Tuesday, May 29, 2007
“You Don’t Have to Go To Church To Get To Heaven”
“Why do you say that?”
“Jesus is the way to heaven. Jesus died for all so all can go to heaven. “
“Well that might not be exactly right. It might be a bit narrower than that!”
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
“Christ died for the Church!”
“Oh.. so I better go to church to get to heaven?”
“Well you better enter the church.
But the entrance isn’t in Laman street. It s not our front door. Its not in Hunter street. Its not the front door to the Sacred heart Cathedral. Its not in Church street. Its not the front door to the Anglican cathedral.”
Cyprian an early bishop said that "You cannot have God as your Father unless you have the church for your mother."
“The front door of the church is by being born again.”
Washing of water with the Word.
A picture of the laver at the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.
The Laver consisted of a brazen circular basin filled with water which was fitted to a brazen pedestal or base to comprise one piece of furniture. No measurements are given. The Laver was constructed from the looking glasses or mirrors, of the women in the Camp of Israel who spent a great deal of their time fasting and praying at the door of the Tabernacle. Ex. 38:8. (Septuagint)
Description of the Laver Ex 38:8 Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
It was Necessary for the person to be washed all over before they entered the Presence Of God.Ex 40:12 "Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.13 "You shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister as a priest to Me.14 "You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them; 15 and you shall anoint them even as you have anointed their father, that they may minister as priests to Me; and their anointing will qualify them for a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations."
As indicated by its name it was designed for washing and cleansing. The priests were commanded to wash their hands and feet every time they went to minister at the Brazen Altar or the Holy Places. It was only for the priests, no other Israelite was allowed. The washing was specifically a preparation for coming into the presence of God. There is a deeper responsibility and relationship required of those who press further into God's presence.
“Washed” a symbol of regeneration /new birth.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
It happens through the instrumentality of the Word of God1 Peter 1: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24 For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower drops off, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached as the gospel to you.
James 1:18 By His own choice, He gave us a new birth by the message of truth so that we would be the firstfruits of His creatures.
James 1:18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. NASB
It was necessary to be cleansed by all over by washing just once.
But then it was necessary every day to cleanse the hands and cleanse the feet.
Ex 40:30 He placed the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing. 31 From it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. 32 When they entered the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Washing the hands is something we now take for granted.
Long before the germ theory was established as fact by the work of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) of Vienna was able to suggest the contagious nature of infections in women who had just given birth. Semmelweis observed that when his resident physicians and students washed their hands with soap and water before each examination of a new mother there was a dramatic decline in the infection rate on the ward.
Dr Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis of Vienna recognised the value of clinicians washing their hands in 1847. Dr Semmelweis, as a medical student, worked on a study in a hospital ward where physician-attended births had a mortality rate as high as 31%. This mortality rate contrasted sharply with the low mortality rate in the midwives' ward that was located nearby. The doctors were coming from performing post mortums in the mortuary.
Dr Semmelweis reported to his physician associates an incredible idea – washing hands could save lives. His research showed that pregnant women often developed fatal infections following hospital births – when treated by doctors with unwashed hands. However, mothers who were treated by doctors that scrubbed their hands thoroughly with soap and water before being examined and treated rarely developed the same type of fatal infections.
Were his peers excited about the research and willing to change their bad habits to save their patient's lives? Unfortunately, his peers thought he was crazy and forced him out. It would be years before washing hands was adopted as a standard practice amongst clinicians. However, handwashing did finally catch on. Most clinicians adopted hand washing and infection rates came down.
But in the Old Testament world, although dangers of infection through transmission of germs were unknown, the Lord had directed the people of Israel to several safe practices.
Once having been cleansed it is never to be repeated. Once saved always saved.
We are instantaneously positionally sanctified.
Once having been cleansed, a daily washing of hands and feet were necessary. We are to bepractically sanctified daily.
This makes sense of Jesus’ statements in John 13: So He got up from supper, laid aside His robe, took a towel, and tied it around Himself. 5 Next, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around Him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t understand now, but afterwards you will know.” 8 “You will never wash my feet—ever!” Peter said. Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 “One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him. This is why He said, “You are not all clean.”
