We have given today's program the title, "Biblical Christianity." But, really now--when you think about it-- there is really no other kind of Christianity, is there? If religion doesn't have its roots-- I mean its faith, its teaching, its worship, its lifestyle-- well all it is-- I mean all it is and does-- if it doesn’t have its roots in the Bible for all of that, it can't possibly be Christianity, can it now? Well, let's think about that awhile. What do you say?
My friend, it is a joy to welcome you to our Bible study program In Search of the Lord's Way to become and to be a Christian. It is really great to be a Christian. Many of us-- one of whom I am which-- you can tell by the color of my hair-- will soon be going to meet the Lord. And we want to be ready to meet Him. So, we have already begun our preparation for that event. We are learning to obey Him here and now and to enjoy it right here in this world; and we would like you to go with us. Would you?
Let us hear from you. If you would like our assistance in becoming a Christian, or if you would like a free printed transcript or a CD or audio cassette tape of this program-- or, if you would like to get in touch with us for any reason-- our mailing address is In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. By e-mail it is searchtv@searchtv.org. And our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633.
"Biblical Christianity"-- is there any other kind? No, no friend, there really isn't. Oh, there are imitations all over the place, of course. But Christianity, if it's genuine, it just has to be biblical, doesn't it? "Oh," but someone says, "I guess you are right. But I don’t know; I could never get very interested in the Bible. I don't get much out of it. It's hard to read. And, I see so much sectarian disagreement about what it teaches-- well I guess it just turns me off. So, I just try to live right and treat my neighbors right and do good. And, I guess the Lord will just have to take me as I am." Friend, I'm sorry that I have to be the one to tell you; but you guess wrongly. The Lord doesn't just have to take you or me or any of us just as we are. He doesn't have to do anything as a matter of fact. And if, when He comes, we are not ready to go with Him as His faithful obedient children, there is only one other place I know where either of us can go. And, I don't want to go there! And, I don't think you want to go there either. So please, give it some thought as we study about "Biblical Christianity," will you?
We are reading from the book of Hebrews today, chapter 10, beginning at verse 26. “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, after reading these words from Your Bible we are inspired and encouraged to search out for the way that You would have us to live and what You would have us to be in this world; so that we can make our preparation to meet You on judgment day and hear You say, “Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joys of thou Lord.” May it be so with us. We pray You in Jesus’ name, Amen!
Jesus said His disciples should be laying up their treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19). According to I Peter chapter 1, verse 4 the Christian's incorruptible, undefiled inheritance that doesn't fade away is reserved in heaven for him. I surely want to claim that reservation that the Lord has made for me in heaven, and I know you want to claim the one that He has made for you, too. Since we do, it will be necessary for us to understand the preparation that we must make and what we need to be doing when He comes. And what better source of information is there than what the Bible says itself? Anything different from Biblical Christianity just won't do, friend.
Biblical Christianity had its beginning on the first Jewish Pentecost after the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God had the account of its beginning recorded for us in the second chapter of the book of Acts. However, the Hebrew prophets had foretold it for centuries. For example: Isaiah had written about it seven hundred years before in the prophecy that bears his name. That is in chapter 2, verse 2 and in other places. The prophet Joel, who had lived 800 years before Christ, had done likewise in Joel 2:28 and other places. Matthew chapters 3, verses 1 and 2 says that John the Baptist came preparing the way for it. And it is worthy of note that until the events of Acts 2, it's always spoken of in the Bible as a future "kingdom"-- or the kingdom yet to come. And thereafter-- now get this-- after the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, it is referenced as an existing "kingdom" (Matthew 4:17; Colossians 1:13; and other passages). And Jesus Christ is the King over that kingdom (I Timothy 1:7; chapter 6 and verse 15). And Christians are its citizens, friend.
