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[0:00] You have in your bulletin this morning, by way of one of the inserts, is a contribution from the pen of C.R. Stamm, who is in the presence of the Lord now.

[0:10] But this is taken from a devotional book that he provided that actually was in a number of newspapers across the United States for several years called Two Minutes with the Bible.

[0:23] And this, each one is just a page from that, and you will find the entire book back there in case you would like to obtain one and use it as a daily devotional or supplement your daily devotional.

[0:39] And I don't think that you can find a better devotional than this because it is just absolutely outstanding in its approach to the right division of the Word of God.

[0:51] So there are copies of it back there on the book table, and there are also copies of what we might refer to as the flagship volume for the grace dispensation or the grace folks or grace movement, whatever you want to call it.

[1:09] And that's a book called Things That Differ, also contributed and written by Mr. Stamm. And this is a book that we at Grace Bible Church went through at least two or three times in our early years, some of which when we were still meeting at Roosevelt Junior High School.

[1:28] And the content that we derived and the benefit that was obtained from the discussions was just remarkable and, I am not exaggerating, life-changing, and particularly life-changing in accordance with understanding the Bible.

[1:48] This is a book that deserves to be understood to the best of our ability. I would be the first to agree that this is an inexhaustible book.

[2:02] It has no bottom in it. But let's face it, most of us could garner a whole lot more understanding and information about it than what we have. And that's what we are setting out to do.

[2:13] So, in an effort at the beginning of this new year, we are dealing with this issue of right the division of the Word of God or things that differ in both the 9 o'clock and the 10-15 hour.

[2:30] These will be sandwiched back and forth as we go through them. I do not know how long it will take. Conceivably, it could be a couple of years. That's, after all, that's only 100 Sundays right there.

[2:43] And there's a lot more content than that. So, we don't know how long it will be, but it will not be a shorty six or eight weeks. I can promise you that. And what we are doing is contrasting these two great themes of prophecy and mystery.

[2:59] For those of you who have one of the revered Schofield Reference Bibles, and I am one who does also. In fact, I think it would be safe to say I cut my theological teeth on a Schofield Reference Bible.

[3:14] I believe it was first published in something like maybe 1907 by Cyrus Ingersoll Schofield, who was a converted alcoholic attorney and Bible scholar par excellence.

[3:30] When the Lord saved him, he turned everything around, and C.I. Schofield became one of the most outstanding Bible scholars of his day. And he provided all of the notes for that immortal volume, the Schofield Reference Bible.

[3:46] And those of you who have followed it, as I did, and it was almost like a textbook at the time at Cedarville College, now Cedarville University. And just about everybody had a Schofield Reference Bible because his approach to dispensational truth was so telling and so revelational.

[4:08] And in the book, he listed seven different categories that were different dispensations, starting out with a dispensation of innocence and conscience and law and government and so on and prophecy.

[4:21] And broke it down into seven different time frames where God had a variable kind of dealing with humanity during those periods.

[4:32] So that even though God does not change, never changes, his methodology in dealing with humanity has changed from time to time.

[4:44] And there are people, of course, who will raise their eyebrows at that, and they think that God has always communicated the same way to people without any distinction, and there is no difference at all, that God's methodology has been the same in dealing with humanity from the time of Adam.

[5:02] But then, when you suggest if you want to insist on holding that point of view, do we not see a radical distinction of the manner in which God dealt with humanity from the time he required animal sacrifice, certain kind of animals at certain times in certain ways?

[5:28] And then the time came when all of that was done away. And when you point that out to people who insist that there is a continuity and everything in the Bible is the same and God deals with everybody the same all the time, when you point that out to people, they say, well, yeah, but that was a different time then.

[5:47] Precisely. It was a different time. Different circumstances, different needs, different things happening with humanity that required God graciously condescending and making adjustments to accommodate fallen man.

[6:05] Now, I know that some may not be too enamored with the term of God condescending or making adjustments to accommodate man, but that is precisely what he has done.

[6:20] And that is what he still continues to do. Do you not realize that God made a great condescension in merely sending his son?

