Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.gracespringfield.com/sermons/40740/but-now-part-3/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] You are going to get the message that you were supposed to get last week, but that we did not get to. So, incredibly important material, and you will learn as we go through the content some of the things that separate Grace Bible Church from a number of other churches.

[0:24] And I want to make it very clear up front, we are not suggesting at all that we are people who have a corner on the truth and that everybody else is wrong.

[0:36] But we have come to appreciate some rather unique things that we believe are taught in Scripture, which by a great many are overlooked. And I speak from personal experience because I was one who overlooked them for about the first 15 years of my Christian experience before I came into a knowledge and an appreciation of the things that we are going to share with you this morning.

[1:03] And the first has to do with the fact that if you would turn, please, to Exodus chapter 19. Exodus chapter 19.

[1:16] We are going to try and build a case that would be very rapidly moving, but I trust will contain all of the necessary components that will allow you, when we come out on the other end, to say, it was good to have been here because now I understand a few things that I didn't understand before.

[1:37] And if that can be said as a result, then we will have gloriously succeeded and I will be tremendously appreciative. The first thing I want to point out is what we have here in Exodus chapter 19, which is right on the edge of the giving of the Ten Commandments and of the law of Moses.

[1:59] And we will begin reading with verse 1 of Exodus 19. In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

[2:12] And when they set out from Rephidim and came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness, and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel.

[2:31] Now, right at the outset, we need to understand the exclusiveness of the audience to whom this message is going to be given.

[2:42] There is no indication that God is going to tell Moses. And by the way, after you share this with the children of Israel, I want you also to go to Babylon and tell them about it, and then go to the Assyrians and tell them about it, and go to the Egyptians where you came from and tell them about it.

[3:03] None of that. This content, consisting of the old covenant, which is the law of Moses, which has to do with the dispensation or the administration of the nation of Israel, it is to them and to them exclusively.

[3:27] Only Israel was given the law, including the Ten Commandments. Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions, because we are not under law, we are under grace.

[3:40] That does not mean we are antinomian, does not mean that we are somehow against law, but we are against the law in the context in which many people think of it.

[3:52] We are against the law in that context of which the Apostle Paul was speaking. We are not under law, but under grace. This does not mean, as I've said, that we are lawless, because we have, in the body of Christ, we have a law of our own, which we will see when we get to Romans chapter 8.

[4:09] But it, too, is exclusively for the household of faith, for believers only. And we are told, beginning in verse 4, You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself.

[4:28] Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine.

[4:43] Again, note the built-in exclusivity to this, whereby the nation of Israel is being distinguished deliberately from all the other nations of the world.

[4:56] And let me just say this up front. The Jewish people, the nation of Israel, whether they believe it or not, whether they agree with it or not, whether they understand it or not, they do indeed constitute a strategic necessity in the plan and program of God and what he has designed and laid out.

[5:25] Much of Christendom, in fact, most of Christendom, do not believe that. And today, there are many Jews who do not believe that.

[5:39] But nonetheless, it is true. When Jesus said, in talking to the woman at the well, salvation is of the Jew, he was stating a very, very important fact.

[5:53] Despite the fact that this has resulted in a great deal of what we know as anti-Semitism and hatred of the Jew, that is misplaced and it is hatred that is born out of first ignorance and then arrogance.

[6:10] It is coming from the likes of which we saw with Hitler in World War II and his nonsensical belief about the Aryan super race and about there being a race of people that's superior to others and others are inferior.

[6:28] And the Jew was classified as somewhat less than bona fide human. All of this kind of nonsense is the type of reasoning that fallen man is able to arrive at with his skewed and warped intellect.

[6:43] And we are awash in it today and have been from Genesis 3. So I want you to note right up front that the Jew and the nation of Israel, they are absolutely irreplaceable in the plan and program of God.

[7:00] Someone might say this, Are you telling me then that God is dependent upon the Jew for the realization of his end game?

[7:15] That is exactly what I am saying. Whereas we do not tend to think of God as being dependent upon anyone or anything, But there are certain situations and certain areas in which God has voluntarily made himself dependent upon certain things.

[7:38] And this is one of them. God has obligated himself and he is unable and unwilling to go back on his word and all that he has promised.

[7:51] Despite the circumstances and the negativity that may exist in the interim, God is committed to fulfilling all that he has promised.

[8:01] His very integrity is at stake. And if you are going to say, Well, do you think that the Jew, the nation of Israel, Do you think that they are deserving of that kind of favor?

