What Does the Bible Say About Why Am I A Member of the Church of Christ #11?

In this episode, we continue our discussion of rightly dividing the word of truth, God's word, understanding that it is inspired and within it, God has supplied all things that pertain to life and godliness. Consequently, we do not need to come up with our own ideas about the church, how to be saved, how to worship and what the church is and does. We noted that the church Jesus built, the church of Christ is not a denomination. We note Paul's warning to the elders of the local church in Ephesus about false teachers entering among them. We talk about what Jesus said about sincere people who thought they were following Him but were guilty of lawlessness. We also discuss how Jesus says one can come to the Father and what He says about the narrow gate and the wide way. We look at a couple of misconceptions some people have that are caused by taking scriptures out of context. So, we complete this portion of our study by again noting that we must follow God's word and only God's word. The problem that leads to denominations is people teaching what they think is good in their worship and serving God instead of what the Bible says. We move on specifically to discuss what it means to rightly divide the word of truth. We point out in this study that the Bible was written to different groups of people and different times in history. There are some general principles in some books of the Old Testament that are timeless in their applicability, but that is not true of all of the books. We talk about the 4 primary classifications contained in the Old Testament and what each of the 39 books are and not that the separation and classification of these books help us to rightly divide or correctly use them. We next move on to the New Testament, what the different books are and how they are divided. We note that there are three primary dispensations of time covered in the Bible. We discuss these. We close out this episode with Glenn reading Galatians three, verses 5 through 29 and run out of time before we can discuss those passages. We will begin our next episode with those scriptures and what they teach us. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

Transcript

Fred Gosnell: 0:00

This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com or to Glenn Landrum at scbamaboy2003@yahoo.com or to Eric McClam at ericmcclam50@outlook.com or to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc- i.net,

Arnie: 0:55

Good afternoon. This is what does the Bible say, brought to you by the church of Christ at Woodland here in Sumter. We're on highway 76 378, about two miles east of Shaw Air Force Base. We certainly would welcome you if you came to worship with us, or just came to discuss some Bible subjects, and that would be fine as as well. With me is Fred Gosnell, and Eric is is with us again, and Glenn Landrum is with us. We're talking talking about Bible things, and let's immediately go to Glenn and Glenn, where do we want to begin discussing this this evening?

Glenn: 1:46

Well, last week, we ended up reading a couple of passages. First, Timothy, 3, 16, and 17. That's actually Second. Timothy, 3, 16, and 17 and Second. Peter 1, 2 through four. These two passages tell us a lot about this, the Scriptures themselves and and what the Scriptures are good for. And we understand that the scriptures provide everything we need, as in the passage in Second Peter, everything we need for life and godliness. So we're going to pick up now with remembering a a passage that we've read a number of times, and that's acts 20, 28, through 30, in which Paul warned the Ephesian elders that savage wolves would come in among them, speaking perverse things that would be lies about the truth, drawing disciples after them. That is exactly what has happened over the years, beginning in the first century. Many have come into the Lord's church, which is the church of Christ, and drawn disciples away from the truth and from the true church. People today do not think too much about this, and they don't think of it as they should. We often hear people say, attend the church of your choice, meaning, of course, that one church is as good as another. We often hear people say that, and that's actually against what Jesus taught. We're going to look at a couple of passages that can help us to understand this. Now keep in mind what we've just presented about God's word, Matthew 7, 21, through 23 and I think we've read this before, but we're going to read it again. Not everyone says, who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven, Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name, and then I will say or declare to them, I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness. When saying, practice lawlessness, that's sin. This should be very sobering to anyone reading it. Jesus said that there would be many people who were actually very serious about Him and his Father, but they were not doing God's will. So pay attention to what the result would be. Christ would deny them and cast them into outer darkness because they were practicing lawlessness or sin. There's a difference between doing good things and thinking that we're doing good things for God and actually doing them. We have to know what God tells us to do. In John 14 six, it's a very short passage. And, and, but it's very clear. Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. This sounds simple when we read it, and many don't take the full effect of the way or the path to the truth, the standard or a pattern that we must follow and the life, the source of everlasting life. He ended the statement with the fact that nobody can get that God or get to heaven without following the teaching, the map, the pattern that He established. Where do we find that pattern, that map, that way? We find it in God's Word, the Bible. We cannot take parts of it out, and we can't put things in or add things to it when we want to. We have to follow Christ's teaching in order to get to God and to get to heaven. We have presented to you the scriptures that will guide you learn to learning about and following God's word concerning Jesus Church, and it is up to each of us to read and to learn what it is that God wants. We must guard against listening to those who teach things that are not in God's word, and they are many. Just look at the following.