[6:32] Why in the world would he do that? Only because of his grace and his mercy and because of the need that existed, whereby God would have no choice but to alienate humanity from his presence permanently.

[6:51] Unless there could be some way that God's justice and righteousness could be satisfied without him compromising it so that he can also be just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus.

[7:16] It is called the grace of God. And someone has defined that acrostically, G-R-A-C-E, as God's riches at Christ's expense.

[7:31] Grace, that's exactly what grace is. Grace, completely unmerited. I read a little pamphlet a few weeks ago that someone gave me.

[7:43] They picked it up in some establishment somewhere, and they were presenting an entirely different point of view regarding the Bible. And in it, in the article that was written, The writer said, And be sure that you keep a close eye out for those people who provide cheap grace.

[8:10] Be advised, there is no such thing as cheap grace. There is free grace, but there is no cheap grace.

[8:23] Grace is free because it was purchased at an incalculable price. Nothing cheap about it.

[8:34] In the little insert that you have in your bulletin that was a couple of pages from Two Minutes with the Bible, Mr. Stamm, January 9 deals with faith, and January 10 deals with good works.

[8:49] I trust that you will take both of those to heart and read them if you haven't already. Because those two items, those two simple items represent the misunderstanding that probably 90% of the world's population has regarding these very subjects, faith and works.

[9:11] It is incredible how many people are completely in the dark regarding this great issue of faith and works.

[9:22] We are not saved by faith and works, but we are saved by faith that works. And if someone's faith doesn't work, then they need to stop and examine themselves and see whether they've got the real thing or some kind of a substitute, because the Scriptures make it quite clear that if anyone is in Christ, if anyone has come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, there's no way in the world you can ever be the same.

[9:50] It's just impossible. Because Jesus does not leave people like he finds them. He redeems them, he saves them, he cleanses them, pardons them, forgives them, and then he sets about the business of converting them not only to salvation, but of converting them to his own likeness so that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[10:15] So a lot of misunderstanding that is out there, and the adversary has a lot to do with that, because he sows those seeds of misunderstanding and dissension. So for the next however long it takes, we are going to devote our time, both at the 9 o'clock hour and at the 10-15 hour, to the subjects of prophecy and mystery.

[10:37] And those words right now, to the ears of some of you, may sound like, what is this anyway? Well, I hope that you will be more plugged in by the time we get through with this.

[10:51] And what we mean by prophecy, and what we mean by prophesy, there's a noun and there's a verb. When someone prophesies, they are simply telling forth or preaching.

[11:03] But prophecy is a noun, and it has to do with the prediction or the foretelling of events that have not yet occurred. And we call this the prophetic element of the scriptures.

[11:16] And there is a great deal of both. But much of the Bible, in fact, most of the Bible, is concerned from the prophets with prophesying, not predicting the future, but delivering the current message.

[11:31] And yet, because in our humanity, we are so enamored with things that are yet to come in the future, we tend to focus on that. But that's not the main thrust of scripture.

[11:42] The main thrust of it has to do with just the prophet relating to the people, what they needed to know at that time, and mingling in with it things, of course, that were to come. So, let me just make some upfront definitions, if I may.

[11:56] And I will try to be as brief as I can, and allow some time for Q&A, so that we can get as much clarification as possible. Rather than dealing with the items of the seven dispensations, and by the way, a dispensation simply means a period where things are dispensed.

[12:18] Now, everybody is familiar with the word dispensary. You have one at school. You have one in your shop. Somebody is injured. You send them to the dispensary. And the nurse at the dispensary, will dispense, give out, whatever's needed, whether it's a bandage, or aspirin, or whatever the need is.

[12:40] But that's the place where things are dispensed. And so it is, with a dispensation. It is a dispensing, or a doling out, of what God was dealing with, and how God was dealing with humanity, at any given period of time.

[12:57] And as I mentioned, Dr. Schofield categorized those, in seven different areas, and they're in all of your Schofield Reference Bibles. And I don't mean to put those down. I see the validity of them, but I do think that it leads to confusion, in that people tend to think that a dispensation is a block of time.