[8:16] Heavens, no. Of course they aren't. They proved their unworthiness before they even got out of the wilderness. It is not a question of who is worthy or unworthy.

[8:30] It is a question of what God has promised. That becomes the bottom line. And that's the thing that must ever be kept in mind. So, verse 6 says, You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and the holy nation.

[8:45] These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel. Again, there's that exclusivity surfacing. So, Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him.

[9:06] Now, understand, if you will, that God through Moses is giving the people of Israel a proposition. He's offering them a deal.

[9:18] And he's saying, if you will agree to these terms, then you will be my people, my peculiar people above all the nations of the earth, and I will be your God.

[9:29] What do you think? And Moses gave them the deal. And all the words which the Lord had commanded them.

[9:41] And verse 8 says, All the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken, we will do. Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.

[9:54] In other words, Moses went back up the mountain and said, I explained everything you said to the people. And they said, Sounds good to us.

[10:05] Let's do it. So, bottom line is, God, you've got a deal. So, the Lord says, All right, we'll get on with it then.

[10:17] I'll come to you in a thick cloud in order that the people may hear when I speak with you. You may believe in your forever. Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. And he goes on and gratifies it with the blood, the blood of animals.

[10:33] And Israel enters into a kind of relationship that no other nation on the face of the earth has ever sustained. And he makes it clear later on as to why he chose them.

[10:48] He said, look, God says, look, look, I didn't choose you Jews because you were the largest nation or because you were the most favored nation in some way. I chose you just because I loved you.

[11:00] And God has a love like this for everybody. And he is demonstrating that in John 3, 16, when he expresses his love for the world, that he so loved that he gave.

[11:13] And when Christ came in chapter one of John's gospel, he came into his own. And that's the Jewish people. And his own received him not. So it isn't that Jesus did not care or that God did not care for the rest of the world that he's concerned only for the Jew.

[11:32] No, no, that's not. That completely misses the point. Jesus came to the Jew for the world. The Jew was established to be the light to the Gentiles.

[11:48] However, they made a pretty, pretty poor light. They did not carry out their obligation. They did not fulfill their obligation to share their light with the Gentiles.

[12:02] And, you know, before we become too critical of the Jew for his dereliction in duty, sharing the good news with the Gentiles. Maybe we in the body of Christ should ask ourselves, how good a job have we done in sharing our light with the rest of the world?

[12:24] By way of comparison, maybe not much better. Think about that. So, in chapter 20 of Exodus, if you will just look over a little bit.

[12:40] Chapter 20 and verse 22. The Lord said to Moses, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, you yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

[12:54] You shall not make other gods besides me. Gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. And what, of course, did they end up doing?

[13:08] Before they even got out of this location. When Moses went back to the mountain and was gone for a period of 40 days, Jews down below got restless. And lo and behold, they had the wherewithal to cast a golden calf.

[13:28] And they did. And Aaron, Moses' own brother, made this stupid image. And it was a reflection of what they had in Israel.

[13:40] Because Apis, the bull, was one of the gods, one of the principal gods of Egypt. And the children of Israel had been exposed to Egyptian idolatry for 400 years.

[13:53] And some of them obviously were of the opinion that Moses is in the mountain. He's been gone 40 days. We don't know if he's dead or alive. We don't know if God's going to make good on his word. We don't know anything. And some of the people got restless to Nancy.

[14:05] And you know what? Somebody came up with such a harebrained idea. You know, we have made much of a point, and it needs to be made much of, that fallen man reasons with a warped, skewed intellect that allows him to reach all kinds of nonsensical conclusions that have no basis in fact at all.

[14:28] And as these people were waiting for Moses to come down, not knowing what happened to them, somebody got the brilliant idea. You know what? We're stuck here. We've got limited provisions, limited water, limited everything.

[14:41] And back home, we had the leeks and the garlics and the onions and all that good stuff in Egypt. Remember that? You know what? Our leaving and under the conditions we had and everything, we obviously have offended Apis.

[14:58] Apis was one of the principal gods of Egypt reflected in the bull. And you can still see these, by the way, in bas-reliefs of archaeology that has unearthed these things, images of Apis, the bull god.

[15:16] So they got this brilliant idea of let us make us an image like Apis. Maybe he will go easy on us if we pay attention to him and worship him.

[15:28] So they made this ridiculous golden calf. And when Moses came down from the mouth and saw that calf, he was livid. What is this you have done?

