Paul's Gospel -- God's Gospel Preached by Paul

[0:00] I appreciate all of you tuning in this morning thank you for your presence and we thought that this kind of a situation was behind us but giving what's going on in our country now with all of the uncertainties about the virus we just have to kind of play it by ear and take it as it comes because we never know exactly what's going to be happening I do want to have a few announcements of things to bring you up to speed regarding because of the virus and the changes that are necessary to be made and the first one we are in the process of making right now we cannot tell you how long we're going to be doing this via the electronic medium but when we are able to resume our normal activities back at the church trust me you will be among the first to know we just don't know exactly how soon that's going to be so you also need to be aware that in addition to our regular Sunday services being canceled temporarily so is everything else that involves grace and that includes the men's Tuesday morning

[1:14] Bible class at the airport cafe that too is canceled until further notice the friendship Bible class that had been rescheduled for July 30th has also been canceled and we do not know for sure when we'll be able to resume that we hope we'll be able to do that for the last Thursday in August but that remains to be seen in addition the Wednesday evening prayer meeting is canceled until further notice as well and the reason we're doing this quite simply is because there are a few folks who were in attendance that grace for the past two Sundays that have since tested positive for the coven 19 virus we do not know whether they were contagious then and infected others who were there at that service but there is a very good possibility that they did the reason being this thing is so highly contagious it is trans transported from one person to another in such simple ways many of which we don't even understand so all we can say is if you were at our service Sunday morning during the past two Sundays there is a good possibility that you may have been exposed by someone who was already infected and didn't even know it and they were there and may have passed it on to you so if you begin showing any symptoms I would suggest that you call your family doctor and find out what they would advise you to do from this point of time on so symptoms of course are varied but they usually begin with a sore throat and a feeling of weakness and aching aching joints and body parts and the kind of things that often accompany what we would call the regular flu only this of course is a different strain of it so if you have any doubts I would suggest that you call your physician let them know what your symptoms are and then they can tell you what you should be doing next okay we want to pause now for a word of prayer and in addition to remembering those who have been exposed or who may be exposed we want to continue praying for a nation and the present crisis we are undergoing so join with me if you would please our father we recognize that you are in complete charge of each and every event that comes into our lives whether we view it as positive or as negative and you are more than sufficient for each and everything that we're dealing with as a nation and as individuals and indeed we take great comfort in that our prayer for our nation has to do with the instability that is being created through the repeated acts of violence and we recognize that those who are involved no doubt have differing motives and some are acting out of complete ignorance some are acting with what they believe is great intelligence and then there are those in between who are simply going along with what's happening and our prayer especially this morning is for those who are in charge and we think particularly of our president and those who are closely advising him for those in the Congress who are in positions of authority and responsibility for decision making we can only pray your wisdom will be their portion we pray that they may look beyond the

[5:16] the the wisdom of our own we ask especially for those who are representing our nation from our own home area we think of Jim Jordan and Warren Davidson our representatives and we ask that they may be especially attuned to what is taking place and be able to arrive at accurate diagnoses of different motivations different problems in different areas and be able to suggest the kind of remedy that would be pleasing to you most of all we recognize that a nation in crisis is also a nation that is vulnerable and open to decisions that sometimes transcends the human and we pray that this will be the case here thank you again for your watch care over this nation for the past nearly 200 years and for the blessings that you have brought to this country as a result of our founding fathers and their commitment to this country as a result of our founding fathers and their commitment to this country and their commitment to the truth and to the truth and to the word of God we pray today for those who are struggling with physical issues we think especially of the virus and how it is impacting our nation and in fact the entire world and our prayer is that through this time of shutdown and of what we would look upon as a downside that people will come to recognize their own weakness and inability their vulnerability and be more open and available to biblical and spiritual solutions if anything this virus has shown us how unaware we are how ignorant we are and how vulnerable we are to this thing that we cannot even see and we want it to have the kind of positive impact that will bring us up short and cause us to look to you for direction thank you thank you again for this opportunity to be together even though it is electronically we are grateful for the presence of each one and we ask that as we gauge the material before us you will give direction and insight and wisdom that we know we lack in Christ's name we pray amen well I do have one regret about this situation this morning and that is that it kind of upsets the plan that we were on earlier because we had designated the nine o'clock hour to be devoted to the subject of prophecy and the 1015 to be devoted to the subject of the mystery and we're already kind of out of kilter with that with this morning session being just half of what was involved or what was intended so I don't know if we can do this or not and I don't want to spring it on Terry for an answer right now but it's something to think about and that is would there be a possibility of resuming that format even though we would be doing it electronically next week so that we can have the benefit again of that comparison between the prophecy and mystery and it's something you can think about technologically whether that's doable and let me know a little bit later and maybe if it isn't asking too much maybe we could discover whether it would be doable in this hour so people could tune in for the nine o'clock hour next week if they wanted to you've got a little sheet at least I know many of you do and it just lists the various necessities and very brief form of the distinctions between prophecy and mystery

[9:26] and for anyone who thinks that that's no big deal and it doesn't make that much difference well we would reach uh we would uh beg to differ with you because we are not living under both of those we are living just under one of them and if you try to live under both of them then you are trying to incorporate the demands of the old covenant which begins of course with exodus and the law and all that involves you are trying to adjust to the demands of that as well as to the demands of that which has been provided for us under the new covenant and therefore you are setting yourself up for incredible contradictions under which no one can live and this is a principal reason why there is so very much confusion I believe about the bible and I know something about that confusion because I was a part of it for the first several years after I came to faith in Christ before I discovered the kind of things that we are teaching now and let me just say this and be as brief as I can and then I want to give you some examples of what we're talking about between the prophecy and the mystery um a pastor Don uh former uh fromer I'm sorry f-r-o-m-e-r uh gentlemen I remember meeting many years ago in tip city Ohio and he was there as a kind of like an interim pastor for what was then called the grace uh or the gospel lighthouse church in tip city and he came in to minister to those folks for a few weeks while they were without a pastor and he has since gone to be with the lord but he has written an outstanding little pamphlet that is just one page and it's folded in thirds many of you have already seen it there's a quantity of them at grace that is available and it ties in beautifully with what we are talking about this morning I do not know that I have ever read a better article that addresses the issue as clearly and compellingly as he does and it is an article entitled do we exalt Paul because that is an accusation that is often laid at uh grace people that well you make too much of the apostle Paul and if you get that article and read it and read it thoughtfully you will as I as I did you will come to the conclusion that no we are not at all exalting Paul and I can promise you this Paul would not want to be exalted he already describes himself as less than the least of all apostles and if there is anyone who is certainly not seeking the limelight it was the apostle Paul but while we do not exalt Paul and we would be wrong if we did we do without apology exalt the message that Paul preached because that message is the gospel of the grace of God of which he said God God forbid that I that that I should know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified and he made it very clear that his message was paramount as it should have been and as it should be for any and every preacher so the question do we exalt Paul of course not but there are some references and the first one we had you look at last week is in Romans 2 16

