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[0:00] I do appreciate your presence this morning. Thank you for joining with us and let's look to the Lord, shall we? Father, we are grateful for a beautiful day that you've given us. Thank you for the sunshine, the season of the year, and for being a testimony to your ongoing faithfulness.

[0:15] We ask now this morning hour, as we engage the material before us, that you will provide an enlightenment and an understanding that will give us a greater appreciation for this tremendously involved and complicated first century that we are engaging now.

[0:34] We ask for enlightenment from yourself and for understanding as we engage the text. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. We have been dealing with the issue of transition in the book of Acts, and we have broken this down, or at least attempted to break it down, into two different segments.

[0:57] This one is referred to as prophecy, and for way of a title, if you're looking for a title, today I would call this transition within prophecy.

[1:09] And later we'll be looking at a transition within mystery. Now to a lot of people, both of those words are a mystery, but we trust that we'll be able to explain what is involved because it is very key and critical to understanding the plan and program of God.

[1:30] A transition automatically speaks of movement. It is something from something to something. Whether it is transporting or transmission or whatever, or transcontinental, it always involves an openness of something going from something to something.

[1:52] And it is so with the transition that is in the book of Acts. And this single issue is what makes this book so controversial and so complicated.

[2:05] And it is from passages in the book of Acts that do not take into consideration the development of doctrine, the movement of doctrine, the transition of doctrine, that enables some to zero in and focus on a particular verse of Scripture or passage of Scripture and build their whole theology upon it.

[2:28] And this, by the way, is principally what has happened with our Pentecostal friends. They zero in on Acts 2.38 and the speaking in tongues and the repent and be baptized, and they automatically assume that's what our message is supposed to be today.

[2:47] And when you suggest that the message has changed, they usually come back with, but God never changes. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, which is true.

[2:58] But God's methodology has changed and does change. And the best example of that is the sweeping change between the animal sacrifice and no sacrifice.

[3:11] That in and of itself ought to be an eye-opener to some people. So while you're turning to Acts chapter 19, we will engage the situation that we're going to be dealing with this morning, and we will call this prophecy or transition within prophecy.

[3:26] Because there is a transition that is taking place. Even within prophecy, there's a transition, and there's a transition in mystery as well.

[3:38] And when you consider that this book that we are studying encompasses about three decades of developing material, and it is not an exaggeration to say this is the most critical and confusing century in the history of Christianity.

[4:05] Christianity. And I say that without equivocation. This is the most complex, most critical, most important century in Christendom, is this first century.

[4:18] And our Lord, of course, is right in the center of it. And it is because we've got doctrine that is developing and unfolding and changing and moving. If you zero in on anything but the end, you're going to arrive at some wrong conclusions.

[4:36] And the faulty conclusions and faulty assumptions is what we're talking about largely with the Christianity clarified. And by the way, there's some new ones over there that are available in the 50s if you're interested.

[4:49] So, we've got an excellent example now in Acts chapter 19 where the Apostle Paul is at Ephesus. And I want you to recall that he is on his third missionary journey.

[5:05] And what we are talking about in the book of Acts here in chapter 19 is between 15 and 18 years after the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.

[5:24] And yet, this controversy is still going on after all these years. And you wonder, why? What's going on? And here is a really big item to keep in mind.

[5:36] Big item. It is generally assumed by many that with Israel's rejecting of Christ that ended in his crucifixion, that was God's final offer to Israel.

[5:52] And their answer was, no. We'll not have this man to reign over us. And so many in Christendom see that. That as Israel's final answer and as Israel's final opportunity.

[6:08] And building on that then, when you come to Acts chapter 2 and the day of Pentecost and a whole new thing is happening, it is easy to make the assumption that God is finished with Israel and now this is the church.

[6:25] And here is the birthday of the church in Acts chapter 2. And I can easily understand how people make that conclusion. And as I mentioned, had we lived back when they did 2,000 years ago and looked at all of this material, we very well may have come to the same conclusion as they.

