LLM Question of the Day for 11-6-2011, and, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 28 of 30

First the Question: The word GOSPEL is not found even once in the twenty one chapters of the Gospel of John. True or False?

Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day

And now the answer to the LLM Question of 11-3-2011

Question: The LORD Jesus Christ reduced the Ten Commandments to two commandments. Matthew 22:37-39. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! The LORD Jesus reduced the ten commandments to two commandments when He said, “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matthew 22:37-39). It is not difficult to understand after reading these LOVE commandments the statement of Paul in 1 Timothy 1:5 and Galatians 5:14, “The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart”, and, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Now, out of the 693 responses we received to this question, only 50% of you got it right! Therefore,

Today let us consider, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 28 of 30

We mentioned, in THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 27 of 30, the motto of the Modernist preacher.

Quite a different motto was printed on the wall inside a church building where an assembly understood and followed Ephesians 3:1-9. Here are the words that were printed on the wall: No creed but Christ - No law but Love. Undoubtedly, the pastor of this assembly also had in mind 1 John 3:23 when he had the sign made. Note 1 John 3:23, “And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment.”

John remembered the words of the LORD Jesus, recorded in John 13:34, John 14:15, John 14:24, John 15:12, John 15:17, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love one another”. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments”. “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.” “This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.” “These things that I command you, that ye love one another.”

We read in Ecclesiastes 12:13, “fear God and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man”, and after reading the twenty one chapters of John’s Gospel, we might conclude that the whole duty of man is to receive eternal life by BELIEVING, (not repenting, water baptism, or any work), and then love all the others who have likewise received eternal life by receiving Christ.

We are told in Galatians 3:14 that the person who meets God at Calvary, receiving Christ as Savior, receives the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 3:2 we learn that the believer receives the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith. In Galatians 5:22 we learn that the fruit of the Spirit is love. There is a love that is NOT the fruit of the Spirit. But the love that God wants manifested by the BELIEVER is the fruit of the Spirit. The unbeliever, or the religious person who contends for a creedless or belief-less Christianity, cannot receive the Holy Spirit. (John 14:17). Therefore the love of the unbeliever is NOT the fruit of the Spirit and is NOT the love that is acceptable unto the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In Micah 6:8 we read what God requires of man: “to do justly”, “to love mercy”, “to walk humbly with thy God.” We acknowledge that this is quite an assignment. As we meditate upon it we think of the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 7:18, “but how to perform that which is good I find not.” But after he asked how the wretched man could be delivered, he said, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our LORD.” (Romans 7:24-25). Then Christians thank God for the truth of Romans 8:3, what the ten commandments could not do for the human race, because of indwelling sin and human weakness, God sent His Son to do. Then Christians were able to say what Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified (to the law) with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” In this verse we learn that Christianity is both a creed and a life, and why John wrote, “we love Him, because He first loved us.”

The LORD Jesus reduced the ten commandments to two commandments when He said, “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matthew 22:37-39). It is not difficult to understand after reading these LOVE commandments the statement of Paul in 1 Timothy 1:5 and Galatians 5:14, “The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart”, and, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Note in Romans 13:9 we are told that all of the commandments are comprehended in this saying, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Then Romans 13:10, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

We are told in Galatians 5:22-23 when the believer walks in the Spirit and manifests the fruit of the Spirit, LOVE, “against such there is no law.” Love is the end of the commandment. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Romans 10:4). Christ is the believer’s righteousness. (1 Corinthians 1:30). Christ is the believer’s LIFE. (Colossians 3:4, John 14:6). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Christ was lifted up on the cross that believers might have everlasting life. (John 3:14-15). How? BY BELIEVING. BELIEVERS are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10), are blessed with all Spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), and in BELIEVERS the Love of God is shed abroad by the Holy Spirit Who is given them. (Romans 5:5).

No creed but Christ - No law but Love. Certainly we should know that John’s Gospel is a Message of BELIEVE, LIVE, LOVE.

“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!

So There You Have it!

Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short

Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.

In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry

Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

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LLM Question of the Day for 11-3-2011, and, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 27 of 30

First the Question: The LORD Jesus Christ reduced the Ten Commandments to two commandments. Matthew 22:37-39. True or False?

Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day

And now the answer to the LLM Question of 11-1-2011

Question: In the Gospel of John, and the First Epistle of John, we find the word BELIEVE over 100 times, the word LOVE over 100 times, and the word LIFE more than 75 times. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! In the Gospel of John we find the word BELIEVE one hundred times. In John’s Gospel and in His First Epistle we find the word LOVE in various forms about one hundred times. In these two Books we find LIFE or LIVE about seventy five times. Note 1 John 4:9, “in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.” Note 1 John 4:10, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Then 1 John 4:19, “we love Him, because He first loved us.” Now, out of the 728 responses we received to this question, 90% of you got it right! Praise God! Therefore,

Today let us consider, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 27 of 30

Is Christianity A Creed Or A Life

A Modernist pastor had this statement printed on a signboard in front of his church building, “In this Church we do not ask that you subscribe to a creed: we ask that you live a life.”

It is easy to see his answer to the question, “is Christianity a creed or a life?” That pastor should have acknowledged that he was only a make believe Christian and not a Bible Christian. Of course we are all agreed that there is not enough of what is called “practical Christianity” in this world, but the church member is very, very ignorant who says “what we believe is unimportant: the all important thing is what we do.” Just one answer from the LORD Jesus should cause them to revise this statement. When the very religious people asked the LORD Jesus what they could do to work the works of God (John 6:28), the Savior replied, “this is the work of God that ye believe in Him Whom He hath sent.”

A creed is a BELIEF. Eternal Life is the free gift of God through the LORD Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:23). The LORD Jesus said, “if ye BELIEVE not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24). The LORD Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that BELIEVETH in Me hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47, John 3:36, John 11:25-26). Note carefully John 3:36, “but he that BELIEVETH not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

“This is the record: That God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life: he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1 John 4:10-12). He that BELIEVETH NOT this record hath made God a liar. (1 John 4:10). According to the Bible, “no creed - no life.” Certainly no person can live the life until that person receives the life. God gives life to believers. John wrote his Record, “that ye might BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that BELIEVING ye might have life through His name.” (John 20:31). In 1 Timothy 1:16 the Apostle John wrote of those who would BELIEVE in Christ to life everlasting. In Galatians 3:21-22 we learn that members of the human race could not find life by living a life or by religious doings; only by Faith in Christ. Christianity is both a creed and a life. It has been said that Christianity is life, love, and Heaven. In the Gospel of John all through the Book we find…

BELIEVE, LIFE, and LOVE

In the Gospel of John we find the word BELIEVE one hundred times. In John’s Gospel and in His First Epistle we find the word LOVE in various forms about one hundred times. In these two Books we find LIFE or LIVE about seventy five times. Note 1 John 4:9, “in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.” Note 1 John 4:10, “not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Then 1 John 4:19, “we love Him, because He first loved us.”

In the Gospel of John we are told many times that eternal life is because of our creed or BELIEF. The words of Christ in John 5:24 are clearly and definitely spoken; that, by BELIEVING, sinners pass out of death into life. In John’s First Epistle BELIEVERS are instructed how to know that they have passed out of death into life, “because we love.” (1 John 3:14). “These things have I, written unto you that BELIEVE on the Name of the Son of God, that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13).

“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!

So There You Have it!

Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short

Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.

In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry

Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

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LLM Question of the Day for 11-1-2011, and, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 26 of 30

First the Question: In the Gospel of John, and the First Epistle of John, we find the word BELIEVE over 100 times, the word LOVE over 100 times, and the word LIFE more than 75 times. True or False?

Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day

And now the answer to the LLM Question of 10-29-2011

Question: All who have life in Christ Jesus are, RIGHT NOW, alive from the dead. Romans 6:13. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! All who have life in Christ Jesus are, right now, “alive from the dead” (Romans 6:13). They have been made alive together with Christ. Then when Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, they shall appear with Him in glory. In the meantime they are seated with Him in the heavenlies and are to seek those things which are above. (Colossians 3:1-4, Ephesians 2:5-6). Now, out of the 712 responses we received to this question, again, 100% of you got it right! Praise God! Therefore,

Today let us consider, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 26 of 30

THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH

We are told in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38, that the just shall live by faith. In Romans 5:18 we read that by the righteousness of Christ justification of life was provided for the human race. “The free gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23). But this is through Jesus Christ our LORD. Christ said, “I am the life.” (John 14:6).

The Bible is the story of death and life. Adam and Eve chose death in preference to life. They sinned. Death passed upon all men. (Romans 5:12). The law of sin and death is still in full force. In Deuteronomy 30:19 the living God spoke these words, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you: I have set before you life and death, chose life that ye may live.” God sent His only Begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. (1 John 4:9). Therefore to choose life means to choose Christ. To become religious without receiving eternal life means to be twice dead, plucked up by the roots. (Jude 12).