[13:33] so to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance would you turn to that again please Romans chapter 2 and verse 16 and a phrase that is used that is also misunderstood regarding this man I want to do what I can to clarify it and uh before we get to 16 let's start with verse 14 all right verse 14 of chapter 2 Paul says for when Gentiles and we've described Gentiles as being anyone who is not a Jew for when Gentiles who do not have the law and if you look at the context when he uses the phrase the law he is speaking of the law of Moses which was never given to Gentiles but was given to the children of Israel back in beginning in Exodus chapter 20 and he says Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law and let me just stop there and ask the question well why should they do that well because among other things besides a lot of particular particulars the law of Moses also sets forth a lot of generalities and they point to the law of the law of the law of the law of the law of the law of the law of the law of the law of the law of Moses and that has to do with issues of right and wrong and they are embedded in the heart and mind and brain of every human being they are part of our humanity it isn't it is it is an inner sense of right and wrong and I think this is what he is talking about when he says they do instinctively the things of the law they do instinctively

[15:22] Erfahr ro Subscriber that has to do with you they are just asking of given a really great입 essay they do the law of the law of the law of полов the law that is the law of Moses are a law to themselves in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts and the way they do that of course is through their behavior whether it's negative or positive bearing witness their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately alternately accusing or else defending them so we are blessed in our humanity with a conscience and the conscience is able to indicate guilt and guilt comes from violation of a known standard and the standard of course is that which God has placed within us and then he goes on to say in verse 16 on the day when according to my gospel

[16:41] God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus what in the world does Paul mean in using this term my gospel and what is it that makes the gospel his what is he saying here and for starters let me just put this on the table he is making a clear-cut revelation that he has something different to preach than what others were preaching it was a particular rendition of the good news that came to be originated from the heart and mind of God given to Paul for his disclosure and when he disclosed it this gospel of the grace of God it was something that had never been proclaimed before and that's one reason that is referred to as mystery or or secret. I want you to think in terms of Paul's gospel as having been a well-kept secret that God had divulged to absolutely no one for thousands of years. It was hidden away, tucked away in God's heart and mind, waiting for the right time for it to be revealed to humanity. And that time came shortly after the conversion of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. And up until that time, it had not been known at all. So keep in mind, he is calling this my gospel, his gospel, because he was the first one to reveal it. It was completely unknown before. Now, for those who have difficulty with that, and I can understand that some, because I did. The first time I heard this, as a fairly new believer, the first time I heard this, I thought, well, wait a minute.

[18:53] It's not his gospel. It's God's gospel. Well, he makes that clear when he opens Romans chapter one, and he calls it the gospel of God. But he is also making a distinction in that this gospel or this good news of God that he was proclaiming had not been proclaimed before. I don't think anyone who has difficulty with seeing this as Paul's gospel and criticizing Paul for making that claim, I dare say, I don't think any of those folks would have any difficulty in referring to the law of Moses as Moses law.

[19:42] Well, was it Moses law? Of course not. But didn't even Jesus himself refer to it as what did Moses say?

[19:52] How does Moses read? Didn't Jesus use that kind of terminology? Absolutely did. So what was he doing? Was he making Moses the authority? Of course not. But he was saying that the authority of the message came through Moses. And no one thinks of the law as being Moses law. It was given to Moses.

[20:16] He was merely the vehicle or the channel through which the law came. So Paul's gospel is not to be confused as meaning Paul's authority. It wasn't his authority. He was simply the mouthpiece in the same way that Moses was the mouthpiece. So when we think in terms of the law of Moses, we know we don't regard it as Moses law. We know it's God's law. And God used human instrumentality to convey it.

[20:50] Neither Moses nor Paul were originators or possessors of what they proclaimed. They were merely vehicles or conveyors. They were proclaimers of what God revealed to them.

[21:04] Now I have a question for you. I want you to think about this. It seems to me That God could have removed all doubt And all What shall I say? And all confusion About the author of these Of the The law And of the gospel If he had just spoken directly Why didn't God just Boom his word from heaven And tell people here on earth and whatever language they were writing All right, everybody This is God speaking And I'm addressing some important issues And I want whoever you are Wherever you are Take this down And they hear this booming voice from heaven So that there could be absolutely no doubt They look around They look up And they can't see Anybody or anything But there is this Authoritative booming voice

[22:06] Coming from heaven That they Assume Has to be The voice of God So there's no question And everybody In whatever language they're writing Gets busy And they just take it down Like a stenographer Would take A letter from An executive So why didn't God do that?

[22:24] And that would erase all possible doubt So far as the authority is concerned I want you to give that some thought Because the answer I think is very profound And very important I'll come back to that And I do plan to come back to it But in the event I get carried away With some other material And forget about Whatever you do Remind me And we will deal with that So God has always been pleased In his grace To utilize Humans And angels Matter of fact The very word Angel Angelos Means Messenger And of course Apostle The term Apostle Means One who is sent With The authority Of the one Who sent him

[23:25] So an apostle Is a very very important person Because They are not the authority But they come With the authority Of the one Who sent them So God has always been pleased To utilize humans And angels As instruments Of conveying his message And He was pleased to do so So let us go Before we leave Romans Let's stop off In Romans chapter 16 Back near the end Of the book And I want you to keep In mind now And I think this is important That Paul Not only opens Romans Very early Talking about the gospel Of God And then as early As chapter 2 He refers to My gospel Which will be the basis Of God judging The secrets of men Through Christ And Romans Is such Such an incredible Epistle I mean it is It is the It is the ultimate

[24:26] For biblical Christian doctrine In the book of Romans So keep in mind That Paul Opens here Early on In Romans With that And I want you to see How he closes With it also As if to say I want to remind you Of this again And I'm in Romans Chapter 16 And look down Near the end Of the book If you will It is as though It is as though He is Closing out This letter By including And emphasizing Some of the most Important stuff That he has said In it And he does this Beginning in verse 25 Of chapter 16 And he says Now to him This is kind of Like a signing off Now to him Who is able To establish you That means To put you On a Firm

[25:27] Fudding So that You've got Something of Substance Under you And you need Not be moved This is something That is designed To give you Staying power To him Who is able To establish You According To my Gospel It needs To be said Here And really Emphasize Prior to Paul Explaining And expressing His Gospel It did Not exist Except In the Mind of God Prior To his Disclosing That That is Such An important Point to Make My Gospel And Or even That could be

[26:27] Rendered Even It is a Chi In the Greek Actually According To my Gospel Even The Preaching Of Jesus Christ According To the Revelation Of the Mystery Which Has Been Kept Secret For Long Ages Past You know It is Absolutely Amazing How many People Read right Over that And never Think about It It is The Mystery Which Had Been Kept Secret For Long Ages Past But Now Now What is The Now That He's Talking About The Now That He Is Talking About Is The Precise Time When He Himself Was Given The Information About That Message To Proclaim Now As Opposed To Long Ages Past

