A Partial List of Faulty Assumptions

[0:00] is a partial list of faulty assumptions, part one. In the scriptures, I would like you to please turn to the chapter 26 of Matthew.

[0:16] And in Matthew 26, we'll be looking at a short passage, verses 26 through 30.

[0:30] Matthew 26, pardon me, Matthew 26, 26 through 30. While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing he broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body.

[0:54] And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you.

[1:06] For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

[1:30] After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. It was a number of years ago, and I can't recall exactly how many.

[1:47] And I received a phone call from someone I did not know, and he identified himself. And told me that he had a great uncle who was in his 90s, and he had recently passed away.

[2:05] And he was discussing trying to make arrangements with a friend of his, and didn't know quite how to go about it. And his friend suggested, I know a fellow that just might be able to help you if you want to give him a call.

[2:21] His name is Pastor Wiseman, and he is at Grace Bible Church. He gave her phone number. And he said, My great uncle wasn't much of one for any kind of show.

[2:32] He made it quite clear that he didn't want a funeral, per se. He didn't want any calling or anything like that. He just wanted a quiet, simple graveside service for immediate family members.

[2:44] And he was a firm believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And my friend suggested that I call you to see if you might be willing to do that.

[2:56] And I said, Well, of course. I'd be honored to help you. And he said, If you could just come to Myers Cemetery at 10 o'clock on such and such a morning, and maybe just share some Bible verses or express a few thoughts, the family would really appreciate it.

[3:16] He didn't have much family left. He said, There probably won't be more than eight or ten people there at the most. And if you could be so kind as to meet us there at 10 o'clock at Myers Cemetery, we would really appreciate it.

[3:31] And I said, All right. I will be there, and I will see you then. Well, as you drive down Dietrich Jordan Pike, Myers Road goes off to the right and also goes off to the left.

[3:47] And I didn't exactly know which way to go, but it wasn't very far from here. So I thought, Well, I've got a few minutes, and if I happen to turn the wrong way on Myers Road and don't find Myers Cemetery there, I'll just have to come back to Dietrich Jordan and cross it and go to Myers the other direction, and then I'll find it.

[4:07] Because if there's anything that I could safely assume, it's that Myers Cemetery is on Myers Road. But it wasn't.

[4:21] And it isn't. It seemed very logical to me and very illogical for Myers Cemetery to be anywhere else other than on Myers Road.

[4:35] So after going down the first leg of Myers Road and not finding it, I was still quite confident. Well, it has to be on the other leg then. But it wasn't.

[4:46] Then I had the feeling, Marv, you're in the twilight zone. What's going on here? And out of desperation, I stopped at a farmhouse, and a fellow was out in the front yard, and I said, Pardon me, I'm looking for Myers Cemetery.

[5:07] Isn't it here on Myers Road somewhere? Oh, no. Myers Cemetery is on Hampton Road. Everybody around here knows that. Well, it was a very innocent, safe, logical assumption that I made.

[5:28] But it was all wrong. Because it didn't make any difference how sincere and earnest I was. Myers Cemetery was not going to be moved as a response to my sincerity.

[5:44] So embarrassed and red-faced as all get out, I finally showed up. And sure enough, there was the hearse and the family standing around.

[5:54] And a couple of them were going like this, looking at their watch. I was about 20 minutes late. And I pulled up just with effusive apologies.

[6:06] And fortunately, everybody was very kind and gracious. And I told them of a big boner that I had pulled and how that it wasn't. And then the fellow says, well, don't feel bad, preacher.

[6:16] He says, actually, I guess I should have told you that Myers Cemetery. And I said, no, no, no. Maybe that would have helped, but it was still my fault. And anyway, we had a chuckle over it.

[6:27] And he said, you know what? He said, my great uncle would have really got a kick out of that. And I said, well, that's great. So we went on and shared some scripture. And they were very, very grateful for the morning.

[6:40] And I had learned a lesson that we are all susceptible to faulty assumptions. And those in the past, and I'm attributing most of the doctrine that has developed over the years to those who have established it in the past and were going back even beyond the first century when our Lord was here, even back into Old Testament times, because doctrine began to be developed way, way back in the book of Genesis.

[7:15] Doctrine simply means teaching. And it has to do with the things that are set forth that are considered to be true and that ought to be believed. And not only believed, but acted upon.