[13:24] And that's the impression that you get from the Schofield Reference Bible. And that's the impression that I got personally, from reading and dealing with the Schofield Reference Bible, in all of my years, at Cedarville.

[13:38] It was those seven dispensations, and each one was regarded from this period, to this period, and this period, and all seven of them, with chapter and verse, were laid out. And I'm not suggesting that that's bad, or that it is somehow incorrect, but in my estimation, it is much easier to understand, a lot easier to put a handle on it, to get a real perspective, that I didn't have before, if you break down the categories, into just two.

[14:09] One is prophecy, one is mystery. Two terms, with two different definitions, and these two things, are worlds apart.

[14:23] The difficulty, that so many have, myself included, for a number of years, after I was a believer, the difficulty is, in not seeing the distinction, between the two, and try to make the two into one, and make them blend.

[14:43] It is a study in frustration, it can't be done. But if you are not given, to intense Bible study, if you are satisfied, like most Christians are, with just a superficial overview, it'll work just fine.

[15:06] You won't be asking yourself, any difficult questions, that you won't have to provide, difficult answers for. You can just stay on the surface, and look for the cream, and not consider yourself, a student of scripture, not really get into the depth of it, which by the way, is where, and when, the spiritual growth, occurs.

[15:33] If you are satisfied, just to deal with the surface, and piddle around, the fringes of scripture, so you know, where John 3, 16 is, and Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, and you know, you're saved, and you're satisfied with that, then what I have to share, you'll bail out.

[15:58] You won't absorb it. And it will be to your great loss. I'm speaking from personal experience.

[16:12] We need to know, not only what we believe, but why we believe it, and we need to see, how things in scripture, fit, because, God does not speak, out of both sides of his mouth.

[16:25] And the Bible is absolutely consistent, within itself. If you understand, the distinctions, that we're going to be talking about.

[16:36] And it will just, light up the scriptures, like you cannot believe. And I again, am speaking from personal experience. Now let's take a look at this.

[16:50] Prophecy. Prophecy. That which is engaged in prophecy, for the most part, we are looking at the chief human instrument, being Moses and the prophets.

[17:09] That's not too hard to get a handle on. Prophets prophesy. And the chief human instrument, particularly in so far as Israel is concerned, and the law of Moses, is Moses.

[17:21] The larger body of content, is prophecy. That is all of the Old Testament, all of the Gospels, and part of the book of Acts, is all prophecy.

[17:33] It is not mystery. Now, if you're thinking, what is this mystery thing? Hold on, we're getting there, and it is marvelous. The mystery is marvelous. But the larger body of content, for the Bible, you realize, of course, that the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament, is three times the size of the New.

[17:57] It's a much bigger part of the Bible. It is the larger body of content, and it involves the greater picture.

[18:08] Prophecy incorporates everything. Prophecy incorporates everything from the beginning to the end. Prophecy deals with the big picture, which has to do with the fall of man, recorded in Genesis 3, and it goes all the way through to Revelation, the restoration, the redemption, the final heavens and earth, and all the rest of it.

[18:32] That is the scope of prophecy. Mystery, referred to as mystery, is sandwiched in between there, in a certain segment, a certain period is blocked out, that does not belong to prophecy.

[18:50] It is a very small portion, and it is relegated, to the epistles, of the Apostle Paul. And what he has to say, is completely unlike, what all the rest of the Bible has to say.

[19:07] So we'll see that when we get to it. Prophecy involves the greater picture, it encompasses everything. You remember, as I related to the group at nine o'clock this morning, the message that was preached some time ago, that I entitled it, What Everything is All About.

[19:22] Well, prophecy incorporates what everything is all about. It is, it concerns the whole of humanity, Jew and Gentile.

[19:34] It focuses primarily on the Jew, and the nation of Israel, and the twelve apostles. And I don't know if you, well, you have to be aware of it, because there's no way you could be living in our world today, and not be aware of it.

[19:47] That there has been a resurgence of anti-Semitism. This is something that has been with us from the time of the Apostle Paul, when then it was Jew persecuting Jew.

