LESSON
6
Six Foundational
Doctrines of Christ
Part 2
Paul says in Hebrews 6:1
Let us leave the beginning or foundational thoughts of Christ.
It stands to reason therefore
that before we can leave the beginning teachings of Christ to move on to
maturity, we must understand these elementary teachings.
We will spend the next
several lessons looking at these foundational doctrines of Christ.
Repentance From Dead Works
The very first
foundation is that of REPENTANCE.
Heb. 6:1-2 Therefore
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works,
and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of
hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment
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IS NO SALVATION WITHOUT REPENTANCE.
Isa. 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have
mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
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The wicked person must
GIVE UP HIS WAY, HIS COURSE OF LIFE.
The word “thought” here
means his way of thinking. The wicked
must give up his way of thinking. Literally his calculated way of plotting out his life. In order to receive God’s mercy you must give
up your course of life, your way of thinking and submit them to Him.
Eze.
Turn from your way
(repent), give it up, because God has no pleasure in
the one who dies.
Matt. 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
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The very first message
Jesus preached was
REPENT. Jesus was laying
the cornerstone of Christianity. He was
forever establishing that without repentance you could go no further into the
He said REPENT for a
reason.
The word
repent literally means to THINK DIFFERENTLY.
JESUS REQUIRES US TO
CHANGE THE WAY THAT WE THINK.
Everything we act on is
based upon a thought. All actions begin
with a thought.
A THOUGHT DWELT UPON LONG ENOUGH WILL BECOME
AN ACTION.
We are responsible for
what we think, not just for what we do.
Jesus rebuked people for
what they thought about.
Mark 2:3-12 And they come unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy,
which was borne of four. And when they
could not come nigh unto Him for the press, they uncovered the roof where He
was: and when they had broken [it] up, they let down the bed wherein the sick
of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their
faith, He said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be
forgiven thee. But there were certain of
the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this [man] thus speak
blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in
his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of
the palsy, [Thy] sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed,
and walk? But that ye may know that the
Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (He saith
to the sick of the palsy,)
I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And
immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch
that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this
fashion.
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Jesus perceived their
thoughts and held them accountable for them.
Jesus will hold you
accountable for what you think (dwell upon).
Heb. 4:12-13 For
the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all
things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
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Heb. 6:1 talks of
repentance of dead works. That is,
repentance of SIN. If then, repentance
is to think differently, and we are to repent of our sins, then we must think
differently about sin.
Before you continue any
further in this study, answer this question.
WHAT IS SIN?
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If you are in a group
have everybody read their answers out loud.
You will find that almost everybody has a different answer. If we must repent of our sins in order to be
saved you can see it is eternally important that we know what sin is!!!
As I have traveled the
nations of the world, I have found very few people that have an understanding
of the essence of sin; what sin really is.
Most, when asked the question, “What is sin?” list off
some action that is sinful; adultery, stealing, drunkenness, murder, lust,
rebellion. All of these are
manifestations of sin.
All the above are
actions that are a result of sin. Sin is
not an outward action, it’s an inward heart condition.
Ezek. 28:15-17 Thou [wast] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
By the multitude of thy
merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou
hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain
of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the
stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted
up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted
thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will
lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Satan was cast from
heaven for the sin God found in his heart, not for his actions. Satan is the father of sin.
I John 3:8 He that committeth sin is
of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil.
Sin is much deeper than
an action.
It is a condition of the
heart.
THE
ESSENCE OF SIN IS THE REJECTION OF GOD’S RIGHTFUL AUTHORITY OVER OUR LIVES.
You have to first reject
God’s rightful authority over your life before you can ever commit the action
of sin.
Sin came into the world
by way of Adam and Eve’s rejection of God’s rightful authority.
Gen 3:1-7 Now the
serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field
which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat
of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which
[is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither
shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the
serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree
[was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be
desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and
gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and
they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made
themselves aprons.
