EVANGELICAL BIBLE COLLEGE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
EVANGELICAL BIBLE COLLEGE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
20 CHRISTIAN LIVING PRINCIPLES.
PASTOR PAULL OOST
[BOOK 110]
APRIL 2005
WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?
Professor Simon Greenleaf was one of the most eminent lawyers of all time. His “Laws of Evidence” for many years were accepted by all States in the United States as the standard methodology for evaluating cases. He was teaching law at a university in the United States when one of his students asked Professor Greenleaf if he would apply his “Laws of Evidence” to evaluate an historical figure. When Greenleaf agreed to the project he asked the student who was to be the subject of the review. The student replied that the person to be examined would be Jesus Christ. Professor Greenleaf agreed to undertake the examination of Jesus Christ and as a result, when he had finished the review, Simon Greenleaf personally accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour.
Professor Greenleaf then sent an open letter to all jurists in the United States saying in part “I personally have investigated one called Jesus Christ. I have found the evidence concerning him to be historically accurate. I have also discovered that Jesus Christ is more than a human being, he is either God or nothing and having examined the evidence it is impossible to conclude other than he is God. Having concluded that he is God I have accepted him as my personal Saviour. I urge all members of the legal profession to use the “Laws of Evidence” to investigate the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and if you find that he is wrong expose him as a faker but if not consider him as your Saviour and Lord”
HOW CAN I BE SAVED?
Salvation is available for all members of the human race.
Salvation is the most important undertaking in all of God's universe. The salvation of sinners is never on the basis of God's merely passing over or closing His eyes to sin. God saves sinners on a completely righteous basis consistent with the divine holiness of His character. This is called grace. It relies on God so man cannot work for salvation, neither can he deserve it. We need to realise that the creation of this vast unmeasured universe was far less an undertaking than the working out of God's plan to save sinners.
However the acceptance of God's salvation by the sinner is the most simple thing in all of life. One need not be rich, nor wise, nor educated. Age is no barrier nor the colour of one's skin. The reception of the enormous benefits of God's redemption is based upon the simplest of terms so that there is no one in all this wide universe who need be turned away.
How do I become a Christian?
There is but one simple step divided into three parts. First of all I have to recognise that I am a sinner (Romans 3:23; 6:23; Ezekiel 18:4; John 5:24).
Secondly, realising that if I want a relationship with Almighty God who is perfect, and recognising that I am not perfect, I need to look to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour (1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 2:24; lsaiah 53:6; John 3:16).
Thirdly, by the exercise of my own free will I personally receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour, believing that He died personally for me and that He is what He claims to be in an individual, personal and living way (John 1:12; 3:36; Acts 16:31; 4:12).
The results of Salvation
The results of this are unbelievably wonderful:
My sins are taken away (John 1:29),
I possess eternal life now (1 John 5:11,12),
I become a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17),
The Holy Spirit takes up His residence in my life (1 Corinthians 6:19),
And I will never perish (John 10:28-30).
This truthfully is life's greatest transaction. This is the goal of all people; this is the ultimate of our existence. We invite and exhort any reader who has not become a Christian by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ to follow these simple instructions and be born again eternally into God's family (Matthew 11:28; John 1:12; Acts 4:12; 16:31).
© Evangelical Bible College of Western Australia 2004 - PO Box 163 Armadale Western Australia 6992
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CONTENTS
MESSAGE / PAGE1 / AIM TO PLEASE GOD FIRST, NOT MEN / 3
2 / GETTING THE BEST OF LONELINESS / 14
3 / DON’T RUN, DON’T HIDE – FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT / 24
4 / MAKING THE DIFFERENCE BY THE LITTLE THINGS WE DO / 35
5 / HUSBANDS – LOVE YOUR WIVES / 46
6 / WIVES SUBMIT TO YOUR HUSBANDS / 51
7 / SO YOU ARE SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS WITH FEAR / 57
8 / SO YOU HAVE SOME DOUBTS AND ARE NOT SURE / 68
9 / SO YOU ARE HAVING A HARD TIME SAYING NO TO TEMPTATION / 77
10 / SO YOU ARE DEPRESSED AND DOWN IN THE DUMPS / 86
11 / SO YOU ARE ABOUT TO BLOW YOUR STACK IN ANGER / 97
12 / PUTTING THE PAST BEHIND YOU / 107
13 / PEACE OF MIND IN A TROUBLED WORLD / 114
14 / WINNING THE INNER STRUGGLE AND ROMANS 7:15 / 125
15 / ZEROES CAN BE HEROES / 134
16 / GOOD TIPS FOR PRAYER / 144
17 / THE CHRISTIAN’S VICTORY OVER SATAN / 148
18 / SO YOU FEEL AS GUILTY AS A DOG / 155
19 / CHRISTIAN – DON’T BE AFRAID TO DIE / 164
20 / VITAL ANSWERS TO 4 CRITICALLY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS / 169
AIM TO PLEASE GOD FIRST – NOT MEN
Galatians 1:6-12:-
6. “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, {the Messiah} to a different gospel,
7. which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
10. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
11. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
12. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (NKJ)
The passage that we have before us clearly shows that the apostle Paul took a very hard line concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
He knows that to alter any aspect of the Gospel is to essentially create a different message which will NOT save people from the penalty of their SINS. This is what Paul saw happening to some at the church at Galatia.
