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Greetings Everyone! Welcome our dear brethren and friends around the world - and here in the United States. I'm Leonard V. Johnson, and you're watching the Church of Jesus Christ Online Ministries weekly taping of our sermons. Also, welcome our brethren and friends in Forest City, North Carolina; Troy, Michigan; Fortworth, Texas; and Prineville, Oregon. Also, across the pond there in Brussels, Belgium; Clonee and Dublin, Ireland; and Lisbon, Portugal.
Surely, all these worldly churches can't be wrong! After all, they all claim to be the churches of Jesus Christ! Yet, they are wrong! One church believes one thing and another another thing. One church believes this doctrine, another a completely different doctrine. Does it truly make any difference? After all, these are all Christian churches - don't they call themselves Christian? Are they not all Christian churches?
Brethren and friends, how come these worldly churches don't teach and preach the same gospel that our Lord Jesus Christ preached? Why do they - in fact - believe contrary to that which our Lord Jesus preached? Why is it that they think that it is wrong to place our Lord Jesus Christ as the living HEAD of their church organization? Can the true 'little flock' of the Body of Christ - the Church of Jesus Christ - of which our Lord Jesus IS NOW (and always has been) the Head believe that our Lord Jesus is wrong? Absolutely, of course not!
And as I spoke of in the article - ARE YOU BUT A TRADITIONALIST? Why is it that the overwhelming majority of these churches follow customs and practices that are opposite to those of which our Lord Jesus has built and set as an example, under the glorious inspiration of the Spirit of God - and built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles? Our Lord Jesus being the Chief Cornerstone? Why?
And, sometimes healing the sick and casting out demons are the same thing.
And, this is exactly what He commissioned His true servants to do. And, that is exactly what He commissioned them to do once they became apostles. After they, on the Day of Pentecost, had received the Power and had been empowered with the very Spirit of God to go and do the work for which they had been trained and to which they had been called.
Getting to and studying His sermon - what they call the Sermon on the Mount - that our Lord Jesus, seeing the multitude, had gone up into the mountain. And He was praying all night long to Father God - all night.
His disciples had come to Him and He opened His mouth and taught them - His disciples saying. And, let's go ahead and turn there in our Bibles. The Book of Luke chapter 6.
At this time, as it says in verse 17 - "He came down with them (the disciples) and stood on a level place and a great crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem."
Verse 20.
But always He spoke to the crowds or the multitude of people in parables as He did so that they could not understand and to hide the meaning because it was not given to them to understand. But to His disciples, He said, "It is given to you to understand." And He was teaching them to prepare them to become His apostles and so He was teaching them and they - for the most part - still didn't understand. They hadn't been converted yet. But, it was given to them to understand.
Let's turn back to the Book of Matthew the 7th chapter -
Verse 13.
Now, this was the Way that He was teaching His own disciples. Was He wrong? Do we hear this being taught today in these so-called Christian Churches? Now, I've heard Oprah Winfrey say quite boldly and self-assuredly, "There are many ways to salvation." Now, that atrocious Co-Pilot on Microsoft Bing - when you look that question up, their answers, at the very top of the page -
"Different denominations and churches may have various interpretations and emphases, but the core message remains significant in Christian teachings."
Various interpretations? Brethren, the only interpretation we should have is our Lord Jesus Christ's! And His alone! No one else's interpretation. So, it's obvious the people in these worldly churches hear this in so many various ways.
Continue with verse 13.
That leads to destruction.
So, wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to heaven. No! Not heaven... destruction! He never said that it leads to heaven. He said that gate, that way that is the easiest, that is the most popular, the very way that the multitude of our peoples in these so-called Christian churches are going - the way of multiple millions of religious people and professing Christians are going - that wide gate, that broad way, leads to destruction.
Also, notice, and I surely could have pointed this out in one of our latest sermons - WHAT IS HELL? Our Lord Jesus Christ also didn't say that this destruction would burn forever and ever either. He never said that, brethren, friends. And He never said it at any time. Contrary to what you have been hearing - probably since childbirth. And yes, He spoke about a gehenna fire. We've spoken of this many times. It's translated into English as hellfire - an absolutely terrible translation. Yes, He talked about a kind of fire that destroyed physical bodies - such as those of animals and criminals, and garbage, and other junk, that was thrown into a huge garbage pit in the Valley of Hinnom in Jerusalem in that day. It destroyed and it burned up all that was thrown into the pit.
So, here our Lord Jesus says to us - we must enter by the narrow gate. Because wide is the gate and broad is its way that leads to destruction. And again, He never said that it leads to a hellfire burning with screaming souls writhing in pain and torture for all eternity! He said it leads to destruction. Because, continuing, "there are MANY who go in by it."