[15:42] And his own brother Aaron said, Well, actually, we just threw all this gold in the fire and this is what came out.

[15:52] And Moses said, Really? No. How about that? Is it just asinine? Well, it is, after all, a bull, you know.

[16:06] So, So what they did, Moses dissolved that thing. Moses dissolved that thing and put it in the water and made him drink it.

[16:20] I'd like to say it cured him of idolatry, but it didn't. But anyway, this is the kind of start that they're off to. So we've got a situation here where Moses and the children of Israel are understanding that they are under the law.

[16:37] And in chapter 23 of Exodus, let's go there for just a moment. Chapter 23 and verse 14. Three times a year, you shall celebrate a feast to me.

[16:50] Now, for those believers, for instance, who think that we are under and obligated to live by the Ten Commandments, which we are not, by the way. We serve a much higher law than the Ten Commandments that we'll be talking about later.

[17:09] You shall observe a feast to me. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread. Now, wait a minute. If we're obligated to keep the Ten Commandments, as some think, are we obligated to keep these feasts also?

[17:24] And if not, why not? I mean, it's part of the deal. And when it comes to the subject of hermeneutics, the art and science of interpreting the Bible, you would be surprised how many well-meaning people take the position that whatever the Bible says, that's what we're supposed to do.

[17:44] Very naive, superficial way of approaching. Does that include these national feasts? Well, no, we don't have to do it. Well, why not? If you're obligated to keep the Ten Commandments, as they're given by Moses, what gives you the right to discard the rest of this content that goes along with it?

[18:07] You see, the whole case just collapses when you do not rightly divide the Word of God. Because part of the Word of God is addressed specifically to and for a peculiar people, under certain circumstances, and that's the nation of Israel.

[18:27] So when you divide the Word of God, you apportion various passages of Scripture as to what applies to whom and when. All of these things come into play.

[18:38] You just can't take it willy-nilly and say, well, if it's in the Bible, I just believe that I'm supposed to do it. Well, that's kind of ridiculous when you stop and think about it, because we've got all of this paraphernalia here that is exclusively Jewish, that is part of the Jewish sacrificial worship system, and it was given to no one else.

[18:58] So are you going to take part? How are you going to decide which part? Truth of the matter is, as Paul says in Romans 6, we are not under the Mosaic Law. And in chapter 2, when he says, for the Gentiles, the Gentile, a Gentile is anyone who is not a Jew.

[19:14] And Paul says, for when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, what law is he talking about? He's talking about this law. Gentiles don't have the law that Moses never did have.

[19:28] Still don't have. We've got a different law. Oh, my. Chapter 24, verses 1 through 8.

[19:45] Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, seven of the elders of Israel. You shall worship at a distance. Moses alone, however, shall come near to the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.

[20:00] Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the law, all of the ordinances. All of the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do.

[20:11] Moses wrote down all the words of the law, and he rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain with 12 pillars and 12 tribes of Israel, sent young men of the sons of Israel. They offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls, peace offerings to the Lord.

[20:25] Moses took half of the blood, put it in the basins, the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, again, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do and be obedient.

[20:39] So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, behold, the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you, in accordance with all these words.

[20:54] That solemnized the covenant. Today, in our culture, we just take a pen and ink and we sign on the dotted line, and there's no blood involved.

[21:06] But this was a very real part of their culture, and it added a degree of solemnity to the whole affair when the blood of these animals were shed and life was given up, adding a sobriety and a solemnity to that whole ordeal.

[21:26] And that is exactly what Jesus was referring to the night he was betrayed, when he took the cup and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

[21:41] Well, now, wait a minute. What happened to the old covenant? Well, when Jesus said that, it was still in force.

[21:54] And do you know, he was observing it. Jesus was an observant Jew who came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law.

[22:08] And he kept it in every regard. He never violated the law of Moses. He continually appealed to it and upheld it. But now he's saying there's going to be a new covenant.

[22:24] And for that, we need to go where we were in Sunday school this morning, to Jeremiah chapter 31. I am really grateful that this tied in with what we are reading in our ongoing study of Through the Bible Chronologically, because I had not planned it this way, but obviously the Lord did.

[22:44] So we are in Jeremiah chapter 31, and I want you to be mindful that Jeremiah prophesied approximately five to 550 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

[23:02] And in verse 31, we read, Jeremiah speaking under inspiration of the Spirit of God, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

[23:19] Now he's going to make it very clear that he's going to distinguish the new covenant from the old, and he says, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers.

