The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Peter's Gospel vs. Paul's Gospel - Two different Gospels - LISTEN TO THIS MESSAGE! -- Why Paul Teaches one Message to the Jews and Another to the Gentiles - A GREAT EXPLANATION.

[0:00] I think that the nature and content of this morning's message will require even more than usual an opportunity for Q&A at the conclusion.

[0:10] So if you will be prepared mentally to offer any questions that you may have, I'm sure that we will probably succeed in generating some.

[0:22] And we will only be too happy to try our best to answer them. Well, admittedly, it is depressing. But we must deal with the sad reality regarding some people's response to the time we are spending with transitional material here in the book of Acts.

[0:48] And what is the response of some? And I would hope that that response of some would not be found among grace people. But nevertheless, here it is.

[1:01] Who cares? What difference does this transition stuff make anyway in the final analysis? It's all ancient history.

[1:13] All that's important is just try to get people saved and move on. Forget the details, Marv. You're just majoring on minors. That could very well be the response of some.

[1:24] As I say, I trust none would be here. They probably wouldn't still be here if they felt that way. But there are a number of people who will be getting messages through the mail and online who may wonder about this.

[1:38] And at least on the surface, it's a perfectly legitimate question. Who cares whether it was so many years to this or that or who got circumcised and who didn't and why?

[1:52] That's all petty stuff and it doesn't figure in anyway. Oh, but it does. Why should we or anyone care about what seems to be, at least on the surface, relatively insignificant?

[2:09] Let me assure you, dear friends, there is nothing within the pages of this book that is insignificant. We cannot charge the revealing God with disclosing petty minutiae and details that don't make any difference anyway.

[2:32] Our God, the Holy Spirit, has not encumbered the book with a bunch of non-essentials. Everything that is in here, every word, every line, is inspired of the Spirit of God and is there for our learning and understanding, appreciation and connecting.

[2:52] And this is why we make such an emphasis on comparing Scripture with Scripture because we have long since come to the conclusion that no mere man, certainly including this one, has what it takes to accurately and consistently interpret the Word of God.

[3:12] That is why we have to appeal to the Scriptures to interpret itself. And we allow it to do that by comparing Scripture with Scripture and by bringing into focus other passages of Scripture that shed light upon the particular passage at hand.

[3:30] And that is what I trust we are trying to do. Here is the principal reason as to why this all matters. It is because of failure to see these programs transitioning from the emphasis being on the kingdom of heaven to the Jews, and the gospel of the grace of God to both Jew and Gentile alike, has resulted in a divided Christendom.

[4:05] Failure to acknowledge this has resulted in a divided Christendom that remains divided to this very day. The division is not merely between Protestant and Roman Catholic, but reaches into the multitude of denominational divisions, all due to their ignoring of this vital information regarding the transition and the changing of the plan and program of God that is clearly revealed in the text of the Acts of the Apostles.

[4:42] The keepers of the gate of Christianity have done exactly what the keepers of the gate of Judaism did before them. As Israel and Judaism greatly revered the law of Moses, in time they also distorted and corrupted it to the point of Jesus rebuking them with a scathing denunciation in Matthew 23 and other places in the four Gospels.

[5:15] The net effect was in the Jews' misuse of the law that prevented it from doing for the people what God intended it to do, and instead reduced the law of Moses to a cumbersome, nitpicking, confused obligation that no one was able to live under or fulfill.

[5:40] This is why Jesus told the religious establishment of his day, Your traditions and commandments of men have made the law of Moses of none effect.

[5:54] You have essentially gutted it. You've ruined it. Christianity. Both Roman Catholic and Protestant versions thereof have heaped the same kind of obfuscation and confusion upon the doctrine of the grace of God by encumbering it with their denominational rules and regulations, none of which even existed a mere 500 years ago.

[6:28] Now, 500 years may seem like a long time when compared to a human lifespan, but it's a relatively short time connection with human history.

[6:40] There can be no question that all the denominational differences and wrangling over methodology, traditions, baptisms, memberships, and the like, has significantly weakened the Christian presence and position.

[6:58] The world looks on at Christendom's multitude of divisions and wonders why these people called Christians, who want all of us to become Christians, can't even get together about what they agree on.

