Where In The Bible Will I
Find:
The Seed Of The Gospel?
Nine
times in the first chapter of Genesis, God said that everything should bring
forth after its kind. A watermelon seed from the first century planted in the
twentieth century will bring forth a watermelon and nothing else.
Jesus
said, "The seed is the Word of God" (Luke 8:11). This seed was
planted in Antioch of Judea by men of Cyprus and Cyrene and it produced "Christians,"
and nothing else (Acts 11:26). Paul planted this seed in Corinth, it fell into
good soil (hearts), germinated and produced obedient faith, for the Scriptures
declare that "many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were
baptized" (Acts 18:8).
If
this seed (the Word of God) that was planted in the first century of the church
produced "Christians," and nothing else, it will do the same
today. There were no creed books, church manuals, prayer books, confessions of
faith or Catholicism in the first century. The seed was not polluted with such
additions then, therefore, it will not produce such additions today.
Suppose
there were found an intelligent tribe of people in the deepest portion of some
country who had never heard of God's Word and by chance a Bible should fall
into their midst. These people being intelligent, able to understand, they read
it, study it, and investigate it; and become convinced that there is a God in
heaven who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth, that He taught people
about the church, His kingdom - how He suffered and died on the cross -
purchasing the church with His blood - that He arose from the tomb the
third day - that He taught His disciples to "go into the whole
world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark
16:15-16).
They
continue to read the facts of all the conversions in the book of Acts. They
learn from Paul that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God" (Rom. 3:23), and that the soul of the sinner will die
spiritually. They understand that by believing God's Word they must become
obedient to it in order to be saved. They repented of their sins (Acts 17:30),
they confessed their belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (Acts
8:37), and then they are buried with Christ in water baptism unto the remission
of their sins (Acts 2:38; 8:37-40; 22:16), and raised to walk in newness
of life (Rom. 6:3-5).
They
are now "Christians," and nothing else. The Lord added them to
His church (Acts 2:47). They had no need for any other book, because the Bible
makes Christians only. The seed of 2000 years was planted and it produced the
same thing as it did in the first century. This same seed was planted in
America during the eighteenth century by those great men preaching only the
Gospel of Christ. It produced only Christians, and it will still produce only
Christians unpolluted by man-made doctrines.