[20:03] As you move on through history, it will end up with Gentile persecuting Jew, and that's the way it is today. We are still living in a time when anti-Semitism is running rampant, particularly in other parts of the world, and it is making a head road here in the United States again.

[20:26] An anti-Semite is simply someone who hates the Jewish people. And the greatest reason that many of them give for hating the Jewish people is they believe that they control all of the financial interests of the world, and they believe that the Jews and the Jews alone were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

[20:46] And that too is complete nonsense, although they were involved, as was you. You were involved too. So were we all.

[20:59] Well, that's later. The emphasis for prophecy and Israel is on the material, the physical, the earthly.

[21:13] This is a huge distinction. And for the Christian, our emphasis is not on the earth. Our emphasis is in the glory.

[21:25] Our emphasis, Paul said, our citizenship. That means our place of permanent residence is in heaven, from whence we look for our Lord Jesus Christ.

[21:38] We talk about, big item now, citizenship in the United States and the immigration and the hassle that's going on regarding that. And those of us who are Americans, we consider America, the United States of America, is where I am a citizen, a citizen, and I belong to this country.

[21:57] And if you are a citizen, you do belong to this country. This is your home. But if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you belong to another country. And heaven is our eternal home.

[22:09] The emphasis for the Christian is heaven. The emphasis for the Jew and the promises God made to the Jew via the kingdom of heaven, which we were looking at at the nine o'clock hour, is not the heavens at all.

[22:28] It's planet earth. It's planet earth. It is the earth that has been redeemed by the work of Christ as a result of fallen humanity.

[22:42] It is humanity and the earth that is redeemed and is going to be purged and cleansed and made habitable. A number of things are going to happen regarding this earth.

[22:52] For one thing, the oceans are going to be done away with. There'll be no more sea. Can you imagine planet earth without an Atlantic and Pacific ocean?

[23:04] Boy, I can't. But there won't be any sea in that final earth that God will establish. This is in the Revelation.

[23:15] So the great emphasis for the Jew and for the kingdom is on the material and the physical and the earthly. But for believers today, we are talking about the mystery.

[23:31] And there is no better, shorter, more poignant explanation of the mystery than what is revealed in Galatians, I'm sorry, in Ephesians chapter 3. And I'd ask you to turn to that portion now quickly.

[23:43] Let's get this, if we may, into the setting so it's on the table at least, at least for the initial session here. Ephesians chapter 3.

[23:57] Now that's very descriptive.

[24:10] He makes it quite clear that those to whom he is writing this epistle who are to benefit the most from it are not Jews at all. They are non-Jews.

[24:23] They are Gentiles. Be advised, if you will, and I know most grace people, if not all of you, know this, that Gentiles make up about 99.2% of the world's population.

[24:42] Jews worldwide make up 2.10% of 1%. That's not very many. Paul the Apostle is a Jew.

[24:57] And he is a man who probably had an attitude similar to other Jews as regarding Gentiles. And do you know what they called them? They called them dogs.

[25:10] Gentile dogs. And the reason they called us dogs is because dogs will eat almost anything. So would Gentiles. And they were just referred to in a derogatory manner as dogs.

[25:23] Also, they were called the uncircumcised. And to the Jew, that was a terrible thing. So, Paul goes on to say that he is a prisoner of Christ and that he is writing to those who are not Jews.

[25:39] Indeed, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you. Well, we know one way they heard of it was when he was there and preached it to them.

[25:52] And this stewardship has to do with the, some translations render this dispensation, some render it administration, and I personally like that term administration.

[26:02] When he says, if you have heard of the administration of God's grace which was given to me for you. So, let's think about each of these three words.

[26:15] It is the dispensation of God's grace means the dispensing, the doling out of God's grace. Giving it out. How do you give it out?

[26:25] Well, you give it out with your mouth. You give it out with the preaching of the truth of it. And if you were talking about the stewardship of God's grace, that means that you are a repository of the grace of God because you have received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and you have been saved by grace and the grace of God that saved you is in you.

[26:52] But it was never intended to stop with you. It is to flow through you. And as a steward, a steward is one to whom the master's assets have been entrusted.