Note the great contrast between life and death, wages and free gift, in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).

We read in Hebrews 2:14 that Satan had the power of death. We read in Hebrews 7:16 that Christ is made after the power of an endless or deathless life. We read in Acts 1:3, that, Christ after His death showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs. By His death and resurrection Christ destroyed Satan’s death power. But Christ had to die that the children of Adam might live. Those who choose to live receive Christ and by the law of the Spirit of life in Him they are freed from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2). When the Gentiles received the LORD’s message through Peter and believed, “God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” (Acts 11:18). Later on we are told that the Gentiles, who had been dead in sins, far off from God, having no hope in the world (Ephesians 2:1 to Ephesians 5: 11-12), were made alive together with Christ and made to sit down in the heavenlies in Christ. (Ephesians 2:5-6). They were raised from the dead, to walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4, and Romans 6:13). They were begotten into, or unto, a living hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, unto an incorruptible, heavenly inheritance. (1 Peter 1:3-5). The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:3 of Christians working with him, “whose names are in the Book of Life.” In Revelation ‘the Book of Life’ is mentioned seven times. In the New Testament Scriptures God is called sixteen times ‘The Living God’. In Mark 12:27 and Luke 20:38 God is called ‘the God of the Living’. Again we read in 2 Timothy 1:1 that God’s promise of life is in Christ Jesus. “He that hath not the Son hath not life.” (1 John 5:12).

In 1 Timothy 4:8 we are reminded of the life that now is and that which is to come. In Ephesians 1:21, we are told of the world that now is, and that which is to come. The LORD Jesus, in Mark 10:30 told of the blessing on earth of being His disciple, and then added, “and in the world to come eternal life.”

As we think of all that is said in the Bible about death and life, and read God’s solemn warning, in Hebrews 9:27, “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this judgment,” let us think of some words from the LORD in the Old Testament Scriptures and in the New, “why will ye die, O house of Israel: for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the LORD God, wherefore turn and live ye.” (Ezekiel 18:31-32). And then 2 Peter 3:9 we read that God “is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (1 Timothy 2:4-7). Christ could continuously say to sinners to day what He said in John 5:40, “ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” “And this life is in His Son.” (1 John 5:11). “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36).

God is still giving to self righteous religious church members, who are trusting for eternal life, in God AND their good works, the truth of Galatians 3:21, “if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” The Apostle Paul had been under the law; but after receiving Christ as Savior, Paul was crucified to the law: but he added, “Nevertheless I live. I live by The Faith of the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).

All who have life in Christ Jesus are, right now, “alive from the dead” (Romans 6:13). They have been made alive together with Christ. Then when Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, they shall appear with Him in glory. In the meantime they are seated with Him in the heavenlies and are to seek those things which are above. (Colossians 3:1-4, Ephesians 2:5-6). In 1 Corinthians 15:22, with reference to the resurrection of the body, we are told that those who are Christ’s will be made alive at His coming.

The words LIFE, LIVE, ALIVE, QUICKEN, LIVETH, LIVING, referring to spiritual and eternal life, are found in the New Testament Scriptures about 200 times. They are found in John’s Writings about 105 times. In Revelation we read of The Book of Life, The Tree of Life, The Water of Life, The Spirit of Life, The Crown of Life.

When we see that the word LIFE in different forms is used in John’s Gospel about 60 times, and as we read in John 5:26 and John 17:2 that the LORD Jesus had life in Himself and power to give eternal life, and learn in John 20:31, that John’s Record was handed down to us, that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that we might have life through believing in His name, we see why we may call John’s Gospel, “The Book of Life.”

“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!

So There You Have it!

Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short

Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.

In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry

Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

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LLM Question of the Day for 10-29-2011, and, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 25 of 30

First the Question: All who have life in Christ Jesus are, RIGHT NOW, alive from the dead. Romans 6:13. True or False?

Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day

And now the answer to the LLM Question of 10-27-2011

Question: No Spirit-taught Child of God can read Romans 6:13 and Ephesians 2:5-6 and believe in the heathen doctrine of soul-sleeping. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! Surely, no Spirit taught Child of God can read Romans 6:13 and Ephesians 2:5-6 and then go on and believe in the heathen doctrine of soul-sleeping. Many religious church-members, including some who are saved, just do not seem to appreciate having been raised up and made to sit down in the heavenlies in Christ, alive from the dead. Now, out of the 689 responses we received to this question, 100% of you got it right! Praise God! Therefore,

Today let us consider, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 25 of 30

ETERNAL LIFE WHICH GOD PROMISED BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN

According to Titus 1:1-3, God, Who cannot lie, promised us eternal life BEFORE the world began. When we read John 3:16, let us read it, “God, (Who cannot lie), so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Now pay attention, because of the appalling ignorance of the message and ministry and Dispensation of the Grace of God, which the RISEN Christ revealed to and through the Apostle Paul, it is perhaps true that more believing sinners have been preached into the Body of Christ by hearing and believing John 3:16 than by all of the Grace messages in Paul’s writings. Most of the evangelists and other Christian workers, who specialize in John 3:16, generally quote with this verse Paul’s message to the Philippian jailer, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.” (Acts 16:31).

However, many people who claim to believe both John 3:16 and Acts 16:31 are not saved. This is because they DO NOT believe, and apparently do not want to believe, that faith in Christ the Savior means to accept the truth that He was delivered for our sins and raised again for our justification (Romans 4:24-25), that believers are reconciled to God by the death of Christ (Romans 5:10), that the saving gospel is the truth concerning the vicarious death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). For this reason evangelists, who preach John 3:16, should always be sure to include John 3:14-15, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” When we read Christ’s words in John 6:47, “verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in Me hath everlasting life” and in John 6:51, if any man eat of Him, the living Bread from heaven, he shall live for ever, we should read the rest of this verse, “the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Hear again the words of the Prince of Life in John 12:24, where we have another “verily, verily” (25 of which are in John’s Record), “except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

So think again of the glorious Grace gospel of 2 Timothy 1:9-10, the salvation that the believer has because of the work of Christ, with Christ’s words at the time He raised Lazarus from the dead, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26).

In John’s First Epistle believers are told how they can know that they have passed out of death into life; that they have been made alive. In Romans 6:13 believers are told what to do to please God because they are “alive from the dead.” In John’s Gospel sinners are told how to pass from death to life. In the recorded messages of both Paul and John we are told that sinners are required to do nothing to receive God’s free gift, Eternal Life, except to BELIEVE. By BELIEVING they pass out of death into life. (John 5:24-25, John 11:25, John 3:16, John 3:15). So we read in John 3:36, “he that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life.” But in John 8:24 we have these solemn words of the Prince of Life, “if ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins.”

In the very beginning of John’s Record we read concerning God in human form, “in Him was life: and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4). Near the close of His life on earth the LORD Jesus prayed to His Father, “Thou has given Him (Christ) power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.” (John 17:4). When we read this statement in John 17:4 with John 6:37, “all that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,” we think of the statement concerning Paul’s ministry in Acts 13:48, “as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

But of course we must not exclude human responsibility, remembering the words of the LORD Jesus in John 5:40, “ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” We are asked frequently how we can reconcile this with Christ’s statement in John 6:65, “no man can come to Me, except it were given unto him of My Father.” (John 6:45). Our answer is, we preach God’s sovereign grace and omniscience and man’s responsibility, and permit the Holy Spirit to do the reconciling. Surely if you have carefully compared Romans 9 with Romans 10, you know how utterly helpless is any theologian or Bible teacher to reconcile the truth contained in them or to explain to the satisfaction of all the truth of Ephesians 1:4-5 and Ephesians 1:11 concerning the Body of Christ. In these verses we read, “according as He (God) hath chosen us in Him (Christ) before the ‘overthrow’ of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”

But now to the good news of Romans 8:1-39, beginning with “no condemnation” for the believer, and ending with “no separation” for the believer. With this good news read John 10:28-31. In Romans 8:36-39 we learn that though believers may be counted as sheep for the slaughter, no thing or no person can separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Now the wonderful words of Christ, the glorious good news in John 10:28-30, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, Who gave them Me, is greater than all: and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and Father are ONE.”

Every person, by the Faith in the crucified and resurrected and ascended LORD Jesus Christ, passes out of death into life. By the same act of the Faith, at the same time, that person is justified from all things. (Acts 13:39). A justified believer has righteousness, redemption, and sanctification, BECAUSE he has Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:30, Ephesians 1:6-7, and 2 Thess. 2:13).