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Adam and Eve rejected
God’s rightful authority over their lives.
God said don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They chose, however, to reject God’s right to
tell them what to do and ate of it. The
result is they lost all their rights.
THE KINGDOM PRINCIPLE IS
THIS.....
WHEN
YOU REJECT AUTHORITY YOU LOSE THE AUTHORITY YOU ALREADY HAVE.
In the natural, if you
reject the authority of the government and are caught, arrested and placed in
jail, you lose your rights and freedom.
When you are in jail you have lost the rights you had. So in the process of trying to get something
that you didn’t have, you lost everything you did have.
When a child rejects the
authority of his family, if he goes far enough, he will lose the authority that
he has. He will lose his inheritance,
his peace, his relationships. In the process of rejecting their authority
and trying to get something that he doesn't rightfully belong to him, he loses
that which he already has.
In the military if a
soldier rejects the authority of his superior he will be court marshalled. If
convicted he will either lose rank or his freedom and be throne into jail.
Adam and Eve had been
given all the earth. However when they
rejected God’s rightful authority they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden
and they lost the authority that they had.
Jesus says that he wants
to give us the
Matt. 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say,
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
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THE
KINGDOM IS WHERE GOD’S AUTHORITY RULES AND REIGNS.
Jesus says, repent for
the KINGDOM ( the authority) of God is at hand.
THE FATHER WANTS TO GIVE
YOU BACK YOUR AUTHORITY!!!
IN ORDER TO RECEIVE YOUR
AUTHORITY YOU MUST TURN AWAY FOR REJECTING GOD’S RIGHTFUL AUTHORITY.
GOD HAS A RIGHT TO SAY,
"DO THIS AND DON’T DO THAT."
The authority of the
kingdom of heaven is authority over ALL THE THINGS THAT ARE CONTRARY TO GOD;
SICKNESS, DISEASE, the DEVIL, POVERTY, WEAKNESS, FEAR, DOUBT.
But you must
repent. You must THINK DIFFERENTLY. You must choose to accept God’s rightful
authority over your life.
Repentance
is to submit to God’s rightful authority.
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The word
confess means to strike covenant, or make an eternal contract. When you sign a contract it is a legally
binding document. The Bible says you
must enter into a legally binding contract, that is, to willfully limit
yourself to the terms and conditions of the contract.
Marriage is a
contract. In marriage you have made a
legally binding contract to limit yourself to be fully intimate with that one
person only.
The word Lord means, one
that has the right of authority over another.
IN
ORDER TO BE SAVED, YOU MUST AGREE TO BE BOUND TO THE TERMS, THAT JESUS HAS THE
ABSOLUTE RIGHT OF AUTHORITY OVER YOUR LIFE.
Acts
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Peter told them to think
differently. Paul taught them to contract to make Jesus the rightful
authority over their lives.
The Bible never teaches
us to ask God to forgive us in order to be saved.
1 John 1:9 If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John said if you
CONFESS, (that is to repent) and you choose to submit it to God’s rightful
authority then he will forgive you and cleanse you.
HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO
SUBMIT TO GOD’S RIGHTFUL AUTHORITY?
IF YOU HAVE THEN GOD
WILL FORGIVE YOU AND CLEANSE YOU!!!!!
Isa. 55:7-8 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man
his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy
upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts [are] not your thoughts,
neither [are] your ways My ways, saith
the LORD.
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Forsake the way that you
think, forsake the way you act, submit to God’s rightful authority, and He will
have mercy upon you and abundantly pardon you.
REPENTANCE
IS THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
WITHOUT IT, YOU CAN’T MOVE ON TO ANYTHING ELSE IN THE
In Review:
1. What
is the requirement for salvation?
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2. What
does repent mean? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What
is the essence of sin?
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4. What
happens when you reject God’s rightful authority?
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5.
Define confess. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Have
you chosen to submit to God’s rightful authority? __________
Who is God’s rightful authority over your
life?
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