All That Was Needed Was Given
In the last lesson we covered that church authority is vertical. Each local church is to be self-governing. The only authority that is to be over them is God.
Some think what is the big deal. It is a very big deal. 1) It is in disobedience to God and 2) Every time that someone created a manmade church headquarters it never turned out good. God is not in that.
Today’s short lesson is, all that was needed was given.
God gave His church marching orders and He gave them everything they needed to carry out those orders. They lacked nothing.
Let’s look at the last verses of scripture ever written.
Rev 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Rev 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Rev 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
We start our look at History with the completion of scripture. The Apostles have all been killed except John. He just penned the last sentence of scripture and then dies of old age. The men that God called to get things going, to train and correct and write scripture are now all gone.
There will be no more scripture. We just read that no man is to add to or take away from it. A stern warning and punishment are attached to this command. Don’t mess with scripture. There will be no new revelation.
The sign gifts that were given to validate the man and his message are all gone. They are no longer needed. This book is now what validates a man’s message. And this was not a sudden thing. They had been on the way out for a long time now.
You even see them fading as scripture was being written. The first time tongues happened, Peter and others preached and everyone heard in their own language where they were born. A direct translation. Peter and others spoke and the people heard it in their own language.
Very soon in scripture you read that it now takes an interpreter. Then a little later scripture that clearly teaches that Charity is more important. And then as later books are written the sign gifts are not mentioned. Their purpose was over.
So the original leaders are all dead. That kind of leadership is gone. That excitement, O’ and I believe it was very exciting. Have you heard we have new scripture? A new letter to study that none of us has ever read. We have something fresh new. This is exciting. I can’t wait to see what Peter wrote. The excitement of new scripture is gone. The excitement and show of sign gifts are gone.
What are they left with? What are they to do? Look at verse 14. Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments,
First they have a promise of being blessed if they do his commandments. May I say that Saviour sensitive people want that. Yes, both the blessing and the doing.
Second they have been clearly told the heart of God. Look again at verse 17.
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
The last thing God had to say before don’t mess with scripture, I am coming again, and I have grace is a call for anyone to be saved. Go to Matt chapter 28.
I find it interesting that the last thing said in the Bible lines up with what we call the great commission.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Yes somethings are no more. That is ok. We have Jesus who has all power, and His promise that He is with us always. So we have all we need in power. He clearly told us what to do. So we have all we need in directions. We have all the scripture that will ever be given. We have the Holy Spirit.
Yep. There is no doubt. We have all we need. Let’s get going. And that is exactly what all of the Saviour sensitive churches did.
And there was no counsel of all the churches who planned and mapped out where everyone goes. No, a man would be called in a local church, trained, and sent where the Spirit led him.
They went in all directions. Preaching, seeing people saved, baptizing and training. Individual Churches lead by the Holy Spirit made individual choices in ministry. God can lead much better than any human organization.
And they started doing something else that is very important. In fact extremely important. Time for some common sense. Look at verse 20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
How do you know what those commands are? Where are those commands recorded?
How can you obey that if you don’t have that? How can your great grandkids obey that if it is lost? Copies must be made. It is critical, and no one else is going to do it.
So after the last sentence of scripture is completed we see two major things happening. Saviour sensitive churches are sending men out and they are making copies of scripture. They realized they had everything they needed to do the Work of God.
Church History Filter
#1 God’s Churches are Vertical and imperfect
#2 When the last sentence of Scripture was written, the Churches had all they needed to do the work of God. There would be no new scripture, teaching, or beliefs given from God.
Anytime to see someone writing about Church history and they add some new thing so that the work could be done, or they add some new belief, then you know that their view is off. Their filter of events is not Biblical.
Everything and every belief and every teaching was already given. The examples would be almost endless from the invention of Purgatory to praying to Mary, to adding additional books as scripture.