[7:14] Their only commonality is in their claim that each of them is right and all the others are wrong. That's the only thing they have in common.

[7:26] And, as if all these denominations were not confusing enough, here comes along another group that calls themselves non-denominational.

[7:43] Good grief, Charlie Brown. Haven't we had enough of this stuff? Some of you who were with us in the beginning, back in 1970, may remember our struggle over the issue of whether we should officially organize another church.

[8:09] Can we justify another church? You look in the yellow pages of the telephone book of the Clark County community, and you'll find in existence something like 120 different churches and locations throughout the county.

[8:29] Are we really justified in adding another church to that 120? Will we be yet different from what currently exists?

[8:44] And if not, why add another church to what is already there? Why don't we just peel off and choose a church already in existence and support it?

[8:59] Or, do we actually, honestly, truly, have something different to offer that isn't being offered by any of the other 120?

[9:16] And we agonized over this for a number of months. And frankly, we were deeply reluctant to start another church.

[9:29] And that's why we continued to meet just as a Bible fellowship group with no name and no officers and no organization for an entire year before we felt we should proceed that we really, honestly, did have something to offer that wasn't already being offered.

[9:52] And that is our approach to Scripture. If we do have something different, what is it that would make us different? We have, from the outset, adopted the rules for interpreting the Bible as set forth by Miles Coverdale in the year 1535.

[10:15] Many of you have copies of this. Some of you have it posted in your Bible or in other notes in your home. And I heartily recommend it. We've published it in the bulletin a number of times.

[10:27] And I have often said in the past, and so say I now again, if there were just some way that every church could be convinced to operate when it comes to interpreting and preaching the Scriptures, to operate under this plan, so many of the differences that divide Christendom would disappear overnight.

[10:52] Miles Coverdale said, and by the way, Miles Coverdale gave us the first complete printed English Bible. And in 1535, he gave us the rules for interpreting it.

[11:09] Very simple, very basic, very profound, very important. It shall greatly help ye to understand Scripture if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom and to whom with what words at what time where to what intent with what circumstances considering what goeth before and what followeth after.

[11:47] There it is. In good old archaic King James English. I have found this to be so incredibly helpful. And if one will only follow this dictum, it is amazing how simple the Bible is to interpret and how readily it is willing to interpret itself.

[12:09] If we follow these rules, we are inevitably led to a recognition of the progressive revelation of the Bible.

[12:20] And by that, I mean God did not give us the Bible in just kerplunk, one big fell swoop. Here it is. As if to say, and you're supposed to do everything in it.

[12:34] And you'd be surprised that's how many, many people approach the Bible. It's just like it's one whole document and you're supposed to do everything that's in it.

[12:45] And it's never occurred to them that, well, now really, that will mean you'll be offering animal sacrifices. It also means that you will be stoning to death homosexuals.

[13:01] It also means that you will be stoning to death adulterers. It also means and on and on it goes. And invariably these people will come back and say, well, no, we don't go that far.

[13:15] Well, why don't we? The reason we don't is because this book developed over time.

[13:27] The revelation was gradually given as the centuries rolled by more and more about God, his plan, and his program was being revealed through the writers that he was using to record scripture.

[13:41] This is why, as we say, the Bible was a compilation or is a compilation contributed to by some 40 different writers, most of whom never knew each other, never met each other, lived in different centuries, different eras altogether.

[13:58] Some of them spoke different languages, came from different backgrounds, all of which took place over a time period of about 1500 years from the earliest recordings in Genesis to what we have the conclusion of the revelation.

[14:16] So the Bible was given in a progressive manner, and it is to be understood and interpreted in a progressive manner. The Bible is a book of doctrine that is on the move.

[14:29] It is developing. We believe that we today have a closed canon of scripture, that the revelation is complete.

[14:40] There isn't any more that is being revealed in scripture, and nothing has been left out, and God is not going to have an addenda to add to it. It is complete and entire.

[14:51] But from Genesis to Revelation, it is movement. And when you get to the book of Acts, you find more dramatic movement than in any other place in the scriptures.

[15:04] Because it is a movement, it is a transition from the administration of Israel and the law of Moses, to an administration of the grace of God, which Paul calls the dispensation of the grace of God.

