Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 3-4
#churchleadership #faith #jesus #jesuschrist #Messiah #salvation
https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/moral-matters/contend-for-the-faith/
#churchleadership #faith #jesus #jesuschrist #Messiah #salvation
https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/moral-matters/contend-for-the-faith/
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00well good morning friends welcome again to the bridge well the theme this morning is to contend
00:13earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints we're much aware that we live in a time
00:21when there are many different ideas being pushed some in the name of christianity
00:25some not christian but all of them are taking away or adding to the faith which we once received
00:32through the apostles and that's the subject we're going to look at today let's just have a word of
00:36prayer as we consider this subject lord we pray that you help us all to understand what is the
00:41faith that you have delivered to us and how to defend it and how to stand for you in these days
00:46when there's so much that is contrary to you we live in a time when there's a whole lot of things
00:52happening which are contrary to the word of god and as you know i believe we're living in the last
00:58days bible says these things are going to increase you're going to see increased signs of falling away
01:04from the truth in the proposed in the body of christ you're going to see increased lawlessness
01:10and wickedness in the world and you're going to increase concentration on events taking place
01:16in israel in the middle east which are leading to the second coming of jesus so we're going to look
01:22today at the subject of contending to the faith and we read the verse from the book of jude
01:27the editor of jude verses three and four
01:30last letter for revelation and in jude chapter jude verse three we read beloved while i was very
01:42diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation i found it necessary to write to you
01:47exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints
01:54for certain men have crept in unnoticed too long ago were marked out for this condemnation
01:59ungodly men who turn the grace of god into lewdness and deny the only lord god and our lord jesus christ
02:06so he's talking about the faith that was once delivered by the apostles and prophets of jesus
02:12in that generation in which the new testament was written and what i want to emphasize here is the word
02:20once once the new testament doctrines were written they were established and they're not going to be
02:28changed what happened in the days of the apostles was completed and the apostles are in the sense of new
02:35testament apostles were those who had met with jesus and therefore have authority from him to set the
02:42foundations for the faith and jude is warning that there's going to be false teachers are going to come
02:47in and try to distort this going to add to it they're going to take away from it and the word once here used
02:53here and elsewhere particularly in the book of hebrews shows that what has happened once in the person of
02:59jesus christ is the fulfillment of everything the work has been completed there's nothing can be added to
03:05it nothing can be taken away from it it all centers around the once and for all sacrifice of the lord
03:11jesus and his death and resurrection comes out also in the book of hebrews hebrews chapter 9 verse 26
03:18where again you can see the repetition of the word once now once at the end of the ages he has appeared
03:25to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and as it is appointed unto men to die once but after this
03:31the judgment so christ was offered once to bear the sins of many to those who eagerly wait for him
03:37he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation so the emphasis on the word once shows us
03:45that this has now happened once and for all and nothing can be added to it at the cross jesus finished the
03:52work of redemption remember the last word of jesus in john's gospel from the cross was it is finished
03:58which he meant that the work of redemption was finished he completed the work which the father
04:02had sent him to do when he died on the cross when he took the punishment for our sins he had completed
04:07the work of redemption are going to be placed in the tomb and rise again from the dead
04:13as i said nothing can be added to that nothing can be taken away from it you may hear that phrase a few
04:20times in this talk but it's important does say that he'll come a second time to judge the world in the
04:26light of how we've responded to the message of the gospel but the message itself is not to be changed
04:32and the point part about the apostles is that the apostles witnessed what happened and they passed on
04:40the message and the word apostle is actually used in two different ways but the one i want to
04:45concentrate on here is the apostles as those who have seen jesus before and after his resurrection
04:50and they had the privilege of being directly taught by the lord and they knew from personal
04:57encounter with jesus the principles concerning the kingdom of god and we see many passages in the
