Category: Authority

I am sure I join with everyone in wishing for consensus of opinion on all matters in all churches. However, the material question here is this: Is consensus necessary in order for a church to act in any matter? We answer in the negative in light of the apostles’ actions in Acts 6:3. They decided first and then told the brethren their decision.

Not abiding in Christ’s doctrine is going beyond it: going beyond what is revealed to that which is not and asserting that one can take advantage of God’s silence to authorize anything not specifically condemned. The principle is clear: going beyond what we can read is sinful; God’s silence is golden and must be revered and not broken.

Certainly churches should carefully consider who they support and where they send those they do support. However, the argument that a church can not send a preacher to a church in some place, especially in a mission field, is clearly not in harmony with the New Testament. We should beware lest false arguments hinder us in carrying out the great commission in our day (Mk. 16:15-16).

It matters not at all how the Baptists or any other sect votes on any issue or doctrine. All the edicts of all the ecclesiastical bodies of the all the earth count for nothing and mean even less. What is changed by their vote? Are the resolutions of men bound upon the word of God? Can they alter what God has said? No, not one syllable!

The purpose of this address is to examine the New Testament record and see how New Testament churches conducted missionary work or the work of evangelizing the world. We shall see that, in the execution of their divine commission, the matter of supervision, management and control was in the local churches, where God himself placed it, and was never transferred to a general board. The authority divinely invested in the local church was everywhere strictly respected, which effectually blocked the way against the entanglements which have always marked the history of general ecclesiastical organizations in religion.

All religious institutions, conceptions, and actions that find their authority outside the law of Christ are sinful and are destined to be rooted up by God (Matthew 15:13). The religion of Christ was designed by God in eternity, and must remain as delivered unto us by the Holy Spirit in the Bible. To add to it or to take from it or to preach other than its precepts is to incur the wrath of God (Galatians 1:8,9; 2 John 9-11; Revelation 22:18,19).

Brethren, more and more we will find ourselves on an “island” in our appeal to truth. However, we should heed the apostle Paul, and diligently strive to “let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.”

God once spoke unto men by the Old Testament prophets, but now he speaks unto us “by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1, 2). We no longer appeal to quaking, shaking Sinai, but unto the heavenly Mt. Zion (Hebrews 12:18-28). We no longer hear Moses who spake on earth but our Lord who speaketh from heaven. The voice from the earth, the Old Testament, spoke of both incense and the instrument. The one who speaketh from heaven speaks of neither.

Note how that in nearly every generation issues have arisen and often have reoccurred. So, repeated teaching is necessary for each generation, in order to avoid falling victim to apostasies. All of these “neo”, or new, movements, and doctrines, reflected the rebellion of men against established authority, and opened the door for more and greater departures from the apostolic order of things. Many in the brotherhood are fast on the road to classic modernism.

As noted earlier, Mr. Cryer said, “Some are telling folks that if they get baptized they are saved. The ‘water baptism path’ is a lie straight from the pits of Hell.” Mr. Cryer, if a Baptist preacher were to preach the very words of Jesus, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” would it be “a lie straight from the pits of Hell”? If not, what would it be? If a Baptist preacher told sinners to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,” would that be “a lie straight from the pits of Hell”? If not, what would it be?

The student of the Bible will endeavor to determine the meaning of a statement at the time it was written and how it was understood by those addressed. This is true of any document. To properly understand, one must be able to determine if a word or a passage is being used in a literal sense or in a figurative sense.

No one will seek for mercy and forgiveness until and unless one pleads guilty to the indictment of God’s law which pronounces us as sinners, violators of His law. The condemnation of the law should prepare us with heartfelt desire for the cleansing of the blood of Jesus and the forgiveness and pardon which our Heavenly Father offers us in the good news, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (Isaiah 55:6-7; Romans 1:16-17; 3:19-28; 4:20-25; 5:9-10). Grace abounds by forgiving us of all sins – all as to kind(s) and all as to number(s).

The Bible plainly shows that the central error of the Pharisees was their supplanting of God’s word with their human traditions. Now, as we examine some claims being made in our time regarding modern “Pharisaism”, we ask the question, “Who are the Pharisees today?”

God’s word reveals that we are to “count the cost.” (Luke 14:25-33) of serving Him. The cost is our all; our everything (Matthew 10:34-39). If we do not give up everything to him, we are not worthy of Him. There is no relationship, no belief, or circumstance that will allow us to say that His will is too much! Christ is our life and we shall surely know that it was worth it all in serving Him.

My friends, we are going to be judged by the Law of God. We cannot blame God because we are dull of hearing or because we say that His Word is beyond our ability to grasp. It is ME, not God, who is responsible to know the Truth and be made free. Every one of us are responsible to have our “…senses exercised to discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

If all men (including alien sinners) are under the law of Christ, then all men (including aliens) are under Christ’s law on marriage, divorce and remarriage (Matt. 19:9). That would mean that those who violate that law (by putting their mate away and marrying another) are living in adultery.

The Law of Moses was and is good. All things given by God are good (Js. 1:17). He did not make an evil covenant full of flaws and imperfections. Christ Himself did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill the Messianic prophecies and to fulfill it by keeping the Law perfectly (Mt. 5:17,18). True, the Old Testament is not valid for Christians today, but that does not mean it is of no value to New Testament Christians. Thank God for all of the inspired scriptures!

No one can earn his salvation for only sinless perfection would merit such a reward. The very first sin one commits makes it forever absolutely impossible for him to earn his salvation. A hundred good works cannot alone wash away a single sin. The grace of God, however, appears to all men as an offer of mercy washed in the blood of His own dear Son. Attention to the commands of the New Testament does not earn one his salvation but brings him into contact with the free gift he could never merit on his own (Romans 6:23).

Yes, God’s wants people to enjoy this life, from the young to the old. We need to remember, though, that there is a judgment coming for all of us, and God has a reason for that (Eccl. 11:9-10; Rom. 2:16; 2 Cor. 5:10; etc.)! God’s rules have reasons, and it is high time that we respect His laws and follow them. How much better this world would be, both physically and spiritually, if we simply followed the Lord’s will.

We hear today (as in ancient times) of those who moan from being “restricted” by God’s law, of being burdened by precepts too heavy to be borne, of “kicking against the goad.” The law is seen as interfering with “freedom,” as too narrow, as too demanding, as too unloving, as onerous.