[23:31] Now he's talking about their forefathers, not just their fathers one generation removed, but their forefathers going all the way back to Moses and the scene coming out of Egypt.

[23:50] Not like the covenant which I made with their forefathers in the day, I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke.

[24:04] Although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. And here he's saying, God is saying, I fulfilled all of my obligations to Israel as a husband would fulfill his obligations to his wife.

[24:16] I provided for them, I protected them, I gave them every advantage and every benefit, and they responded like an unfaithful wife who has gone after other lovers.

[24:32] That's the analogy that is being drawn here. And it's reinforced in passages like Amos 3.2 where God says through Amos to the nation Israel, you only, you only of all the nations of the earth have I known.

[24:49] And that's what made their sin and their guilt so doubly culpable because they had so much more light and information than any of the other nations had. And yet, what did they do with it?

[25:00] They still went astray and went, the text says, a whoring after other gods and other deities. And what was the principal thing that was going to result in the captivity to which they would be subjected in 70 years in Babylon?

[25:17] It was idolatry. Continually devoting themselves to false idols and false gods, which the apostle Paul clarifies when he writes to the Corinthians and he says, these are just dumb idols.

[25:32] They see not, they hear not, they are inanimate, they cannot do anything and what is really behind these idols are demons. They think they're sacrificing to some god behind the idol and in reality, they're sacrificing to demons and they don't even know it.

[25:52] So it won't be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, which they broke. But, conjunction of contrast, verse 33, but, this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.

[26:08] I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord.

[26:28] For, I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. Thus says the Lord. Now, how solid is this?

[26:39] How definite is this? How concrete is this? He goes on to say, I'll give you the condition under which this might not come to pass. I've said what I'm going to do and the circumstances under which I would not do it or fulfill it are these.

[26:59] Thus says the Lord who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name if this fixed order and the fixed order is the sun, the moon and the stars and the waves that roar.

[27:23] If that fixed order departs from me declares the Lord then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.

[27:35] That's what it would take to bring Israel's identity to an end. What are the prospects of that happening? Rather slim I would say.

[27:47] Now interestingly enough as was pointed out in the nine o'clock hour remarkable as it is nonetheless this is the way that some interpret it.

[28:06] This is the way that the majority of Christendom interprets this. and that would be Israel is involved here up to their eyeballs.

[28:32] They are contrasted with the first covenant but in verse 33 this is the covenant which I will make with the Christian church.

[28:44] what? My Bible says the house of Israel I know but the house of Israel has become the Christian church.

[29:02] This is called replacement theology. Israel because of their disobedience and rejection and rejection of the Messiah replacement theology says God has kicked them out permanently and he has replaced them with the church the Christian church so that all of the promises that were given to Israel are withdrawn from Israel and instead are given to the church the body of Christ the Christian church.

[29:40] Now interestingly enough and this by the way what I just shared with you this is the majority position of Christendom.

[29:52] It is held in its entirety by the Roman Catholic Church. It is held in its entirety by the Reformed Church that came from the Roman Catholic Church.

[30:02] It is held in its entirety by the Church of England or Anglican Church or Episcopal Church or whatever you wish to call it that came from that. All of the Reformed assemblies including major denominations most of the Presbyterians and most of the Methodists adhere to this.

[30:22] and they see all that was promised to Israel being withdrawn from Israel and instead being given to the church. And as we mentioned earlier there were two principal reasons why they reached that conclusion.

[30:40] Number one the Jewish rejection of Jesus as their Messiah. And number two God's obvious willingness to do nothing to prevent the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple and everything Jewish and to allow the Roman army under Titus the Roman general to come in and absolutely level the land and they are even going to rename Israel and call it Capitolina.

[31:18] And Israel will be scattered throughout the whole earth as a penalty for their having rejected the Messiah and God is finished with them he's scattered them he's sent them all throughout the earth and the persecution and isolation and marginalization that the Jewish people suffer has been well earned by them.

[31:43] They deserve it and God is allowing all of the other nations to inflict persecution and punishment and deprivation upon the Jewish people. That's the majority thinking of Christendom.

[32:01] Now how in the world did they arrive at that? Primarily on the basis of the two elements that I mentioned the rejection of Jesus the destruction of Jerusalem caused many to just write off Israel and the thinking is that God is finished with the Jewish people permanently and all of the persecution that they are undergoing they deserve.

