Is the church preaching the Bible Today?
As I look around, I see and hear a lot of preaching and teaching in the church today. It seems that many ministers realize that even though a person who is saved may have God in their heart; they still have problems in their lives. Many times these problems are very serious. Some people are crying out, “God please help me”. I hope to share with you in this teaching the answer to all of these prayers.
First, let us go back to the beginning. When God created this world He created it to be perfect in every way. God did not intend for man to bear all of the pain and heartache that we face today. This world was a paradise and man was at peace with God. But, when Satan temped Eve, she failed and then Adam failed. They opened the door for sin to come into the world. But because of God’s great love for man, He did not forsake him.
God begins to reach out to fallen man by letting him come back to Him; only now man would have to offer a sacrifice in the form of an animal, such as a lamb. The Bible clearly says “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin”. The Bible goes into great detail of all that had to take place for the animal to be offered up as a sacrifice. But even with all of this, the great debt that man owed to God for allowing sin into the world was never paid in full. The blood of animals could never take away sin.
Then, God sent His only begotten Son “Jesus” into this world to teach us about a better way and to offer himself up as a sacrifice on the cross. He shed His blood for us that we may be able to come back to God and be in right relationship with Him. We see this in the gospel of John chapter 3:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now here is the problem that lies at hand. While it is true that Jesus has paid the debt for our sins, as long as we are living in this fleshly body we are going to face opposition from the enemy. We must understand it is our spirit that is born again but our flesh is still the same as it was before salvation. Therefore, we find that we have a battle on our hands because our heart has been changed but our flesh has not. The Bible said it like this:
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
When people get saved, many times they get the idea that all of their problems are over. But the truth of the matter is when a person comes to Jesus Christ, Satan is going to attack them in any way that he can. Satan knows our weak points and he knows how to hit us when we are at the weakest point. Unless we know where to put our faith, we will find ourselves giving in to Satan, even though we know better. Here is where the Church is going wrong. We are trying to teach people how to overcome sin, but the means and techniques that we are using are all wrong. There is only one sacrifice for sin and only one way to overcome sin.
When Jesus died on the cross, He broke the power of sin that is over our lives. When we come to Christ and our spirit is made new we have access to the Holy Spirit. We can put our trust in what Christ has done for us on the cross. Most Christians think that they know how to do this but, in reality they don’t. Let us view this situation.
Many people think that doing Godly things means that you are putting your trust in God, like when we read and study the Bible, spend time in prayer, witness to people and go to church. Some people think that this is the way we overcome sin. Well these things are certainly good Christian things to do and every Christian should do and practice these things. But, when we do these things with the idea in our minds that this is how we overcome sin, then we turn these things into works and in that sense we are going back to the Law; Not the law of grace, but the law of works. In reality, you are trying to earn your way to God and God will not accept anything other than grace. The only grace that God will accept is the grace that He gave through His son Jesus. Now don’t misunderstand, again I am in no way trying to say that we should not read the Bible or pray. If we love God we should do these things.
So then how do we overcome sin? We do this by simply putting our trust in Jesus, and His sacrificial death upon the cross. It is not enough to believe in a healing Jesus, or a prosperity Jesus, or a miracle Jesus, or even a historical Jesus. These are the ones that are being preached in church today. We are warned in the Holy Word of God not to accept any other gospel except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You see, there are many man made doctrines in the church today that do not come from the Bible. One of these doctrines teach that any born again man could have died for sins, which is not true. In the Old Testament we are told that when a lamb was offered to the Lord it had to be without spot or blemish. We can see this in the book of Numbers.
Num 19:2 This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring
thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.
There is not a person dead or alive who without sin other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When people make statements like, “any born again Christian could die for us”, they are not using their head, because in order for a person to be born again there has to be a sacrifice for his own sins. And the blood of animals cannot take away sins. Another point that I want to bring out is that when Christ died, He was, and forever will be the son of God. The reason that I wanted to bring this out is that many in the church are saying that “Jesus became a sinner on the cross. When He died, He went to hell and He was born again in hell.” This is totally wrong and to be blunt with you it is blaspheming. Yes, Jesus died. Yes, He took our sins and yes, He went to paradise but, He was, and will always be the Son of God. There never was a time when Jesus was not God’s Son.