05:04gospels which tell us about the teaching of the lord perhaps one of the most well-known is matthew 5
05:12the matthew 5 to 7 the sermon on the mount which we read how jesus seeing the multitudes went up on the
05:20mountain and when he was seated the disciples came to him then he opened his mouth and taught them
05:25saying blessed are the poor in spirit theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed those who mourn for
05:30they should be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth and so it goes on in
05:35the sermon on the mount with the parables and also the teaching which jesus gave of the kingdom of god
05:41so the generation which was there which saw jesus which heard him teaching and which was there to
05:46receive his word and particularly the 12 disciples who were set aside to have time with jesus to be
05:52taught by him the principles concerning the kingdom of god and even after his resurrection we find that
05:59he was still teaching the disciples from the word of god there's a passage in the book of luke when jesus
06:05appears in his resurrected form to the disciples and he says to them in luke chapter 24 and verse 44
06:13then he said to them these are the words which i spoke to you while i was still with you
06:17that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of moses and the prophets and
06:22the psalms concerning me and he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the
06:26scriptures then he said to them thus it is written thus it was necessary for the messiah the christ to
06:32suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be
06:39preached in his name to all nations beginning in jerusalem and you are witnesses of these things
06:44behold i send the promise of my father upon you but tarry in the city of jerusalem until you're endued
06:50with power from on high a lot of very significant things in that passage there you see that jesus
06:56appears to the disciples and he teaches them the things which were fulfilled in him at the cross
07:02which were written in the law of moses and the prophets and the psalms concerning me
07:07if you know the significance of those verses it means that jesus fulfilled what was written in the
07:13three divisions of the hebrew bible known as the tanakh the torah the law the nevi'im the writings
07:20the prophets and the chetuvim the writings so he's saying authenticating there the hebrew scriptures as
07:26well as being part of the what has been passed on to us which is the word of god but also that in
07:32this word of god there are things which concern jesus the messiah in the hebrew scriptures and
07:38he's saying that what they're telling you that it was necessary for the messiah to suffer to die
07:42and to rise from the dead on the third day and in the light of this you are to go out and to preach
07:47the gospel into all the world and to receive the power of the holy spirit and to tell people this
07:54message that jesus is the messiah who died and rose from the dead but also that jesus authenticates the
08:00word of god he authenticates the old testament scriptures and he authenticates the fact that he
08:04is the messiah who's fulfilled all of these things and the disciples have the privilege of being the
08:09eyewitnesses they were there to hear this been pretty good to have a bible study with jesus wouldn't
08:14it well we don't have that privilege but they did and they were able to hear firsthand from the lord
08:20himself how his death his resurrection connected to the hebrew scriptures which had already been given
08:25to god's people and we find that after the resurrection he continued to teach them in luke
08:32in the exocosals chapter one it says the former account i made of theophilus of all that jesus began
08:39both to do and teach until the day he was taken up after he through the holy spirit had given
08:44commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen to whom he presented himself alive after his suffering by
08:49many infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining
08:55to the kingdom of god okay and this contains another important point that it says that he
09:00appeared to them after his suffering by many infallible proofs so the evidence wasn't just a story they
09:07made up they saw and met with the risen lord and he continued to teach them things concerning the
09:14kingdom of god and so we have this question about the apostles so who are the apostles now the apostles
09:22in this sense are those who've been chosen by the lord who presented himself alive to them after his
09:28suffering and gave them this revelation which they then put into the scriptures and the teaching of the
09:36early church we find also that not only did he give them this personal word what he was with them but
09:43he said that after his resurrection he would continue to teach them through the holy spirit
09:48in john chapter 14 his last word to the disciples before he goes to the cross jesus says to them
09:55i will pray the father he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever the spirit of
10:01truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he
10:06dwells with you and will be in you i will not leave you orphans i will come to you and then in verse 16