[15:22] That is, replacing the law of Moses. Because it was never intended to be final. It was never intended to be permanent. It was always given as a temporary thing for the nation of Israel.

[15:37] Problem with most of the Jews was then and now, they could not contemplate the idea of the law of Moses ever being temporal. They thought, because God who gave it is eternal, the law is eternal.

[15:48] It will always be in effect. But that was never the intent. And if you read the book of Hebrews, it will provide you with all the information that you need as to why the old covenant is now passé and why the new is in vogue.

[16:04] So you've got a transition that is undeniable. But if you don't acknowledge the transition and you insist on dealing with things on the other side, before that transition began to take place, you're using an old operating program rather than the latest revelation God has given.

[16:24] The old operating program continues, not only for the Old Testament, but it continues in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, where all of the emphasis is on the Jew and the coming of the kingdom.

[16:36] and that was the message they preached. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at end. That's the message John the Baptist preached. That's the message Jesus preached. That's the message that he told the twelve apostles to preach.

[16:47] And that's the message they preached. And they preached it exclusively to the nation of Israel, the twelve tribes, because it didn't mean anything to anybody else, but it meant everything to Israel.

[17:04] That's the message Paul is preaching also. I know some in the grace position have a difficult time thinking that Paul preached the gospel of the kingdom, but he did.

[17:15] You know what Paul preached? He preached both of them. Paul preached depending on who his audience was. This doesn't mean that he was some kind of a flip-flopper, or that he was contradictory, or that he was hypocritical, and he preached one thing to one group, and one thing to another group.

[17:35] But let me tell you, this man was in a very, very delicate position. He was called upon to preach not only to the Gentile, and raised up as the apostle to the Gentile, he was also called upon to preach to the twelve tribes of Israel, to both of them.

[17:55] Now, is he going to preach the same message to both of them? Think about that. How could he? Can you imagine Paul going into a Jewish synagogue, as he did every time he arrived in town, he headed for the synagogue, can you imagine him going into the synagogue and saying, oh, by the way, the law of Moses is passé now, and you can forget about circumcision, you don't need to do that anymore.

[18:21] He would have never gotten out of that synagogue alive. He couldn't preach that to them. But did he preach that to the Gentiles?

[18:31] Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, is this man talking out of both sides? No. This man is talking to two diverse groups, both of which are sandwiched in this transition period.

[18:44] There has never been a time in the history of the world when a situation like this existed. This is one of a kind. And it is really testy, very difficult, very confusing.

[18:58] Both programs operating side by side, at the same time. And the confusion was incredible. Now, I want you to see, in what I think is undeniable illustrations, some of the points that I'm trying to make.

[19:16] And the first one we want to go to is in Acts chapter 16 and verses 1 through 3. We've got a circumcision. Very significant. Don't ever dismiss these things as incidental or they just don't matter.

[19:30] There isn't anything in the Bible that isn't important, no matter how unimportant it appears to be. Acts chapter 16.

[19:45] This is relating to the Apostle Paul's second missionary journey. And bear in mind, this is about 15 years after Paul's conversion.

[19:58] That means it's about 16 or 17 years after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It's about 16 or 17 years after Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.

[20:11] And we read in verse 1, it came also to Derbe and to Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy. Now, I want you to notice very carefully, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.

[20:34] So we've got a mixed marriage there. And Timothy is a product of this mixed marriage. And he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium.

[20:48] Paul wanted this man, that is Timothy, to go with him. And he took him and circumcised him. Now, doesn't that appear to be just a flat-out contradiction?

[21:03] Well, if you don't consider all of Scripture and allow the Bible to interpret itself and just take this one verse out of context, probably the conclusion that some will reach is that Paul is just being a hypocrite.

[21:15] He's playing both sides of the road here. He just puts his finger to the wind to see which way it's blowing, and that's don't you dare accuse the Apostle Paul of that. That may be the way a lot of people in Congress operate, but that's not the way the Apostle Paul operated.

[21:33] He circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

[21:44] How would that come across to the Jews? Well, they would hold that against him. So what can Paul do to give Timothy some credibility with these Jews to whom they are going to be ministering?

[21:58] Because Paul is going to be ministering to both Jew and Gentile. What's he going to do? What is it that would provide Timothy with an entree into the Jewish? There's just one thing.

