Here ye, here ye, part II beginneth.

In the previous thread, 'Repentance From Dead Works', I have since learned that the '1st Principles of the Doctrine of Christ' ( as recorded in Hebrews 6:1-2 ) are in fact only mirrors of the greater light which has come to us through Jesus Christ, and that.....

'the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.'

So repentance is not just from sins, with the washing of such by the blood of bulls and goats once a year which could not take away sins anyhow, but it is our translation from darkness to light, and the removal of sin once for all by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Wow! Praise GOD! - (Those studies in Hebrews are finally beginning to 'click')

Okay.

Now during the teachings I received as a young man of 18, (not as I thought 19) I recall that the instruction about this second doctrine, which clearly now I understand to have been breathed upon by the Holy Spirit to educate my Pagan heart in the holy faith that was passed down faithfully from heart to heart, as each life came alive through regeneration pointed not at 'Faith', but first at GOD, Wow! This is something really heavy, for those who do not believe that Jesus is GOD. For now the mirror shows us that we must look at Jesus Christ first. Who is He ? The answer is simple if we are following the order of the doctrines, and how all these things have been made new in Jesus. Hallelujah!

So clearly it is the matter of the deity of Jesus Christ, of the fact that Scripture teaches that He came in the flesh. Now I am excited, for this is what all the fuss has been about for centuries of Church History. The Deity of Jesus Christ. Hmmm! Amen! He is GOD!

Okay.

I actually am so blown away by this that I don't even have a point left in my head. I am pointless.

Well, that being said, I think I should at least attempt to present something.

The one thing that has come to my mind consistently in the threads over this year, has been the matter of the encounter between Phillip the Evangelist and the Eunuch.

TheEvangelist.jpg

Acts 8:25-40

(25) And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

(26) And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

(27) And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

(28) Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Isaiah the prophet.

(29) Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

(30) And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

(31) And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

(32) The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

(33) In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

(34) And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

(35) Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

(36) And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, hereis water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

(37) And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

(38) And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

(39) And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

(40) But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

Though I am sure there are many great studies on what 'Faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ' means, I think the above is a most concise and valuable Scripture (not as if all Scripture were somehow unimportant to me) and I hope that it will be a wonderful blessing to you in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think this pretty sums it up for me. Primarily because I really think that I need to take some time to absorb what has just happened.

Sincerely,
HH

Add:
2. Faith towards the 'Lord Jesus Christ'

With the passage in my opening post in mind, I would like to present you with three basic ideas. The first two are gleaned from reading 'The Spirit-Filled Believer's Handbook' by Derek Prince and the third one is from a book titled, 'Christianity on Trial' by Colin Chapman, as well as from 'The End of Life's Journey' by Derek Prince. I hope to follow that with some details about 'The New Man' from C.S. Lewis' well known classic 'Mere Christianity as well as some ideas from the writings of St. Augustine.

Here is a summary of with the Lord's guidance, I shall be unpacking 'as the thread progresses' (a.t.t.p )

a. The Four Basic Facts of the Gospel

b. The Simple Act of Appropriation

c. The Testimony of Three Men

-----

a. The Four Basic Facts of the Gospel.

Acts 8:25 ( from my opening post) leaves us with no doubt that there is a message to be preached, and that message is referred to as 'the gospel'
Secondly, in Acts 8:35 which is probably one of the simplist and most direct passage of New Testament scripture, teaches us that the Gospel is not so much about what is declared but whom is declared - 'he preached unto him JESUS' ( for fuller context read the whole passage above.) However, this declaration is not a nefarious mystical vibration in us, not some emotional trip that we pass on, but it is the declaration of four basic facts.

Obviously one does not simply go up to any person and start pounding their minds with these ideas. For such a task one must first be equipped ( and so one aught not to think that by expressing these four basic facts, I am somehow attempting to evangelise you. Though if GOD decides to do that, then all praise to HIm who makes such things possible.)
Philip was called ( Acts 8:26 ), he then obeyed the call ( Acts 8:27 ) and was led by the Spirit ( Acts 8:29 ). Then most important of all he preached Jesus from the Scriptures. ( Acts 8:35 )

It was a unique situation, and so it is with each human life, that each of our stories is a unique story, with its own unique set of circumstances.

The four basic facts are broken up into three definite facts....

1. Christ died for our sins.
2. He was buried.
3. He rose again on the third day

...as well as a fourth basic fact.

