When Jehovah Witnesses Come Knocking

Excerpt from Book of Romans Fulfilled Pt. 1, a rightly divided, grace message by Bro Ron Knight.

For the full audio message, click here:  Book of Romans Fulfilled Pt.1


For other messages related to JWs, click here:  
When JWs knock...
Conversation starters of eternal value

Bible Word Study: Earnest/Hope

Romans 8:18-20

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

That word, ‘earnest’ has to do with an eager, confident expectation.  It’s really like our word ‘eagerness.’  It has a hope associated with it.  Not the kind of hope we have that our team will win the game.  That’s not a real hope.  Hope in the bible is a confident expectation, and that’s what earnest means.  It’s associated with a hope that is confident. Paul knows that for sure.  Why?  Look at what God told him:

¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

God will one day manifest to heaven and earth his sons:  the body of Christ in the heavens; the nation of Israel in the earth.  That’s going to happen and you can bank on it.

There is another confident expectation that you and I have and that’s to be glorified – given a new body.

2 Corinthians 5:5-6

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

Do you see how when Paul talks about this ‘earnest’, it has to do with a confident expectation of something that is going to happen? It’s not a hope like, “Maybe the Bears will win.”  It’s like Pete Rose as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds betting against his team; and the reason he was confident they would lose is because he would put in his worst line-up.  He never bet for the Reds, he always bets against them because he was the one determining the line-up.  They lost games; he won money; he was confident.

But even more than that, we have confidence in God’s word.

Ephesians 1:13-14

¹³In whom [in Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

The moment each of us trusted Christ, God sealed us into Christ.  We call that baptism; he put us into Christ.  It’s done; sealed.  That sealing was done with the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

When you buy a home, there is something called earnest money.  Earnest money says to the realtor and the sellers that you are serious about buying that home.  You are in essence telling them: You can [confidently] take that home off the market while I work on getting the rest of the money, because this money is a non-refundable deposit.

God wants us to know so assuredly that he is going to put us in the heavens and that we’re saved, that the moment we trust Christ he gives us the earnest of the Spirit; he seals us with the Spirit of God. 

It’s an assurance; that’s what ‘earnest’ means.  You can trust it.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 a

For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance;

Hopefully this helps!

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 Heir of God or Joint-Heirs with Christ? 

What’s in a name?

Transcribed excerpt from an audio message by Bro Ron Knight...

Paul wrote more books of the ‘New Testament’ than any other author.  [By that,] God is magnifying his office. 

Romans 11:13

For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

Let’s look at the first time Saul of Tarsus is called Paul:

Acts 13:9

Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,

Do you know what the name Paul means?  “Little, small and weak.”  God gave him that name because he went from this exalted leader in the Jewish religious system (Saul was named after the powerful king of Israel) to a little, small, weak insignificant man.  Now it doesn’t mean that his ministry was insignificant (it was mighty!) but he was just the vessel. 

That’s us.  There will always be just a small group of believers; it is called a remnant.  Why?  Because most people think there has to be a big religious show; a big building; a lot of people who are blessed and highly favored; health, wealth and prosperity.  But that’s not what God is into today.

In the kingdom program in the future, the nation of Israel will be healthy, wealthy and wise.  But that is not what God is doing today.  God is looking for the weak things of this world.

1 Corinthians 1:27

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

He is looking for the small, insignificant things in the eyes of the world.  That’s how God gets the glory, through the power of his word.

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Hopefully this helps!

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His Only Begotten Son

Transcribed excerpt from an audio message by Bro Ron Knight...

This is the most famous verse in Scripture:

John 3:16

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.

What does that mean?  Is it like what the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe? That Jesus was created by God in a moment of time?  His flesh was, but not his deity.  He was preexistent. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.  The child was born through Mary; but the Son of God existed from everlasting.

So do the Jehovah’s Witnesses have it right? 

Matthew 22:29

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God

The answer is, No!  They’ll take something and run with it without looking at the context.

He is God.  God is his title.  He is eternal and everlasting.

