Happy Sabbath! Please see our room information at: http://faithofjesus.to/chat.html
Zahakiel : Pastor, please offer an opening prayer.
Pastor_Chick_CSDA_7 : Dear Father in Heaven. Thank You for blessing us above we can ask or think as we now come before You... may we receive an abundance to inspiration for our benefit... and for the benefit of all within the sphere of our influence... thank You for hearing and answering our every prayer. In YAHSHUA's holy and precious name, AMEN.
Barbli : Amen
Zahakiel : Amen.
Guest_Naraiel : Amen.
Guest_Adriel : Amen
Guest_Lucan : Amen
Guest_Elyna_family : Amen.
Guest_gadriel : Amen. Amen
Guest_Peter : Amen
Zahakiel : Happy Sabbath to everyone. Tonight I want to address the question of who Yahshua is to the believer.
A few weeks ago, several of us saw a video of a sermon involving the “regeneration” involved in being born again. The speaker gave a message that was very similar to the Biblical view, although – as we had begun to discuss among ourselves – there were a few errors in the understanding and approach.
In looking up viewer responses to the video of the study, I was surprised and interested to find that one of the criticisms, repeated more than once, is that the speaker believes in something called “Lordship Salvation.” I was a bit confused, since the Scriptures certainly speak of both the Father and Son as “Lord.”
As we know, many times in the Old Testament the name of the Father, Yahweh, is translated as LORD, but there are nevertheless other verses that correctly use the term “Adonai” instead. Some Bible verses that quickly came to mind included the following:
“For the Lord Yahweh will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore, have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.” (Isa 50:7)
“Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign. According to all that he hath done shall ye do, and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.” (Ezek 24:24)
“To the Lord our Elohim belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.” (Dan 9:9)
In each of those above, the word “Lord” is not the name Yahweh, but a word that means master, governor, or ruler. In the New Testament, the exact Greek equivalent is applied to the Son:
“And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Yahshua; and great grace was upon them all.” (Acts 4:33)
“Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Yahshua the Messiah.” (1 Cor. 1:3)
“He which testifieth these things saith, ‘Surely I come quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Yahshua.” (Rev 22:20)
Time would fail us to cover all the many verses that call Yahshua the “Lord,” but it is clear that this label is His in a large number of passages, affirmed by most of the Bible’s authors. In fact, it is specifically predicted “that every tongue should confess that Yahshua the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:11)
Thomas’ confession of faith was to call the Son, “My Lord and my God;” (John 20:28) therefore, what could this criticism mean?
It turns out, as I discovered after some reading, that there are many people who do not believe that Yahshua is Lord in a certain sense, even though they may accept Him as Savior. It is certainly true that the Scriptures call Yahshua the Redeemer, the Savior, and (as we have seen in recent studies) the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
By accepting Him, we have taken the Way to unity with the Father, and as a result we come to know the Truth and receive everlasting Life. However, this is not the entirety of all that Yahshua is to us.
The Roman government, in the early days of Christianity, made this new religion illegal, and attempted to persecute the saints of Yah. Since we anticipate a revival of this very same kind of persecution in the last days, we should be aware of the reason why the Dragon, acting through human laws and authorities, hated the religion of Christ so much.
It wasn’t because they worshipped Yahshua as a God. The Romans already had many of those. It wasn’t that they called Yahshua the Savior. They had several of those. It wasn’t even that they called Yahshua the Messiah. They had no use for Jewish prophecy, and were not anticipating any such figure as that. What caused the Roman government’s hatred of Christianity was the very factor that led them to crucify Yahshua in the first place... it is because He was worshipped as “Lord.”
In this day, Christians are told, “It’s perfectly fine to believe whatever you want... as long as it doesn’t lead you to disobey the government, to have beliefs that cause you to act a certain way under various situations, or to stand firmly against what you believe to be sinful activities, lifestyles, or practices.”