[7:29] And that's the real danger of embracing a faulty assumption. It's because people act on what they assume to be true.

[7:44] But if it isn't true, again, no matter how sincere they were, it isn't going to make it true. The Bible is replete with a whole host of doctrinal issues that were formulated and put into belief systems and statements of faith that the faithful were required to embrace that simply were not true.

[8:15] And some may wonder, well, how in the world could God possibly allow something like that to happen? And I'll tell you how. It's very simple. The Bible is inspired.

[8:28] That means it is from God himself. It is called the Word of God. It is inspired. It is inerrant.

[8:38] That means it is incapable of error. And it is infallible. That means it does not fail at anything that it has asserted. It is to be believed because God is to be believed.

[8:51] So while the Bible is inspired, every word, every line, the interpretation that people put upon what is in the Bible is not.

[9:07] And therein lies the rub. That means then that regardless of what the Bible says, it all depends on how it is interpreted.

[9:21] And the book I shared with you earlier about the handbook of denominations recall, if you will, there are 250 different denominations consisting of conventions and synods and committees and splits and splinters and so on.

[9:40] And they are all over the map doctrinally. I mean, they are everywhere from believing that Genesis is a literal account to believing that it's a fairy tale.

[9:52] And everything in between. And if there is anything that you absolutely must conclude in looking through a book like that, it's that somebody has to be wrong.

[10:07] Yet, nobody who holds the position set forth in that book believes that they are the ones who are wrong. Of course not.

[10:17] Because you have no business believing something that you think is wrong. You are to identify with it only because you think it is right. It is true. But no matter how sincere and earnest you are, it does not change the truthfulness or the untruthfulness of the issue that you're talking about.

[10:38] So, it all comes down to interpretation. And for those of you who might be interested, I would like to just kind of give a little plug for Christianity Clarified, Volume 26, that is in the CDs back there.

[10:54] That's where we start exploring this thing called hermeneutics, which is the art and science of interpreting the Bible. And there are set forth various principles and concepts regarding how to approach the Bible and how and why it should be interpreted in such a way and the principles that are involved.

[11:15] And we probably devote at least a half dozen sessions to that. I mean, a half dozen volumes to that. And each volume has 20 segments.

[11:25] So, there are probably well over 100. And if you are interested in pursuing that, I would heartily recommend it. And by the way, they are free of charge. Most people charge $10 or $15 for these CDs.

[11:37] I labor extensively at trying to give them away. So, they are back there and they are for your consideration. We're going to just briefly list a partial number of what we believe to be faulty assumptions.

[11:53] And you will perhaps respond to some of them by saying, Well, Pastor Marv, that's not a faulty assumption at all. That's true. Well, all I can say is wait until we get there because it will be coming up.

[12:10] First of all, there is the faulty assumption that the new covenant came to be in force when the old covenant closed.

[12:24] So that the world has never been without an active covenant from God. Now, that might not register with you. But if we use the term testament, which by the way is used in the Bible 14 times.

[12:37] And every time it is used incorrectly and ill-advisedly, it should never be translated testament. Never. It should always be covenant.

[12:51] The word in the Hebrew is berith. And it means to cut. Or the idea of covenant, to cut a covenant.

[13:04] And in the New Testament, the word is... Yes, it is. A senior moment. Diathake.

[13:16] If you were going to spell it with English words or letters, it would be D-I-A-T-H-E-K-E. And it's a compound word in the Greek. And the word dia, from which we also get the word diameter, that means the distance through.

[13:30] Diathake means to cut through. And that's how it differs from the Hebrew and the Greek. And this harkens back to the time when animals were used to ratify a covenant.

[13:47] We'd call it to seal a deal. Today, we just draw up a contract. We put the names down at the bottom on a dotted line. And we say, sign on the dotted line. And when you do, that locks you into the terms of the contract.

[14:01] But they didn't have any contracts like that back in those days. And in Abraham's day, in Genesis chapter 15, God instructed Abraham to do what the culture required at the time.

[14:11] You take a number of animals and you cut them in two lengthwise. Like you would two sides of beef. And you put one half of the animal there and the other half of the animal there.

[14:26] And you do that with the several animals that are involved. You cut them all in two and lay them side by side. And you create a path in between those two sides. And then the two people who are making the covenant join together, arm in arm.