[22:11] Timothy, I hate to tell you this, but if you're going to minister with me, and if we're going to have any impact at all upon our Jewish brethren, you've got to be circumcised.

[22:29] And Timothy was. And that provided them the necessary inroad and acceptance in the Jewish community. Because if he had not been circumcised, he would just be regarded as a goyim.

[22:43] He would have no credibility at all. They wouldn't give him any credence. And Paul knew that because he was coming from a deeply set Jewish background himself. He knew how these people thought.

[22:58] Now, while we're in the neighborhood, I want you to come over to Acts chapter 18. We're not finished with the circumcision issue yet, but I want you to see this because we're so close by.

[23:09] Acts chapter 18. And I should like to begin with verse 24.

[23:23] And this, by the way, if you've got a notation in your Bible like I do in mine, this is at the outset of Paul's third missionary journey.

[23:35] And we are able to date that with considerable accuracy. It would be about 19 to 20 years after the death of Christ.

[23:48] 19 to 20 years after. We're talking about almost two decades have gone by. and here this man by the name of Apollos surfaces. He's an Alexandrian.

[24:01] That means he's an Egyptian. He is an Egyptian Jew. Jews were scattered all over the Mediterranean world. And there were a number of Jews in Egypt.

[24:11] This is where Apollos was born. And we are told that he was Alexandrian by birth. An eloquent man came to Ephesus and he was mighty in the scriptures.

[24:27] Now bear in mind the only scriptures that existed in which Apollos could have been eloquent was the Old Testament. The New Testament had not even been undertaken to writing.

[24:42] So it didn't even exist. And it was the Old Testament that he was mighty. This means Apollos really knew his way around the Old Testament.

[24:52] He was very well familiar with it. He knew the passages, he knew the key verses and all the rest, and he was a student quoting it. And we are told that he had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John.

[25:25] Now, folks, this is really significant. This isn't just non-essential detail. This really means something. The Spirit of God inspired Dr.

[25:37] Luke to write this, made sure that this was included. He was acquainted only with the baptism of John. That's the same baptism with which Jesus was baptized.

[25:51] That's the same baptism with which the twelve were baptized. That's the same baptism with which the twelve were baptizing others. All Jews, all Jews, John's baptism.

[26:03] And what was John's message? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, and be baptized for the remission of sins. That was the message.

[26:14] And it was never disputed. And it's clear. It's clear in Acts, and it's clear in all four of the Gospels. Can you imagine John the Baptist saying, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

[26:31] What would that have meant to anybody before the fact of the crucifixion? Folks, this is monumental stuff. This isn't petty.

[26:42] This is really important. This means the cross of Jesus Christ changed everything. Don't proclaim a message that was in vogue before the cross and try to apply it to people after the cross.

[26:58] The cross changes everything. The cross provided a whole new avenue. The cross provided something that didn't exist in John's baptism. baptism. And if we don't understand that and consistently preach from information available on the other side of the cross, we're using an outdated program.

[27:22] It's like trying to fight. World War II with weapons equipping World War I.

[27:35] You're going to get your clock cleaned. You're not going to have a chance. You need the latest information. You need the update from the commander-in-chief. Many are of the opinion that the only update that matters is what is commonly referred to as the Great Commission.

[27:51] closes out Matthew's Gospel. Go into all the world, preach the Gospel, all the priests, baptizing them. That was the last word Christ gave the twelve apostles when he ascended.

[28:03] That was their marching orders. But please don't lose sight of the fact that years later he provided a new program, an update that was given to the Apostle Paul.

[28:18] And it contained information that those under John's baptism ministry never dreamed of, never heard before, never knew. It's a whole new thing and it is called the Gospel of the Grace of God.

[28:34] It is the dispensation of the Grace of God or the dispensing, the doling out of the Grace of God in a way that was never before available.

[28:46] and it was all because of what Jesus Christ accomplished on that cross. But this wasn't available before the cross because the cross became the basis for it.

[29:04] He was acquainted only with the baptism of John in verse 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

[29:20] They sat there in the synagogue, Aquila and Priscilla, and Apollos is up there waxing eloquent, preaching from the New Testament, and he is talking about the baptism of John, and he's talking about probably that passage in Malachi that talks about the prophet who will come before the Messiah and prepare his way, and was explaining that John the Baptist was this, but you know what?