This how Derek Prince explain it ( there are two primary passages to be considered - Romans 4:24-25 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 ) :

'Paul also emphasizes that the first and most authoritative of all testimonies to the truth of these facts is not the testimony of the men who were eyewitnesses of Christ's death and resurrection, but the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures ( Amen to that ) which had prophetically foreshown the events hundreds of years before they actually took place. The testimony of contemporary eyewitnesses is only mentioned later as supporting that of the Old Testament Scriptures.

This is certainly true in the account above where the Eunuch ( Acts 8:27 + Acts 8:30-33 ) is reading from the scroll of Isaiah. Derek Prince continues;

'These facts all center exclusively in the Person of Christ Himself -- not in His earthly life and teaching, but in His death and resurrection.
Here are the four basic facts: 1) Christ was delivered by GOD the Father to the punishment of death on account of our sins; 2) Christ was buried; 3) GOD raised HIm from the dead on the third day;'

and finally.... ( with Romans 4:24-25 ) ...in mind;

4) righteousness is received from GOD through believing these facts.

Wow!

Seeing as most of us are familiar with the first three basic facts ( the definite facts ) and many are more familiar with the 4th one. As well as seeing that it is primarily the focus around which Philip and the Eunuch are concerned, (namely the Old Testament Scriptures). Perhaps we can consider this passage in Romans. I will hold back for a day or two to see if anyone wants to discuss this passage, after which I will present the simple act of appropriation (2) and the testimony of three men. (3)

'Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised because of our jusification. ( Romans 4:24-25 )

I look forward to reading your responses, to this rather lengthly post. I am still humbled by the volume of responses on the previous thread. All the quotes by Derek Prince are from the chapter titled; 'Faith for Salvation'.

HH.

Add. (Final)
3.

Before I move on to the last two points, I would like to respond to a question.

What about those people who have neither heard nor read the Scriptures, or the gospel of Jesus Christ?

I have posted a thread titled, ‘God lovers, in Torment?’ in response to this.

To put it as simply as I can, I believe that God has always called to His own regardless of colour, race, creed or nationality and they love GOD. Should you wish to challenge that idea please would you do so on ‘God lovers, in Torments?’


Now to the last two points.

a. The Four Basic Facts of the Gospel (above)

b. The Simple Act of Appropriation

Ideas like ‘Faith and Works’, ‘Law and Grace’, ‘The Purpose of the Law’ and ‘True Righteousness’ are all covered in Derek Prince’s book, which is the primary source here, and are not the subject of this thread which is examining ‘Faith for Salvation’

‘Once in East Africa I heard a young African evangelist speaking to a white missionary who was responsible for the direction of a group of churches stretching over a wide area. He made the following statement:

“Your churches are only storehouses, storing people for hell.”

To some people this might appear a shocking statement, especially coming from a national to a missionary. Yet, knowing the situation as I did, I realized that the young African was speaking the truth.
Most members of those churches had never once had the basic facts of the gospel presented to them and had never been faced with the need to make a personal response to those facts. They had exchanged paganism for a form of Christianity; they had memorized a catechism; they had been through a form of baptism; they had been accepted as church members; many of them had been educated in mission schools – yet of the essential facts of the gospel and the experience of salvation they had no knowledge nor understanding whatever.
Churches such as these – whether in Africa or in America or any where else in the world – are just what that young African called them: “storehouses storing people up for hell.”

Here are the four basic facts of the gospel, once again.

• Christ was delivered by GOD the Father to the punishment of death on accounts of our sins.
• Christ was buried
• GOD raised Him from the dead on the third day.
• Righteousness is received from GOD through believing these facts.

samaritanwoman.jpg

‘In order to receive salvation, each individual soul must make a direct, personal response to Christ. This response can be described in any of the following ways: calling on the name of Christ as Lord; coming to Christ; receiving Christ; drinking the water of life which Christ alone can give. ( Romans 10:8-9 , Romans 10:13 , Matthew 11:28 , John 6:37 , John 7:37 , John 1:11-13 )’

Though someone might put a possible prayer here, I really believe that such a thing is between yourself and GOD, and it is not all about the words but about the cry of your heart. Something that only GOD can really understand better than anyone else.

c. The Testimony of Three Men

Derek Prince - Suprised by Joy
St. Augustine & C.S. Lewis - Christianity on Trail - Colin Chapman (last page)

….and yours ?

I would like to share more, but I think this is quite enough.

Thank you.
HH.

Question time!

H.H.

I've enjoyed this thread by you more than anyone you have previously posted.

The historic Christ, fulfiller of the Scriptures, who is our hope!

Aaaaaaaaamen!

BC

Thanks BC, I think I am finally getting the hang of it.

Peace,
HH