​Dr. Anthony R. Silvestro, Jr. & Jonathan Eckel, Ev.

How does a church grow Biblically? As we take a look at this “popular” subject, we have to remember that, as Christians, we must start and stand on God's Word (The Bible) for all of our views. This is no different, although you might get confused while walking around a "Christian" bookstore. You will see all kinds of strategies and different “ways” to manipulate people into coming through your doors. One of the things that you have to remember is that it is not your doors. The doors (as well as the rest of the church) belong to Christ. He gave you the lamp stand. If He chooses to grow the body of believers in your church, that's His prerogative to do so.

​In this blog post, we will be dealing with heavy theory and working in a theological playground. You may first be asking, "Where in the world is he going with this?"
        
Many people say that there are a number of ways into Heaven - different religions, multiple “saviors”, several “prophets”, etc.  The reality is that all religions on the earth can be placed into 2 categories: works-based and grace-based. Every religion on the planet, other than Biblical Christianity, is works-based.  It is what you do to earn, aka bribe, your way into Heaven.  We are going to establish here that this is wrong: there is no amount of good works that you can do to outweigh the bad.  Biblical Christianity, on the other hand, is based on the Doctrines of Grace.  It is by the grace of God, through Faith in Jesus Christ alone that gets us into Heaven. Why is that?

I would like to start off with a simple question:

​Dear Christian. What do you do with your in-between moments? Not just the ones you have between the next two meetings, or the ones you have between your meals. I'm talking about all of them. Every moment from when you leave church one Sunday and then arrive on Sunday the following week.  How do you live your life on a regular basis between the Sundays?

​I just love reading God's word - I cannot go a day without it!

As I opened my Bible today, I decided to read Psalm 103. There is so much in this Psalm; I will only point out a few things that made me praise the Lord for His mercy. The Psalm 103:1 starts off with pure praise! It says, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”  Do you see what David is saying? He is praising God with everything that he is! He is pouring himself out in praise to God! 

At first you may read this question and say "here we go, what is he going to say now?". I want to show you some scripture and as you are reading it, really think about it and focus in on what the Word of God says. The scripture is Galatians 5:16-24 ...

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Let's start with verse 16. Are you gratifying the flesh? By that I mean, are you feeding your sinful desires and having no regret? If so 1 John 3:8 says "Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."

Did you see what it says? It says you are of the devil, you have not been born again. Verse 17 clearly states that "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh". 

Are you submitting to the Holy Spirit or bowing to your flesh? 

You are a servant to a master no matter what you think. You are either a slave to sin or a servant of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 18 states that if you are led by the Spirit, are you being led by the Spirit or are you as it continues to say, still under the law? 

Verses 19-21 go through just a few sins that you could be making a practice of. Read through them and exam your life and yourself. Look at the end of verse 21, it says "that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.". That's serious. You will NOT inherent the kingdom of God. Verses 22-23 are a short list of types of fruits a Christian should be bearing in their life. 

Take a look at this list and really look back and ask yourself, does this describe me? If you look back and say "no problem there", ask the person you live with. You may get more of an honest answer. If you don't live with anyone, ask the person you spend the most time with. 

Verse 24 says "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."  If you look back, these reflect Jesus' words in Matthew 16:24 "Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." 

Are you putting your fleshly desires and wants or even needs to death every day in your pursuit of Christ? 

If you say, "no problem there" as you might have earlier, again I say, ask the one you live with or the person you spend the most time with. I pray that this encourages you and if need be admonishes you. It says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" 

Please pray about these things and let the Holy Spirit convict you where He needs to and encourage you to continue to grow. If you read this and you realize that you aren't a Christian, please I beg of you, repent of your sins, which is asking for forgiveness from God and turning from your sins and turning to God. Then, put your faith in Christ and His work alone that He worked for us on the cross. We can not do anything for our salvation because it says in Ephesians 2:8-9 "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast." 

So again I say, if you aren't a Christian, please repent of your sins and put your faith in Christ! 

This is a very important question that we need to ask. Why? Your eternity depends on it. As we read in the bible, we see that the law is extremely important. Don't believe me, read Psalm 119. We break his law, aka the moral law aka the 10 commandments every day. God is a righteous Judge of all the earth. He can not have sin in His presence. It must be punished eternally because we sin against a Holy God.  You may say that this is unfair but let me give you an example. 

If I lie to my child what would he be able to do to me. Nothing. If I lied to my wife I might be sleeping on the couch. If I lied to government I could be facing jail time. What changed in this scenario? The offense is the exact same. It's the one who I lied to that changed. The authority of the one whom I lied to constitutes the punishment.  God is holy and just and perfect. When we sin we do it against the maker of everything. You can't get any more authority than that. That's not Gods will though. We deserve hell but He wants to save us anyway. 