Micah 5:2

But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Then what does ‘begotten’ mean?  Notice what it says in the second psalm where God is talking about setting up the Kingdom.  In context, it is dealing with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 2:7-8

I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me [Jesus the Messiah], Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Now let me show you something.  The focus of that Messianic Psalm is the ministry of the Lord all the way through to the Kingdom.  But how do we know it’s talking about the resurrection of Christ?  Because the Spirit of God tells us through Paul in the book of Acts:

Acts 13:33

God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

Notice that when Paul talks about a begotten being, he says, “And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead.”  The issue is the resurrection.  When you think about ‘begotten’, it can be true that it has to do with a father conceiving a son.

Matthew 1:2

Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;

But when it’s talking about the Lord Jesus the eternal Son of God, he was begotten by the Father when he was raised from the dead at the resurrection.

Revelation 1:5

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Transcribed excerpt from a message by Bro Ron Knight…

Hopefully this helps!

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God is into dividing

Transcribed excerpt from an audio message by Bro Ron Knight...

 True and proper teaching of the scriptures is a verse by verse expository type of teaching which means you take a book, particularly an epistle of the apostle Paul, and study verse by verse.

In order to understand Paul’s ministry, a study of the book of Acts would be good, because what we see there are the acts of the apostles.  ‘Acts’ is short for the actions or the activities of the apostles.  Which apostles?  The 12 apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ and that one, new distinct apostle Paul.

Years ago a man told me that the bible is written in past, present and future.  You won’t hear that outside of a dispensational bible church.  If you’ve been confused about the bible it’s because you haven’t been studying it God’s way.  Paul says¹ to…

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

You are to divide the word of truth.  God is a God of division.  The Lord said…

Luke 12:51

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

People say that Jesus came to bring peace and love.  No, he came to divide some people in Israel:  the believing remnant from the unbelievers.  Back in Genesis chapter 1 God divided the light from the darkness; he divided the dry ground from the waters. 

God is into dividing. 

The thing that you need to divide the most is the word of truth, God's word.  It is all true, but you need to make divisions in order to understand it.  The reason all the denominations and cults are in confusion is because they don’t rightly divide.

Your life is time past, but now and the ages to come.  You have a past you live in the present, and you have a future.  God’s word is that way.  The apostle Paul is the one that explains that in time past God made a distinction between the nation of Israel (Jews) and gentiles.²

When you come to the ministry and message of the apostle Paul, he does not make a distinction between Jew and Gentile.  He looks at all men as in Adam.  Actually, you’re either in Adam or in Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:22

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Today, in the present, God has a word to all nations (aka, gentiles), including Israel – everybody.  He didn’t do that back in time past.  When you’re reading the books of Genesis through Acts you are reading a time-past program when God made a distinction between mankind, starting with Abraham in Genesis 12.  Until you come up to the message and ministry of the apostle Paul in his 13 epistles of Romans through Philemon, God does not make a distinction between men.

But God is going to finish this (mystery) program someday³ so that he can continue on with his prophetic program⁴ with the nation of Israel.  We’re coming close to those days, I believe; but he has to finish our program first.  When he does, he will go back again and make a distinction between Jew and gentile.  Those are the books of Hebrews through Revelation. 

Unless you study the Bible this way, you’re confused.  How do I know?  Because if you don’t, I could ask you 1,000 questions you couldn’t answer.  The only way you can answer the hard Bible questions is by dispensationally understanding your Bible.

The book of Acts explains how you got to the apostle Paul.  Acts has a focus on the actions of the 12 apostles before the fall of Israel, the diminishing of their program once Paul is saved, and then Christ’s salvation going out to us gentiles through the apostle Paul.  The reason you can trust Christ in Minnesota or in California, or anywhere in the world today, although God started in Israel in the Middle East, is because God gave Paul a message of grace for you today.  That’s how we’re saved today.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  not of works, lest any man should boast.

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Transcribed excerpt from Bro Knight's message...

53 Are you Ordained by God R.K..mp3

¹  1 Corinthians 14:37  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

² Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

³ Romans 16:25 25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

⁴ Acts 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Hopefully this helps!

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The Number of Man

Transcribed excerpt from an audio message by Bro Ron Knight...