[29:43] The text says John the Baptizer was as far as Apollos could go. He didn't know anything that happened after that, and Aquila and Priscilla are sitting there in the audience listening to him preach, just like you're sitting here listening to me preach, and after a while, after they hear Apollos waxing eloquent and talking about these passages in the Old Testament, they are struck, they are struck not by what Apollos said, but by what he didn't say.

[30:13] And after a while, Aquila turned to Priscilla and said, you know what? I'll bet that's all he knows.

[30:27] I'll bet he is not aware of what has transpired since, because if he were, he would have surely brought it out, but he didn't say a thing about it.

[30:38] I'll bet it's because he doesn't even know. Could you suppose he doesn't know? How could that? Listen, this is 20 years, 20 years after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

[30:58] And all he knows is the Apostle John. the text says, when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

[31:21] and then it continues on with Paul and Apollos and it says, and then when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him, wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

[31:34] When he had arrived, he helped greatly those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

[31:46] Wow. Apollos gifted as he was, orator type that he was, did not have all the information he needed until Aquila and Priscilla brought him up to speed, and now he knows the rest of the message.

[32:04] And this, by the way, is on Paul's third missionary journey. And, in Acts chapter 19 and verse 8, while we're in the neighborhood, Paul entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly, for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

[32:29] Now, if the opportunity for Israel, believing on Jesus as the Messiah, and making themselves thus available for the arrival of the kingdom of heaven come to earth, if that opportunity had already been withdrawn, God's and was no longer a viable concept, why would Paul be preaching this?

[32:55] And I want you to note what he's preaching. He is in the synagogue, and he is preaching to the Jews. He is not preaching the gospel of the grace of God. Not here.

[33:08] Not in this audience. He is preaching a Jewish message. He is preaching about the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. This is the same message that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, and again in chapter 3.

[33:23] And it is a message exclusively to the Jewish people, for the Jewish people. It has no application to Gentiles until it is first embraced by the Jews. This, of course, they would not succeed in doing, and they never have succeeded in doing.

[33:39] And this is why Israel has been set aside in their unbelief, and a whole new program has been brought in. But when Paul would go and preach, because the big issue, even to the Jews, the big issue was this.

[33:52] Was Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah sent from God, or was he not? That was the burning issue. Because however you decided that, that was the watershed issue.

[34:03] Everything fell on one side or the other, depending on your position regarding that. And that was the one, this was a fiddle with one string on it, and this is the string they played.

[34:15] Jesus is the Messiah. He is the one sent by God. He is the one promised by Moses and the prophets. Jesus of Nazareth, he is the Messiah. That was their message. And you lined up on one side or the other of that if you were a Jew.

[34:30] And any Jew had the perfect right to ask this question, okay? If Jesus is the king, if Jesus is the one sent from God, if Jesus is going to restore the earth, where's the kingdom?

[34:48] Where is it? Because this surely isn't it. Don't you know that Rome is ruling in Jerusalem, that we are under the Gentile boot? If Jesus is the king, where is the kingdom?

[35:03] And let me tell you, Paul had some explaining to do. That was a very legitimate question. I suspect he had to tell them the same thing I'm telling you.

[35:13] Listen, the kingdom is being held in abeyance. God is willing and able to bring this kingdom to pass, but it has to come through the instrumentality of Israel because of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[35:27] And when Israel gets on board, then they, they will be the catalyst to bring along all of the Gentiles. But until Israel is compliant, nothing happens.

[35:39] The kingdom is on hold. I am confident that is precisely what he told them. Whether they believed it or not, probably some of them did, probably some of them didn't.

[35:51] But that was the only explanation. He is preaching the kingdom of heaven in the same way that John the Baptist was, in the same way that Peter was, but he was preaching it to a Jewish audience.

[36:04] Paul is not going to go into the Agora, into the Greek marketplace, to a bunch of Gentiles and preach this message to them. That message would not be pertinent to them.

[36:15] What he will preach to them is, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for your sins. And the kingdom and everything in connection with it had no direct application to the Gentiles.

[36:29] Had everything to the Jew. This is what Paul means, I am convinced, when he says, hey, to the Jew, I became as a Jew. If we're going to reach the Jews, that's why I had Timothy circumcised.