[14:40] And they walk between those severed animal parts. And what they are each saying is, may what has happened to these animals happen to me.

[14:55] If I violate the terms of this covenant. Now that is pretty stiff stuff. That was the way they sealed the covenant.

[15:06] And it literally meant to cut a covenant. And that is where that term came from in the New Testament. It goes all the way back there. And it had to do with the cutting of the animals.

[15:18] So, the New Covenant, was it in force when the Old Covenant closed? And we will explain that in a moment. Another part of the partial list of faulty assumptions is the Christian church began, on the day of Pentecost, in Acts chapter 2.

[15:41] Well, everybody knows that. Except, it isn't true. And, the baptism of water on the day of Pentecost, in Acts chapter 2, was Christian baptism.

[15:57] Everybody knows that. 3,000 people were baptized into the Christian faith. Except, that isn't true. That's not at all what happened.

[16:10] And, there is part of that partial list, the idea that the Old Testament is Jewish, but the New Testament is Christian.

[16:22] Everybody knows that. Except, that isn't true either. These are all faulty assumptions that have been deeply ingrained in the Christian community for hundreds of years.

[16:41] People adopted these positions. People with very good intent. Very honorable people, in most cases. Very sincere people.

[16:52] Very earnest people. Adopted these positions. And, they were looked upon and regarded as authorities. And, respected individuals. And, they set these things forth as doctrinal statements.

[17:04] And, the faithful signed on. And, as the years rolled by, and more and more people became part and parcel of that doctrinal statement, the thing began, or, we could say it was like it was cast in stone.

[17:20] It becomes deeply embedded, not only as a belief, but as a tradition. And, I hate to say this, but whereas truth ought to trump tradition, it often does not.

[17:41] Very often, tradition gains the upper hand. Because, people are more comfortable with that. They say, that's what I'm used to.

[17:53] Don't give me this new stuff that will upset me. Because, this is what I've always believed. And, the danger is in thinking that because you've always believed that, that makes it true.

[18:12] No, it doesn't. Truth is that which corresponds to reality. If something is true, it is true, even if nobody believes it.

[18:28] Because, the number of people believing something isn't what determines its truthfulness. It has an inherent truthfulness to it, if it is true.

[18:40] Regardless of who believes it, or who does not. And, then, it is a faulty assumption that the gospel of the grace of God was preached by Peter in Acts chapter 2.

[18:53] He preached the message of salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. No, he did not. And, you cannot read that into the text because it simply isn't there. What Peter did do was, he leveled an indictment against the nation of Israel for their having by wicked hands crucified and slain the Lord of heaven.

[19:19] But, God raised him from the dead. And, what Peter did was, he charged them with complicity in arranging for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And, he never preached what we preach today.

[19:33] That people are to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because he died for their sins. That wasn't what Peter preached. Now, later, later in the book of Acts, that's what he will come to. And, later, that becomes the primary theme song of the Apostle Paul.

[19:49] As he said to the Philippian jailer, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And, then, the commission of Matthew chapter 28 is our commission today.

[20:01] And, boy, I don't know how long and how many times I've heard that. I spent five years at Cedarville University. I'm one of those guys who crammed four years into five.

[20:15] And, was married and had a couple of children at the time. But, I well remember that almost being the mantra. Matthew 28, 19 and 20.

[20:27] Go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creed. Baptizing them. That is as gospel as you can get. And, I don't know of any mission organization that does not fully embrace that.

[20:38] And, that is looked upon as our commission. But, it isn't. We have another commission. And, it actually supersedes that commission.

[20:52] And, that is found in 2 Corinthians 5. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. And, it's committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. That's our ministry today.

[21:05] And, it is really different. And, I'm not interested in splitting hairs. I don't want to split hairs. But, I do want to be accurate. And, we owe it to the word of God.

[21:18] To be accurate. As accurate as we can be. And, lest somebody be thinking right now. Well, Pastor Wiseman. I suppose you think that you are exempt from these faulty assumptions.

[21:34] Huh. I wish I were. I'm not any more exempt from reaching wrong conclusions than anybody else. That's why I tell you. You are not to believe what I say as the authority.

[21:47] And, take it as gospel. Because, it comes from me. And, comes from this pulpit. Hey. My shoulders are not big enough to carry that kind of responsibility. All I can do is crank out the word to the best of my ability as I understand it from where I am at this vantage point.

