NoCovButGrace

[0:00] We are continuing during, I guess you would call this a hiatus or kind of a break time. I want to remind you that we still intend to undertake our exposition of the letter to the Hebrews.

[0:16] And I can promise you some real eye-popping content that will surface in that. We'll be getting that underway probably within the next couple of weeks. A lot of it has to do with how thoroughly we are able to leave this material that we're talking about now behind us.

[0:33] And we still have put on hold a subject that we want to open for discussion. And that is how we make a distinction between stepping out in faith and trusting the Lord for something as opposed to presuming upon God for something.

[0:51] And there is a huge difference between the two. One is an honorable act that pleases the Lord. And the other is an act of the flesh that tempts the Lord.

[1:02] And he has nothing to do with that. So we'll try to make that distinction. And we'll be dependent upon your input and your contributions to that as well. So for this interim time that is rather brief, we are considering a concept that...

[1:17] I don't know how else to characterize it other than to say it represents something that is radically different in many respects from what we have all learned.

[1:31] And when I say all, I'm talking about myself as well. Because we are looking at the distinctions between what is commonly referred to as the Old and New Testament.

[1:41] And even though I'm going to make some statements that will, I trust, clarify those concepts and the illegitimacy of those concepts, nonetheless, we will still continue to use them because they are principal vehicles of communication when we say the Old Testament and the New Testament.

[2:02] But that is something that I don't have any hopes of ever changing any more than we would be able to change the concept of the word Easter into Resurrection Sunday.

[2:19] Everybody's still going to refer to it as Easter even though it's a bad term and it is based upon a pagan deity. Easter. Easter. Mentioned one time in the New Testament in the book of Acts.

[2:32] And even there it's mistranslated. It shouldn't be Easter at all. It should be Passover. But we use the term Easter even though it's incorrect because it communicates and people understand what you're talking about.

[2:45] So what we are saying now regarding the Old and New Testament, and I would remind you that we've already been there, so we won't go there again unless you want to. But the last book of what is commonly referred to as, and by the way, our term, the Old Testament, is pretty much a Western term that has been attached to it.

[3:10] The Jewish term is not so much the Old Testament at all. The Jewish term for this content is the law, the writings, and the prophets.

[3:23] That's the way they refer to them. That's the way Christ referred to them in the Gospels. And it has to do with those books commonly referred to as our Old Testament that go from Genesis to Malachi.

[3:42] And the Jews considered all of those books, which we number 39, they consider all of them to be the law, which was the first five books of Moses, also called the Torah, T-O-R-A-H.

[4:01] That's the Jewish term for the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, the Torah. That's the law. And then the writings consist of everything else after the law, apart from the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and the twelve minor prophets.

[4:23] So they had three categories. The law, the writings, and the prophets. And included in the writings was Judges, and Samuel, and Chronicles, and the Psalms, and all of those.

[4:38] They're classified as the writings. So there are three categories. The law, the writings, and the prophets. That comprises what we consider to be the Old Testament.

[4:49] For the Jew, that comprises the entirety of the Bible. That's their whole Bible. The whole thing. For the Jew. It consists only of what we call the Old Testament.

[5:03] They do not accept the New Testament as valid and being the Word of God at all. So therein lies the great demarcation between Jew and Christian.

[5:16] Now, what I am saying is, who says what we call the Old Testament is the Old Testament, and who says what we call the New Testament is the New Testament?

[5:33] Says who? Well, as you open your New Testament, before you even have what is called the Gospel according to Matthew, you probably have a cover page to that New Testament, that is much like mine, and here it says, New American Standard Bible, New Testament.

[6:05] You understand, do you not, that has nothing in it that relates to the inspiration of God? There is nowhere that this phrase, New Testament, has any biblical validity.

[6:25] It was put there by the printers, by the people who put this thing together. In the same way that as you look at your Bible, not all Bibles are like this, but a great many of them are, you will find all kinds of reference notes.

[6:43] Some in the center column, some in side columns, and these are cross-references that lead you to other passages that may relate to the same subject, and these are commonly referred to as reference Bibles.

[6:59] And in the back of the Bible, you may have a concordance, or an index of names that are listed. Understand, and I'm sure you do, nothing is inspired about those.

[7:12] None of the footnotes, none of the cross-references, none of those were ever put there by the original writers. The original writers' contribution is limited to the text of the Scriptures.

[7:25] And that's it. Everything else is man-made. Including, labeling this, that begins with Matthew, and ends with Revelation, labeling that, the New Testament, that is not from the Spirit of God, that's simply put in by the printers, and by the people who designated this, and decided to call this, the New Testament.