[6:46] But that would not have made it right. So you've got to keep in mind this tremendous time span that is taking place and the items that are developing. And as we look at Acts chapter 19, we see Paul at Ephesus, and this is many years later, came about that while Apollos was at Corinth.

[7:06] Now, maybe we ought to just go back a little bit about Apollos because he's key here too. So let's look at... I hadn't planned to do this, but since we introduced Apollos...

[7:25] Oh, come on, Apollos, pop your head. 1824? 18? 1824.

[7:38] You're right. Yeah, thank you. It was closer than I thought. Okay, let's just look... Let's just pick up on Apollos just a moment. Verse 23. Having spent some time there, he departed, passed successfully through the Galatian region, Phrygius, strengthening all the churches.

[7:53] Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, that's Egypt of course, an eloquent man came to Ephesus, and he was mighty in the scriptures.

[8:05] And bear in mind, the scriptures in which he was mighty was limited to the Old Testament. That's all that existed at this time. This man 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.

[8:29] Does that suggest anything to you? Right off the bat, it should tell us that there's something about this man's understanding that is not complete.

[8:41] He's coming up short. He is eloquent with the scriptures, and he is powerful in his speech, but there's something lacking in his message. Something that he doesn't understand.

[8:53] He was acquainted only with the baptism of John. 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.

[9:11] What do you think that consisted of? What do you think it was that he was short on? I think he was short on the whole sphere of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

[9:24] He has got a pre-cross message limited to the baptism of John. And John preached his message, of course, prior to, three years prior to the crucifixion of Christ, and that message never went out of vogue.

[9:39] Even after the crucifixion, the message that John was preaching to Israel, which was repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that message was still in force.

[9:55] It did not cease with the crucifixion of Christ. And what we have in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, is Peter calling his Jewish countrymen into account for having crucified, or being complicit in the crucifixion of Christ, and that the kingdom that Christ came to offer remains available to Israel.

[10:24] Now, Israel, now what is your answer? And the answer from 3,000 was yes, we'll buy that. And they believed Peter's message.

[10:37] They were baptized with John's baptism, the only baptism anybody knew. And these became the element of the, what we would call the Jewish church, or the Jewish assembly.

[10:53] But not to be confused with the body church that Paul is going to be talking about in Ephesians 3, because the principal difference between these people on Pentecost is that they are all Jewish.

[11:11] Every last one of them was a Jew. You couldn't even get into this feast or into the temple if you were not a Jew. They were all Jews. But what Paul is going to announce is that Jew and Gentile in one single body called the church, which is his body.

[11:32] That was totally unheard of. That's what's happening in the book of Acts. So, when we come down then to chapter 19, came about, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, found some disciples.

[11:53] And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.

[12:04] And he said to them, Into what then were you baptized? And they said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.

[12:22] And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

[12:36] And they were in all about twelve men. Now, the question that surfaces from this is, is Paul re-baptizing these people?

[12:49] If they had already been baptized with John's baptism, what's taking place here? Is he re-baptizing them? And when the question was asked last week, it's a very common question to come from this particular passage because it is terribly misleading.

[13:09] And the problem lies in the translation that is before us. And I want you to go back over it, if you would, please. And let's begin with verse two and see how this develops because it is an erroneous translation.

[13:22] And we'll give you another example in Ephesians 1 of the same principle. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They said to him, No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.

[13:35] Well, now, to any Jew in the first century, that would be an absolute incongruous statement because they were fully familiar with the Holy Spirit. They were not familiar with the latest office or what the Holy Spirit was doing.

[13:48] And I am confident that what they are saying here is we have not heard that the Holy Spirit has been involved in anything that you're talking about, this baptism that you're talking about.

[14:01] And they are not saying, Beats us. We don't even know that there is a Holy Spirit. That's not what they're saying at all.

[14:12] And if you've got other translations, it makes it a lot clearer. But we'll just have to press on here. What John is saying, or what Paul is saying, when he asks them the question, Into what then were you baptized?

