Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us for the message today. Now, the title of today's
message is this, If You Continue. If You Continue. And I took that
title from the book of Colossians in the New Testament, Paul's
epistle to the church at Colossae. And it's Colossians chapter 1
and verse 23, but I'm going to read a little bit of the context
here if you continue. Now this message is part of a
series that I've been doing concerning the subject of how to interpret
the Scriptures, how to interpret the Bible. When we read the Bible,
when I read the Bible, I use certain rules of interpretation
that I use to get what I believe is the intended meaning of the
Lord God in His verbally inspired, inerrant word, the Bible. I know,
and I've talked about this all through this series, how so many
people have so many different opinions about the Bible as a
whole, what verses of Scripture mean, and what they don't mean. There's so many denominations.
How can we tell who's right and who's wrong? And I've had people
ask me, how do you, how do I personally get what I get out of the scriptures
when I read them? And so I use certain rules of
interpretation. I have eight rules of interpretation.
I listed those rules for you in the first couple of programs
on this series. I've covered up through five
of these rules. And today we're going to deal
with number six. Let me just give you what I've
covered up to this point. The first rule of scriptural
interpretation is the rule of Jesus Christ crucified and raised
from the dead. That's the rule of the gospel.
The rule of grace, you might say, which tells us that this
whole book is a book of Christ. The second rule is the rule of
first mention. which dealt with the issue of
biblical concepts and ideas, gospel truth, where it is first
mentioned in the Bible, it never changes all the way through.
And that is certainly true with the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace, how God saves sinners. The third rule is the
rule of simplicity. And that simply states that if
God says it, it's true. It's true whether I believe it
or whether I understand it. If God says it, it's true. And
then the fourth rule of interpretation is the rule of revelation, which
states that we as sinful human beings are totally dependent
upon God the Holy Spirit to reveal the scriptures to us. And in
essence, we must be born again or we cannot see or understand
or enter the kingdom of heaven. We have to be given a new heart,
a new spirit, new life within, ears to hear, eyes to see the
glory of God in Christ. And then the fifth rule was the
rule of language. And that involves a lot. That
involves the meaning of words and phrases and different things
as they're stated in the Bible. I believe I mentioned that one
of the things that you need to do when you study the Bible is
get you a concordance and a biblical dictionary that would help. But
these words have meanings and that brings me to number six,
which is what I call the rule of context. And that's what I
want to deal with today. And what I mean by the rule of
context, and it's very much connected to the last rule, the rule of
language, is that words mean things and they mean different
things in different contexts. And context is so important.
In fact, I used to joke a little bit. I didn't really mean it
as a joke because I'm very serious about it. But somebody would
ask me, what are the most important rules of interpretation? And
I would say, number one, context, number two, context, and number
three, context. And my point in stating it that
way is that you cannot get away. From from this issue of context
in the scripture words have meanings within their context and so many
misinterpretations of the scripture have to do with people taking
words phrases sentences paragraphs verses out of their context and
Trying to apply them where they don't apply the rule of context
goes many different ways and There's historical context. There's cultural context. There's literary context. All
of those things. When you read a passage of scripture,
what book of the Bible? Is it Old Testament? Is it New
Testament? Both are true. But in certain
contexts, they can have different meanings. They don't contradict.
The Bible is not contradicting it. The rule of context could
go this way. Who's talking? If it's a passage
of scripture, who's writing it? Or who's talking? Who are they
writing to? Who are they talking to? What
is their subject? That's so important. And that's
what I want to show you in this passage. I'm going to give you
a couple of examples of how to interpret scripture within its
context. And the first one I want you
to see is here in Colossians chapter one. I'll begin reading
at verse 19. And here the Apostle Paul writing
to the church at Colossae, he says, for it pleased the Father
that in him, that is in Jesus Christ, should all fullness dwell. Now the word him there is a pronoun. A pronoun has what they call
an antecedent. In other words, who is the Him
there? It pleased the Father, that in Him should all fullness
dwell. Who is Him? That's Christ. That's
who He's talking about, you see. This is the Apostle Paul, the
Apostle of Christ, the Gospel believer, who is writing this
letter concerning the preeminence of Christ. who is the head of
all things, and the body, the church, the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, then in all things he might have the preeminence.
And it says in verse 20 of Colossians 1, and having made peace through
the blood of his cross, that's the death of Christ on the cross
as the substitute and surety of his people, by him to reconcile
all things unto himself, that is all things in the kingdom
of God, under the covenant of grace. By him, I say whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven. And he says in verse
21, he says, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh, that's his sinless humanity, through
death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight." This holiness, this fact that a sinner can stand
before God unblameable, unreprovable, is totally wrapped up in the
glorious person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In other words, it has nothing to do with my works or my character
and conduct in that sense. It's not that the works of a
believer or the character and the conduct of a believer are
not important and not even necessary as the fruit of God's grace.
