intelligent theologians had a place for works in salvation all through history—until Martin Luther introduced corrupt methodologies, which were duplicated by Calvin and Zwingli, to give the Protestant movement an opposite twist from Catholicism (emphasizing faith vs. emphasizing works). Twisting Scripture has been a frequent game: A group known as the Gnostics twisted Scripture in the first century, and the Catholics later did it too, coming to various non-Scriptural conclusions about how to get to heaven. And then Martin Luther did it.
The four corrupting influences put forth by Martin Luther were:
a. Relegating the key teachings of Jesus to the back closet—Jesus “didn’t teach the theology of how to be saved,” the theologians concluded. “You have to read Paul to get that.”
b. Proof texting: Establishing theological positions by picking and choosing Bible verses that fit the theology you've decided ahead of time you want to promote, and ignoring other verses that don’t fit. Most people, unfortunately, don’t read the New Testament in whole, to get the context of what is the overall picture. Your position on what it takes to be saved should be arrived at after reading the entire New Testament and fitting nearly all the relevant verses together on the subject.
c. Turning the New Testament writers into theologians, and changing their ordinary, everyday words into theological terms.
d. Making dishonest Bible translations and reference works. Remember, unlike Scripture, translations are made by humans who have their preconceptions to maintain.
Speaking of putting Jesus in the “back closet,” Christianity is the only religion or philosophy where the modern-day adherents ignore the teachings of the Founder and study the teachings of a disciple of the founder! To find out about what God says about salvation, do we go to Jesus, the God-man, the greatest Teacher who ever lived? No, we go to Paul—in Romans, for instance. This wrong focus started with the Gnostics, and somewhat with Augustine, but it became an overriding “principle” with Luther. He put a preface in front of each New Testament book, and an overall preface before the whole New Testament. His opinionated remarks (which books he favors, which books are “straw”) colored the thinking of theologians ever since. He said Romans was the “chief part of the New Testament, the very purest gospel.” (His praises of this one book are half the length of the book itself). In deciding “which are the best,” as he called it, of the New Testament books, he likes John, Paul’s books, and I Peter (but not II Peter or Matthew, Mark or Luke, the Synoptic gospels!) John’s gospel is “far, far to be preferred to the other 3” and “placed high above them.” He thus thinks we’re better off not reading the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain (which are only contained in the 3 Synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke)—because, Bercot suspects, their gospel by Jesus contradicts Luther’s gospel which he has made up from Paul. James he called an “epistle of straw” for “it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it.” (Now keep in mind, reader, that God inspired ALL the books of the Bible. They are all equal because they all have something to say for our edification.)
Bercot suspects Luther liked John over the Synoptic gospels also because John uses the Greek for “believe” 99 times, vs only 9 or 10 times each in the other 3 Gospels. Verses with “believe” can be easily twisted to fit Luther’s gospel of easy believism. Luther’s favoring Paul over Jesus to make up his gospel was a direct violation of Jesus’ commandment of Matthew 23:9-10:
Do not call anyone on earth your father…10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.
To quote Luther: “We can know everything we need to know about Christ and the gospel without ever having heard or read the Sermon on the Mount or the rest of what Jesus said that’s not recorded in John.” The early Christians stood against that type of nonsensical thinking when the Gnostics tried to do something similar (further fascinating CDs on the Gnostics and Luther by Bercot are also available). But nobody is standing against this twisted thinking nowadays.
So let’s look at what Jesus taught on salvation from hell, for once. There are several long passages in the 4 gospels, and a hundred or more short passages, on this all-important doctrine of how to avoid hell. Let’s analyze them and synchronize them. We start with John 15:1-6, 10, 19:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned… 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love…19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Key teachings of this important passage:
a. Jesus describes an ongoing, life relationship with Him as necessary for salvation.
b. We must abide with Jesus and bear godly fruit or we’re going to be cut off the vine (i.e., on the way to hell).
c. We abide in Christ’s love ONLY if we obey His commandments.
d. Abiding, in part, means separation from the world.
Bercot asserts that of hundreds of messages he’s heard, none have used this passage when they discuss salvation. But clearly (especially in verse 6) that’s what the passage is about! In summary, in order to be saved, we must maintain an “obedient, love-faith relationship with Him.”
