Prophecy/Mystery Combined #4 - Moses & Paul: Reasons for Confusion

[0:00] We want to begin this morning with the announcements with a word of prayer. Because of what's taken place in our community, in fact, in the whole world, I received word just last night that Sheila Cutlip was tested positive for the COVID.

[0:21] And that almost of necessity guarantees that her husband, Scott, will be that way as well when he gets his results back. And it appears that that couple, along with another couple, spent quite a bit of time together in a camping kind of expedition, trying to get their camping in before the weather got colder.

[0:44] So Dave and Marcia Freeze may also have been exposed. We do not have any final word regarding that. But this is the kind of thing that, well, like I've said before, we've never been here before.

[1:00] And in one way or another, it has put the brakes on the whole globe. Economically, socially, just about every way you can think of, this thing has impacted humanity as a whole.

[1:17] And the incredible thing about it is we cannot even see the enemy. Isn't that amazing? It's just one more, one more incidence where we who know the Lord can really be extra grateful that we do.

[1:36] Because come what may, we know that he is in charge. Come what may, we know that he has already cared for that part of our being, which is eternal and most important.

[1:50] That is that which Christ took care of at Calvary when he died for our sins. And that provides us with enormous peace and stability that the world just doesn't know anything about.

[2:02] So, let's pray together, shall we? Loving Father, once again, we acknowledge our weakness and our dependence upon you.

[2:14] Even every time we address you in prayer, we are acknowledging our inability and your ability, our weakness and your strength.

[2:26] And it is no different this time. We come to you on behalf of the two couples that we've just mentioned, Friezes and Cutlips, and we know that there will likely be others, names to be added to them.

[2:38] Most of all, we thank you that their faith is in you and that they are stabilized spiritually and that you have made provision available for them and applied to them through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:53] Today, we thank you not only for what you've done for us spiritually, but what you've done for us physically. We are grateful for those technicians and medical professionals who are feverishly working to assist those who have been infected and to provide an antidote for those who may be infected in the future.

[3:16] And we pray that you will bless their efforts and enable them to understand precisely what is involved, even though this is a really new thing to our being. It isn't new to you.

[3:27] So we look to you for wisdom on their behalf and for the application of what they have learned. Thank you once again for the preciousness of the Word of God that sustains and supports us in ways that are far beyond our understanding.

[3:44] We are grateful that you are the God you are. We commit this time of fellowship and worship to you now. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. There are a number of announcements that I want to call your attention to.

[3:59] And the first one has to do with the large sheet that you've been given. That's referred to as a voter guide. And you are aware, I'm sure, because there's no way you can escape it.

[4:11] There is an election coming up November 3rd. And the beautiful thing about this voter guide is it is not one-sided.

[4:24] It isn't a plea to vote Republican or to vote Democratic. It is nonpartisan. And all the guide consists of is an expression of the different positions taken by the candidates as to where they are regarding these great issues.

[4:45] And all of the items on the left-hand column under the name of Joe Biden represent items in the Democratic agenda and platform.

[4:56] And you can see there their position on each of the items mentioned. And then right across from that, a listing of the Republicans. And the beautiful thing about it is this is not what the Republicans say about the Democrats.

[5:11] This is what the Democrats say about themselves. And this isn't what Democrats say about Republicans. It's what Republicans say about themselves. Each of the positions taken under both parties are those positions that are expressed by those parties who hold those positions.

[5:31] And they not only are identified with them, but they wish to be identified with them, whatever the case may be. So keep that in mind.

[5:43] And it will enable you to freely distribute these without anyone claiming that you're doing anything political or that you're stumping for one party over another because this expresses both parties equally.

[5:57] And a number of these have been provided. And there is a shorter version. It's just a half page. And they are in your bulletin, too. We want you to understand that there's a quantity of these available out there.

[6:10] Feel free to help yourself. Give them out to anyone. And for anyone who would say, well, who would I give one to? My answer is everyone. Give one to everybody. The most they can do with it is benefit from it.

[6:23] The least they can do with it is just pitch it or throw it away. But in either case, you are helping to spread the word regarding positions that are endorsed by each of these parties.

[6:34] And once again, as I've told you in the past, so say I now again, in all the years I have been with you, I have never told anyone how to vote.

[6:46] But I have told you that it is your responsibility as a believer in Christ to cast as intelligent a ballot as you can. And everyone, whether a Christian or non-Christian, everyone is expected to vote their values.

[7:06] Vote your convictions. And that's the only reasonable thing that we can do. And as a believer in Jesus Christ, we take the position, and I realize that this might sound somewhat extraordinary, but we take the position that no one is in a position to cast a more intelligent, God-honoring vote than one who is in Christ.

[7:33] So we simply encourage people to exercise the privilege that we have, the right that we have in this incredible nation that we live in, to make your expressions and your convictions known through the ballot box.