But what I'm telling you is, what this is stating in the context
is that my holiness is Jesus Christ. The fact that I cannot
be charged with sin, I'm unblameable, is because Christ was charged
with my sins. And God will not and cannot charge
them to me. That's what the scripture means
in Romans chapter 8 when it talks about who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect. It's God that justifies. So I'm
unblameable. Blessed is the man. I'm a sinner.
And if God were to blame me, if He were to mark my iniquities,
I would not stand. But Christ died for my sins,
therefore I cannot be blamed. I cannot be charged. Sin cannot
be imputed to me. And I'm unreprovable in His sight. That means I'm without correction
as far as my legal standing before God. Now, what does that mean? That means I'm righteous in God's
sight. based upon the righteousness
of Christ, the merits of His obedience unto death, imputed,
charged to me." Now, in myself, I need a lot of correction. That's
what chastisement is about for a child of God. It's correction
that God brings out of love to His children. To be a disciple
of Christ is to be a learner. I'm constantly learning. I read
the scripture and I have to be brought to repentance continually
in this warfare of the flesh and the spirit. But as to my
standing before God legally, I'm justified, I'm righteous
in Christ. Now verse 23 is where I got the
title of today's message as an example of applying the rule
of context in interpretation. And let me show you what I mean.
Now all of this that he has said that a believer is, by virtue
of his union with Christ, stands true, verse 23, if you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister. Now that one word, if, is one
of the most important words in the scripture. And I'll say this,
many people have gone astray, even on the gospel, because they
failed to interpret the correct meaning of this word, if, within
its given context. Now what do I mean by that? Well
here, let me give you some background concerning this word if. I'm
not gonna give you an English lesson on that, but here's what
I mean by it. By nature, men and women believe
that salvation, the salvation of their souls, salvation from
sin, is conditioned on what they do or what they don't do or what
they choose to do. Now that's a natural way of thinking
of an unregenerate person. I'm a sinner and I need salvation. What must I do to be saved? You
remember the Philippian jailer asked Paul that. What must I
do to be saved? Because we believe by nature
that we have to do something. We believe there are certain
conditions we'd have to meet in order to be saved. And most
people today believe that that condition is faith. You make
a decision. But the gospel message is a salvation
that is not conditioned on you or on me but conditioned totally
on the Lord Jesus Christ who came to this world and as God
in human flesh walked the earth and fulfilled all the conditions
to secure the salvation of His people. That's what grace is
all about. You see, works is salvation conditioned
on the sinner. Grace is salvation conditioned
on Christ. But then you go to the Bible
and you read passages like this. It says, if you continue in the
faith. See, you've got to meet the condition
of continuing. And so when you read that word,
if, you automatically determine, well, that means that's a condition. Do we have to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ to be saved? Yes. Do we have to continue in
the faith to go into glory? Yes. But those things are not
conditions a sinner must meet in order to attain or maintain
salvation. Those things are the fruit, the
evidence, and the result of God's grace in saving a sinner through
Christ. So here's what I'm saying, and
follow me closely here. An if statement, like this, can
either be a conditional if, a conditional statement, or it can be an evidential
if, an evidential statement. In other words, it's either a
condition for or an evidence of. Now, here's where we apply
the rule of context. How do you know the difference?
How do you know the difference? Well, here's how. You see, in
the Bible we read about God who is a covenant God. God makes
covenants. For example, God made a covenant
with the nation Israel on Mount Sinai when he delivered them
out of Egypt, brought them across the Red Sea, and got them at
the foot of Mount Sinai, and called Moses up into the mountain,
gave them the law, and he made a covenant with the nation Israel. What kind of covenant did God
make with Israel? Well, it was a covenant of works. It was a covenant and there were
blessings that were given to them regardless of what they
did, but there were also conditional blessings placed upon the nation
Israel. For example, even though God
chose them and called them and delivered them and brought them
together unconditionally, When he brought them into the land
of Canaan, he told them, he said, now you will prosper and continue
in this land if you obey. And there are all kinds of if
statements made through the Old Testament about that. One of
the most famous is one found in 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14. And listen to what it says. 2
Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14, he says, if my people, which
are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and
seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their
land. That was a conditional blessing
put upon the nation Israel. Now let me ask you this question.
Did Israel as a nation, did they humble themselves? Did they pray
and seek God's face and turn from their wicked ways? And the
answer is no. They failed to meet the condition. And that's why they suffered.
the punishment of God in the land, and that's why they were
eventually taken out of the land and put into captivity. Now that
if there, if my people, which are called by my name, that's
a conditional if that has to do with blessings based on their
obedience. Now how do I know that? Because
it was given to that nation under that conditional old covenant
of works. That's how we know. But now when
you come over to the New Testament, And you read these if statements
given to the churches, to true believers. Are these conditional
blessings that are based upon what they do or don't do? Or
are they evidences of what God has already done for them unconditionally
through the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer is this, they
are evidences of their state before God in Christ. Listen
to what he said. He's talking about Christ has
already made peace through the blood of His cross. He says that
He's reconciled all things to Himself. And He did that when
we, His people, were alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked
works. We were reconciled to God through
Christ. That's His people now. That's
not all without exception. It's His people. In the body
of His flesh. And He says, now this is so for
me or for anyone if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled.