[14:30] And they said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.

[14:46] And when they heard this, now the question is, who are the they here? The they are not the people that Paul is addressing.

[15:01] The they are the people that John was addressing when he was preaching his gospel about baptizing and believing in the coming kingdom.

[15:12] So, all of this is resolved by knowing who is speaking to whom. And therein lies the difference. Because the way this is read makes all the difference in the world.

[15:25] And let me see if I can phrase this in a different way. Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.

[15:39] And when they heard John say that, the people to whom John was speaking were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

[15:50] Do you see the distinction? Marie? Does it help to put quotes that then said Paul, quote, John, and it ends that...

[16:02] You're right. You're right. You're right. Quotes would help. Quotes would help a lot. It depends on who is saying this. And the way you read it makes all the difference in the world. Better translations render it in the correct way.

[16:14] And when they heard this, and the they, not the people to whom Paul is speaking, but Paul is saying that the people to whom John was speaking, when they heard John say that, that they should believe in him who was coming after him, who's the him?

[16:35] That's John. John the Baptist. And he's saying he who comes after me is mightier than I. Well, this is the same him and the same John. And when they heard this, that is, those to whom John was speaking, not those to whom Paul is speaking, when they, the people that John was speaking to, heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

[16:59] And then, back to Paul. And then, when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

[17:11] Now, these people had already been baptized. They were baptized in the John's baptism. So, the audience that John, that the audience that Paul is talking to is completely different than the audience that John the Baptist was talking to years earlier.

[17:27] Do you see what I'm saying? You follow me? And if you don't, let me know and we'll try more to clarify it. Marvis. So, so, the people that John the Baptist were baptizing, what you're saying is when, when those people heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

[17:54] By John. By John. Yeah. But, when John did baptize him, did he say, you are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus? I mean, did they know who Jesus was at that point?

[18:05] Sure they did. Sure they did. Yeah. In fact, that's why they were baptized in his name. And this is why John said, I indeed baptize you with water, but he who is coming after me is greater than me.

[18:19] He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. And that's the one in whom they were to believe. Yeah, but he comes after me doesn't necessarily tell you who he is that comes after me.

[18:31] Well, yes it does because John says he who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. That has to be Jesus. Yeah, it does, but those people there, how did they know that that was the one coming after John is my question.

[18:47] Well, I think John preached that the Messiah was coming and then he introduced him, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and then he baptized him. I can't remember exactly, but when he saw Jesus coming and he said the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, did that happen before he baptized?

[19:04] What happened before those people were baptized by John then? I don't know. All I know is that John had his ministry of baptism and repentance going full speed before Christ ever came on the scene.

[19:18] Yeah. And when he did, then he recognized Christ as the one who was to come after him whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear, et cetera, et cetera. Yes, John. Okay, verse 5, and when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of Jesus.

[19:35] Yeah. So, John baptized them about Jesus, the king of the kingdom.

[19:50] Were they baptized into the kingdom? Well, they were baptized with John's baptism, the baptism unto repentance for the remission of sins.

[20:01] And it was in anticipation of the kingdom. Of the kingdom. It was because the kingdom is at hand. You need to get ready and prepare yourselves spiritually for it. So they, okay, they weren't baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection.

[20:18] No, no, not at all. They were baptized with the baptism of John, and that was it. And it was all in anticipation of this coming kingdom. That's what that was all about.

[20:28] That was John's message, and that was Jesus' message when he called the twelve. Go, and he said, limit yourself to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

[20:39] Don't go to the Gentiles, don't go to the Samaritans, go strictly to the Jew. Why? Because the message of the kingdom was for Israel. And the idea was Israel was to accept the message and accept the Messiah, and then Israel would be the spearhead nation for reaching the rest of the world.

[21:04] But Israel was not cooperative. They rejected the message, and they rejected the Messiah. And that put everything on hold. And fellas, gals, the kingdom is still on hold.