Fred Gosnell: 6:21

Well again, Jesus said in Matthew 7, 13, and 14, he said, Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction. There are many who go in by it, Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. So we all have read and heard that passage many times, but do we really grasp its real meaning? So we looked at verses 21 to 23 of the same chapter a few minutes ago, and we saw that God requires us to know and follow only his teaching. So in this passage, Jesus presents that there are basically two paths for us to follow. One is a wide path, and most people will be on that path. The other path, which is very narrow and only has a few people on it, is the path that leads to heaven or to eternal life. So this lets us know that not very many people truly find and follow the path that Jesus has given for us to follow. He's given us the map. But there are a lot of different things that may cause us to go the wrong way. So we've mentioned, as a few times, the passage in Acts 20, where Paul warned those elders in Ephesus about the savage wolves, those who were entering among them, who would be false teachers coming in and then leading souls away from the truth to follow that false teacher. So look at the verses that follow what we just read. So Matthew 7, 15, through 20. So then Jesus says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather Greeks from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown to the fire. Therefore, by their fruits, you will know them.

Eric: 8:25

And by putting by reading that Paul, you know he also said that in Acts 20, which you just said, and the same thing that Jesus said in this passage, people would try to lead souls away from Christ or from the truth. That is why it's so important for us to read, to study and to know God's word teach, and what God's Word teaches. If we don't know God's word, it is very easy for others to teach us something that is not true or contrary to what God's word says. We should also or we should want to be on the straight and narrow path that Jesus is talking about, so that we can get to heaven and avoid being cast out like those that was mentioned in Matthew chapter seven, verse 23. Remember, they were serious people. They were meaning people who thought they were doing good in the eyes of God. Everything you hear someone say about God's word should be verified in the Bible, just like the Bereans did in in Acts, chapter 17, verse 11, when what Paul was teaching at Thessalonica. You know those Bereans that was in Thessalonica, they were very noble, and they searched the Scriptures to see if those things that Paul was teaching was so and that's what we ought to do as well. One of the big problems is that most people teach error by God's words, actually using scripture, but they misuse it. We cannot simply pick out the ones or the few scriptures and establish what God wants. We have to ensure that any scripture we use is in contact with the whole scripture. An example is when we read in John 3, 16 and they say, See, a lot of folks says that all we need to do is believe in Jesus and we shall be saved. Believing is the beginning once we have heard the gospel or the good news, but we find that God word also says that we need to confess that Jesus is the Son of God in Matthew chapter 10, verses 32 and 33, and in Romans, chapter 10, verses nine and 10. We need to repent of our sins in Luke chapter 13, verse three and verse five and Acts chapter 17, verse 30. And we have to be baptized, Mark 16, 16, and Acts 2, 38. We have covered and read those scriptures before, and you can review them whenever you get a chance or opportunity to do that. What we are trying to get across to you is that we cannot simply put, pull out one or two scriptures without concerning the overall teaching of God's Word. Another common passage taken out of context is Matthew, chapter 8, 18, verses 20, where it says, For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. Many people use this scripture to justify not being part of the body or the church of Christ. They stay away from the Lord's church. They stay home, go fishing or hunting or do other things they enjoy doing, or the things that are more convenient than assembling with the saints of God's church. Remember, we saw that when a person has believed, repented, confessed Christ and been baptized. Christ added them to the church, His church. When we read the examples in Acts of the church, we see that they continued steadfast in apostles, doctrine and fellowship, in breaking the bread and in prayers. That's in Acts. Chapter two, verses 42. The church we have read is the body of Christ, the kingdom of Christ. If we stay away from the assembly of the saints, we cannot fellowship with the church, nor can we participate in the Lord's Supper that is breaking the bread with the church. There are many more passages we could look at that are taken out of context and use many to pervert the truth of God's Word.

