THE NEW TESTAMENT IS GOD’S FINAL AUTHORITY - 8

 

The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans 16:16)

 

 

1.  The Lord Jesus Christ holds all authority in the universe (Matt. 28:18).

    a.  All men living today are under (amenable to) the Gospel of Jesus Christ (John 12:48).

    b.  Whatever the law of Christ says, it says to those who are under that law.
    c.  This principle is plainly set forth in Romans 3:19 and 4:15.
2.  Thus, what He commands we must do;

    a.  where He sends we must go.

    b.  Everything we do, say and even think must be according to His Word (Col. 3:17).

3.  In order to be pleasing to God,
    a.  every man living today must have New Testament authority
    b.  for the Plan of Salvation (POS) which he obeys.
4.  Your POS cannot involve, for example,
    a.  instruction to be baptized because one has already been saved.
    b.  That is one of the devils greatest false teachings of today.
5.  The New Testament authorizes only the penitent believer,
    a.  who is still a lost man, to be baptized in order to be saved (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38) -
    b.  that is, in order to become a saved person, a child of God
            (Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:3-5; Gal. 3:26-27; 2 Tim. 2:10; 1 Pet. 3:20-21; etc.).


6.  Every person who seeks to be saved by the blood of Christ
    a.  by obeying a humanly-invented plan of salvation
    b.
  is doomed to fail in attaining that salvation.
        1.  He must repent of his denominational error
        2.  and obey the POS which is authorized in the New Testament.
7.  Jesus Himself made clear that many people
    a.  who think they are saved are horribly mistaken. Why?
    b.  Because they have obeyed mere human plans of salvation
    c.  rather than the one Divine plan of salvation (READ Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23).
8.  Being a sincere, conscientious religious man will not save
    a.  without obeying the Gospel of Christ in being baptized
    b.
  (see the account of Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9, 22, and 26).


9.  Some men have invented the false doctrine that lost men are saved
    a.  the very moment they believe on Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
    b.  At the point of belief, they say, Christ is accepted into the heart.
10.  Many say that one is saved "by faith--plus nothing, minus nothing."
    a.  But the Bible teaches that faith without works (acts of obedience to Christ)
    b.  is dead (and compares it to the body without the spirit - James 2:24, 26).
        1.  Even the devils believe (James 2:19);
        2.  yet they are NOT  saved because they do not obey.
11. Men must be honest (Luke 8:15).
    a.  Men must learn God's will and do only what the Bible authorizes.
    b.  No one can be saved by faith
        1.  "before and without any further acts of obedience;"
        2.
  such is dead faith (James 2:17).


12. To be saved, a penitent person
    a.  who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (Luke 13:3; John 8:24)
    b.
  must be immersed into Christ (Rom. 6:3-5; Gal. 3:26-27)
        1.  to be saved by the death (blood) and resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 3:20-21; Rev. 1:5).
        2.  He must then live faithfully before God even unto death (Rev. 2:10).


Conclusion
1.
  Jesus said, “All authority (power) has been given to me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18).
    a.  When it comes to matters pertaining to the soul Jesus is sole authority.
    b.  As our High Priest, Jesus is the only one who can regulate our moral and spiritual affairs.
    c.  We will face Jesus as our judge in the last day (John 5:22).
2.  The authority of Jesus is universal in scope (in heaven and in earth).
    a.  No angel, priest, pope, or preacher has power like this.
    b.  Jesus is supreme in authority.


3.  The claim of Jesus is an exalted one:
    a.  all legislative, judicial, and executive authority is given unto Christ in heaven and on earth.
    b.  No one in human flesh had ever claimed so much.
4.  He was clothed with authority after God “raised him from the dead, and made him to sit
            at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power,
            and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
            which is to come” (Eph. 1:20-21).
5.  Jesus is the “King of kings, and Lord of Lords” (1 Tim. 6:15)
    a.  and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
    b.  He will exercise this authority as King of His kingdom until the last foe is conquered,
    c.  and then He will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father (1 Cor. 15:24).


6.  The word of Christ is the only authoritative voice in the church.
    a.  There is no legislative authority in the church today.
    b.  We execute and obey His laws, but we cannot make laws for the church.
        1.  Since Christ has “all authority,”
        2.  there is no place in the church for man’s programs.


7.  The Scriptures reveal that God’s Word is everlasting (1 Peter 1:25).
    a.  Jesus says, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
    b.  A truth that must never be forgotten in respecting the authority of God’s Word is this:
            “For ever, O LORD, Thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalms 119:89).

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