Our Lord Jesus did not say that His 'little flock' - in this end-time; towards the end of this age - is going the wrong way. He says "the many" - the millions upon millions - are going the WRONG WAY! And brethren and friends - throughout God's living word we see that it is always the many - the majority - that are being deceived. And you find that the majority in this world of its ministers and its preachers and its false prophets are indeed the majority and they are going the WRONG WAY!
But truly, do you find that the many are being saved - that the many are teaching and preaching the actual word of God, the Truth of God, and the true Plan of God? And that the majority are true servants of our Lord Jesus Christ? As I mentioned to Minister Guy LaMar the other day - we had nearly a two-hour-long phone conversation! Truly those conversations strengthen our common Spirit within us - the common Spirit being the glorious Spirit of God! But, I was mentioning to him, within a radius of 50 miles - nay I say 100 miles - from our office here in Spring Hill - how many true servants of our Lord Jesus are there? Because I haven't seen too many. Yet, doesn't the majority in these worldly churches believe that on every street - nearly every street having a so-called Christian church building - that in every town and city, there are true servants of Jesus Christ? Multiple billions of people! After all, they say, they're the real and true churches of Christ and that all these ministers are the true ministers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, they claim to be.
Let's turn over to the Book of 2nd Corinthians. The 11th chapter.
Here we read something - but do you believe the LORD God - do you believe the living word of God? When we read God's prophecies, His warnings, His truth - do we believe them? Or do you think, "Surely that can't be the way?" The Apostle Paul says here in verse 3.
And the Apostle Paul - inspired by the Spirit of God - is talking to the Body of Christ - the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church at this time was in Corinth.
Continue verses 3 to 4
Another Jesus. In other words, if a man or a woman comes preaching to you - if the preacher that comes to you preaches a different Jesus.
Well. Do they preach another Jesus today? Have you heard anyone preach a different Jesus to you that you did not agree with? Have you heard anyone come to you preaching another Jesus that teaches that Jesus did away with His Father's Law - and they tell you, "You're not under the law. The law is a terrible thing - therefore the law was done away with! You don't have to obey the law." Have you heard another Jesus being preached throughout the world? And, of course, they can take some of these Scriptures, written under the inspiration, of the Apostle Paul whose writing the Apostle Peter said is at times hard to understand, and twist them, distort them, mangle them, as they do the majority of Scripture - to their own destruction. Have you heard any preacher preach to you that our Lord Jesus nailed His Father's Commandments to the Cross - and that He fulfilled the Law so that we don't have to keep them? Of course, as I've mentioned before - my own oldest brother has said to me before, "Just be the best person you can be, and you'll make it." I'm certain he was thinking about "making it to heaven." Just be the best person you can be. Have you ever heard a preacher preach, "God's Law was not good. But Jesus, being merciful and loving, did away with His Father's Law - His Ten Commandments." Have you ever heard that?
Look, brethren and friends - I say with all the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ - that is another Jesus! It's a different Jesus that we read about in His living word - the Holy Bible! Do you know that what you've been listening to is "another Jesus"? You've been listening to the many - what our LORD God's living word calls false prophets. And by twisting God's word here and there, they can make it say whatever they want it to say - and what you've been listening to and what you've been believing and swallowing - the overall majority of you - swallowing it hook, line, and sinker. And I want to tell you that it's time to awaken from sleep - to WAKE UP! Certainly, anyone can make the Bible say anything they want. If you take a little here and a little there, and piece it together, it will say want you want. Oh, it can be done - and it is being done by the majority of this world's preachers.
It's like a false minister I came across a few years ago. And Brother Roderick Meredith - a servant of the LORD our God that I've known for some 45 years (plus or minus) - wrote a letter to him denouncing this false minister. A minister who insists on being called a doctor and calls himself a prophet and apostle. Well, I read this letter, and it is truly moving. It is saturated with the Spirit of God. This false minister can certainly quote to you Scripture. But, he doesn't have love in his heart. And yes, I have spoken with this false minister - I won't mention his name. Many of you might know of whom I speak.
Now, one can call a person - like a false minister, or a false prophet - all kinds of names. You can turn to a place in God's living word, where our Lord Jesus called the Pharisees white sepulchers, liars, and hypocrites.
Brethren, friends - my beloved - I have to tell you God's living truth because I am serving you. And because I'm serving our Lord Jesus Christ! Because, truthfully, I believe we all want the result of good. And we don't want the way to destruction.
