The Good News

The Lord God created man to glorify Himself and to have fellowship with Him forever, that "God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28b) Ephesians 1:10-14.

Unlike any God of man's own creation, "Yahweh" (His name means "I AM"), is a benevolent creator who loves His creatures with a limitless love! He desires to enjoy fellowship with them and has purposed in His own will to draw all men to Himself to become One with His creatures imparting to them His "divine nature".

Because of our sin in Adam which we committed with him against the Law of the Lord in Eden, the first man and we his posterity, became by nature, sinners against God.

The power of sin has rendered us dead in terms of our ability to fulfill our purpose of glorifying Him. We have proven to be a lawless people having failed the test of His Law -- the "Ten Commandments".

This "Law" was not given to us as a way to restore us to fellowship with Him, but to offer an opportunity for our sin nature to operate, that in our violation of these commandments we might find agreement with Him that we are lost and helpless, bound by the shackles of sin, without hope in this world. (see Galatians 3:19-25, Romans 3:19- 31)

ROMANS 3:10 "There is no one righteous, not even one;"

ROMANS 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

ROMANS 5:12 "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned."

ISAIAH 53:6 "We all, like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

JEREMIAH 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

1 JOHN 1:8 "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

ROMANS 1:32 "Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

The Bible, the book containing God's exclusive message to us, teaches us that the result of of our sin (our failure to keep His law in perfection) is spiritual, physical, and the second death in the lake of fire.

A dead person is without consciousness. He has no perception of his being dead nor of his need for life. In addition to having no power to regain life, he has not even the desire to do so!

We were unable to prevent our dying, neither can we through our own efforts resurrect ourselves back to life. We are in desperate need for the assistance of Another -- even Christ, the Son of God.

ROMANS 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death."

EZEKIEL 18:4b "The soul who sins is the one who will die."

JAMES 1:15 "Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death."

EPHESIANS 2:1 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins."

If we were to continue on this present course, we will be cast alive into the lake burning with fire and brimstone. What this invitation of Christ is unable to avail, the tormenting flames will accomplish in bringing you to your senses! If we fail to acknowledge Him in this age, we certainly will at the end of this age!

PHILIPPIANS 2:9 "Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (1 CORINTHIANS 12:3b "...no one can say, "Jesus is Lord" but by the Holy Spirit.)

MATTHEW 10:28 "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell."

MATTHEW 13:41-42 "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

REVELATION 20:14b "The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

In Acts chapter sixteen, the apostle Paul and Silas were asked of their jailer at Philippi, "What must I do to be saved?" If you believe the foregoing scriptures concerning your position before God, then your response must be the same. If we are lost in sin and headed for destruction with no hope of saving ourselves, how then can we be saved?

God loves you so much that He placed your sin upon His Son Jesus Christ, Who suffered the woeful penalty as he laid down His life being crucified on the Cross. Because He also was raised from the dead by a power stronger than sin, He has accomplished a final victory over sin and lawlessness. It is this power which raised Christ from the dead which He is making available to us.

This New Life can be yours simply by exercising a child's faith in the willingness, love, and ability of your Father to give it to you! Let go of your misplaced trust in your own "goodness" and cling tenaciously and exclusively to the fact that just as you "sinned in Adam", you may now "obey in Christ", dying with Him to sin and death, being buried with Him by immersion into His death, and being raised with Him in newness of Life! (Romans 6:3-11)

Paul's answer to the Philippian jailer was, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved -- you and your household" Acts 16:31

ROMANS 10:9 "...That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

ROMANS 4:5 "However, to the man who does not work [trust in his own goodness] , but trusts God Who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."

ROMANS 8:1 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

JOHN 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

1 JOHN 5:13 "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

EPHESIANS 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast."

If you have believed God's message about what He has done by and through His Son, you show evidence of having been born again into a new life! No man can confess that Jesus is Lord, but by the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 12:3)

Your first act of obedience to your new Lord is to be baptized or immersed. In 1 Peter 3:21, the apostle told us that baptism is not the cleansing away of sin, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. If you were baptized as an infant, you did not have this "good conscience" which results from the righteous new nature you now possess. If the "good conscience", the "new nature" is there, he desires to be obedient in baptism!

At this point there may be little sensitivity to this new birth as there was in your physical birth of which you have no memory. You need like everyone else, to grow from spiritual infancy to adulthood.

Salvation is never temporary! Only those who have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ are called, justified and glorified. Having died with Him to sin, you need never fear death again. (Hebrews 9:25-27) One can never be "resurrected to sin"! You did nothing to earn it, you can do nothing to hold on to it, and as Paul taught in the last half of ROMANS chapter eight, you can never lose it!

As Christ's death removed the penalty of death, His resurrection provides you with the power of a new life, the seed of which has been planted in all those who are born of Him. He has come to live within you to energize this new creation inside of you. (See Romans 6:4-11, 1 Corinthians 2:9-16, Ephesians 1:13-14, 3:16-21, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18.) This "New Creation" requires food upon which to grow in the Lord. Your sustenance is to be found in the Word of God, the Bible.

1 PETER 2:2 "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation."

2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 "All Scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

JOHN 12:48 "There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very Word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day."

When an infant is born into the world he is added to a family. Similarly, when one is born into the kingdom of God, he is added to a spiritual family called the "church" in most translations of the Bible. The first century greek word translated "church" in our Bible is "ekklesia". It is formed from two greek roots: "ek" -- (out of), and "kaleo" -- (to call). The church is not a building, but the assembly of those whom God has called out of this sinful world to Himself! God has placed others in the assembly with special gifts to minister to you and help you to grow. He has given some of these gifts to you as well for the building of His assembly. These must be nurtured, and you are needed; to love and to be loved.

You have become part of the first born of God's creation, (Hebrews 12:22-23) the "elder brother" possessing a "double inheritance" to enable you to redeem your younger brethren in this age and the one to come. You are a priest in the kingdom of God (1 Peter 2:5) with an inheritance to share, a light in a darkened world!

It is very important for you to find an assembly in which you may grow. In our area, we meet with others in our homes just as they did when the New Testament was written. Because we do not belong to any denominations, we are free to constantly bring our beliefs into conformity to the Word of God! Ask God to lead you to an assembly which is obedient to His Word.

"THE ANCIENT PATH" seeks in the spirit of the New Testament letters to Preach the Word and to correct, rebuke and encourage, with patience and careful instruction, the assemblies gathered to Jesus Christ. It ignores denominational divisions and reaches out to all who have ears to hear in these last days. Please do not ask for a doctrinal statement. We have none as we are constantly changing our understanding as we bring ourselves continuously into conformity to what we are learning from God's Word. To conserve resources, we do not distribute hard copies of these articles but make them available on the world wide web. You may download, create and distribute our articles in printed form. We ask that you let us know how you are using them so that we may determine the wisdom and /or effectiveness of continuing this ministry.