[7:47] And if you haven't voted already, like many already have, then you have an opportunity coming up on November 3.

[7:58] Also, I want you to be aware of this article, dispensationalism. I've distributed this before, and there are copies of it that's located in the literature rack as you exit the back door.

[8:14] And it is as good an expression and definition as you will find regarding dispensationalism. And for some people, it sounds like one of those newfangled diseases that was just discovered.

[8:26] But it isn't, and I want you to be apprised of what dispensationalism really is. And I don't know that anything expresses it better than the article that I'm going to share with you.

[8:39] And I shared this before, but I'm going to share it again because I want you to hear it so that you will not only be able to remember it, I want you to be able to not be able to forget it.

[8:52] So, some people reject dispensationalism because its very name denominates it as an ism. Pastor O'Hare wrote a pamphlet entitled Isms and Schisms.

[9:07] He was dealing with unscriptural offshoots of the Christian church, such as Russellism, Seventh-day Adventism, Swedenborgianism, Mormonism, Russellism, and the like.

[9:19] However, all isms are not necessarily bad. There are good isms. No doubt Presbyterians have no objection to Presbyterianism, neither do Methodists object to Methodism, fundamentalist glory and fundamentalism, pre-millennialists do not hesitate to be identified with pre-millennialism.

[9:41] And although patriotism is almost a dirty word with part of our modern society, most Americans still stand up for their country. Almost every individual in the world is identified with some kind of an ism.

[9:56] Think of communism, socialism, Americanism, Americanism, Mohammedanism, Shintoism, Taoism, anarchism, pragmatism, positivism, atheism, agnosticism, individualism, collectivism, republicanism, skepticism, and Catholicism.

[10:12] Let me catch my breath. If everyone subscribes to one or more isms, why should anyone describe to dispensationalism? Because it is an ism.

[10:22] And I don't object to it. In fact, I support it. But I have a better term that at least I think conveys the idea better, and that is what I've shared with you also. It's called administrationism.

[10:35] And I recognize that our esteemed colleague in dispensationalism, Dr. C.I. Schofield, who went to be with the Lord many years ago, published the famous Schofield Reference Bible, and he probably popularized the concept of dispensationalism more than anyone else with the publication of his Bible.

[10:55] But I think it is a big mistake to try to neatly categorize dispensations in blocks of time because then it tends to make people think that a dispensation is just a block of time.

[11:11] While that is true, it is much more than that. And what it is more than anything else is a change in policy, a change in emphasis, a change in an administration.

[11:30] And when the Apostle Paul came on the scene and was charged with the responsibility of being the Apostle to the Gentiles, what happened was a new administration was introduced that had not been on the scene before.

[11:53] And it is called the Gospel of the Grace of God. Now, God's grace has always been around. No one has ever been saved apart from it.

[12:05] We know Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and that goes back a long ways. But when Paul came on the scene and was given this special responsibility of dispensing the ability to come into a right relationship with God without jumping through religious hoops, but simply believing on Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of the world, and appropriating the price that Christ paid for their sins, they come into a right relationship with God.

[12:45] That's called justification by faith. It means being brought into God's favor, blessing, and acceptance simply on the basis of believing without doing anything other than believing.

[13:03] That's why it's called good news. Anybody can do that. Doesn't take any money. Doesn't take much of an IQ, really.

[13:15] Doesn't have to be well-connected. All you need to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's called the Gospel of the Grace of God. And when Paul began preaching it, created a huge outcry, opposition, confusion, and that's what we'll be talking about, but that's a little later.

[13:39] I've got to hurry on through these announcements. Do we exalt Paul? We've made mention of that, too. It is one of the finest things that you will read, and I encourage you to get a copy of it because we have no interest in exalting Paul.

[13:55] And let me tell you something else. Paul had no interest in exalting Paul. We do not exalt Paul, but we do exalt without apology Paul's message.

[14:07] And his message was justification by faith. You know, someone asked me one time, it was a pastor from another persuasion, and he said, you mean to tell me that this thing that you're preaching now, this dispensation of grace, this gospel of grace, that it has escaped knowledge and understanding of the church until, what was his name?

[14:32] Darby, until John Darby popularized it in the 1700s, and up until that time, this truth was never known. And I said, well, when Martin Luther, in the 1500s, began preaching salvation by grace through faith, it too was looked upon as a heresy, as something that had never been proclaimed before.

[15:01] But it had been proclaimed before, and it started with the Apostle Paul, and he proclaimed it all throughout his career as an apostle until he was martyred to Christ, and the early church proclaimed it.

[15:13] And over the succeeding centuries, the message of justification by faith was lost. It was Luther who revived it.

[15:26] He didn't invent it. He simply put it back on the front burner where it belonged, and it caused quite a stir, eventually caused his being removed from Roman Catholic Church.