[7:51] Now, the reason that that is so important is because that is not the New Testament at all. It just isn't.

[8:03] And the reason it isn't is because what is commonly referred to as Testament ought not to be given that name at all.

[8:14] the name should be the name that is given in the Scriptures, and that is the word covenant. It's not Testament. Yes?

[8:25] My introduction is the New Covenant commonly called the New Testament. Okay. Covenant commonly called the New Testament, right? Yeah. I'll certainly buy that.

[8:36] And the idea is that the New Covenant of which Jeremiah speaks, and we've already looked at that in Jeremiah 31, and we saw it repeated and brought over from the Old Testament into the New in Hebrews chapter 8 last week.

[9:01] So, the writer of Hebrews is quoting that. And here's the point I want to make, and this is really, really important, guys. When Jesus instituted or made provision for the institution of the New Covenant, he did so on the night that he was betrayed.

[9:23] Okay? When he held that cup up and said, this cup is the New Covenant in my blood.

[9:35] He made the provision for the establishment of the New Covenant when he died on the cross. When he said, this cup is the New Covenant in my blood.

[9:49] He was going to be on that cross within hours after he said that. That death on the cross provided the basis for the New Covenant to come into play.

[10:07] and I think one of the significant things that was kind of like God's coup de gras for the passing of the Old Covenant was the tearing of that veil in the temple.

[10:22] Matthew, I think, is the only one that records it, but it is really significant. And you know, as you look at that, the veil in the temple, when Christ died on the cross, the veil in the temple was rent, torn in two, from the top to the bottom.

[10:37] Fellas, that is really significant. Because that veil was what separated God from the people.

[10:52] And behind that veil was the Ark of the Covenant and the most holy place, the most sacred place in all of Judaism. And this was the place where God told the Jews, you do not come into the most holy place where the Ark of the Covenant is, except once a year, and then it will be only the high priest, no one else, only the high priest, and he is not to come without blood.

[11:19] And he will have a blood sacrifice for himself, and for the sins of the people, and there I will meet with Israel, and this was once a year, and it was called Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

[11:35] It was a national thing for the whole of the people of Israel, and it gave them a pass for one more year. It gave them God's forgiveness for the national sins of Israel for one more year.

[11:52] And when that earthquake happened, and Christ died, and the veil in the temple was rent, in effect, I am satisfied that God, that was God's way of saying, I'm done with this.

[12:09] This is over. This is finished. No longer, no longer is this veil between man and God.

[12:20] Now, the way of access is open, and the one who opened it was Jesus Christ. And this is what the writer of Hebrews says when he says that Christ is the new and living way.

[12:39] His body is the veil. Wow! That is a quantum leap. And that means the Old Testament and all of its provisions and everything else in connection with the Old Testament, the sacrifices, the Sabbath, all of those things come to a screeching halt.

[13:03] It's over. It's done. It's finished with that. Now is time for the institution of the new covenant which Christ announced when he took that cup and which he provided the basis for when he died on that cross.

[13:25] Christ. This is Christ who has become the new and living way through the veil that is to say his flesh. Christ becomes the go-between between man and God and the veil is done away with.

[13:46] Christ himself becomes the go-between. This means we don't come to God through that veil as the Jew did and Gentiles never did. But now we come to God through the new and living way which is the person of Jesus Christ.

[14:03] Now here's the problem. Even though Christ provided the basis in his death for the establishment of that new covenant it has never come into force.

[14:22] It has never come into force. And what I base that on is this. When the old covenant was ratified it was ratified between two parties God and the nation of Israel.

[14:39] Please remember the old covenant the law of Moses was not imposed upon Israel. It was presented to Israel for their acceptance and approval.

[14:56] And Israel collectively said all that the Lord has said will we do. In other words we agree.

[15:07] We agree. Moses you go back up the mountain tell God he's got a deal. We'll be his people. He'll be our God. We'll sign on. Moses says okay. We got a deal.

[15:18] We're going to ratify it. He took animal blood sprinkled the animal blood on the books of the law and he sprinkled animal blood on the people with the hyssop branch.

[15:30] And what that did was ratify that covenant. It gave it stability and certainty and it put the people and God together in a way that they are forever after the chosen covenant people of God.

[15:48] A special entity, a peculiar people and all the rest of it. That was the ratification of the old covenant. and it remained in force all the time until the veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom.

[16:09] That was the end of the old covenant. Where is the old covenant now? It's defunct. It is defunct. It is inoperative.

[16:21] But, say you, the Jews still keep the Sabbath? Yes, they do. And the Jews still, at least the Orthodox, have a kosher diet. They don't eat pork.