Arnie: 12:49

So all of us on on this program have obeyed the gospel and are members of the Church of Christ, because those who are members teach that we must follow God's word, and only God's Word. We have to rightly divide God's word, as the Bible says, And and use it correctly. And we must ensure that what others teach about God's word is actually true. We do that by reading, studying, confirming what we hear. Yes, it's a good bit of work to do this, but there are many people who are teaching error. I think that many of those teaching error are doing so, perhaps with good intentions, just like those we read about in Matthew chapter seven, beginning in verse 21 and down to verse 23. Proverbs, Chapter 14, verse 12, said, There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's the end, but its end is the way of death. This lets us know that people often think of ways to please and follow God, but those ways are not always the ways of God. It is extremely important that we actually follow what God's Word says. So far, we've presented some basic information to be able to determine the church that belongs to Christ. Does it wear his name? Was it established in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost? Is it set up like He specified? Are its members saved in the manner His Word teaches? Does it worship as directed in His scriptures? If we find that any of these things are different from what's presented in the scriptures, then we know, it's not the church that belongs to Christ. The term Church of Christ is actually a designation of ownership, more than a name or title for the church. In our society today, with all the denominations, we need that first identifier of Christ's Church, and that's the name that we see. If a church has Church of Christ on the building, or you hear that its members are referring to it as a church of Christ, then that's the first step in identifying whether that's what it really is. To further identify that body as a true Church of Christ, we need to ensure that it is set up as the scriptures say, that it worships God as the scriptures say, that it teaches the truth about how a person is saved, and other facts that we've discussed. In future lessons, we want to look at other things that are unique to the teachings of God's Word and different from many or most denominations. We hope you'll be with us again as we study.

Glenn: 16:24

Well, we're going to move into a new lesson now, and we'll cover a few more things. We've just covered the idea that we cannot depend on our own understanding or our own ideas or just do things the way we want to do them. We are sure that at this point, you are beginning to realize that we are teaching that God has provided us with an organization, the church, for us to be associated with and to worship Him through. We imagine that most of you have had some association with different organizations. Maybe you have worked for different organizations or companies or even individuals. Each one of those may have had some different rules to follow in the conduct of their business. In the conduct of our work, we must follow the rules and guidelines of the person or company that we work for at the time. We cannot simply import the rules or and the guidelines from one company or or organization to another without approval. It is the same with the church. We are discussing the church that Jesus built. Therefore we are obligated to look at the guidelines that Jesus set forth for His church in order to be members of it and to do the work in it and to worship in it. It is God's Word, the Bible, that gives us those rules, guidelines, pattern that we are to follow. We cannot just make up our own rules, guidelines and patterns. What people will have done is try to make us think that God has not given us the pattern, that we are free, and we are free to establish the pattern ourselves. Of course, no one will actually say that, but the actions speak for themselves. So let's talk about Rightly dividing God's word.

Fred Gosnell: 18:20

Well, and that is said by Paul in Second Timothy 2, 15 where he wrote to Timothy, young, young evangelist, he says, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly divided the word of truth. So we mentioned this in the last lesson, and it's very important that we follow the teaching presented in this one little verse. To understand the Bible, we must understand that there are separate parts of it, and those parts apply, for the most part, to different people. So we're going to look at the divisions or the different parts of the Bible so that we can rightly divide them and apply them correctly. Many people take the Bible and use it in this manner. They will reach for their Bible, open it to a random page, put their finger on a passage, read it and say or think that that is the message for them on that day. Of course, every now and then, that may be okay, but most of the time, it's not sufficient. Books of the Bible were written to different groups of people at different times in the history. So for us to open an Old Testament book and read it, we need to understand the time period which it was being written, the circumstances in which it was being written. In the Psalms and Proverbs, we read a lot of general principles about loving, following and obeying God, and those are timeless in their in their applicability. Another example of a timeless principle we learn in the Ecclesiastes 12, 13, and 14. There Solomon writes and says, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God and keep His commandments for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. So this passage has no time limit or special group. It is applicable to people of all times. Should respect God. Fear him, respect him, revere him, and obey His commands, because we know that we will be judged on the things we do, both good and both bad.

