Friday, May 15, 2009

What is faith? What is belief?

Faith toward Christ gets beyond just simple belief. As men are called to faith through Calvary the acceptance of Christ is an initial act of the believer that follows the process of repentance. After man believes, faith is thus carried out through a life of subjection to God in mind, will, and body. A child of God obeys and walks in a consciousness to the presence of God by faith. Saving faith will demand obedience and accountability to God.
Through Revelation from the Spirit of God mans conscience is enlightened to a need of the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin. Through enlightenment the Holy Spirit makes man willing to accept the person of Christ. When man accepts the death of Christ for the forgiveness of sins the natural desire to continue in sin is changed. A new desire of holiness is ministered to the human soul by the work Holy Spirit. The faith of man and Divine Grace work hand in hand together in the realm of Gods Salvation and Holiness thus developing a Christ centered life.

In effort to more clearly define Faith and Grace I’d like to call you attention to two great men of God that are dead and gone on to be with the Lord now. They left a great impact on this writers life concerning mans faith and God’s Divine Grace. In 1989 and hungry for the knowledge of God I remember asking Brother Lindsey a great teacher of Faith and Holiness if he could recommend any books or writers on the subject of the holy heart and right living. I knew Hubert personally and outside of the Bible he was always leery to endorse or recommend any man’s writings. One day to my surprise Hubert mentioned a book called, “Binney’s Theological Compend Improved”. I purchased this rare 1904 publication from a used bookstore and reviewed it. Its broad and descriptive content became a treasure to me as a writer and minister of God’s Word. Amos Binney expounded on many Biblical subjects with great depth. His exposition on faith held my attention to the highest degree. Still to this day Brother Binney’s exposition on faith put far more depth on the subject of faith than this writer could ever offer. Here’s an excerpt from brother Binney’s Theological Compend and his description of faith.

The acts of faith are three. They are distinct, yet concurrent exercises of the mind.

1. The assent of the understanding to the truth of God in the Gospel, especially that part of it which relates to the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin. (surrender)
2. The consent of the will and of the affections to this plan of salvation; such an approbation and choice of it as implies a renunciation of every other refuge. (consent of human will)(forsaking sin)
3. From this assent of the enlightened understanding, and the consent of the rectified will, the result is actual trust in the Saviour, and personal approbation of its merits. This must necessarily be preceded by true repentance.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Creation, the Fall of Adam, and re-creation of the holiness of man…

· Gen 1:26…And God said, Let us make man in our image

God the creator of all things perfect in love and holiness created man in His own image. At creation in the Garden of Eden man was created morally and eternally perfect to live a contented life in the presence of God. Adam, the first man and head of the human race was created with a divine nature in the image of God. In the beginning Adam lived in subjection to the Creator through obedience and holiness of heart given by God at creation. Human guilt and shame did not exist in the conscience of man because there was no violation to the Divine law of the Creator. Adam was created with a free will and had liberty to choose right from wrong. As a like figure of Christ, Adam reflected the morality of the entire human family and was created without a sinful nature. Adam knew God; recognized God; and was instructed by God not to disobey the command of eating from the forbidden tree. When Adam violated the Law of God, sin and death came into existence and tainted humanity that followed.

Before the fall of man and before death entered the human family, mans eternal state of being was perfect in love, holiness, and obedience of conduct in the presence of God. God intended for man to be without shame, innocent, and in perfect communion with Him as Creator. Adam and Eve became violators of Divine Law and broke communion with God through disobedience to His commandment. From this original sin consciousness of guilt and shame seeped into the human family through the acts of sin. Disobedience to God tainted Adam and Eve as well as the entire human family from generation to generation. The result of this original sin ushered in the effects of God’s curse upon the earth, upon the serpent that tempted Eve, and upon the seed of man in the form of a carnal heart and depraved nature. Unlike Adam who was created with a free will, all men born after the fall were polluted with a sinful nature. Carnality from birth now affects the way man thinks, chooses, and decides. The will of man is no longer free, but enslaved from birth to an inherited depraved nature.

Since the fall of man, the root of sin has polluted the human heart and led man away from any way of regaining a harmonious relationship with God like Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden. That type of harmony could never be found or achieved by anyone outside of the imputed righteousness of God through mans belief in Christ. The first promise made by God was given to the Serpent after Eve yielded to temptation in Genesis 3:15, 16. This prophetic utterance was recorded by Moses and contains both the root of sin in humanity and the magnitude of how man could be delivered from sin through the promised power of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Man’s only way to regain right standing with God, was to exercise faith in God as Abel did. Abel reflected right standing with God by faith in God. Cain reflected a man out of harmony with God and murdered his brother Abel. Cain had no previous example of murder and was the first biblical example of unregenerate man after the fall.

What Adam lost pertaining to the moral character of man can be re-created by God’s Grace and Mercy through the redemptive power of Christ. A sinful man can be forgiven by God through trusting in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross. A forgiven man can be delivered from a sinful nature by faith in the power of a resurrected and Living Christ. Either or both these experiences are the effects of God’s restoration to the soul of man concerning what Adam lost at the fall. Adam lost a Divine nature which took man out of harmony with God, but Christ can re-create it! The re-creating work of Christ in the new birth and the renewal that comes from the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer work hand in hand in restoring man to the image of God. The holy heart and holy conduct of man before the fall was the plan of God at creation. The re-created holy heart and holy conduct of a believer since the fall is the plan of God in the church, the body of Christ. Faith in the person of Christ is what provides this miraculous re-creation to anyone that trusts Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins!

