Basic Doctrines of Christ

Well, brethren, I have a question for you today. And the question is very simple. Are we all well-founded, well-established in Christ's basic doctrines? And from that, going forwards towards perfection. You know, we live in a world that as you deal with different people, and you and I have to deal with them, time and time again, you hear the statement that all we have to do is believe, is to accept Christ, and you are saved. In fact, I heard that some other congregation was distributing cards, and one side said something about Christ, and on the other side said, well, because you've read this, you're now saved. So, now obviously, you and I do not believe in that. But the question for us is, granted, you and I don't believe in that, but is kind of our approach or way of living, is it inclined towards that sort of thinking? In other words, I'm okay, I know what I believe, I know what I believe, and I come to church, I keep the holy days. And so, in a sense, it's like saying, I believe all this, I've accepted all this, and I just have to hold on, stay up, and I've qualified. What is there more to it? You know, brethren, I always think about some analogies, and an analogy I think of is, let's say, a group of people are going to build a building, and then you have that ceremonial initial ceremony where you get media and photographers, and you have like a leader, they were for spied, and digs the first hole on the ground, and it says, we have now initiated this construction, and it's all great excitement. The analogy is that just digging that first spade, you know, was accepting Christ, what I've done, it's good enough, it's there, is not enough. That is not building the building. You've got to have the foundation built, it has to be well grounded, you have to have the walls, the roof, the ceiling, the interior. There's a lot of additional work that goes on besides having the plans drawn up, and have that ceremonial digging of the shovel.

You know, in Matthew chapter 7, which is in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 7, verse 26 and 27, Matthew 7, verse 26 and 27, it says, but everyone who hears these words, these sayings of mine, and does not do them, is like a foolish man who has built his house on sand.

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. You know, when I read about the foolish and the wise person, it always reminds me of the ten virgins, five wise, five foolish, and they are virgins in the church. And the question is, are we being foolish? Because we're just building something on the sand, instead of being solid on the rock. And I want to thank the sermon, the sermonetta, beg your pardon. I really appreciate going through the meaning of what Christ meant, that on this rock I'll build my church. Really appreciate. Very well done. Thank you. But the question is, are we foolish, or are we wise? Are we just building on sand, or are we building on a rock? And that means we are making a solid effort.

And that applies to everyone, brethren. Sometimes I get personally get saddened when I see things or people saying or doing things that are not according to God's Word. And it hurts me deeply. And the question, therefore, is are we really understanding the foundational doctrines of Christ? Are we building on those, on that rock, so that then we are actually moving forwards on the way, on the way towards salvation? Or put it on, in other words, on the way to perfection. Are we? In Ephesians 4, starting from verse 11 through 14, it's talking about that God has given the church ministry. And in verse 12 says, for the equipping of the saints, which is you and I, that means those that are set apart, for the work of ministry. And understand that the Greek is the Akanea, which means for the work of service. The ministry is there to help us all to be servants, to serve. That's what it is. For the building, for the edifying of God's church, which is the body of Christ. Till we all come to that unity of the faith, till we all come to that perfection, to be one with Christ. And that's why it says that we come to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, as it says in verse 13, so that we are not children tossed to and fro with little ideas. Ideas. People have tons of ideas which are false. And we need to mature up and not be children. We really need to mature up and not be children. Grow to perfection. And so, do we understand the basic principles of Christ, as Paul described them? So what? Why do you and I need to understand it? It's so that we move with that on the way to perfection, on the way to salvation. And so it is more than just saying, just believe, or just accept Christ, or just come to church and keep the Sabbath. It's actually living, living the way and granted. That is not easy. That is not easy. And so it's not just being justified, but it's going towards that final end goal, which is eternal life. And for that, it's understanding there's going to be a judgment. A judgment. And so let's look at that section in the Bible where Paul covers this, and we will drill down on that section today. And that section is Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5, and we're going to start in verse 12. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 12. And Paul, whom I believe it is Paul that was the writer of Hebrews, although some people dispute, but Paul, he says, you've been in the church for a long time, and you ought to be teachers. Yes, you ought to have moved along, you know, but you still need us to be teaching you the very basics of God, the very basic doctrines of God. And you still need to be fed in a bottle, like a baby, instead of taking solid food.

