Warriors for Jesus We often hear such expressions as, “Witnesses for Jesus,” but I do not recall...

Warriors for Jesus

We often hear such expressions as, “Witnesses for Jesus,” but I do not recall observing in advertisement such an expression as, “Warriors for Jesus.” I wonder why? Such a concept, however, is altogether scriptural:

Warriors for Jesus

“3: Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4: No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Tim. 2).

Warriors for Jesus

“Warrior” is defined: “A man engaged or experienced in warfare; soldier…a person who has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness” (R.H.C.D., pg. 1484).

Warriors for Jesus

Results of probative email I sent out regarding why more are not entering the arena of controversy and battle:

“Don,For what it's worth, I appreciate your efforts in this area [authority and answering error], though I do not say it enough. I have too much local work to get involved in a worthwhile way in some of these Internet discussions, so I do not get involved at all. [I either do it well or not at all.] I answer individuals whom I run across and whose errors I read personally, but I just cannot do what you are doing right now. hopefully, when the workload here eases that will change. [We are working on writing and publishing our own class material for at least a five-year cycle.] Keep up the good work and know you're not alone and we DO support you.”

Warriors for Jesus


“Brother Martin, what we need is more emphasis on love, not controversy and ‘standing for the truth. Aggression, albeit for truth does not accomplish anything worth while. Be aware now that what I have said is private and I do not intend to respond to anything you say in reply.”

Warriors for Jesus


“Brother Don, I do not have time for fighting, as I am busy doing the work of the Lord in preaching the good news of the Kingdom. Some of us are tired of you trying to put us on a guilt trip!”

Bible Authority, A Closer Look

Jesus’ Lordship demands and entails certain matters that require man’s acquiescence and obedience:

Luke 6: 46; Matthew 28: 18, 7: 21-29; Hebrews 5: 8, 9; I John 5: 3, 2 John 6; Galatians 6: 2, I Corinthians 9: 21, James 1: 25.


Consider Jesus’ teaching:

“21: He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.23: Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.24: He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me” (John 14).


A conclusion:

Having Bible authority for all believed and practiced is, therefore, necessary (cp. I Thes. 5: 21, Rom. 12: 2, I Pet. 4: 11).

Hence, a method (proposed “command,” “example,” and “inference”).


“Many sincere students of the Word approach the New Testament as if it is a codified, legal document that requires the use of certain rules which, allegedly, lead the "honest" student into the correct understanding of any and all Bible issues. This would be a good idea if the New Covenant was, in fact, a codified, legal document and not "the perfect law of liberty." This would be a good idea if God's called out people were under law. Rom. 6:14, 7:6, and Gal. 5:18 testify that we are not under law. Why then, would anyone wish to be bound up under law? We are under faith – a system of faith.The New Covenant is not a legal system with codified laws; or worse yet, a legal system with camouflaged directions which require legal specialists with special tools to unlock and make known what God expects of us. The tools under consideration are 1) direct command, 2) approved example, and 3) necessary inference. These tools are the instruments of sincere brethren who wish to be in bondage to law and to bring everyone else under bondage with them and thus lay heavy burdens on them. This method of discovery is a basic part of the unwritten creed of many conservative, denominated churches which, as a condition of salvation, demand allegiance to and membership in their association…” (Neil Griffin).


Method observed:

Acts 10: 48 (command).

Philippians 4: 9 (example).

Matthew 22: 32 (inference).

“Heard from the Beginning”

“Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father” (I Jn. 2: 24).


Baptism for remission of sins. Active faith. Confession of Jesus’ deity. Repentance.


One church. Limited fellowship. Same public worship. Withdrawal from disorderly.


We are warned to not add to or take away from the scriptures (Rev. 22: 18, 19). Also, we are not to pervert or change the First Century gospel (Gal. 1: 6-9).

Spiritual Warfare

“3: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

6: And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled” (2 Cor. 10).

Set for the Defence of the Gospel

“But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel…Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace” (Phili. 1: 17, 7).


‘Apologia, a speech made in defence” (Vine).

“Apologia, literature, a work written as an explanation or justification of one’s motives, convictions, or acts” (RHCD).


Reason for the defence.

The truth is necessary to man’s salvation and his continued relationship with God (Jn. 8: 32, 2 Jn. 9-11.


“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear…Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (I Pet. 3: 15; Jude 3).

Issues, What To Do With Them

The fact of the existence of sensitive doctrinal differences regarding which there is disagreement is repeatedly taught:

1. 2 Peter 2: 1, 2.

2. I John 4: 1.

3. Jude 3, 4.

4. I Corinthians 11: 19.


There are a number of things done regarding issues:

1. Ignored.

2. Denied.

3. Determined by majority sentiment.

4. Decided by party affiliation.

5. Positioned by family circumstance.


We are to possess authority for what we believe and practice.