Doctrines of salvation taught by men today can be categorized into two groups: Either they are (1) A system that requires an obedient, love-faith relationship with Christ, or (2) Everything else—since all other systems are “equally useless” (i.e., they will leave you deceived and hell-bound if you don't read Scripture thoroughly yourself).
Some of the alternate systems of “salvation” taught by men:
a. Paul in his day fought against Christo-Judaism: It had a knowledge of Jesus as Savior and Son of God, but added that you had to follow the law of Moses in the Old Testament to be saved.
b. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox: Sacramentalism. Receive the sacraments, attend Mass regularly, don’t die in unconfessed mortal sin, and be a loyal member of a church, to be saved.
c. Merit-ism: Live dutifully by all the commandments in the New Testament to be saved. (Relationship with Christ not necessary). Similar to (a), only New Testament, not Old.
d. Good-ism: Attend church and be a good person. That’s followed by liberals, and most Catholics, truthfully, nowadays.
e. Evangelical Protestantism: Accept Jesus as your personal Savior, have a born-again experience, believe that you’re saved by faith or grace alone, and obedience to Christ is not necessary for salvation. (Obedience is good, it's just possible to ignore it and still go to heaven. If you STRESS obedience as necessary for heaven, you’re teaching “unsound doctrine, and you’re probably not even saved.”)
None of the above 5 require an obedient, love-faith relationship with Christ. True, evangelicals stress the importance of a loving relationship with Christ, but they don't REQUIRE love as expressed in obedience (as John 15:10 clearly points out, is necessary to go to heaven). Their "love" is emotion-driven, not sacrifice-driven.
Bercot stresses that there are multiple thousands of people who attend churches that follow one of the 5 alternate systems above, who ALSO have a saving relationship with Him--on their own--and know His great love through sacrificial obedience.
It’s impossible to analyze “how much” obedience is necessary to be saved. That can’t be measured —relationships can’t be reduced to a formula-- and a saved person doesn’t want to measure it. We would all like perfect certainty--but with perfect certainty comes complacence.
Thus, salvation is not a one-time event of faith-and-you're-done. We must maintain (or abide with) the relationship. And the requirement to abide? Keeping His commandments. If we don’t keep His commandments, we don’t love Him. Doing that is not a task, but a loving friendship. And remember, He chose us—God first loved us before we loved Him. Salvation was originated entirely through the acceptable blood of Christ. God wants perfection, and we couldn't do that--but Christ did, as our substitute. That’s His grace. And finally the world will hate us. Not everyone all the time. But our belief system is opposite the world; they hate it--when you're speaking up against their violating a God who stood up for you--and thus rain on their selfish parade. If you don’t feel some rejection in your frequent contacts with regular people, there’s probably something you’re doing wrong.
There are past, present, and future aspects of salvation. In the past, if we at some point accepted the Lord and repented from our sin—what He is, what He did—we became attached to the Vine. “We were saved.” For the present: Are we walking in the Spirit? Then we are abiding on the Vine. It’s a breathing, ongoing relationship. A constant inflow of life-giving water drawn in from the roots of the Vine. And the future? Since our abiding produces fruit (Galatians 5:22ff), we are heaven-bound. But if we don’t produce fruit, we will be cut off from the Vine and thrown in the fire (John 15 again). Just because we’re on the Vine now doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed to be on next year. No unconditional eternal security.
On the corruption of proof texting, we can back up any of the 5 false methodologies above with selected texts from Scripture. But we would have to shove lots of others under the rug because they don’t agree together. The key is to understand everything that Jesus says on the subject first, and then look for agreement by the other Scriptural authors--then you put it together integrally. (All the relevant New Testament verses are given in a separate PDF CD, by the way). Full weight to each verse. Not picking one author (like Paul) and ignoring others (like Jesus!).
Keep in mind that every statement made in Scripture is not the gospel in full. John 15 above, however, is a good model of the whole picture of salvation. Other statements, you’ll find, will give a piece of that, but none will make an exclusionary remark that disagrees with it. There are some unanswered questions in John 15 too that other Scripture deals with—i.e., what are the “fruit?”
Study Galatians 5 for that.