The Spirit of oppression is the same in both cases; we may be whatever we desire inwardly, but as soon as our faith begins to affect our behavior, Satan’s wrath is stirred. Because the early Christians believed that Yahshua was Lord, that He (though slain) was risen, and that He was the Master of their lives, they no longer participated in the pagan aspects of Roman life. They would not sacrifice at temples, or participate in civic events that involved false deities. They certainly would not accept that Caesar was the incarnation of divinity... and because of this they were seen as traitors to the empire, and criminals to be punished. Those who sought to crucify Yahshua could bring no religious charge against Him that the empire would consider, so instead they said, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.” (Luke 23:2)
When Pilate was still unwilling to give in entirely to the mob’s demands, they threatened him with much the same accusation:
“If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” (John 19:12)
For the early Christians, and for us, Yahshua is Savior, Friend, Brother, and Yahshua is also Lord. His divine will is our motivation. His desire is our pleasure to perform... and this aspect of our faith the fallen angels hate.
The nominal Christians who resist this designation will admit that Yahshua is “lord” in a certain sense, that He is the Lawgiver and the Judge... but they reject His authority when it comes to their individual lives. They say, “He is the King, but He is merciful to us, even when we are bad servants. He does not require our obedience, but lives to forgive us when we sin against Him.”
Ultimately, this issue comes down to what the Gospel means. It is yet another curtain of darkness that Satan has drawn over the doctrine of victory over sin, and the balanced roles of faith and works in the sanctification of the redeemed.
Those who reject the role of Yahshua’s Lordship in Salvation say that, “Faith alone saves,” therefore it is of no benefit to devote one’s life to obedience, since sinning or not sinning is a matter of “works.”
Now, the words are right in the first part of that assertion that it is through faith alone that we are saved; but that is not the end of it. As Adventists, we have been rightly taught that works reveal faith. Works are the indicator that the faith we have accepted is the Biblical one, the one that draws us near to the Father and leads to everlasting life.
Few, however, can explain exactly why that is.
We are saved by faith. Because of that faith, our actions will be drawn into harmony with the will of the Almighty. This is not a slow, gradual process, for the Father is not an evolver, but a Creator. He speaks, and it is so.
Guest_Adriel : Amen
Zahakiel : He says, “Let there be light,” and there is light. He says that He has cleansed us from sin, and we are clean... not only in words, not merely for lip-service, but in spirit and in truth. The clean spirit within us leads to right actions in the life, for “he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)
In fact John, in an effort to counteract these very errors so widely accepted in Christianity today, spends several verses on this idea. If one is “saved” his works will be righteous:
“If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.” (1 John 2:29)
Conversely, “whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” (1 John 3:10)
Because Yahshua is Lord, because He is master, when He says, “Go and sin no more,” we do it. I hesitate to say we “must” do it, because there are some who will say that we must respond to His commands with our efforts. This is not accurate. We must respond to His commands with our agreement, with our commitment, and with a spirit of restful acceptance.
When we do this, when our faith is the faith of Yahshua, then we will discover that our works are the works of Yahshua as well. We will be “unable” to avoid obedience, because our hearts, minds, and spirits will all be working righteousness in us, which leads to righteousness that comes forth out of us.
Yahshua is Lord of all who are saved, but Yahshua is also the Creator and the One by whom all things consist, (Col 1:17) therefore within His instructions is the Creative power, the Sustaining power, to cause us to do them.
Those who do not know Him will deny this, because they will say, “I have accepted Jesus, but I am still free to commit sin.” While technically true, in that we are “free” to do as we desire, if the “desire” is not changed, then we have not been made servants of righteousness, and of the true Master. Paul addresses this quite plainly when He says, “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” (Rom 6:18)
This ought to settle the question entirely, for “freedom” that is offered by Yah is not a freedom that spares the sinner from the wages of sin. The wages of sin is death, and will continue to be the wages for all eternity; it is an unchanging principle. It is not the “wages” that are the enemy of mankind, for that is divine justice, but rather the sin itself. It is the sin that will be destroyed in the judgment. It is not that the wages were destroyed at the cross. If only this could be understood, the conflict in so many hearts and minds between faith and works would be resolved.
We are saved by faith alone. This is the argument of those who deny the Lordship, the Mastery, of Yahshua. But they focus on the “faith alone” part, and ignore the first part.