Eric: 20:27

You know, the Old Testament contains four primary classifications, the law, history, poetry and prophecy. The first five books of the Bible are classified as books of the law Moses, because they contain the law given to Moses by God. Of course, the first two books, Genesis and Exodus, also are history even more than they are law. But it was during the time in Exodus that the law was given to Moses. This is the section we find many of the compelling storylines of the Bible, such as the creation, the fall of man into sin, the first murder, the great flood, the account of the Tower of Babel and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. We learn many great truths from these two books, and we particularly learn the nature and mind of God to a great degree. Of course, Exodus is an account of the Israelites while enslaved in Egypt and their journey out of the country to reach the promised land, which is Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham many years before. The next three books, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, deal specifically with Israel and the law that was given to them. We cannot put ourselves in those shoes and use the scriptures there to guide us specifically. Of course, there are many moral issues we learn about, and many of those still apply to us today. The books of history, beginning with Joshua, and includes Judges, Ruth, first and second Samuel, first and second, Kings, First and Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and Job. Job is also listed in the book of poetry. These books give account of many people, of many of the people who lived, served and rebelled against God. There are six poetical books. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon and Lamentations. The last 16 books of the Old Testament are classified as prophecy, and they are divided between the major prophets and the minor prophets. The major prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The Minor Prophets are Hosea Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai Zechariah and Malachi. There are 39 books in the Old Testament, and it is important that we know and understand the separation and classification of these books in order to rightly divide them and use them correctly.

Arnie: 23:32

Of course, the New Testament is the information from God concerning His Son's life, His death, His burial, His resurrection from the dead, as well as the information given about the early church, the letters written to individuals and churches in different areas of the world at the time. There are 27 books In the New Testament. They are divided the following way, the Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and they contain the period of time from just prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, through His death, His burial and His resurrection. The book of Acts, gives the number, gives the account of the early church, the church that Jesus had established, and gives examples of people obeying Jesus commands for salvation. The next 21 books are letters written to the churches and individuals in various areas, and most of these were written by Paul. Yet other authors are James, the brother of Jesus, Peter and John The one other book in the New Testament is a book of prophecy, called Revelation, written to the church in the first century about things that would soon come to pass. Within all of that, there are three primary dispensations or periods of time that are covered. The Patriarchal age is the time period from Adam until the law was given to Moses and the Israelites. God spoke to the heads of families who were patriarchs directly. An example is when God spoke to Noah and told him to build an ark in Genesis, chapter six and verses 13 to 22 Another example is when God told Abraham to make preparations to slay his son Isaac in Genesis 22. During this time, they didn't have a written system of religion, but It was God speaking directly to these heads of families who were also known as patriarchs. In actuality, this system continued up until Christ died and the church was established. But after Moses received the law, the patriarchal dispensation or period only applied to the Gentiles. The period from Adam through the giving of the Law of Moses was about 2500 years

Glenn: 26:31

Well, beginning with God giving Moses the 10 Commandments, the law of Moses came into effect and was applicable to the Israelites all the way up until Christ had died, been buried and was resurrected. That's just after the church began. This period also may be referred to as a Jewish dispensation. The law given to Moses was specifically given to the Israelites, or Jews, for their government, their relations with other nations, and their religious worship. It was a first. It was first written. It was the first written form of religion. The law, or the law of Moses, had had purpose, but that purpose is not what most of the denominations would teach about. Galatians, five or three, five through 29, now it's a long passage, gives a great summary of the purpose of the old law, that's the law of Moses. Therefore He who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God and was accounted to him for righteousness, therefore know that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham and the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you, all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham, For as many are as of of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, For the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them, shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ, Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak in the manner of men, though it is only a man's covenant, yet it yet, if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he does not say and to seeds as of many, but as one, and to your seed, who is Christ. And this that was, that was confirmed before God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. What purpose then does the law serve? It was added, because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was appointed through the angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for only one only, but God is one. Is the. Law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life truly righteous, righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus, Christ, Jesus might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for faith which we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many as you were baptized into Christ Jesus have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female. For you all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs, according to the promise. Next week, we'll have to talk, talk about that, but, and we may have to read it again, but there's a lot in that passage that summarized this, this thing we're talking about.