So what else does Jesus say on the subject of salvation? We can’t give them all, but here are enough to whet your interest. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5ff), look at Matthew 6:14:
"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
The importance of forgiving is a godly fruit we need to possess. When we are first born again, only our PAST sins are forgiven. On a daily basis, we still need to pray forgiveness for our sins (I John 1:8, 9). But how sincere is our repentance when we don’t forgive others? See Matthew 18:23-35—note how the servant’s penalty was reinstated on him due to lack of forgiveness on his part (no eternal security there—his forgiveness was conditional on his future behavior). We conclude that if we are unforgiving, we can’t be sincere in asking forgiveness.
Consider Matthew 7:21:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Their profession didn’t speak as loud as their works (works of lawlessness). Their disobedience kept them from heaven.
Bercot says people have this “cop-out:” They say, “I get suggestive feelings of supernatural instructions in my head. This must be God’s commandment for me!”—but the "instructions" are in total disobedience to His written Word.
Look at Matthew 10:32:
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
Don’t forget, you can deny Him not by words only, but also by living the way of the world. You cannot have two masters. If you live the world and think only of it, you lose Christ. Stressing sacrifice of personal indulgences as part of salvation is Matthew 10:38:
And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
Jesus requires great commitment. Yet His yoke is light (Matthew 11:29), infused and rewarded with His love. We will joyfully lay down our lives for Him.
In Luke 16:6-9, Jesus is saying God will extend patience for us to produce fruit. But not forever. At some point, with nothing produced, the tree is cut down. It also says, He will help us, with His Spirit, to produce fruit—unless we let worldly pleasures block those efforts.
In Luke 24:46-47, repentance is necessary:
Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. /i>
In John 3:3-5, we learn that salvation begins with a New Birth. That’s what puts us “on the Vine.” We all know John 3:16 and surrounding verses. Or do we? Let’s look at “the rest of what He said,” John 3:19-21:
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. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Again, deeds are involved, not just belief. Your real belief can be seen in your deeds (which is what James is saying, James 2:14ff).
Two closely-related Greek words that are translated “believe:” The first word, pisteuo means to believe, trust, but it’s just mental assent. The other is peitho, sometimes translated “believe,” but other times translated “obey.” Thus, Scriptural believing is interwoven with obeying. Not just mental assent. Webster’s defines “believe” as “confidence in the statement of another.” Our level of confidence can be tested on us by God, and our response—our deeds--signifies if we truly “believe.” Thus belief and deeds are one. Do we believe Jesus when He says that we must bear fruit or else be cut off and burned? When He says that if we love Him, we will obey His commandments? Do we believe that His commandments are truly in our best interest—enough to follow them even when they don’t make sense? Our deeds will signify if we believe. One-third of the world “believes” in Christ, but Bercot suspects it’s mostly the first word—mental assent only. Remember, Jesus said only the “few” would be saved (Matthew 7:14). Can Jesus be talking about the first definition, not requiring deeds, when He says “few” would be saved, when 1/3 the world claims to be Christian? And Luke 13:24 says we must “strive” to enter heaven—that again suggests deeds are involved.
There’s an evangelism tool that says we ask the prospect, “If you die and are standing before God, and He asks, “Why should I let you in?” And if the prospect gives the “standard” answer (I’ve been good), you’re supposed to say, “No, all your works are as filthy rags; have faith in what He has done—not your works, which count nothing in salvation.” Well, it so happens that Jesus set up the same scenario; He told all of us the “answer to the test” (every student’s dream)—on what basis will He let us in to heaven. He said in the Last Judgment, people will be lined up, and He will let in some people and reject other people. Did His reasons for why some were let in line up with the “Scriptural” method we just read? No; His comments were the exact opposite of what modern theologians say. In Matthew 25:34, 35 and 40, Jesus says He will separate people, in the Last Judgment—based on their deeds. He says,
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in.. ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.
On that day, He won’t expect us to announce that our deeds mean nothing. He will be looking for deeds that show our belief is strong, and right. Once we are born again, let us strive to exercise our gifts and do the righteous deeds that will get us to heaven.