[16:32] They don't eat certain seafood, etc. Yes, they do. But, what I'm saying is, they are still trying to operate under the law of Moses, and they do not realize and do not accept the idea at all that that's all kaput.

[16:49] That's all passe. And, at least the Orthodox feel very strongly about that. So, as far as they are concerned, they are still under the law. But, by the way, it obviously doesn't occur to them or it doesn't bother them that the very most central core of what comprised the Old Covenant is not realized by them anymore at all.

[17:18] And that is animal sacrifice. Fellas, the animal sacrifice thing, that was the big item in Judaism. That was the number one thing, that animal sacrifice.

[17:32] That was so critical that no respectable Jew would ever think for a moment of omitting the sacrifice. That's what Judaism was all about.

[17:43] It was a redemptive, a sacrificial system whereby an innocent died in the place of the guilty. And of course, they no longer practice that.

[17:55] So, the very core of what was Judaism has been gutted. It is even more defunct because their central thing is gone. And yet, as one Jewish rabbi told me when we were in Israel in 1990, that we replaced animal sacrifices with prayer.

[18:14] And I said, okay. But can you imagine, can you imagine a Jew, living in Old Testament times, going to the temple where he is supposed to bring his sacrifice to the priest, and the priest examines it, and then the priest slits the throat of the animal and applies the blood on the altar.

[18:36] Can you imagine a Jew coming to a rabbi in the Old Testament and saying, the rabbi says, well, where's your sacrifice? Where's the animal? Oh, well, I don't have an animal.

[18:47] I'm just going to pray. You've got to be kidding. They'd probably ride him out of there on a rail. That would be unthinkable. And yet, that's precisely what's going on today.

[18:59] So what I'm saying is that Judaism is defunct. The Old Testament is kaput. It is gone. God is finished with it. It is there for our benefit, for history, for our learning, for our knowledge, and there's tons and tons of application to be made to our lives found in principles that are spiritual and enduring throughout the Old Testament.

[19:23] But its demands are set aside. If that is the case, and I'm convinced that it is, and Jeremiah talks about this in 31, 31, we'll not go there, but we can if you want to, where Jeremiah says, 500 years before Christ was born, Jeremiah says, behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with Israel and with Judah, not like my covenant which they broke.

[20:02] What one's he talking about? He's talking about the Mosaic covenant, which they broke, they fractured repeatedly with their idolatry, and with their unbelief, and with their disobedience, and he says, I'm going to bring a new covenant, that's the covenant that Christ came to bring, that's the covenant that he laid the basis for when he died on the cross.

[20:25] Now the question is, when was that new covenant ever enacted? And the answer is, it wasn't.

[20:38] It isn't. It never has been. Why do we know that? covenant is an agreement between two parties.

[20:55] Okay? And when Christ died on the cross, it was his blood that ratified the covenant on his side.

[21:06] He is the party of the first part in that contract, in that covenant. who is the party of the second part? Israel!

[21:20] When did Israel sign on to the covenant? They never did. They never did. They still haven't.

[21:31] They don't even recognize it. They don't accept it as valid. God. We talk about the death of Christ establishing the new covenant. They say, well, he's not our Messiah.

[21:43] We're still looking for our Messiah to come the first time. Jesus of Nazareth, he's the Christian thing, but he's not the Jewish thing. We do not accept him as our Messiah.

[21:56] Israel remains, Romans 9, 10, and 11 explains, Israel remains in judicial blindness. They are set aside. They have never yet ratified or signed on to the new covenant for which Christ paid the price and laid the foundation for.

[22:16] So, Israel is still in the wings, waiting to be brought on to sign on to the new covenant.

[22:28] They will do that, but not until the great tribulation period, right before Christ returns, they will demand, they will pray for, they will look for his return.

[22:43] Remember, when Jesus, right before he went to the cross, right before he was arrested, he made this statement, Behold, Israel, your house is left unto you desolate, empty, void, and you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

[23:22] When will Israel say that? They'll say that during the tribulation period when their backs are to the wall and they are threatened with annihilation from the armies of the Antichrist.

[23:34] This is what we are studying at Grace on Sunday mornings. This is when Israel will sign on. And Zechariah 12.10 tells us when that time comes, Israel, the Jewish people, threatened with annihilation, threatened with permanent extinction, threatened with completing the job that Hitler began, they are going to look upon him, Jesus, whom they pierced, and they will mourn.

[24:07] What does that mourning indicate? The mourning indicates repentance, sorrow, regret, acknowledgement, and Israel collectively will then say, we were wrong.