He says, verse 13, for everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the Word of God, in the Word of God's righteousness, for he is still a child, he's still a baby. Verse 14, but solid food, meat, real solid food, belongs to those that are mature, that are full age, that are building this construction, which is the life, the temple of God's Holy Spirit, each one individually doing our part. And we are using. What have we learned? We are maturing up, we're using, we're putting into practice.

And that's the difficult part, so that we are exercising the capability to judge, to discern, between good and evil.

So we really got to mature to starting discerning, which is judging, separating what is good and bad, and doing what is good. Therefore, because of that, says Paul in the very next verse, which is chapter 6 verse 1, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ.

In other words, you should be so that you are at a stage that we don't have to go through the basics again. He's not saying that we shouldn't go through the basics because God tells us to go through the basics. At least we know every year we've got to go through the very basics. Why? Because we forget, and we're going to be reminded every year at the festivals of the very basic steps of salvation. And these basic steps, as I'm going to go through it, are in a sense kind of linked to God's early days. Think about it. But he says we've got to use these basic steps to move on to perfection, to maturity, to become more and more a perfect man, like according to the full measure of Jesus Christ. That's why it says, growing the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ so we can grow to that stature. And he says then, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and our faith towards God. If you notice that there is a péia. It's a péia. It's two. Repentance from dead works and faith towards God. And then he says, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands. In other words, those two are also connected, baptisms and laying on of hands. And thirdly, the third péia is of resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. They are connected. And so, yeah, we see three péias that are very important. And yes, we will do, as Paul says in verse 3, yes, we will do this if God permits. We will keep re-emphasizing these basics. It is important. But the focus is in verse 1, where it says, let's go on to perfection. The focus is how we live. It's the way. It's how we put it to practice. How we build this building on a rock and making an effort to be building it so that ultimately we will learn by experience to exercise discernment between both good and evil. And that is so important. And God's Spirit gives us a sound mind. God's Holy Spirit is a spirit of a sound mind. And, regrettably, many in the world do not have a sound mind. And so we need to learn to discern God's standards of good from evil. And so let's look at these three pairs, or basically six points, very briefly as the basic doctrines of Christ. The first one, part of the first pair, is repentance from dead works.

Those are works that lead to death.

Now God gave mankind, and you read in Genesis, God gave mankind the responsibility to have dominion over the earth and over these things and animals, etc. And we know that they knew what was right and wrong because when Satan approached Eve in Genesis chapter 3 verses 1 through 3, we know that he even knew very well, hey, this is not right. What God has told us is this. Don't take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In fact, Eve says, don't even touch it or eat of it. The example is very significant to us because we are not to touch things that we decide by ourselves what's good and evil. It's God that decides what is right and what is wrong according to his standards. And when God decides what's right and wrong, that is the way of life. When you and I take upon ourselves a decision of what is good and what's right, that is the way of death. And that's why we are told to choose to discern between good and evil what is the true good and what is the true evil. And God's laws and principles tell us, guide us, instruct us to discern. And so we can see, and when we read in the following verses in Genesis 3, when Eve was deceived and she produced fruits towards death, by taking off that fruit, and Adam, which was not deceived, it is obeyed knowing better, which to me is even worse. And so the end result of that is that everyone, because we are the descendants of Adam and Eve, and we all, as descendants of Adam, we follow that carnality that way that we are, because the heart is deceitful above all things, is desperately wicked. That's the way we made, and we are repent of what we are. But continue on the point of, because we are descendants of Adam, and because we follow that same approach in different situations, whatever they are, but because we follow that same approach, we all end up dying sooner or later. And so as we read in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 21 and 22, as children of Adam, we all die. We all end up dying. Sooner or later, we all die. But when you read in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. Just like all die, sooner or later, we all will die.

But it says we all will live because of what Christ has done. Everyone will be resurrected. The worst person and the most amazing person, they all will resurrect.

Why? Because there's going to be a judgment. There is going to be a judgment. Or people may think that I'm coming out scot-free. And maybe you are scot-free in this life. And maybe you are scot-free in this life. But all the works will be judged.

Don't think that you can deceive God because there will be a judgment. And so what we see is Christ open up the way of salvation. Because now, because there's a judgment, God is merciful if people repent and if people change, mercy rules over judgment. In other words, God's mercy is over that judgment and therefore the judgment will be merciful. But judgment has to be first. And then is mercy. That's why the mercy seat is on top of the ark and the law is underneath the mercy seat. So mercy is above the law. So Christ opened the way for salvation through what? Through His death and resurrection. It's not just His death. If He had died and not resurrected, He would have not opened up the way for our salvation. In other words, for us to be resurrected. But as we read in verse 23 and 24, there is an order. Obviously, Christ was first. He was the first fruits. He was the first. And then those that are Christ's at His coming.