[36:41] To the Gentiles, I became as a Gentile. I did not try to lay on them the need for circumcision or keeping the Sabbath or offering animal sacrifices. To the Gentiles, I preached, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[36:54] This is the day of the grace of God. God. Now, let's turn, if we may, to Galatians chapter 2.

[37:05] For the few moments we have left, Galatians chapter 2. Paul says that he went up by revelation.

[37:20] In verse 2, I submitted to them the gospel, the good news, which I preach among the Gentiles. Don't run over those words.

[37:35] The gospel which I preach to the Gentiles. Wait a minute, Paul. Isn't that the same gospel you preach to everybody? No! No! I had a gospel for the Gentiles and a gospel for the Jews.

[37:51] Both were true. Both were directed to the audience to whom I was speaking. Both programs are in operation at one and the same time.

[38:03] Just like two tracks and a railroad track running parallel side by side. The time is going to come when one track will stop and the other will keep on going.

[38:16] And that will be the dispensation of the grace of God. And the dispensation of the kingdom offered to Israel is going to come to an end. It will be continued later, but for now it is held in abeyance.

[38:32] He gives them the gospel. It's another way of saying, listen, fellas, I've gotten you together because I want you to know what I have been saying to the Gentiles. The message that I have been giving them.

[38:46] And if it had been an identical message that they were giving, what would be the point? The point is, it was a different message.

[38:56] That's why he sees a necessity of communicating it to them. I did so in private to those who were of reputation for fear that I might be running or had run in vain.

[39:07] What does he mean here? He means, listen, these twelve apostles, the original twelve, these are the fellows with the reputation, with the connections, with the history, with the reputation.

[39:18] they could sandbag my ministry if they wanted to. Now, I know it was God who raised up Paul, and when God raises up someone, their ministry is going to be unstoppable.

[39:31] But from a human standpoint, he didn't want the twelve apostles thinking that he was preaching some kind of a corrupted message that was something that they couldn't and would not approve of.

[39:44] He wanted to bring them up to speed. Listen, he did not need their permission to preach this message. He had already had it commissioned to him by the risen Lord.

[39:54] What he wanted was their blessing, their cooperation, their agreement, their understanding. And he's going to get it. The text goes on and says, I did so in private to those who were of reputation for fear that I might be running or had run in vain, that they could neutralize my work, but not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.

[40:27] Now, wait a minute, Paul. You yourself circumcised Timothy. Now, you won't let them circumcise Titus. What's going on?

[40:39] Paul, you're just a hypocrite. No, he's not being a hypocrite at all. He's a man with principle and standards, and he knows what those standards are. Titus is not a Jew, and Titus doesn't have a Jewish parent, and it would be an enormous step backwards to insist that Titus, a Gentile, has to be circumcised.

[41:08] Paul says, no, no, no, a thousand times no. You cannot do that, and I will not permit it. Timothy, that's different. Timothy had a Jewish parent, and he was going to minister to Jewish people, and he wouldn't have gotten to first base without being circumcised.

[41:26] This is different. This is Gentiles, and Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. Some tried to force it anyway. Some tried to insist.

[41:39] Some tried to override Paul, and he stood his ground. because of the false brethren who sneaked in to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus in order to bring us into body.

[41:50] Do you know what part of the liberty was? Part of the liberty was you don't have to be circumcised. I'll tell you, any man would consider that liberty. Can I get a weak amen from the brethren?

[42:05] Yes. But look at verse 5. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour.

[42:19] I tell you, I love this man's steadfastness here. I'm sure he could have rationalized it away and say, well, we want to keep the peace.

[42:31] We don't want to offend anybody. So we'll cave. We'll have him circumcised if it makes them happy. Paul said, no, a thousand times no.

[42:43] We would not yield to them, not in subjection, not even for an hour. No way. And notice what the upshot was.

[42:54] So that the truth of the gospel, the truth of the gospel, which is salvation by grace through faith plus nothing.

[43:11] No circumcision, no baptism, no law keeping, no Sabbath, no sacrifice, no nothing. Christ and Christ alone is sufficient.

[43:22] Wow. That's the truth of the gospel, so that it might remain with you. But, from those who were of high reputation, I think he's talking about the twelve. What they were makes no difference to me.