[27:27] But Now Is Manifested And By The Scriptures Of The Prophets According To The Commandment Of The Eternal God Has Been Made Known To All The Nations Leading To Obedience Of Faith Wow That Is Really Something If You Understand The Implications Of This It Is Really Something But Now As Opposed To Long Ages Past Now Is Manifested That Is Now As Of The Time That He Was Proclaiming It And When He Says Has Been Made To All The Nations He's Talking About His Missionary Journeys And The Journeys That Others Have Made Because There Was An Enormous Number Of People Scattered All Throughout The Mediterranean World And They Are Going To Be Giving This Message And Taking This Message And Paul Is Going To Be Preaching It And It Just It It It Doesn't The

[28:28] Message That Paul Preached Was Not Something That Was In Addition It Was In Multiplication It Just Multiplied Because One Told Two And The Two Told Four And The Four Eight And It Just Covered The Whole Mediterranean Area Which Enabled Him To Say Leading To Obedience Of Faith And This Is In Connection With What I Mentioned Earlier And I Told You I Might Forget About It Because They Get Sometimes Excited About The Contact And Don't Get Back To It But We're Back To It Now Leading To Obedience Of Faith God Has Always Been Pleased To Utilize Humans And Angels As Instruments For Conveying His Message He Would Be Able To Do It Directly As I Mentioned By That Audible Booming Voice From Heaven But If He Did That

[29:29] Would Change Everything And The First Thing It Would Change Is It Would No Longer Enable Faith To Be A Factor Because It Is Through This Message The Preaching Of This Message And The Vehicles That God Ordained To Deliver The Message That Faith Becomes Possible And The Distinction That I Making Is If People Were Hearing This Voice Undeniable Completely Recognizable From Heaven There Would Be No Belief Factor Needed The Evidence Would Be Coming That Time Is Coming When The Word Of God Is Going To Be Given Delivered In Such A Way That No One Will Be Able To Deny It But That Time Is Not Now This Is Referred To Not

[30:30] Only As The Dispensation Of The Grace Of God But It Is A Dispensation That Uses The Principle Operates On The Principle Of Faith That Means There Is Something To Be Believed There Is Something Or Someone To Trust There Is Something Or Someone To Have Confidence In And When Paul Talks About Well The Writer Of Hebrews I Think It Was Talked About Speaking Of Christ Whom Having Not Seen You Love Well That Fists Us Doesn't It And When Jesus Talked To Doubting Thomas And Reminded Him That Thomas Because You Have Seen Me You Have Believed Blessed Are Those Who Having Not Seen Shall Believe Well How Or Why Will They

[31:30] Believe That's Where The Faith Principle Comes Into Play This Is The Principle That God Has Established For This Dispensation And Actually It's The Principle For The Old Dispensation As Well But In So Many Instances Faith Was Actually Overridden In The Old Testament Under The Old Covenant Because God Did Many Things In A Direct Miraculous Way That Absolutely Was Not To Be Denied And It Was The Old Principle Of Seeing Is Believing And This Is Why For Among Other Reasons This Is Why God Established Two Different Entities Here The Old And The New And The Old Is To Condition And Prepare People I Think For The New And The Idea Is God Revealed Himself In Undeniable Ways In The Old Testament Including The Four Gospels Because

[32:30] I Think A Case Can Be Made For Incorporating The Four Gospels Into The Old Testament Now I Know I Know That Sounds Like Abject Heresy But You Got To Keep In Mind The Principal Thing The Principal Thing That Separates The Old Testament From The Four Gospels Is Not Doctrine The Principal Thing That Separates Them Is 400 Years 400 Silent Years That God Was Not Revealing Himself To Mankind And And When What We Call The New Testament Opens Up It Is A Resumption Of What The Old Testament Concluded With The Book Of Malachi And There

[33:30] Malachi Is Talking About The Messiah Who Will Come And He's Also Talking About The Forerunner Of The Messiah Who Will Introduce The Messiah And That Will Be John The Baptist And When You Open Matthew's Gospel Voila There He Is The Messiah Is There In Chapter One And In Chapter Three John The Baptist Comes On The Scene And Introduces Him So What I Am Saying Is While Faith Was A Valid Principle In The Old Testament And In The Gospels And Utilized It Did Not Require The Level Of Belief And Faith That The New Does By Far And The Reason Is Simply Because God Revealed Himself In Such A Way As To Leave No Doubt Faith Wasn't Necessary Abraham Did Not Need Faith To Believe That

[34:31] God Had Addressed Him And Spoken To Him Face To Face And Neither Did Moses Now It Is True There Were Times When They Forgot About That Appearance And They Lapsed Into Unbelief And We Know Abraham Did And The Reason He Did Was Because He Was Human And Sometimes Even People Who Have Faith Have A Lapse Of Faith Like Abraham Did On Different Occasions But There Was A Hands On Physicality Involved That Was Not To Be Denied And That Was The Whole Principle Of The Miracles Both In The Old Testament And In The New And As We Pointed Out Many Times The Miracles That Jesus Performed Even Though They Relieved Pain And Suffering From Human Beings And Demonstrated The Compassion Of Christ That Was Not The Principal Reason For Those Miracles The

[35:31] Principal Reason Was That He Might Authenticate Himself As The Messiah Of Israel And What Jesus Did When He Came On The Scene With His Miracles He Brought With Him In His Person Kingdom Kind Of Content And When He Said To The Scribes And The Pharisees The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Among You He Was Referring To His Own Person And He Demonstrated And Validated His Claims To Be The Messiah By Performing The Miracles That He Did And Those Too Were Prophesied That He Would Do That When He Came That The Messiah Would Do That When He Came So The Necessity For Faith In The Old Testament Or Seeing Is Believing The Principle We

[36:31] Don't Have That We Don't Have That I Have Never Seen The Lord He's Never Spoken To Me Personally I Don't Have That To Go On What Do I Have To Go On I Just Have The Written Word And My Trust And My Confidence In It And The Message That It Conveys And That Is The Principle Of Faith Which Is The Base Of Operation For Believers And When Jesus Told Thomas Blessed Are They Who Having Not Seen Shall Believe I Think He Was Indicating That The Time Is Coming When There Isn't Going To Be Anything To Look At But There Is Going To Still By Way Of An Audible Voice But There Will Be The Written Word And This Is Where This Is Where We Come In This Is That Faith Principle That Is Operative Today And This Is Why Hebrews Tells Us That Without Faith

[37:32] It Is Impossible To Please God As We Pointed Out In Time Past More Than Anything Else God Wants To Be Believed And You Know What That's All He To Be Was To Be Believed In The Old Testament Too But It Was A Lot Easier For People To Believe Because The Jews Require A Sign And God Gave Them Signs One After Another Dozens Of Signs What Was It 33 I Think 33 Miracles Recorded Of Our Lord In The Gospels And And And And Nicodemus Was One Who Came To The Conclusion That We Know That You Must Have Come From God For No Man Can Do These Miracles That You Did Unless God Be With Him And I Don't Think It Was That Difficult For Nicodemus To Believe Because