As we wonder why the words “righteousness,” “redemption,” “justification,” “forgiveness,” “reconciliation,” “hope” and “salvation” are NOT found in John’s Record (except the two verses John 4:22 and John 16:10), whereas they are found in the Apostle Paul’s ministry about 200 times, it IS interesting to note that in John’s Gospel and in his First Epistle we find “eternal life” or “everlasting life” more than in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and all of Paul’s fourteen Epistles and in his recorded oral ministry in the Book of Acts. In these two Books by John, “eternal life” or “everlasting life” is mentioned 22 times; only 20 times in the other eighteen Books. These two words together are not found in any of the Apostle Peter’s recorded ministry or in the Epistle of James. They are found once in Jude.

Surely the theme of John’s Gospel is “everlasting life.” Many times in this Record the word “life” and “live” refer to everlasting life. The LORD Jesus said, in John 14:19, “because I live, ye shall live also.” Note in Revelation 2:8 how the RISEN Christ is described, “the first and the last, Who was dead, and is alive,” yes, “alive for evermore.” (Revelation 1:18).

Surely no Spirit taught Child of God can read Romans 6:13 and Ephesians 2:5-6 and believe in the heathen doctrine of soul-sleeping. Many religious church-members, including some who are saved, do not seem to appreciate having been raised up and made to sit down in the heavenlies in Christ, alive from the dead, but find a fiendish delight in trying to prove by Ecclesiastes 9:5 and Ecclesiastes 9:10 that Paul was mistaken when he said, “absent from the body present with the Lord.”

“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!

So There You Have it!

Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short

Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.

In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry

Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

Subscribe Here to the LLM Newsletter , Follow LLM on Twitter , Subscribe to LLM on Youtube , LLM on MySpace , and FaceBook

LLM Question of the Day for 10-27-2011, and, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 24 of 30

First the Question: No matter how religious a dead sinner may be, God wants none of his good works or religious doings. True or False?

Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day

And now the answer to the LLM Question of 10-25-2011

Question: No matter how religious a dead sinner may be, God wants none of his good works or religious doings. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! No matter how religious a dead sinner may be, God wants none of his good works or religious doings until he is made alive by God’s Grace and power, until he is the recipient of God’s saving Grace through faith in the perfect redemptive work of the perfect Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5-8). Now, out of the 747 responses we received to this question, 95.5% of you got it right! You guys are on a ROLL! Praise God! Therefore,

Today let us consider, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 24 of 30

The Gospel of John The Book of Life

When we call “The Gospel of John,” “The Book of Life,” we are not referring to “The Book of Life” mentioned in Revelation 20:14-15, “And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in ‘the book of life’ was cast into the lake of fire.” In these verses we have a very short but Scriptural definition of the “second death.”

In 1 John 1:2 and 1 John 5:20 we have the definition of eternal life, “The Life was manifest, and we have seen, and bear witness, and show unto you that ‘Eternal Life’, Which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.”, AND, “We are in Him that is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and ‘Eternal Life’.”

Now note 1 John 5:11-12, “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life: he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” We read in John 1:4, concerning Christ, “in Him was life.” Then these words of Christ, in John 5:21; “the Son giveth life to whom He will.” Another short and Scriptural definition of Eternal Life is found in the words of Christ, in His prayer to His Father, recorded in John 17:3, “this is ‘Life Eternal’ that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.”

The Lord Jesus testified, according to John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Christ testified in John 14:6, “I am the LIFE.” Again hear His words in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the ‘LIFE’; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.” Again these words of Christ, in John 6:51, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever.”

The Apostle Paul testified, “for me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). Paul said, “Christ liveth in me.” (Galatians 2:20). “When Christ, who is our ‘LIFE’ shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:3-4). In this same Epistle to the Colossians, Paul wrote to saints, “you hath He made alive together with Him (Christ), having forgiven you all trespasses.” (Colossians 2:13).

In Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians he addresses the believers as Saints, and adds “to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” In Ephesians 5:3-4 these saints are instructed how to walk and behave “as becometh saints.” So in this Epistle, as in other Epistles of Paul and Peter, we are told how to become saints, and how to behave as becometh saints.

God has much service for saints to do, so many good works for saints to perform, instructing us, in Ephesians 2:10, that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. But in God’s Grace message the Holy Spirit has so clearly stated the all important truth that no dead sinner becomes a living saint by behaving or walking or working. No matter how religious a dead sinner may be, God wants none of his good works or religious doings until he is made alive by God’s Grace and power, until he is the recipient of God’s saving Grace through faith in the perfect redemptive work of the perfect Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5-8).