We are “saved” by faith alone, yes, but they will say that this means, “All we HAVE is faith alone.” When we are saved, by faith alone, we also receive things with that salvation. When we are saved by faith alone, our Father gives us gifts, blessings to those whom He has saved, including:
“And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.” (Mark 4:20)
“And when He had said this He breathed on them, and saith unto them, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost.’” (John 20:22)
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.” (James 5:7)
So, we are saved by faith alone; yet what do we receive when we become His redeemed people? We see that we receive the Holy Spirit, power, the spiritual rain from heaven, and the bringing-forth of fruit (by which our spirits and our faith are both known and revealed).
We are saved by faith alone, but we “have” all those things that our Father has promised to those who have asked blessings of Him. If that be the case, then let us understand, and teach, that “salvation” is not just an outward stamp placed on the forehead of a person who claims Yahshua as his Savior. It is a change in the entire person, mind, spirit, and in some cases body... so that we become suitable vessels for the glory that the Son receives from the Father, to share with all those who accept Him as their Savior and their Master.
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’” (Mat 4:4)
If we indeed live by “every word” that proceeds out of our Father’s mouth, it cannot be argued that Yahshua is not our Lord and Master in all things. The will of Yah is revealed to us by the Son through His Holy Spirit, and those who believe this unto salvation obtain the testimony of Yahshua, “I DO always those things that please my Father.” (John 8:29)
As an example, I said to my Adventist friend this past week, a conversation I’ve already mentioned to many of you that are here tonight, “Keeping the name ‘Seventh-day Adventist,’ despite the opposition of the will and authority of man, is not obedience to one of the 10 Commandments directly. “However, it does reveal that we are His people, because we have committed to living by every word that proceeds forth from His mouth. Therefore, what He has shown us through His servants, the prophets, is what we will do.” In this we follow the path laid out by those who went before us, sacrificing so much to resist the will of Satan and fallen man, and declaring – by firm commitment to Heavenly principle – that Yahshua is indeed Lord.
In the judgment, everyone, from the most militant of atheists, to the most nominal of Christians, to the most blessed of the redeemed, will be in the company described in this scene:
“That at the name of Yahshua every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Yahshua the Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:10, 11)
Let us teach men to confess it now, that their confession in that day should be uttered in joy, and not in sorrow and regret. Our Lord, Yahshua, has set this task before us, for righteousness, and for agape love.
Are there any comments or questions about tonight's study?
Guest_Elyna_family : I am not quite clear about what is the 'Lordship salvation'.... did you say that they don't believe in works, but faith alone?
Zahakiel : Basically, that is the meaning behind it. They say that Yahshua is "lord" in a sense; that He is/will be, the King and ruler of the universe… but right now, He does not actually "require" obedience from His people, who constantly sin and must be forgiven. Their justification is the "faith alone" statement....
Guest_Elyna_family : Hum, I had never heard of the term before. Thanks.
Zahakiel : but ignore that once saved, we receive gifts that bless them with obedience. Neither had I
I had to look it up. Guest_Adriel : Hi to Wallstreet, and a beautiful, powerful study. Praise Yah!
wallstreet50 : Greetings Adriel
Zahakiel : Hello, Wallstreet
wallstreet50 : Greeting Zah
Guest_Peter : This study shows that Yahshua is the only who truly is Lord and the only one that deserves that name because when you review his Resume from the beginning of time no one is able to do or duplicate what he has ever done. But as we all know that Yahshua has an accuser who always wants to mislead others who need to learn more about such a wonderful Lord and Saviour. End
Zahakiel : Right Any others? All right, if not then I will ask Bro. Luke to close with a prayer.
Guest_Lucan : Dear heavenly Father. We thank you for the precious gift of your righteousness, and the life of Christ that it causes us to live. We ask that your Spirit instruct us as we seek to share your gifts with others. We thank you for the time of reflection and rejoicing we are soon to enter. And we ask that the upcoming Sabbath and New Moon be a period of rejuvenation for your people. In Yahshua's name we pray, amen.
Barbli : Amen
Zahakiel : Amen.
Guest_Adriel : Amen
Guest_Elyna_family : Amen.
Guest_Peter : Amen.
Guest_gadriel : Amen, Amen
Guest_victoria : Amen
Guest_Elyna_family : Children: Amen.
Guest_Naraiel : Amen
wallstreet50 : amen