[15:39] And there's still an issue about that because Luther says he resigned from the church, and the Pope says you didn't resign because we kicked you out. So we don't know which it was, but at any rate, something I would like you to do by way of what we're talking about, and it is an excellent little article.

[15:55] You'll find it in your bulletin, and I want you, if you would please, to stand as we're going to read that, and we're also, for a scripture reading, going to read from Galatians chapter 2. So if you will follow along in your Bible, whatever translation you have, find Galatians chapter 2, and stand if you will, and we're going to read the scripture.

[16:17] And then, right after that, I would like us to read in unison this little insert about Miles Coverdale. So, in Galatians 2, And after an interval of 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.

[16:38] And it was because of a revelation that I went up, and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running or had run in vain.

[16:51] But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.

[17:08] But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. But from those who were of high reputation, what they were makes no difference to me, God shows no partiality.

[17:21] Well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter with the gospel to the circumcised, for he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised, effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles.

[17:44] And recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

[18:02] They only ask us to remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do. And then, Lord willing, we'll finish the chapter later in the message this morning, but would you turn to the insert, please?

[18:15] Miles Coverdale, I think I've related to you before that this man has contributed a very simple principle that can lead to more accurate interpretation and understanding of the Bible than anything I have ever read.

[18:31] And I've read a lot over the last 60 years. So, if you would, please, I'm going to read the first sentence and then I would ask for you to join with me in unison with the It Shall Greatly Help You and then we'll read it together.

[18:45] Miles Coverdale, in 1535, gave us the first complete printed English Bible. In speaking of the study of it, he wrote, It shall greatly help you to understand Scripture if you 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 goes before and what follows.

[19:22] Thank you very much. This is just priceless, priceless information. And as I have told you in the past, if there were only some way that we could get everyone to adhere to these principles, then we would be a lot closer together in our doctrine and in our practices as opposed to all of the divisions and schisms that exist in our presence.

[19:51] And as I've also pointed out to you, 500 years ago, not very long in connection with human history, 500 years ago, there were no Lutherans, no Methodists, no Presbyterians, no Nazarene, no Church of God, no Episcopalian.

[20:13] They simply didn't exist. What was there? There was a Roman Catholic Church, and apart from that, there were a number of smaller groups that, without much distinction or recognition, existed, and yes, many of them contained true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, but they were certainly out of the mainstream.

[20:35] They had little or no influence or power or prestige, and yet they existed because God has always had his people. So things are kind of different this morning.

[20:47] I'm mingling things together in a way that we usually don't, but I'm doing so because we have more people who are listening with their computers than what there are here in the auditorium this morning, and what I'm trying to do is to kind of give them a feel like being here as opposed to being, you know, I see some of you that are still sitting there in your pajamas and drinking that second cup of coffee and you're just really cooling it and thinking that you, well, truth of the matter is some of us probably envy you, but we're glad that you are where you are and listening and thank you for tuning in and we are trying to include the announcements and things that we ordinarily wouldn't with the message, but we are doing so because we know a number of you who are normally here are unable to be here and we have emphasized in time past that if you are not comfortable being here or if you have a compromised medical condition, you would do well to stay home and remove yourself from the public as much as possible.

[21:54] So our numbers this morning are considerably diminished, but we are confident that those who are here are socially distanced and everybody's wearing masks except the preacher and I can't preach with a mask on because it fogs up my glasses and I can't see.

[22:12] So, anyhow, by way of other announcements, Tuesday morning we will be sharing our men's class.

[22:22] It's a breakfast, but it's a very simple continental-type breakfast with just a pastry and some orange juice and coffee. But all men and boys are welcome to join us at 8 o'clock and we're usually out of here by 9 o'clock.

[22:37] And then Thursday morning is going to be somewhat different because it will be our last Thursday morning fellowship Bible class, breakfast Bible class of the year.

[22:48] In fact, we haven't had one since February because of the COVID-19 thing, so that has been canceled, but we had one last month and we will have the last one of the year this coming Thursday.

[23:07] So, if you are here at 9 o'clock when breakfast is served, the study begins then at 9.30 and we will discontinue that until next year because the last Thursday of the month when we normally have it, last Thursday of November will be Thanksgiving.

[23:23] There probably wouldn't be anybody here for the class, understandably. And the last Thursday in December will be New Year's Eve. So, or New Year's Day, whichever it is.

[23:35] So, both of those will not have our Bible class for that, but we look forward to resuming it the first of the year. I think that takes care of the announcements unless you have something that you would like to mention that is not in the bulletin and is there such an announcement?

[23:55] Anyone? Interesting, in the scripture reading this morning, Paul said that he would not give way to those who would insist on circumcision and he would not submit to it, no, not for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you because the truth of the gospel consists in salvation by grace sola gratia in the Latin, sola fide in the Latin for faith alone and solo scriptura for the scriptures alone.