[38:32] As The Old Saying Goes Seeing Is Believing But We Haven't Seen And This Is Where The Faith Principle Comes In And I'm Satisfied That This Is The Principal Reason Why God Uses Human Instruments To Convey A Divine Message Or Even Angelic Supernatural Instruments To Convey A Divine Message Because The Essence And The Principle Of Faith Is Put Into Operation And So It Is Today When We Preach This Gospel Of The Grace Of God It Is Something That We Call Upon People To Believe And The New Testament Makes So Much Of That So God Has Always Been Pleased To Utilize Humans And Angels For Conveying Message And It Is Something That Is Essential And Central To What We Call The Dispensation Of The Grace Of God Now I Want You To Come Over Quickly If You Would Please To Galatians

[39:36] I Got Another In Well Let's Go To Second Timothy And Then We'll Go Back To Galatians All Right Second Timothy And We Find A Familiar Friend Here In Chapter Two And Verse Eight Beginning In Verse Seven Paul Is Writing This Last Letter Probably The Last Letter He Ever Wrote Certainly Certainly The Last Letter He Wrote To Timothy And He Says In Verse Seven Timothy Consider What I Say For The Lord Will Give You Understanding And Everything Remember Jesus Christ Risen From The Dead Descendant Of David According To My Gospel According To Hardship Now That's Another Important Element We Won't Have

[40:36] Time To Develop It But I Want You To Keep It In Mind Because Paul Is Talking About Suffering For The Gospel Sake And If You Flip Over The Page Here In Chapter Four You Will See That The Theme Of Suffering Continues And In This Case In Verse 16 He Says In My First Defense No One Supported Me All Deserted Me Do You Think Paul Didn't Suffer Over That Do You Think He Didn't Undergo Enormous Emotional Pain Because The People Who Meant Most To Him Abandoned Him How Would That Make You Feel No One Supported Me But All Deserted Me And Then And Then Look At This Look At This Gratuitous Statement May It Not Be Counted Against Them And

[41:40] What He's Saying Here Is He Full Well Recognizes As God Revealed To Ananias Back In Acts Chapter Nine When He Was Called To Go To Paul And Lay His Hands On Him That He May Receive His Sight And The Lord Said Regarding Paul Or Saul Of Tarsus I Will Show Him What Great Things He Must Suffer For My Name I Want You To Think About The Implications Of That Listen Here Is A Man With A Message A Message That Is The Greatest Good News That Any Human Being Has Ever Heard In The History Of The Planet And He Has To Suffer For Delivering Good News Are You Serious What's Wrong With This Picture And

[42:40] What's Wrong With This Picture Is He Is Delivering The Best Good News The World Has Ever Heard But He Is Delivering It To A Fallen Rebellious Humanity And They're Going To Make Him Pay A Price For Delivering It Wow And You Know Something Nothing Has Changed That Principle Is Still In Operation And Sometimes We See It Intensifying And If You Go To The Right Parts Of The World You'll See People Who Are Suffering Dearly Just For Being Believers In Jesus Christ It Comes With A Price Tag And Paul Was Willing To Pay It This Is This Is Incredible Stuff Just Amazing Stuff And I've Got To Close With Our Time Is Almost Gone And I Want To Have Some Q And By The Way If You Finish Listening Before I Finish Speaking Feel

[43:40] Free To Bug Off And God Bless You And Thanks For Being Here For As Long As You Were But I I Don't Exactly Have A Captive Audience Now Like I Do At Church Because If You Get Up And Walk Out In The Middle Of My Message Everybody Everybody Could See But Here You Have The Perfect Liberty To Just Tune Out Anytime You Want And Nobody Nobody Minds Nobody Is Offended Now I Want You To Come Back To That Galatians Passage That I Was Telling You About This My Heart That More Of God's People Don't See This And I Keep Reminding Myself Omar Just Remember Just Remember Don't Be Impatient Don't Be Upset With Them Just Remember How Long It Took You Before You Got It And That Keeps Bringing Me Back Down To Planet Earth And Look At Chapter Two

[44:41] And Verse One And I Just Want To Read A Couple Comments And Then We'll Open It For Q And A If You Have Any Paul Said And After 14 Years I Went Up Again To Jerusalem With Barnabas Taking Titus Along And It Was Because Of A Revelation That I Went Up In Other Words He Didn't Go Up Out Of His Own Free Will He Went Up Because God Revealed To Him To Go Up And I Submitted To Them The Gentiles Now Right There We Ought To Ask Ourselves A Question Well Why Was That Necessary After All There Is Just One Gospel And He Was Preaching The Same Thing That They Were Preaching And Paul Makes It Sound Like He Is Preaching Something Different So He Went Up And Ran What He Was Preaching By Them To

[45:41] See If They Would Sign On To It That Exactly What He Did Necessity To Do That Why Wouldn't They Say Well Yeah We Hear What You're Preaching Paul Same Thing We've Been Preached No It Wasn't That's The Whole Point It Wasn't The Same It Was Different Something New Had Been Added That Wasn't There Before Before It Was Hidden In The Heart And Mind Of God Never Revealed And Now It Is Revealed And Some Are Looking At It With Serious Questions Is This From God We've Never Heard This Before This Is Hey This Isn't What The Twelve Preached What Did The Twelve Preach They Preached Repent For The Kingdom Of Heaven Is At Hand That's Not What Paul Is Preaching To The Gentiles And To Whom Did The Twelve Preach That Message Exclusively To Israel They Were The Only Ones

[46:41] That Had A Frame Of Reference For What The Kingdom Of Heaven Even Meant It Meant Something To Them What Did It Mean The Gentiles Nothing Absolutely Nothing But There Is Something That Did Mean Something To The Gentiles And That Is Forgiveness Of Sin And Eternal Life Based On Based On Nothing More Than Acknowledging And Admitting Your Sin Changing Your Mind About Sin Repenting And Putting Your Faith And Trust In Someone You Had Not Seen And Had Not Heard That Is The Faith Principle In Jesus Christ For The Forgiveness Of Sins That Is What Paul Was Preaching And It Called Justification Or Being Declared Righteous Solely

[47:42] On The Basis Of Faith What's Another Way Of Putting That It Means Being Declared Righteous And Acceptable To God Solely On The Basis Of Nothing More Than Believing That Got Paul In Major Difficulty Particularly With Those Who Were Accustomed To Crossing All The T's Dotting All The I's In Judaism All Of The Rules And Regulations And Everything That Went With It Chiefest Of Which Circumcision Now That's Going To Be A Big Issue What Is This Paul Says Paul Said I Submitted To Them The Gospel Which I Preach Among The Gentiles I Did So In Private In Other Words He Asked