[32:22] We are dealing with this in our ongoing radio program that's now in well it won't be on the radio for quite a while but the CDs will probably be available in the next few weeks volumes 46, 7, 48, 49 almost of volume 50 where we're dealing with these things and it's a very much hot button issue in the world today and the entirety for the most part the entirety of the UN is pretty much anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian and they are coming from this same position many of them of course many are prejudiced because they are Islamic and you can understand their position with the age-old rivalry that they have with the Jew.

[33:12] Interestingly enough those that I have mentioned approach scripture the same way we do in that they take a literal approach to the interpretation of the Bible and they arrive at some of the same conclusions we do by way of interpretation except when it comes to the interpretation of prophecy there they spiritualize what is said and do not take it literally and I cannot understand for the life of me how they arrived at the rationale that it is logical to change hermeneutical horses in the middle of the stream but that is exactly what they have done and to my thinking it completely violates all the laws of hermeneutical science that is the art and science of interpreting the Bible but this is where we are this is the majority position and it is held as I mentioned by those denominations that we have talked about probably nothing gave more impetus to the position that we hold here at Grace Bible Church than men like

[34:23] Cyrus Ingersoll Schofield who gave us the Schofield Reference Bible back in the early 1900s and places like Dallas Theological Seminary and Moody Bible Institute and the old Niagara conferences that no longer were held but were very popular in Niagara, New York for several years back in the late 1800s early 1900s and out of that emerged the thinking that is prevalent today in Bible churches and in some denominations and that has to do with the interpretation of prophecy in a literal way much as we interpret the rest of the Bible and out of that have come the Bible institutes and the Bible schools that issued forth from the old Niagara meetings and the Schofield Reference Bible and Dallas Theological Seminary and places like that that started giving real credence to the whole concept of historic premillennialism that Christ will return prior to the millennium and it will be he who will establish it and so on and all that goes with it so it's all part of a huge theological baggage but it is very very important now let us come if we may to Romans chapter 2

[35:45] I've already referred to it but I want you to see it in text Romans chapter 2 and verse 14 Paul is talking about the Jew and the Gentile and he's classing both groups of people in this letter and the conclusion he's going to reach the conclusion he's going to reach is this so bottom line is it doesn't make any difference whether you're Jew or Gentile there is no difference all have sinned and come short of the glory of God that's going to be the conclusion he's going to reach but in verse 14 it is important that you note this for when Gentiles and Gentiles be reminded Gentiles anyone who is not a Jew when Gentiles who do not have the law and the context makes it quite clear he's talking about the law the law of Moses the law with which they were so familiar when they do not have the law do instinctively that is kind of automatically like the things of the law that is the requirements of the law etc and that just means that that just that just indicates that mankind even though we are not Jews and do not have that inside track to the plan and program of God that the Jews have we have nonetheless something that God has burned into our humanity just as a human being that informs us between right and wrong we have an innate knowledge inborn of right and wrong even though we don't have the formal codified law of Moses we still have a conscience we have apparatus mental spiritual apparatus within us that just knows that certain things are wrong and unacceptable and nobody told us it's in bread that's the meaning of instinctively the things of the law that is that killing is wrong that murder and taking someone else's property is wrong these not having the law are a law to themselves in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them on the day when according to my gospel

[38:21] God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ now while we're nearby come over if you will to Romans chapter 6 Romans chapter 6 and for time's sake we'll just have to jump in with verse 12 he's reaching a conclusion and he says therefore in light of everything I've said up to this point do not let sin reign in your mortal body and the implication is you can do that you can do that there are numbers of Christians who do that they are saved people and they're going to be in heaven and when they get there they'll get straightened out like we will but there are those who do allow sin to reign in their mortal body but the prohibition is that we not do it that you should obey its lust and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness and again the implication is you can do that you can do that you have no basis for doing it you have no justification for doing it you can do that and by the way there is of course a price to be paid for doing that on down the road because if someone has said you may choose your options if you wish in whatever direction you wish to go but you may not choose the consequences that come therefrom do not go on presenting the members of your body that your arms and legs and eyes and feet to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God for or because sin shall not be master over you for you are not under law but under grace well if that's true we're not under law but under grace and if it is true that where sin abounded grace did much more abound then maybe the logic of that is we ought to sin all we can so we can get all the grace we can now there again is a perfect example of the skewed kind of reasoning and thinking that harebrained men fallen in Adam are going to come up with and Paul understands that and he heads off the argument at the past because he knows that some of these yehoos he's writing to are going to fall for that what then shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace may it never be meganoido strongest negative that the Greek language has don't let the thought enter your mind do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience you are slaves of the one whom you obey either in sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness well we must hasten along so come if you would please to Romans 8 over a page and I'll show you the law that we are under chapter 8 opens with there is therefore now and again this therefore is a conclusion and it is in light all that he said up to this point there is therefore now no condemnation no judgment wow this verse is priceless for those who are in