[24:37] and when he talks about the truth of the gospel it just happens to correspond with the October 24 reading on the back of one of your bulletins and it too was from the devotional by Mr. Stam.

[24:51] These are available back there. What I would like to do now is provide you with an update of where we have been regarding this content and then we will move on to the Q&A that you have I've got my notes here somewhere you gotta love old people our last session we were working out of 2 Timothy and we devoted our morning to the extraordinary kind of concept whereby Paul said that it was through the proclamation of the gospel that he suffered as a result and we pose the question why in the world would anyone have to suffer persecution and ill will for delivering the most important most encouraging greatest good news that anyone had ever heard pray tell me why should anyone have to pay a price for doing that and we attempted to explain the reality of the fallen nature of individuals and the ignorance of humanity and how everything in life seems to work on the merit system and most people back then in Paul's day particularly including the Jews as well as people today are still convinced that there is a price to pay for anyone who wants to have favor with God there are things you have to give up there are hoops you have to jump through there are some kind of religious obligations that have to be fulfilled and that's the standard way of thinking because that is the way life works isn't it

[26:43] I mean you obtain and you get because of what you do and there is effort that you have to put forth in order to realize certain things and as they say there's no free lunch so it must be the same way with this thing called engaging in a relationship with God that makes you acceptable in his sight and forgiven by him what do you have to do well you have to first of all you have to be a good person secondly you have to belong to a religious organization like a church thirdly you have to keep the ten commandments and people have all kinds of hoops like that that you have to jump through and little do they realize for the most part you don't have to do anything what do you mean you don't have to do anything you don't have to do anything because what is required to bring you into a right relationship with God is something that Jesus Christ already did and as we've said works and the law says do and thou shalt live and grace says live and thou shalt do while it is true we are not saved or even close to being saved by our good works yet we are saved unto good works as Paul says in Ephesians 2 10 we are saved to do good works once we come into a personal relationship with Christ then for the first time in your life you are in a position to render works to God that are acceptable to him because until then you cannot do anything in the spirit because your spirit has not been regenerated as it will be in the salvation experience when Jesus Christ comes into your life in the person of the spirit of God he makes you new on the inside and he gives you a capacity and ability to perform works deeds obligations that please

[28:54] God they are called the fruit of the spirit as opposed to the works of the flesh which is just things that people gin up and they think that God is pleased by the money they give or by the church they attend or by the promises that they make that God is pleased by that listen God isn't pleased by anything you can do in the flesh it is only that which is rendered to God in the spirit that pleases him and when you come to faith in Jesus Christ he changes everything you become a new creation in Christ Jesus old things have passed away and behold all things have become new that includes your attitude your actions your goals your desires your interests all of these things change and they don't change immediately overnight but the potential for the change of all of them is there and what makes you realize that potential is growth growth you grow and mature and develop in your newfound faith you do not become any more saved than you were before but you become more alert spiritually you become more committed spiritually you become more valuable spiritually and more able to minister to the body of Christ because you are growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ and all that means put it as simply as you can put it you are becoming more like Jesus

[30:26] Christ today than you were yesterday that's what spiritual growth is it is being conformed to the image of his son and we pointed out to you that the skewed human logic rejects it and when man fell beginning in Genesis chapter 3 he fell in his entirety that means his intellect is damaged we all think with a damaged intellect we all reason with a skewed logic and that's true of Christians also but Christians have been given an antidote to deal with our skewed logic and that is the word of God that's one reason we have the Bible among many other reasons is that we come to the Bible and see what God has to say and we formulate our opinions and our standards from that that is being renewed that is the renewing of your mind when Paul wrote to the Romans and talked about the renewing of the mind all that means is you force out the bad stuff by replacing it with the good stuff and there's only so much room in your mind many minds are filled with all kinds of bad stuff and minds filled with bad stuff reach bad conclusions and they engage in bad deeds that are hurtful and harmful and destructive and in case you haven't gathered as much that's what's wrong with the world it's all of these billions of individuals out there whose minds are filled with bad stuff that causes them to think bad things that makes them act upon the bad things they do that makes them hurtful and harmful to themselves and to others and it creates a world of chaos that's the world we live in that's what we mean by a fallen world that's what's wrong with the world

[32:46] Paul preached for the first time that it was ever heard justification by faith alone and so many people who have difficulty with that don't really grasp or understand what provides the basis for it and that is so critical that is everything and I mean everything what is it that provides the basis for it what is it that makes justification by faith available and possible Jesus Christ died for our sins and people who can't get over the fact that you can be saved just by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ they do not appreciate or understand the depth and the breadth and the length of what was accomplished when Jesus Christ died on that cross it doesn't mean justification by faith doesn't mean that God just lets you well it does it does it does mean that justification by faith can't mean that God just lets you off yes it does that's exactly what it means

