Abiding in the Doctrine of Christ

Abiding in The Doctrine of Christ

II John 9

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

            Those who do not know the doctrine of Christ cannot abide in the doctrine of Christ. And what is the doctrine of Christ? The doctrine of Christ answers (at the very least) three very important questions: (1.) Who is The Christ? (2.) What has the Christ done? (3.) Where is the Christ now?

            Who is the Christ of God? Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God. Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and is one with the Father from everlasting (John 10:30; 14:5-11; Micah 5:2; Proverbs 8:22-31). Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of the virgin whose name was Mary; and therefore Christ is without sin and had no sin nature; for He is not a son of Adam, but is the Son of God, and is Himself “Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14) as it is written in the New Testament “Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us,” (Matthew 1:23). That “Holy Thing” (Luke 1:35) that was born of the virgin Mary is a man for He was born of woman, the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) and He is God, “the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:32). Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, is the Word made flesh, (John 1:14), “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” (John 1:1). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the one and the only Mediator between God and men because He is the one, and the only, God-man, and is therefore properly fitted and uniquely qualified to the office of Mediator. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (I Timothy 2:5). And “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” (Colossians 2:9). The body (Hebrews 10:5) of our Lord Jesus Christ is the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man (Hebrews 8:2; 9:11) therefore since our Lord Jesus Christ is God in Human Flesh, He can and does from all eternity speak for men in the presence of God; and since our Lord Jesus Christ is man he can and has and does by His Spirit speak to men to reveal to them the will of the Father and the way to the Father which is through Himself (John 1:18; 14:6; Matthew 11:27).

            Who is the Christ of God? Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, and He is the Propitiation for the children of God: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world,” (I John 2:1-2). It is Jesus Christ alone who has made propitious the sins of the elect of God in all the world, as opposed to the Jewish nation only. In Old Testament times the smoke from Jewish Alters was for the natural children of Israel alone, with the exception of some few individuals who had joined themselves to the nation of Israel. The Gentiles were left out of the offerings for sin, of the priests of the order of Aaron, the Gentiles had no representative, no mediator, no surety, no access to a Thrice Holy God, for it is written “Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I punish you for your iniquities,” (Amos 3:1-2). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the propitiatory sacrifice that made peace for the children of the everlasting covenant of grace. And our Lord Jesus Christ is the propitiation of the children of God, He it is who has made satisfaction to the law and justice of God, Christ Jesus has made atonement and is our peace with God, (Ephesians 2:14). Christ Jesus has reconciled His people to God by HIs blood, (II Corinthians 5:18-21).

            Who is the Christ of God? Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, and the Redeemer of HIs people. Christ Jesus is the only Redeemer of the elect of God, and He redeemed all HIs people, who had been set apart (sanctified) in Him from everlasting, at the same time and by one purchase at the Cross of Calvary. Christ Jesus purchased all His elect from the curse of the broken law. The children of God had fallen into the transgression of the law of God in their natural covenant head, and owed a debt, of death eternal, to the justice of God for sin. Christ Jesus paid that debt and set the captives free.  All those who were purchased by the blood of Christ shall, without fail, be brought to repentance and faith by the infallible operation of God the Holy Ghost, for “it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life,” (John 6:63); and as it is written “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth on thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever,” (Isaiah 59:21).

            What has the Christ of God done? Our Lord Jesus Christ has finished the work the Father gave Him to do, (John 17:4). And some will ask; what has the Father given the Christ to do? Christ Jesus has declared the Father, (John 1:18) that is, Christ Jesus has declared the mind of the Father; His purpose of grace, and His will. Christ Jesus came into this world to reveal the Father to all that the Father had given Him in eternity past. “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him,” (Matthew 11:27). The Son savingly reveals the Father to the children of the covenant, and therefore the children of the covenant do know the Father and to know the Father is eternal life; “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,” (John 17:3).

            What has the Christ of God done? “Call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins,” (Matthew 1:21). Christ Jesus has saved His people from their sins. Our Lord Jesus Christ has put away the sin of HIs people by His death in their stead at Calvary, He has “by himself purged our sins” (Hebrews 1:3) and He has justified them by His blood, (Romans 5:9). That which is yet to be done is that all the children of the covenant are yet to be made aware of the fact that they are the children of God, and that the Son of God has purchased them. They must be born of the Spirit of God, and taught by the Spirit of their inheritance of grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ calls His children of the covenant, His sheep, and himself their shepherd; (John 10:11,16, 26) Christ Jesus never came into this world to make sheep of goats, goats are goats, and sheep are sheep, goats were never sheep and sheep were never goats, (Matthew 25:31-34). Consider diligently the words of the psalmist; “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand,” (Psalm 95:6-7).

