1. Justified by grace, faith & works. “Faith alone” is false!
2. Does James contradict Paul? Never! (Both men were inspired – how can the Holy Spirit contradict Himself??)
3. What about baptism (in water)? Part of the obedience of faith – it is not earning salvation by works according to the inspired apostle Paul.
4. The example of Naaman the leper. Naaman had to obey in order to be healed!
We can only be forgiven of our sins through the blood of Jesus (Rev. 1:5).
But when does that blood become effective in our lives? Jesus said:
Mk. 16:15-16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
o These are plain words which are easy to understand!
o i.e., Belief and baptism are essential to salvation.
But many today are saying/teaching that baptism is not essential to salvation!
e.g., Many claim today that Cornelius and the rest were saved before and without baptism in water.
Was Cornelius forgiven BEFORE his baptism in water?
No! Cornelius (and his) spoke in tongues to change the Jews way of thinking about the Gentiles.
It wasn’t evidence of salvation any more than it was with Balaam’s donkey!
Cornelius and his were forgiven when they were baptized in water, as Jesus said (Mk. 16:15,16)!
There is much false teaching today concerning The Covenants.
We’ll see in today’s lesson:
The old covenant began at Sinai ( 1450 BC) and ended at the death of Christ ( AD 30).
The new covenant began at the death of Christ ( AD 30) and has no end (while the earth remains).
Note:
The Jewish nation continued to exist politically until the Roman invasion and destruction of Jerusalem
in AD 70.
1. Old and New Covenants
2. Old and New High Priests
3. Old and New Laws
The old covenant was started in the time of Moses, by the offering of animal sacrifices.
The new covenant was started by the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross.
At that time the old covenant ended, and there was a change in God’s laws, so that we are no longer under the laws of the old covenant.
The “450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah” (1Kgs. 18:19) failed Elijah’s challenge:
– They raved on, but there was no god and consequently no answer (1Kgs. 18:29)!
– These false prophets were put to death by Elijah (1Kgs. 18:40; 19:1).
Sadly many people today are “raving” about the so-called rapture
Recall that Jesus’ teaching on the future is easy to understand, simple, ELEMENTARY (Heb. 6:1,2):
4:13-18 = no rapture, but reassurance with reference to deceased Christians.