[34:05] God lets you off because he didn't let Jesus off that's the difference you and I get left off we get accepted we get redeemed because Jesus made it possible and after 2,000 years of that reality the world has still never really grasped it all most of them have the idea that Jesus died as a martyr and he did but dear friends there was so much more involved than the martyrdom of Christ he he was delivered for our offenses not for his offenses he was delivered for our offenses who delivered him

[35:09] Romans 425 who delivered him it wasn't Pilate Pilate didn't deliver well physically he delivered him to the soldiers for our yeah but not for our offenses Pilate thought he was delivering Jesus up to the Roman guards the execution squad to carry out the crucifixion because he was put in a bind by the Jews who manipulated him that position and he didn't have any alternative but to go through with it that's what Pilate thought but the scriptures make it very clear that it was God the father who delivered Jesus for our offenses and he raised him for our justification wow that is incredible how could a message that dear that precious that valuable how could that be around for 2000 years and the majority of humanity still doesn't know it that is mind-boggling to me but it's true it's true all people know about

[36:22] Jesus generally he was a good man he was a peasant he was a martyr he got a raw deal he supposedly was born on Christmas day and he supposedly came back to life what we call Easter and he's one of the great religious figures spare me but that's the most they know and it's so sad the reason that there was so much confusion and still is because of what we've already mentioned in part justification by faith was met with unbelief and suspicion it appeared contrary to the law of Moses and it really is not contrary to the law of Moses at all it fulfills the law of Moses Jesus said I didn't come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law the law says the soul that sinneth shall die that's what the law says

[37:30] Jesus fulfilled it but the death he died his death incorporated your death stunning as it sounds your death is associated with his death this is what the old hymn writer meant when he said were you there when they crucified my Lord God looks at you who are justified by believing in Jesus Christ he looks in his mind's eye and he sees Jesus on that cross dying for your sins you know what else he sees he sees you there with him and me there with him well how can that be forensically judicially legally scripturally that's exactly what God sees we are crucified with

[38:34] Christ nevertheless we live yet not I but Christ lives in me in the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me glorious message good news overflowing in the brim it's just incredible and yet it is still so unknown the messenger Paul another reason that it was difficult for people to receive it the messenger Paul was himself suspicious especially to the Jews I wonder how many of the Jews who were former colleagues of Paul the apostle thought that what's happened to him anyway he was the chief persecutor of these Jews and by the way keep in mind that for the first 10 or 12 years after the death of Christ everyone who was a believer in Christ was Jewish you have no non-Jews even coming to faith until you get clear into chapter 10 of the book of Acts and that's

[40:00] Cornelius and he was a Gentile and his coming to faith caused a big stir just because he wasn't Jewish so up until that time all believers in Christ were Jews and when the persecution began for several years it wasn't Romans persecuting Jews it was Jews persecuting Jews their own countrymen and the chief persecutor was Saul of Tarsus and now he claims to have had this incredible experience on the Damascus road and God called him of all things to be the apostle to the Gentiles which is a pretty ridiculous sounding thing anyway because everyone knows Gentiles don't have an apostle the Jews have 12 apostles God doesn't care anything about Gentiles God is only concerned about Jews and Paul says he's the apostle to the Gentiles who cares about them God isn't interested in Gentiles that's what

[41:01] Jews thought there was a famous Jewish prayer that was uttered by many of them every morning I thank God that thou hast not made me a woman a slave or a Gentile are you kidding me and Gentiles were called uncircumcised dogs because Gentiles would eat anything they called them dogs what does God care about Gentiles and when Jesus came into his own and his own received him not who were his own Jews exclusively Jews totally Jews only Jews they are those to whom he came which is why he said what he did I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and he instructed the twelve when you go you don't go to the Samaritans you don't go to the Gentiles you can find your ministry to the lost sheep of the house of

[42:02] Israel so never forget this routine Jesus came exclusively to the Jew but he came for the world everyone God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself which rendered everyone Jew and Gentile rendered everyone within the scope and the possibility of salvation because the price was paid for their sin all Jews and all Gentiles and as I've tried to clarify before this did not mean everyone was saved but it did mean everyone was savable no one was beyond the grace of God no one was beyond God's salvation and do you know anyone anyone who thinks for a moment that there could be an individual human being so vile and so wicked and so unworthy that they would actually be beyond

[43:22] God's salvation anyone who believes that there are human beings lurking somewhere present or history who were so unacceptable to God not even God could or would save them anyone who thinks that must also come to the conclusion that when Jesus Christ died on that cross he left part of the bill unpaid it wasn't complete it wasn't enough that that is blasphemy that is blasphemy when God saw the travail of his soul when God saw his son on that cross and blocked out the son for three hours and created the earthquake that stirred up everything made it such an eerie time from twelve noon to three o'clock in the afternoon and