10:14chapter 16 and verse 13 i still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now however
10:21when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth we will not speak on his own
10:26authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come he will glorify me
10:32we will take of what is mine and declare it to you all things that the father has are mine
10:37therefore i said that he will take of mine and declare it to you now we can take those verses
10:43as applying to us as well that god's going to send the holy spirit who will teach us all things but they
10:47have a particular message here to the disciples that he's going to continue to teach them and to be
10:52with them and to guide them into all truth by the work of the holy spirit he's not going to leave them
10:57alone he's going to come to them and abide with them and so we have this promise that he's going to
11:03continue to teach his disciples following his resurrection following his ascension to heaven
11:08and he's going to give them the spirit of truth the holy spirit which is going to lead them into all
11:13truth so you take all those scriptures together you have some special privileges which were given
11:21to the apostles of the lord jesus and as a result of this they had the qualification to fix the doctrine
11:27of the church which was to come out of the their witness to him because they'd been personally taught
11:35by the lord jesus himself in the first book of acts you have a situation where judas one of the twelve
11:43has fallen he's betrayed the lord he's hung himself so he's no longer an apostle and there's a meeting
11:50which they decide they have to appoint another apostle you can decide whether they use the right method
11:55because they chose lots but that's what happened in the scriptures but what's important just to read
12:00this scripture is that it gives you the qualification for who is given this apostolic authority
12:06acts 1 verse 21 therefore of these men who accompanied us all the time that the lord jesus went in and out
12:13among us beginning from the baptism of john to that day when he was taken up from us one of these two
12:18must become a witness with us of his resurrection and they proposed to joseph called barsabbas who was called
12:25justice and uh and surname justice and matthias and they prayed and said you oh lord you know the
12:32hearts of all show which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship
12:38from which judas by transgression fell that he might go to his place they cast their lots and the lot
12:44fell on matthias and he was numbered with this 11 apostles uh leaving aside the question about whether
12:51they should have chosen matthias or whatever the question there is what was the qualification
12:56for being numbered with the apostles those who accompanied us all the time that the lord jesus
13:02went in among us went in and out among us those have been witness with us of the resurrection
13:08in other words the qualification for being an apostle and therefore having the authority
13:12from the lord was that they had been with him before and after his resurrection they had seen him
13:18in the flesh in the time he was before before and they'd seen him in his resurrected body after his
13:25resurrection
13:27and that was the qualification to be an apostle
13:31does leave us with the question about what about paul because paul is numbered with the apostles paul was
13:37not a believer at the time and paul is given a special case kind of dispensation if you like
13:44paul describes himself as being born out of time in other words after the resurrection and the
13:51ascension of the lord and he describes and we described in book of acts chapter 9 his experience
13:59of meeting with the lord on the damascus road
14:02and subsequently and because of that he says that he is qualified to be an apostle
14:111 corinthians chapter 15 i delivered to you first of all that which i also received that christ died
14:19for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried that he rose again the third day according
14:22to the scriptures that he was seen by cephas then by the 12 after that he was seen by over 500 brethren
14:29at once of whom the greater part remained to be present to the present but some have fallen asleep
14:33after that he was seen by james and by all the apostles last of all he was seen by me as by one born out
14:40of due time for i am the least of the apostles who am not worthy to be called an apostle because i
14:45persecuted the church of god but by the grace of god i am what i am and by his grace toward me
14:51was not in vain which i labored more abundantly than they all yet not i but the grace of god which was
14:57given which was with me so paul says his qualification of being numbered with the
15:02apostles was that he'd had a personal encounter with jesus he'd seen jesus and he not only met with
15:07jesus on the damascus road but also afterwards to receive the message which was to be preached
15:13going on in acts chapter 9
15:15reading perhaps chapter 9 he says as he journeyed he came to damascus near damascus and suddenly a light
15:25shone from heaven around him from heaven then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to