[22:03] And, ask you to be a Berean. And, search the scriptures. And, see whether those things are so. And, this is why we often, when I'm able to do it, have a Q&A at the end of each session.

[22:18] Because, I fully expect people to raise questions. If they believe that I have taught something that is incorrect. You have a responsibility to enlighten me.

[22:31] Because, we are all here for truth. We are not here just to hear what Pastor Wiseman has to say. We are here to hear what I have to say about what the word of God says.

[22:44] So, that you can question it. Affirm it. Challenge it. Believe it. Disbelieve it. Whatever. I am not an authority. There is only one authority. And, that's the one who gave us the book.

[22:57] Everybody else is just fumbling around trying to arrive at the best and most consistent meaning of it. So, the commission of Matthew 28 is not our commission today.

[23:09] And, I would be the first to admit we are all susceptible, certainly myself included, to faulty assumptions. Doctrine is built upon what sometimes proves to be faulty assumptions.

[23:24] And, the problem with that is, people tend to pursue that and act upon faulty assumptions. So, what I would like to do is begin this exercise in faulty assumptions by considering and contrasting the Old and New Testaments.

[23:42] And, I told you, in reality, they should be called what? Covenants. Thank you. Every time the word is used and translated testament, which are 14 in number, in each and every case.

[23:59] And, if you've got a strong concordance or even a youngs or a crudence, it will verify that. You can look it up. In each and every case, it should be translated covenant. There is the Old Covenant as revealed in Exodus 20 and onward.

[24:17] And, here would be an excellent point to just insert something that might be enlightening, at least for you to think about. And, that is, the book of Genesis, our very first book in the Bible that is so critical and so very important, is not part of the Old Covenant.

[24:39] It is part of the Word of God. But, it is not part of the Old Covenant.

[24:51] And, the reason we say that, and again, I'm not interested in splitting hairs and I'm not trying to throw out a gotcha. But, the reason it isn't part of the Old Covenant is because what transpired in the book of Genesis, beginning with creation, was never inserted as part of the Old Covenant because the Old Covenant never began to exist until Exodus chapter 20.

[25:22] When Moses went up into the Mount and received the tables of law from the Lord and the covenant, the beginning of the covenant, and even then, it was never called the Old Covenant.

[25:35] It was just called the covenant that God made with Israel. And, it begins in Exodus chapter 20, and that's where you will find the Ten Commandments and all the rest of the information given as to how the Jews are to conduct themselves.

[25:56] So, it begins in Exodus 20, all the way up through Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. Technically, that's the Old Covenant.

[26:08] But, Genesis doesn't qualify. Now, make no mistake, Genesis is, of course, just as much the Word of God as is the rest of the Bible. But, it just does not belong to the Old Covenant because the Old Covenant had not even come into existence.

[26:23] And, by the way, it was only the arrival of the New Covenant that caused the Old Covenant to be labeled Old.

[26:36] Because, until that time, it was just the covenant. Primarily, the covenant God gave through Moses. And, I can illustrate this by saying, so many of you are not even old enough to remember this.

[26:49] But, some of my colleagues here can well remember World War II. And, I was only six years old when World War II broke out in 1941.

[27:04] But, it was underway for a while before it started being called World War II. And, do you know what World War I was called earlier?

[27:21] It was called, yeah, it was called the Great War. Because, it was the greatest war up to that time that involved the largest number of nations in the world. And, I don't think the world at that time could even conceive of a war being greater than the Great War.

[27:38] It started in 1914. The United States didn't get into it until 1917. And, it ended in 1918. And, the 11th month.

[27:48] And, the 11th hour. And, the 11s are all in line there in 1918. That's when it ended. But, it was only after World War II was underway that we stopped calling it the Great War.

[28:02] And, we began calling it World War I. Roman numeral. Now, we got World War II. So, it was World War II that made World War I, World War I.

[28:14] Up until that time, it was just the Great War. So, it was the arrival of the New Covenant that made the Old Covenant old. Which, wasn't called that at all before until the New Covenant became a reality.

[28:29] And, that's where it is very, very complex. And, that's what I want to try and explain to you. Because, it is very, very important.

[28:42] In, we will not take time to look at the references. But, for those of you who are taking notes or who will be getting the CDs. I'll just insert the references.