In this message series, “THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST”, you have undoubtedly observed that we have shown and will continue to show that the truth in John is NOT so much like the truth in Matthew as it is like the Grace message which the LORD revealed to and through the Apostle Paul.

In Ephesians 2:1-6 we learn that the sinner is by nature the child of wrath, dead in sins, far beyond helping himself toward God, but that by the Faith he is made alive by God and is raised up and made to sit down in the heavenlies in Christ. In Ephesians 1:4-5 we learn that the dead sinners, who become living saints, were chosen by the Father and the Son. Then as we study Ephesians from Ephesians 2:10 on through the Epistle we learn that the Father wants His redeemed children to walk worthy of the calling wherewith they are called, to be established in His Truth, and know that they are called to separation and service. Also He wants them to know that they are joined to the risen Christ in an inseparable and eternal union, and all joined by the Holy Spirit to one another as members of Christ’s JOINTBODY (NOT ‘same’ Body as in Ephesians 3:6). With this truth in Ephesians let us read John 6:29, John 5:24, and John 15:16, “This is the work of God that ye believe in Him Whom He hath sent.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed out of death into life.” “Ye have NOT chosen Me, but I have chosen YOU, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” This last statement is in connection with Christ’s teaching concerning The Vine and The Branches, the truth that Christ was the Vine and those who received Him as Savior were the branches abiding in Him. The branches were to bear much fruit (John 15:8), and prove to the world that they were branches by loving one another. (John 15:12). According to John 17:21-23 the Lord Jesus prayed that the branches abiding in Him, The Vine, should maintain perfect unity, so that the world would believe that the Father sent His Son from heaven into world.

Again we find the truth of the last verse of Romans 5 and the last verse of Romans 6 running all through John’s Gospel. Note these two verses, “that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might Grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord”, and, “For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Before we quote from John let us again read and believe 2 Timothy 1:9-10. In these verses we do not have what some Christians call “Grace plus nothing.” We DO have God’s unmixed Grace Gospel, eternal salvation without man’s works, but the tenth verse tells us what Christ had to do in order that God might save believing sinners by grace. So it is indeed “Grace PLUS something.”

Some church members think that the news in 2 Timothy 1:9-10 is too good to be true. It is both good and it is true. Hear it, and believe it with all your heart, the wonderful, glorious message of salvation by Grace from the Holy Spirit through the pen of the LORD’s faithful ‘Grace’ messenger, the Apostle Paul, right before he departed to be with Christ, the Grace messenger who suffered as a ‘malefactor (2 Timothy 2:7-9), that you and I might have this glorious truth,and here it is, “God, Who saved us and called us with a HOLY calling, NOT according to our works, but according to HIS own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel.”

Let us read the wonderful truth, which the Risen LORD revealed to His ‘Grace’ Apostle to record, with Christ’s statement in John 10:17-18, “therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”

Let us also read what Christ said to John long after He had abolished death and ascended far above all heavens, “I am He that liveth and was dead: and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of hades and of death” (Revelation 1:18). Surely we can understand why the apostle Peter said to the eternal, omnipotent Christ, “Thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68). We can understand why the Apostle Peter called the crucified and risen Son of God, “The Prince of Life.” (Acts 3:14-15).

What may surprise us is the fact that in Peter’s ministry recorded in the Book of Acts and in his two Epistles he did NOT mention EVEN ONCE “eternal life” or “everlasting life.” He wrote of an abundance entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11), and that faithful teachers of the Word would be rewarded with the Crown of Glory; that Christians have been called by the God of all Grace unto eternal glory by Christ Jesus. (1 Peter 5:4-10). Most Christians do not seem to like the other calling mentioned in Peter’s two Epistles, ‘suffering’.

As we compare John’s messages of eternal life with Paul’s messages of eternal life, we think of the truth in Titus 1:1-3, ETERNAL LIFE WHICH GOD PROMISED BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN!

“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!

So There You Have it!

Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short

Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.

In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry

Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

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LLM Question of the Day for 10-25-2011, and, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 23 of 24

First the Question: No matter how religious a dead sinner may be, God wants none of his good works or religious doings. True or False?

Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day

And now the answer to the LLM Question of 10-20-2011

Question: Becoming identified with a local assembly is NOT called, in the Bible...Joining the Church. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! In this Age and Dispensation of Grace, the Dispensation of the Mystery; the very moment the believing sinner meets God at Calvary, receiving Christ and believing that He was delivered for our offences and raised for our justification, that believing sinner, without ritual, water baptism, or ANY religious ceremonies, immediately is made a CHURCH-MEMBER by the Grace and power of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now, out of the 732 responses we received to this question, 94.9% of you got it right! Praise God! Therefore,

Today let us consider, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 23 of 24

THE DIVISION OF GOD’S PEOPLE WHICH DISPLEASES GOD

In the great prayer of the Apostle and High Priest of our confession in John 17:1-25, we read in John 17:9 that He is praying not for the world, but for believers. “That they all may be ‘ONE’. That they may be ‘ONE’ in us. That the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” (John 17:21). “That they maybe ‘ONE’, even as we are ‘ONE’.” (John 17:22). “That they maybe made perfect in ‘ONE’.” (John 17:23).

Some years later the RISEN LORD directed the Apostle Paul to write, “ye are all ‘ONE’ in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28). Again in Romans 12:5, “so we, being many, are ‘ONE’ BODY in Christ, and every ONE members ‘ONE’ of another.” Again 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, “for as the body is ‘ONE’, and hath many members, and all the members of that ‘ONE’ body, being many, are ‘ONE’ body, so also is ‘THE CHRIST’. For by ‘ONE’ Spirit have we all been baptized into ‘ONE BODY.”

God raised Christ from the dead, and raised Him far above all heavens (Ephesians 4:10), “and gave Him to be Head over all things to the CHURCH, Which is His BODY, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” (Ephesians 1:22-23). “There is ‘ONE’ BODY.” (Ephesians 4:4). “There should be no ‘DIVISION’ in the BODY.” (1 Corinthians 12:25).

“That there be no ‘DIVISIONS’ among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together.” (1 Corinthians 1:10). “Is Christ DIVIDED?” (1 Corinthians 1:13). There is ‘ONE’ LORD, ‘ONE’ Faith, ‘ONE’ Baptism.” (Ephesians 4:5). “Endeavouring to keep the ‘ONENESS’ of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3). Concerning the CHURCH, (of the Dispensation of Grace, the Dispensation of the Mystery), Which is the ‘ONE’ BODY, called in Ephesians 3:6, “JOINTBODY”, a “BUILDING” and a “HOLY TEMPLE” in Ephesians 2:21, we read, “In Christ all the ‘BUILDING’ fitly joined together groweth unto a ‘HOLY TEMPLE’ in the Lord, in Whom ye are builded together.” (Ephesians 2:21-22).

In spite of the unholy, disgraceful, divisions and subdivisions and more than 300 sectarian church organizations, God has His ONE BODY, but His ONE BODY is not a religious organization but a spiritual ORGANISM, the “JOINTBODY”. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal: the Lord knoweth them that are His.” (2 Timothy 2:19).

There are NO unsaved people in the BODY of Christ. God only knows how many unsaved people are members of so called Christian church organizations. The LORD Jesus and the CHURCH are ONE flesh (Ephesians 5:31-32). “God is making ONE New Man of believers who are reconciled to Him in ONE BODY by the cross.” (Ephesians 2:15-16). The Lord Jesus will present the CHURCH to Himself, glorious, blameless, holy and spotless. (Ephesians 5:25-27).

In this Age and Dispensation of Grace, the Dispensation of the Mystery; the very moment the believing sinner meets God at Calvary, receiving Christ and believing that He was delivered for our offences and raised for our justification, that believing sinner, without ritual, water baptism, or ANY religious ceremonies, immediately is made a CHURCH-MEMBER by the Grace and power of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Becoming identified with the local assembly is NOT called, in the Bible, ‘Joining the Church’. The believer’s eternal security is IN CHRIST. (Romans 8:1, Ephesians 2:13, 2 Cor. 5:17, Ephesians 1:4-7, Colossians 2:10). God will yet gather together in ‘ONE’ all things ‘IN CHRIST’. (Ephesians 1:10).

So think again of the words the LORD gave Caiaphas, the high priest, to say in John 11:51-52, “he prophesied that Jesus would die for Israel, and not for that nation only, but also that He should gather together in ‘ONE’ the children of God that were scattered abroad.”

“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!

So There You Have it!

Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short

Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.

In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry

Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

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LLM Question of the Day, and, The Church of God and Your Denomination

First the Question: Becoming identified with a local assembly is NOT called, in the Bible...Joining the Church. True or False?

Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day

And now….