[48:43] For An Audience With The Twelve This Isn't A Public Meeting He's Saying Would It Be Possible For Me To Speak With You Fell I I I I I I'd Like To Provide A Catered Dinner Tonight We're Going To Go To Such And Such A Restaurant Could You Meet Me There And We'll Just Have Some Things I Want To Run By You So He Does This Privately And We Are Told That For Fear That He Might Be Running Or Had Run In Vain And I'm Going To Skip This About The Circumcision Thing We May Get Back To That In Another Session But I Want You To Come Down To The Conclusion Of It In Verse Nine Recognizing The Grace That Had Been Given To Me James And Cephas Which Is Another Name For Peter And John Who Were Reputed To Be Pillars These Guys Were The

[49:43] Top Brass They Were The Insiders They Were The Shakers And Movers They Were Some Of The Original Twelve They Gave To Me And Barnabas The Right Hand Of Fellowship That's A Token Of Acceptance Of Endorsement Of Agreement That We And Here Is A Two Fold Thing And Folks If You Miss This If You Miss This You Won't Be Able To Understand At All What I'm Talking About They Gave To Me And Barnabas The Right Hand Of Fellowship That We Might Go To The Gentiles And They To The Circumcised Now The Question Is This What Is It That The Twelve Are Going To Preach When They Go To The Circumcised Are They Going To Preach The Gospel Of The Grace Of God Believe On The Lord Jesus

[50:43] Christ And Thou Shalt Be Saved Nope What Are They Going To Preach They're Going To Preach Jesus Is The Messiah Israel Was Responsible For Contributing To Contributing But God Raised Him From The Dead And He Remains Available To Be The King Of Israel And If You Repent Of Your Sin Israel Repent Your This Is Acts Three Message If You Will Repent Of Sin Even Though Jesus Has Returned To Heaven God Will Send Him Back Again And The Kingdom Program Will Start Getting Under Way That's The Message That They Are Going To Be Preaching And Along With That They Are Going To Be Performing The Miracles That They Had Been Accustomed To That We Find Recorded In The Book Of Acts And The Apostle Paul Is Going To Be Proclaiming The Gospel Of The Grace Of God Not To Jews But The Gentiles And Here's The Problem And It Is

[51:43] A Big Problem Both This Is One Of The Principle Things That Adds To The Confusion Of The Book Of Acts And Has Resulted In So Many Different Doctrinal Positions Denominations Statements Of Faith Etc.

[52:06] That Are In Disagreement One With Another And It Is Because Of This There Is Developing Doctrine That Is On The Move And Therefore A Period Of Time During This Transition Which Encompass 30 Years In The Book Of Acts There Are Both Programs One Is Going To The Jew One Is Going To The Gentile Christ Is At The Center Of Both Of Them But The Emphasis Is Different And That Added To A Lot Of Confusion And We'll See How That Develops Later On But I Remember I Remember Marie Telling Me Years Ago That She And And Dave Her First Husband Dave Weinbrenner They Had Invited Some Friends Over For A Bible Class Here At Their House And They Had Been Relatively New To This Message That We're Talking About The Gospel Of The Grace Of God And And There Were Probably A dozen People Here In The Class

[53:06] And They Were Just Enjoying The Fellowship And The Teaching Of The Word And The Point Was Made That There Was A Gentleman In The Class That And Said What Do You Mean More Than There's Only One Gospel Well No There's More Than One Gospel That's There Isn't More There's Only One And This Man Became So Livid And So Angry At What He Thought Was Apostasy In The Making He Got Up And Left He Left The Room And Left The House Because These People Had The Audacity To Suggest That There's More Than One Gospel Now Let Me Make Something Very Very Clear There Is Only One Gospel For Today For The Age Of Grace And That Is The Gospel Of The Grace Of God But Before The Gospel Of The Grace Of God Was Ever Proclaimed Or

[54:06] Ever Even Imagined There Was The Gospel Of The Kingdom That Was In Full Sway And Was Being Preached By The Twelve By John The Baptist And By Jesus Himself And It All Had To Do With The Restoration Of Planet Earth And The Establishment Of Is Entirely Different Good News That's Good News Too That's Good News But It Was Good News To The Jew For Then As Opposed To The Good News Of The Gospel Of The Grace Of God Which Is For Everybody Now For Jew And Gentile And This Distinction Absolutely Has To It And There's A lot More That I Want To Say But I'm Going To Stop Right Now And See If There's Something That You Would Like

[55:07] To Add Inject Observe Or Whatever Feel Free To Do So How Are We Going To Do This Terry Well We Currently Do Not Have Any Questions In The Chat So If Anyone Does Have A Question Go Ahead And Unmute Yourself Ask Your Again For The Answer And By The Way Let Me Add This It Doesn't Have To Be A Question It Can Be A Comment It Can Be A It Can Be A Challenge Doesn't Problem I Want To Challenge What I Say I'm Open For That Okay What Do We Got Marv This Is Gary I Don't Know You We Talk Briefly About This Tuesday Morning Bible But It's Just Hard To Imagine That Extending That Hand Of Fellowship To Paul Meant That Okay We Buy Into Everything Paul

[56:07] Saying And We're Going To Go Out And Preach His Gospel It Just Doesn't Make Sense That All Of A Sudden They Just Did An About Face Like That So I Hear What You're Seeing And It Makes A Lot Of Sense I Appreciate That Gary And I Certainly Even Though He Acknowledged That He Comes Behind In No Sense To Any Of The Apostles And He Simply Recognized God Gave Him Authority That He Had Given To The Twelve But He Was Paul Was Legitimately Concerned Because These Twelve Men Were Handpicked By Christ While Jesus Was Here On Earth And The Record Is Given In All Of The Gospels Particularly In Matthew 10 And He Didn't Have That Luxury He Didn't Have That Kind Of Credential His I Mean It Was Rather

[57:07] Easy For Everyone In Israel To Understand And To Buy Into The Idea That The Twelve Were Handpicked By Jesus Because They So Often Saw Jesus With Them And He Sent Them Out Two By Two And Their Authority Was Really Never In Question That Doesn't Mean Everybody Believed Everything That The Twelve Said But They Recognized That They Had Been With Jesus And They Understood That But How Did Paul Encounter Jesus Or How Did Jesus Encounter Paul Well It Was Entirely Different And What Witnesses Did He Have That Jesus Had Ever Spoke How Did How Did People Know That That Saul Of Tarsus Wasn't Just From Heaven And He Talked To Him And He Gave Him This Commission And Everything How Did They Know That That Was That That Was Legitimate The Twelve Had A Kind Of Built In Legitimacy And Establishment In

[58:07] Their Calling That Paul Was Lacking Now For Those Who Take The Scriptures At Face Value And Believe The Record That Is Given We Don't Have A Problem Regarding The Authenticity Of Paul Because We Accept The Written Record And We Accept The Incredibly Dramatic Change That Came About In This Man's Life That He Now Preaches The Faith That He Once Sought To Destroy That Has Got To Be The Result Of Some Kind Of Major Upheaval In His Life And We Don't Have Any Difficulty Seeing The Legitimacy Of Paul But In So Far As The People Back Didn't Even Come Into Completion Until Roughly The Fourth Century A.D.