[21:20] It has never come to pass. The kingdom of heaven has never come to earth. One day it shall, and it shall when the king comes and brings it.

[21:31] But right now, this is not the kingdom. This is called the church age, and it is the dispensation of the grace of God. It is sandwiched in between John's message and Paul's message.

[21:48] And that's where we are. We are in that parenthesis right now. We are part of it. And when this parenthesis is finished, we're removed.

[21:58] We're taken out. And guess what resumes? Right back on the front burner comes the kingdom of heaven coming to earth. And the church is entirely different.

[22:09] So, what I'm saying, and maybe it would help, if you look at verse 5, and when they heard this, the they is not the people to whom Paul was speaking.

[22:22] The they are the people to whom John the Baptist was speaking. And then, when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

[22:35] What we've got here in verse 6 is nothing more than the repetition of the day of Pentecost on a much smaller scale.

[22:47] Because on the day of Pentecost, there were thousands of people there. 3,000 responded. How many have we got here? Just 12. Just a dozen. But what are they going to do?

[22:59] The text says they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. And the speaking in tongues means literal languages. This wasn't gibberish. And it wasn't some kind of spiritual religious language.

[23:12] It was literal language. But it was language that these people did not normally know. Just like on the day of Pentecost. So what Paul is doing here is literally bringing these people up to speed with what was going on.

[23:30] And when Paul laid his hands on them, he acted, I don't know how else to take this, he acted much in the capacity as did Peter when he preached that Pentecostal message and the Spirit of God came upon them and they spoke in other tongues.

[23:48] And Paul is using his apostolic authority here to provide the same kind of phenomena for these people, these 12. And then we do not have a situation of re-baptizing.

[24:05] they aren't being baptized over again. But what they are receiving is what they didn't have earlier. And that was the endowment of the Holy Spirit with power, which is what Pentecost was all about for them.

[24:21] Jesus said, you remain in Jerusalem until you are endued with power not many days hence. And we know that to be 10 days.

[24:32] And the day of Pentecost came. And when it did, the Spirit of God descended on them, the 3,000 that believed and were baptized, were spiritually enlightened and energized.

[24:45] And what they were enlightened and energized to was the fact that Jesus of Nazareth really was the Messiah. Israel was complicit in his crucifixion.

[24:59] God raised him from the dead. That's our message. church. And that's what they began preaching. And the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ became paramount in the ministry of the 12 apostles.

[25:14] But they were not preaching what we would call church truth. They were not preaching Jew to Gentile. These are all Jews. Listen. Listen. The day of Pentecost happened only 10 days after Jesus ascended.

[25:35] And there will not be one single non-Jew, not one single Gentile that we know of who will come to faith in Jesus for almost 10 years.

[25:53] Let that sink down into your mind. That is important. We've got 10 years in the book of Acts, totally, exclusively Jewish, no Gentiles involved at all.

[26:10] And the message remains the same message that Jesus was preaching. repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[26:21] And there was an added dimension to it, and that is the resurrection of Christ from the dead. And this is what Paul was talking about in Acts chapter 3. Come back quickly, if you will, to Acts chapter 3.

[26:35] Very early on. This is a miniature kind of Pentecost. This is right after Pentecost, shortly after. This is in healing with the man who was born lame, laid at this gate, beautiful, and this was his begging spot.

[26:52] And when he was healed miraculously, it drew a big crowd, and people were running in and asking what's going on, all this other stuff. And we begin reading in verse 17 of Acts chapter 3, where Peter says, Now brethren, and he calls them brethren because they are Jews, fellow Jewish brethren, I know you acted in ignorance just as your rulers did also.

[27:17] But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ should suffer, he is fulfilled. Repent therefore.

[27:29] Now what's the therefore therefore? They are to repent because God has done his part. And that is he provided Jesus and we crucified him, but God raised him from the dead.

[27:47] And you people need to change your mind. You need to get your act together. You need to come up to speed. The things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ should suffer, he has fulfilled.