What is the faith? The faith is the faith of the
gospel. And it's the gospel not of salvation
and blessings by works. It's the gospel of salvation
by God's grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. So you look at
this. It's like saying this. I told
somebody one time, I gave them this example. It's like when
a baby is born. The evidence of that baby having
the principle of physical life, one of the evidences, is that
it breathes and it cries out. Now, it's breathing and crying
out was not the source or the cause or the condition it had
to meet in order to have the principle of life. No. The breathing, the crying out
is evidence that the principle of life was already put there
by God. And that's the way it is with
spiritual life. That's the way it is with salvation.
My believing on Christ is not the source or the cause or the
condition for my salvation. My believing in Christ, my repenting
of dead works, my persevering in the faith, my obedience to
God is the evidence of life that God himself has already put there.
I hope that's understandable. That's context. And I want to
give you one more example of how the rule of context works. You can take any verse of the
Bible and you can pull it out of its context and pretty much
make it say anything you want it to say. And I'll give you
an example of one that is, it's a very difficult verse to be
honest with you. It's a very perplexing verse
if you don't know the context of what's being spoken of here.
And it's in the book of 1 John. It's 1 John chapter 3 and it's
verse 9. And here's the verse. Now just
think about if I read this verse to you or to anybody else and
tried to understand its meaning without knowing the whole context. And it says this, John the Apostle
writing here by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he says, whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in
him and he cannot sin because he's born of God. Now we know
in the context of the scripture that the being born of God here
refers to the new birth. It's not just talking about physical
birth. It has to do with being born of the Holy Spirit, born
again. You remember Christ said to Nicodemus
in John chapter three, you must be born again, or you cannot
see or understand, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. So
he says here, whosoever is born again, am I born again? Are you
born again? That's what we would understand
here. Well, he says whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin. Well, that means that if I'm
born again, that I'm not a sinner anymore, that I don't still,
in my best efforts to obey the law, fall short of the glory
of God. That's what sin is. And didn't
John write back over here in 1 John 1 that if we say we have
no sin, we're liars, we call God a liar, the truth is not
in us? Didn't Paul say in Romans 7 and
beginning at verse 14 and going all the way through the rest
of that chapter that he had a struggle with sin within, that he cannot
keep the law perfectly? Somebody would say, well, that's
Paul talking about before he was saved. No, that's all present
tense verbs. It's talking about Paul during
salvation. So when you look at a passage
like this, well, remember what I said. First of all, find out
who's writing here or who's talking. Well, this is the Apostle John.
And the Apostle John, like the Apostle Paul, was a gospel preacher. He believed and preached salvation
totally for sinners by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus
Christ based on the shed blood of Christ and the righteousness
of Christ freely imputed and received by faith. John knew
about the new birth, being born of God. Remember back in John
chapter 1 and verse 12, he said that those who are born of God,
those who receive Christ, have the right to become the sons
of God, they were born not of bloods, not of physical heritage,
nor the will of the flesh, which is the works of the flesh, nor
the will of man, nor the free will of man. That's not, the
Bible doesn't even teach the free will of man, the will's
in bondage. That's why we have to be made willing by God's power
in the day of his power. But those who are born of God,
And John writes here in 1 John 3, 9, whosoever is born of God
doth not commit sin. Now, what is he talking about?
Well, here's what he's talking about. You can go all the way
back to 1 John 2 here and verse 18, for example. You could go
back further, go back to the whole book, but we don't have
time to cover it all. But in 1 John 2 and verse 18,
he says, little children, it is the last time or the last
age And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now
are there many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time."
Listen to what he says. They went out from us. These people who were consumed
and caught up with that spirit of Antichrist, they went out
from us. They claimed to be believers
at one time, but they left Christ. They left the gospel. They left
the church. They left the truth. They forsook
the gospel of Jesus Christ. They turned against Him. Well,
does that mean they lost their salvation? Well, let's read on.
1 John 2 and verse 19. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. Now remember we read
back in Colossians 1 and verse 23, if you continue, what John
says here, these who did not continue were never of us. They were never born again. They
were never saved to begin with. Had they been of us, had they
been born again, had they been truly saved by the grace of God,
they would have continued with us. That's the evidence, you
see. And so he said, they went out that they might be made manifest
that they were not all of us. Now, I don't have time to read
all these verses, but that's what he's talking about in verse
10. In this, he says, whosoever is born of God, in verse nine,
doth not commit sin. What sin? He doesn't mean that
when we're born of God, we stop being sinners, we're still sinners.
We still are just as much in need of salvation by the grace
of God and righteousness in Christ as we always were. But he says,
they will remain with him. They'll stay with him. They will
not commit the sin of apostasy and leave Christ. I hope that's
been helpful to your understanding of the scriptures. And I hope
you'll join us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.