[58:55] So We Are Well Advantaged In Ways That They Were Not So Paul Paul Had To Struggle Consistently To Validate His Apostleship And If You Want To See His Defense Of His Apostleship Just Read 2nd Corinthians Chapters 10 Through 12 All Three Of Those Chapters He Is He Is Asserting His Calling And And That Christ Established Him And Gave Him The Message That He's Preaching And It Includes The Suffering That Goes Along With It It Is It Is Just Absolutely Amazing Just Just Amazing And We've Got These Two Different Messages And Paul Knows When He When He Tells The Twelve Listen This Is What I've Been Preaching To The Gentiles I Have Been Telling

[59:55] Them That Jesus The Messiah Of Israel And Son Of God Died On The Cross To Pay The Penalty For Their Sins And If They Would Believe In Jesus And Embrace Him As Their Personal Savior God Would Accept Them Forgive Their Sins And Give Them Eternal Life That's What I've Been Preaching To The Gentiles Do You Think For A Moment That Paul Went To The Gentiles And Told Them You Got To Keep The Law Of Moses You Got To Observe The Sabbath You Got To Keep No No No No No No None Of That None Of That He Was Giving Them An Entirely New Message That Nobody Had Ever Heard Before This Message Called The Gospel Of The Grace Of God Where One Is Brought Into A Right Relationship With God Without Doing Anything Other Than Believing That's Why It's Called Justification By Faith That

[60:56] Means You Become Justified Before God Solely On The Basis Of Believing And As I Told You Before Anybody Could Do That That's The Whole Point That's The Whole Point Anybody Could Do That And For Those Who Say Oh That's Too Simple And That's Too Easy My Response Is You're Right It Is Easy It Is Simple And The Reason It's Easy Is Because Jesus Already Did The Hard Part And How Many Times Have I Told You God Did The Most That He Could Do In Providing His Son To Pay The Penalty For Your Sins So That He Could Require From You The Very Least That You Could Do Which Is Just Believe Him Rest In That Trust In That Believe That It's Amazing And He Knew That When He Told The Twelve What He's Been Preaching Are They Going To Buy It You

[61:56] Know What Some Of Them Didn't And Some Of Them Said I Can See Them Now Stroking Their Beards And Saying Wait A Minute Wait A Minute Okay So They're Gentiles Okay So These Gentiles Put Their Faith In Our Messiah Jesus And To Be Accepted By God They Have To Believe On Well Well They'll They'll Have To Be Circumcised Oh Wait A Minute Wait A Minute That's Going To Bring Up A Whole New Issue And The Whole Chapter 15 In The Book Of Acts Is Devoted To That And There Were Jews In That First Century And Some Of Them Were Probably Believers True

[62:56] Believers And Some Of Probably Were Not But They Were Still Zealous For The Law They Did Not Understand Did Not Understand Judaism As A Religion To Be Practiced Was Kaput So That Goes Right To A Question We Have Do The Jews Today Have To Accept Jesus Or They Will Go To Hell Well I I'm Not Saying Who Is Going To Hell And Who Isn't And But But I Will Say Everybody Jew Or Gentile Needs Forgiveness Everybody Is A Sinner This Is Paul's Message To The Romans That God Has Concluded All Under Sin That The Promise Of Faith Might Be Given To Those Who Believe And Whether You Are A Jew Or A Gentile You Need The Forgiveness That Comes Only From God

[63:56] And The Medium Through Whom It Comes Is None Other Than Jesus Christ So A Gentile Or A Jew Apart From The Salvation That Christ Has To Offer Is Lost And I'm Not Prepared To Say What Hell Is Whether It's A Literal Fire Whether It's This Or That All I Know This That Hell Is A Complete Antithesis Of What Heaven Is Hell Is Everything That Heaven Isn't And I Also Know This And In This I Take Great Comfort And I Mean To Tell You Great Comfort That Is Wherever Anybody Ends Up Whether They Gentile Atheist Or Whatever They Are Wherever They End Up And Whatever Will Be

[64:56] Their Lot Where They Are It Will Be Precisely Exactly As It Ought To Be And Who Is It That Establishes That Sense Of Ought Ness It's The Only One Who Can It Is God Himself So Whatever Their Lot Is Good Or Bad It Will Be What Is Appropriate And I Don't Have Any Problem With Seeing Something That Is Appropriate And Again If You Say Appropriate According To Whom And I Answer Appropriate According To The Wisdom To Decide What Appropriate Is And That's God Okay Another Question When Did The Gospel Of The Circumcision

[65:57] End I Really Can't Answer That I Just Don't Know I Cannot Pinpoint It I Suspect And This Is Just A Wiseman Suspicion So Don't Put Much Stock In It I Would Not Be A Bit Surprised If The Gospel Of The Circumcision Ended Well Actually It's My It's My Personal Opinion Okay But That Should Send Up Some Red Flags To You Too I Think What What Had Been Known As And Established As Judaism And The Whole System Of Worship As It Was Established Beginning In Exodus Chapter 20 I Think The Whole Thing Came To An End When Jesus Said It Is Finished And He Gave Up The Ghost He Dismissed His Spirit And The Veil In The Temple Was Torn Into From Top To Bottom There

[66:57] Was A Huge Earthquake The Sun Hit Its Face And Didn't Shine And I Think I Envision It Almost As If There Was A Giant Pair Of Hands Reaching Down And Grab That Veil In The Temple That Separated The Holy Place From The Most Holy Place And Just Ripped It Into And It Was Just As If God Was Saying I'm Finished With This It's Over Judaism Became A Defunct Religion And By Defunct I Mean Jews Still Practiced It Oh Yes Jews Still They Probably Repaired That Curtain In The Temple I Don't Know But They Still Sacrificed Animals They Still Went To The Temple They Still Went To The Temple They Still Kept The Sabbath Day They Still Kept Their Diet They Still Insisted On Circumcision For Their Children But Not Because God

[67:57] Any Longer Required It He Didn't They They They They They They They They Did It Out Of Tradition Out Of Habit Out Of Conformity To The Jewish Community And They Kept Up All The Appearances The Feast Days The Food The Kosher Diet Observing The Sabbath Circumcision The Whole Nine Yards But God Didn't Require It Any Longer It Was Done It Was Over With They Didn't Know That And They Continued To Practice It And Today Jews Do Much The Same Judaism Today Is So Fragmented There Are There There Well To Start With The Very To Start With The Very Liberal Jew The Most Liberal Jew Is The Jew Who Is An Atheist And There Is A Disproportionate Percentage Population Wise Of Jews Who Are Atheists

[68:57] As Opposed To Gentiles And There Are Reasons For That That I Won't Go Into Now So That That's The Jewish Person At One Extreme And And They Are The Atheists And By The Way They're Still Jews Let Make This Clear To Let Make This Very Clear Just Because Judaism As A Religion Is Defunct And Has No Future No Future At All That Is Not True Of The Jew Is That That That That That Is In The Program And Plan Of God But Judaism Is Not It Is Gone So You've Got These Extremes You've Got The Jew Who Is An Atheist On One Extreme And On The Other End Of That You've Got The Hasidim That Live In Mia Sharim This Is Like A Like A Ghetto Area In Jerusalem