15:30him saul saul why are you persecuting me and he said who are you lord then the lord said i am jesus
15:37whom you're persecuting it's hard for you to kick against the goads so he trembling and astonished
15:41said lord what do you want me to do then the lord said arise go into the city and you'll be told
15:46what you must do so he has an encounter with jesus and then he's going to go into damascus
15:52and he's going to be told what he must do god tells a man called ananias to go and to speak to
15:59paul saul of tarsus as he was then and he says ananias is a bit reluctant to do this
16:05verse 14 13 he says lord i've heard from many about this man how much harm he's done to your saints in
16:11jerusalem how his authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name but the lord said
16:17let him go for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before gentiles kings and the children
16:22of israel for i will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake so here we see paul
16:29the lord is saying that saul or paul is going to become it's going to be a chosen vessel to bear his
16:34name before the gentiles the kings and children of israel and he's going to show him how much things
16:40he's going to suffer for his name's sake so saul is chosen he's given the quick cask and
16:46he speaks himself of his own apostleship in verse chapter galatians chapter 1 verse 11 to 12
16:54where he says i make known to you brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according
16:58to man and neither received it from man nor was i taught it but it came through the revelation
17:02of jesus christ so that gives him his qualification to be numbered with the apostles that he had an
17:08encounter with jesus jesus had taught him personally the things which he wanted him to know you could
17:15ask why did jesus call this man saul paul to be an apostle after he'd chosen the 12 i guess he had a
17:23special work for saul to do for paul to do and because of his background as a deeply learned and
17:30committed jewish man who knew the scriptures he would have special revelation in the understanding of
17:36the place of the messiah and because he had a very brilliant mind he'd be able to also order these
17:42things and to teach the church the things which he's taught them as he went around preaching and he
17:48continued to teach us in the word of god in the epistles which he's given to us so you have then the
17:55foundation of the faith and i'm laboring this point because i want to make sure that we understand
17:59what is the faith which was once committed to the saints it came through the apostles so the
18:05foundation of all new testament truth comes through the apostles of jesus who were given direct
18:11instruction from the lord and also had personal encounters with jesus and were eyewitnesses of his
18:17glory to peter chapter 1 verse 16 peter also an apostle he says we did not follow cunningly devised
18:25fables when we made known to the power and coming of our lord jesus christ but were eyewitnesses of his
18:31majesty that is say the word eyewitnesses so they saw it they had revelation by the holy spirit but
18:38they also had understanding for the thing which they had seen and heard from the person of jesus
18:43himself therefore they had authority they had an experience which none of us have had and no one has
18:47had since because that generation has passed away and there's nobody who has received this kind of
18:55revelation because there's nobody who has personally encountered jesus before and after his
18:59resurrection so the foundation of the faith comes from the lord and it comes through those who are
19:07personally present with the lord ephesians chapter 2 tells us that the foundation of new testament truth
19:15is going to be given to the apostles and prophets and the message is given to the true church that
19:22receives this message ephesians 2 verse 19 says now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners
19:29but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of god having been built on the
19:35foundation of the apostles and prophets jesus christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the
19:41whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the lord in whom you are also being
19:46built together for a dwelling place of god in the spirit that tells you a number of important things as
19:53well what is the purpose of the church the purpose of the church is it should be a dwelling place
19:56of god in the spirit in other words a place where god can dwell by the holy spirit now god can only
20:03dwell by the presence of the holy spirit in a place which is founded upon the message which is given
20:08already through the apostles of jesus and has been written in the word of god which we have today
20:15and because of that we're brought into this message we're brought into this body of the messiah
20:20and of course that the church is not a building it's not an organization it's a body of people
20:25those being called out from the world to join in the faith in jesus the messiah and we have a
20:31tremendous privilege of being part of that but it's had to be built on the foundation of the apostles
20:37and prophets jesus christ himself being the chief cornerstone in other words it's built upon the