[44:35] God looked at his son and then he turned away he forsook him he abandoned him he we do not understand how deity can be abandoned but whatever it was that happened within the Godhead during those three horrible hours years that we have described as the most significant strategic period of time in all of human history what took place then was something indescribably horrible in that some kind of rupture that we do not have the ability to understand took place within the deity of the father the son and the holy spirit whereby Jesus cried out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me he was screaming out of his humanity and his deity coupled and God looked the other way

[45:48] God abandoned him and he abandoned him so he wouldn't have to abandon you do you get the picture this is as incredible as it gets he who knew no sin deity deity God creator sustainer became one of us that he might redeem us such a deal oh my goodness this is the deal of the universe the transaction of the universe and Paul presented himself as the apostle to the Gentiles that was a bitter pill for a lot to swallow and he knew that and as we read in that passage and let's return if we made a Galatians chapter 2 and I want to close with this and then we'll open it for some

[46:49] Q&A if you have any back to Colossians I'm sorry Galatians chapter 2 we've got a real situation developing here and this is this is just so critical to understand this because these people Paul and Peter and Barnabas these these were what we would call ordinary people they were not they were not super saints they were not some specially gifted people Paul made that quite clear when he wrote to the Corinthians that not many mighty are chosen among us God has chosen the base things the simple things of the world that he might confound the things that are and God doesn't God doesn't look around and see who is the most capable and who is the most talented and who is the most this and the most that because those who are the least are those who depend the most on him and that's what he wants the flesh the arm of flesh will fail you you dare not trust your own so here in

[48:00] Galatians chapter two and I'm just going to skip through this because this this deals with the justification by faith thing and and we read that well the issue develops regarding Peter and and this too is Peter caving in wouldn't you like to think that these men who were specifically chosen by God would be so virtuous and so strong and so capable and and that's why God chose no that's not why God chose him Peter was anything but that Peter Peter in in some respects Peter was a lovable guy and the things that I love about Peter I can see in myself and we've all got some Peter in us you know we I've I've often said every

[49:00] Christian has to one degree or another hypocrisy dwelling in his booms we all do we still have this thing called the flesh and and there are times let's admit it folks there are times when we drop the ball there are times when we cave in there are times when we freak out there are times when we give up there are times when we we're just being human and that's that's the problem we're human and this is what Paul is addressing here Cephas came to Antioch I posed him to his face because he stood condemned hmm what does he mean here Cephas is just another name for Peter he's talking about the apostle Peter when he came to Antioch Antioch is in Syria Antioch is where people were first called

[50:02] Christians Antioch is well over a hundred miles north and east of Jerusalem north and north and west of Jerusalem and Peter came from Jerusalem to Antioch and Paul says I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned in other words this is Paul the apostle who by the way listen listen this took some extra moxie and courage on the part of Paul because who was he he was a Johnny come lately to this thing and who was Peter Peter was deeply entrenched and had credibility and and positioned with the twelve for three years he was with Jesus Paul never was with Jesus while he was here on earth the only contact he had with him was from heaven the ascended Christ spoke to him on the Damascus road and he began giving him a series an abundance of revelations but he didn't have the record that Peter and James and John had the big three and here we've got this newbie if you will we've got this new raw recruit on the scene taking on head to head the old master

[51:19] Peter deeply entrenched already recognized as the chief of the apostles this is the guy to whom Jesus said I give unto you the keys of the kingdom wow he didn't say that to anybody else he said that to Peter Peter was the chief spokesman and Paul this Johnny come lately is calling him out that would take some extra moxie I would think and prior to the coming of certain men from James Peter used to eat with the Gentiles well why would he be doing that anyway well he'd already had his experience Peter had already gotten his education regarding God's interest in the Gentiles with the Cornelius thing remember Acts chapter 10 when he didn't want to go and then when he got there he told Cornelius you know how it is unlawful for a man who's a Jew to have anything to do like this with Gentiles I don't have any business being here and I don't mind telling you

[52:21] I'm nervous and I'm really scared and I don't know what this is all Peter can't believe this that's what that sheet let down from heaven was all about all of those animals clean and unclean animals in that vision they didn't represent animals at all they represented people they represented Gentiles wow what is going on this is the same Jesus that said don't go to the Gentiles confine your ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and now Peter goes to Gentile what's going on and do you know dear friends it is precisely this kind of thing that causes a lot of non believers to say well you know the

[53:25] Bible contradicts itself because here told them not to go to the Gentiles and here Peter told them to go to the Gentiles so you've got a Bible it's got all kinds of contradictions in it no it doesn't if you understand the book and if you make a serious study of it it isn't a contradiction it is an upgrade everybody who has a computer knows what an upgrade is it's a change or an improvement in the program so that the old program is set aside and a new improved program is brought on the scene and you know what this is called this is called progress this is why we say the Bible is a book of progressive revelation you you didn't expect humanity to remain in Genesis forever did you it is mankind unfolding developing growing changing and God is right along with them and God doesn't change but humanity changes goes through all kinds of transitions and God makes different requirements of humanity as humanity unfolds through the ages so this is why we insist that the