[69:57] And These Are The Jews That Let Their Curls Grow On The Side Of Their Head They Wear The Black Hat And The Black Uniform And So On And These Jews Are Given They They Are They Are Referred To As The Hasidim Or The Ultra Orthodox They Do Not Most Of Them Do Not Engage In Work They Do Not All They Do All Day Long Is Study The Torah Study The Law And They Are Convinced These Jews Are Convinced I'm Talking About Modern Day Jews Now They're They're In It's An Area Called Mia Shereem In Jerusalem And They Devote Themselves To The Study Of The Law And These People These Dear Souls And And And And They Are Dear Souls They Are They Are Blinded Just Like Gentiles Are But They Believe

[70:58] And They Are Committed To The Idea That When There Are Enough Jews Who Are Studying The Torah The Messiah Will Return So They Put All Of Their Emphasis On Studying The Torah And Most Of Them Do Not Work Some Of Them Some Some Some Beg And They Are Supported By Other Jews And There Are Jews There Is A Huge Concentration Of Jewish People In New York City Particularly In Brooklyn And They Have An Enormous Interest In The Diamond Trade And They Do Very Well In It And In The Garment Industry And They Do Very Well In That And These Jews In Brooklyn At Least Those Who Are Orthodox And I'm Not Talking About The Average You Because The Average Jew Today Is Reformed But The Orthodox And They Are The Ones That Still Wear The Kippah The

[71:58] Little Hat You Know What His Name Oh Uh He Ran Ran Ran For Vice President What Was His Name Um He Was A Senator A Jewish Senator Pardon Me Lieberman Yeah Thank You Thank You Lieberman What Was His First Name Joe Joe I Think Joe Joseph Pardon Joseph Lieberman Yeah Joseph Lieberman And I Remember Seeing Him On TV A Number Of Times And He Wears A Little Skull Cap He Is An Orthodox Jew And The Orthodox The Orthodox Are Not As Radical As The Hasidim But They Believe In The Scriptures They Take The Bible Seriously But Their Bible Is Limited To What We Call The Old

[72:58] Testament They Do Not Accept The New Testament And And Then There Are The Reformed Jews And That Is What Most Jews Are Today They Are Referred To As Reformed And The Name Is Kind Of Deceptive Because You Would Think But With The Word Reformed Maybe They're More Strict Or What Not But Actually That's The Opposite Beth Beth Synagogue Here In Springfield Ohio Is A Reformed Jewish Synagogue And To Give You An Idea Of The Difference Between The Reformed And The Orthodox Reformed Synagogue Here Has A Woman For A Rabbi And That Just Goes To Show You That They Would Be Considered Extremely Liberal Because The Orthodox Jew Would Never In A Million Years Consider A Woman As Rabbi But The Reformed Jews Are Very Liberal And So You've Got Four Or Five Different Groups That

[73:59] Are Jewish And They Are So Diverse The Only Thing They Have Really The Only Thing They Have In Common Is Their Heritage They Are Jews Because They Were Born Jews And Most Jews Today And I Say This Sadly But I Know It's True Because Jews Them They Told Me In Israel In 1990 I Remember How Surprised I Was To Hear It That Probably 90% Of The Jews Who Live In Israel Today Are Secular And They Call Themselves They Say I Am Not A Religious Jew Which Means I Am A Jew By Heritage But Not By Religion They Do Not Go To The Synagogue They Do Not Practice Judaism They Do Not Keep The Sabbath They Do Not Observe Any Of The Rituals Etc Etc Etc Etc Only

[74:59] A Small Percentage About 10% Of Them Do And They Are The Orthodox So One Of One Of My One Of My Jewish Friends Told Me One Day He Says Whenever You Get Three Jews Together To Discuss Anything You Are Going To Have At Least Four Opinions And That Is Just How Fragmented Judaism Is All Over The World Today And And As I Pointed Out In Time Past Probably The Greatest Single Thing That Has Contributed To Atheism Among The Jewish People Earlier 2000 Years Ago The Greatest Thing That Contributed To Jews Becoming Atheists 2000 Years Ago Was God Allowing The City Of Jerusalem To Be Destroyed And The Temple To Be Destroyed And Many Of The Jews Back Then Reasoned Where Is This God Who Would Allow Supposedly His Chosen People

[76:00] To Have The Temple That They Dedicated To His Worship Ruined And Burned And Destroyed And The Romans Come In And Take Over Everything And Kill A Million People Where Is This God Of Israel And Some Came To The Conclusion He Must Not Even Exist And If He Did Exist I Wouldn't Want Anything To Do With Him And They Are The Same Kind Of Mentality That Jews Have Today As Regards The Holocaust Many Of Them Have Been Driven Into Atheism Because They Cannot Conceive Of The God Of The Bible Even Existing Who Could Possibly Allow Six Million Of His Chosen People To Be Wiped Out By Adolf Hitler There Cannot Be Such A God And If Per Chance He Does Exist I Don't Want Anything To Do With It That's Where A Lot Of Judaism Is Today Other Comments Or Questions I'll Try Not To There Are No Other Questions In The Queue

[77:00] Anyone Else Yeah Marv This Is Chuck Okay I Got A Question Sometimes Paul Says To The Jews Sometimes He Says To The Circumcised Could It Be When He Says To The Circumcised Could That Include The Sons In The Lineage Of Ishmael They're All Semites In Other Words Are The Sons Of Ishmael Gentiles Or Could They Be Considered Part Of The Circumcised Boy I Don't Know I Can't Give You I Can't Give You A Solid Answer Off The Top Of My Head There Is No Question That They Are All Semites

[78:00] But Well Let's Take Let's Think For Instance Of Jacob And Esau When Paul Uses That Phrase And Quotes From The Old Testament Jacob Have I Loved And Esau Have I Hated And As You Go On And Read In The Context There Of Romans 10 Through 10 9 10 And 11 Where He Makes Statements Like They Are Not All Israel That Are Israel He Is Making A Distinction Between Jacob And Esau And Actually And I Guess You Could Say Technically They Are Both Semites And And They're Called Semites Because They Are Direct Descendants Of Shem One Of The Sons Of Noah And There

[79:02] Are A Lot Of Semites Or Semites In The World That Are Not Jews But They're Still Semitic Because They Are Descendant From Shem So In The Case Of Esau For Instance Esau And Jacob Had The Very Same Father Isaac These Were Twin Boys But One Is Considered Jewish And The Other Is Not And Yet They Are Both Semites They Are Both Semitic Esau Is Going To Go On And Become The Father Of The Idumeans Going To Occupy The Territory Of Idumea Which Is An Area That The Children Of Israel When They Came Out Of Egypt Asked Permission To Pass Through The Land So