A few years ago there was a movie came out entitled, “THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST”, which was put out by Mel Gibson. I will give Mr. Gibson credit for trying to portray the last few days that Jesus was here on the earth. Without a doubt, he did go further than anyone has ever gone to show how awful Christ was treated. On the other hand, I want to explain where Mel Gibson is wrong. First, in an interview on national television I heard him talk about how that he claimed that he was from a Catholic background. When he was asked if he believed that you have to be “saved” to be “born again”, Gibson said he didn’t. Yet the church went crazy over this movie. Gibson was in reality saying that you don’t need to become a Christian to go to heaven but, Jesus said in John Chapter 14:
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Even in the Old Testament there had to be a mediator between God and man, which was the high priest. But now, Jesus is our high priest. Additionally, Gibson said that he actually felt the pain that Christ felt. While it may be true that they could have gone through some of the steps that the Bible spoke of, there is no possible way for any man to know how Jesus Christ felt when He gave His life on the cross. You see, Jesus was perfect in all His ways. He had no sin in His life and in order for someone to know what Christ went through, a man must live his whole life without sin. Mel Gibson may have felt the physical pain like Jesus felt but, when Jesus died He was God’s son. He had never been without His Father and when He died He took our sins on himself. The Bible said it like this:
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Jesus was the only one that could have paid this price for our sins.
Another problem that we are facing in the church is the false teaching on prosperity. Many are going so far as to teach that Jesus was a wealthy man here on the earth. There is no doubt that He had and does have the riches of glory. But while He was on the earth He made this statement:
Mat 8:20 And Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath no where to lay his head.
Also we see that when He was born He was not born in a home that had great riches. In fact, the night Jesus was born His earthly parents were in a stable for animals to stay in. History tells us that it could have been a cave, for caves were used back then for stables. Now, I am not by any means trying to say that it is a sin to have money. But more and more, I am hearing the church preach that prosperity is the way to be blessed by God. I am seeing the gospel of salvation being replaced with the gospel of prosperity, which is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, God wants to supply our need. Yes, He wants to bless us. But if we are not saved, what good is being blessed? Jesus said it best when He said:
Mar 8:35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
Mar 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Mar 8:37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
The main problem we have in all of these things is the cross is not being proclaimed. You can shout as loud as you can, you can speak in tongues till you are blue in the face, and you can pray till you are worn out. These things are real and they are of God; but until we put our trust in what Jesus has done for us on the cross, you will not be able to overcome any sin in your life. Yes, the Holy Ghost is real. Speaking in tongues is real, but the Holy Ghost will not work outside of the cross. In other words, anything and everything that we receive comes by and through the cross. Many people think that once you are saved you can leave the cross behind and go on to greater things. But the truth is, we must embrace the cross for the rest of our lives.
Let us look at Romans 7 for a moment:
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
A lot of Christians who read this think that the Apostle Paul is just trying to warn people not to commit adultery. Well, while he is telling the truth about the woman and man, he is using this as a metaphor. A metaphor is telling one story as an example to help you to understand something else. Here he is using the example of a woman getting a divorce and marring another man which causes her to commit adultery. This was the example.
Now here is the point he was trying to get across in this text: Once we are saved from our sins by God’s glorious grace through Jesus Christ, and we begin to put our trust in other things to help us live for God, it is as if we are committing spiritual adultery. In other words, when we put our trust in other things, even though they maybe good, godly things that each and every one of us should do, we are putting our trust in the doing of the things, not in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
I will close by saying that when we stand before God, we will all be judged by God. Now what will He judge us by, you may ask? He will judge us by His law. Even the people in the Old Testament could not fully live up to the law because the blood of sheep and goats could not take away sin. Only the blood of Jesus can do this. The Law of God was, and is perfect still. But, the only way that we can be true to God is to accept Jesus Christ into our heart and life.
In Jesus Christ our Lord
Evangelist Benjamin Baumgardt