· Eph 2:10…For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
· 2 Cor 5:17…Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Part two from last Wed...Why the doctrine of “Entire Sanctification” was deviated from...and the doctrine of Water Baptism was accepted

Here are nine historical reasons (not scriptural) that indicate “why, how, and when” the blessing of Entire Sanctification was set aside and Water Baptism “birthed and gained” popularity after the First century Church.

1. The late 1st-century/early-second century Epistle of Barnabas (possibly written by the Apostle) contains the following description of Christian baptism: "...we indeed descend into the water full of sins and defilement, but come up, bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear [of God] and trust in Jesus in our spirit..." (Epistle of Barnabas)

2. The Shepherd of Hermas, a popular book in the 2nd and 3rd century Eastern Church, describes the meaning of baptism as follows: "...before a man bears the name of the Son of God he is dead; but when he receives the seal he lays aside his deadness, and obtains life. The seal, then, is the water: they descend into the water dead, and they arise alive." (Shepherd of Hermas - Similitude IX, Chapter 16)

3. The c. 3rd-century "Constitutions of the Holy Apostles" discusses the seriousness of baptism and the potential consequences if a Christian continues to sin after being initiated into the faith through baptism: "Beloved, be it known to you that those who are baptized into the death of our Lord Jesus are obliged to go on no longer in sin; for as those who are dead cannot work wickedness any longer, so those who are dead with Christ cannot practice wickedness. We do not therefore believe, brethren, that any one who has received the washing of life continues in the practice of the licentious acts of transgressors. Now he who sins after his baptism, unless he repent and forsake his sins, shall be condemned to hell-fire." ("Constitutions of the Holy Apostles", Book 2, Section 3)

4. Events prior to a pre-Nicene baptism typically included a two to three year period of instruction into the Christian faith, and a period of fasting prior to the baptism. "But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whatever others can; but thou shalt order the baptized to fast one or two days before." (“Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”, Chapt. 7)

5. Baptisms were generally performed by church officials (bishops, presbyters, etc.) often in the period preceding Easter, or the period between Easter and Pentecost. The baptism itself included both an anointing with oil and/or ointment, as well as the dipping or immersion in water: "Thou therefore, O bishop, according to that type, shalt anoint the head of those that are to be baptized, whether they be men or women, with the holy oil, for a type of the spiritual baptism. After that, either thou, O bishop, or a presbyter that is under thee, shall in the solemn form name over them the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, and shall dip them in the water; and let a deacon receive the man, and a deaconess the woman, that so the conferring of this inviolable seal may take place with a becoming decency. And after that, let the bishop anoint those that are baptized with ointment." ("Constitutions of the Holy Apostles", Book 3, Section 16/17)

6. The meaning of the tri-part baptism (oil, water, ointment) is discussed: "But thou shalt beforehand anoint the person with the holy oil, and afterward baptize him with the water, and in the conclusion shall seal him with the ointment; that the anointing with oil may be the participation of the Holy Spirit, and the water the symbol of the death of Christ, and the ointment the seal of the covenants." ("Constitutions of the Holy Apostles", Book 7, Chapter 22)

7. The Constitutions describe the meaning of the immersion and rising up out of the water: "This baptism, therefore, is given into the death of Jesus: the water is instead of the burial...the descent into the water the dying together with Christ; the ascent out of the water the rising again with Him.” ("Constitutions of the Holy Apostles", Book 3, Section 16/17)

8. In a passage from Hippolytus (c. 215 A.D.), it appears that whole families might have been baptized together, including their children. Hippolytus also seems to infer that full immersion is not a requirement for baptism: "Where there is no scarcity of water the stream shall flow through the baptismal font or pour into it from above; but if water is scarce, whether on a constant condition or on occasion, then use whatever water is available. Let them remove their clothing. Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them." (Hippolytus, "The Apostolic Tradition", 21:15).

9. Hippolytus also preserves an early baptismal creed in his writings. Similarities to the Apostles Creed are to be expected, as the Apostles Creed probably started out as a baptismal creed: “When the person being baptized goes down into the water, he who baptizes him, putting his hand on him, shall say: ‘Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?’ And the person being baptized shall say: ‘I believe.’ Then holding his hand on his head, he shall baptize him once. And then he shall say: ‘Do you believe in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and was crucified inder Pontius Pilate, and was dead and buried, and rose again the third day, alive from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and sat at the right hand of the Father, and will come to judge the living and the dead?’ And when he says: ‘I believe,’ he is baptized again. And again he shall say: ‘Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, in the holy church, and the resurrection of the body?’ The person being baptized shall say: ‘I believe,’ and then he is baptized a third time.” (“Creeds Of The Church”, Ages Software, P. 7)

For part one of this teaching go to the following link...
http://churchesontrial.blogspot.com/2009/04/why-doctrine-of-entire-sanctification.html

Monday, May 11, 2009

Healing in Redemption (audio#3...of 6) ...Brother Hubert Lindsey

This audio on Divine Healing by Brother Lindsey is the third of a six audio recordings. The Lord has placed an urgency on my heart to re-publish these audios that were originally recorded in the mid 1980's. This urgency stems from man's need for the power of a Living Christ the delivers from sin, restores from the curse of the Fall, and heals the physical body of the sick and afflicted. It is necessary for all of Brother Lindsey's audios to be re-publicized for teaching the Bible, edification reasons, and building up people in the faith. By the Grace of God this project... will be done for the Glory of Christ.