20:42foundation which is the apostles of jesus the prophets including the old testament prophets who bear
20:49witness to jesus and the whole building is held together by the lord jesus himself so it's his house
20:56it's his building and the people for whom he's mediated his message are the apostles and prophets who have
21:04given us the word of god which we have today now you do have an alternative list of apostles in
21:11ephesians and the use of the term is also used to speak of those who are sent as missionaries to the church
21:17word apostle actually means a sent one and those who have a prophetic ministry to declare god's truth
21:25through the gifts of the holy spirit which we have in 1 corinthians chapter 12 through to 14
21:29now this ministry may continue during the church age but these are not going to declare a new message
21:37going to declare the message already given by the apostles in the sense of what we've already read
21:44they're not going to add to it not going to add anything new to it they're not going to take
21:48anything away with it and once you have the completion of the new testament the scripture is
21:53complete it's finished there's nothing can be added to it nothing can be taken away from it
21:58and there are no new apostles now in that sense because the generation that saw the lord in the flesh has
22:05passed away there are apostles in the sense of what sent one or a missionary which can be used today but
22:11not an apostle in the new testament sense of one who's seen the lord and whom the authority is
22:16given to establish doctrinal truth in the church therefore with the passing of the new testament
22:22apostles there'll be no new doctrine given to the church can you see the connection there and that's
22:27very important that we understand that so the job of the new testament church now is to continue
22:32in the apostles doctrine acts chapter 2 after the day of pentecost and a great number of people get
22:39saved and believe in the lord jesus peter says to them with many other words he testified and
22:45exhorted to them saying be saved from this perverse generation then those who gladly received his word
22:51were baptized and that day about 3 000 souls were added to them and they continued steadfastly in the
22:56apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers that's a pattern for us to
23:02follow and we can praise god that there are people today nearly 2 000 years later who are continuing
23:08steadfastly in the apostles doctrine fellowship breaking of bread and in prayers what we're
23:14doing today pattern for us to follow to repent believe the gospel be baptized into the body of
23:21christ as believers and continue in the apostles doctrine and prayers doctrine and fellowship
23:28now it's interesting that with the passing of the last apostle who is john
23:33that body of truth is completed interesting the revelation is the last book of the bible
23:39which concludes with these words for i testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of
23:45this book if anyone adds to these things god will add to him the plagues that are written in this book
23:50if anyone takes away from the words of the book of the prophecy god should take away his part from the
23:55book of life from the holy city from the things that are written in this book you could say that
24:01applies to the book of revelation itself but i find it significant that it's the last word in the
24:06scriptures which implies to me that if anyone adds something to the scriptures or takes away from it
24:11they place themselves under god's judgment and god's going to take away from them
24:15either their reward or add to them some kind of punishment which means that the
24:21with the completion of the book of revelation the revelation which is going to come from god which
24:27will fix doctrine is complete okay nothing can be added to it nothing can be taken away from it
24:33so in the light of this there are three things we have to do in particular
24:38one we have to determine what is the apostle's doctrine what is the faith which was once
24:47delivered to the saints and that we should follow pay attention to and accept as given by god
24:53second we have to reject what has been added to or taken away from by subsequent teachings
24:59which may be inside or outside the professing church especially teaching concerning the work
25:05of the lord jesus on the cross and thirdly we will accept fresh revelation on truths already given
25:12which may have been lost by the apostasy of the church that's what happened at the time of the
25:18revelation reformation a whole lot of these truths have been lost because of the apostate church which
25:23developed into what became roman catholicism and therefore god had to raise up people with a
25:30prophetic witness if you like a witness to the lord to bring people back to the word of god bring back to
25:36the idea of justification by faith not by works bring back to the ideas of the true church which is the
25:43body of christ not that apostate body which is headed by the pope and his minions
25:48so these revelations which are new revelations
25:53of truth will always back up what is given in the apostle's doctrine which has once been given