[24:22] Our fathers were wrong. We rejected him. We said, we will not have this man to reign over us. Now, he is coming to rescue us.

[24:34] And, Jesus will go forth to fight for his people as in the days of old. And, it is just amazing. So, what I'm saying now is this. The Old Testament, it's gone.

[24:50] It's there for our benefit, for our history, for our learning, for our blessing, but it is not applicable to the Jew or to the Gentiles. And, in fact, it never has been given to the Gentiles.

[25:04] Never. The law of Moses was never given to the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylon, it was given to Israel. So, it's gone. It's set aside. It is defunct. The New Testament, although the basis for it has been laid, and although we as believers benefit from the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, by putting our faith and trust in the end for salvation, that new covenant has never yet been established because Israel has never completed their part of the deal.

[25:36] It's just like two parties get together in a lawyer's office to draw up this contract, and person A signs the contract, and it's put over to person B to sign it, and he looks at it and says, I'm not going to sign it.

[25:53] I'm not going to sign on. What happens to the contract? Nothing. It's just up in the air. It doesn't take effect until both parties sign on.

[26:05] And all I'm saying is, and this is something that I think Christendom in general has really missed, is that God has signed on to his part of the contract, and Israel remains unsigned.

[26:23] They will sign, but they haven't as of yet. Question or comment? It seems to me that the first covenant was between God and the nation, and the second covenant was between God and individuals, and when an individual accepts Christ, then that contract is ratified.

[26:44] But that's something for each individual is due by themselves. Okay, Joe? That's not the covenant. If we're missing individuals, that's mercy, that's the new program, that's the grace of the church, the body of Christ, which we are under.

[27:02] And, you know, you might call that a covenant, but that's not the covenant that you're talking about here. That's only between the Jews and God. We are not part of any covenant at all. That's just Jews and God, right?

[27:15] That's true, but it's a difficult concept for us to get a hold of because we just cannot conceive of there not being some covenant in force.

[27:27] But the point is that Joe just made as well. We are not a covenant people. We are not under the old covenant. We are not under the new covenant.

[27:38] We are not covenant at all. Well, then, what are we? We are an anomaly. We are what the Apostle Paul calls the mystery.

[27:49] This is Ephesians 3. We are the mystery. We are just something that has been dropped in seemingly out of nowhere that was in the heart and mind of God from the beginning, but was never revealed until the Apostle Paul came on the scene and declared it to be a mystery.

[28:07] And the big item about it, which is just staggering, the big item about it is that the Jew and the Gentile are together, one body, twain, making one new man, Jew and Gentile, for there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

[28:29] And the Jew and the Gentile is on the same plane. There is no distinction between them anymore. The middle wall of partition has been broken down. Wow! That is dynamic.

[28:42] Mark, can I read this for you? Okay. We are living now in the dispensation of the grace of God. Ephesians 3.2 God has concluded that both Jew and Gentile in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all.

[28:56] Romans 11.32 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10.12.13 Today's salvation is by grace and faith.

[29:07] It is the gift of God. Ephesians 2.8 and 9. Salvation isn't just trusting that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again. 1 Corinthians 15.3 4.

[29:19] Trusting this gospel of grace, we become members of the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12.27 7. We have a heavenly hope. Colossians 1.5 Today we are ambassadors for Christ set out by God to beseech anyone and everyone to be reconciled to God.

[29:39] Ephesians 3.9 is that the program that we are under today? That's the program we are under today and it wonder of wonders it is a program that makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile.

[29:55] if a Jew wants to be accepted by God, he must come through Jesus Christ who is the new and living way. And this is why we have Jewish people who have embraced Jesus as their Messiah and as their Savior and most of them do not refer to themselves as converted Jews.

[30:15] They refer to themselves as completed Jews. And that's exactly what they are. And we will see that surface time and again when we go through Hebrews verse by verse. This is this is fellas this is so enlightening to me.

[30:33] When I saw this when I saw this my initial reaction was well that can't be. That can't be. And you know why I was convinced that it couldn't be? Is because that was not what I've always believed.

[30:46] So therefore it can't be. Or that's not what I was always taught and therefore it can't be. But it is. And the distinction is so critical because in this age of grace this dispensation of grace this thing called this thing that Paul called the mystery which was not revealed in times past but now is made known through the apostles and prophets that which was hidden in the heart of God.

[31:18] in other words this is what God had in mind all along. But he never revealed it until Paul the apostle came along was converted on the road to Damascus.

[31:29] He was raised up to be the apostle to the Gentiles and he went to the Jew and to the Gentile and before to whom were they going? To the Jew exclusively.