[27:07] If you are the steward of a bank, if you are the president of a bank, you are the steward of that bank. And all of the people who have deposited money and have put their assets in your bank are looking to you to do the right thing with their assets.

[27:25] You are their steward. You are their administrator. You are their dispenser. You are the one who dispenses funds. And when somebody makes a loan application, you look at the collateral and you say, I'm sorry, we can't loan you a half million dollars on that kind of collateral.

[27:41] And you are looking out for the best interest of the owner. So when you came to faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you became a depository of the grace of God.

[27:55] And you have the responsibility and the privilege of sharing, dispensing, doling out, giving out that grace, which is nothing more than information.

[28:06] You are giving people information. And the information is about the grace of God, how it was obtained, how you can obtain it, what God has done to make it possible.

[28:19] It's a wonderful thing. And this is exactly what Paul was talking about as he writes to these people at Ephesus. If indeed you have heard of the stewardship, the dispensation, the administration of God's grace, which was given to me for you.

[28:36] Why was it for you? Because Paul says, I am the apostle to the Gentiles. Now this is striking, very striking. The Jews had 12 apostles.

[28:52] Jesus chose them and named them. You'll find them in Matthew chapter 10, for one, there's other places also. And he commissioned them to go to Israel.

[29:05] And he also said, don't go anywhere else. Don't go to the Gentiles. Confine your preaching to Jews only.

[29:18] The reason being, the Jews were the only ones who had a frame of reference for what these people were going to be telling them. Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, they had no connection, no idea, no understanding of it at all.

[29:34] It wasn't for them. It was for Israel. And Israel exclusively. Am I done already? Boy, I sure regret telling them to do that.

[29:56] Now I've got to abide by it. Okay. We've got a roving microphone back there. And who's, where's our mic guy?

[30:08] Okay. Okay. Here comes the mic, Joe. Your scripture there.

[30:19] Indeed, you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace. That's Paul sharing God's grace. In the Bible, in the Gospels, or the Old Testament, grace is only used 16 times up to chapter 9 of Acts.

[30:40] Okay. But from Acts 9 on all through Paul's letters, grace is used 86 times. And that's something. Amen. Now that's, that's very telling.

[30:52] That's very telling. Now listen, this does not mean there was no grace in the Old Testament. No. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So, grace is dispensed throughout the Old Testament.

[31:04] But, grace was never dispensed, doled out, made available like it was after Calvary.

[31:17] Calvary changed everything. Calvary, the finished work of Christ on that cross. Christ died for the sins of who?

[31:30] The world. That makes the whole world able recipients of the grace of God. And the grace of God, the grace of, if, listen, we're, we're, our Wednesday evening group is making up a little tract.

[31:53] And I'm using them as an editorial committee. And we're writing this tract that is entitled, If It Sounds Too Good to Be True, and then the content will follow in the opening pages.

[32:08] And what it is that sounds too good to be true is the grace of God. But the whole point is, it is true.

[32:20] And people have great difficulty in accepting it and embracing it because they say, well, that's, that's too easy.

[32:33] Listen, God made it easy. God made it so easy anybody could do it.

[32:45] God made it easy because Jesus already did the hard part. And all he's left for you is the easy part.

[32:57] God did the most he could do in providing his own son just so you could do the least that you could do in believing him.

[33:10] is there something wrong with that? Someone might respond, well, well, I don't get any credit for that.

[33:25] Exactly! You don't get any credit. What makes you think you deserve any? You don't get any credit. You get all the benefit. who gets the credit?

[33:38] Jesus gets the credit. He's the one that deserves it. He's the only one that deserves it. You get the blessing and the benefit, he gets the credit. He gets the glory.

[33:49] You don't get the glory. He gets the glory. You don't deserve it. He deserves it. But you get everything else. That is amazing. That's why that's why John Newton wrote a book and he wrote a song about it.

[34:07] It's called Amazing Grace. Isn't it? Other comments or questions? I'm sorry. I got off my... Other comments or questions? Okay, Scott? I guess I'm asking this for Sheila.

[34:23] We had always identified as Gentiles, but when Sheila did her DNA ancestry, it came back 2% European Jewish.