[41:52] Christ Jesus if you are in Christ Jesus that means you have already sustained the punishment that was due to sin because you are in Christ and Christ died for your sin paid the full penalty of the law and that is applied to your account incredible this is the most glorious thing that could ever happen to a human being and it's why it is called the good news the gospel no condemnation for those who are in Christ for or because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death because or for what the law could not do weak as it was through the flesh whose flesh the flesh of everybody who's trying to keep the law

[43:01] God did sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin he condemns sin in the flesh in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit this is absolutely incredible and this weakness of the flesh means the law the law was given to Israel the problem is the law Paul wrote to Timothy the law is just holy perfect it has to be that because it originated with God that's the only kind of law God could give but it was given to human beings who are anything but so they have a built in opposition to the law in our fallenness and that's why there is an ongoing need for sacrifice for the animals to be shed and for the offerings to be made and it was a perpetual thing because they kept coming up with more and more sin that needed more and more atonement that needed more and more sacrifices and this went on and on and on and on and what's the end of all of this anyway the end of it is that sacrifice on yonder hill that's the end of it

[44:31] Christ has become the end of the law for all who believe all of those animals pointed to Calvary and the last sacrifice that would ever be made just just amazing absolutely amazing so this is the law we are under it is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus that actually means we are in grace we are under in one sense a much greater obligation even than what the children of Israel were with the law of Moses we have a latitude we have discretion under the law of grace under this law of liberty in Christ Jesus that has set us free because part and parcel of that is that when you are in Christ you take on a whole new mindset this is what

[45:45] Paul meant when he said if anyone be in Christ he is a new creation that means you have a new thinking apparatus doesn't mean that you can't any longer think stupid thoughts or evil thoughts of course you can but you have a capacity and an ability that you did not have before that is divinely provided for you that makes all the difference in the world it changes our attitude it changes our disposition it changes everything no one can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and ever be the same everything's changed and perhaps the most dramatic thing is our inner attitude which is reflected in our outward expression of it there is a different kind of motivation that the world doesn't know anything about and you didn't either before Christ came in we march now to an entirely different drum beat that the world knows not of it is a dynamic thing it is the power of the spirit of God that dwells within us and if any man have not the spirit of Christ he's none of his and what this does is it

[47:04] I can't explain it's regeneration we know that it is our inner person our spiritual person our human spirit that was regenerated that was made anew and that regeneration our word genes genes genes genes comes the genes and chromosomes we are we are spiritually re-gened that's what regeneration is we have a new mind and it it gives you a completely different perspective the law the law tells us that a husband and wife are supposed to be faithful to each other and the law says that thou shalt not commit adultery okay and that's pretty specific but for the believer if you if you are confronted with an opportunity god forbid to be unfaithful to your mate what's going to prevent you from doing that is it because it's against the law is that the only reason that you're faithful is because the law says you're not supposed to do that otherwise

[48:48] I would do it no what we're talking about now is the otherwise we who are in Christ are to be faithful to our mate and faithful to our God not because the law says so but because we're operating by a different law it is the law of liberty and freedom in Christ it is the law that puts your mate in an entirely different perspective than what they were in before Christ came into your life you have a new found kind of allegiance that you didn't have before and it's supernatural there is an element of love and caring that is there as a result of regeneration that wasn't there before and the noblest thing that I think a person can do in connection with faithfulness to their mate is to say I am faithful to my mate and I intend to remain faithful to my mate and the reason I am doing so is because

[49:55] I would not contemplate even the possibility of the pain that it would cause them because I love them it is the law of love and the law of liberty it's not the law of legality which is an entirely different thing so we in Christ are to do what we do because we have a higher motivation that we did not have before we were in Christ and how do you get to be in Christ anyway it's an act of your will how did you get to be in marriage it's an act of your will you voluntarily volitionally took that person who stood there at that altar with you as your mate for the rest of your life as an act of your will that's exactly the same way that you take Jesus Christ as your savior it's an act of your will have you committed that act are you in Christ and Christ in you the hope of glory because if you are you have this new dynamic at your disposal and you as a believer in Christ are the only one that has it the world doesn't know anything about this this is really something this is something that supersedes the law of Moses by far a couple of other references that we need to consider before I let you go and in