None of these teachings by Jesus disagree with our John 15 model—they harmonize with it. This is not a selection of proof texts. ALL of these clearly disagree with “salvation is by faith alone,” as Luther claimed. Works have a place. They always had a place, if you read the early church fathers (that’s Mr. Bercot’s expertise and books written.) Do you want to believe man’s gospel, or Jesus’ gospel? Where you spend your eternity may depend on it!
NEXT WEEK: IS THE JOHN 15 MODEL HARMONIZED BY THE OTHER BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT? BERCOT’S “PAUL VS JAMES”, DISC 2.
Polls show that 85% of Americans believe they're going to heaven (ABC News Poll: December 20, 2005). Yet our behavior patterns and specific beliefs often run the opposite of Scripture. According to a May 2013 Gallup poll, 59% of Americans believe gay sexual relations are morally acceptable, 63% believe sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally acceptable, and 42% say that about abortion. In every instance, Scripture, the basis of Christianity, says none of these behaviors are morally acceptable. It seems that American “Christians” are saying fornication, sodomy, and murder are acceptable. We have to conclude that many people are calling themselves Christian, yet feel it’s OK to ignore Scripture and our Lord's commands. The problem is, a belief system that “gets me to heaven” with no sacrifice, no obedience necessary is what I call “easy believism.” But that kind of "believism" is a road to hell.
With that kind of contradiction in people's minds, we need to be most cautious about what Scripture says to be saved. Can we really ignore Scripture, be disobedient and still escape Hell? Have we possibly deceived ourselves into assuming we're good enough for heaven? Have we rationalized behavior that is unsupported by Scripture--and not considered the danger? Jesus, in Matthew 7:14 says:
“narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which ..leads to life, and there are few who find it."
The word "life," here, as any Biblical linguist would tell you, means "heaven." I've taken polls of my friends on the word “few,” without referencing its Scriptural source. It’s interesting how we basically agree on 6-7% of a group of people would fulfill the definition of the word. Thus, on average, only 6-7% of people are heaven-bound. That’s a long way from 85% who profess Christianity in America. Doing a little math, this says that one out of 12 or one out of 14 who call themselves Christian will make it to heaven. Do you like those odds? Another way to express that is, out of 12 people, only one is right--the other 11 are going to hell and don't know it. They are self-deceived. Do you have a desire to know for sure? Then please read this summary and then look for this CD at scrollpublishing.com.
David Bercot is a writer and lecturer on Scripture. His three books are: Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up?; The Kingdom that Turned the World Upside Down; and Will the Theologians Please Sit Down? This series I'm summarizing is eye-opening, and blessed by the Holy Spirit.
Summary of David Bercot’s lecture:
Mr. Bercot is particularly zeroing in on the role of behavior, or works, in salvation; hence the title’s “Paul vs James,” since James seems to emphasize works and Paul seems to discount them and emphasize faith.
Bercot points out that for most evangelical believers today, this contradiction is “resolved” easily: their Study Bibles and commentaries “simply explain James away.” I.e., Paul “has it right” (by ignoring works), so what James says (works are important) is ignored. Thus they cancel out James completely. Bercot doesn’t like the way they pass over the clear plain INSPIRED statements of Scripture in James. He asks, what is the real truth about this important matter of works? He calls this issue “the gospel of Jesus vs the gospel of man.” Let us be drawn into this verbal fight as if our future in eternity depends upon it—as it may be!
Bercot says that most Christian denominations are ignoring Jesus' comments on what it takes to be saved. He even asserts that if we dare to speak out on what Jesus actually says about what it takes to go to heaven, evangelicals will call us “heretics.” They’ll say we’re not saved for believing that, that we’re preaching a “works salvation,” that we’re “trusting our own righteousness instead of the righteousness of Christ.” But do not be intimidated when you read the Truth—you have plenty of Scripture by your side.
Intelligent theologians had a place for works in salvation all through history—until Martin Luther introduced corrupt methodologies, which were duplicated by Calvin and Zwingli, to give the Protestant movement an opposite twist from Catholicism (emphasizing faith vs. emphasizing works). Twisting Scripture has been a frequent game: A group known as the Gnostics twisted Scripture in the first century, and the Catholics later did it too, coming to various non-Scriptural conclusions about how to get to heaven. And then Martin Luther did it.
