Two Different Approaches
Dearly beloved and highly favored sons of God, when it comes to knowing the One True God there are two approaches people take.
The correct approach begins with God. God reveals His Will to us by His Word. God’s Word interprets itself; His Word is not of any private interpretation. God did not give commentators; He gave apostles and prophets the revelation of His Word and He had them write it down. God gave us His Word as our reference for truth so that we are not ignorant of His Will. His Word enables us to separate truth from error.
God reveals, “All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, and correction; it is instruction in righteousness so that the man of God may be equipped, fully equipped unto all good works.”
The Word of God is profitable. It instructs us how to walk by believing and how to walk by the spirit of God; both are profitable.
The books of Romans - II Thessalonians are the Church Epistles. God gave this revelation to the Church for our believing. These books give us revelation knowledge so that we can know the things that are freely given to us by God.
These letters teach us about what Jesus Christ accomplished, the complete new birth reality, which includes sonship rights, privileges, spiritual ability and how to manifest it, our standing before God in Christ, and how we are to conduct our lives as His children. They cover everything we need to know as God’s children from sonship to our hope and inheritance in Christ.
The correct approach leads to godliness; a true, vital, spiritual relationship between God and man. It begins with God Who is the Holy Spirit. God gives that which He is, the gift of holy spirit, so that we can be born-again of His spirit. God becomes our Father, and we become His children by the spirit of sonship.
God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, so that people could have a Spirit to spirit relationship with God. Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life [spirit life] and that you might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10
Christianity revolves around Christ and what he accomplished.
After his resurrection from the dead, and before his ascension into the heavenly realm, Jesus Christ said, “and, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry you in Jerusalem, until are endued with power from on high.”
Luke also wrote the book of Acts, and more information is given to us there about the promise of the Father that the Christ would send upon them. See Acts 1:4,5,8 and 2:1-39 for the complete record.
The new birth spirit, the spirit of sonship, enables us to operate the nine manifestations of the holy spirit. Three manifestations of the spirit deal with worship, three with receiving information, and three with demonstrating the power of God in order to carry out His Will in specific situations. God reveals that He gave the manifestation of the spirit to every believer for godly profit.
God reveals that He gave both His Word and His spirit to us so we may profit from them.
The second approach begins with man as his source of learning, not God. He determines what he will believe from his own thoughts, opinions, and imaginations about God, and he then formulates them into the doctrines and the commandments of men.
It does not matter what you or I may think; it is a matter of what God reveals in His Word. The Word of God is our only reference for truth when it comes to spiritual matters.
Jesus Christ was speaking to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 15:8 and 9. He quoted Isaiah 29:15 to them describing their hypocrisy.
“This people draws nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honors Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
In the next chapter Jesus Christ told his disciples to beware of the leaven of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. See Matthew 15: 6-12
In the book of Mark, Jesus Christ told them similar things. He told them they worshiped God in vain, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. He said they laid aside the commandments of God, and held on to the tradition of men. He said, “Full well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition.” He told them that they made the Word of God of none effect through their tradition. This is not the correct approach.
This approach is religion; which is an outward conformity to man-made doctrines, creeds, sacraments, confessions, formal repetitious prayers, meditations, traditions of men, and many other religious acts, but it does not lead to the One True God.
Religion revolves around man, whether it may be “Christian” religion or other religions. It puts the emphasis on the works of the flesh, not the Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished.
Religion says that you must perfect your flesh; you must do some good work to have a good standing with God. About the only thing that varies among the religions of the world is the particular works you must do.
God did not give us a new religion in Christ Jesus the Lord, He gave us the way of the Father with His family.
Dearly beloved, today we have thousands of “Christian” denominations, and by definition each believes something differently. Is this the will of God concerning what Christ accomplished?
“Putting forth a diligent effort to guard the unity that is from the spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
There is one body, and one spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling.
There is one lord, one believing, one baptism.
There is one God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all.
Now grace was given to each of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Ephesians 4:3-7 Working Translation, Rev. Walter Cummins
When people do not believe the Word of God it results in divisions. Divisions comes from unbelief; not believing the revelation God gave to the Church of God. This is the opposite of walking by believing; it is not the will of God, it is not profitable, and there is no power in it.
Dearly beloved, the Word of God is alive, and powerful. The gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ our Lord is the power of God unto salvation.
Why not take God at His Word? It is much more profitable to believe what God says than to walk away from Him by rejecting His Word.