In verses 6-7, Paul confronts the Galatians at once on their readiness to accept error. He is amazed that they should SO suddenly surrender the truth of the Gospel.
Paul says, “I marvel” – which means, “I can’t get over it”.
People then and now seem to drift away from the Gospel very quickly.
Today, when we get away from other Christians and are pressured and badgered by others, we often find it very easy to compromise. We often find that when a Christian takes a compromising stand regarding what they believe, it ultimately leads to the point where they will drift away from the truth altogether.
Paul solemnly labels the actions of some of the Galatians as deserting God for a false gospel. God had called them into the grace of Christ, yet NOW they were putting themselves under the curse of the law.
Legalists had come to "trouble" the Galatians with their false doctrine.
Legalism always unsettles the soul and throws the church into confusion. Without doubt, the greatest distortion to Grace today is religious legalism.
Religion and Legalism are Satan’s Ace and King of trumps, the primary means by which he “blinds the minds of those who seek Jesus Christ.”
The word, "trouble " in verse 7 carries the idea of to shake back and forth. Legalists are notorious troublemakers.
The idea of the word, "pervert " in verse 7 is to transform something into an opposite character.
The Judaizers transformed the Gospel into something diametrically opposite to its true character. Thus, they “perverted” the Gospel. They turned it around into the very opposite of its original design. They altered its message from a doctrine of GRACE to a doctrine of WORKS.
I want to say to you this morning that a distorted Gospel is more dangerous to a lost soul than NO gospel at all.!!
We must remember that the Gospel is Christ's Gospel, NOT Paul's Gospel. When people distort the Gospel, they violate Jesus Christ.
The wrong message destroys, it cannot save a lost soul from an eternity in hell.!!
And so, for anyone to decide that they don’t like a certain aspect of the Gospel, or, that they think it could use some changes, Paul pulls no punches.!! He explains that his message of hope and life will not tolerate any such alterations, because GOD will not tolerate them.
Galatians 1:8-9:-
8. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”
In these 2 verses, the apostle Paul twice pronounces the solemn curse of God on anyone who preaches any other gospel.
You see, God has only one message for doomed sinners. He offers salvation by grace through faith – entirely apart from law-keeping.
Those who proclaim any other way of salvation must necessarily be doomed together with those poor souls who believe them.
How very serious it is to preach a false message that results in the eternal ruination of souls.!! Paul had no time for such unscrupulous false teachers and neither should we.!!
Notice that the apostle says in verse 8,
“but even if we, or an angel from HEAVEN preach any other gospel to you……………….”
Paul didn’t say, “or an angel from GOD” but, an angel from Heaven. You see, an angel from heaven could conceivably bring a false message, but an angel from God could NOT.!!
Just in case some might think that Paul's team is an exception, he includes his Gospel team in this hypothesis. Paul draws the unlikely hypothesis that even if his Gospel team, OR an angel from Heaven were to preach a different gospel than the Gospel of grace, they should be cursed along with anyone else who distorts the Gospel.
It makes NO difference who preaches the Gospel; the Gospel must be the Gospel of grace.
This is NOT a question of WHO preaches, but WHAT is preached.
Keep in mind that though Paul is the one writing this letter it is the Holy Spirit of God Who is behind him inspiring it. And because of its divine origin it was delivered both to the Galatians and to US in this world today.
It is Christ Himself who is sending this warning to the church and to the world. And He is doing this NOT because He is being some sort of ogre, but because He loves us too much to give us anything but the truth. This is the truth which allows us to come into a personal relationship with our God and Creator.
I dare say that most of us today probably wouldn’t take this particular tack with people who preach false teaching.
……You know, declaring them to be accursed.
Some have misconstrued Paul’s tone here as being an open attack on people who disagree with those of us who have embraced Christ as Lord and Saviour. But this is not what Paul is doing.
Paul is speaking to people who claim to be Christians. He is speaking to people who claim to be leaders in the church but who are actually changing the essential message of what it means to be a Christian.
And so, this warning is defensible because IF you believe and promote the wrong message, you will stand under God’s judgement. There is simply NO other message that will redeem a lost soul.!!
Isn’t it amazing that when it comes to teaching the ONLY way to God, most people outside of the church want to change the rules.
Can you imagine a flight instructor teaching his pupils who want to fly that it doesn’t make any difference how you get into the air and stay there, as long as you’re sincere about it?
Can you imagine a brain surgeon taking the attitude that it doesn’t make any difference where you cut, or what you cut, - because what is really important is that you have compassion for your patient. Therefore, ANY surgical procedure will do.
Tell that to someone who is just about to go under anaesthesia.!! Believe me they don’t want to hear their surgeon debating what end of the body to start slicing on.
The truth is the truth, whether it’s understanding the basics of flight, or, how the brain works.
And when it comes to where each of us will spend our eternal destiny, the truth takes on a much more infinite weight of importance.
To suggest that it doesn’t make any difference if we alter the Gospel is like saying it doesn’t make any difference which end of a gun you use.
Paul says most powerfully that those who would change the only Gospel will be cursed.