[28:53] And, you can look them up at your leisure. The Old, as revealed in Exodus chapter 20 and verse and onward, comprises the Old Covenant.

[29:03] And, it goes up through Deuteronomy, of course. Then, there is the New Covenant that is revealed in Jeremiah 31, Isaiah 55 and 61, Ezekiel 11 and 18 and 36, and Hosea chapter 2, and then in Hebrews chapters 8, 9 and 10.

[29:27] These all refer to the New Covenant. Sometimes, they call it the Eternal Covenant. And, that's a term that is used in connection with the New Covenant.

[29:41] And, I regard them as synonymous. And, I think most scholars do as well. And, Gary has already read to us the institution of the New Covenant in Matthew chapter 26.

[29:54] And, it is also found in Mark 14 and in Luke 22. So, all of the synoptics deal with the arrival of the New Covenant when Jesus took the cup. And, by the way, it's very important to know that he did not drink of the cup.

[30:10] I don't know if you noticed that in the text or not. But, Jesus took the cup and it was a common cup. We call it chalice. It was a common cup.

[30:23] And, he said to them, This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. Now, the only time that had been referenced before was in those scriptures that I gave you.

[30:36] Beginning with Jeremiah. Who prophesied that there is a time when there will become a New Covenant. And, God said in Jeremiah 31. That, behold, the days come when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Judah and the house of Israel.

[30:53] Not like the covenant I made before which they broke. That was the Old Covenant. God says, I'm going to make a New Covenant. And, along with this New Covenant, there will be a supernatural ability to honor it and to keep it.

[31:14] That was not provided with the Old Covenant. It was incumbent upon each Jew, out of his own will, to respond to that covenant as it was originally given.

[31:26] But, God says the New Covenant is going to be radically different. And, when Jesus said, this cup is the New Covenant in my blood.

[31:38] And, what he was saying is that as the animals were sacrificed and the animals of bulls and goats was used to ratify the Old Covenant.

[31:48] The New Covenant is going to be ratified by my blood, personally. Because, as Hebrews tells us, it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin.

[32:02] All they could do was cover it. And, that's why the priest had to do it every year on the Day of Atonement. He would go into the Holy of Holies, not without blood.

[32:14] And, there, the only day in the whole year that this was open only to the high priest. And, he would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat where God said he would dwell and meet with his people.

[32:26] No one else was allowed to even look upon that, much less be there. But, the high priest, once a year, not without blood. Jesus said, the New Covenant is going to be ratified in my blood.

[32:45] None of them had a clue to what he was talking about. And, they wouldn't until after the fact. It just did not compute. Do you realize that even though in the Garden of Gethsemane, and even in the Upper Room, when Jesus was talking repeatedly about leaving them, going away, he told them earlier that he was going to be crucified, he was going to Jerusalem, exactly what was going to happen.

[33:12] It did not compute. And, at least on one occasion, it said, this saying was hid from them. And, when Peter did get a grasp of it, he took Jesus aside and rebuked him and said, you stop talking like that.

[33:28] You're not going to Jerusalem to die. You're going to Jerusalem to set up the kingdom. You're the king. And, Jesus said to Peter, I'm sure with compassion, but with intensity, get thee behind me, Satan.

[33:53] You savor the things of men, not of God. In other words, he was telling Peter, I hear what you're saying, Peter, and you're thinking just like men think, just like Satan wants men to think, contrary to the plan and program of God.

[34:15] Ought not the Messiah to have suffered these things and enter into his glory? He's going to tell the disciples after his resurrection on the road to Emmaus. What Peter was suggesting was that Jesus go straight for the crown.

[34:31] Go for the crown. You're the king. We're going to Jerusalem. The people are going to receive you. It's going to be wonderful. They're going to be shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.

[34:43] It's going to be wonderful. There isn't going to be any death. Don't be talking that way. All Peter wanted Jesus to do was forget about the cross.

[34:58] Go straight for the crown. You don't need a cross. You don't need to die. It's not necessary. Peter did not understand at all that this one, his master, came for the express purpose.

[35:16] Dying. As he said in the garden when he cried out, Father, what shall I say? Shall I say, Save me from this hour? I can't do that.

[35:30] But for this hour came I into the world. This is why I'm here. To pay this incalculable price of suffering and dying for humanity.