            Where is the Christ of God now, “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased,” (Psalm 115:3). Our Lord Jesus Christ is one with the Father (John 10:30) He is the only visible Jehovah, the image of the invisible God, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person (I Timothy 1:17; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). Our Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God: “a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec” as it is written: “(For those priests were made without an oath; [that is, the sons of Aaron, writers parenthesis] but this (this Great High Priest, Jesus Christ) with an oath by him that said unto him, The LORD sware and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec:) (Hebrews 7:21 see Psalm 110:4).  “The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool, (Psalm 110:1). Our Lord Jesus Christ; though He is the “Lord of glory” (I Corinthians 2:8) yet He “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8) and “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made rich,” (II Corinthians 8:9). The Father had charged His Son with the task of bringing His many sons to glory (Galatians 4:6, Hebrews 2:10). In order to accomplish this task the Father brought His only begotten and well Beloved Son into the “dust of death” as it is written “My strength is dried up like a potsherd: and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death,” (Psalm 22:15) and again “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand,” (Isaiah 53:10). Christ Jesus gave Himself an offering to God for the sin of His people, to put away their sin (Hebrews 9:26) to wash them from their sin in His own blood (Revelation 1:5) to reconcile God, and make peace throughout the blood of His cross (Ephesians 2:16; Colossians I:20 II Corinthians 5:18). Christ Jesus has successfully completed all that the Father sent Him to do; “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,” (Hebrews 10:14). Therefore all the children of God are perfected forever in Christ Jesus, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him A-men, unto the glory of God by us.” (II Corinthians 1:20).

            Because the God-man, Christ Jesus, has completed all the work that was appointed to Him of the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead in the everlasting covenant: God has said to Him “Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool,” (Psalm 110:1). And because Christ Jesus has finished the work of Salvation for His people, that is, Christ Jesus has established the ground of salvation, by fulfilling the law for His people, and thereby has brought in everlastng righteousness for His people and has put away the sins of His elect by His death in their room and stead: whereby God can be just and justify the ungodly (Romans 3:26; 4:5). Because of all this, it is written “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth; and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:9-11). And again it is written “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors,” (Isaiah 53:12). See the writers blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org (webcasting live during service times)   

 A.J.Ison

             

             

Abiding in The Doctrine of Christ

II John 9

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

            Those who do not know the doctrine of Christ cannot abide in the doctrine of Christ. And what is the doctrine of Christ? The doctrine of Christ answers (at the very least) three very important questions: (1.) Who is The Christ? (2.) What has the Christ done? (3.) Where is the Christ now?

            Who is the Christ of God? Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God. Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and is one with the Father from everlasting (John 10:30; 14:5-11; Micah 5:2; Proverbs 8:22-31). Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of the virgin whose name was Mary; and therefore Christ is without sin and had no sin nature; for He is not a son of Adam, but is the Son of God, and is Himself “Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14) as it is written in the New Testament “Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us,” (Matthew 1:23). That “Holy Thing” (Luke 1:35) that was born of the virgin Mary is a man for He was born of woman, the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) and He is God, “the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:32). Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, is the Word made flesh, (John 1:14), “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” (John 1:1). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the one and the only Mediator between God and men because He is the one, and the only, God-man, and is therefore properly fitted and uniquely qualified to the office of Mediator. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (I Timothy 2:5). And “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” (Colossians 2:9). The body (Hebrews 10:5) of our Lord Jesus Christ is the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man (Hebrews 8:2; 9:11) therefore since our Lord Jesus Christ is God in Human Flesh, He can and does from all eternity speak for men in the presence of God; and since our Lord Jesus Christ is man he can and has and does by His Spirit speak to men to reveal to them the will of the Father and the way to the Father which is through Himself (John 1:18; 14:6; Matthew 11:27).

            Who is the Christ of God? Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, and He is the Propitiation for the children of God: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world,” (I John 2:1-2). It is Jesus Christ alone who has made propitious the sins of the elect of God in all the world, as opposed to the Jewish nation only. In Old Testament times the smoke from Jewish Alters was for the natural children of Israel alone, with the exception of some few individuals who had joined themselves to the nation of Israel. The Gentiles were left out of the offerings for sin, of the priests of the order of Aaron, the Gentiles had no representative, no mediator, no surety, no access to a Thrice Holy God, for it is written “Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I punish you for your iniquities,” (Amos 3:1-2). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the propitiatory sacrifice that made peace for the children of the everlasting covenant of grace. And our Lord Jesus Christ is the propitiation of the children of God, He it is who has made satisfaction to the law and justice of God, Christ Jesus has made atonement and is our peace with God, (Ephesians 2:14). Christ Jesus has reconciled His people to God by HIs blood, (II Corinthians 5:18-21).