[54:40] Bible is a book of progression and development and unfolding so you've got the old that is set aside by the new and the apostle Paul comes in with the gospel of the grace of God that replaces the gospel of the kingdom so that that message is no longer preached except today they're probably more preaching the gospel of the kingdom than they are preaching the gospel of the grace of God and what do I base that on so much of the preaching is taken out of the four gospels and people feel like they are paying the greatest honor they can to God because they spend all their time in the gospels and the problem and the question and the issue is be like Jesus what was Jesus doing what was Jesus like in the gospels and they completely missed the vote and the reason they missed the vote is because Jesus in the gospels consists of 99% of Jesus before the cross and the

[55:51] Jesus before the cross did not give eternal life to anyone and the reason he didn't is because he hadn't paid for it yet and when he paid for it that provided a post cross Christ and this is exactly what Paul meant when he said we once knew Jesus after the flesh when he was here on this earth walked among us for three and a half years but now we don't know him that way any longer because now it's after the cross and now he has ascended he's the same person but by virtue of what he underwent on that cross he provided something entirely different that he did not have available to provide before he paid the price for it do you see the progression the development well in addition to that we pointed out that

[57:01] Paul admitted when he wrote to the Corinthians that his speech was contemptible that he was nothing to look at and you know what they were saying about Paul they were saying well he writes some pretty decent letters but when you listen to him and hear him in person he's not so hot and I don't think he was and he admitted that himself in 2 Corinthians I think it was chapter 10 and he says as much as though I'm not eloquent he says I don't have the ability to present these real persuasive arguments but I don't have the speech I'm not articulate I don't have the ability to spellbind audiences but I'll tell you what I do have I've got the content I've got the content and the content was Christ died for your sins and that through him you are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of

[58:07] Moses nobody nobody preached that message until Paul came along and the only reason he preached it was because the ascended Christ revealed it to him and told him to go proclaim that message wow 2,000 years ago and we haven't gotten over it yet and for the most part we haven't gotten into it either not as a mass of humanity only as a small number of humanity referred to as Christians and how many of them begin to understand the depth of what is involved precious few I wish I understood it a lot better than I do and you know something we haven't even scratched the scratch on the surface of this incredible truth my time is you've got three whole minutes who wants them anyone question comments okay here comes our mic man right there

[59:29] Marvis so what you're saying I want to make sure I understand what you're saying is that before Jesus died the way for people to be able to go to heaven would be to follow the law to follow the rules to do what you had to do to present the sacrifices or such but once he died that that administration or that plan changed and after that what we have to do is just believe that he did die for us and therefore we can go to heaven yeah okay I've confessed to you a number of times over the years and I will do so again I do not have nearly as clear a handle on salvation in the Old Testament and being acceptable to God as I do in the

[60:34] New the New makes it quite clear the Old is something different and it was not available salvation through Christ was simply not available before Christ paid that price and we need to understand the distinction there that is made and so far as Gentiles were concerned Paul reminds them in Ephesians chapter 2 when he says and I remind you Gentiles who you were and what you were before you came to faith in Christ and Paul was writing to these people that he had led to Christ before when he was on his missionary journey and he was in Ephesus and he won several people to Christ and now he's writing a letter back to them called the Ephesians and in chapter 2 he says I want you fellows there at Ephesus to recall what your situation was before you came to faith in Christ you were without God without hope in this present world that's pretty bad that was their status before they came to faith in

[61:36] Christ and I do not have I do not have the clearest understanding of what precisely was required for salvation in the Old Testament someone said that God revealed himself in different ways at different times and whatever it was that God required at the time that's what God required at the time and we know that the law and we saw this from some of the publications and the things that differ not the things that differ but two minutes with the Bible how that the law of Moses is so so radically misunderstood the law the law was never given so that you could keep it and by keeping it you found favor with God that was never the purpose of the law never was the law was given for by the law is the knowledge of sin the law is revealed to show you you can't do it no one can do it you want to know what it takes to be acceptable to God theoretically by keeping the law yeah you could become acceptable to God by keeping the law and I always say theoretically because in reality nobody can do that all you have to do is keep the law in all points consistently perfectly without any deviation do we have any takers of course not the law is designed to show you you can't do it would you give it give it up mr.