So, here was another Jesus - and another Jesus, sadly, is continuing to be preached today.
Continuing, verse 4.
So, there would be - and there is today in this 21st-century world - false preachers preaching a DIFFERENT JESUS other than the One in His living word.
As we've said before - we know the real Jesus. The real Jesus kept His Father's Commandments. The real Jesus set us an example that we should follow His steps. The real Jesus had spoken nothing of Himself; the Father sent Him and gave Him a commandment of what to say and what to speak. He very plainly says, if you want to enter into life, if you want to be saved, if you want eternal life, KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS!
"Obeying Christ’s commands means copying the example of Jesus."
"Only those who believe and receive the truth of who Jesus is are set free and thus “hold to His teachings”
I tell you, dear Brethren and Fiends, it's time for you to awaken from sleep and come to understand with the help of Almighty God just what you have come to accept - it is false.
In verse 13 it says -
Now, what was it that Lucifer transformed himself into? No. Not a serpent. And, not a devil. But an angel of light. So, he pretends to have light. And, as we've spoken of before, he came to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as an angel of light.
God - Elohim; the family of God - which at this time consists of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ - who was the Word or the Spokesman at that time - God had commanded the man, "You must obey Me." It's in the second chapter of the Book of Genesis that you see this command of obedience - Genesis 2:16. God gave the man a command of what he was to do.
And surely we know the story. Lucifer came around - the enchanting whisperer - now called Satan the devil, came around and said, "Look now, God isn't fair. God's Law is going to make you mighty unhappy. God is not your friend. Surely you can see with your own eyes that this tree is good for food and is pleasant to the eyes, it's desirable to make you wise beyond your wildest dreams! If you partake of this tree, you'll be like God. And God knows that. So, God is deceiving you. Well... all I've got to say is - use your mind, your reasoning. You have got a mind - haven't you!?"
Satan the Devil surely said to Adam - and certainly, everything that was said to Adam and Eve hasn't been written down. He surely said, "Look about you. Look at all these creatures. Are you able to think? Reason? Can they reason amongst themselves? Can they worship? Do they have ideas, and can design, and plan things? Are they able to do whatever they want? No. But, why do you have powers like God?" Reading what Satan the Devil had said to our Lord Jesus Christ to try and tempt Him, we can surely conclude that he must have said this to Adam and Eve - "Why don't you be like God and use your own reasoning and mind and do the thing that you can see right here in front of you? You have the ability to know right from wrong. Do you need to listen to God for that?"
And TODAY - you are continuing to hear this same old siren song! And a lot of these false ministers use the very words of Satan the Devil - "Now look, use your own reasoning. God's Law is not fair. It will keep you from doing what is fun. It's against you, it's contrary to you - it's certainly contrary to the lifestyle you want to live." And then, they take a little out of the Book of Galatians, and a little out of the Book of Romans, and they say just the opposite. Well, most times they just leave those Books out - they don't understand them thoroughly anyway. As an example - let's turn to the Book of Romans the 2nd chapter -
Verse 13.
Right here in black and white - read again.
So then, why do these false ministers and false prophets continue to tell you all the time that God's holy and immutable Law is a bad thing for you and that it's only trying to lead you into unhappiness, misery, even poverty - instead of keeping them that will lead you into the Way that would relieve you from all of that into the Way of the LORD God!? They continue to tell you that if you are a doer of the Law, you can't be saved - and they will actually quote a passage referring to something else altogether - it's in the Book of Galatians - but they will actually tell you that if you keep the Ten Commandments you're under a curse. Have you ever heard that?
Well, what about what we just read? Let's read it again -
Verse 13.
Friends, can you just take God's living word - the Holy Bible - and contradict it, take passages out of context, say whatever you want them to say, and just ignore others? Do you think you can do this and get away with it? Do you know that this verse right here will be shown to you in the Judgement? Just as much as all the other Scriptures? And Books were opened. You are going to be judged by these words.
Let's turn a page back here to the 1st chapter of the Book of Romans.
Notice verse 28.
Speaking of these Gentiles.
Notice what the LORD God gave Gentiles to do -
Verse 29.
In the Book of Psalms chapter 119, and verse 172, the definition of righteousness - is "For all Your - speaking of the LORD God - all Your commandments are righteousness."
So they were - as they are today - breaking God's Commandments. Filled with all unrighteousness is breaking all of God's Commandments. He goes on to say -
Continue verse 29.
Sexual immorality - some versions say, fornication - breaking physically, mentally, and spiritually the Law against adultery - and even adultery of going after and worshiping false gods and goddesses.
