I just saw the title of a message online that read, Beware of religious Counterfeits. But, what if the counterfeit is the most accepted and believed religion of all? What if the faith that has become the most widely accepted belief is really a form of godliness that denies its power?
What I’m going to show you today is that this exactly what has happened to Biblical Christianity. And has become the case for most of those who call themselves Christian. And those who teach it. They have been taught to believe a counterfeit that is gnostic in origin. Gnosticism that denies the doctrine of Christ. And this doctrine will be our focus today.
Before we look at these scriptures I need to ask a question. I have thought about this a lot because I want for all men who claim the name of Jesus to be saved.
The question is, Is it possible for a person to be saved in spite of what they believe, instead of because of what they believe? I have yet to come up with a plausible, and of course Biblical, way to create in my mind a possible scenario in which this can be true. So I want you to keep this in mind as we proceed in this message.
So far then I must conclude that it is because of what you believe, and not in spite of it, that we are saved. Which leaves many we may have thought to be men of God and teachers of great stature out in the cold regarding salvation.
Now as far as the doctrine of Christ is concerned and what it is, if you’re thinking the gospel is this doctrine then we need to clear that up first before we get started.
The gospel speaks of God’s love for all mankind expressed in sending Jesus to enter into our mortality with us. So that by faith in Him and His resurrection we can enter into immortality and eternal life with Him. John3:16 being a perfect explanation of the gospel.
The gospel is also summed up in 1Cor.15:1-4 where Paul writes saying, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
This can be summed up even more succinctly this way. The gospel is that Jesus came, He died, He rose, and He lives. This is a message that should resonate in the heart of of every believer. And is what should prompt us who believe to share God’s love as much as possible with those who do not yet know the truth of God’s love for them. The ministry of reconciliation Paul defines for us in 2Cor.5:19-21.
But, on the other hand the doctrine of Christ, while it may be an extension of the gospel message, it specifically speaks more about how we recognize who Jesus was in His flesh than it does His coming, dying, raising, and being alive forever more.
So when you hear teaching that describes the doctrine of Christ as Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection instantly recognize that this person is not giving it the Biblical definition John gave it in his epistles.
Because the doctrine of Christ is what defines what made Jesus able to represent mankind in His death and resurrection. And not the facts regarding His death and resurrection in and of itself.
The doctrine of Christ is akin to how our president represents the people by his being the same as all of us. As a man completely like us in every way. Having dealt with life as an American person and all of the things that we go through and choices we must make and temptations we all face.
Which is why by the way the Constitution makes it imperative that a president be a natural born citizen. And not one who was naturalized or was not born here and of parents who were also born here.
It is this being like us in every humanly way that is the doctrine of Christ. Heb.2:17,18 tells us why this is so important saying, “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”
But, we must also realize that He was not just made “like” us. Because some with an unBiblical agenda will use this to say His flesh and blood was not the same in every way.
But, Paul tells us that He was made “the same” as us in all points that make us natural men. Flesh and blood as Jesus said in John3:4-6. Natural like Paul says in 1Cor.15:45,46 Adam was when he was made. Which is why Jesus was the second Adam.
This was not to make up for what Adam did when he sinned as those folks that I spoke of who have an agenda teach. But, to bring us to the place God intended when He made His plans for mankind in eternity past. Knowing that remaining in the garden would have made it impossible for man to relate to God spiritually. So He placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the serpent to tempt Eve.
These were used in God’s plan to take what the serpent intended for evil and work it for man’s good. Like God does so many times in the lives of believers. By making it possible for man to begin the path to righteousness when Jesus would come to give spiritual life to those who will believe in Him.
We must realize the critical role the doctrine of Christ plays in our knowing the Jesus of the Bible. And to not be deceived by a false Jesus. By making sure that we know what He was when He came as a man. And for what purpose He was made this way.
This was John’s message to those Jews he was teaching in his epistles about the false gnostic beliefs they were hearing about. The intent of his letters was to show them the false Jesus the gnostics were telling them about must be rejected.
John expresses this in 1John4:3 saying that “every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” He wrote this to warn them against believing every spirit. Because some spirits will try to deceive us to believe in a false Jesus.
They will use the name Jesus to trick you into believing they are talking about the Jesus who is the Creator who died for sins. And all the while making the claim that the differences between this false Jesus and our the one who created all things aren’t really differences that matter.
But, to make the differences even more stark for us John writes again in 2John saying, “7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”
In his teaching here he gives a very grave warning. Saying that when we believe things about Jesus’ flesh that make it differ in any way from ours we deny the doctrine of Christ. And when we do this John says we have not God.
Read that again. And really let that sink in as we continue.