1.Express command – Acts 2: 38.

2.Necessary inference – Matt. 22: 32.

3.Approved example – Phili. 4: 9.


The apostle John dedicated much of his writings to the new heresy of Gnosticism. John forcefully showed that Jesus Christ had "come in the flesh" and that Christ was not imaginary but actually dwelt in a material body, contrary to both Cerinthian and Docetic Gnosticism (I John 4: 2-3).

Ponder the unequivocal teaching of John regarding Gnosticism that taught man could be save and not necessarily conform to God's commands (the old "once saved, always saved" doctrine):


"3: And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4: He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5: But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6: He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (I John 2).


James treated such subjects as materialism and worldliness in general and supplied remedies (Jas. 2; 4). These Spirit guided men were not ashamed to call sin, sin (cp. Jas. 2: 9, 10). Consider the cogent language of James as he writes to worldly minded brethren.


"1: From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2: Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3: Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4: Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (Jas. 4).


Due to the arrival of false teachers among God's people, Jude evidently changed his intended subject from the "common salvation" to matters of how some would corrupt God's grace, deny the Lord, and use monetary gain as their main impetus (Jude 3). Examine how Jude held back nothing in describing these ungodly professing Christians in the church:


"4: For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ....8: Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities....10: But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11: Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12: These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds…” (Jude).


There were evidently a number of scoffers in Peter's day who denied Jesus‘ second coming. Peter focuses attention on them and exposes their fallacious reasoning of uniformitarianism (all presently continues as it has in the past) and sinful character. Consider his manner in so marking them:


"3: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4: And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5: For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8: But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Pet. 3).


Jesus collided with the elite Pharisees of his day, those who perverted God's law. Rather than avoid the issues, he attacked them with unequaled velocity. He called them out in the most direct way when he said:


"20: For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5).

"15: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves" (Matt. 23).


Conclusion:

We need more preachers of the soul saving gospel and not the, "Accent the positive and eliminate the negative" mentality type. The latter have increased numbers, but not souls; they have added impetus for larger buildings, but not holy churches; and they have popularized the hand shake, but not scriptural fellowship.


We need men such as Paul, John, James, Jude, and Peter, men who love the truth and hate error. We need men who emulate Jesus and not the purveyors of false unity.

Corinth and Unity-in-Diversity

A Look at Corinth

1. A fragmented church.

2. Fornication harbored.

3. Perverted occasion for Lord’s Supper.

4. Chaos and disordered prevailed.


Proponents forced to say:

1. Division to be fellowshipped.

2. Fornication not so bad.

3. A drunkard orgy to be tolerated.


Just imagine (full application):

1. A church today having open cliques, a man living with his father’s wife, and engaging in a drunkard orgy; yet, unity must not be jeopardized!


The Time Element factor

1. I Cor. 5: 4, 5-9, cp. 2 Cor. 1: 1, 3-10, 7: 8-11, 13: 2 (see also Rev. 2: 5, 2: 16).

The World Wide Web

Potential for good:

Spread the gospel (Phili. 2: 16). Challenge error (Jude 3). Expose false teachers (Rom. 16: 17). Communicate with others (cp. I Thes. 5: 14).

WWW.

WWW. WWW.

WWW.

To condemn and expose false teaching (I Tim. 1: 3, Rom. 16: 17, I John 2: 3, 4).

To build-up and edify Christians (Acts 20: 32).

Teaching about Hate

Things we are not to hate:

1. Knowledge – Prov. 1: 22.

2. Reproof – Prov. 12: 1.

3. Good – Micah 3: 2.

4. Enemy – Matt. 5: 43, 44.

5. Peace – Ps. 120: 6.

Teaching about Hate

Things we are to hate:

1. False way – Ps. 119: 104.

2. Iniquity – Rom. 12: 9.

3. Covetousness – Prov. 28: 16.

4. Lying – Prov. 13: 5.

5. Froward mouth – Prov. 8: 13.

Why Some Do Not Stand

Some are afraid to stand up for the truth.

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1: 7).


Others labor under a false view of biblical unity.

“Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body….” (Eph. 4: 3-6).


They do not have sufficient love of the truth.

“…because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thes. 2: 10, 11).


They view standing for the truth as unloving.

“But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel” (Phili. 1: 17).


They do not want the reputation of a trouble-maker.

“For we have found this man a pestilent fellow…” (Acts 24: 5).

Warriors for Jesus

Conclusion:

“24: And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25: In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26: And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Tim. 2).

Warriors for Jesus

Conclusion:

“15: But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Eph. 4 cp. Acts 13: 9-12, 15: 2).

Eph. 6: 12-17

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