[34:33] Hmm. And yeah, she was surprised, I was surprised, and how is that factored in? How does that come down? Is that through the mother's side, father's side? What would determine if you are...

[34:47] I have no idea, and what is more, neither do the Jews. It is still an argument and an issue of great debate among the Jews as to what constitutes a Jew.

[35:00] Jew. And there's a lot of disagreement, and Jewish scholars from way back, they've fought and fussed over this item for a long time, and there was a time when many believed that it was paternity.

[35:14] If your father was a Jew, then the baby was automatically a Jew. And the difficulty of that, of course, comes to the surface when sometimes paternity can be questioned, because paternity is not always certain.

[35:34] And that led some of the Jewish people, including some of the scholars, to say, Jewishness should be determined by maternity, because even though you don't know who the father might be, it's pretty easy to determine who the mother is.

[35:51] And if the mother is Jewish, then the baby is Jewish. And then some say, well, if you have a grandparent who is Jewish, that makes you one-fourth Jewish, and that's acceptable.

[36:02] Well, what if it's a great-grandparent who's Jewish? That makes you one-eighth Jewish. Well, so the thing begins to break down, and I'm sorry to tell you that the Jews themselves cannot decide among themselves who or what it is that constitutes a Jew.

[36:18] I remember reading an interesting article, and this happened in the 1990s, when there was a group of people, a group of people who were African, with the telltale color skin to go with it, who applied to the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem for immigration rights.

[36:49] Jews, and here these Jews, these black Jews in Ethiopia were trying to obtain permission to come to Israel based upon the law of return that the Jewish Knesset had established, and the law of return for Israel says that any Jew living anywhere in the world is welcome to come home to Israel, and we will receive them, and we will make them a citizen, and we will take care of their needs until they can find a job to support themselves, and we will help them find the job.

[37:29] And there were tens of thousands of Jews, particularly from the Soviet Union when it broke up, and other places that began flooding into Israel, and here these Jews in Jerusalem are looking at these applications for Aliyah for coming to Israel, and there is a great number of black Ethiopians, and these Jews in Jerusalem are scratching their head and saying, well, these people can't be Jews, they're Africans, and they insisted that they were Jewish, and you know what?

[38:06] the Jewish authorities sent experts down there, and they conducted DNA testing, and guess what? Jewish blood in those black Ethiopians, and they had been practicing Judaism, they had their own synagogue, they were going to worship, they were going through all of the motions, probably doing everything but the animal sacrifices, and the Israeli says, well, we've got to make good on our word, and you know what they did?

[38:42] They sent one of their Boeing 747 jumbo jets down to Ethiopia, and it landed at Addis Ababa Airport, and they took out all of the seating of the plane, removed all of the seats, and I don't know how many hundreds of black Ethiopian Jews, they put on that plane, and took them back to Israel, and they are absorbing them, and they are continuing to be absorbed, and many of them are seen now all throughout Israel, and they're practicing Jews, so who knows, what is a Jew?

[39:25] I mean, 2%, well, you might qualify, you could apply and see if they'll let you in. Other comments or questions? Okay, Dale up here, the microphone is coming.

[39:44] Thank you. With respect to your observations about Schofield and his introduction of the seven dispensations, the categories, what I like about that as a teaching tool.

[40:00] I like it as a teaching tool, right? Yeah. And I think the emphasis becomes clear that what's required of man in each dispensation is a response and faith to God's word given to man at the time, right?

[40:16] It's that dispensation, it's that dispensary of, so what's required in each dispensation is man's response and faith to whatever that is in that dispensation.

[40:28] I think where some people struggle with those seven, the labels themselves can't be found in scripture, right? That doesn't make them any less accurate, but one useful tool that I found is Ephesians chapter 2 leading up to the passage that you read, Paul has kind of his own dispensational labels that are useful.

[40:56] he talks about and he separates that passage into, you know, in times past, but now and in the ages to come. And if you look at Ephesians chapter 2, it's, you see that build up to, you know, the discussion in Ephesians chapter 3.