[51:29] Romans Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 11 we're going to talk just a little bit about the but now Ephesians Ephesians chapter 2 and remember that if you look earlier at the chapter you'll see chapter 1 where Paul is addressing this to the Gentile believers at Ephesus and in verse 11 he reminds them therefore remember that formerly you the Gentiles in the flesh people to whom he's writing who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands remember that you were at that time separate from Christ excluded from the commonwealth of Israel strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without

[52:32] God in the world now he's reminding them that as non-Jews they didn't have any claim on the law or the covenants or the promises at all they were just adrift they were just on their own but now verse 13 everything's changing this conjunction of contrast here is comparing before and after and before this is what they were strangers to the covenants of promise no hope without God in the world but now in opposition to that in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who made both groups what groups Jew and Gentile into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity that means the state of war which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances that in himself

[53:47] Christ might make the two Jew and Gentile into one new man thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body this is a spiritual body it's not talking about a physical body in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity and he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near for through him Christ we both Jew and Gentile have our access in one spirit to the father so then you are no longer strangers and aliens you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets

[54:48] Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone oh goodness so the basis for the new covenant was established through the blood of Christ and the death of Christ effectively ended the reign of the law the old covenant for Israel and by the way I don't know if you know this or not or if you've ever thought of it but it might be said and I'm probably I'm sure that it's probably held by a number of people that even though we as believers are not under the law and even though it was originally given to Israel Israel remains under the law no they don't no they don't Israel the Jew is not under the law either although I'm sure you would be very hard pressed to convince a lot of Jews of that but do you know when God did away with the law the veil in the temple torn in two from the top to the bottom

[55:57] God was saying I'm done with this it's over the law dispensation is gone the administration of law is gone what is there that is in place now it's called the administration of grace and it blends Jew and Gentile together not by keeping any law of Moses but by being in Christ and the word that goes forth today is as much for the Jew as it is for the Gentile and we call these people messianic Jews they are Jews seed of Abraham who have come to personal faith and trust in Jesus as their savior and we call them and they call themselves completed Jews because in a very real sense they are so the Jew is no longer under the law either so what is the status of the revered elements of Judaism you know what makes Jews Jews other than being chosen by God it was all of the things that were provided for them and deposed upon them the Gentiles didn't know anything about that's what made Jews

[57:07] Jews circumcision was the start of it and that became a very big item in Acts chapter 15 and the question was when this gospel of the grace of God started going out and reaching Gentiles and Gentiles were putting their faith in Jesus the Jewish Messiah it only sounds logical that now they are Jews aren't they no no because you put your faith in a Jewish Messiah doesn't make you Jewish if you are not born Jewish you never will be Jewish you can convert to Judaism and go through the procedure if you want and be pronounced a Jew by the Jews because you are a convert to Judaism you can become a Jew that way but you cannot become a Jew by being born a Jew if you're a Gentile so what about circumcision now there's no question it has beneficial effects to it I think medically and hygienically that has been demonstrated and there is no no doubt in the minds of many that the incidence of of cervical cancer in Jewish women is almost zero compared to

[58:39] Gentile women and the medicos tell us that the reason for that is because Jewish women tend to have Jewish husbands and they're circumcised and that is an automatic preventive against cervical cancer and certain other kinds of cancer so there are benefits to it but the Jew was required eighth day you circumcise that baby boy no exceptions what about now well Jews today still circumcise their baby boys and I don't know how strict they are with the eighth day but I know they would not consider not circumcising but is it required of the nope nope Jews may do so but if they do they do so strictly out of tradition not out of divine obligation God is not requiring it and what about the other things that go with it what about the Sabbath you will find Jews all over the map as regards their adherence to the law of Moses and as I pointed out to you last week the Jewish people complete a wide spectrum all the way from ultra orthodox where they will not even turn on a light switch on the

[60:00] Sabbath because that's the equivalent of kindling of fire which the law prohibits they have a next door neighbor who is a Gentile come over to their house and flip the light on in their house now that is being pretty strict but that's what the ultra orthodox do so they are all the way from the ultra orthodox to the orthodox to the reformed to the liberal to the atheist and they cover the whole spectrum a disproportionate number of Jews today embrace atheism because they cannot conceive of a loving God who would permit the Jewish Holocaust to occur supposedly for his chosen people so they have dismissed the idea of God even existing from their mind so they're not required for circumcision they're not required to keep the