[35:46] That's why he came. They didn't understand that. His mother didn't understand that when she saw her beloved son hanging there on that cross, wounded and bleeding, emaciated.

[36:00] Then a soldier plunges that spear into his side and forthwith there came out water and blood. That poor Mary, the mother of Jesus, must have died a thousand deaths of her own when he saw her son there on that cross.

[36:16] And she didn't have a clue that three days later he would be alive again. None of the apostles did. Peter, John, James, none of them did.

[36:30] Joseph of Arimathea. Well, Nicodemus, the least we can do is give this wonderful man a decent burial. I've got a new family tomb that I've just made arrangements for and it's just been carved out of a solid stone and there's never even been a body lying in it and I'm going to make my tomb available to Jesus.

[36:52] Well, someone said borrowed tomb but he's not going to need it for long. They didn't understand that either.

[37:05] So, all of these things are going to take place and when they do, Jesus is providing the basis for the establishment of the new covenant.

[37:20] but back to that time when he actually established that he said, drink from the cup all of you and each one was to take a sip from the cup and pass it around to the others.

[37:39] Judas is already gone. He's left to strike his deal with the Pharisees and the scribes and each one of them sipped from that cup and Jesus said, I will not drink of this cup until I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

[38:06] That has never happened. It's never happened. That kingdom has never been established.

[38:18] The basis, the legal judicial basis for it being established has been provided in the death of Christ.

[38:30] So, I have labeled this for lack of a better term and if you can think of one I would appreciate it. I think of this as the two aspects of the new covenant. the entire human race has benefited from the first aspect and that is Christ died for the sins of the world.

[38:54] God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. That's the first aspect of the new covenant. The second aspect has never been realized and that is Israel is the nation.

[39:15] By the way, with whom did God say in Jeremiah 31 that he would make a new covenant? With whom? With the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

[39:27] A covenant is prepared or is drawn up by the one who is offering the covenant. They are the party of the first part. That was God in the person of Christ.

[39:42] The party of the second part is that party that signs on and ratifies and agrees to the covenant and its terms.

[39:53] That's Israel. They never did. They still haven't. He said, we'll not have this man to reign over us. when Moses brought down the law from God and gave them the commandments and the law, you must understand that God did not impose his law upon the Jewish nation.

[40:23] God never said, I'm giving you this law through Moses and I don't care whether you like it or not. You've got to live by this and you've got to adopt it. Now, it's yours and you don't have any choice in the matter. No, no, no, no, no, not at all.

[40:34] Not at all. Moses came down and gave them the terms. This is what the law says. This is what the covenant involves. And God told me to tell you that if you will adopt this covenant and agree to it, you will be his special people and he will be your God.

[40:58] So, what do you think? Do you want to do it or not? The people got together and they talked about it. They came back to Moses with their answer.

[41:09] You know what they said? You go back up there in the mountain and you tell the Lord all that the Lord has said will we do.

[41:23] And Moses said, okay, you've got a deal. and he slayed an animal, Bullock, and they took the blood of the animal and he sprinkled it toward the people.

[41:38] And then he took the hyssop branch and he sprinkled blood on the law, on the commandments. And that was the ratifying of the deal.

[41:49] That was the sealing of the deal. You might say it was kind of like signed in blood, but it was animal blood. And that's all that was necessary for the old covenant. Because all it had to do was just cover over the sins.

[42:03] That's what the word atonement means. It means to cover over. But next year you have to go back and cover over it again. And cover over it again. Because you can't take it away.

[42:15] You can't remove it. That's why what John said was so significant. Behold the Lamb of God that takes away. Takes away. the sin of the world.

[42:27] That was a whole different thing. And that's what he's done with your sin. Removed it as far as the east is from the west. Our sins are sought for and not found. They are cast behind his back. They are forgiven.

[42:38] They are cleansed. They are gone. They are dismissed. That's incredible. That's wonderful. That's forgiveness that is full and free and forever.

[42:50] And it comes only because it was his blood his blood that initiated that new covenant. But it still has not been realized in the second aspect.

[43:06] And that is when Israel Israel has been in a rejection mode for two thousand years.