[80:02] They Wouldn't Have To Take The Long Way Around And The Idumeans Who Are Also The Edomites Would Not Allow Them To Do That And They Had To Circumvent And Go All The Way Around So There Is A Rivalry That Existed Going All The Way Back To Jacob And Esau And By The Way That Still Exists To This Day Remember King Herod He Was The Evil Monster That Was On The Throne When Jesus Was Born And This Was The One Who Was Confronted By The Magi When They Came From The East Looking For The Christ Child And They Came To The Temple And Herod Was The King And He Was The One That Orchestrated The Murder Of The Innocents In An Effort To Kill The Baby Jesus Whom He Was In His Paranoia Saw As Potential King Or A

[81:02] Rival To The Throne What Herod Herod Was An Idumean He Was A Direct Descendant From Esau And Those Two Lines Diverged So Dramatically And The Descendants Of Esau And The Descendants Of Jacob Are Still Still In Opposition One To Another Today For That Matter So The I Lost My Train Of Thought Now With The Question I Do Not Know My Suspicion Is That Both Of Those Boys Were Probably Circumcised For The Simple Reason That Circumcision Began With Abraham And Abraham Of Course As An Adult Was Circumcised And Then When Isaac Was Born Probably Very Early The Law Didn't

[82:02] Stipulate That Until Until Moses Gave The Law In Exodus 20 About It Being On The Eighth Day But He Was Probably Isaac Was Probably Circumcised And When Isaac Had His Twin Boys Jacob And Esau My Guess Is Probably Both Of Them Were Circumcised And If I'm Not Mistaken I Think Circumcision Is Commonly Practiced Among Many Of The Arabs Today I Won't Say All Of Them But I Think Many Of The Arabs Practice Circumcision As Well It Was A Really Really Important Item And Too Many Gentiles Do Not Understand The Significance Of Circumcision But It Was A Way It Was A Way Of Permanently Branding If You Will Without A Branding Iron It Was A Way Of Permanently Branding A Male Jew

[83:02] So That There Would Be A Perpetual Reminder Of His Connection And His Relationship To The One True God And Believe It Or Not That Was The Purpose Of The Circumcision And The Word Circumcised Actually It It It Kind Of Like A Compound Word Comes From Our English Word Circumference And The Circumference Of Course Is The Distance Around The Circle And That's The Part From Circum And The Cision Is The Other Part Of The Compound Word And It Comes From The English Word Incision Which Of Course Is What A Surgeon Does When He Operates On Somebody He Makes An Incision And It A Circumcision Is Simply A Cutting Around And The Excess Skin That Is Born And The Baby Boy Is Removed

[84:03] By Cutting It Off And This Was To Be Done When The Baby Was Eight Days Old And It Was A Token Of The Relationship That Existed Between That Person And God And In Fact Every Time The Man Relieved Himself He's Reminded Of That This Is A Built In Reminder Every Time A Man Had Physical Relations With His Wife They Were Reminded Of That It Was An Automatic Built In Thing That Kept The Name Of Their God Before Them All The Time And It Was Unavoidable And It Was Something That Was And Plus I Won't Go Into It Here But It Has Other Features And Other Advantages To It As Well But It Is A Very Very Important Thing To Circumcision Really Important Especially To The Jew Other Comments Or Questions Boy

[85:05] This Is Is That A Quarter Twelve Yes It Is Goodness You See What Happens When You Just Give Me Free Rain Like That Anyway Like You Still Have The You Still Have The Option Of Bailing Out Anytime You Want And And And And And That's Fine I Don't Have A Bit Of Problem With That Anything Else Before We This Chuck Again Just A General Comment Here Nothing To Do With Biblical But There's Another Virus Going Around Down Here In Florida I Had It On Monday You Get A Mild Fever Around Around 100 Degrees It Lasts For About Two Hours And Then It Repeats Itself 48 Hours Later For About Two Hours And Then It Repeats It A Third Time For About Two Hours

[86:05] And It Takes About Ten Days To Totally Get Over It I'm Still Exhausted And Fatigued But This Is An Up And Coming Virus It Doesn't Get Any News Attention Because All The Attention Is On The COVID But I Called Two Different Doctors And They Both Gave Me The Same Thing That It Unless It Has Respiratory Problems With It Which I Did Not And You Didn't Have Respiratory Problems I Did Not Have Respiratory Problems I Did Not Have A Headache And Both Doctors Concurred That This Is Starting To Go Around Down Here Now In Florida Just Makes You Very Fatigued And Unfortunately It Didn't Take Away My Appetite But It

[87:06] Is Making Its Way Around Down Here And Not Only That One Doctor Said There Are A Couple Cousins To It Different Varieties Of This Low Grade Fever One Of The Keys To Watch If It Migrates Up To Ohio The Doctor Said You Know The Key Is If It Stays Below 100.4 You You You You Going To Be Okay If It Goes About 100.4 Start Getting Some Testing Done So Thought I Just Pass That On I I'm Still Worn Out Well I Appreciate That Thank You Chuck It Does Seem To Be That The Fatigue Does Seem To Be One Commonality That Everybody Experiences I Was Talking To Some Folks Just The Other Day And They Indicated That That Was A Real Problem With Them Fatigue Just Absolutely Worn Out But Actually I've Been I've Been Fatigued For Ten Years I Don't Know

[88:06] What This Virus Would Do But One One Thing That They Haven't Been Able To Determine Yet And It Be Tremendously Encouraging If They Could Establish This But I Guess We Have To Wait And See And That Is If You Ever Get This Virus So Far The Jury Is Still Out They Cannot Say One Way Or Another But That Be Really Discouraging You Think If You Got It And Got Rid Of It That It Would Be Behind You You Have The Antibodies And You Wouldn't Have To Worry About Getting It Again But I Guess That's Not Necessarily The Case So Any Other Comments Anybody Questions There Was One Person Down Here Diabetes And Was Considered Pretty Healthy And A Week And Half Later He Got A Serious Bout Of COVID Again

[89:06] Oh Boy Well There Is Just So Very Much About This That We Do Not Understand And The Experts So Called Unfortunately Have Had To Reverse Themselves A Number Of Times And What Happens Then People Lose Confidence And What The Experts Tell Them Because They Have To Change It So Often And Yet I I'd Hate To Be In The Position Of Being An Expert Or Being Passed Off As An Expert Because You Feel An Obligation To Tell People What You Are Convinced Of And What You Think Scientifically Is True Only To Discover Six Weeks Later That That Theory Falls By The Wayside And Boy They're Between A Rock And A Hard Place I'll Tell You What It's It's Really Something Well Let's Have A Word Of Prayer Shall We Our Father We Recognize Once Again That

[90:06] We Are So Limited In Our Understanding And Our Ability And Our One Great Ray Of Hope And Confidence Is In The Fact That You Aren't And We Are So Grateful For That Truth So Whatever You Deem To Be Wise And According To Your Good Pleasure To Bring Into Our Lives Or To Prevent Coming Into Our Lives We Recognize You As Being Ultimately In Charge We Take Great Comfort In That Thank You For The Time That We Been Able To Share Together We Commit Each Of These Dear Folks To Your Care And Your Keeping And Your Wisdom In Christ Name Amen