Those that are Christ's at His coming. And that shows there's an order, not just of resurrection, but of judgment. Because you and I are being judged today.

And so the others, they will be judged later. But for them to be judged, they have to be alive to receive their judgment. They'll have to resurrect. And they resurrect because Christ paid for our lives. In other words, brought back our lives. And when I say our, everybody's good and bad people. Everybody will resurrect. But everybody will be judged. It's not that you're going to be resurrected. It's that, ha ha, now I can start all over again.

Yes, you have an opportunity to repent and live a better life. But repentance means you can see there is a judgment upon you. In Matthew 19, Matthew 19, verse 16 through 17, Matthew 19, verse 16 through 17, we have the situation where a man came to Christ and asked him, how can I have life, eternal life? Matthew 19, verse 16. He says, teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And then Christ, at the end of verse 17, says, if you want to enter life, and obviously the question was eternal life. So if you want to enter eternal life, keep the commandments. Keep the commandments.

Why? Because remember, there's going to be judgment. Whatever you do is going to be accounted. You read at the end of Ecclesiastes, it says, young man, enjoy life, but remember!

You'll have to count, take account for what you've done. Oh yeah, people may say, well, God doesn't exist or whatever it is. The reality is, when they are resurrected, all that fake stuff will become very evident that God exists, and now they've got to give account. So we have to obey God's laws. But it's not just obey God's laws. Look at Matthew chapter 7, verse 21. Matthew chapter 7, verse 21 through 23. Matthew chapter 7, verse 21 through 23. And I think this was quoted in the sermonette as well, or a section of this, maybe not the specific section. But it says, hinting that we have to obey God, it says in Matthew 7, verse 21, you see, many people will come up and say, Lord, Lord, I've accepted you. I love you, Jesus. I have preached about your name. It was prophesied in your name. It was preached about Christ. I preached Christ. I even cast out demons out in your name, and I've done many wonders in your name. And then Christ will say, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

Christ will say to these amazing Christians, let's say, and preach Christ, and have done many wonders, I never knew you. What a shock! Why? Because you practice lawlessness. You are breaking God's laws. And you know very well, people break. If you break one, it says if you're breaking them all, and if you break the Sabbath, you're breaking God's laws. Full stop. But in addition to that, look at verse, uh, verse, uh, by your pardon, in 1 John chapter 3 verse 22. 1 John chapter 3 verse 22. In 1 John chapter 3 verse 22, it expands. John is explaining about our need to have our prayers answered. And then it says in chapter 3 verse 22, whatever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. You see, keeping the commandments is important, but it goes beyond that. We gotta do the Father's will, as we read elsewhere. We got to do the Father's will. In other words, we gotta do what's pleasing to God, which is more than just keeping the commandments. And so, are we putting this new covenant, as you read in Hebrews chapter 8 verses 8 through 13, the new covenant, the new contract with God, are we putting God's laws in our minds, in our heart? Because it says we have a new covenant because it's based on better promises. You see, the old covenant only promised them to go to the promised land, that area in the Middle East, the promised land. But the new covenant tells us you and I can have eternal life. It's a better promise, a far better promise. And that leads to an interesting question that you may ask. Why covenants? I mean, if the covenants are based on the same law and the laws of God, there is blessings for obeying them, and you have cursings for disobeying God's laws. And it's the same laws. Why covenants?

It's something that you need to think about. An answer is, covenants are there, even though they are the same laws, it just says, if you keep these laws, which are the same laws, but are making a covenant with you, are making a promise to bless you even more. To bless you beyond the blessings of purely obeying God's laws, I want to give you more blessings. And so that's why a covenant is for God to bless you and I even more. And so, as we get back to what Christ did, Christ died for us. And we know, as we read, for instance, during the Day of Pentecost, when the people that were around on the Day of Pentecost, and you read that in Acts chapter 2 verse 37, they said, well, we have killed the Messiah, the Savior, Christ. They finally got it and they said, what are we going to do? And you know, Peter and his sermon said, repent, so that your sins may be forgiven.