[28:03] Now it's time for you to do your part, Israel. How many times have I told you? Two things necessary for the kingdom of heaven to come to earth. The first is Christ has to pay the price of the purchase.

[28:18] He did that. He did that. God provided Christ, so God has done his part. Israel, the ball is in your court.

[28:29] What are you going to do? You need to repent, you need to change your mind from your inaccurate, wrongful estimation about Jesus of Nazareth, who he was and why he came and why it matters.

[28:43] You need to change your mind about him and embrace him as your Messiah and Savior and if you do, God will send him back. Well, now wait a minute.

[28:55] He's only been gone a couple of months, but look at what the text says. Verse 19, Repent therefore, return, that your sins may be wiped away in order that times are refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you.

[29:12] Well, he already sent him once, yes, and they crucified him. And if you will reverse yourself and embrace him as you previously rejected him, God will send him back to finish the job and bring the kingdom.

[29:29] And Israel will remain in a negative mood. whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things.

[29:41] What's that? That's the kingdom. That's the restoration of all things. So, let's get back to our text now. I want to show you another passage. Let's go to Ephesians 1 because it's an excellent example of what we're talking about in the time frame here.

[29:59] Ephesians chapter 1. 1. And you can see how faulty conclusions are reached all over the place. And people build doctrine on them. And once it gets into a doctrinal statement, it is like it is cast in stone.

[30:15] Ephesians chapter 1. And this too is one that has led some dear people astray. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

[30:25] Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, let's see. What am I looking for? I'm reading from the, I've got a New American Standard here, and I was reading earlier from the King James.

[30:50] In verse, chapter 1 of Ephesians, in verse 12, verse 11, also we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose who works all, to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that we who were the first as hope in Christ should be the praise of his glory.

[31:09] In him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed with him with the Holy Spirit of promise.

[31:23] Who has a King James Version here? Susan, would you read the King James Version, what it says there? All three verses. In verse 13. Okay. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

[31:40] In whom also... Okay. Now, is that the King James, or is that the New King James? No, it's the King James. In verse 13, we've got, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise.

[31:59] How this is interpreted by... Well, I don't know about... About Pentecostals, I'm not sure.

[32:12] But I know there... In the Armenian church, there are two large factions. Well, there's more than two, but... The Pentecostal and the holiness. And the Pentecostals are those who insist that speaking in tongues is a sign that you have received the Spirit, and they base that on Ephesians 2.

[32:29] But the holiness denomination believes that there is a second work of grace, and the second work of grace is your sanctification.

[32:41] And when you believe on Christ, you receive the first work of grace. But when you are sanctified, you receive the second work of grace. And the idea is that you do not receive the Holy Spirit when you believe in the first work.

[32:58] You have to have the second work. And that is obtained by prayer and by asking God and by dedicating yourself and so on. So it's something that adds to your salvation.

[33:10] But the text here reads the same way, and the problem is the same as it was in Acts 19. When here the translation is in verse 13, When were you sealed?

[33:38] You were sealed. You were sealed when you believed. You were sealed when you put your faith and trust in Christ. In fact, there were 33 things simultaneously that happened to you the moment you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

[33:58] And most people are not aware of them even years later. It isn't something that is felt. It isn't something that is all that obvious.

[34:11] But there are 33 different things that God has done and made true of you the moment you put your faith and trust in Christ.

[34:22] Would you like to have a copy of those 33 things? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'll bring a printout of them next week and the scriptures to go with them.

[34:33] And it's quite remarkable. But here Paul is making clear that the work of grace is a complete work. In other words, when you receive Christ as your Savior, He constitutes the whole package.

[34:52] There's nothing to be added later. It isn't Christ plus anything. It is Christ. And when you have Him, you have everything God has to give all wrapped up in this person.

[35:08] There is no spiritual reality that is left unavailable to you. Everything is vested in the person of Christ.

[35:19] And when you have Christ, God has nothing more He can give you or do for you. That is as complete a package as it can possibly be. So here, the point is, the sealing is commensurate with the believing.