[43:19] Ever since they said no as a nation. you see Peter had a wonderful ministry and I don't want to sell this man short but there is a lot of misunderstanding regarding this because when Peter preached this message on the day of Pentecost and there were three thousand people all of whom were Jews.

[43:40] You weren't even allowed to be there if you were not a Jew. All of them were Jews. And we tend to lose sight of the fact that I never preached to three thousand people much less had three thousand people respond.

[43:59] But I can't imagine that would be incredible. Why? But we tend to overemphasize that and lose sight of the fact that and this is a Wiseman opinion take it or leave it but I'm convinced that there were a whole lot more people there than three thousand who did not respond as opposed to those who did.

[44:28] Because they were all looking to the official leadership of Israel. That was the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the high priests, etc. They were, you know what they were, they were the experts.

[44:43] Everybody knows the experts are always right. Right? Except when they're wrong. And the people took their cue from them.

[44:54] And the leadership of Israel rejected him. And they remain in a rejection mode. But I want to tell you the time is coming. And we saw this in Matthew 24 and we saw it in Revelation 19.

[45:07] And it's spelled out in Zechariah 12 and verse 10 during the last days when Israel has their back to the wall and the Antichrist is ready to crush them with a final blow and put an end to the Jewish people worldwide.

[45:26] The heavens are going to open and the sign of the Son of Man will appear. And Zechariah says, and they will look upon him whom they pierced and they will mourn in repentance and contrition and they will embrace this coming Savior, this Messiah who will be coming to their rescue.

[45:56] Then enemies of Israel and of Christ will be defeated and there will be an incredible marriage feast held.

[46:10] And at that feast Jesus will lift the cup of wine and drink. For I will not drink until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of heaven.

[46:29] So that aspect of the new covenant has never yet been realized. Here is something that is a real stretch for you to get your mind around.

[46:44] But I just want to sow the seed and you can be thinking about it. I know some of you were going to be saying, is Marv going crazy or what? In reality, the new covenant as it is fully intended has never come into being.

[47:07] Only the first aspect that redeemed the human race. Second aspect, the completion, the fulfillment of the new covenant has never yet been realized. So in essence, the new covenant does not exist.

[47:23] And the old covenant has ceased to exist. covenant. So where are we? We're not under either covenant.

[47:37] Not the old, not the new, except for that first aspect. We are sandwiched in between.

[47:50] we are not a covenant people. We are the mystery. This is what Paul describes in Ephesians 3.

[48:02] I hope you will read it before sundown tonight. Because it sets forth a mystery which is not Jewish, not Gentile.

[48:14] Jew and Gentile bonded together making one new person. We are in the gap between the old and the new.

[48:27] We don't belong to either one. We are an anomaly. We are a where did they come from? And this is what Paul means when he opens that text in Ephesians and says, for this body of Christ, Jew and Gentile, was not made known to the sons of men before.

[48:48] There wasn't a word of this. It was never prophesied, never promised, never mentioned, never even thought of. And all of a sudden, bang, here it comes on the scene right out like a bolt out of the blue.

[48:59] What is this? This is Jew and Gentile together making no distinction between them. Why, that is the most absurd thing that anybody had ever heard of, especially a Jew.

[49:13] But that's exactly what happened. And now today, we are still part of and living in this interim between the old and the new, but neither is in effect now.

[49:26] And we'll look later at when the old came to an end, and I think it was the rending of the veil and the temple, and God said, I'm finished with that. So, that being the case, the Jewish people today they are laboring under and serving under a covenant that is defunct.

[49:46] It is over. It is ended. Jews today are not obligated to keep the Sabbath, although the Orthodox do. They're not obligated to keep a kosher diet, although the Orthodox do.

[49:58] None of those things are binding any longer upon the Jew because the old covenant has come to an end. Wow. And so much of what we've been talking about is, I think, a correction of the faulty assumptions that we've been, and you know something?

[50:22] What else do you think is responsible for there being 250 different denominations, sects, and conventions, and splinters, and synods, and whatnot?

[50:33] And this thing called faulty assumptions has been running rampant in Christendom, and it keeps us so divided that we cannot have the impact on our culture that we ought to have, because we can't even get our act together doctrinally.

[50:52] That's what's going on. Well, I'm not finished, but I quit. And I see the clock back there.

[51:05] Okay. Marie, you're right. I do need new glasses. She's been after me now for, so this settles about.