Continue verse 29.
Verse 32.
Sin, my friends, "is the transgression of the Law."
And the ultimate penalty of sin is death. Not eternal life and not eternal hellfire. It's eternal death! When will we wake up and come to realize we've been taught exactly the opposite of what God's living word says and begin to believe our Lord Jesus Christ?
Again, real quickly, let's turn a page to chapter 3 -
Verse 31. Of the Book of Romans.
We're justified by faith - aren't we? Does being justified by faith make void the Law? Notice -
Continue verse 31.
Again, out of curiosity, I went and looked at what this world's preachers teach on this. What do they say this means - they say, and I quote -
"The Old Testament law was never intended by God to be the universal law for all people for all of time."
So, you will never hear these false prophets, teachers, and ministers, quote to you Romans 3:31 as we do. And often, they won't quote it at all. And if they do quote it - they won't teach on it - they won't tell you what it truly means, because they certainly don't know.
Again, the 4th chapter -
Verse 15.
And, as Minister Michael C. Garrett has pointed out - the Apostle Paul here often switches from talking about the Mosaic law to the Law of God. One of the grave mistakes of these worldly churches is that they include the Ten Commandments as part of the Mosaic law - and they are not included in the Mosaic law! The Ten Commandments was instituted long before the Old Covenant - the Mosaic law came about. Here in verse 15, the Apostle Paul is speaking of the Law of God - the Ten Commandments.
So, let's read this again. Verse 15, the last part.
If there is no Law, there is no transgression. And where there is no transgression, there is no sin. Because, again, the transgression of the Law - and if there is no transgression, there is no sin. If there is no Law, then you don't need a Savior. You understand it's the Law that took our Lord Jesus' life. He didn't take the Law. The Law did away with Him! He didn't do away with it. He took upon Himself our sins - our transgressions against the Law - and the Law took His life in exchange for ours. Because it's this Law of God that will take our life if we do not accept what He did for us and repent of our transgressions and begin keeping and obeying the LORD God! - the Law of God!
In another Scripture - the seventh chapter, of the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul says, -
Verse 7.
Sadly, the greater majority of our peoples in this world think so!
Do you really believe that the Law of God is sin?
Continue verse 7.
He goes on to say, "I would not have known covetousness unless the Law - meaning the Ten Commandments - had said, 'You shall not covet.'
Getting back to the subject at hand - Enter By the Narrow Gate. Turning once again to the Book of Matthew, chapter 7 -
Verse 13.
So, is this the popular way? Is this the way multiple millions who go to church every Sunday truly think? "Now I've done my duty, I've spent an hour in church." The majority of the time listening to beautiful music and a nice ceremony - the people with their important robes and all their beautiful pageantry, with their long beginning and ending prayers. And, now after church, you can go another whole week and just basically do as you please. And they think - isn't everything going to be just fine! Is this the way you look at things? Well, friends, isn't it about time to awaken from slumber - to wake up!? It's about time to look at this as God says!
"'Because narrow is the gate ... '" Let's read it from the Authorized Version, the King James Version -
""Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.'"
The strait gate. Meaning it's rudy, it's often difficult, it's not easy. For the gate is wide and broad is the way, and it leads to LIFE, and there are few who find it.
So, are there a great many being saved, or are there more not being saved at this time? Again, the many are going the broad way - the very way that you are continuing to hear it today.
And, what was the very next thing our Lord Jesus Christ says?
Verse 15.
Well, how do these false prophets, false teachers, and preachers look? Do they look like a devil? Do they put on a red cape and carry a three-pointed pitchfork? No.
Continue verse 15.
They come before you pretending to be the ministers of Jesus Christ.
Continue verses 15 to 20
So, if you find yourself in a corrupt group, they don't have God's living truth! God's living word says, "Don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work." My friends, you need to begin to live by every word of God if you ever want to get into God's holy kingdom and have the gift of eternal life! That's what you need to begin doing.
Continue with verse 21 to verse 27.
And now finally my Brethren and Friends, let me remind you if you truly want to understand God's living word, and if you are willing to devote yourself to maybe a half hour each day to God's living word - the Holy Bible - you can certainly log onto our website - www.owensborocojc.com, and you can study right in your own home. The Church of Jesus Christ Online Ministries. We charge you nothing. It's all free - trusting always in the LORD God for all things in faith.
So, until next time. I bid you fair well. May God continue to bless you and help open your heart and mind to His amazing word, Truth, and Plan for the redemption of all mankind. We love you and we thank you always for your love, prayers, and support on our behalf. God bless and Godspeed.
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