[35:37] It isn't something that is added later. There is no second work of grace. The first work of grace is the only work of grace. And it is quite adequate.

[35:50] Because God has left nothing undone as regards that. Other questions or comments? I've got to make sure we have some time for them. Gary. If it's not too late, I've got the King James Version in my phone if you want me to read that.

[36:04] Okay. Go ahead. It says, Yeah.

[36:19] Yeah. After that is the problem. And the way it reads here in the New American Standard is, In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him.

[36:39] When? When you believed. You were sealed. You were anointed. You were forgiven. You were everything. All of those 33 things and probably some others that we can't even think of.

[36:51] So, thank you. I appreciate that. Anything else? Yes, Marvin. The folks that believe you have to have this second work of grace or whatever before you get the Holy Spirit and all that, where do they get that?

[37:03] Because I'm thinking, if I come across somebody who says, Well, you know. Well, this is one place that they get it, from that old King James Version, that the second work of grace follows at some time after.

[37:18] Yeah, the second work of grace. And along with that, by the way, along with the second work of grace, part and parcel of it, at least for most of those of the holiness persuasion, and they get this from Paul's testimony in Romans chapter 6, that with the second work of grace, that with the second work of grace comes the eradication of your old sin nature.

[37:51] So, once you have the second work of grace, they believe you are sanctified wholly, that means you are no longer able to sin.

[38:02] This is a sinless perfection type thing. And are these people serious about this? Are they sincere? Absolutely. I believe they believe it in good faith.

[38:14] Now, we've learned a number of times that believing something in good faith does not make it so. No matter how much you want it to be so, if it isn't true, it isn't true.

[38:25] It doesn't make any difference who believes it. But these dear people, I'm sure, have struggled with their old sin nature. We all do. We all do. Your old sin nature rears up its ugly head any time you say something you shouldn't say, think something you shouldn't think, or do something you shouldn't do.

[38:45] That's the old nature. That's the old Adam. And it's alive and well in every one of us. And if you've had this second work of grace, as these folks believe, then the capacity to sin is removed from you.

[39:02] And you no longer sin. Now, here comes the caveat. You may make mistakes. You may have your faults. You may have your weaknesses.

[39:16] You may exercise poor judgment. But you don't sin. And what they base that on, in part, is that those who are true believers, in whom the Spirit of God dwells, he does not sin.

[39:34] Well, the Spirit does not sin. The new nature that is within us, he does not sin. The old nature is alive and well.

[39:45] And the old nature and the new nature conflict. They are at each other. Each one wants to rule the roost.

[39:56] And I never forget that old adage that Dr. Wilson told years and years ago when he would go to the Indian tribes out in Arizona and preach for a couple of weeks each Sunday.

[40:12] And he preached on Romans 6 and Romans 7. And Paul says, Paul says, I don't understand this thing. What's going on with me? Oh, wretched man that I am. The things that I would do, that's not what I do.

[40:27] And the things that I wouldn't do, that's what I do do. What's going on anyway? What's wrong with me? And he said, It is sin, the sin nature that dwells within me. And we are to yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

[40:42] And what of our members? Your members are the things you use to sin with. Your eyes, your ears, your feet, your arms, your hands. Those are the things we sin with.

[40:53] And we are to yield our members of instruments of righteousness unto God. And you know what? You can do that. God is not going to demand something from you that you cannot fulfill.

[41:06] God is not going to say, yield, surrender, and you say, well, gee, I really wish I could, but I can't. That's just beyond me. Baloney. It's an act of the will.

[41:19] And when he was preaching, he said, one of these elderly Indians walked up to him and said, I know what you're talking about, Dr. Wilson. He says, he said, I have, I have two dogs.

[41:32] I have two dogs in me. And Dr. Wilson said, two dogs? And he says, yes. He said, I have a white dog and a black dog.