Other appellations are given other than the "kingdom." Of course, it consists of the "saved" in Acts chapter 2, verse 47 where it's said, "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." You see, then, that it is also called "the church" in that passage; isn’t it? And the members of the church, the saved, were called "disciples" first in Acts chapter 6 and verse 1. Christianity was also called "the Way" in Acts chapter 9, verse 2. Not “the ways”, plural, but “the Way,” singular, one. The disciples were called "Christians" for the first time in Acts 11:26. No, now-- they weren't called "Christians" in derision, as you might have heard preached-- that's a popular opinion today. And they were given that name by the "mouth of the Lord" according to Isaiah chapter 62, verse 2. Please read it for yourself. It makes no difference what the world around us says or does; we should never be ashamed to be called "Christians.” In I Peter chapter 4, verses 15 and 16 we are told: "Let none of you suffer as a murderer, as a thief, as an evildoer, as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter." The kingdom of Christ as in Ephesians 5:5; and the church of Christ as in Romans 16:16, is also called the "bride" of Christ in Revelation 21 and 2. Finally, it's probably called "the body of Christ" more frequently than in any other way, unless it should be "the church," of course, which simply means Christ's "called out"-- or His "redeemed" people as we read in I Peter chapter 1, verses 18 to 20.
And Oh! How Christianity spread when it had its beginning in Pentecost! Three thousand were baptized on the day it began (Acts 2:42). And the Lord added to their number daily those that were being saved (verse 47). And Acts 4:4 tells us that so soon "the number of the men had come to be about five thousand!” That would be besides the women and the youth, friend! The inspired historian describes the phenomenal growth of Christianity in those early days in Acts chapter 5, verse 14 by saying, "Believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women." And in verse one of chapter six he says, "Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying..." And verse 7 says, "The word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly..."-- and all of that in spite of the severest persecution that the opposition could muster against it!
Say, friend! That grabs me! Doesn't it make you want to investigate Biblical Christianity! Doesn't it make you want to get in on what the Bible says? It does me! How do I learn more about it? It is biblical Christianity; so we read about it in our Bibles. Begin reading with the book of Acts, then Romans, then First and Second Corinthians, and on and on. And there is no one verse in the Bible that says, "A Christian is this." But as the honest seeker of the truth reads and he studies his New Testament, our Lord's perception of a disciple unfolds before his very eyes. A person is a Christian as far as-- and only as far as he does and is what is set forth in the Scriptures as a disciple of Christ.
Likewise, there is no single passage in all the Bible that says, "A church of Christ is..." But when an honest-hearted person reads the New Testament, there unfolds before him what the Lord would have His family to be and to do. And a congregation is a church of Christ as far and only as far as that church is and does what is set forth in the word of God as the church.
Because we are human, no one has ever read or heard of a perfect Christian or a perfect church for that matter, not even in the New Testament was there so. Still, it's better to aim at and reach that divine and higher perception that God sets in, than to follow the popular course comfortably and complacently, accepting human substitutes in teaching and experiences of men-- or women-- whoever they might be.
Obviously, there is a point in departure from Biblical Christianity beyond which a person ceases to be a disciple of Christ; or a church is no longer a church of Christ; and Christianity ceases to be Christianity. For example: the church at Ephesus was once a great church. Since the church of Christ (Romans 16:16), the church of God (I Corinthians 1: 1 and 2), the church of the firstborn (Hebrews 12:23) is the only one mentioned in the Bible, that is what the church at Ephesus had to have been in the past, wouldn't you say? The apostle Paul spent more time and effort nurturing the church in Ephesus than he did any other one. Later, the Lord wrote them a letter at Ephesus in which He said, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place-- unless you repent" (Revelation 2:5). So then, an apostasy or a departure from the original and biblical pattern will be possible for any Christian and for Christianity at any time.
The Scripture says, "The Spirit speaks expressly that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, or deceiving spirits, and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron" (I Timothy 4:1 and 2). Let's face it, friend, these times came. And along with them came men with great love and knowledge of the word of God such as Martin Luther and Alexander Campbell and others who recognized that a state of apostasy did exist. And each in his own way tried to call an apostate church back to its original purity, either by reformation or by restoration.
In Germany, October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed to the oaken door of Wittenberg Cathedral a parchment containing ninety-five statements opposing the doctrines and practices of the church at that time that were without Biblical authority. Though there were other reformers, Luther was given the distinctive title, "the Father of the Reformation." They were all nobly motivated and their efforts were marked with a great measure of success. Their work was also marked with a lot of disappointment.
To advance what the reformers had hoped to do and failed, and seeing the virtual impossibility of a reformation of an apostate body, others conceived the idea of a restoration of biblical Christianity. They would teach and persuade people, not the church itself, but the people individually to simply be Christians as we read about them in the New Testament.