[43:34] God shows no partiality. Those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. In other words, he's saying the twelve apostles could not inform me with any doctrinal information that I didn't already have.

[43:48] They could not enlighten me with anything. And the reason they couldn't was because Paul had more light than they did. He had a later light. He had a light that came to them, not from Christ as he was preparing to ascend from the Mount of Olives, but he had light that came to him by the risen Christ who was in glory who confronted him on the Damascus road and gave him this commission when he called him to be the apostle to the Gentiles.

[44:17] On the contrary, verse 7, seeing that I, Paul, had been entrusted with the good news to the uncircumcised, which is just another name for Gentiles, just as Peter with the gospel to the circumcised or the Jew.

[44:38] For he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised, meaning God, effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles.

[44:50] And recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas, another name for Peter, and John, who were reputed to be pillars, these were the kingmakers, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that's their affirmation, that's their support, that's their endorsement, that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

[45:20] Can you not see inevitably two different programs here side by side with two different audiences and two different messages? It's inevitable.

[45:32] And I think it is unmistakable. So, with setting aside of Israel, in their persistent unbelief, God provides an entirely new base of operations for the new entity now on the scene and it's going to be called the body of Christ.

[45:55] It comes complete with a whole new protocol and methodology that is far removed from the law of Moses and everything it has to do with.

[46:08] it is the gospel of the grace of God. The good news of the grace of God, which is essentially just believe as a simple act of your will.

[46:23] Repent of your sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Because Christ died for your sins. Now, while we're in the neighborhood of Galatians, I've got to take you to Ephesians chapter 2, where we will see an emphasis moving, and this too is part of the transition, as it moves from the nation of Israel to the church, which is the body of Christ, it is also moving very dramatically, now please hear me, from the physical emphasis to a spiritual emphasis.

[47:02] With Israel, with the nation of Israel, with the kingdom, all of the emphasis is on the physical, the material. It was going to be a physical literal kingdom, an actual kingdom come to earth, physical kingdom, on a physical earth.

[47:22] That's what they were anticipating. Circumcision is about as physical as you can get. Water baptism is physical. The offering of animals in sacrifice is physical.

[47:35] The temple and the tabernacle before it, these were all physical apparatus. They were all designed to draw attention to the spiritual, but they were all physical.

[47:46] And the emphasis for Israel and the promise to Israel is the land, the land, the land, and it's the land of Israel. It's physical geography. That's going to change.

[48:00] The transition is going to move from the physical and the material to the spiritual. And when we come over, for instance, to Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 16, well, let's read verse 14 or 13.

[48:21] 13. Now, he's talking to Gentiles. He's talking to those who did not have a covenant relationship with Jehovah at all. He's talking to people that he won to Christ on his missionary journey.

[48:32] He says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who hath made both groups into one.

[48:45] What both groups? Jew and Gentile, both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments, abolished the law of commandments, abolished.

[49:03] He nailed it to his cross, taking it out of the way. Wow, what could be clearer? That in himself he might make the two, Jew and Gentile, into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both, who?

[49:25] Jew and Gentile, in one body? One body? Now, don't you think of something physical when you think of a body?

[49:40] I sure do. I think of a body with arms and legs and feet and toes, and that's physical. But this is a spiritual body. This is a spiritual body.

[49:53] This is the spiritual body of Christ. It is made up of immateriality. What is the immateriality?

[50:06] The immateriality consists of the immateriality of your human spirit, along with all other human spirits of believers who together comprise one spiritual body, that is the body of Christ.

[50:26] And Jesus Christ is the spiritual head of that spiritual body. Where is that spiritual body? You can't see it.

[50:38] Because each of you who are in Christ have a spirit dwelling in you. I've never seen it, and neither have you, but it's there.

[50:51] and that spirit is added to all of the other human spirits all over the world who comprise the spiritual body of Christ, and he is the spiritual head.

[51:06] This church, it is the church which is his body, and it isn't located in any physical place on this earth. It's not on the corner of 5th and Main. It's not a building.

[51:17] It's not a structure. It's made up of all believers, all over the world who have placed their faith and trust in Christ. They are a part of that spiritual body.

