Classic Christianity – Book of John Part 1 (04-01-19)
Before getting into the teaching in the book of John, Bob George first starts a review on biblical interpretation. From 2 Timothy 3:16, he provides a framework of understanding what is meant by scriptures as being inspired by God. He explains that the original manuscripts are inspired and scriptures we have today are translations. Although translations are not inspired, they are translated from God’s inspired word of God into languages known by the reader. In particular, the Septuagint, a translation of the Old Testament Hebrew into Greek, often quoted by Jesus, is a trustworthy translation. Other translations exist today, and we have many in English so we can read in our own language.
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
Bob opens by reading 2 Timothy 3:16 from the King James Version translation. Bob made a specific point to quote from the King James Version to explain how one needs to show proper discernment when reading from a translation since only the original manuscripts are inspired. This is the only translation that correctly uses doctrine instead of teaching. Bob explains the difference between doctrine and teaching, and it is the difference between knowing what the word of God says and knowing what it means. Doctrine is internalized and answers the question of how the scripture applies to you personally in meeting your spiritual need, of new spiritual life in Christ.
Bob George continues with defining doctrine, what scripture means, and contrasts doctrine with teaching. He explains how important doctrine is for coming to know God through the reading of the scriptures and through revelation by the Holy Spirit. He cites two examples of how certain false religions interpret scripture incorrectly because, although they can read and know what scripture says, they do not not know what scripture means. Doctrine is really something that is taught by the Holy Spirit personally to you. According to 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, the Holy Spirit is the reveal-er of the meaning of the word of God as it relates to you. Doctrine is a conclusion of the facts you read as the Spirit reveals the meaning to you.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him —
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
Bob asks a series of questions to help the listener understand the difference between doctrine and teaching. He asked several questions to help the listener personalize the meaning of God’s word.
What does it mean to be reconciled by the death of God’s son?
What does it mean when Jesus said at the cross, “It is finished?”
Would God ask you to do for you what is already done?
How many of you know that you are justified by faith?
Then, should you ask God to justify you?
Is all scripture applicable to you today?
How many of you would kill a goat or a bull today?
Why do you eat pork today?
Are you under an old covenant or a new covenant?
When did the New Covenant go into effect? (Refer to Hebrews 9)
Is the new covenant one of law or grace?
According to Hebrews 10, we have been made holy. Since holy means sanctified or set apart, how set apart are you?
Have you improved upon God’s nature?
How much sense does it make to make ourselves more holy?
Can you out-sin God?
Bob then starts teaching from the book of John, following the same style of asking questions of scripture to discern the meaning of God’s word. Doctrine, the meaning of God’s word, must be revealed to man by the Spirit of God. He compares John 1 with the beginning in Genesis. He then reads John 1:1-17, a few verses at a time, and shows how by asking questions one can come to understand the meaning of God’s word with the aid of the Holy Spirit.
John is an excellent book to refresh one’s understanding, to know God and His Son Jesus Christ. If we knew almost nothing, having little exposure to reading God’s word, what can we discover from the gospel of John? Have you come to understand from John 1 that the Word is a person or that Jesus is the Word? Can you discern from scripture that there are two births? What else has God revealed to you by His spirit concerning the meaning of John 1:1-17?
2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
Is all scripture given by inspiration of God? Absolutely. Are we talking about the King James Version or the original manuscripts written in Greek and Hebrew? We are talking about the original manuscripts. The New American Standard (NAS), the New International Version (NIV) and the King James Version (KJV) are all translations off the original manuscripts. If you were living in Germany, you would have a German translation translated off of the Greek manuscripts. If you were living in Japan, you would have a Japanese translation translated off of the Greek manuscripts. In the Old Testament there was something called the Septuagint. The Septuagint is a translation of the Old Testament in Hebrew into Greek. Hebrew is not a distinct type of language and so it is necessary to translate it into Greek. Greek was the common language and widely used during the time of Christ when he walked on the earth. The entirety of the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation has been translated.
Is the Old Testament inspired of God, the original manuscripts? Absolutely. How do we know the Old Testament is inspired? Jesus said it is, and Jesus is God, and he said the word is true. God is true, then we can test it to be true. He said the Word is truth.
John 17:17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
No other translation translates 2 Timothy 3:16 that way, with the word doctrine. Other translations incorrectly use the word teaching. Doctrine and teaching are two different things. The bible teaches you something. Doctrine answers the question, “What does it mean?” You put your faith in what the bible means and not what it says. You do not know what it means if you do not know what it says but you can know what it says and not know what it means. The bible says many, many things. The issue is, what does it mean? All kinds of doctrine formed by all kinds of denominations with different persuasions. The Jehovah Witnesses know what the word of God says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, but they say Jesus is not God. So what is their doctrine concerning Jesus Christ? They believe Jesus is not God. The Mormons do not believe Jesus is God aside from the fact that we are all little gods. Did they get it out of teaching? Teaching alright but their teaching came from an opinion of an individual but it is not a doctrine revealed through the Spirit of God. Doctrine tells you what something means to you and me. What are the “therefore”s in there for to know what it is means? What it means has to be taught by the Spirit of God into our lives today, how it applies to me. If we do not depend on the Spirit to know what it means, we will not know what it means. A computer knows what bible says. Anybody who reads it knows what it says. The issue is, “what does it mean?” Doctrine tells you what the scriptures mean personally to you. In the epistles one reads that the meaning must be revealed by the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him —
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit is the reveal-er of the meaning of the word of God. I can know what it says by my own intellect, but the meaning must be revealed to me by the Spirit. You can hear a gospel presentation for 90 years and never apply it to your life because the Spirit has not revealed the meaning of it to you. Until you see that Jesus died for your sins personally, the cross has no meaning to you. Until you see you have a need for Jesus to die on the cross for you, then the meaning is hidden from you. That is the difference between doctrine and teaching.