[41:15] Yeah, thank you. Okay, thank you. I would like to just hurry on with, let's just finish the rest of the chapter and then it'll be time to dismiss. Jesus, and he is building his case here and this is going to be stunning stuff.

[41:29] He says in verse 3, by revelation there was made known to me. In other words, he's saying, I didn't have a clue about this any more than anybody else. This was special information that was given to me, the mystery, and by referring to it, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations, that is past generations, was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the spirit.

[42:07] To be specific, what I'm talking about, what I'm getting at is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members, and that fellow means on the same plane, on the same footing, not inferior, not superior, but equal to, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, this is just this one apostle as opposed to the twelve for the nation of Israel, according to the gifts of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of his power.

[42:45] To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration, the dispensation, the stewardship of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.

[43:05] You mean to tell me that God had this certain secret all wrapped up and bundled in his own mind and heart, but no one else had even a clue about it.

[43:22] That's precisely what we're saying. God didn't think this up somewhere along the way. It was always in his mind, but it was never revealed, never disclosed, until this strategic time came, and when it was revealed, it hit kaboom, like a bombshell, because it was taking two groups of people who for millennia, not centuries, but for millennia, had been separated from each other, distinguished apart, kept apart, having nothing to do with each other, Jew and Gentile, and if there's anything that made a Jew a Jew, it was just separation.

[44:09] It was the fact that he worshipped just one God, it was the fact that he even had special food that he ate, and special services and worship that he went through, that none of the Gentiles did, and everything between the Jew and the Gentile was separate, distinct, apart, and it was that way for millennia, hundreds and hundreds of years, thousands of years, and now all at once, kaboom, out of the blue, this thing drops out of nowhere, and now God is saying, no more separation, no more division, no more distinction, you are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, male or female, you're all on the same floor, are you kidding me?

[45:01] And listen, some of the Jews hated that message with such a vengeance, they vowed to kill the man who preached it, and they tried on different occasions, because they regarded that message as so obnoxious, as taking Jews and Judaism out of the limelight, and contaminating them with Gentiles, are you kidding me?

[45:32] God forbid, and what did they say with Paul? Away with him, it's not fit that he should live, why? Because he was preaching against the law of Moses, wow, folks, with this I close, and I want you to think about something, think about this all week long, and we'll pick it up next Sunday, what I have just shared with you, hit like a bombshell, and was not understood by Jew or Gentile 2,000 years ago, and today, 2,000 years later, it still isn't.

[46:24] How about that? It still isn't. Why do you suppose that is? What are the ingredients that is keeping this incredible, wonderful, gracious, life-sustaining, life-giving, eternal life-providing, gospel, what is it that is keeping it from being embraced by everybody?

[46:50] It is such good news! Good news! Anybody who really hears good news and gets excited about it, you can't keep your mouth shut.

[47:02] The first thing you want to do is share it and tell it to somebody. What about this good news? Does that work that way? And if not, why not?

[47:13] So, let's think about that. Would you pray with me? Father, we recognize that we're into territory here that is really, really critical.

[47:29] And we want to be thorough, but we don't want to be overly detailed. We do want everyone to understand. As Paul has said, to make all men see, understand, comprehend, appreciate, what is the fellowship of the mystery.

[47:55] And our hearts are burdened because there are so many dear precious people who are ignorant of these wonderful truths that are so liberating and so exhilarating and so exciting and that just drive us on to more and more appreciation and understanding of who you are and what you've made us in Christ.

[48:19] The burden of our heart is that each and every one of us may be a fulfillment of what Paul said about causing all to see and understand this blessed mystery, this secret that was in your heart for so long and then sprung on an unsuspecting world in such a way that millions have embraced it and have received eternal life through it and undergone life-changing experiences because of the impact of the gospel.

[49:00] And all of us who have tasted and have found the Lord to be so good, God help us to devise whatever way and method we can to reach those who are right now just as we once were without Christ, without hope in this present world.

[49:24] We want this series of messages to be such that it will not only change us but it will lead us to share this blessed gospel with others to change them as well.

[49:37]  Thank you for the privilege and for the presence of each one here. Dismiss us now we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.