How To Rightly Divide.

Acts 2: 14 - 18

 

14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that      

     they  strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be

     ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

          16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more

               ungodliness.

17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past

   already; and

    overthrow the faith of some.

 

How do we know we are rightly dividing the truth and not just some other mans interpretation?

 

I.       WE MUST BELIVE THE FACTS.

          A.      Gen. 1: 1  Moses record the beginning.

                   1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

                   It seems to be a simple fact, but some refuse to believe it.  Why man can not   just give God the credit and go on is beyond me.  We are going to Mars to see if we can find anything that would give us insight to the beginning of our universe.  Wouldn’t it be great if they found the Bible on Mars?  No because they would have to spend bullions of dollars to find out who left it there.  The fact that God created the world is found in every discovery man finds from the complexity of the eye to fact that the universe exist.

 

 

 

                             1.       Gen. 1: 26 – 27  God created man.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

How simple Moses makes it sound.  Man was made in the image of God and Christ.  How can we understand that any different, when we know Jesus came to this earth and walked and talked with others and was recognized as a man.  We must believe the fact that John 1 tells us Christ was in the beginning.

2.       John 3: 14 – 16    The fact is Christ is the Son of God and no one should be lost, but their unbelief will cause them to be lost.

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

If they would have just believed and obeyed him they could have been saved. They saw his miracles and still did not believe.  It is no wonder that if they believe not God they will not believe Christ nor his word, the Bible.

 

 

 

 

B.      John 20: 30 – 31  Do you believe in Jesus Christ than you must believe his word              and believing ye might have eternal life through his word.

30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Many do not believe Christ word because they would then have to obey it.

C.      Rom. 5: 8 – 9  We need to thank God that he gave his son for us.  We need to accept the fact that only through the blood of Christ can we be cleansed of our sins.

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

II.      WE MUST OBEY HIS COMMANDS.

          A.      JOHN 14: 1  If we believe in Christ we should want to obey Him.

                   1 ¶ Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

                   1.       Acts 17: 30  Repenting of our sins is commanded.

30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

Repentance is to change directions.  If we are living in sin we must change directions and obey Christ.  We can not continue in our sins.

                   2.       Matt. 10: 32 – 33  Jesus commands we confess him before men.

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

If we refuse to confess Christ he will deny us to God.  How can any one believe in God and not obey Jesus Christ.  We can not obey him unless we are willing to confess him.  Some say, “I can stand before all those people and confess Christ.”  He did not say you had to.  You could have two or three present, but you are going to have to confess him every day before the world.  Your life will have to change and a part of that change is being willing to stand up in the world of sin and be seen as a Christian.  Why would you be afraid to stand before your loving family and say I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God?  It will much easier to stand here than to stand in hell and say I was to afraid to confess Christ.

3.       Acts 10: 48  Peter preached unto Cornelius and his household and what did they do?

          48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

          Cornelius was a good man, a man who believed in God and did good works.

          It is not because you are not a good person that you must be baptized, but because Jesus command ed it.

4.       Matt. 28: 19 – 20  Jesus said teach them, baptize them and teach them all things.

          19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

          20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.         

          We as Christians must obey Christ also.  It is not a one time thing to be saved, but a life of living salvation to its fullest.  One must be taught to gospel of Jesus Christ.  They must be convinced in their own mind to obey the command to be baptized.  Hen we must be willing to teach them to obey the commands of Christ. 

How can we teach them something we are not obeying.  What will they think if we teach them not to forsake the assemble and we are not here?  What will they think if we teach them to teach other and we don’t?  Let us Obey His commands.

B.      Rom. 6: 12 – 13  We can not sin willfully and be saved.  We must yield our selves to God not the lust of the flesh.  For if we obey Christ sin can not overcome us.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Tonight I want to talk about God’s Grace.  God grace makes the difference.

1.       Rom. 6: 16 – 18  God is pleased if we come our of sin and obey Him.  To           continue to please God we must continue in His righteousness.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

          If we know what pleases God why would we not do it?

2.       Heb. 5: 8 – 9  Jesus had to learn obedience so he could be perfect.

          8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

We will never be perfect, but we can learn obedience to Jesus Christ and by God’s grace Christ has promised eternal salvation to all that will obey him.

Do we believe that?

III.     CHRIST PROMISES MUST BE TRUSTED.

          A.      Mark 16: 16  Jesus promised baptism is needed for salvation.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Jesus spoke the truth and you can trust his word.

1.       Acts 2: 38 Jesus taught Peter to teach baptism was nessesary and to trust his words.

38 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.

Peter preach baptism for the remission of sins because he trusted Jesus who promised him salvation.

                   2.       Acts 2: 47  Christ adds the saved to His church.

47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Christ said to be baptized to be saved and here it says the saved are added to the church, so those baptized into Christ, Christ adds them to His church.

So unless you are baptized into Christ you are not saved and not in Christ church.

3.       2 Peter 1: 4

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

          B.      1 John 2: 25  Jesus promised eternal life.

                   25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

                   If we believe Jesus promises we will want to obey Him to receive it.

                   1.       2 Peter 3: 9  The Lord gives us plenty of time to repent and accept his                            promises.

9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

                   2.       2 Cor. 7: 1  Cleans your self of sin having Godly fear.

1 ¶ Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Godly fear causes us to obey knowing the consequences.  If we believe God we know God will do what he has promised, but give eternal life to the faithful and give hell to all others.

 

To rightly divide the truth we must believe the Bible facts.  We must obey the Bible commands, and we must trust the promises of god with Godly fear.

Do you need to be christian today.  If you are not then the answer is yes.  You need to come and confess Christ and be baptized for the remission of your sins.  If you’re a Christian and not faithful to God you need to come back and repent.

Do you truly believe God.   I hope you do.