Acts 11:12

And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house:

All through scripture the number six represents the number of man.  When the Lord performed his first recorded miracle there were six water pots of stone. 

John 2:6-7

And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.   Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.

They represented the hardness of humanity.  The water pots weren’t made just of clay (man is made from the dust of the ground and has feet of clay), but it was clay that was hardened.  Stone.  In John 11 the Lord said to remove the stone when he was about to raise Lazarus.  That represented the hardness of man’s heart, particularly the nation of Israel.

Jesus had the servants fill the clay pots of stone with water to the brim.  Water represents the Spirit of God.  As the Lord Jesus pours the Spirit of God into those stone pots (sinful Jews who trust him) it turned into wine.  Wine represents joy and merriment.

Psalm 104:15

and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.

He was bringing joy and gladness back to the nation of Israel.  That’s what that miracle represented.

We bury someone six feet underground.  Why not five?  Why not seven?  Mankind doesn’t understand, but that’s not an arbitrary number.  Six is the number of man.

The six men (who accompanied Peter in Acts 11:12) represent a testimony to humanity that God has changed the program.

Romans 6:14b

…for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

1 Corinthians 12:13

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Transcribed excerpt from Bro Knight’s message: 

Survey of Acts

Hopefully this helps!

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The Theme and Purpose of 2 Thessalonians

Transcribed excerpt from an audio message by Bro Ron Knight...

The second epistle to the Thessalonians was written by Paul to explain the time of Jacob’s trouble¹– the end times, latter times or the last days of Israel’s prophetic program, particularly regarding what God will do in the earth future from us.

The reason he had to write it was because grace believers, people who weren’t appointed to that wrath,² because the body of Christ will go out of the world through the rapture, the resurrection of the body,³ and go into the heavenly places to be with our Lord.  We are not going to be involved with that day of the Lord’s wrath.⁴ that time of Jacob’s trouble.

But because of the lack of right division, men were preaching and teaching that the church the body of Christ would go through that wrath.  They were mixing what Jesus Christ says through Paul to us believers in the body, with what Jesus Christ said to Israel in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  They were mixing prophecy and mystery, law and grace; and when you don’t rightly divide, you’re going to have people thinking they’re going to go through the [tribulation].

Second Timothy 2:15, the verse about right division, comes in because some men named Hymenæus and Philetus⁵ had taught the Ephesians that the resurrection (rapture) had happened already, and that overthrew people’s faith.  They were teaching that the body of Christ will go through the wrath.

Even among grace believers in our day there is a falling away from this truth.  Paul says that in the latter times of the dispensation of grace men and women will fall away and not endure sound doctrine.⁶   Grace churches will get smaller because people will have itching ears to hear something other than what Paul says.  You don’t want to be that person.  The way you get your reward at the judgment seat of Christ⁷  is to endure to the end as a part of the grace body of believers; not just in name as a Christian, but in your doctrine and walk.  God has given that to us as the goal of our Christian life⁸.

But there are so-called grace believers who are leaving these Pauline doctrines about the rapture; about justification by God’s grace through faith plus nothing.  They’re mixing up things.  You don’t want to do that.  It is my goal to stay in the scriptures because Paul says:

1 Timothy 4:16

Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

I can save myself from that apostasy by listening to Paul, and I’ll make sure that you can be too by preaching it to you, if you believe in God’s word.

So Paul wrote the book of 2 Thessalonians to deal with the confusion of the end times of prophecy (what people call eschatology).  He wanted to explain the day of the Lord, the time of that future wrath when Christ will come as Israel’s avenger, deliverer and king to set up his earthly kingdom.

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Transcribed excerpt from Bro Knight’s message:

27  2 Thess Ch2.mp3

¹ Jeremiah 30:7   Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.

²  1 Thessalonians 5:9   For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

³ 1 Thess. 4:13-18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.   For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.   For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.   For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.   Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

⁴  Zephaniah 1:18  Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

⁵  2 Timoothy 2:16-18  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;   Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

⁶ 2 Timothy 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

⁷   1 Corinthians 3:10-17    According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;   Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.   If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.   If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.   Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

⁸ Philippians 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Hopefully this helps!

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