2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
Doctrine is a conclusion of the facts you read as the Spirit reveals the meaning to you. We know that the scripture says we were all reconciled to God through the death of His Son.
Romans 5:10
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Do we not know that? What does that mean? Does it mean, “It is finished”. Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished”.
John 19:30
30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
When he cried out from the cross, “It is finished”, sin has been dealt with once and for all. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.
Romans 3:25
25 For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath. [propitiation] In this way he was being entirely fair, even though he did not punish those who sinned in former times. For he was looking forward to the time when Christ would come and take away those sins.
Hebrews 9:22
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
For Him to forgive you for something you did today, then he would have to die on the cross again if it was not finished.
Romans 5:10
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
How much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life. We can read that and know what it says. So if we know what “it is finished” means, would you ask God to do something He has already done? If we walk by faith, and your doctrine is a doctrine of faith, are you going to be asking God to do something He has already done? How many of you know, or at least read, that you have been justified by faith?
Galatians 2:16
We 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
If you know that, then what does that mean? God looks at you just as if you had never sinned. Do you believe that to be true? Have you internalized that truth? If you know you are justified, does it make sense as a born again believer to ask God to justify you? No, because you are asking Him to do something He has already done on your behalf.
I know full well there are people who know what it says but never internalized what it means. My forgiveness is not dependent on my ability to go to a priest, to do good deeds, to go through 1 John 1:9 or to be re-baptized but my forgiveness is through Christ Jesus and nothing of what I have done at all. That is the doctrine that got Paul crucified. You and I need doctrine. We cannot ignore doctrine. People know what it says but do not know what it means. People say, “Oh just tell people Jesus loves you”. That does not cut it! Jesus’s love for you did something for you. He died on the cross to take away sins in order to be raised from the dead to give life to you.
Is all scripture applicable to you today? No. How many of you kill a bull and a goat to get forgiveness? Nobody. Did they do that in the Old Testament? Yes. Do we do that today? No. Are we under the old dispensation or the new dispensation? When did that New Covenant go into effect? The New Covenant went into effect on the day Christ died.
Hebrews 9:15
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance — now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
What did Jesus do to usher in the new covenant? He had to die. When he died he ushered in the New Covenant by the shedding of his blood.
Is that covenant of the law or of grave? It is a covenant of grace.
Hebrews 10:18
And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
Therefore, put aside your day of atonement, put aside your confession booth, put aside your confession of 1 John 1:9 because he has done it once, done it for all.
Hebrews 10:14
For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Do you know what that means? You have been made holy. If God has made you holy, and we sing “holy, holy, holy”. Do we know why we are singing? Holy means set apart. How set apart are you? Have any of you improved on God’s nature? You are not going to improve on what God has done. If he accomplished it, what is the only conclusion you can draw? If he has done something, can you improve on it? What sense is there of doing something to make ourselves holy? What in essence are we doing, when trying to make ourselves holy? We are saying he did not complete the work he came to do. Is that faith? It is faith in you but not in Him.
What is the conclusion of what has been taught? That is doctrine.
What does it teach us when we study the Old Testament? The Old Testament is a book of man’s failure and God’s faithfulness in the midst of man continually falling down in faithfulness to God. Can you out-sin God? You are not going to out-sin God. No man is good enough to be accepted because of his works. And no man is bad enough to be rejected by God because of his works. What is the application of that? Have you crossed the line? No, there is no line. When man comes to his senses and sees God, God will adopt him into the family.
When Bob shared this message, a funeral service for Ronald Reagan was happening. At the funeral service, Michael Reagan, a believer, testified of his faith in Jesus Christ.
Michael Reagan is an adopted son, whereas other members of the Reagan family did not know Jesus. He testified about Jesus. We have been adopted into the family of God. Is that a doctrine? The statement is not a doctrine, but do you believe it to be true. In Jewish culture, you can never give away an adopted child. Can you say nothing can separate you from the love of God? That is doctrine to you. You have applied it personally to your life. The apostle Paul testified of his doctrine when he testified of this belief.
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let us get into studying this person of Jesus. Let us get refreshed in knowing Him again. John 1 begins the same way as Genesis.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning, God. Before all things were, there is God.
John 1:1-2
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
So what do we know about word from just reading this? You know what it says. By just reading this, would yo know what it meant? There was God and somebody with Him. Then he turns around and says He is God.
John 1:3-
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Now, the scripture is identifying the word as a person.
John 1:4-13
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
He now has a name. He gives the right to anyone who receives him, who believes in his name, the right to become a child of God. This becoming a child is not by being born of man and dad, not born of human descent. A child of God is not born as a baby produced by mom and dad but a person born of God. He is telling us there are two births, one from mom and dad, and one from God.
John 1:14
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So who is this name that I should believe in? How did he get his name? What is significant about his name? How do I receive him so I can become his child, a member of the family of God? There were people who walked the earth with him when he walked the earth. They testified that they had seen his glory. They even identified him as the one and only son who came from God, who is identified as Father. He is also full of grace and truth. This person is Jesus Christ.