The four corrupting influences put forth by Martin Luther were:
a. Relegating the key teachings of Jesus to the back closet—Jesus “didn’t teach the theology of how to be saved,” the theologians concluded. “You have to read Paul to get that.”
b. Proof texting: Establishing theological positions by picking and choosing Bible verses that fit the theology you've decided ahead of time you want to promote, and ignoring other verses that don’t fit. Most people, unfortunately, don’t read the New Testament in whole, to get the context of what is the overall picture. Your position on what it takes to be saved should be arrived at after reading the entire New Testament and fitting nearly all the relevant verses together on the subject.
c. Turning the New Testament writers into theologians, and changing their ordinary, everyday words into theological terms.
d. Making dishonest Bible translations and reference works. Remember, unlike Scripture, translations are made by humans who have their preconceptions to maintain.
Speaking of putting Jesus in the “back closet,” Christianity is the only religion or philosophy where the modern-day adherents ignore the teachings of the Founder and study the teachings of a disciple of the founder! To find out about what God says about salvation, do we go to Jesus, the God-man, the greatest Teacher who ever lived? No, we go to Paul—in Romans, for instance. This wrong focus started with the Gnostics, and somewhat with Augustine, but it became an overriding “principle” with Luther. He put a preface in front of each New Testament book, and an overall preface before the whole New Testament. His opinionated remarks (which books he favors, which books are “straw”) colored the thinking of theologians ever since. He said Romans was the “chief part of the New Testament, the very purest gospel.” (His praises of this one book are half the length of the book itself). In deciding “which are the best,” as he called it, of the New Testament books, he likes John, Paul’s books, and I Peter (but not II Peter or Matthew, Mark or Luke, the Synoptic gospels!) John’s gospel is “far, far to be preferred to the other 3” and “placed high above them.” He thus thinks we’re better off not reading the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain (which are only contained in the 3 Synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke)—because, Bercot suspects, their gospel by Jesus contradicts Luther’s gospel which he has made up from Paul. James he called an “epistle of straw” for “it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it.” (Now keep in mind, reader, that God inspired ALL the books of the Bible. They are all equal because they all have something to say for our edification.)
Bercot suspects Luther liked John over the Synoptic gospels also because John uses the Greek for “believe” 99 times, vs only 9 or 10 times each in the other 3 Gospels. Verses with “believe” can be easily twisted to fit Luther’s gospel of easy believism. Luther’s favoring Paul over Jesus to make up his gospel was a direct violation of Jesus’ commandment of Matthew 23:9-10:
Do not call anyone on earth your father…10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.
To quote Luther: “We can know everything we need to know about Christ and the gospel without ever having heard or read the Sermon on the Mount or the rest of what Jesus said that’s not recorded in John.” The early Christians stood against that type of nonsensical thinking when the Gnostics tried to do something similar (further fascinating CDs on the Gnostics and Luther by Bercot are also available). But nobody is standing against this twisted thinking nowadays.
So let’s look at what Jesus taught on salvation from hell, for once. There are several long passages in the 4 gospels, and a hundred or more short passages, on this all-important doctrine of how to avoid hell. Let’s analyze them and synchronize them. We start with John 15:1-6, 10, 19:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned… 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love…19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Key teachings of this important passage:
a. Jesus describes an ongoing, life relationship with Him as necessary for salvation.
b. We must abide with Jesus and bear godly fruit or we’re going to be cut off the vine (i.e., on the way to hell).
c. We abide in Christ’s love ONLY if we obey His commandments.
d. Abiding, in part, means separation from the world.
Bercot asserts that of hundreds of messages he’s heard, none have used this passage when they discuss salvation. But clearly (especially in verse 6) that’s what the passage is about! In summary, in order to be saved, we must maintain an “obedient, love-faith relationship with Him.”
Doctrines of salvation taught by men today can be categorized into two groups: Either they are (1) A system that requires an obedient, love-faith relationship with Christ, or (2) Everything else—since all other systems are “equally useless” (i.e., they will leave you deceived and hell-bound if you don't read Scripture thoroughly yourself).