26:02they won't add anything new to it but they will rediscover it if you like
26:07you could say another rediscovery was the doctrine of believer's baptism
26:10which have been largely lost in uh under roman catholicism even under anglicanism and the idea
26:17that you should be baptized not as a infant when you can't accept jesus christ as savior but you
26:23should be baptized as a believer in the lord jesus christ okay so let's have a look at some of the
26:29major aspects of the apostle's doctrine one of the things which are unchanging if you like
26:34but one the existence of god is the creator the redeemer and judge the triunity of the father
26:41son and holy spirit i'm not going to go into details of these these are just things which i
26:46would say are foundational doctrines which we have to accept the nature of the person of the lord jesus
26:52that he is son of man son of god that he is the one mediator between god and humanity the meaning of
26:58the cross the answer to the sin problem that all have sinned and come short of the glory of god
27:03and god has laid upon the lord jesus the iniquity of us all he's the one mediator between god and man
27:10and the resurrection of the lord the hope of the resurrection of the dead that all will be
27:16resurrected and there is two places you can go to after you're resurrected either heaven or hell
27:20and therefore you should avoid hell and go to heaven by believing in the lord jesus foundational truths
27:27and the need to be born again of the holy spirit work of the holy spirit in the sanctification of
27:33the believer also that we are born of the holy spirit jesus said unless a man is born again he
27:37cannot see the kingdom of god none of us are born believers in jesus if you like we must be born again
27:44by repenting believing and accepting jesus christ as savior and having been born again we don't just stay
27:50as babies but we should grow in the knowledge of the lord by the sanctifying work of the holy spirit
27:55throughout our lives and number six the nature of the church is the body of the messiah that the
28:01church is a group of people called out of the world into the kingdom of god the ecclesia and to
28:06understand the teaching of what the nature of the church is which is given in much of the epistles
28:11of particularly the epistles written by paul and number seven the inspiration of scripture
28:18the scripture given from genesis to revelation is given by god the old testament scriptures are
28:25interpreted in the light of the new testament but remain the word of god i would say also we should
28:30remember that there is a place of israel in the purposes of god which continues after the death and
28:37resurrection of jesus and that god has a purpose to bring israel back to himself and for jesus actually
28:42ultimately to reign and rule from jerusalem in the messianic kingdom and in timothy we read that all
28:52scripture is given by inspiration of god so the scripture is given by inspiration of god to teach
28:56us to instruct us and to teach us these things in righteousness now you find teaching all these
29:02subjects in the bible all of them merit a session on their own but for the sake of brevity i would just
29:07leave it at that for the moment and the thing is that all these are fixed by the time the last of
29:12the apostles has died and the last book of the bible uh the book of revelation is written nothing
29:18could be added to it nothing could be taken away from this body of truth there'll be no new revelations
29:24from god on any of these fundamental truths so jude encourages to defend these truths once delivered to
29:33the saints and the word once as i said is important it means they're not going to be changed by any
29:39subsequent teachers coming some professing to be in the name of jesus some not if they do try to change
29:46it you should reject any changes that they make because they're not in the original now the new
29:51testament does warn us that evil men and seducers will come and try to change this you'll be able to
29:56know them by the scriptures 2 timothy chapter 3 verse 13 says but evil men and imposters will grow
30:04worse and worse deceiving and being deceived you must continue in the things which you have learned
30:09and been assured of knowing from whom you have learned them and that from childhood you've made
30:13you've known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in
30:19christ jesus all scripture is given by inspiration of god is profitable for doctrine for reproof for
30:25correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of god may be complete thoroughly equipped
30:30for every good work and in the book of jude chapter 4 verse 4 it says for certain men have crept in
30:38unnoticed too long ago were marked out for condemnation ungodly men who turn the grace of
30:43our god into lewdness and deny the only lord and our lord jesus christ now these people are deceived
30:50and are deceiving and behind them there is the devil's work to confuse and weaken the church
30:54so it loses its savor and becomes trodden under foot of men as jesus said in the sermon on the mount
31:01they deny the lord jesus and they remove it they will all remove in some way the centrality