[61:04] Sabbath what about tithes same thing all of these things are defunct and the dietary restrictions they're gone and the ceremonial cleansings the ritual the hand washing before every meal and the frequent washings which some of the translations render baptisms that's gone too where is this water baptism thing that's all part of the Jewish complex that's all part of the original thing that God gave to the Jews and water baptism is included in it but it has been drawn out from the Jew and brought over into Christendom and imposed on Christians and even then we can't agree on how it's to be done because the Baptist baptized once backwards and I forget who it is some of the brethren baptized three times forward name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit and the Presbyterians sprinkle and the Methodists sprinkle and the

[62:04] Lutherans pour and someone has said it doesn't make any difference what position you take on water baptism you're in a minority that belongs with all of these other things the baptism goes along with the feast days the keeping the feast days the observance of it the dietary restrictions the tithing the Sabbath circumcision all part and parcel of the same package all belongs to the same administration and under the dispensation of grace where is our baptism it's in chapter 12 and verse 13 of 1 Corinthians where Paul says for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jew or Gentile bond or free male or female we are all one spirit in Christ all one body and the circumcision well circumcision spiritually interestingly enough is for males and females how about that and Paul says when he wrote to the

[63:22] Colossians that we are all spiritually circumcised in Christ and the circumcision originally indicated a dedication of that individual to God and so does the spiritual circumcision and the water baptism that has become spirit baptism we are identified and placed in union with Christ and there's no H2O involved that's the dispensation of the grace of God and I've had people say and the words come back to me you're a church you're a church and you don't you don't baptize how can you be a church if you don't baptize and again it comes right back to this issue of rightly dividing the word of God and when you understand as almost everybody does that there is an obvious change there is an obvious upgrade between the old and the new testament you won't hardly find anybody to argue with that there's an obvious upgrade between the old and the new but what we're saying is the right division of the word of

[64:37] God requires that there be a recognition of an upgrade within the new so the gospels the gospels do not belong to the grace of God the gospels belong to the administration of Israel they are Jewish Jewish Jewish and so are the first several chapters of the book of Acts and it isn't until the bombshell hits when Saul of Tarsus has that Damascus road experience and God says I'm going to do something that is totally different and it is so different it blows some people away and you know what it still blows people away 2,000 years after God's done it it's amazing how many people have still never picked up on it and I must confess to my chagrin I was one of them for 15 years after

[65:39] I became a believer in Christ I never saw these distinctions that I'm telling you about and I so deeply want you to know them and appreciate them and love them because it makes all the difference in the world when you understand whose marching orders you are under and what has been provided for you as opposed to what was provided earlier it's all a glorious part of the package called the dispensation the administration of the grace of God it is a quantum leap from what we have it's the but now but now but now as opposed to before but now and what I have given you this morning is just a scratch on the scratch of the surface more to come I trust would you stand with me please father we've covered a great deal of material this morning and for some I'm sure they've heard it before and it is old news but others we suspect may be hearing it for the first time and perhaps they really don't know what to do with it we know that feeling because there was a time when we shared it and we ask ourselves could this be right could this be true is this the way it is and our only prayer for these dear folks is that they and that each of us will maintain an open mind and heart and that whatever it may be now that we may believe if it is not true we want to know it we cannot afford anything less than the truth that you provided and that's what we want so our prayer for us as an assembly and as we go forth from this place is that we might be people who will be committed to an investigation and understanding and an embracement of the truth so that we will buy the truth and sell it not thank you for this precious commodity that we have called the grace of God and our father our hearts and minds go out to anyone here today who may be struggling with the issue of being in Christ and our prayer is that they may be able to pray right along with us even now and say Lord

[68:18]  Jesus there's much about this that I don't understand but I do understand that I like everyone else am a sinner in need of your forgiveness in need of your grace and I believe that Jesus Christ died on that cross to take my sin upon him I want to thank him for doing that I want to receive him as my savior I want him to come into my life change me like he's promised and make me what he wants me to be here am I yielded to you do with me as you will dear friend if you'll make that your prayer I can promise you God will hear you and God will respond thank you father for this time to share and enjoy together thank you for the right division of the word of God and we recognize that our understanding tends to be as flawed as anyone else's but we want to be open to your truth thank you for presence of each one here and for the truth that has gone forth anything that may have been uttered from the flesh or from an untruth may it pass away and come to naught in Christ's name amen