Some of the alternate systems of “salvation” taught by men:
a. Paul in his day fought against Christo-Judaism: It had a knowledge of Jesus as Savior and Son of God, but added that you had to follow the law of Moses in the Old Testament to be saved.
b. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox: Sacramentalism. Receive the sacraments, attend Mass regularly, don’t die in unconfessed mortal sin, and be a loyal member of a church, to be saved.
c. Merit-ism: Live dutifully by all the commandments in the New Testament to be saved. (Relationship with Christ not necessary). Similar to (a), only New Testament, not Old.
d. Good-ism: Attend church and be a good person. That’s followed by liberals, and most Catholics, truthfully, nowadays.
e. Evangelical Protestantism: Accept Jesus as your personal Savior, have a born-again experience, believe that you’re saved by faith or grace alone, and obedience to Christ is not necessary for salvation. (Obedience is good, it's just possible to ignore it and still go to heaven. If you STRESS obedience as necessary for heaven, you’re teaching “unsound doctrine, and you’re probably not even saved.”)
None of the above 5 require an obedient, love-faith relationship with Christ. True, evangelicals stress the importance of a loving relationship with Christ, but they don't REQUIRE love as expressed in obedience (as John 15:10 clearly points out, is necessary to go to heaven). Their "love" is emotion-driven, not sacrifice-driven.
Bercot stresses that there are multiple thousands of people who attend churches that follow one of the 5 alternate systems above, who ALSO have a saving relationship with Him--on their own--and know His great love through sacrificial obedience.
It’s impossible to analyze “how much” obedience is necessary to be saved. That can’t be measured —relationships can’t be reduced to a formula-- and a saved person doesn’t want to measure it. We would all like perfect certainty--but with perfect certainty comes complacence.
Thus, salvation is not a one-time event of faith-and-you're-done. We must maintain (or abide with) the relationship. And the requirement to abide? Keeping His commandments. If we don’t keep His commandments, we don’t love Him. Doing that is not a task, but a loving friendship. And remember, He chose us—God first loved us before we loved Him. Salvation was originated entirely through the acceptable blood of Christ. God wants perfection, and we couldn't do that--but Christ did, as our substitute. That’s His grace. And finally the world will hate us. Not everyone all the time. But our belief system is opposite the world; they hate it--when you're speaking up against their violating a God who stood up for you--and thus rain on their selfish parade. If you don’t feel some rejection in your frequent contacts with regular people, there’s probably something you’re doing wrong.
There are past, present, and future aspects of salvation. In the past, if we at some point accepted the Lord and repented from our sin—what He is, what He did—we became attached to the Vine. “We were saved.” For the present: Are we walking in the Spirit? Then we are abiding on the Vine. It’s a breathing, ongoing relationship. A constant inflow of life-giving water drawn in from the roots of the Vine. And the future? Since our abiding produces fruit (Galatians 5:22ff), we are heaven-bound. But if we don’t produce fruit, we will be cut off from the Vine and thrown in the fire (John 15 again). Just because we’re on the Vine now doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed to be on next year. No unconditional eternal security.
On the corruption of proof texting, we can back up any of the 5 false methodologies above with selected texts from Scripture. But we would have to shove lots of others under the rug because they don’t agree together. The key is to understand everything that Jesus says on the subject first, and then look for agreement by the other Scriptural authors--then you put it together integrally. (All the relevant New Testament verses are given in a separate PDF CD, by the way). Full weight to each verse. Not picking one author (like Paul) and ignoring others (like Jesus!).
Keep in mind that every statement made in Scripture is not the gospel in full. John 15 above, however, is a good model of the whole picture of salvation. Other statements, you’ll find, will give a piece of that, but none will make an exclusionary remark that disagrees with it. There are some unanswered questions in John 15 too that other Scripture deals with—i.e., what are the “fruit?”
Study Galatians 5 for that.
So what else does Jesus say on the subject of salvation? We can’t give them all, but here are enough to whet your interest. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5ff), look at Matthew 6:14:
"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
The importance of forgiving is a godly fruit we need to possess. When we are first born again, only our PAST sins are forgiven. On a daily basis, we still need to pray forgiveness for our sins (I John 1:8, 9). But how sincere is our repentance when we don’t forgive others? See Matthew 18:23-35—note how the servant’s penalty was reinstated on him due to lack of forgiveness on his part (no eternal security there—his forgiveness was conditional on his future behavior). We conclude that if we are unforgiving, we can’t be sincere in asking forgiveness.