Remembering what I showed you earlier that John said in 1John4:3 we realize that he is saying also that believing Jesus’ flesh was different from ours is to believe the spirit of antichrist. A spirit that will for obvious reasons be prevelant during the time of his reign called the great tribulation.
So this isn’t the last we will see of this false doctrine that denies the doctrine of Christ. But, really just the first of it as the antichrist and his minions will be teaching and emulating this when his time comes to represent the serpent in the hearts of men.
For his own reasons he will deny the doctrine of Christ. Making something out of the fact that he is not the same as the rest of us. Thus fulfilling the doctrine of the spirit of antichrist.
But, in Heb.2 we read something that puts the final nail in the coffin of this antichrist spirit doctrine. Here it is revealed to us exactly what kind of flesh Jesus had when He came as a man. That it was not just any kind of flesh. Nor was He just an apparition. But, that His flesh was the same in every way as every man who has ever lived. Including Adam’s when God made him.
Paul writes, “14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.”
This is so clearly laid out that it is impossible to miss. That is, unless you are one of those whose agenda requires it. Unless it aggravates your preconceived ideas about who Jesus is.
And in that case you are in some very serious trouble. Because unless you have believed in the Jesus whose humanity was the same flesh all men have. Not only have you denied Him. You have also denied the Father. And have not God.
This is not my opinion. This is what John plainly says in 2John1:7-11. He does not mince words here. But, plainly states it in terms no one can miss.
This is a most serious and damning revealation. Because the sad but true fact is that it is actually the belief that churches teach today. Not wanting to accept it to be true they have been deceived by the devil to believe in a Jesus that can not save them. A Jesus that is a creation of the spirit of antichrist John warned them against in his epistles. The gnostic Jesus John was exposing as a liar in his epistles who did not come in the same flesh all men have.
And if you’re asking right now why simply believing in Jesus isn’t enough. The answer is that it is enough. The problem is when you add to that belief false teachings as other cults do. And in this case it is adding the spirit of antichrist sin nature doctrine.
Ask yourself another question. Ask yourself why it is that you believe that Mormons are a cult. And why you believe that JW’s are a cult. And that because they are they can not be saved.
The answer is that because even though they say they believe in Jesus and His resurrection. And that it is only through faith in Him that they are saved. There are things they believe about their Jesus that are a rejection of what the Bible says about Him. So that they the Jesus they have come to believe in is not the Jesus of the Bible.
This is why we must admit that there is more to salvation than just saying you believe in Jesus and His resurrection. We must not add to or take away from what the scriptures say about Him. It must be the right Jesus. The only begotten Son of God. The Jesus whose flesh was the same flesh and blood that all men have.
Hebrews tells us why this is so important in a couple of places. In Heb.4:15 Paul says it was only because His flesh was the same as all men’s that “15 we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
If His flesh was different from ours this would not be possible.
And because His flesh was the same as all men’s flesh so that He could be tempted in all points just as we are Paul says in the next verse we can, “16 come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Confirming before in Heb.2:16,17 that “16 verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”
So this was why Jesus’ flesh and blood had to be the same that all men have. Because if it had been different like the churches have said since the days of Augustine He could not have been tempted in all points just as we are. And He could not have suffered the same death that mankind does.
This is why we must reject the pagan gnostic sin nature doctrine. So that we do not find ourselves denying the doctrine of Christ. putting us in the damnable place of neither having the Son nor the Father.
I hope you are seeing the seriousness of this error taught in churches. I hope that you will reject that teaching. And turn to the truth that the Jesus who can save you came in the same flesh all men have. Turning to the Jesus of the Bible for eternal life.
Eternal life because Jesus said in John17:3 that it is knowing Him that is eternal life. And not knowing Him by believing in a different Jesus is to be joined to a cult. And not to the Creator who loves us and joined with us in our mortality so that through faith in Him and His resurrection we could join with Him in eternal life and immortality.
Paul says in Rom.10:9,10 that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. And believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. You shall be saved. But, it must be the Jesus who came in the same flesh all men have.
It can not be the gnostic Jesus whose flesh was different. Believing that if it was the same He would have been a sinner by nature. We must reject the Jesus of the sin nature cult. Because that Jesus is the one John said is of the spirit of antichrist. That Jesus did not die for you. And that Jesus has not risen for you. And that Jesus can not save you.
But, if you will believe in the Jesus who came in the same flesh all men have you will be saved. If you will do this then God will create in you a spirit that you never had before. A spirit that joins you to Him as His children forever. If you will do this then you will have eternal life now. If you will do this then you will be made immortal at the resurrection. If you will do this… then I will see you there or in the air!
