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  SELECTIVE ACCEPTANCE OF THE TEACHING OF CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES
  by A.W. Tozer
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Summary: The sermon highlights the problem of selective acceptance of
Christ's teaching and the importance of maintaining a clear and accurate
understanding of His message.

Topics: "Authority of Christ", "Whole Gospel"
Scripture References: Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 28:18, John 1:14, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9, Colossians 2:9, Hebrews 13:8, 1 John 5:12, Revelation 20:15

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DESCRIPTION
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A.W. Tozer addresses the troubling trend of selectively accepting the
teachings of Christ while diminishing His divine nature. He critiques
religious leaders who elevate Jesus' ethical teachings but disregard His
claims of deity and essential doctrines on sin and judgment. Tozer warns
that this selective acceptance undermines the integrity of Christ's
message and leads to a lack of certainty in faith. He emphasizes that
the same issues faced in the past are resurfacing in contemporary
discussions, suggesting a need for a return to a holistic understanding
of Christ's teachings. The sermon calls for a recognition of the full
authority of Jesus, both in His person and His teachings.

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CONTENT
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It may seem a bit odd that the religious teachers who exalted the
teachings of Jesus to the seventh empyrean should in the same breath
demote the person of Jesus to the level of a common man; yet they did
just that. They lamented with many a crocodile tear the error of the
Church in worshiping Jesus and failing to spread His ethics throughout
the earth. The implication was that the man Jesus was important only
because of the sterling quality of His ethics; though it was hard for
some then and it is hard for others now to understand how a mans
teaching can be greater than the man.

The same persons who exalted His doctrine of love completely ignored His
claim to deity and brushed aside His teachings on sin, judgment and
hell, as well as His whole system of eschatology.

This arrogant picking and choosing among the words of Christ gave some
persons the impression that these teachers were far less sincere than
they claimed to be, for a man need not be a genius to reach the
conclusion that if Jesus was wrong about almost all of His teachings
there could be no certainty that He was right about the rest. Well, it
is not my intention to fight again the battle of Bunker Hill.

If all this belonged only to the past we might be content to let the
dead bury their dead and pass on to something else; but the ghosts of
the old Modernists appear to have been reincarnated and many of the
arguments raised by the liberals a generation ago are now being repeated
by the orthodox.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/aw-tozer/selective-acceptance-of-the-teaching-of-christ-and-the-apostles/
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