Consider Matthew 7:21:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Their profession didn’t speak as loud as their works (works of lawlessness). Their disobedience kept them from heaven.
Bercot says people have this “cop-out:” They say, “I get suggestive feelings of supernatural instructions in my head. This must be God’s commandment for me!”—but the "instructions" are in total disobedience to His written Word.
Look at Matthew 10:32:
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
Don’t forget, you can deny Him not by words only, but also by living the way of the world. You cannot have two masters. If you live the world and think only of it, you lose Christ. Stressing sacrifice of personal indulgences as part of salvation is Matthew 10:38:
And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
Jesus requires great commitment. Yet His yoke is light (Matthew 11:29), infused and rewarded with His love. We will joyfully lay down our lives for Him.
In Luke 16:6-9, Jesus is saying God will extend patience for us to produce fruit. But not forever. At some point, with nothing produced, the tree is cut down. It also says, He will help us, with His Spirit, to produce fruit—unless we let worldly pleasures block those efforts.
In Luke 24:46-47, repentance is necessary:
Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. /i>
In John 3:3-5, we learn that salvation begins with a New Birth. That’s what puts us “on the Vine.” We all know John 3:16 and surrounding verses. Or do we? Let’s look at “the rest of what He said,” John 3:19-21:
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. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Again, deeds are involved, not just belief. Your real belief can be seen in your deeds (which is what James is saying, James 2:14ff).
Two closely-related Greek words that are translated “believe:” The first word, pisteuo means to believe, trust, but it’s just mental assent. The other is peitho, sometimes translated “believe,” but other times translated “obey.” Thus, Scriptural believing is interwoven with obeying. Not just mental assent. Webster’s defines “believe” as “confidence in the statement of another.” Our level of confidence can be tested on us by God, and our response—our deeds--signifies if we truly “believe.” Thus belief and deeds are one. Do we believe Jesus when He says that we must bear fruit or else be cut off and burned? When He says that if we love Him, we will obey His commandments? Do we believe that His commandments are truly in our best interest—enough to follow them even when they don’t make sense? Our deeds will signify if we believe. One-third of the world “believes” in Christ, but Bercot suspects it’s mostly the first word—mental assent only. Remember, Jesus said only the “few” would be saved (Matthew 7:14). Can Jesus be talking about the first definition, not requiring deeds, when He says “few” would be saved, when 1/3 the world claims to be Christian? And Luke 13:24 says we must “strive” to enter heaven—that again suggests deeds are involved.
There’s an evangelism tool that says we ask the prospect, “If you die and are standing before God, and He asks, “Why should I let you in?” And if the prospect gives the “standard” answer (I’ve been good), you’re supposed to say, “No, all your works are as filthy rags; have faith in what He has done—not your works, which count nothing in salvation.” Well, it so happens that Jesus set up the same scenario; He told all of us the “answer to the test” (every student’s dream)—on what basis will He let us in to heaven. He said in the Last Judgment, people will be lined up, and He will let in some people and reject other people. Did His reasons for why some were let in line up with the “Scriptural” method we just read? No; His comments were the exact opposite of what modern theologians say. In Matthew 25:34, 35 and 40, Jesus says He will separate people, in the Last Judgment—based on their deeds. He says,
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in.. ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.
On that day, He won’t expect us to announce that our deeds mean nothing. He will be looking for deeds that show our belief is strong, and right. Once we are born again, let us strive to exercise our gifts and do the righteous deeds that will get us to heaven.
None of these teachings by Jesus disagree with our John 15 model—they harmonize with it. This is not a selection of proof texts. ALL of these clearly disagree with “salvation is by faith alone,” as Luther claimed. Works have a place. They always had a place, if you read the early church fathers (that’s Mr. Bercot’s expertise and books written.) Do you want to believe man’s gospel, or Jesus’ gospel? Where you spend your eternity may depend on it!
NEXT WEEK: IS THE JOHN 15 MODEL HARMONIZED BY THE OTHER BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT? BERCOT’S “PAUL VS JAMES”, DISC 2.
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