Today let us consider, The Church of God and Your Denomination

There are many church buildings and church organizations on this earth. Many of the people, who are members of the different church organizations, are also members of God’s Church. About 2000 years ago the Apostle Paul instructed the spiritual leaders of Ephesus, “Feed the CHURCH OF GOD, WHICH HE HATH PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD.” (Acts 20:28). Very interesting is this statement concerning God’s Church. Since the day that Paul spoke to those elders many members of God’s Church have departed to be with Christ. (Philippians 1:23).

Concerning the Apostles Peter and John, we read in Acts 4:23, “And being let go they went to their own company.” This word “company” suggests their own private group. In 1 Corinthians 14:23 we read of the church coming together. In Hebrews 10:25 we read, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” So every member of God’s Church should be identified with other such members of like precious faith and should have a regular meeting-place or assembly. But every member of God’s Church, in the matter of “church membership” should faithfully obey 2 Cor. 6:14, “be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” And every member of God’s Church should faithfully obey Ephesians 6:18, and pray with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

Church officers may receive from the members of some particular local assembly the right to induct others into that membership. But only God Himself can receive a person into His Church, that is, cause a believer to be joined to the Body of Christ by being joined to Christ. “So we, being many, are One Body in Christ, and everyone members, one of another.” (Romans 12:5). This means, of course, that ALL SAVED Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists and Congregationalists are members one of another. But it certainly does NOT mean that all of the members of these DENOMINATIONS are members one of another.

No intelligent student of the Bible believes that a person is a member of God’s Church because that person has joined some denominational organization. But every such student knows that God’s way of joining God’s Church is told in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, “For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; SO ALSO IS CHRIST: For by one Spirit are we all baptized into ONE BODY.”

No man can baptize his fellow man into the Body of Christ. This can be done only by almighty God. However, it is true that the Faith cometh by hearing the Word of God and sinners cannot believe unless they hear and they cannot hear unless God’s saints go to them with the saving Gospel, to plant and water, so that God will give the increase, and add such as are being saved. (Romans 10:12-15, Acts 2:47). “And believers were the more added to the LORD.” (Acts 5:14).

In Hebrews 10:10 and Hebrews 13:12 we are told how sinners became saints, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.” AND, “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might SANCTIFY the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” Then note 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, how God makes living saints out of dead sinners, how God justifies and sanctifies believing murderers, drunkards, thieves, adulterers, which is the very same in the case of the believing self-righteous, moral, religious person. “Such were some of you; but ye are washed; but ye are SANCTIFIED; but ye are justified in the Name of the LORD Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” In Titus 3:5-8 this is called “by the washing of regeneration,” which God bestows.

The moment God saves the believing sinner, at that very moment, that one, becomes a saint and a member of the Church, Which is the Body of Christ. (Ephesians 1:23, Ephesians 4:4-5, Colossians 1:25-26). In 2 Cor. 1:21-22 we read that God establishes the believer and anoints the believer, “God, Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” In Ephesians 4:9-13 we learn how God is building up the Body of Christ, “For the building up of the Body of Christ, Till we all come in the unity (oneness) of The Faith, unto a perfect man.”

Now, PAY ATTENTION, God is VERY jealous concerning His Son and His Son’s Body; so be very careful that YOU are not trying to build up something, such as YOUR denomination IN COMPETITION with God, instead of being laborers together with God in building the ONE BODY of Ephesians 4:4.

The word CHURCH is found more than 100 times from Acts to Revelation; twice in Matthew 18:17. The Greek word is EKKLESIA. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures this word EKKLESIA is used quite frequently and is generally translated “congregation,” as it is in Acts 19:32, Acts 19:39-41, where the Greek word is used to describe an angry, lawless mob of heathen.

Where the Greek word EKKLESIA refers to God’s Church, it does not refer to an assembly room or meeting place, but to a company of people; for the word EKKLESIA means CALLED OUT. Therefore, God’s Church, God’s Ekklesia, during this Dispensation of Grace, or the Dispensation of the Mystery, is composed of believers, or saints, whom God by the Holy Spirit and the Gospel of Christ has called out of this condemned world to be joined to Christ, as one flesh, to make up the one new man of Ephesians 2:15 and Ephesians 5:31-32.

In Ephesians 5:25-27 we learn that Christ is going to present THE CHURCH unto Himself, a glorious, spotless, blameless, Holy Church. How sad it is to know that many members of church organizations on this earth will not be there. Will you?

“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!

So There You Have it!

Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short

Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.

In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry

Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

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