            Who is the Christ of God? Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, and the Redeemer of HIs people. Christ Jesus is the only Redeemer of the elect of God, and He redeemed all HIs people, who had been set apart (sanctified) in Him from everlasting, at the same time and by one purchase at the Cross of Calvary. Christ Jesus purchased all His elect from the curse of the broken law. The children of God had fallen into the transgression of the law of God in their natural covenant head, and owed a debt, of death eternal, to the justice of God for sin. Christ Jesus paid that debt and set the captives free.  All those who were purchased by the blood of Christ shall, without fail, be brought to repentance and faith by the infallible operation of God the Holy Ghost, for “it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life,” (John 6:63); and as it is written “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth on thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever,” (Isaiah 59:21).

            What has the Christ of God done? Our Lord Jesus Christ has finished the work the Father gave Him to do, (John 17:4). And some will ask; what has the Father given the Christ to do? Christ Jesus has declared the Father, (John 1:18) that is, Christ Jesus has declared the mind of the Father; His purpose of grace, and His will. Christ Jesus came into this world to reveal the Father to all that the Father had given Him in eternity past. “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him,” (Matthew 11:27). The Son savingly reveals the Father to the children of the covenant, and therefore the children of the covenant do know the Father and to know the Father is eternal life; “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,” (John 17:3).

            What has the Christ of God done? “Call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins,” (Matthew 1:21). Christ Jesus has saved His people from their sins. Our Lord Jesus Christ has put away the sin of HIs people by His death in their stead at Calvary, He has “by himself purged our sins” (Hebrews 1:3) and He has justified them by His blood, (Romans 5:9). That which is yet to be done is that all the children of the covenant are yet to be made aware of the fact that they are the children of God, and that the Son of God has purchased them. They must be born of the Spirit of God, and taught by the Spirit of their inheritance of grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ calls His children of the covenant, His sheep, and himself their shepherd; (John 10:11,16, 26) Christ Jesus never came into this world to make sheep of goats, goats are goats, and sheep are sheep, goats were never sheep and sheep were never goats, (Matthew 25:31-34). Consider diligently the words of the psalmist; “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand,” (Psalm 95:6-7).

            Where is the Christ of God now, “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased,” (Psalm 115:3). Our Lord Jesus Christ is one with the Father (John 10:30) He is the only visible Jehovah, the image of the invisible God, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person (I Timothy 1:17; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). Our Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God: “a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec” as it is written: “(For those priests were made without an oath; [that is, the sons of Aaron, writers parenthesis] but this (this Great High Priest, Jesus Christ) with an oath by him that said unto him, The LORD sware and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec:) (Hebrews 7:21 see Psalm 110:4).  “The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool, (Psalm 110:1). Our Lord Jesus Christ; though He is the “Lord of glory” (I Corinthians 2:8) yet He “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8) and “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made rich,” (II Corinthians 8:9). The Father had charged His Son with the task of bringing His many sons to glory (Galatians 4:6, Hebrews 2:10). In order to accomplish this task the Father brought His only begotten and well Beloved Son into the “dust of death” as it is written “My strength is dried up like a potsherd: and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death,” (Psalm 22:15) and again “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand,” (Isaiah 53:10). Christ Jesus gave Himself an offering to God for the sin of His people, to put away their sin (Hebrews 9:26) to wash them from their sin in His own blood (Revelation 1:5) to reconcile God, and make peace throughout the blood of His cross (Ephesians 2:16; Colossians I:20 II Corinthians 5:18). Christ Jesus has successfully completed all that the Father sent Him to do; “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,” (Hebrews 10:14). Therefore all the children of God are perfected forever in Christ Jesus, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him A-men, unto the glory of God by us.” (II Corinthians 1:20).

            Because the God-man, Christ Jesus, has completed all the work that was appointed to Him of the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead in the everlasting covenant: God has said to Him “Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool,” (Psalm 110:1). And because Christ Jesus has finished the work of Salvation for His people, that is, Christ Jesus has established the ground of salvation, by fulfilling the law for His people, and thereby has brought in everlastng righteousness for His people and has put away the sins of His elect by His death in their room and stead: whereby God can be just and justify the ungodly (Romans 3:26; 4:5). Because of all this, it is written “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth; and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:9-11). And again it is written “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors,” (Isaiah 53:12). See the writers blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org (webcasting live during service times)   

 A.J.Ison