The priests were involved in a demanding and dirty work. Even spiritual work will often produce a certain 'amount of a defilement. working for God will expose our motives, energies and ambitions. The burden of the people, their depressions and defilements etc. need to be cleansed away from us by the refreshing word.
Moses and the priests were barefoot. They maintained personal contact with the earth. Jesus said that even though we were not of the world we are in it and though we are cleansed by the redemptive work we will need to wash our feet from worldly defilement frequently.
The priests first act every day was to go to the Laver. Before he could minister to the people or minister to God he needed a cleansing and a refreshing from sleep. The Word of God must have this place in the life of the believer. It will refresh him and awaken him to his responsibilities to God and man.
No Holiness No happiness No Effectiveness in ministry for God.
Abiding in Him, not our strength is vital for ministry.
Although our sins are forever forgiven as a result of the sacrificial work of Christ (pictured in the brazen altar), we need daily cleansing (pictured by the laver) from the defiling effects of sin. In our everyday lives, the dust and dirt of this ungodly world "rubs off" on us. Every day we become defiled by sin--sometimes without realizing it, because we have become so desensitized to what sin really is! Think about it--do I recognize it's sin when my rushed lifestyle makes me angry at a slow driver, or impatient with my family? Do I recognize that it's my worldly values that make me "covet" my friends' homes or gardens or cars or sports equipment? Am I discontented (a sin!) with where God has placed me? Do I selfishly insist on "doing it my way" in my family or church life? Is there unrecognized spiritual pride in my life? Has Satan subtly convinced me that I'm slightly superior to other believers in my doctrine or my church or my lifestyle?!
Ex 38:8 He made the bronze basin and its stand from the [bronze]mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
James 1:23 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror; 24 for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts—this person will be blessed in what he does.
Sin in the life, no communion with God.He died to make us clean He lives to keep us clean.
Psa 51: Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. 2 Wash away my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against You—You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge. 5 Indeed, I was guilty [when I] was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. 6Surely You desire integrity in the inner self, and You teach me wisdom deep within. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. 9 Turn Your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt. 10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore the joy of Your salvation to me, and give me a willing spirit.
“Jesus is the way to heaven. Jesus died for all so all can go to heaven. “
“Well that might not be exactly right. It might be a bit narrower than that!”
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
“Christ died for the Church!”
“Oh.. so I better go to church to get to heaven?”
“Well you better enter the church.
But the entrance isn’t in Laman street. It s not our front door. Its not in Hunter street. Its not the front door to the Sacred heart Cathedral. Its not in Church street. Its not the front door to the Anglican cathedral.”
Cyprian an early bishop said that "You cannot have God as your Father unless you have the church for your mother."
“The front door of the church is by being born again.”
Washing of water with the Word.
A picture of the laver at the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.
The Laver consisted of a brazen circular basin filled with water which was fitted to a brazen pedestal or base to comprise one piece of furniture. No measurements are given. The Laver was constructed from the looking glasses or mirrors, of the women in the Camp of Israel who spent a great deal of their time fasting and praying at the door of the Tabernacle. Ex. 38:8. (Septuagint)
Description of the Laver Ex 38:8 Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
It was Necessary for the person to be washed all over before they entered the Presence Of God.Ex 40:12 "Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.13 "You shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister as a priest to Me.14 "You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them; 15 and you shall anoint them even as you have anointed their father, that they may minister as priests to Me; and their anointing will qualify them for a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations."
As indicated by its name it was designed for washing and cleansing. The priests were commanded to wash their hands and feet every time they went to minister at the Brazen Altar or the Holy Places. It was only for the priests, no other Israelite was allowed. The washing was specifically a preparation for coming into the presence of God. There is a deeper responsibility and relationship required of those who press further into God's presence.
“Washed” a symbol of regeneration /new birth.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
It happens through the instrumentality of the Word of God1 Peter 1: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24 For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower drops off, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached as the gospel to you.
James 1:18 By His own choice, He gave us a new birth by the message of truth so that we would be the firstfruits of His creatures.
James 1:18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. NASB
It was necessary to be cleansed by all over by washing just once.
But then it was necessary every day to cleanse the hands and cleanse the feet.