[63:15] stam also wrote a little gospel tract that is beautiful and it's called this if you keep trying you'll never succeed what yeah that's that's the truth if you keep trying to make yourself in and of yourself acceptable to God you'll never succeed you succeed only when you realize you fail and that Jesus has the antidote because he didn't fail and when you come to faith in Jesus Christ God baptizes you without H2O he baptizes you into the body of Christ and you become one with him you share in his death you share in his resurrection you share in his life you share in his eternity you share in his righteousness it's incredible incredible we are enriched in him and all things other comments or questions anyone okay up here oh my

[64:26] I envy these young legs just skirting along there so smoothly right I was playing some football with some teenagers last night my legs aren't as young as they used to be this passage in Galatians seems to me to coincide with the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 I think there's enough it seems to me anyway but I just want to get your thoughts on that do you think that's the case yeah I think it deals a lot with the same issues because that whole chapter was devoted to that special council that was held in Jerusalem and it was James who was the brother of our Lord that presided over that council and this is not James this is not James the son of or James the brother of John in fact he had already been martyred by

[65:26] Herod in Acts chapter 12 I think he'd already been put to death but this was James the Lord's half brother who by the way according to Mark chapter 3 James the Lord's half brother didn't even believe Jesus to be the Messiah until after the resurrection then he had no choice but to believe and he presided over that council in Jerusalem and the whole issue was okay it's great beginning with Cornelius a Gentile Centurion God fear and other Gentiles who came to faith in Christ that's wonderful but they've got to be circumcised they have to be circumcised it was tantamount to say in order to become right with God and accepted by him you not only have to believe in Christ you have to be physically circumcised and Paul says no no no no you don't if you add anything to the finished work of Christ then Christ's work was not finished there's something you have to do to finish it to make it complete that as I've said is blasphemy

[66:51] Jesus paid it all he didn't pay most of it and leave 1% for you to pay he paid it all the 1% that you would pay would have been a contaminated 1% and that would not be acceptable Jesus paid it all all to him I freely owe sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow wow other comments or questions feel free and by the way I want to make it clear I know some of you may be just a little shy and uncomfortable asking a question or making a comment in public I understand that I fully understand that because I well remember when that was exactly the way I felt you may find that hard to believe but I did and it would be very appropriate for anybody if you wanted to write out a question or a comment because I know some of you have burning questions and you don't want to ask them because you're afraid it will make you look maybe combative disagreeing or whatever and you don't want to appear that way or you don't want to put me in that does not bother me in the least

[68:10] I don't care if you disagree with me that doesn't bother me in the least but feel free to write out your questions or comments and you don't even have to sign them just drop them in the offering box and that way you'll probably get a better answer than you would if you ask it spontaneously anyway because sometimes when I give you something off the top of my head that sounds like that's where it came from and it's sometimes not a very good answer so if I have more time to think about it you probably get a better answer so before we dismiss is there anybody else that has anything that'd like to share okay all the way in the back I think God whatever time it was wanted you to believe him and I think when people believed God in the Old Testament before the cross and the substitution death that God made that like a down payment until he could tell them the real thing

[69:14] I assume he did that after the cross and led the souls and showed him what he did and they all rejoiced and they're in heaven I think you're right I couldn't agree more Roger I think you know and the classic example of that is Genesis 15 6 where the Lord made these promises to Abraham and the text says and Abraham believed God and it it what was it Abraham's belief Abraham believed God and it was counted to him that is to Abraham it was put to his account like in a bookkeeping apparatus where you've got liabilities and assets and this was put to Abraham's account in the asset column that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him Abraham for righteousness which is saying

[70:20] Abraham didn't have the righteousness of his own that God would accept so what God said is that this is amazing this is the gospel of the grace of God in the Old Testament Abraham God said to Abraham Abraham even though you are as contaminated morally and spiritually as everyone else you know Abraham was probably a moon worshipper from Ur of the Chaldees and God says you were as lost as anyone else but because you have put your faith in me instead of in yourself it I will count that on your account as righteousness that you don't have and I will count your faith as righteousness and put it to your account that is that is a gracious gracious God wow before we dismiss is there another comment or question anyone all right would you stand we'll be dismissed our father once again we have looked at this issue of grace in a way that has to be wholly inadequate because there are none among us who can adequately express the awesome depth and power and love that is built into the grace that you make available and we are so grateful for it to the slight extent that we do understand it it causes us to hold you in greater esteem and greater love and greater devotion and we trust that it will increase our desire to please you and serve you and love you and love you by loving others as well thank you for these dear folks who are with us this morning and thank you for those who are listening by way of electronics we are grateful for their presence we trust that you will bless us as a local body of Christ and that your blessing as well will rest upon other assemblies like ours throughout the country who are devoting themselves to loving and serving you should there be anyone listening who's never made their peace with you through embracing our Lord

[72:59] Jesus Christ we pray that in your grace you will provide for them no rest and no peace until they find it and the only one who can give it in and through our Lord Jesus Christ in his name we pray amen God bless you thank you for coming please avoid contact maintain your social distancing if you must bump elbows do so but let's have no hugs and no handshakes thank you