[41:43] And the black dog is sin. And the white dog is good. And they fight. And they argue all the time. They want to rule everything.

[41:55] And Dr. Wilson said, so which one wins? And he said, the one to whom I say, sick him. He's the one that wins.

[42:06] You know what that is? That's nothing more than submitting your will as an act of your will. And the idea that we can live a sinless life should be put to rest by the simple fact that even those who seriously believe that still die.

[42:27] They still die of physical death. Why? Because the wages of sin is death. And that is true for believers as well in so far as your physical body is concerned.

[42:43] Because you in your spirit have been redeemed, but your body is not redeemed. The application of it has not been realized.

[42:56] And this is what Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 8 when he says, The creation, For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

[43:14] For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption, into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

[43:34] For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit.

[43:48] What's that? That's the Spirit of God that came to dwell in you when you received Christ as your Savior. He regenerated you and made you new on the inside, and he didn't do a thing to the body.

[44:03] Physical body is not changed at all. That's why it's still going to die. And then he goes on and says in verse 23, Not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves.

[44:21] Why? Waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons. To wit, the redemption of our body. Think of that.

[44:32] We're going to trade these bodies in. These bodies are not fit for heaven. They have been fully paid for in the redemptive work of Christ.

[44:45] But that payment has not been applied to our total being. It has only been applied to our spirit part. That's what was regenerated.

[44:57] And when we die, that regenerated spirit leaves our body and goes to be with the Lord. And the body goes to the grave. Waiting the resurrection.

[45:08] And that's when then this corruptible will put on incorruption. This mortal will put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass the saying, Death is swallowed up in victory.

[45:26] Well, let me tell you. Death isn't swallowed up in victory now. Death swallows us up, doesn't it? Death swallows us up.

[45:39] But it can only swallow our body. Can't touch our spirit. And that's the part that has already received the application of the work of Christ in regeneration.

[45:51] And the time is coming when these two are going to be put together. And it will be a glorious, resurrected, glorified body. Kind of body Jesus had when he came out of that tomb.

[46:05] Incredible. I can hardly wait. I'm going to do something. Other comments or questions? Anyone? Yes, Roger? Having come out of that, Marvis, out of that tradition, having been raised in that tradition, I understand quite a bit of some of the argument.

[46:29] And there is the argument of eradication. Largely, it comes from, I would point you to Wesley's, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection. The Wesleyanism is what has influenced so much of that arm of the church.

[46:46] And so that's where the arguments start to come from 1 John about we can't sin because anyone in Christ can't sin.

[47:05] That kind of thing. But the eradication of the old nature, you start looking for verses to uphold that and pull them out of their context or out of the overall meaning and to build the argument for it.

[47:21] It's attractive. Who wouldn't want to do that? And it's, what, the biggest blessing to me, though, when I think about that, isn't the idea that, oh, well, you've left that tradition, you're in great shape.

[47:38] the biggest blessing to me is how God used a man like Wesley to save so many people, even though on one end, he's really goofed up.

[47:50] Yeah. Yeah, well. And Martin Luther, so many folks. Yep. God uses flawed vessels because they're the only kind he's got.

[48:03] Cracked jars of clay, right? That's right. Absolutely. I'm thankful for that. I find great comfort. Well, I do. I do too. Boy, I'll tell you, I find great comfort in that, that, that, well, someone once said, don't sell God short.

[48:23] If he can use Balaam's ass, he can use you. And I take comfort in that too, you know, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

[48:35] And that's a wonderful condescension on the part of God that he is willing to offer us a part, to give us a role to play in this great scheme of redemption that he has worked out.

[48:55] And it's an incredible privilege to simply be able to proclaim it. To be a recipient of it and then to be able to proclaim it. It's the best good news that this world has ever heard or ever will hear.

[49:09] Well, our time is gone. Thank you so much for your kind attention. And we will continue this next week. And I think I've got an illustration that will help reveal the transition, perhaps better than what I could explain it this morning.

[49:21]  So, thank you again for being here.