Ex 40:30 He placed the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing. 31 From it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. 32 When they entered the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Washing the hands is something we now take for granted.
Long before the germ theory was established as fact by the work of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) of Vienna was able to suggest the contagious nature of infections in women who had just given birth. Semmelweis observed that when his resident physicians and students washed their hands with soap and water before each examination of a new mother there was a dramatic decline in the infection rate on the ward.
Dr Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis of Vienna recognised the value of clinicians washing their hands in 1847. Dr Semmelweis, as a medical student, worked on a study in a hospital ward where physician-attended births had a mortality rate as high as 31%. This mortality rate contrasted sharply with the low mortality rate in the midwives' ward that was located nearby. The doctors were coming from performing post mortums in the mortuary.
Dr Semmelweis reported to his physician associates an incredible idea – washing hands could save lives. His research showed that pregnant women often developed fatal infections following hospital births – when treated by doctors with unwashed hands. However, mothers who were treated by doctors that scrubbed their hands thoroughly with soap and water before being examined and treated rarely developed the same type of fatal infections.
Were his peers excited about the research and willing to change their bad habits to save their patient's lives? Unfortunately, his peers thought he was crazy and forced him out. It would be years before washing hands was adopted as a standard practice amongst clinicians. However, handwashing did finally catch on. Most clinicians adopted hand washing and infection rates came down.
But in the Old Testament world, although dangers of infection through transmission of germs were unknown, the Lord had directed the people of Israel to several safe practices.
Once having been cleansed it is never to be repeated. Once saved always saved.
We are instantaneously positionally sanctified.
Once having been cleansed, a daily washing of hands and feet were necessary. We are to bepractically sanctified daily.
This makes sense of Jesus’ statements in John 13: So He got up from supper, laid aside His robe, took a towel, and tied it around Himself. 5 Next, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around Him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t understand now, but afterwards you will know.” 8 “You will never wash my feet—ever!” Peter said. Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 “One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him. This is why He said, “You are not all clean.”
The priests were involved in a demanding and dirty work. Even spiritual work will often produce a certain 'amount of a defilement. working for God will expose our motives, energies and ambitions. The burden of the people, their depressions and defilements etc. need to be cleansed away from us by the refreshing word.
Moses and the priests were barefoot. They maintained personal contact with the earth. Jesus said that even though we were not of the world we are in it and though we are cleansed by the redemptive work we will need to wash our feet from worldly defilement frequently.
The priests first act every day was to go to the Laver. Before he could minister to the people or minister to God he needed a cleansing and a refreshing from sleep. The Word of God must have this place in the life of the believer. It will refresh him and awaken him to his responsibilities to God and man.
No Holiness No happiness No Effectiveness in ministry for God.
Abiding in Him, not our strength is vital for ministry.
Although our sins are forever forgiven as a result of the sacrificial work of Christ (pictured in the brazen altar), we need daily cleansing (pictured by the laver) from the defiling effects of sin. In our everyday lives, the dust and dirt of this ungodly world "rubs off" on us. Every day we become defiled by sin--sometimes without realizing it, because we have become so desensitized to what sin really is! Think about it--do I recognize it's sin when my rushed lifestyle makes me angry at a slow driver, or impatient with my family? Do I recognize that it's my worldly values that make me "covet" my friends' homes or gardens or cars or sports equipment? Am I discontented (a sin!) with where God has placed me? Do I selfishly insist on "doing it my way" in my family or church life? Is there unrecognized spiritual pride in my life? Has Satan subtly convinced me that I'm slightly superior to other believers in my doctrine or my church or my lifestyle?!
Ex 38:8 He made the bronze basin and its stand from the [bronze]mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
James 1:23 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror; 24 for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts—this person will be blessed in what he does.
Sin in the life, no communion with God.He died to make us clean He lives to keep us clean.
Psa 51: Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. 2 Wash away my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against You—You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge. 5 Indeed, I was guilty [when I] was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. 6Surely You desire integrity in the inner self, and You teach me wisdom deep within. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. 9 Turn Your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt. 10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore the joy of Your salvation to me, and give me a willing spirit.
# posted by Groseys messages @ 10:55 AM 