We also see that Gods requirement for us to be redeemed to Him is a sacrifice. This sacrifice was made for us 2,000 years ago on a bloody roman cross. Jesus paid the fine for us. He died and 3 days later, rose again defeating death and the grave. It's by repentance and faith alone in Christ alone that we are saved. Repentance is more than asking for forgiveness but also turning from your sin. In Mark 1:15 Jesus said "and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

Thats the Gospel or also known as the good news. Now lets look at the primary question. Some say we have imputed righteousness, they are saying "you do your best and Jesus does the rest." That is contrary to what the bible teaches, its also teaching works righteousness. Thats contrary to what the bible teaches, which is infused righteousness. This means that we are forgiven because of Jesus's work alone. That we are covered by His righteousness and forgiven fully of sin.  That's the difference between all other religions and Christianity. That's also what makes it so amazing, that we enemies of God, are saved by Him. The other religions  must work themselves into heaven and we can't do anything. We rely on Jesus's merit and work alone. 

Lets look at some scripture that clearly points to faith alone and not works righteousness. Galatians 2:16 says "yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified."  

Galatians 3:5-7 "Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith- just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham." 

Hebrews 11:6-7 says "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith." 

I pray that this shows you that it's by grace alone, faith alone by Christ alone that we are saved. If you aren't saved please repent and put your faith in Christ today. The bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:2 "For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. "  We are not guaranteed tomorrow. 10 out of 10 people die. 

I want you to take a look at this question seriously and look at the bible to see if you are an enemy of God. When we first open our bibles up to the first book, our question is answered rather quickly. This is a serious question.  It is also one of the most important questions you will ever be asked.  In Genesis 3:6 we read "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate."  This is speaking of the original sin.  This disobedience lead to the corruption of all humanity as well as nature as we read in Romans 5:12" Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned".  Sin spread throughout humanity and so did death. In Romans 6:23a we see why "for the wages of sin is death,"

You may look at this and so "ok what do I do about my sin?” Well, there was a sacrifice that was paid for you and your sin.  The reason for the sacrifice is explained in Hebrews 9:22 "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”  It also had to be a perfect sacrifice.  That's why Jesus was born, was to be a "lamb led to the slaughter" Isaiah 53:7. In John 1:29 it says "The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!". He takes away our sin. He doesn't cover them up but takes them away. When He was on that bloody roman cross, there was much more going on than you think.  God’s wrath was being poured out on Him to pay for our sin. In Isaiah 53:10a it says "Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; an offering for guilt,” This sacrifice was so that you can have forgiveness of sin.  In Acts 13:38 it says "Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.” this "man" that is mentioned is Jesus. Not only did He die on the cross paying for our sins and taking on the full measure of God’s wrath but He also rose on the third day!

At this point you may be asking “ok, so what do I do now?” Now that you have seen your sin for what it is. The very thing that Jesus “laid down His life” for 1 John 3:16a.  I want you now to look at the very words of Jesus Himself in Mark 1:15” and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  So let’s look at this repentance. I’m sure you may look at that and figure that it’s just us saying we are sorry for what we have done.  It is however much more than that.  It’s a complete turning from our sin.  It’s hating what we once loved and loving the things of God.  Putting your faith in Christ and in His work done on the cross as well as Him rising on the third day, proving that His sacrifice was worthy and has truly paid for our sins. Trusting or putting your faith that its by His sacrifice that we are justified (made right) with God.  We become redeemed or also known as born again.  Which is what Jesus was talking about in John 3:3 “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  I pray that you take a look at this seriously and think on this.  Think about it like your life depends on it, because it does.

If we continue reading in the Old Testament we see a man with the name of Moses.  He is who God gave His 10 commandments to.  Some of you might say that we are no longer under the law.  In a way that is correct. So far as that we don't have to live it out perfectly without once infringing on the law-James 2:10- "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in point has become accountable for all of it."  We also must understand that the Law or 10 commandments we never meant to save us.  We are suposto look at it and say "God I can’t do this on my own".  These laws that are given are a glimpse of Gods character.  Let’s go over a couple of them to see how you compare. Let’s try the 8th commandment. It says "You shall not steal", have you ever stolen anything no matter what the value?  Or how about the 3rd which says “You shall not take the name of the lord your God in vain", have you used the name of God lightly or as a curse word? Or, how about the 7th which says "You shall not commit adultery", this one ties into the New Testament because Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-28"You have heard it was said," You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Have you ever looked with lust?

Jonathan Eckel