[51:30] And the emphasis is on immaterial, not the material. That's one more significant change from the one program of Israel to the program of the dispensation of the grace of God or the church age.

[51:47] And then in verses in chapter 3, verse 6, to be specific, Paul says, well, verse 5 is good enough to read verse 4.

[52:02] And by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the spirit.

[52:15] To be specific, that the Gentiles and fellow heirs are fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

[52:30] And Christ, of course, is the head of that. Other references for your consideration will not take time to turn to found in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 4, 12, 15, 16, 523, 529, 30, and 32.

[52:46] Then add to that Colossians 2, 17, and 18, 19, 24, through 26, and 3, 15. All of these refer to Christ's spiritual body.

[52:58] And you, who are a believer in Christ, are a member of that spiritual body. That's the body. That's the body of which Christ himself is the head.

[53:15] And that concept is the burden of Ephesians and Colossians. And you will not find anything at all about this concept in the Old Testament.

[53:30] And you will not find anything about it in the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, because they were all concerned with another program.

[53:42] The body truth, the gospel of the grace of God, is not found in the Gospels because it's not supposed to be there. That's a different program for a different time.

[53:53] So can you see the confusion that surrounds this issue when people lock themselves in to a concept and a program that was on the other side of the cross, whereas on this side of the cross, everything has changed.

[54:11] And the potential for everything being changed occurred there on that cross. this is such important stuff. And you know something? What I have just shared with you is, for the most part, in most Christian circles, absolutely, completely unheard of.

[54:35] It has been here for 2,000 years. And most Christians, and I'm talking about people who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, many of them would not understand hardly a thing that I have said or be able to make sense of it.

[54:56] And folks, the tragic thing about it is, this is supposed to be our message. This is supposed to be what we are proclaiming.

[55:10] And it really takes a backseat. Is there any wonder that the church, doesn't really have the power and the influence that it ought to have?

[55:22] I submit for all too many of us, we don't even have the right message. We shouldn't expect any better results to come from preaching an inadequate, inaccurate message.

[55:40] and what I would really appreciate, I've said this before, and I've given the book, Things That Differ, to some of my brethren and other denominations and churches and whatnot, and I said, I know that you might not have much use for dispensational truth and what I believe, but I wish you would take this book, Things That Differ, and please be kind enough to read it and mark it up and show me every place in this book where this man is wrong and why his positions are wrong and give it back to me because I sure don't want to preach or teach anything that isn't true.

[56:29] And do you know, I never found a one of them, not a one, who was ever able to make the time to get into the book.

[56:41] And I suspect on the part of some at least, they're scared to death of what they might find, and it could uproot everything. It could make their position very uncomfortable.

[56:53] Because when you find what you believe to be true, and you go with it, there is very often a price to pay. We're paying a price right here.

[57:04] I could crank out messages starting next month that would fill this place. We'd probably have to start another building program to accommodate the people.

[57:15] But it wouldn't be with what I'm giving you. It would be with what they would want to hear. And you can do that if that's your goal. It is tragic that we have been given this incredible gospel of the grace of God God.

[57:34] And we have toyed with it, obfuscated it, confounded it, ignored it, denied it.

[57:49] Well, but you know what? It still works. It's still true. And it's still worth proclaiming regardless of the cost.

[58:01] Christ. Woe is me, says Paul, if I preach not the gospel. Which gospel? Gospel of the kingdom?

[58:13] No. No. That's for another day, another time, and another people. Woe is me if I preach not the gospel of the grace of God. Would you stand, please?

[58:24] Father, in the midst of all the things that we know and have discovered to be true, we frankly and freely admit there is so much more that we do not know.

[58:42] And we are sometimes embarrassed by our ignorance, especially when it's been there in the book all these years. would you be pleased to take this content that we have shared this morning and enable these dear folks to use it as one more building block to that edifice of a really full and well-rounded body of doctrine that you've been pleased to reveal.

[59:11] We recognize that in our flesh we are so lacking, but in your word and all that it provides, there is simply no excuse for the lack continuing.

[59:24] Thank you for doing all that you could do without overriding our volition to give us the things we need to know. Now we need to embrace it, believe it, live by it, and propagate it.

[59:37] And thank you for the privilege of doing that. In Christ's name, Amen.