And be baptized so that you can receive God's Holy Spirit.

You see, we have to repent. We have to make a change. We have to renew our mind as you read in Ephesians 4 verse 22. We've got to renew our mind from the old man to the new man. There must be a metamorphosis, a real change. And you say, well, but God's laws don't save us. Obeying God's laws don't save us.

Right, they don't. It's sacrifice that saves us. But we need the forgiveness from Christ. And when you and I, when we repent and demonstrate that we want to change our lives, then God forgives us. And so the very first point here in Hebrews is that we have to have repentance from that works. And then it says also in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1, we have to, as it says, have faith towards God. And that's exactly what those Jews on the Day of Pentecost, they believed what Peter told them, that they had killed Christ. And therefore, they believed that they had done that and that they needed Christ's sacrifice. And so the gift, the very first gift in a sense that you get is free justification.

Gratas, justified freely. The key word here is justified, because many people use and interpret that word as being saved. No, it's justified. Justified means made just with God. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. And when you make a commitment to repent, to change, and you believe in what Christ has done, that it's good enough for you and I, and you trust Him, He is going to make us right with God. Gratas. Gratas.

And so immediately after that, we've got to certify, let's call it that, that commitment. How? By getting baptized. And that's why in the very next verse, in verse 2, it says the doctrine of baptisms. And so it follows a logical sequence. These doctrines, basic doctrines of Christ, we have to repent from dead works and we'll stop doing works that lead to death. We have to trust in God. Basically what God has done through Christ, what Christ has done because of their faith, Christ's faith, for what He's done. And because of what He's done, I have faith in Him that He is God and Christ have our best wishes in their mind.

They want us to repent. The goodness of God leads us to repentance. And so we repent, we trust God, we have faith towards God, and then we make that commitment, which is part of the baptism. But the interesting point here, brethren, is that in Hebrews 6, verse 2, it does not say of the doctrine of baptism. It says of the doctrine of baptism's plural. And so as far as you and I individually, there is more than one baptism, because there's the baptism of water that a minister gives to you as a minister upon counseling for baptism, and the minister baptizes you in water, fully immersed. You have made that commitment.

You understand what you're committing. You understand what you're signing in religious commitment. You understand you've counted the cost, as in Luke 19, and now you make that commitment. But then after that, as it says, baptisms of laying on our hands, because following that, you have a minister praying and laying hands on you and asking God to fulfill the promise of the Father to give you his Holy Spirit. And so baptism is a commitment.

Put it in other ways, it's a covenant. It's a contract. It's a contract of the new covenant. But that is followed with the laying on of hands. And you and I receive God's Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, as you can see in the story in Acts chapter 8, verses 19, big apart 17 through 19, that it says you receive God's Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands of God's ministers, in that case of was of God's apostles. And so, now we have a very important point that receiving God's Holy Spirit is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You see, you and I are not just baptized in water by the minister, but Christ, after the water baptism, through the laying on of hands, Christ Himself baptizes you of the Holy Spirit, which, as you know, it proceeds from the Father, John 15, verse 26.

So it's God's Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and Christ then does the baptism during the laying on of hands, the prayer, and then Christ gives you that other helper, which is God's Holy Spirit, that will teach us all things, that will help us to understand more truth and will help us to grow and puts us in God's family as His children, sons and daughters.

We're not yet born again. It's like in the physical analogy, when a baby is begotten or begotten in a mother's womb. In other words, when the mother initially becomes pregnant with the baby. The baby is not born yet. There's still a period of nine months of growing in the womb, which in the analogy is in the mother, which is our spiritual mother, is the Church of God. So the baby is still growing in the womb, but baptism is just the first step.

Now there's got to be growth using God's Holy Spirit. You've got to mature. You've got to walk towards perfection. We're still not saved. You see, there's much more than that. It means being faithful to the end.

Those that are of Christ are called, chosen, and faithful. Called, basically, they heard the truth. Chosen, basically, they've committed, and they've been baptized, and they receive the Holy Spirit.

And faithful means they've been faithful to the end, whenever the end is, for that person. But they're not saved yet. There's a lot more than just accepting Christ. There's a lot more than just being in the Church.