31:07of jesus christ as the one mediated between god and man who died on the cross for our sins and rose
31:14again from the dead they also turn the grace of god into lewdness that accept behavior which is not in
31:20line with christian teaching okay so what about what are the groups which might have done this
31:27a list of them here uh again the all these you could give a talk on them but just to give them
31:34very briefly the gnostics gnostic heresies came in roughly at the time of the apostles and certainly in
31:41the first century they deny who jesus is they denied he was the son of god son of man they denied what he did
31:47on the cross they substituted another jesus who was pretty much like the sort of new age pantheistic
31:52idea that of some guru coming to bring you the knowledge of god who dwell within you but not
31:59dying for us and rising from the dead and gnosticism had some connections to pantheism which is the idea
32:07that god's in everything which you have in eastern religions and which brought in false teachings which
32:13led people away from the truth then you have the roman catholic church now rome says that it goes back
32:20to peter and the early church if you discuss this with any roman catholic they say well we're the
32:24original church we have the original pope who was peter and our doctrine goes right back to the apostle's
32:31time well that's what they say but peter was never a pope uh you read in the acts of the apostles that
32:39peter was a leading apostle who preached the gospel times he deferred to james he also deferred to paul
32:46and one came in galatians he was not a pope laying down the law on how the church should be run
32:51and there was no papal succession anyone know who the second pope was
32:56no i'll tell you it was linus do you know who linus was no never heard of him anything about linus in
33:07the bible yes he is mentioned actually in the list of names in in that i think it's in timothy
33:13somewhere i can't remember exactly but he certainly wasn't a pope it's all a made-up story there was
33:19no apostolic succession of popes and there was actually no roman catholic church at that time
33:28early church was largely persecuted by the roman empire time of constantine the persecution was removed
33:35and it became a favored religion in the roman empire eventually became the dominant religion in
33:41the roman empire which was good for the christians but it was bad in some ways because it brought in
33:46all kinds of other teachings and in time the bishop of rome became the leading bishop and he became the
33:52pope there was no evidence really of anything relating to the roman catholic church in its present
33:57form until about the fifth century a.d so it wasn't there at the beginning it was something which came
34:03about through the evolution of the church and was brought in various teachings which were not found
34:08in the new testament the idea of papal supremacy veneration of mary prayers to mary as a co-mediator
34:15prayers to the saints the idea of transubstantiation that the sacrifice of jesus is made over and over
34:22again and this bread actually becomes the body of jesus and the wine becomes the blood of jesus through the
34:28priest working over them all these things are doctrines which are added to the new testament
34:31they're not found in the new testament and therefore you can reject them and they're not
34:36going back to the beginning they are things which are added added as i said at least
34:40500 years after jesus came and then we have islam islam comes along and ditches the whole book
34:48says that we now need a new book because there's a new prophet muhammad who claimed to have an
34:54encounter with the angel gabriel who gave him a book to replace the bible called the quran and this
35:00book denies the central truths of christianity it denies the nature of jesus the son of god it denies
35:05that he died on the cross and rose from the dead and once it gets into power it suppresses and
35:10persecutes authentic christianity so this is another thing which has been added and taking away from the
35:16truth and you can reject it because it wasn't the truth given to the disciples and in modern times you
35:24have all kinds of cults taking away from the scriptures and the person of the lord as savior
35:29jehovah's witnesses mormons all of them in some way deny jesus christ as a sole mediator between god
35:36and man who died for our sins was buried and rose again from the dead deny that jesus is the son of
35:42god deny his role as the one sent by god to redeem us and you have all kinds of other things as well
35:49you have liberal theology in the church which denies the supernatural which denies the miracles of
35:53jesus sometimes even denies the resurrection of jesus you have the woke theology which is popular
35:59now in the anglican church which has introduced all kinds of things which are contrary to the
36:04scriptures like accepting lgbt and all that kind of stuff all of which goes against what the apostles
36:10taught so you have things which are added what i'm trying to tell you all these things are added and
36:15they're taking away from the truth which was once delivered to the disciples you also have the
