REVELATION OF JESUS

Hebrews 6: 1 – 3

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment and this we’ll do if God permits.

We are going to be sharing with you on the seven foundational teachings of Christ. These are meant to be taught to anyone who has come to the saving knowledge of Christ at the beginning of their journey of faith in Christ.I also would like you to note in the passage above that the writer said, ‘‘Therefore.” This word suggests that something important had been said before now and, therefore, I would like to draw your attention to Hebrews 5 :11- 12‘Of whom we have many things to say   and hard to be uttered seeing that ye are dull of hearing. For when the time ye ought to be teachers ye have need that one teach you again which is the first principles of the oracles of God becomes such that have need of milk and not strong meat.’’ Spiritual stagnation existed among these believers such that when they ought to have made progress toward maturity which is perfection in Christ that had not happened. They were born again but there was no growth or progress. That’s why Paul said when they ought to be teachers they still needed to be taught the first principles of the oracles of God.

That’s why what we intend to bring to you is to teach these First Principles of the Oracles of God. We know that the challenge Paul faced with these Christians still exists even more today; there are many of God’s people, who are born again, but who do not even know what these first principles of God are. I have had the privilege of travelling and speaking to Christians in many places and I’m amazed to discover that many Christians even, people in leadership don’t know what these first principles of God are. Without this we can’t go on to perfection or spiritual son ship in Christ if our foundations are not properly laid.

We have not been taught what we should have been taught. If we have not done well at our A,B,C how can we go on to learn other things of the Lord? It’s like a person who wants to go to the university but he or she has not gone to primary school or secondary school, and suddenly find himself or herself in the university environment. What is the individual going to learn? If we are born again and we have not been taught what Paul calls the first principles of the Oracles of God, how are we going to move on to perfection? And then at the same time the second part of what Paul is saying is this, if you have laid the foundation, you don’t also stay on the foundation forever. After laying the foundation you must move on to perfection. In the natural you don’t lay the foundation and not move on to build the house. The foundation itself, although very important, is not the house. So we have two issues here, there are people who don’t even have foundation at all but they are attempting to build, they are struggling to follow God, they are attempting to seek maturity in the things of the Spirit. It’s impossible. Then there are those who have laid the foundation but they are not moving on; they are just on these foundational issues.

These are the issues we are going to be addressing as we continue in subsequent post. In the next post we will be looking in some detail at these principles.

I want you also to take note that there are about seven principles Paul mentioned in Hebrews 6: 1-8. When I ask people how many principles, they’ll say six and I say it can’t be six because six is not perfection; it’s not God’s number. It’s not scriptural to be speaking, or teaching on things pertaining to perfection and be using the number six which is speaking of flesh or self and satan therefore we have to look carefully. I want to mention the seven principles that Paul highlighted in this scripture: “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ.” The Doctrine of Christ, which is the revelation of Christ or the Godhead, stands as number one. The next one is Repentance. Again I would like you to note that Paul does not say Repentance from sin but rather Repentance from dead works. In other words, works that are not initiated or ordained by the Spirit of God are dead works. This is the second principle and then Faith toward God. When we are born again we are to walk by faith we are to live a life of faith; “The just shall live by faith.” Then the next one is the doctrine of Baptisms. Here we see that Baptisms is not just one, it’s in plural. We know that there are four essential baptisms in the Scripture: there’s Water baptism, Holy Ghost baptism, baptism by fire and Baptism into the Body.

We will be delving deeper into these seven principles but for today we just want you to note that there are seven principles or seven foundational teachings of the word of God that every believer should know, be taught and experience in our walk. The next one there is the Laying on of hands. Okay! That’s important. When we are born again; hands are laid upon us for many things: for impartation, for healing, for receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit and for ordination. Then the next one is the Resurrection of the dead and finally, Eternal judgment. So these are the seven foundational principles. Let’s go over them again:

1. The doctrine of Christ (Revelation of who Christ is or the Godhead).
2. Repentance from dead works.
3. Faith toward God.
4. Doctrine of baptisms
5. Laying on of hands.
6. Resurrection of the dead.
7. Eternal judgment.