We've got to live and put the practice the way. And so we now get to the final pair. And the final pair is Yah, in Hebrews 6, verse 2, which is of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. And that means we will have life a second time. Resurrection will have life. And as we read in 1 Corinthians 15, it's in order, and that resurrection, it will be at the last trumpet, which symbolizes Christ's coming. And we have scriptures like 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51 through 53.

And we've got scriptures like 1 Thessalonians 4, 15 through 18. You know these scriptures, so I don't have to go through them all now. But there is another interesting scripture that you know, but I just want to turn to it very briefly, which is in Revelation 11, verse 15. Because in Revelation 11, we see that last trumpet, that seventh trumpet sounding, and that's when it says, the kingdoms of this wall, of this society, the nations of this wall that are governed by different people, now will be governed by our Lord and his Christ.

In other words, they'll be now the kingdom under the rule or the government of God, will now become God's government ruling over the nations of the world. And then it says, at that time, if you jump to verse 18, the nations were angry, and it's the time of the dead that they should be judged. How? Because it's talking about a resurrection. They will be resurrected at this last trumpet, and they will be judged. And there'll be rewards, and those that destroy the earth will be destroyed finally. So there is a process. There is a process. You see, Christ is alive, and you and I are saved by his life, as we read that in Romans 5, verse 10, because Christ is our judge.

You and I are being judged today in the Church of God. The others, when they're resurrected, they'll be judged. There'll be a judgment. And with that judgment, as we read in Hebrews, chapter 6, verse 2, there'll be eternal judgment. With that resurrection, there will be eternal judgment. And so, brethren, there will be a judgment. Now, that judgment is talked about in Revelation, chapter 20. And so, if we read in Revelation, chapter 20, verses 11 and 12, says, And I saw a great white frown, and him that sat on it, and from whose the face of the earth of heaven flared away, and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. Important people are not so important, of different areas. All will resurrect. And the books were opened. The Greek word is the Bible, which is God's word, biblia, in Greek, the Bible. And they were judged according to God's word. So, there is a resurrection and a judgment. And then, you and I know that, and that we learn every year on the last great day, there will be a time period where they have to overcome. But it's a probation period, because a probation period is part of a judgment, right?

There's a probation period. They're going to have to give account. And that's why we read, you know, some people, you read that in Matthew 11 and in Matthew 12, that for some people, that they will be more tolerable than for others, because they are being judged, and their probation period will be, for some, will be tougher than for others. And they're going to have to do something and have to overcome.

And then it says the book of life will be open, and they'll be judged according to their works, by the things were written in the books, according to the standards of the Bible. And so, we have these doctrines. We have these teachings. But the focus, when we go back to Hebrews 6, chapter 1, is that we gotta move on, it says, yeah, to perfection. We gotta move on to perfection. We gotta follow the way.

We gotta live. It's not just accepting Christ or in our church terms, it's not just keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days and tithing and doing all that. It's more to it. It's hard. We gotta live God's way. We gotta live the way. We gotta put it to practice. And that is applicable to all, as it says, small and great. So whether you're the highest level minister in the church, or you're the lowest level of person in the church, that's one possible example of small and great, could be whether you're the richest man or the poorest man, whatever, small and great, would all be charged according to the same standard.

And it says, those of you that, for instance, are ministers, you have a tougher judgment. So, you know, it's not just accepting Christ, not just living, coming to church and warming up a seat and all that. There's a lot more that we gotta live in our lives. And that's why it says in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 13, we really need to be skilled in the Word of righteousness, which is God's Word. It's the Bible. And we're gonna live according to God's righteousness. And that is, we gotta learn to discern between what is right and wrong, and discern is what? Put it to practice. It's put it to practice.

We're not babies. We're not drinking milk out of a bottle. This is serious stuff. It affects your and my eternal life.

And so, we gotta grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We gotta grow from faith to faith. We gotta live and be one in that way. We gotta be perfect in unity, as Christ prayed in John 17.

Brethren, these are the basic doctrines of Christ. How are we doing?

How am I doing? Ask yourself. I'm asking myself. I must admit, we all fail. I fail.

But the direction is, we gotta keep going.

Even though we're not perfect, we gotta keep going on that way. We are not children. We're not babies. We need to be adults in this solid food. Therefore, there's much more that we gotta do. And that's, brethren, what I want to leave with you. I want to leave with you this thought. How are you doing? How am I doing as far as keeping and observing the basic doctrines of Christ? Am I moving forwards towards perfection?