Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts ... for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little, for with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people." (Isaiah 28:7-11)
There are those within today's man-made religious community that suggest the teaching of doctrine is not essential to the core of the gospel message. In fact, many within these institutional circles are not interested in the whole truth that only comes from the Word of God. Why? Because as Isaiah wrote, faithfully studying His Word as doth a workman, discerning from the Word His truths requires studying precept upon precept and line upon line.
In other words, it takes time to hang around with Jesus. The benefit however is that the more we study His Word, the more our Lord God and Savior will entrust to His people. Jesus said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever, and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (John 6:51)
Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. He that comes to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst." (John 6:35) This is why as believers in Jesus Christ by faith, we are instructed to "study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth." (II Timothy 2:15)
"All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness -- that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (II Timothy 3:16-17)
By studying His Word, we begin to personally know the Lord God who said, "Come now, and let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye shall be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." (Isaiah 1:18)
But our learning from His Word should not stop with the act of repentance. Why? Because we are no longer under the teachings of John (the baptist) that was established for the outward cleaning before Jesus shed His precious blood on the cross. (For those who may not know, John the baptist was a forerunner to the coming of the Messiah -- the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord).
We are no longer under the covenant of Law, which serves as a schoolmaster that informs us of our need for Jesus in our life. Thus, as a consequence of Jesus' death and resurrection, we live in what is called the dispensation of grace, the new testament whereby the Lord God Almighty has declared peace and good will to all men. (Luke 2:14)
"And they shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sin." (Matthew 1:21-23)
"And when He was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." (Luke 19:37-38)
However, in that day which can be likened to the times and seasons in which we live now, some of the Pharisees who were among the multitude said, "Master, rebuke Thy disciples." What was Jesus' response? "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." (Luke 19:40)
Hardly taught in churches, but certainly worthy of mention here, we note that Jesus beheld the city and wept over it, saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but are now hid from thine eyes, for the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee around and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee,, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of Thy visitation." (Luke 19:37-48)
The Messiah in which these searched, stood right there in front of them, and yet, they did not know who He was. "Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, for we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence, steadfast unto the end." (Hebrews 3:13-14)
"For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them, but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard ... seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief." (Hebrews 4:2-6)
So much wisdom and understanding and yet we settle for the crumbs that are thrown from the table. It's time for this to change. We need to press into Jesus and become "them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts ... for with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people." (Isaiah 28:7-11)
Instead of stopping short of the full blessing, we need to understand that the day of Pentecost (in which the first 3,000 were saved) holds the instructions that we need to be inherit eternal life.
Therein, Peter said, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts 2:36)
This is why they were pricked in their hearts, to the point whereby they asked Peter, standing with the eleven, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then Peter said unto them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call.
As confirmed in the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, the Lord refers specifically to the "small remnant that the Lord of hosts has remaining" who would preach the Word of the Lord in its entirety. Not as the religious system does, inserting revised scriptures or writing out statements of faith, or religious belief systems that totally ignore any doctrine that refers specifically to the power and authority that is found in the Name of Jesus.
"Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (I Timothy 2:5-6)
"This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover, He sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these -- for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands (which are the figures of the true) but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us ... so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:18-28)
"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Press into our Lord God and Saviour Jesus the Christ today. Discover His goodness and grace that extends beyond all human understanding. Be buried with Christ in water baptism which cleanses the inside when we are baptized in the name of Jesus. Study His Word to show thyself approved so that we can shine as a city on a hill for those who are lost. All the while, refuse to hide yourself under the falsehood and blindness of man-made institutions that promote a gospel that is only remotely similar to the gospel of our Lord God and Saviour, Jesus the Christ.
Stand in the offering plate.
As confirmed in the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, the Lord refers specifically to the "small remnant that the Lord of hosts has remaining" who would preach the Word of the Lord in its entirety. Not as the religious system does, inserting revised scriptures or writing out statements of faith, or religious belief systems that totally ignore any doctrine that refers specifically to the power and authority that is found in the Name of Jesus.
"Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (I Timothy 2:5-6)
"This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover, He sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these -- for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands (which are the figures of the true) but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us ... so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:18-28)
"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Press into our Lord God and Saviour Jesus the Christ today. Discover His goodness and grace that extends beyond all human understanding. Be buried with Christ in water baptism which cleanses the inside when we are baptized in the name of Jesus. Study His Word to show thyself approved so that we can shine as a city on a hill for those who are lost. All the while, refuse to hide yourself under the falsehood and blindness of man-made institutions that promote a gospel that is only remotely similar to the gospel of our Lord God and Saviour, Jesus the Christ.
Stand in the offering plate.
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