[51:16] Is there a quick question or comment? Anybody? Yes, Marie? Oh, yes, thank you.

[51:27] Thank you. I appreciate that. Oh, two things. Tuesday morning at nine o'clock, we meet here for a Bible study. And a delicious breakfast, by the way.

[51:39] And the Bible study starts just a half an hour later at 930. You don't need reservations to show up. We have a delicious breakfast and the Bible study that follows. Just come if you'd like to be here for that.

[51:52] And don't forget, before you leave this morning, be sure that you sign up. if you're going to be here Wednesday night and you haven't signed up, if you're one who participated in the fair ministry, we want you to be here Wednesday night so we can pick your brain and find out how we can improve things.

[52:10] Okay, got a question? Yes, George? You talked for just a moment about how, why this faulty assumptions is responsible for so many different denominational groups.

[52:22] And I was thinking about it just from the first point about the Old and New Covenant. And if the New Covenant is in effect, then there's so many things that then we can disagree about because which parts are, and it's obvious that we don't have a supernatural ability to keep the New Covenant, that's always been a question for me, especially reading Jeremiah 31, all of the supernatural things that Christians obviously don't do today.

[52:50] So I think that you're really correct when you're emphasizing this New Covenant not in force, but it's difficult emotionally for Christians to accept that.

[53:03] How do you think we should approach it with people who would respond so negatively to that? all I can suggest is present the truth as best you can and say, I understand if you find this objectionable and you find it hard to believe, I fully understand that because that's exactly the way I felt when I first heard it, when I first came upon it.

[53:30] But I cannot deny the scriptural aspect of it, and I just had to come to embrace it because I'm convinced that it's true. And I want to conclude with this also because I want you to make sure that you know where I'm coming from with this.

[53:48] Am I saying that I too am subject to faulty assumptions that I can make? You better believe it. I don't want anyone to think that I am saying, well, I've pointed out these faulty assumptions of others, but I don't have any of my own because I'm just crystal clear on all of this stuff.

[54:09] Nothing could be further from the truth. I am as capable of making a faulty assumption as anybody else. That's why I keep appealing to this Berean thing.

[54:20] You've got to check the scriptures. You cannot assume what anybody tells you. It's absolutely true unless you read it in the Bible, and even then it's subject to interpretation. And that brings us right back to the hermeneutic thing.

[54:33] We'll take maybe one more quick one if there is, and I'll try to allow more time next week for Q&A, I promise. Remind me that I did that. Anyone else?

[54:44] Yeah, Pastor Marv, Hebrew chapter 6, which we went through in Thursday morning Bible study, pretty much echoes what you said. Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let's go on to perfection.

[54:59] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fitting conclusion. Would you stand please? I want to have a prayer with you. I do not know your particular situation and where you're coming from, and this may be new to you, and it may be something that is familiar to you, but the thing that I want to close with in emphasizing is that first part, that first aspect of the new covenant, that praise God is applicable, and that is God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and that includes every one of us.

[55:36] And then he goes on two verses later and says, I pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. And that simply means that God has made the way of access available and open to us.

[55:51] He has done that for the entire human race, and that makes everybody not saved, but savable. everybody is savable.

[56:03] But it requires the exercise of your volition to respond in a positive way to what God did through Christ on that cross. So pray with me, if you will, while we close.

[56:16] Father, should there be anyone here this morning who is devoid and absent from faith and absent from the body of Christ because they've never understood or they have never submitted their will to you.

[56:29] We pray that even now in this concluding moment that you will deal with them and allow them to come to the position in their own heart and mind where they can honestly say with conviction, Lord Jesus, I acknowledge and recognize that I am a sinner like everyone else and I cannot save myself, but you died to do for me what I couldn't do for myself.

[56:55] I want to put my trust and my faith in you as my Savior. I'm inviting you to come into my life and make me your child.

[57:07] Best as I know how with my questions and doubts and fears, I know I need a Savior and I want Jesus to be that Savior. That is my prayer. And dear friend, if you've prayed that, you may be sure God will hear you and those who come to him, he will in no wise cast out.

[57:25] And I would encourage you, if that's been your decision, make it known to someone else. Let them encourage you in the faith. Let me know. I've got some literature that will be very helpful to you.

[57:36] Thank you, Father, for the time we've shared together, for the glorious truth of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name, amen.