The idea began in Europe and it spread rapidly to this country about the time that the colonies were gaining their independence. James O'Kelly began preaching it over here in 1775. Barton W. Stone began preaching it in the latter part of the eighteenth century. But as was true in the reformation, that Luther's and others' names came to the forefront, so it was with the restoration concept. Because of their leadership and prominence, Thomas and Alexander Campbell are often credited with being the originators of the idea of restoration. Congregations of such people existed in Europe some two hundred years before these men gained prominence in the restoration movement in this country in the nineteenth century.
Well, just as the reformers achieved much of what they set out to do, but suffered the disappointment of permanent protestant denominational divisions, many of which bear their names and even so to this day, so did the restorers. Yes! They achieved much of their hopes. The restoration movement in America is identified historically as the Second Greatest Revival period in American history. And it spread across this nation like some of the recent fires in California and Florida and then elsewhere this year. But the movement suffered from some weaknesses, and some of these same weaknesses that the reformation did-- divisions. The divisions of the reformation are no more justifiable or acceptable than the divisions of the restoration; nor are the divisions of the restoration any more sufferable or contemptible than those of the reformation. All such religious divisions are contrary to this Lord's prayer that His disciples might be one as recorded in John 17, verses 20-26.
It isn't necessary, therefore, to have a masters degree in Bible to know there is a big, big difference between Biblical Christianity and what is being marketed with the label of Christianity in America today. It is important, though, to adhere to the teachings of our Lord in the word of God. How can anyone honestly and intelligently profess to be a disciple of Christ and not follow His teachings? Jesus once asked: "Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). And that is what a disciple is-- a learner and a follower of the Lord.
Substitutes and divisions come when people don't know and don't try to follow the Lord's way. I know it's absolutely inconceivable to some that a person could be honestly and objectively, objective in these things. But, whatever others do, I am committed to being just a Christian. I know I will never be a perfect one. And I'll keep on learning about it as long as I live. No church of Christ I have ever known claimed perfection. However, our humanity or immaturity in no way excuses conscious and intentional disobedience. It is far more noble to keep on striving for that divine perception that we read about in the Bible and fall short of it in some respects, than to comfortably settle down to the current fads and teachings of mere men, whoever those men may be. I have never read Luther's Catechism or Campbell's Declaration and Address. And so, I'm not committed to one of them or to any other creed. I refuse to subscribe to a creed by whatever name it is called-- a Confession of Faith or Catechism or even a Questionnaire or whatever. It thrills my soul to know that we-- you and I-- can become Christians, members of the biblical church that neither Luther or Campbell built, but the one that Jesus said, "I will build." It thrills me, too that others of the same mind will welcome us wherever all around the world we go. Will you come along with me? Oh, I pray you will, and you will be my brother or sister in the Lord. And, when life is finished here for both of us, Christ who died and opened up the way for us will welcome us, you and me, and usher us, you and me, into our inheritance reserved in heaven for us. If you believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God, if you will give up your sinful ways, whatever they are, and obey the Lord in baptism, we can walk hand in hand to heaven. Let’s pray. Help us, Lord, we pray You in Jesus’ name, to be faithful, to be Christians, and to be faithful to it until the hour comes for us to be welcomed over in the other world. Amen!
I sincerely hope, my friend, that if you are not a Christian, you will become a Christian and start your heavenward journey this very day. Prepare to meet God and live with Him eternally. Just open your Bible and see what it says about how we are saved by the blood of Jesus. You can understand it. Try it. And you'll love it. Believing in Jesus is the beginning place. Do you believe? If so, you need to repent. "God commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17 and 30). And Galatians 3:26-27 says, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Biblical Christianity is utterly impossible and apostasy is absolutely certain for any church in the absence of Bible preaching and teaching.
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My friend, it has really been good to be in your home by radio or television today. I pray that you have been as blessed by our study together as I have been. The Lord willing, I'll be back next week; and I would hope that you would be able to do so, also. This will give you some time to invite some of your friends, and tell your friends or perhaps your neighbors or some other church members wherever you attend church of this program. And invite them to be in our audience as well. Maybe they, also, will profit from these studies just as you and I have. God bless you now. We hope you will be back with us next week. And we love you.
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