36:21new age and multi-faith teachings including the idea that all roads lead to god and that whatever
36:26god you believe in is the true one and it doesn't matter who you believe in you can add jesus to the
36:32list of gods you can believe in not true all these things are additions and taking away from the gospel
36:40we even have in some of the hyper charismatic movements those who are saying that they are new
36:44apostles and they are new apostles giving new truth for our time heard of the new a new apostolic
36:51reformation quite big in america spreading around the world as the new apostles who are giving us new
36:57doctrines which we need to believe to follow jesus well there are no new apostles we have the truth
37:03given to us once in the disciples through the disciples in the person of jesus christ one has to say
37:11that these all these people actually end up as false prophets as foretold by the lord jesus and all
37:17these things have in common the fact that they add to or take away from the scripture and in the end
37:23they deny the apostles teaching they deny the person of the lord jesus christ that he is the son of god son
37:29of man they deny the finished work of the cross as the means of atonement of dealing with sin
37:34they deny the truth of the bible as god's final word to humanity they add their truths and they add
37:40things required for salvation which are not in scripture and take away things which are there
37:44in scripture and ultimately they will all persecute or oppose biblical christianity
37:50so we have to judge and discern them in the light of the teaching of the apostles in the scripture
37:58if they agree with the scripture okay if not reject them and god calls us to adjust our ideas in the
38:07light of his word not to change his word to fit in with our ideas and so coming to conclusion jesus said
38:16i'm the way the truth and the life no man comes to the father except by me
38:23the true church which is based upon this is a small minority as jesus indicated it would be
38:28but his truth remains the truth jesus says i'm with you always even to the end of the age
38:34he says heaven and earth will pass away but my words will by no means pass away when he says my
38:40words he means my words recorded in the scripture in the light of this he says go therefore and make
38:46disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit
38:51teaching them to observe all things that i've commanded you and i'm with you always even to the end of
38:57this age the things which he's commanded to us are written in his word we don't have to add to them
39:03we don't have to take away from them they're all there in the word of god if we do this we're going
39:08to build on the foundation of truth which was once delivered to the saints and that building will stand
39:14which brings me to my last reading matthew 28 verse 24
39:19therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them i will liken him to a wise man who built
39:26his house on the rock and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that
39:31house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock but everyone who hears these sayings of
39:36mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain
39:41descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall
39:46we have a choice either to build our house our lives on the rock of obedience to the word of god
39:52given to us through the lord jesus and through his apostles or to reject his word and to build the
39:59house on the words of men that's a choice hopefully you've made the choice to build your life on faith
40:07in jesus the messiah if not now's the day to do it because now is the day of salvation the house built
40:13on the rock is built on the doctrine given to the apostles it may be a small minority in every
40:20culture may be shaken may encounter opposition but it will not fall and in the last day those who
40:27cast and enter into the shelter of this house will have assurance of salvation and entrance into the
40:33eternal kingdom of god those who do not will fall and you can have big houses you can have magnificent
40:40buildings like st peter's rome but it's actually a house built on the sand and in the last day it
40:46will fall and will not give a give salvation to those who believe in it those who come to little
40:51churches like this if we teach the truth the word of god then we're building our lives on the rock
40:57on the truth given to us once for all through the apostles doctrine which points us to jesus as the
41:03foundation and the chief cornerstone of the building that is built in his name so believe on the
41:10lord jesus christ and you shall be saved and have eternal life and a hope in his name father we do
41:16thank you for your word we thank you for the truth of the word help us lord to build our lives on the
41:20rock of truth in lord jesus christ deliver us from the errors which have come in in so many ways since
41:27you're the first church and have added so many things which are not in your word and have taken away
41:33things which are in your word lord we pray for your mercy upon those who have been deceived by this
41:39false teachings bring them out lord and bring them into the truth we pray in jesus name amen
41:46you
41:46you
41:53you
41:55you