[31:42] This is why this is why in Matthew 10 when Jesus called the twelve apostles he very specifically said and I can't believe I'm embarrassed to tell you how many times I read over this and just didn't pick up on it.

[31:59] And Jesus said to the twelve apostles don't go to the Gentiles. Don't go to the Gentiles. Don't go to the Samaritans.

[32:12] Confine your ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What in the world was that all? Didn't Jesus die for Gentiles too?

[32:23] Didn't God love Gentiles too? Of course he did. But the distinction that I made is Jesus didn't come to the world. He came to Israel for the world.

[32:37] He came to Israel for the world. And you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the world.

[32:50] But where does it have to begin? Israel. Jerusalem. Now the question I want to show, to raise for you right now, and this is I think pertains to the whole nine yards.

[33:03] when Jesus ascends in Acts chapter one, they ask him right before he was taken up from them, they said, Lord, is it at this time that you are going to restore the kingdom of Israel?

[33:22] In other words, they thought that the kingdom of God was going to come. They thought it was going to come when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey. They thought that the kingdom of God was going to come then.

[33:36] But what happened was his death, burial, and resurrection, and then forty days later, in Acts chapter one, they're standing on the Mount of Olives, and they ask Jesus, is it at this time, now, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

[33:54] That's the kingship. Where was the kingship? It was defunct. The last king that sat on the throne of Israel was Zedekiah, and that was hundreds of years ago. So they look forward to the reestablishment of the kingdom of Israel.

[34:09] Are you going to do it now? And Jesus said, it is not for you to know the times of the seasons which the Father has put in his own power, but you will receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world.

[34:27] And what were they supposed to be witnesses of? The coming of that kingdom. The promise of the kingdom. Same message that John preached, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[34:39] Same message. And yet, when you get as far as Acts chapter 8, years later, after the ascension, Peter and the twelve are still in Jerusalem, for crying out loud.

[35:01] What's that all about? Why are they still in Jerusalem? What happened to Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world? Why don't you guys get out of here and get to the rest of the world?

[35:16] What are you doing here in Jerusalem? And their answer is, quite frankly, we haven't succeeded in Jerusalem yet. we haven't gotten the Jewish people to sign on yet.

[35:31] Fellas, that's what Pentecost was all about. It was the fulfillment of the prophecy that Joel gave, what God was going to do this new thing with his people, and Peter preached and said, this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel.

[35:46] Wow. This is tremendous material. And what it does, instead of separating our Bible between Old Testament and New Testament, it separates our Bible between prophecy relating to Israel and everything in connection with prophecy, and the other part is mystery, that which is not revealed in prophecy, but was entirely new and was brought on very abruptly, seemingly out of nowhere.

[36:21] But that nowhere was the heart and mind of God. So we have two aspects to the Bible, not an Old Covenant and a New Covenant. We have prophecy and mystery.

[36:33] And the mystery was never prophesied. You will search in vain throughout the Old Testament to find any mention or promise regarding the church.

[36:45] Jew and Gentile blended together. It just isn't there. And it isn't supposed to be there. Joe? Prophecy is also an earthly program. It's an earthly program.

[36:56] The mystery is a heavenly program. Exactly. That's a big distinction. It's an earthly program, heavenly program. And the Jew is promised an earthly kingdom.

[37:08] When the kingdom of heaven comes to earth, then Christ will be ruling the reign. And this is what Jesus meant when he told the twelve apostles. And they said, hey, we've left everything.

[37:20] We've left our fishing business. We've left our families. We've left all of this stuff. In order to follow you, what's going to be the payoff? What are we going to realize from this?

[37:31] And Jesus said, verily I say unto you, you who have followed me, and the regeneration, that is, when things are regenerated, when everything is made new, you also will sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

[37:56] That was the promise that Christ made to the apostles. So this distinction, guys, is so critical. And I remember years ago, when I first saw this, my initial reaction was, you know, I just didn't buy it.

[38:10] I just didn't buy it. It didn't sit too well with me, because it was different from what I'd always heard. But I tried to keep an open mind about it, and the more I started seeing it, the more things began to fall into place, and the more things made sense, and the more dots got connected in my thinking regarding the plan and program of God, and it has been exhilarating, and to say the least, life-changing for me.

[38:40] Well, thank you for your kind attention. next week, next week we will continue on with our hiatus, and we will be talking about the issue that we were discussing earlier, about how can we make a distinction between venturing out on faith and trusting the Lord, as opposed to tempting the Lord with our presumption.

[39:03] So, we'll deal with that next week, and I'm looking forward to your contributions for some significant input. to our comments